Gunpowder, Treason and Crepes

[CointreauVersial]

Here we are again.....

I am in for the Secret Santa, too, but will have to pass up on the MU.

Sympathies for those with visiting fleas - ours are courtesy of the marauding white cat which terrorises Nucat and which accessed the house via the cat flap. I think this year is a particularly bad year for them.

Is W the place in the middle of the UK? Dp can dish the dirt ...

Thanks Molly - will bear that in mind may I ask what he's studying?

Molly, have a wonderful time with DS - you must be very excited.

I don't want to hear any dirt, BD!!! My PRECIOUS first born is there.

He's not studying the subject you're interested in, Hatty, but LOADS of his friends from school are there studying Economics. And loving it.

Molly - DD2 is interested in Economics but I'm not sure she can get the maths grade. Have a great weekend with your DS.

Molly dp works there - I'm sure he'd only say nice things ;-)

How funny....such a small world. Hatty, both my dc are very maths-y. If you met my dh, you'd know why. The uni we speak of was exceptionally good at suggesting courses ds would like if he didn't get on to ones he automatically went for, so you may find they do likewise for your dd. We're indebted to them for that.

BTM - I can do tomorrow - what time?? I also have a voucher for free tea and cake in Johnny LouLou's. Shall I text you?

And yes to Secret Santa. And drinks. Just, just YES.

YY to Secret Santa! I love it. I have to organise it at work, and there are far too many bah humbugs in the office who disapprove.

Finally sorted the office Christmas Party! The Pros - it's at quite a posh venue, usually considered too pricey for us. The Cons - it's ABBA Tribute Night

No can do Selfridges tomorrow, BTM, although it's tempting. DH and I are off to Gunwharf Quays, hopefully to get a bit of Christmas shopping done. Apparently it is going to be a lovely warm day.

Ooh yes to Secret Santa. I'm happy to do it via the Royal Mail or whatever it's called these days.

I have 3 days OFF!! I am delirious with possibility, although one of those days will involve Fancy Dress at the behest of Dsis's Hallowe'en Party .( no tinfoil will be involved Lalsy)
Which will be all the better for DDad being out of hospital for the ninth time this year.
And he's so much better Crepeys. His colour is back and he looks like Dad .[pumpkin]

Crem, that's brilliant news!

That's lovely to hear, Crem. Long may it continue.

MI, how did your DM get on yesterday?

Yay MrsS! Yes please, text me! I should be up there by 11am at the latest. I have got a new phone and have had a lot of trouble syncing contacts, but I think I found you on my old phone...

Cremo, great news for your dad

Yes MI how's things?
Glad it's Friday - only done three days but feels like 10.
Posh dinner with dp tonight

Ooh BD that's nice. You deserve it.
Hope you have fun.

Ooh BD, how nice!

DH has just told me DS has another match today. That will be 7 matches/trainings this week. Obsessed, the two of them. Much?

I would have loved to run away and have coffee in Selfridges. but am driving back to the smoke today....
Secret Santa is a great idea...how do you do it by post? Meet up would be so lovely but depends how close to Xmas and where. Keep me posted!
Molly lovely re your DS. Enjoy!
Beachy I must get better organised and contact you in advance so we get that coffee. Probably next down sometime over the Xmas hols if the weather doesn't close in.
Crem that's such good news re your DDad. Let's hope he can stay out of hospital thanks
All this talk of fleas is making me itch. I have had it with pets. Apart for the fact that I developed an allergy to pet hairs, picking up the remnants of our lovely, gentle rabbit some time ago from when a fox got him was enough to put me off for life. Having always had cats and rabbits I feel bad for the kids that we don't do pets any more, but it is so much easier to go away at short notice....
MI what news of DM?

Many thanks to all of you for asking. She's feeling remarkably not too bad at the moment, though I suspect this may change in the next few days as the toxic stuff hits her bloodstream.

I'm on for Secret Santa. And indeed for a fiver in Sainsbo's if not charity shops.

SELF-PITY ALERT*
I am so tired. I just want to curl up and cry, not make Nourishing Soup as requested by DM (she has v characteristically sent me an email explaining what's for lunch and what she'd like me to add in - I do not want to make garlic butter, ffs, I'd ordered bloody fishcakes that we could take up and eat) and slog my day through work and go to Aldi. And I was suggesting to DP we could go out tonight but I've just realised that instead we'll have to wait in for Posh Supermarket delivery. (Even I can see the funny side of this last one.)

In all fairness lentil and spinach soup will take me five minutes to make. And as I've self-righteously taken it to my parents' before it's fairly non unreasonable of her to ask for it. I suppose. Grr.

I did think of you when I was watching The Missing on I-player last night, Herbs.

But just think how virtuous you'll feel once you've made Nourishing Soup, MI. Like you're Doing Something Useful.

And yes - The Missing was a bit too close for comfort, especially since the previous day, at a kiddy 'farm', he'd chosen to wander off. I couldn't find him anywhere, and was rushing around in an increasingly headless-chicken manner. My friends were spread out to look for him, when I got a call from one of them saying he'd just wandered nonchalantly past her. When she collared him and asked where he'd been, he just said 'I was looking at the animals'.

Glad to hear your DM is doing OK MI. And Herbs is right, nourishing soup will make you feel both virtuous and better!

She's being self-sacrificing and 'whatever's easiest for you, darling' so I have to make bloody soup don't I

But as I say, since this means chopping onions and garlic and crushing some cumin seed and then just cooking everything up together - in stock if I can find any, water if not - and then blending it, it's hardly onerous. It's a Claudia Roden recipe, you don't even have to fry anything.

Rudy did you buy anything? I am going to browse and wait for the sales!

MI that sounds yummy!