The Darling Crepes of May

[CointreauVersial]

My turn......

Hi Stropps, it's sprained and bruised but seems a bit better today thanks

I wanted to do technical drawing and was told I couldn't because I was a girl
Hated domestic science and sewing, loved woodwork and metal work......

I have cleaned the top half of the house - OMG the dust - this has to be the dustiest place I have ever lived in - it's the country fgs - where does it come from?

I am about to do downstairs. Meanwhile dp has taken hound to vet as he is jamming himself under the bed and scratching his back (fox mite probably).... The weeding awaits...

Living the dream here

I got stressed at O levels having realised (a) that our maths teacher was spectacularly crap if you weren't already good at maths (b) the year I'd been taken abroad, though before the two-year course, meant there were still bits of the syllabus I'd missed especially in Biology. I crammed frantically (and got As in both, which I think amazed the teachers ).

I ought to try to find some shoes. I hate shoe shopping. Am clearly not a Proper Gurl.

Stropps, absolutely about skating, urgh.

I think I was more stressed than my dc about exams. GCSEs seemed to settle dd, almost as if her anxiety found a home the rest of the world recognised and made space for. But they "only" do 10, which seems low nowadays but high by the standards of my youth - that must make it more stressful? Also think idiotic pronouncements by media and Gove about the ease of exams (without looking at grade boundaries, mark schemes, the cohort they are aimed at, or sometimes anything after the first, easy, page) don't help, and nor do myths peddled by schools under pressure about university entrance requirements. Rant over.

DD1 has gone off to a 'party' which seems more to be a very vague cinema trip - DP dropped her bang on time (I'd have made her walk as it's v close but good thing I didn't) and the birthday girl had already gone off with some friends who'd turned up early. Her mum has now taken DD1 and another friend. The cinema's miles away. DP gloomily expects to have to pick them up. And no sign of food...

BD, I would have loved to do metalwork/woodwork but as I was at a girls grammar, it wasn't on the curriculum.
As my DM is the most spectacularly clumsy and uncoordinated (well, fine motor skills are OK!), I look pretty good I can skate and ski, but my ball-skills are a bit primary-school level!

MI, birthday do's are quite different as they get older, aren't they!

It's the vagueness that annoyed DP. Especially from the mum. I'd have been seething too.

It is incredibly frustrating MI. It does get better. They take on full responsibility for arrangements and learn how to do them, instead of them falling between all stools. Both my dc have been to birthday "outings" that to the naked eye looked like a play in the park and buy your own chips. We got very strict about always having charged mobile, cash and some idea of how to get home.

Yep, agree with Lalsy

Yes. DD1 is actually pretty good at organisation but this child not so much. I can tell no actual food is going to by involved.

Next time will definitely insist on Oyster card etc....

Wish we could sew them to their Oyster cards, that would be useful.

KFC also seems to feature in outings a lot these days - I have learned to count that as actual food......The other thing I learned the hard way was to tell them if in doubt get on a bus going into town to somewhere like London Bridge or Victoria, then you can probably intercept a bus going out again in the right direction.

That was after a Kensington/Kennington mix up. Peckham/Putney similarly problematic.

That is an utterly brilliant suggestion. I really don't want to cotton-wool her but nor do I want her to get herself into a state that needs rescuing after a couple of glasses of wine.

Lalsy How can you mix up Peckham and Putney?!

MI, it is all part of growing up - getting the wrong bus/train! DD and her mate ended up in Bat and Ball one day (after shopping in Bromley) and then there was a similar shenanigans when she and a different mate somehow got the wrong bus and ended up in Victoria, but managed to get the trusty 185 back DS is a bit more clued up after his trains to footy, but I am in no doubt that he will get lost at some point! At least in London they can ring you and you can tell them how to get back (ie not in the countryside with one bus an hour!)

Thanks . The rescue after wine issue bothered us too - whereas meeting them off main bus out of town is quite possible after a glass or three, and those buses and routes always busy with normal folk. It didn't happen often.

BTM, if you live on the 37 bus route......

BTM, getting lost in a place called Bat and Ball must be quite panic-inducing!

That's no fun, Rudy.

DD1 is heading home on the trusty 185. I have done nothing all afternoon and feel much better for it. And for jettisoning the small but infuriating project - I will lose a v small amount of money but feel as if a weight has lifted and can do some of my own writing instead.

Same here Rudy, except there is only one bus every two hours, so if you are on the wrong side of the road, you've got a long wait!

I remember going to Brockley Rise on a bus when I was a teenager. Had to get back to Lewisham and start again...always the chorus in our house 'don't go off to Brockley Rise again!'

Off to an impromptu barbie tonight to christen a friends patio doors on bikes

Just back from a 17 mile ride and feeling inordinately proud of myself as that's the farthest I have cycled for years. It was 510 calories, too, so that helps.

On the subject of getting lost, not long after we moved here and after baby sitting for someone one night, I left the house and took a wrong turn. It took me ages as I couldn't recognise anywhere. In the end I saw a signpost to nearest town and decided to follow that, on the grounds I knew my way from there.

Lalsy, I know that 37 route so well from when I worked over this way but lived in Clapham And Rudy, that move will never be forgotten

DD is at The Emirates with her mate and dad and family. She supports Liverpool, but is pretending to be an Arsenal supporter. DS was a bit as he sort of supports Arsenal (after Brentford and the local club), but went off to the park (not too far from Brockley Rise, Beachy!) with mates and then apparently the 6 of them went into some pub and watched it for a bit. Not sure which pub lets 13yo's in to watch matches, but maybe they thought they were with someone!

We're having a Barbie too!

Only 510 calories, NU? Is that right?!