We May Be Crepey.......

[CointreauVersial]

.....but we are still Stylish (if not Beautiful).

MrsS, I can't help that the out-laws caravan site is next to, wait for it, Newport Pagnell services

Oh they sound so precious Mrs S. FGS 14 !!
Yes be sensible - but they have mobiles don't they?
Dd was 12 and hit the bus into town on her own. Also back and forth from Ireland to England 3 times z year alone on Flybe since she was 4 yrs old.
I went Interrailing for a month the day of my 16th birthday- 2 of us In Europe for 30 days aged 16 with no such thing as a mobile phone. My mother just waved goodbye without a thought.

She is fourteen????? And can't do a five minute walk on her own in your really rather sedate bit of Paris in broad daylight????

Apparently not, MI. I am regularly staggered by the lack of freedom some children have. A friend came round the other day to have a cup of tea and collect her DD who is a friend of DD2 (they are both 11, in fact her DD is nearly 12).

When she came arrived, DD2 and her DD were out - I had sent them to get a cake, some bread and some milk from the local boulangerie and supermarket - the two shops are about 2 minutes from the flat. You would think I had sent them on the slow train to Outer Mongolia - she was fretting - her child had never been to the shops on her own, would they be alright? Did they have any roads to cross (yes, one quiet one, and one with a pelican crossing/lights), and should she go out to look for them? At that point the two girls burst in, and her DD was full of being able to go to the shops on her own, and choose the cakes, pay, and practise her French - could she do this on her own at home? My friend said to her "We'll discuss this later." I gather she hasn't been allowed to. (This friend doesn't even live in Paris, but in a small suburban town. Her bakery is even closer than ours and doesn't require any roads to be crossed at all.)

How are they going to cope with adult life?

And here I am thinking of ideas for DD and her 2 BFF's to do tomorrow in London unsupervised, (for free) and none of them are 14 yet. Infact DD is 13 and 1 month!

Exactly BTM. A few weeks ago, DD1 and one of her more streetwise friends went shopping in BHV, then went for a mooch round the Marais, had a drink at a bar, went down Paris Plage and then went off and had something to eat at a creperie near the Eiffel Tower. I got a phone call at 8, saying that she would be eating out and not to wait for her, and she arrived home at around 10, taking the RER to get here, because she had missed the last bus. Her friend walked home on her own, about 20 minutes.

ooh BTM what will you suggest? what sort of things does your dd enjoy?

Well there's lots going on around the south bank...

South Bank always a good place for teens to spend money time.

I have just dyed my hair Hags, to get rid of the bit of grey that lurks behind and above my ears and have completely missed one large tuft of frizz. So the rest is now a lovely ginger dark blonde colour, apart from this one clump. Aaargh.

That has frequently never happened to me. Ho no.

I am lazing around. I'm sure I ought to be doing something productive. Like researching a reading list for my next chapter

I am watching Paul Holywood on t'telly. Ooh feel like a tarte
He's q dashing I think.

Lazy day here too. Dh has started the ironing pile of doom.( a months worth) and we will be tag teaming on this today .
He has lined up a whole afternoon of sky plussed Sherlocks with the delicious benedict cumberbund to get us through the ( rainy) afternoon.
If it dries up at any point I may go looking for blackberries with Dd.
Sorry to hear about hair anxieties mrs S. I'm sure it's better than you think.

MrsS, I always knew that there was a good reason that I have never dyed my hair

Been out in the back garden all morning taking down the trampoline and clearing up all the ivy, etc DH cut down yesterday.

DD went off to the SouthBank with her BFFs and I found one of her trainers on the doorstep and a text saying that it must have fallen out of her bag when we came back from Grandma's and as the other one is lost, I will have to buy her a new pair! What actually happened was that DH threw them out of the car boot with her bag when unloading the car and she only took in the bag... Luckily the other one was on the street (although the laces had been savaged by a fox) so I have slung them in the washing machine!

I am tackling the chaos that is the linen cupboard. I think I will be required to do some ironing, but am currently bribing DD1 with the promise of help with French homework.

I had planned to write 5,000 words this weekend but got sidetracked and wrote a 2,500 word short story instead.

The flat truly looks like the wrath of God and I have a MN friend coming round for dinner tonight. Praps I should do the kitchen first and tackle the linen cupboard in the week? I have just changed our bed, and within 2 minuted of it going on, it had cat hair (and a large cat) on the new sheet.

Or perhaps I will just open a nice bottle of pink instead. The caviste is back on Monday, thank God.

Well I shall not be letting DS out of the house AT ALL, in case he meets a (un)suitable girl/boy and leaves me.

Saw ridiculous baby S&B today. At the local park, normally full of very sensible types, were a pair of twins, about six months old, dressed identically head to toe in pink. Both had those gross headbands on, in pink, with a big flower on, in case anyone had missed the fact that they're girls. Bad enough, but then one twin fell asleep, which seemed to necessitate her headband being changed, and then they changed the other one's headband to match! Truly insane.

Oh God, Herbs, where are you? They sound like my cousin's twins!

Mon dieu. Pink blossom twins!
Do some people have nothing better to do?
I am 16 shirts down about another 100 to go but dh has taken over the ironing detail and I am making a leek and potato pie for dinner.
Still raining

Mr Inferior is hoovering . I have offered to make lentil soup for supper as we had Bought Pies for lunch, which while delicious did not do much for my consciousness that I am carting around a half stone which really should not be with me, warming though it is.

Cremola - now I know why we are a "non-iron" household!

Anyway, Crepeys, the holiday laundry pile has gone, the DCs (and I) have been Hedrinned and Nitty Grittied, the DDs are out at parties/sleepovers, DS is re-aquainting himself with his XBox, and peace and contentment reign at Chateau Cointreau.

I was thinking about this "DC freedom" question - it's a strange situation here, whereby DS (nearly 13) is very sensible and I would quite happily let him roam free BUT he's a complete wuss cautious and risk-averse individual, too nervous to get onto public transport alone, doesn't like paying for/ordering things/speaking to strangers and so on. He will spend a day out in our local town if I take him there, but if I suggest he takes the bus further afield to see a mate he won't hear of it.

DD1 on the other hand (11) is full of confidence and scared of nothing BUT is totally oblivious to the world around her, and very likely to walk under a bus, lose her mates/bag/phone or wander somewhere undesireable and fail to notice. I'm not even confident letting her take the trolley back in the Asda carpark! However, she starts secondary on Wednesday, so I'm going to have to bite the bullet and trust her a bit more, whether I like it or not.

DD2 (9) thinks she's a teenager, and doesn't see why she shouldn't do what she likes. Tuff titty, say I, you're not old enough!

This evening I shall be indulging in the ancient art of Sewing In Nametapes. I might even do a little Darning of Cuffs of Expensive School Jumper That Idiot Child Has Chewed. You see, I am the daughter of a fashion designer, who was taught to sew at a very young age. None of this Sharpie nonsense for me, oh no.

Ooh yes, I weighed myself this morning, and despite ten days of carb-loading I only put on a pound. Result! I did feel bloated on holiday, though.

It's interesting, the confidence thing, I think. DD1 is not terribly confident, but has no difficulty getting herself around Paris and out to the 'burbs if it is something she really wants to do (and has been doing this since she was 11). DD2 (who is 11) is confident, but a bit more risk-averse and nervous and would rather be taken somewhere. (This may of course be laziness...)

I have noticed with the children who aren't allowed to do anything on their own, that they seem entirely oblivious to their surroundings and what is going on - won't cross the road on their own, even though the man is green, just wait to be told by someone else that it is safe to do so, leaving stuff on trains, because they are used to someone else picking it up and making sure they don't forget. And no real awareness of what's going on around them - eg after an announcement on the train in 4 languages that pickpockets were operating on the train, getting an ipad out of her bag, and having to be told to put it away.

I do not sew at all, CV. DD1 was sewing her own Brownie badges on her sash at the age of 7. I, ahem, come from a long line of master tailors (and Variety Club performers, and I can't sing, either).

Brownie sashes are brutal, because they are so stiff!

Interesting what you say about "cossetted" children being the ones oblivious to their surroundings - I don't think I've been any more protective of DD1, but she has always been more scatty than the other two. Hence the nametaping - I spent many hours rummaging in the fetid Lost Property bin at primary school looking for her stuff, and things will not get any better at secondary.

There is lots of screeching going on in our house atm as DD and her two BFFs (since a year old at daycare nursery!) are making a new FB account for one of them. It's a lovely sound

I sewed in the name-tapes last nt whilst in the midst of the DCs sleepovers

Hello, I'm hoping im in the right place if I may join in. I used to love clothes but seem to have lost my way a bit and I'm 7 months postpartum and a bit curvy!

It would be very easy for me to stay in my long sleeved ts and long cardis. I have made some effort, I decided that whilst losing weight I don't want to deny myself new stuff (doing weight watchers) I've been reading some threads on here about ankle boots and the new berry shades. So uniform is all bought, dd has tons of stuff, there is just me. I feel quite excited but a bit nervous about buying stuff too.

I can see you chatting about other topics so hope it's ok to jump in.

Ps I'm a regular lurker and namechanger.

Mrs s. I was in Walthamstow. But the parents of said twins were some sort of forren.