Autumn Term At Crepey Towers

[QueenQueenie]

I did it!

They are in fashion with Young People at the moment round here, Hattie. DD1 has a pair of shorts ones, and looks divine

Bloody arsing feck. Bloke came to mend roof. The other leak is going to require scaffolding and cost us around a GRAND. We don't have a grand. My last small pot of savings was wiped out by the last roof-mending. I cannot eat into my paltry pension/ISA arrangements. ARSE.

Oh dear, MI. Can you persuade FI to sell his body to pay for it?

I believe you have met the divine Mr Inferior. I am not precisely sure that we would get the necessary sum

MI, commiserations. We had a chimney repair earlier in the summer which set us back £700 and the bloke warned us that we'd need to get an entire new roof within about 5 years. At a cost of about £5000, so we'll have to start putting the money aside now. I believe him because all the houses in our road and the next date from the same era and all have started having expensive roofing isshoos within the last 2 years. Boo hiss.

We spend huge sums, regularly, in shoring up this wretched edifice.

Ah, that's who Rizzle Kicks are

Sweet boys. Did you notice they shut the door properly?

Rizzle Kicks were on "Steve Wright in the Afternoon" a couple of weeks ago (rock'n'roll!!) and they were vair lovely boys, articulate and interesting.

Anyway, sod Rizzle Kicks - someone mentioned The Wombles. Now they were musical giants. Remember You're A Womble was my first LP purchase.

I had two home-made Wombles, and Bungo is still going strong, having been discovered in DM's spare room by one of my neices and adopted. No idea what happened to his clothes (or his mate Orinoco).

My first-ever LP was something by the Boom Town Rats. Now that's embarrassing.

Sorry about your roof, MI, so frustrating. We have had a similar house fail today - National Grid came to change the gas meter (we had the letter about it 8 months ago and I have just got them to turn up). Lovely blokes, they started the process and then discovered we have a gas leak. Have had for a while. No idea where it might be as whole house built when gas was cheap and there would have been fires in every room and the mother of all furnaces (you could live for some time in the empty furnace cupboard). So they had to turn off the gas and were very nice about it, but of course I now have to get Gas Safe man to come and look and fix, before getting the meter swapped at a later date. Deep, deep sigh. On the plus side, we don't actually have to track down the leak as we only use gas for the boiler now so that pipe can be replaced and made good and all the other ones capped off at source. Still, it will be expensive and time consuming and we will begin to smell quite some time before we get hot water back, I reckon. Sponge bath anyone?

MI - our roof has cost us 25K (in euros) - everything seems astronomically expensive here compared to the UK. 5K seems a snip. I feel vaguely resentful about this because although I obviously know that a roof is important and essential I would rather have had a new kitchen which I don't think I'm ever going to get. I'm just hoping we'll get the cash back when we sell!

Well have watched the Rizzle Kicks snippet - still none the wiser - I will check this out with DC's tomorrow I'm not sure they've penetrated France yet.

My first LP was ABBA Arrival - it cost me a whole week's Pocket money.

Ah Hattie, we live in a hovel with rather a small roof. Hence only 5k. :)

How are things going with your roof, btw?

Wilbur, sorry to hear about gas woes. Sounds like a lot of faff and personnel for one pipe, not to mention all the inconvenience in the meantime.

Ours is nearly finished Stropps - we've finally had a run of nice days and never was I so pleased to see tiles go down. We live in a tiny house but unfortunately there are 4 sides to the roof rising to a peak instead of the normal two sided affair in the front and back. The amount we paid though seems pretty normal around here

In that case it does seem extortionate, Hatty. Glad to hear the trauma is nearly over. Well, apart from the trauma of paying the bill, obvs.

Hatty, my first ever single (aged 11) was Abba - Fernando

Sorry to hear about all the roof woes. Fingers crossed ours doesn't develop any problems.

DD is in the loft, surrounded by old photos, trying to choose an interesting one for her homework. Memories

I was about 11 as well BTM (at least that's my excuse). I loved Abba and wanted to look like Anna (or Frida?). By the way my first single was even worse - Alvin Stardust - My Chooga Choo . Actually I don't think I should confess anything else for fear of being thrown out of the crepeys for lack of cool.

roofs! roofs! ?

I can beat all of you for lack of cool. My first LP was David Soul "Playing to an Audience of One."

:) Was the audience of one you MrsS?

How's the job?

Oh MrsS, I had his single - I think I was about 11 or 12!

at all this Abba and David Soul. My first single was Blondie - Denis Denis, which is surely not one of their better efforts. The Boomtown Rats doesn't seem so bad to me now. In 1978 round our way being a tween/teen was all about cutting your own hair to make it look like a bog brush and piercing your own ears with safety pins and being extremely sullen. Thinking about it, that doesn't make some of dd's eccentricities seem that bad at all.

Oooh Stropps, I had Parallel Lines. I hated the Boomtown rats - thought they were nerdy

When DD was looking for photo's last night, she unearthed a load of me and my friends from the late 70's/80's

Please tell me to bog off, pull socks up (looks at bare feet), get life in order, etc. Am currently in Vortex of Despair - one I suspect is not mine alone - about life, work, etc.

AND my John Frieda foam dye which alleges no patches has left a whacking great patch of grey on one of the knobbly bits of my head which will be revealed further when I have an allegedly cheering-up haircut later today.

I shall go and put some words on the page and attempt to Plan.

MI :( Why vortex of despair (aside from roofing issues and dodgy dye....)

I would step into your vortex of despair for a spin, MI, but fear the increased centrifugal force would mean we'd never escape.

I have some kind of gastro-intestinal issue, that has rendered the last couple of mornings tricky. Immodium is the only way to get the school run done, though would probably be frowned upon by healthcare professionals. On the bright side, I might lose a couple of pounds.

As for first single, I'm not sure I can remember. Or have blocked it from my psyche. We did have a lot of those Top of the Pops compilation albums, with scantily clad lovelies on the front, but I think the first album I bought was Adam and the Ants, which looking back was quite cool. A total coincidence, as I was very far from cool. I did like the Boomtown Rats, though!

Hair advice: I'm wondering if I need more of an actual 'style'. It's now just a shaggy, bleached, grown-out mess. What do you crepeys advise would suit?