40+ Yummy Mummies :-)

[mrsboogie]

mornin' ladies

and the conversation continues...

Is anyone watching Panorama on Shannon Matthews???

yes I just saw it!!! and am fairly gob smacked by it.

Good grief ladies how much Thorntons have you brought today, just went on the web site and the 3 for 2 620g boxes have sold out!

I have done very little shopping so far, Ben has decided he wants a Wii ekkkkk, I pointed out they were expensive things and he said Santa could get it without having to pay! ahhh

Evening. Gawd, just stopped, mad day. Have actually done a friend's washing for her - THREE loads - dried and folded Long story but now knackered!!

Gosh mrsB The Pier....gone? Woah - well, keep chasing them as once the receivers come in they put stickers on all stock and that's it. But if they're carrying on trading then luck is thankfully smiling on you

hedgepig am loving young Ben's concept of Santa! A nice jolly man with a beard who doesn't have to pay for anything

ermintrude no Costco in Notts - one in Derby I think. Mind you - there is an IKEA where you are - can't have it all! and we shall be visiting it this Xmas!

As for Xmas lights.....well, I'm thinking of a whole nativity scene on the roof - followed by an entire garden filled with day-glo elves tending to a reindeer and sleigh running along the drive [hgrin]

Just got an email through from bank and they've absolutely slashed my savings rate but have we got any discount on the mortgage....pah - have we f*c@ Mmmmm, me thinks only the banks are going to benefit. And as for people on the news moaning cos they're on a fixed rate.....huh?! God, some people expect it all - what do they want...the government to actually pay their mortgage...?????

JW didn't see the Shannon Matthews thing. I would just have been appalled.

Off to bed - am on my last legs..........ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz x

Blimey JJ I think you deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for Laundry Services! If I start wrapping them now, I reckon I could get K's dirty nappies to you by Monday. Is that ok?

The Panorama programme was exactly how I thought it'd be...sadly We have a lot of these sink estates similar to where Shannon was from, dotted around outskirts of Manchester. Not very nice places at all but you notice that the mentally is the same in these places. Benefits, lots of kids, smoking/drinking/drug habits etc etc. Very sad for these children but they know no better and will perpetuate the cycle....again, sadly. I think that in an adverse way Shannon is now given the chance of a better life with foster carers. Every cloud huh?

Strangely enough, and in a lot of ways, DSS's mother is very like her mother (she withheld him coming back home last year and after 2 week fight, a court appearance and us lighter by £2k we got him home). She also lives on one of these estates, never worked, benefits, drinker/smoker etc. Sighs.

hedgepig awwwwwwwww I could kiss your little Ben. Out of the mouths of babes. Isn't it lovely the innocence? Doesn't last so savour it dear. That's just such a lovely thing...children don't really have worries about money, logistics etc do they? Ahhhhhhhh. It always gets me that kind of thing (big softy alert).

DH is planning an Ikea trip as we've spotted one of those pendant lights that is on like a coiled wire and pulls down over the table (think 1970 and you're on the right track). Anyway, Ikea sell them and they'd finish our new kitchen off perfectly Don't fancy his chances though at this time of the year. It's hell on earth getting around 'the yellow line' during normal times

DH also came home from food shopping last night laden down with Doritos

JW that's my kind of husband! Of course, it should have been doritos and cake!

Today is my last workday off day before I head back to work next week. So I am off to the farmers market. I have been instructed, nay ordered, to not only buy the fish I need for dinner but apple pie and ice cream. Sir, yes sir!!

I am just sickened by the whole Shannon Matthews story. I just don't understand the mind set that allows someone to hurt a child. It is totally foreign to me.

I must admit I don't get the whole 'estate' thing. Not something that happens in the US, in terms of large government funded housing areas. There are estates, but they are privately funded and tend to be the more expensive areas of town. And are usually called developments!

Tee when I went to vegas (ok, not a great snapsnot of america) I met up with a friend who lived there. I went out of town and to 'the burbs' to his house but on the way he pointed out all the queues for soup kitchens (long ones) and the trailer parks (very depressing). I suppose any large city has the same problems.

Wasn't just Doritos either tee...did I mention to two boxes of mince pies and two large blocks of Cadbury whole nut ? I think after just looking at it I've gone up a dress size

See that Tez has finally thrown the towel in re Eurovision. He has been talking about it for a couple of years now and now he's only gone and done it........clears the way for Graham Norton. I mean, we hardly see him at all on the tv these days

Anyone know when Xmas radio times comes out? Usually like to have a look at what crap quality programmes they lay on for us over the festive period. One not to miss for me is the Royal Institute lectures. Never miss them....worth having christmas just for them alone

It must be out soon jw I can't wait for Christmas tv all low brow stuff for boogie towers tho' - Gavin and Stacey xmas special, Dr Who, ooh and a new Jonathan Creek, to name but a few...

What I don't get about the "benefits mothers" is that it is said that they have babies for the benefits - its hardly lucrative is it? who would saddle themselves with a baby they don't want for the sake of a few extra quid a week? If you think the Panorama programme was bad you want to read the bit in the DM about her - eeek - smoking 60 fags a day while pregnant (how?) and chucking her babies out with her blokes when she was done with them.

I think Tezza has been losing it a bit, hasn't he? Saw a bit of Children in Need and noticed they'd paired him with Tess Daly, who is clearly specialising in co-hosting live TV shows with slightly unreliable old national treasures. I liked his absolute world-wearniness and bemusement at Eurovision though - won't be the same having a presenter who's as camp as the event itself!

Tee - for estate in England, or 'schemie' in Scotland, read 'ghetto'. The post-war UK gvt funded enormous public housing schemes all over the country, and continued into the 60s with the high-rise blocks of flats which are now being demolished. Used to be full of respectable working class folk who could never afford their own house: these days economic changes, de-skilling of blue-collar workers by mechanisation, increased drug use, failure of education system for young working class girls, and endemic abuse of our lovely welfare state mean that they're often as JW describes, over-run by criminal types for whom the word 'decency' is a joke, although not as big a joke as the word 'work'. And I'm a Guardian reader! But all cities in the world have the same sets of problems; it's just very clearly associated in the UK with council housing areas because of our (well-meaning and originally successful) social policy. Not all estates are like that, but all of them have some people like that who tend to dominate.

Hey JW, I should be giving a RI lecture on the telly on this subject shouldn't I?! Here endeth the lesson

If you saw the Louis Theroux programme on Sunday about the ghettos of Philadelphia you'd realise there's worse places than our council estates (although I'm sure the child abuse and neglect doesn't get much worse) It was like a real life episode of The Wire.

Oh there are definitely bad areas of the US, probably even more of them than there are here, because US has never had a socialist government of any sort. The only time there has been government housing built in the US was during the Depression and after WWII, and it was never done in the quantity it was done here.

I honestly don't think one is better or worse than the other. They are different and both have problems.

Some friends say I'm a terrible snob about avoiding Asda and travelling a bit further to go to Sainsbury's, but it's because I dread walking past mothers being horrible to their tiny children. Not keeping an eye on toddlers and then slapping them for getting lost; shouting at a 6-month old for crying; calling a 2-year old a 'f-ing minger' for eating a sweetie she'd dropped on the floor - those are recent things I've witnessed. And I just can't bear it because I can't do anything about it, and those girls were treated like that by their mothers, and so it goes on. Makes me feel absolutely hopeless. Argos in town is the same, if not worse! Just too distressing - sounds pathetic, but it really affects me and is worth steering clear of for my own peace of mind

oh ermintrude - how ugly a picture you paint of our discount shopping emporia - it is indeed horrible - you won't beat this one though - I recently saw a woman changing her small baby's nappy On The Pavement baby just lying there on the ground! and of course the dirty nappy was left where it lay.

tee I wasn't meaning to insult the old mother country there- sorry if it sounded like I was

Jebus. I never fail to be shocked at what so called mothers get up to.

ermintrude blimey, you whizzed me in a time travel machine straight back to one of my social policy degree lectures! Ha ha!

I've not avoided ASDA as our local one is in the middle of nowhere and you can't get to it without a car to that keeps the scrote count down...however, we've done the same holiday wise. We've been to organised camp sites (in the days I could manage to get the big top up) and it was chav land. So this year we're going to Centre Parcs. Pricey? Yep. But my DH reckons that's why it shall be chav free. Also they don't have bingo nor penny arcades so there's nothing there for them really

mrsb we'll be glued to Dr Who as well over xmas. It'll be one of the highlights too.

I've switched from the Garudian (hehe) a few years back and gone to The Times. But newspapers are such a personal choice I'm not going to say why...however I can reassure you dear ladies that I have never, ever, bought (i.e. paid coins of the realm) for the Daily Mail !! Going back to the DM website and it's reporting I bet they are rubbing their hands together in glee at the Shannon Matthews mother story. I'm not defending her in any way, shape or form but I do get the impression they revel in 'broken Britain'.

mrs oh no, I didn't take it that way at all. Although there is quite a bit of States bashing on MN in general, I find. At the same time they are bashing it, they are holding up as the ideal place to live, in terms of taxes (which are higher there, actually) and cost of living (which is only cheaper if you don't mind living in the Mid-west or deep South). So many people still seem to think the US streets are paved with gold! Guess they've been ignoring the fact that the economy is just as bad over there!

Cannot wait for Doctor Who Christmas Special! Did anyone catch the preview on Children in Need? Was the worst Children in Need Doctor Who they've done in years, especially after last years 2 Doctors and the year before for Eccelston turning into Tennant!

Friday pics!

oh they absolutely love it jw and it really gets them going when the bad guy is a woman. Never a word about where are all the fathers of these children and why aren't they making sure their kids are looked after? (I know some of the fathers did take their kids off her but several didn't.)

I have never been to a centre parcs (or a Butlins) for that matter. I imagine that such a holiday may become a reality at some point now that we have the little man - are they good? - centre parcs I mean? glad to hear there are no penny arcades - they depress me like the shouty scrotemums of Asda (or "Asdaz" to give it its correct nomenclature) depress "ermintrude"

Afternoon. Just had a house full of of kiddies and mums.....ZZZzzzz. DP working from home and he had to sort them out as I had to have a lie in as I lost the plot at 5am - as I'd not been to sleep Anyhow - both are in bed now and DP back at work.

ermintrude your ASDA sounds like ours. I've been a few times but it's so depressing I get all upset so avaoid it like the plague.

I was a committed Guardian (grauniad) reader but after having being told that they only take Oxbridge or public school staff there when i went for an interview I've boycotted them!! That's the most bizarre socialist policy ever! I'm a Times woman now.

When you've got these sink estates nearby, and you see them first hand it makes you realise how easy it is to turn into a DM ranter! Our road is half council, half private. The council did up the houses 18 mths ago- gorgeous they are - now nearly half are trashed Full of burnt out cars, slashed front doors, smashed windows etc, etc. Just don't get the mentality. It's as though their brains stopped maturing around the teenage years and now they are parents with all the emotional and educational capacity of 12 years olds

mrsB Centre parcs are TRES middle class and soooooo ££££$$$$$$!!! Mates spent £1,500 to live in the woods near Nottingham. I said they could have stayed at my parent's house for a fraction of the price

Love the xmas lectures. Love being taught something. I liked the Prof Brian Cox thing on the meaning of time the other night. And the Marcus du Sautoy ones on the Prime Numbers was fab. Buggered if I understand it all - but I like that!

Who's down to be the next Doctor Who?

jw I await the nappies with excitment
Off to see nursery later....MMm, wish me luck!

lilibet how are you dear?x

PWCbird is everything going well in sunny Croydon?x

jw OMG Katherine is GORGEOUS. Bl*ODY hell, she's grown. Look at that cheeky smile!!!
Woah - she's just huggable

Yeah mrsb as JJ said Centre Parcs are expensive and they only do mini breaks i.e. mon-fri or fri-mon...no whole weeks We're thinking of going to the one in the Lakes My DH's reasoning for the extortionate amount is that it prices the chavs out of the market. Honestly, our last holiday was a nightmare as come dusk, teenagers dripping in gold and bacardi breezers came out to play...until dawn...arguing, having sex and god knows what else So we figure that Centre Parcs might be the haven we're looking for.

Turning to Dr Who, didn't we catch a glimpse of the new Doctor (David Morrissey) on CiN? I think he'd make a good one myself although he's from the moody category like Mr Eccleston (who I would gladly leave my DH for )

Good luck with the nursery and hope it turns out to be a good un.

The trouble with pouring money into sink estates is that as you've pointed out JJ, they'll return back to 'normal' in no time. These people don't know how to be civilised. That's the way they have been dragged up. DH is rather more radical in his thinking. If he were Prime Minister (god forbid) he'd put them all on an island to kill, maim, rob and impregnate each other. Isn't he a doll?

Btw jj sounds a bit hairy in your neighbourhood. Is there a check point charlie where you cross over from the Dark Side?

Thanks for that re Katherine JJ. Will pass on your comments

oh oh jw silly slow coach me - didn't cotton on to what u meant by friday pics

wow doesn't she look a happy little princess eh? cute as a button and full of beans

JW, what a cute little chubster! (I don't mean you). Do people keep coming up and chooking her cheeks? Irresistible.

mrsB I am still stunned at the nappy-changing incident. I mean, on the grass in the park, in summer, in an emergency, fair enough. But the pavement! I have been told that Asda is indeed known as Adda's, to be pronounced, in the East Mids, as 'Azdoz'. Which makes it a yet more appealing prospect..

Tee*, your impressive yet casual knowledge of Dr Who past and present makes you sound like a true Brit!

JJ I know Gruaiand journos who went to comp and redbrick unis, so i think the Oxbridge policy must be out - only New Labour keep it now . Was it real, do you think, or a pathetic excuse because they didn't want to talk to you properly? My parents read the Times and so regardless of its politics it's far too heavily associated with them for me to be comfy with it - though the cryptic crossword is easier.

Hope nursery visit fills you with confidence and anticipation.

Centreparcs - I know loads of people who swear by it. We avoid the all-day boozing and shagging crowd by holidaying in a tent. Nice wild campsites on organic farms by the sea, without proper toilets or showers and no entertainments for miles around - it's the most middle-class zone imaginable. Admittedly not v practical outside the summer months.... in which case Centreparcs is the answer, if you've got the cash. It doesn't even include activities, bike hire, swimming etc, so ends up being v pricey.

Since I'm due in June I'd like to take dc away maybe at Easter - a nice cottage on the North Yorks coast or something. That's another way of doing it, although it doesn't have the right-on-your-doorstep activities of Centreparcs...

jw well, our neighbourhood is an odd one. Apparently we're all 'deprived'....MMMmm. So, that's why we've got the UK's leading environmental lawyer living across the road, a world famous concert pianist in the next road to us, Features ed of a national newspaper, an ex Doctor Who, 80s pop stars and the top academic public school in the UK all within a 5 mins walk from here..... Yeah...deprived....right. It's just that the scum rises to the top and gets noticed by the guilible council workers.

Basically we've got one of the highest Pakistani immigrant populations in the country and it has become very ghetto'ised'. Three roads from here is where all the wannabe bombers were arrested and we have mosques that put out adverts in the local paper saying that 'Western intervention is not welcome, please do not visit our premisies...' I kid you not. Many of the girls 'disappear' from school at 14 yrs old and loads of the kids are just rebelling so drug dealing is rife. But it's odd because if you were to drive around you'd say it was posh! We over look Million pound properties with a sink estate stuck in a small valley between us. Trouble is that the tensions are so bad - especially between rival estates....whites Vs Pakistani....it's so mindless and sad.

On a lighter note I adore David Morrisey....and Christopher Ecclestone...MMMmm, come to mummy. I LOVE a big nose I thought Norris from Corrie would be in with a shot of Dr Who....or at least as his new sidekick... Blanche and Norris go on adventure into the Miky Way - now I'd watch that!

emintrude we did a lovely cottage holiday in North Norfolk - half the price of centre parcs and it was glorious. I was amazed that so many of the activities weren't included in the price - I think that's what put the price up for our friends.

LOL@ cryptic crossword being easier. I'm a Telegraph crossword woman myself - although after 2 kids in 18mths I can barely read the questions out, let alone answer them

Have 2 mates at the Guardian - one quite high up and they are very dismayed by the often appalling lack of 'ordinary' working journos. I expected it to be like that at the DM & Eve Standard yet they welcomed me with with open arms - cared not about a Comp education and Poly degree. Tis odd....I think they had someone in the running for the job anyway - but their attitude really put me off. Mind you I then went and got a fab job at TODAY newspaper - and it folded a month later Must have been me then!!!!! WHooops!

I know at Centre Parcs everything is extra (apart from the dome, I think that's in with the price)....I'm happy reading a book I'm happy to stay at home!

We always used to take our big tent and camp but DSS's boredom threashold is very low. No idea if it's the Aspergers but ...we need entertainment for him. He got really bored in a tent in a field - but me and DH were happy as larry. I've done cottage holidays too..funnily enough we stayed in Holt in Norfolk and my children loved it. We've also done Alnwick cottage (before H Potter took it over) and that was fab for exploring the north coast. We keep going back to DSS though and that 'I'm bored' factor . Tbh it pisses me off but what can I do? My kids would 'find' something to do even if it was chasing in sand dunes or collecting shells...not him...it's boring. Has to contain at least 8 batteries and have a power lead for him to get mildly interested.

JJ sounds really odd mix where you are. Esp the racial tension. Sounds like Oldham 5 years ago