Tea Room the Tenth: Tea and cake and rock and roll

[MadBadandDangerousToKnow]

Welcome back to the tea room.

In the search for the perfect venue, we have now decamped to a rambling country estate. The once-decaying castle, now restored, is a boutique hotel, popular with rock and roll gentry and visiting bishops, and the tea room (which never closes) is located in a tastefully converted barn. The charming garden contains a duck pond and ends in a haha. We need the haha, of course, to stop the bison trampling the herbaceous borders. Mellors the gardener is, as ever, in charge of the grounds.

Please come and join us for a celebratory drink.

Evening, Racing. Were my ideas really so laughable? Or so ridiculous? And how do you feel about the Chairman of the governors ringing you at home? Is this governors' business? I'd usually expect the Head to deal with this sort of issue but, then again, given the history maybe it's better for the CoG to get involved.

Ah yes, the phenomenon of the Smug Friend. Smug, I think, is the not the same as Pushy or Over-Achieving. I have stopped contributing to threads in primary education, except when it's to go with admissions or other governorish stuff, because even the most innocuous thread gets taken over by the "my child's been writing since the age of one" battalions. Personally, I would question what sort of "writing" this prodigy was doing - random scribbling or copperplate? I suspect the former.

And as for potty training, we knew various toddlers who (according to their mega-smug mothers) were out of nappies by their second birthday. And so they were. But they were getting through 8 pairs of honking pants a day for the next year. Whereas we did the potty thing late and had cracked it in a week, so caught up with them in the end. So I think one should avoid boasting about one's offspring's achievements, in case one later gets one's comeuppance!

I've always wondered, Tea, is that what you do?

RS - Yes. Like you, in Blighty I was a primary school teacher, but here I have found myself teaching English literacy to English Mother tongue children and B1 level and this year for the first time B2 EFL to some teenage students too. It is good fun!

What a day! I need a mug of tea gin. Was on Playgroup duty this morning (we were early) and discovered that Playgroup leader is actually a bit of a control freak who manages to make everyone else feel wholly inadequate over the must mundane of tasks. She IS good, just very school marmy so I ended up feeling like I'd been back at school myself...

Quick lunch then off to ballet - dd's new activity which involves a half hour wait in a room not much bigger than a cupboard, full of mum's nattering, babies crawling and other budding ballerinas. Supermarket then home.

New bathroom getting fitted (well let's say a friend has been doing it over a number of months now..) water disaster which involved water spraying out all over the place AFTER he'd left and me unable to even turn off the mains water so just grabbed loads of bowls and kitchen roll - not the most effective, it was the stuff of nightmares! HELLLLP! He RAN back, turned it off, fixed it (took full responsibility for not checking properly though it was apparently a freak thing). Made for a good introduction our new downstairs neighbours from New York no less, when water started pouring through into their flat... they're being nice about it..

Now i can relax with my gin and read over the thread! I'm looking forward to a slightly less hectic day tomorrow..

Thanks everyone for all of your welcomes! you are all so nice!

Tea, I especially loved your Hotel California link! Like gymbunny it was loaded with memories for me too (loved yours gym!
My dad had it on tape and it was played endlessly in the car, driving through France on holiday, happy memories! I can sing the whole album word for word! So we can check out any time we like right? but we can never leave? well i'm ok with that.

Gym i too work p/t, 3 days a week, it's enough!

Madbad, I got a degree in art so we had 2 years of art history lectures which i have to say i loved, took it all v much for granted at the time though.

Catitaina, nice to like my name thanks! just bored, been zerella for ages.

Mary - go girl! love your new resolution and I'm with madbad re the meek though despite knowing the meek get the elbow in their face I am still frequently the meek so prob need a resolution of my own!

Pushy mums (groan) I know a few, i too seem to be the polar opposite, I really can't stand the sense of competition.

Tea, you teach EFL? Are you overseas? I got my TESOL qualification a few years ago with the view to escaping once and for all then discovered i was pregnant!

sorry for the monologue, catching up, letting off steam plus i only really do late nights online!

Oh hells bells Racing and Linserella, don't go off me

I don't boast about DaisyBoy (although did I mention that he could read Mandarin by one? ) I can't bear the "compare and hope you contrast unfavourably" school of mothering....

We never potty trained at all, I was a bit feeble and couldn't face it and one day DaisyBoy said "mummy, I want big boy pants" and that's pretty much been that....

Racing, glad the CofG rang but it sounds a bit more full on if he's getting "your side of the story" this appears to have moved on from the head asking you to change timings...

How about recreating some favourite children's CBEEBIES episodes in your garden? What was that mad programme made with Guinea Pigs?

And something in all our tea rooms I don't think we've ever spoken about - how Radio 4 and BookClubby we really are - so far we have 3 in book clubs? Shall I confess, I'm in one too and we've been going for 10 years!

Heck. Did that sound boastful and pushy?

I am clearly paranoid. Give me some gin

at daisy having a "paranoia" moment!

I have been asked to join a book club but have not-exactly-declined. On the principle that I still normally manage to read one book every couple of weeks (when I don't have work deadlines) so I can't see that I would get much out of it. Plus I have eclectic tastes; and finally because I can't be doing with picking over a book after reading it - which is exACTLy why I didn't do English Lit at school. I think most people were amazed because I was such a bookworm, but there you go. I like to enjoy it (or not) for what it is, not analyse it later,

I haven't been Competitive Mum so far at all - just have Big Plans for mini-Thumb.
I plan to buy him a potty for his 2nd birthday (plus other things!) and see how long it takes for him to decide to give it a go. I have to contend with old-fashioned attitudes from Gma and Daddy though, so it could be interesting.

LOL, don't think anyone would call me meek! But i do tend to keep my anger under wraps (not tortilla ones), so when I explode I can "be terrible to behold" apparently. I must tell you about the blazing row I had with a neighbour of my mother's. He reckoned my DH should keep me on a leash and that if I were a man he'd have punched me - and I told him not to let that stop him! . Apparently most of the neighbourhood could hear me giving him a dressing down! Doesn't fit in with my whiter than white image! (If I ever had one. It was a righteous anger, that's my excuse! )

Croissants anyone?

oh dear, maybe I am smug mum... sorry.
must try harder to hide boy under a bushel.
He has been writing his name since he was 2 ( well 2.10) but its only 2 letters long so hardly rocket science.

Lin- I quite like that 30 mins in the side room with other mums during ballet, its a chance to try and work out whos who in village gossip. Mind you, havn't had a wet day yet, think it would be less pleasant if all the bigger & smaller kids who play out on teh terrace were crammed in with us.

ohh croissants, thank you Mary. I shall try not annoy you, shall we hold you in reserve for when the bishops get too noisy at new year.

Good idea, I have sensitive hearing, and the Bishops should be considerate. Personally I think they'll have dozed off at New Year, given the extremely busy Christmas period.

Heh UniS isn't the point we don't have bushels in the tea room we just know all our onelies (including Mary's non-onelies and Catita's soon to be not onelies) are totally marvellous in every way

Thanks for the roll - no, not you Mellors

Mary, I now think of you like Archangel Gabriel - righteous anger, what a glorious concept

.... and I am now imaginging the Cupboard by the Ballet Class as a sort of squished in Miss Read episode....

oh, and Thumb, we don't tend to talk about the book much - it may or may not theme the evening but we tend to get together away from kids and partners and eat, drink and get a bit giddy

Well angels aren't as fluffy and cuddly as their images suggest! I think AAG might get a bit upset with me, if he thinks I am in competition with him

your not far off with that image Dasiy. I love it, quite worth the few quid a week for boy to go to dance and me to get gossip.

really must go and get some work done. while boy is at preschool. somebody slap me if they see me on " I am being unreasonable and I'd like you to tell me so" threads

Maybe a book club is what I need to find... I keep getting the giggles at Yoga, not sure thats teh done thing really.

Morning. We don't do huge amounts of analysing either. Last night as the book was v light and fluffy, we were done and dusted in half an hour and spent the rest of the evening cathcing up - these friends I only know through the group so only see them once a month. Lots of food and chat, twas lovely. We've been going for almost 5 years now, can't quite belive that. Next month is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

At work again, have 2 little friends home to tea tonight, so dd will be an exhausted heap of excitement by the time they are picked up at 6. Is Strictly on tonight?

I'm a former primary school teacher too

Just rushing through.

I agree with Daisy. No bushels in the tea room - my, aren't we being biblical today? - so we can get all our preening about our marvellous offspring out of our system here and avoid getting a smack in the face in real life!

I am a firm beleiver in righteous anger, although I still tend to wimp out of expressing it. Vengeance is mine, sayeth Madbad.

No Strictly tonight, as far as I can tell. I think this is the week in which it shrinks to one evening a week.

Hands off George!

Vengeance shall be mine makes me think of Pulp Fiction. That and a Big KahoonaBurger. And mayonnaise on chips, obviously

racing for some reason I have been diverted by the new Playmobil catalogue, and was interested to note that Guinea Pigs have been added as accessories to the Farm set
so you could have a farm at Racing Manor

I went off Playmobil when I noticed that in the catalogue the toys aimed at boys were on pages edged in blue and the girls' toys were on pages edged in pink. I hope things have changed since then.

I'm failing to get the cultural references here, Daisy. For me, Pulp Fiction means Chuck Berry. And chips + mayonnaise = Belgium!

Yes, we also have chickens, both alive and not so very, and quails (all alive when I last looked).

Not sue if RacingPig would approve of boxy little playmobile guinea pigs.

I also have a TEFL qualification and have taught TEFL. Maybe we should have our own table in the tea room?