Yay! Got it back!! Here goes:
Hellooooo This will probably be long and overblown as usual so feel free to skim.
I have missed you all loads. It?s taken me ages to catch up ? on second mug of coffee and had THREE crumpets and a few bits of artichoke ? the food stuff of course, and not our dear friend. I might live in the wilds but have not yet stooped to cannibalism.
So, yes ? didn?t have time to post goodbye in the end, but went up to MiL?s to collect DD, then on to my own mother?s for a few days where there is no internet access (and little phone signal, so couldn?t really keep up). All bandages and dressings are off now and I have bruises the size of saucers (I am not kidding) and my legs are rather stiff and aching. They look like the last two bananas in the shop at the moment but should look ok when the bruising has faded, and then I need to get some tidy up work done on them, which will involve 2-3 sessions - injections and possibly a bit more laser. I must be crackers. I am so glad I hadn?t realised how dreadful it was before I had it done. It wouldn?t have stopped me of course, but I?d have wasted precious moments of my life dreading it.
Arti, you POOR old thing. It sounds rotten. I wish they would invent a super-effective treatment for mastitis that didn?t involve ABs. Thank heavens you didn?t end up in hospital. I am so with you on the reporting on Jade Goody?s death. Quite apart from bringing back memories of my DH, my sister?s FiL died of cancer a week ago so it has been awful for her and her boys and obviously for my BiL and his family. The funeral is on Friday and I want to go but it means an hour on the bus, a couple of hours on the train and then a 15 mile cab ride, so it will be an eight hour round trip in a day. I just don?t know what to do, as I know it would be appreciated if I went and my sister has been with my BiL since I was ten so I know his family really well, but I would have DD in the sling and I am still dodgy on my legs. Anyway, I digress (as usual). Arti, I thought of you, Turnip and in fact everyone else on this thread missing their mums (too many on Mothering Sunday.
Major, how is your MiL? How awful! If it's any comfort my MiL had emergency appendectomy in Sept and is fine.
PMK, it?s actually supposed to be called Mothering Sunday but since all the greetings cards started it got sort of shortened to Mother?s Day. It used to be a day when girls in service (ie maids) has a day off to visit their mums. They used to bake Simnel Cakes and take them home ? Simnel has some sort of religious significance but I can?t remember what. I know they are named after Lambert Simnel but I can?t for the life of me remember who he is. Is your DH English, then? That might explain his reluctance to pose for us in the Australian rugby strip It is awkward re: your MiL and going back to Aus. Men are such cowards with their mothers. Do you have a vague time frame?
Verso, I was up at 5.30 fretting about work and my career. I almost logged on. Wish I had now, to chat. Is your DH now certain about giving up work? When are you going back? Are you sure about selling the house?
PD ? Oh, I love Spotify. Did you finish sorting through your clothes. I am a gret fan of decluttering ? in theory. Just rubbish at it, and all this crap everywhere eats at my soul. I am going to have a big sort out of clothes at my flat in London soon. There are sacks and sacks of clothes I haven?t worn since I moved there in Nov 2007. Thinking of your brother. How many more sessions of chemo does he have? Sometimes it can really do the business, I know so many people in full remission from cancer after treatment.
Katie ? what a riveting dissertation! Envious of your riding in Dorset...I love riding. My sister is learning to ride at the ripe old age of 42 and she loves it. I have ridden on and off since I was a teenager.
Jolly ? thread veins are being injected and possibly lasered, as I said, but not until bruising has died down a bit. You can cover them up like this, though, if you are feeling dedicated and it?s a wedding or something and you want to go bare legged: fake tan the day before (L?Oreal spray on is one of the best I have found, and I have used both cheap ones and more expensive Decleor and Clarins ones), then some decent concealer blended over them (there is one they sell in Boots to cover birth marks, can?t remember the name, but any thickish one will do) then set with a dusting of talc. Hey presto, invisible. I am interested in the Civil War. My family on my father?s side were great Cavaliers from Warwickshire (he still lives there, which is nice in a way). There was a proper family house there but it?s long gone from our family (though still partially standing, I believe!) I will buy it back if I ever win the lottery.
Lal, I actually WANT to know whether better art was produced under democracies or dictatorships. Mind you, I can?t remember my Evelyn Waugh one at all. Some harebrained theory about the world the characters of the first three novels inhabit (?Metroland?) and spinning around/nausea/disorientation. Makes no sense to me at all now and worse, I think I have lost it.
Jaaaaam, I LOVE Bicester Shopping Village. I know what you mean about the pots and pans. We always seem to come home with bed linen or towels rather than clothes. The LK Bennet shop is good though, some great bargains...
Turnip ? wow, you like the Mitfords too. I love Nancy Mitford?s novels. A good friend of mine is obsessed with them and I promised him I?d read The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters ed. by Charlotte Mosley when I was on maternity leave, but I didn?t finish it. I will try again with it in the summer, but I found all the millions of nicknames they had for each other very confusing. Have you ever read Elizabeth Jane Howard?s Cazalet Chronicle? There are four books in the series and they are based on her life. Beautifully written and so absorbing. Mitfordesque. I insist on sending you a copy of the first one if you haven?t read it. If anyone else wants one as well, let me know. I can access a few copies free of charge.
WG ? sorry you were a bit down on Sunday but extremely glad to hear you have come through that now. Let yourself feel things, that?s what I say (best route to emotional health, I find ? unless of course you are dwelling on bad feelings, which of course isn?t good).
Kayz ? I am missing the Apprentice tonight as I will be at the pub quiz up the road, but rest assured I will watching it on BBC iPlayer when I get home! I know babies are a joy but I am relieved for you that you aren?t pregnant. You need a rest. I hope your DH isn?t getting too downhearted about the job hunt. Any luck on the railways job?
JJ ? I did laugh about your breakfast in bed tray getting its first outing. And hurrah for Baby M. As for all the products available, well, I must go and investigate, although DD sleeping in our room is proving quite an effective contraceptive. That and the stresses of DP?s work.
On a similar note Syb, I also laughed loud and long at crisp packet. If I ever hear a crinkling sound, I will know it?s time to purchase a tube of ?assistance?
Trace ? of course you aren?t a worse mother to L than P. Relationships ebb and flow. That is only natural, even between parents and children. The underlying love is always there.
Ros, I think it?s a bit off of your DH to say that you aren?t his mother and therefore he has no business making an effort for Mothering Sunday/Mother?s Day. DP didn?t manage a card but he did come up with one of those ?Tips for Mothers? type book, and he wrote a lovely message in the front. I made my own breakfast and coffee though. DaisyDora, at a suitable point in the future I would tell your DH in as unresentful a manner as you can muster that you were hurt by his lack of effort and would appreciate it so much if he could make more of an effort next year, as you felt a bit unappreciated. Best to be clear about these things, I find
ZJ ? Another fab sounding dissertation. You may win the thread prize. I would love to go to Castle Howard. Will be interested to hear what you think of the 1980s Brideshead adaptation. The sheer luxury of a single book being adapted into 12 x 60 mins (as I think it was) and filmed in many locations almost beggars belief nowadays, in terms of the cost. The casting was superb as well. A cautionary note would be that older tv dramas don?t stand up so well as sitcoms from decades ago do. It?s odd: old sitcoms good, old films good, old tv dramas...less so. Performances seem a bit hammy, lighting and camerawork seem sort of faded...But I still love Brideshead. No expense was spared, even on the blimmin? (specially commissioned) theme music (proper composer, full orchestra etc)....
Bisou ? sounds like I have missed your performance which is SOOO annoying as I had just got back from the Midlands at midnight and was up. Will try to do listen again. DP would have loved to see it too...
Summer ? re: BLW, the woman on Mumsnet who is one of the experts is, I realise, someone who has irritated me elsewhere on MN, so I may have to read about it elsewhere. DP is intent on cooking up a storm with the purees, anyway, so I might have to do a combo. But that?s a long way off.
Oh, and Turnip, put my money towards drinks for people at next meet up.
Gosh, I am now exhausted and I am sure have missed people (and indeed have so much more to say), but I have tons to do and really can?t type any more! Sorry for the essay, girls.