Tea Room the Fifteenth - The Viking Hall

[amberlight]

Here we are in the 15th instalment of the Tea Room for the One Child Family board. All are welcome, whether parents of a single splendid offspring or any other number.
We are this time in a Viking Long Hall tearoom, complete with optional helmets, roaring log fires (in case of chilly spring evenings), rugs aplenty, and all the usual mod cons of life as well.
Our Viking tea room contains Mellors the gardener/handyperson with a talent for relaxing massage (amongst a variety of other characters including Bishops, camels, bison, horses, guinea pigs, dogs, etc etc for reasons that would take too long to explain but you're welcome to read the other Tea Room threads and prepare to have your mind thoroughly boggled). Plenty of tea/coffee/cake/virtual bolly always on offer.
Join us, relax, chat, enjoy.

After seeing that cookie, would it be unreasonable of me to crave one for breakfast?

Asmallbunch, haven't been well, had the kids' lurgy, and am now feeling pretty drained and exhausted. Could do with some sort of motivation, but to do what, I am not sure!

oh goodness, that is one big jammy dodger! I want one of those now...

MaryBS - you want a pick-me-up, have you tried Berocca?

I have TW, unfortunately I really don't like the taste!

What is Berocca??

Amberboy very nervous about his exams tomorrow. So am I.

oooh, good luck to amberboy for tomorrow!

Berocca is a vitamin and mineral fizzy orange drink thing that's supposed to make you feel more energetic and better. I generally find I can taste the iron in these things though, which I am very sensitive to and don't like the taste either.

Am drinking Berocca now, in the vain hope that it will give me a bit more energy. I quite like the taste tbh

Good luck to Amberboy for tomorrow.

Am a bit atm - was just on a call talking about the next software project, and commented that there seemed to be a lot of paternity leave allowance in the scope again (the engineers are in Finland and get 3 months), and one of them said that his wife was pg again - lovely news. Someone else commented that we were running at a baby per software release for 5 years in a row, which is quite funny. Then my colleague who knows my situation very well said 'oh, it'll be your turn again after this CMOT' which I felt was really off.

DS is 4 today, and is having a friend home to tea. Just spoke to her mum, and apparently she wouldn't go to bed or stay there last night as she was so excited.

I'll bring the left over party rings, sausages on sticks etc in later for you all

Oh CMOTD - how very thoughtless of them . If they know your situation though, it was probably said without thinking and the person who said it is probably kicking themselves now. If not, we'll do some virtual karmic arse-kicking for you.

Fizzy orange? Eek!

CMOT, arrgh re thoughtless colleagues.

Have just had a meeting with a trainee social worker who's only 3 yrs older than my ds. I feel a bit ancient.

She seems to think that we will just change our minds and it will all be OK - she asks on a regular basis for some reason.

When I went to pick DS and his friend up from nursery, they were both visibly bouncing up and down in excitement. Apparently, being in the car together is enough to whip them into a frenzy, let alone party tea together.

They had a great time, and were totally exhausted.

I have: mini pork pies, picnic eggs, party rings, and chocolate catapillar cake here.

BTW - aibu to think that the PIL might have bought a present before they went on holiday, rather than leaving a card with money in it ? Or they could have given us the money with instructions to buy something for DS rather than just leaving BIL to post the card

Happy birthday to Tiddler
Happy birthday to Tiddler
Happy birthday dear Tiddler
Happy birthday to you!

CMOT, maybe colleague thought that the conversation might be upsetting for you and thought he was helping?

Amber, you have now made me realise that I could be Cameron's grandmother too am older than Cameron.

Have just finished 'Can Any Mother Help Me?'. Would advise anyone who hasn't read it to stop before it reaches the last chapter, where it descends into decay, cancer and death. Felt rather miserable for the last couple of days, finishing it. Wondering what life is all about, what is the point, etc.

However, apart from that, fascinating book. It so reminded me of the Tea Room, and I felt I knew the writers; got quite excited when I realised that I had read several of the books one contributor wrote - I was overtaken with the urge to tell people I had met her. I wondered if we would all be friends for the rest of our lives. I do feel we are friends.

Probably not the rest of our lifes... but for the time being will do me just fine. I am in touch with hardly anyone from my dim and distant (20th century) past, doesn;t bother me in teh slightest, there is always new people to meet and be friends with.

Can you tell I've moved about the country a lot.

Twas a very big jammy dodger wasn;t it. but very well done.
Can I help you finish up teh porkpies and party rings and caterpillar cake then? I do like party food, perfect for picking at.

Boy was being a very helpful big boy cousin today. He is very gentle with his 6m old cousin, adores her. It wasn't hard to keep the pair of them occupied for an hour and a bit.

"Happy birthday dear Tiddler..."

How did the party go???

CMOT - Sorry about your comment today - grrrrr!!!

rs - Of course we are!

The author of Can Any Mother Help Me ought to be v grateful to MN, I think, for the boost in sales. Which books had you read, Racing? I was intrigued to find that one of the CCC (I've already forgotten her nom de plume - another sign of being old enough to be the Prime Minister's granny) was Rose Hacker, whose obituary I had read in the Grauniad. I enjoyed the book very much, not least for the glimpse of a way of life that has largely vanished. Much like Mrs Miniver, in that way. But the numbers of children! having 4+ seemed to be the norm. Were families so much bigger in the 30s and 40s, or were these women representative?

It made me wonder too how long the tea room would remain open for business. And whether (like the CCC) we ought to meet every once in a while. Would that cement the bonds? Or do we prefer to remain anonymous? How would meeting change the dynamics? I ponder about this without ever coming to any conclusion. It amuses me that the only meet-up to date was in Anaheim, although some of you correspond, I think. Do you use real names? Or do things go into the post addressed "To TeaforTwo ... from RacingSnake"?

Would anyone like some Bolly to go with the leftover CmotCake?

unrepresentative

Hi guys,

Just watched Lost. Utterly frustrated, only one episode left ever.

Lots of rock climbing, cake and ice cream eating, gardening type activities going on here today as the weather was actually nice! LittleO used the potty earlier and then when I went to wipe his bum was told that he'd already wiped it on the grass in the garden !! He had done a good job too ! Dh then answered the door to a neighbour while holding the potty of poo, and waved it around as he was chatting until I pointed it out to him. Luckily the neighbours just seemed to find it funny and not offensive !!

Happy birthday to Tiddler!! Wow,four!

I'm starving, I see there is left over party food CMOT!

Racing yes, we are friends, and yes, I think for life. I am a keeper on that front, and hate change in all forms

SmallBunch it is hard not to be older than most of the cabinet these days. I knew at least 2 of them quite well at Uni and frakly, if Dave makes you feel old.... look at Osbourne I am struck by "what-the-hell-have-I-been-doing" ennui whenever I regard the Cabinet

Can any mother it very interesting, non? I haven't finished yet, but do feel we are the same, but I like the privacy of their communications, not however their marking instinct I wonder if we should meet too, twould be fun, or make communication private, but then we might seem like (heaven forfend) Mouldies or some such....

CMOT Happy birthday to Tiddler, and I love that bouncin-out-of-skin joy of a 4 year old, how heavenly it sounds

Amber good luck to fine lad tomorrow - what exam is it?

AandO I always love your DS name - did you ever read the book Little O - she was a bit of hero of mine....

I knew lots of political types at Uni too, but I am enjoying the mental picture of Oxeye infiltrating the Bullingdon club and committing unspeakable, nay unconscionable, acts of excess!

Tea Room Mouldies? The Mouldy Buns, perhaps?

I am hoping to get down and dirty in the flower beds tomorrow, as it looks like being another good day for gardening. I wonder whether Mellors might be free?

I must say that even though I know wriggle's real name and it is like her Mum's handwriting simply lovely, in my head it simply doesn't fit, she will always be wriggle to me!!!!

I think a tearoom meet up would be rather grand...

but where and when and how...???

Also, I agree, there is a limit to the tearoom being online. There are things I would love to share with you all like my near affair with the local doctor (was anyone-else quite addicted to this bit of ccc?) but can't because of it being on t'internet but then again I wonder if it would be quite the same offline?!?

On the side I recently learnt the hard way that French people don't say 'nom de plume' anymore.

You know, I have never really thought about it before, but I would never dream of saying nom de plume in yer actual French. It's one of those odd phrases that live on abroad even when they're extinct at home, isn't it? Like caricature Brits saying "spiffing" in foreign language films.

And now I learn from the University of Wikipedia that nom de plume as an expression was invented in the UK. What ho!

Nah, Small, I was never one to spring into the Bullingdon. However, I did spend 3 years lurking hopefully with a ground floor room in case Sebastian Flyte should sick up over the windowsill one night

But Oxeye, this isn't about what you actually did. Facts don't enter into it. It's about my fevered imaginings of what you might have done. And, ahem, I don't know how to break it to you but Sebastian Flyte would not have been interested. Even allowing for all your comeliness and pulchritude. Aloysius, on the other hand ....

A light salad lunch in the garden, anyone? Mellors has been mowing the lawn on the ride-on mower and seems to have got rather warm. Oh look, he's taking his shirt off.

There you are, Mellors, all neatly ironed and starched

AmberBoy is currently being examined on the finer points of Ancient History and then Drama, one after the other in the same afternoon. Arrghh.