School's out for crepeys

[lalsy]

Ooops, sorry, I didn't mean to finish the thread.

Can you lovely Crepeys bear to take in another new member? I can sympathise with all ongoing traumas, am in the same locality as magimedi et al, and was really old when I had the dc, one of whom is just out of teens, the second one four years younger. But crucially I used to work with MI. Also I've been on MN for nearly as long, but not quite. And I have met MrsS - at a recent MN meet-up.

Did he leave the "u" out of "country" this time?

Hello Molly! I remember you! I had to leave early - I felt that I was in danger of getting drunk and abusive.

Dh once had to drive us to the south of France because I'd failed to get dd a passport. In them days it was possible to rock up to St James Park and sit about until you were magnanimously granted one. However I was severely quizzed about how I could be so doolally as to not get a passport before the morning of the flight (which we missed, hence the driving.) Baby dd was all innocence and convinced them she was no terrorist, so they handed one over; and off we drove.

Blimey, all this passport stress. DD2 and I don't actually have current passports at the moment; they both expired in February, and I couldn't be arsed to shell out £150-plus when we are venturing no further than Cornwall for the foreseeable future renew them. I'm now fretting that by the time we DO actually have a foreign trip planned it will take years to get the bloody things through the system.

MrsS - I like your list of "too smart for your job" points. I could probably tick off most of them myself, but they also apply if you are "could do your job in your sleep but really don't give a toss as long as they keep paying on a monthly basis and let you jiggle your hours around school events". Mind you, I don't have any career ambitions left....

And BTM - I had no idea you were going on such an ambitious holiday. Did you say "Nicaragua"? And "backpacking"?! I'm feeling distinctly unadventurous - the most daring moment of my holiday has been thwarting a seagull which was after my pasty on the beach yesterday.

I'm reading Caitlin Moran's "Moranthology" at the moment. I love her style of writing, and it is light relief after the last book I just read: the somewhat dry and academic "The Hare with Amber Eyes".

Yay, more crepeys! Hello, Molly.

Which "locality", Molly? I spotted Magi on a seaside thread, so guessing it's vaguely coastal...

Sorry your boss is so rubbish, MrsS

First photos up on FB! Now to try to phone the airport...

I am wishing we were in Cornwall as we cant even get through to the airport

I'm in East Sussex, about 5 miles inland from Eastbourne. Are you close, Molly?

Have lived here for nearly ten years now, having been an itinerant for the first 20 years of our marriage - 14 or 15 moves in that time.

I realised yesterday how much I love it here when I burst into tears on seeing the pictures of the pier in flames.

But I saw it for real this morning & (fingers X'd) it's not as bad as it looked on the news. Three quarters of the pier is fine & it seems as if their is no structural damage - just the large dome that housed the amusement arcade is now a shell.

Was having my hair cut & my hairdresser reckons there will be lots of people with metal detectors under the pier at low tide soon - searching for all the £1 coins from the arcade!!

Wotcher Mollster

(She used to be my boss, you know .)

LOL at the bounty hunters. I hate arcades, but a burnt down pier is a very sad sight.

Aw, hell, I got the wrong fellow newbie...I'm in SOUTH LONDON like Montserrat.

Tragic about your pier, Magi.

What ho newbs. I warn you now, I'm going to get you all hopelessly muddled up, as your names all begin with M. So, apologies in advance..

Returned from Sheffield, and it's so nice to be somewhere where there isn't constant shouting and crashing, and where the floor isn't entirely, and permanently, covered in small toys which the twins never even attempt to pick up. And where everything isn't coated in grime. I worry a bit about friend. She's a single mum to these twins, and has taken the path of least resistance in many things, but I had to point out to her that her settee now smells like a tramp's trousers. The boy twin is being very aggressive, biting teachers and the like, and she doesn't quite know what to do, so spends the evenings fretting on her own.

Many sympathies re passport woes. We had the same thing a couple of years ago, and an email to our MP saw it turn up within two days!

Mrs S - just leave and stack shelves in Aldi. Can it be any worse?

Herbs, financially, yes.

Herbs, that does sound worrying.

Mrs S - do it at Waitrose?

Herbs - regardjng your friend, I was going to say that you have to "eat a peck of dirt before you die", but am at the tramp's trousers sofa.

I have a friend like that - her house always looks as if someone has spun-dried the contents of a dustbin around the house. Her oldest son, who is DS's age, has turned out fanatically neat.

A veritable influx of new crepeys! Welcome to all of you.
I'm a rare breed N. London crepey with 2 (two, II) teenage dss, a pesky dog and currently no kitchen but 4 (four, IV) builders crashing around in my basement making a whole world of mess.

Bloody hell re passports and re lost luggage - I knew I was right never to go further than East Anglia for my hols...

I wouldn't have enjoyed staying in friend's squalor with rampaging twins and underfoot plastic, however fond I was of friend. She does sound as though she has her hands full though - I'd be bollocks as a single parent.

I used to have a tramp's trousers sofa, but I am a reformed person. :)

Sorry to hear of ongoing passport stress, MI.

Wilbur, what a hideous bummer about the dc's bikes. :(

MrsS, I am just and at the ridiculous carry-on at your workplace. Are the other people in the same department enjoying it at all, or do they just not get that they're supposed to get a modicum of satisfaction from their work?

Dd has now made a decision about her holiday. She had to decide between going away for a whole month with the family she has gone to France with for the past two summers or come camping in the Loire with us for 13 days. She has surprised me by choosing us and the Loire over a more exciting family and a variety of destinations in the south including Biarritz. Obviously, every time something goes mildly wrong, there will be a load of complaint along the lines of "why did I come with you?", but I am still pleased that she is coming with us. And ds is very pleased indeed.

I have finally completed my audit of camping equipment I purchased several years ago when somewhat unhinged and really am amazed by the enormous bucket loo that I uncovered at the back of the loft cupboard. Why did I think I needed a reinforced monstrosity "suitable for persons weighing up to 300lbs" fgs? I mean, dh is a bit of a porker, but he is rather small, really... Eh, what was I thinking?

Perhaps you weren't thinking Stropps!
Such a thing might come in handy one day surely...

The mind boggles as to the precise circumstances but yes, it might.

Hello, Molly, nice to meet you.

BTM, I hope you get moving soon.

I love the Dordogne, Hatty, we had several holidays camping or caravaning near Sarlat - including one where I fell in the river. We sometimes stopped in the Loire on the way there, too, Stropps. Excellent camp sites everywhere in France.

Good on DP, MI, I am still keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Just about to retire to bed; knackered as usual. Dd got the keys to her new house today and the furniture is there surrounded by boxes. They are staying here atm - I am getting quite adept at cooking with a 1 yo on my hip. DSil needs to set up his office immediately as he works from home and that will be one of the first priorities.

Herbs, that's a bit worrying about your friend - poor woman sounds as if she needs help.

Oh well, sleep well everyone.