Crepeys say Bah Humbug, (it's not Christmas yet)

[beachyhead]

Here we go

Pass

Excellent Beachy!

I am sitting in a cinema waiting for a film to start.

Fantastic, Beachy! Phew..

Lalsy, I'm not with you about Walnut Whips - pls explain the "time-consuming" bit? They are only time-consuming for me if I go for the entire packet of 3 in one sitting. And even then, only if I have a 5-min coffee break between nos 2 and 3.

BTM, hope things were quieter in your house this morning. How are you?

CV, I laughed like a drain at your tactical iPad story.

Molly, I'll bake a cake with a file in it for you

My nice new friend on my course said last week that we should start being naughty during lectures. As we are crepey, we decided this means passing notes, flicking rolled up bits of blotting paper etc. Where do you even buy blotting paper these days?

I just made my deadline this morning. With approx. 30 seconds to spare. I now need to take the dog for a brisk walk, hoover the entire house and then sit down to tackle the big old pile of study guff. And now Lalsy's made me think about Walnut Whips...

Can you still get walnut whips? Are we having a sweet nostalgia-fest? I used to like Old Fashioned flavour Spangles, and the Fry's chocolate cream that came in different flavours in one bar. And my parents were big fans of Aztec bars (I used to be sent to the corner shop for two Aztec bars and twenty number six, put it on tick and Mum will pay you Friday) and Old Jamaica rum and raisin chocolate.

M&S sell Walnut Whips. And you get them in weird and unnecessary flavours these days, like coffee.

Ahh, Spangles. They were buggers to get the paper off after they'd been in your pocket for while, though.

You have always been able to buy coffee walnut whips, Stropps - my DM loved them and she died when I was in my early 20s. I have never actually seen them in the M&S stores, but always have to walk past them (very difficult! ) in their outlets.

Congratulations to DD, Beachy, and also to Stropps for managing to get her work in on time.

It's a lovely sunny day here for a change. DH is up the ladder clearing out the guttering. I have just done 60 minutes on the exercise bike (preens) so am feeling self righteous. I got off the bike dripping with perspiration and the reward? Just 210 calories which only covers breakfast.

I stand corrected, NU. You definitely couldn't get the coffee walnut whips in our village shop in the 1970s. We weren't allowed Walnut Whips at all, as my mother thought the portion size was too large, so I have to admit my childhood experience of them was limited to staring longingly at the single variety ones in the local shop.
Which is obviously why I now like eating several at once.

Stropps, sorry if this description puts you off your feed but first you have to bite the walnut off carefully so the sides of the remaining receptacle don't crack, then you have to lick out all the white stuff gradually, then finally you eat the chocolate in a spiral, without cracking the thing, ending with the extra thick base bit. It's quite a job, you'd definitely need a coffee break.

Brilliant Beachy!

Stropps - we weren't allowed Walnut Whips either - I think they were considered the height of decadence. I loved Snickers (then Marathons).

Beachy well done to your DD - I have all that to come.

Oh I love a Walnut Whip. Saw them in Poundland-3 for £1. Dd has always called them 'Daleks ' due to their shape.
Beachy that's tremendous! Well done your dd! Walnut whips all round.

Mrs s I remember those Fry's bars with different flavours. They were very exotic with the dark choc weren't they.?
I was a Parma violet and Cherry Lips Fan. I used to go to the shop to get mother packets of Consulate. Or ' 'More' cigarillos. She used to make me hop out if the Hillman Imp to nip into The Shop.

I was just thinking about cherry lips, Crem, I loved them and Parma violets - such a wonderful smell. Anyone remember flying saucers? I do remember DH and I having a passion for sherbet fountains, too. A friend gave me a box of old-fashioned sweets a couple of Christmases ago and I was really disappointed - my memory was obviously playing tricks.

DH is still at the top of the ladder; I can't bear to watch him. He has actually had the drain pipe in bits. I sometimes thinks he forgets his age.

Isn't this a deja vulnerable? I'm sure we discussed walnut whips in the past! I never liked them (probably because DM did ) but I did like Fry chocolate cream
Film was a feel good family film and the ending bizarrely coincided with two good news texts from DH and DS, so I'm feeling a bit more positive. Now on a bus ride round the whole of SE London back!

Deja vu!

I love Parma Violets and I could smell them recently in a well known perfume - can't remember which. There was a thread on here recently where many people seemed to hate them.

DD2 has arrived back an is being, as usual, very terse. Sometimes it's very difficult to help her and sometimes I really feel like telling what she can go and do (I don't of course) she really knows how to push my buttons.

DD1 meanwhile, is seeing her prof later today to discuss missed supervision. She is also meeting her 2nd year mentor just before so it seems there are people looking out for her. She has met some friends who have had really tough lives and says she understands how lucky she is now. If only DD2 could have this level of maturity!

Eh, Lalsy, that's a very restrained way to eat them. :)
We had no Walnut Whips (surprise, surprise) but I did find a bag of dark choc peppermint creams in the cupboard, so I feel better now.

BTM, well, we are crepeys, after all - we're bound to repeat ourselves every so often. Glad to hear you have had some good news.

I don't know Cherry Lips and I never knew about multi-flavoured Frys chocolate cream bars. I was very deprived growing up in the isolation of the rural SW, you know.

Sorry for being so loquacious today. I'm just coming down after that deadline, knowing that I have to rev up again almost instantly.

Ds, having always avoided team sport and ball sports of any kind, has taken up tag rugby at school, got picked to play for the school at a tournament yesterday (although even he says he probably just got picked for turning up regularly) and scored a try. He now thinks he wants to join the local rugby club. I think he's already doing too many extra activities and, if truth be told, there is no way I want to commit to any more myself. But now I feel bad. Dh (in his helpful way) just thinks rugby is a poncey game for poshos and fundamentally dislikes the idea of having to get up on a Sunday to take ds to rugby practice. I suppose as I'm having to get up early both days at the weekend anyway to take dd to work, I might as well take ds to rugby as well... Besides, I reckon ds will probably not last that long at it anyway. Hmm.

Stropps that's great that you found the peppermint creams. No chocolate is safe in our house! And great re DS. Less so for you. Your DH is taking the P. He needs to step up for his son

I am now on another bus to a meeting and held up in more roadworks

Am I strange but the idea of Fry's, Walnut Whips or Parma Violets sends shivers down my spine.....plus the frankly pornographic description of slow Walnut Whip eating provided by Lalsy would have sent the waiting room of driving instructors into a frenzy (even at 8.30am)

Stropps, most mini and Junior rugby only starts at 10am. I love the fact that I have two less men in the house on a Sunday morning.

Tonight is dd2's first concert in the new school. She's singing a duet. I have tissues.

My French FiL says rugby is a game for brutes.

My DS is much too wimpy for rugby - he plays badminton - enough said! Plus I would worry about his teeth getting broken after all his expensive orthodentistry!.

Now I'm wanting sweets and it's down to you lot. Grr

Walnut whips were my mum's fav - but I think she finds them too sweet now. She also used to buy Caramac to share with me (I loathed it). I liked Spangles Winter Mixture.....

Tired and fed up here. Intend to go home, feed the small one and have an early night....

Walnut Whips - yuck (even eaten pornographically).

Parma Violets - double yuck.

I'll have MrsS's Aztec bar, though...

Strops, you are sounding very upbeat today! The rugby request is tricky but I think one should try wherever possible to accommodate one's offspring if they want to do something healthy/outdoorsy/educational and it is affordable. Hence DD1 has just started gymnastics. She's lumbering about in a class of bendy ten year olds, but seems to be enjoying it so far. DD2 meanwhile is considering the trumpet (yikes).

DS is still mortified after last night's flashing incident....all his school mates burst out laughing when he got out of the car at school this morning.

Meanwhile, more horrors from behind the bathroom door; the wall collapsed further when the plumber tried to chase in some pipework, so I'm back to cajoling the builder to help us out again. Do you think I could seduce him with a Walnut Whip?

CV - I knew there were palma violet haters.

DD2 has come home from school and made - a carrot cake. - I'm going to have to take back my moaning aren't I.

Spangles were horrible! Parma violets too, but I could force an Aztec bar down.

CV, DS frequently rushes from the bathroom clutching his crown jewels when DD has taken all the towels into her room!
And definitely work your Walnut Whip wiles on him!

Carrot cake - yum!

I thought that's how everyone ate them if they got the chance . Let us know how you get on CV.

I agree about the rugby if it isn't a hassle for you Stropps, and your dh is wrong - plenty of non-posho Welsh and other people people play it. IME, small boys can go quite a long way in their chosen sport if they turn up reliably and are cheerful - and turning up and being cheerful is a useful skill in life I have realised [having spent years thinking you had to be brilliant or beautiful or talented].