Crepeys are an August bunch

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Here ya go...

CV, my plans for the weekend aren't exciting, either. We will probably see DS and family tomorrow, especially as I think they want us to look at a house they are thinking of buying.

We have the joy of the first football match of the new season to look forward to on Sunday (which would be better if our team wasn't facing Manchester City).

Stropps not you. Another 'phase' in the journey of life. I was positively vile to my mother and I can say she was (and is) a really good mum.

Rose, sympathies, hope you get a chance to unwind properly on holiday.

Crem, thanks very much, you too. We all have time for a breather before they need to get ready for uni & they don't need everything all in one go. Have sent nephew cash for a holiday.

Stropps, good to see you but sorry to hear about the fretting. Can you take some time for yourself and leave them to it? Holidays can be tough, being so on top of each other. But it can't always be up to Mum to make sure that everyone gets their own way & has fun all the time.

At this rate, it may be autumn by the time we get to Normandy next w/e. Looking out thick socks and woolly jumpers

Take heart, Auriga - I hear rumours that the summer is staging a comeback for the Bank Holiday weekend (no, really).

But it can't always be up to Mum to make sure that everyone gets their own way & has fun all the time.

I am making this my mantra Auriga because I am terrible for thinking it IS my responsibility.....

Luckily this mum was already on the beach when DD started going into one this morming

It's the fact that it's DH and dd being vile to each other and expecting me to referee all the time that is so depressing. Sadly, I do not think his dislike of her behaviour is turning into dislike of her, as it's not tempered by any real filial affection, blood being thicker than water and all that. Bah to blended family happiness.

There's a rogue "not" in there: sadly I do think he's starting to dislike her.

@ BTM - wifi here is v flaky and won't - for some reason let me answer your pm. But thanks

BTM no I wouldn't say dd is back to normal. Whatever that is? We made that mistake before and ended back at square 1. Early days. Still attending psychiatric care. And will be transferring this to Scotland as and when.
Just Hoping a holiday will allow us to step back a bit.
Sorry about dd Stropps . Not in a great position to advise. Hope the rest of the hols involve better days for you.
Off at daybreak tomorrow. Hasta la pasta crepeys.

Am elbow deep in filthy, grot-encrusted laundry. Yuk. Even the "clean" clothes came back soaking in lake water. Still, they both had a ball.

We are now looking after DN's two hamsters, as well as our own. The playroom is starting to look and smell like a pet shop.

Cremo thats great that she can transfer to Scotland and not just be left high and dry. And a holiday will be great to hopefully relax and talk, etc, etc

CV we have 4 pairs of hiking boots to deal with on our return...

At airport. I know I'm going on holiday when the day starts with the world service on the radio and an extortion breakfast at some grotty place at the airport......

Stropps :( re family situation.

Bon voyage, BD, have a wonderful time. How long are you away for? I hate airports and particularly first thing in the morning.

Sorry to have been off-thread so long - have caught up - congrats on brilliant exam results, fantastic! My shoulders are just inching down from my ears as I un-hunch - we had a bit of a to-do this week because the uni course ds wanted to transfer to was full, so this morning we were anxiously sealing the deal on another course. Done. Phew. They break your hearts though, don't they? I keep thinking of that saying: "a mother is only as happy as her unhappiest child". And that's why we keep on struggling for them.

Glad you are en France avec passeport, MI. We are lunching today with the above-mentioned mutual mate, in a certain chi-chi market. So be warned - your family is next in our entertainin' sights, mwah-ha-ha. And we'll want the full run-down on La France.

GCSE results for us, too, next week, but I am too knackered to care. Best of luck to everyone else. They should give parents a special award for Fortitude during Exam Stress.

Crem, there are some very long MN threads covering every single thing a student might need to take to uni - I think yet another has been started for this year. A note of caution, though - I got pretty obsessive [ahem] about it last year: they probably don't need everything suggested by every MNer. Not in triplicate they don't, anyway.

Thanks Molly - and welcome back.

BD -we too have had the million pond breakfast at the airport. It's traditional innit. I was at the people of Ulster heading to Salou on full fry-ups at 5am. Boke.
Weather here unseasonably meh!.
Already done the very British thing of swimming in the pool in the rain.
French came to their balconies to pint and laugh.

Drinking beer in Bilbao:)

Food at the airport - shudders .... It's not the eating I find strange, though, but the non-stop drinking. How can people drink spirits at five in the morning?

Glad to hear that DS is now sorted out, Molly, good luck with the next lot of results.

Enjoy your holidays, BD and Crem.

We're off for a walk this afternoon - waterproofs at the ready, I think.

Oh yeh NU , pints for daddy and a blue drink and a bag of wotsits for the kids at 6am.

Woo hoo - you're on hol I always have a full fryup washed down with a bottle or two to start my hol. NOT!

Went turtle watching last night. Drove out to a beach then hiked in the pitch black with flashlights up and down on a dodgy narrow path to another beach, then no flashlights at all allowed for the 300m along the beach - DD and I were clutching each other!
Anyway, we were really lucky and found one which then nested and laid eggs! It was huge - about 5ft long and the eggs plopped out like golf balls

Last day today It has bern a fantastic hol, despite the teens best efforts.

Wow, BTM, the turtle watching has eclipsed anything else that you have done this holiday.

I love beautiful scenery but what really turns me on is wildlife. Dolphin watching from the PCH in California, coming round a bend in the road in South Dakota and seeing a herd of bison, a hummingbird sipping nectar from a flower. I keep on looking for bears when we go to Lake Tahoe.

Have a safe journey home.

I am back from Darkest Norfolk. I do not want to retired there.

Lots of swimming in the sea (me) while the DDs shivered in their hoodies on the beach. Pair of pussies.

Migraine this morning, then wakened from sickly sleep by DH to say there's an e-mail with a shattering disappointment for DD.

She'd been invited to sing in a big concert for which she's already done three days' rehearsal & was due to go on a five-day residential course tomorrow. They've somehow missed her name off the performing licence so 'she will no longer be allowed to participate'.

We're only finding out now because I e-mailed to ask where we had to deliver her for the coach tomorrow. We've organised our holiday round this and she's been looking forward to it hugely. I'm gutted ( and furious) for her.

And my brain hurts

Oh Auriga, thats so crap