Morning all.
Sorry to hear about the chicken pox Amber. DD was about 2 when she had it I think, but didn't get it particularly badly and so we could manage with calamine etc. She wasn't ill at all, so the hardest thing was keeping her away from people - and out of childcare (and hence one of us of work too?) when she was ostensibly absolutely fine. Re the coated skinnies - I will not be keeping if shiny as my simply thighs do not need that kind of emphasis 
. My current coated ones from Gap aren't shiny - just kind of 'textured' - so I am hoping the Whistles ones will be similar.
NYE - Sending much sympathy re the evening thing. I need some evening time too - as I have to be an early riser for work at least part of the week I like to be in bed around 1030 so if DD isn't in bed on time I have virtually no time to myself. When I am on my own I need that time to sort my life out and then get an hour to relax! They are all so different in terms of sleep requirements as well! I think sorting out the 'right' amount of daytime nap can definitely help in terms of them being suitably tired at bedtime, but that magic 'right' amount seems to vary so much. DD only had about 2 naps a week (generally on Friday and Saturday after 4 days in childcare had worn her out) from around 3.5 onwards I think. She would have been asleep by around 7 30 in the evening then, generally waking around 630 to 7am in the morning. We have had a rabbit clock for her since she was 2.5 and that was great for grabbing an extra half hour in the morning. From talking to friends with these clocks, the secret to them working or not seems to be the age that they are introduced (i.e. too early and they just don't understand and have no self-control - too late and they have already had a long period of getting up whenever they fancy and trying to change it is a nightmare!) At 5.5 she is obviously much more flexible about staying up a bit later if we want to go out and do stuff, but I find for school purposes she has to be asleep by 8pm, which means she is generally awake by 7 15 in the morning to allow a relaxed start to the day. She has to be at school by 8 35. Any later and everything in the morning would be an unmanageable rush for the mothers help - or me!
Annie - I agree. Fleecy does look like Jenny Seagrove!
Looby - No marathons! I have a slightly dodgy left knee, so I think that would be too much for it. I managed to work up to 13 miles with not too many problems last summer, and have a rough aim of completing a Kilothon (i.e. 25 kilometres - approx 16 miles I think.) I wouldn't want to go any further. I have run a number of 10k races and my times for 10k up to half marathon are respectable for my age, but not great. I am only competitive against myself though, as I don't run in a club or anything.
Re the MU - perhaps we can find somewhere to eat that is near to the 'Bar with the Cave' 
to make logistics easy? Also, can you book tables in that bar? I only ask because I seem to remember that the table we originally sat on upstairs was pre-booked to another party, hence us having to relocate. Any ideas of hotels from anyone yet? Same as before or a change?? Not 100% certain I will be staying over, but I suspect so.
Wearing a relatively old, but very flattering wrap dress from Pretaportobello today - black with a circus print on. With opaques and heeled brogues.