Crepey wattle and daub

[herbaceous]

At last! I get to use my thread title.

Over here, my hags.

Ohhh Beachy where you going?

Malaysia and Borneo for 10 days - this is the retirement trip of a lifetime we had planned for this year. Originally we had wanted to go to NZ to see friends over this Christmas, but with Year 10, first year of Foundation and new job for dh, we reckoned that will have to wait. So this is the hurriedly organised substitute...

Will have a look when she clears out in the holidays - very happy to pass on anything (though she's generally a cheap and cheerful girl rather than expensive stuff)

Beachy, that sounds fab! And hot - I am wondering whether we made the right choice of NZ for their winter!

Oh yes - forgot - you mentioned it before (Crepey forgetfulness....)
Where in Malaysia? We did Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore many moons ago....

I lived in Malaysia for a year when I was six

KL for three nights and then over to Malaysian Borneo for a week, so hopefully a bit of nature watching, snorkelling and just a different cultural experience for the dc than camping in France (which is pretty much all dd2 has ever known).

I think with such a big age gap between top and bottom, this will be one of the last big holiday with all three of them (although I bet they all come clamouring back once we start suggesting exotic future destinations). I know my dsis and dbro were very jealous when they were in their 20's and had left home and I was only in my late teens. The holidays suddenly got upgraded as dparents only had to pay for one child, so I benefited big time

Crem sorry you have all this grief. You must now look after yourself for a bit. This operation is important. And if it addresses your chronic pain, you will be better placed to help DD. Agree with Beachy …it's all you can do…offer help, support and advice for when DD is receptive.

Good luck with it all Beachy…DS's school transition and this holiday, which sounds very exciting.

I get your drift BD….people can get very uppity if they think they're being left out….i have felt it myself but I'd never say anything…I'd talk myself out of it, but others have this sense of entitlement to be part of everything all the time... and are happy to start a row.

Funny couple of days…DS2 in music exams, and going to be home late every evening this week…tonight, Oxbridge programme session, tomorrow Music Dept Spring show, Thursday, band at the theatre….(this clashing with a late announcement by DD that she's singing in her school choir presentation, on the same evening….) DH and DS1 went off to see The Who last night. I was meant to go but we couldn't make it work with DS's exam and DD's theatre session.
And to top it all off, the computer has locked me out of my emails…I'm scared its a virus…I have been massively spammed the last few days and can't get anything to stay in the junk folder…now after hours on the phone to BT help desk I can receive, but not send. Consequently, I have done no work today

Hello crepes

Rose, your schedule for the next couple of days sounds exhausting. I hope you get time to have a cup of coffee by yourself. Huge well done on the weight loss by the way. Very impressive.

Cremo, so sorry to hear about the added DD stress just as you are going for your op. I hope that you make a speedy recovery and that things go well for DD. How long will you be in?

Talk of exotic holidays is lovely.... we haven't booked anywhere yet as DH's job is still rather precarious. I hope there will be last minute things available.

Got a stinking cold here - red nose, streaming eyes etc - but hugely grateful to have an ailment not requiring Brian.

Monty - poor you with the cold, there is definitely something doing the rounds as a last hurrah of winter plague. Hope it clears up soon.

Cheerful is always welcome, BTM, cheap or otherwise! Good idea re hand me arounds though - Beachy I could certainly save some of dd's stuff for you in future, there will be more to give away when we get her summer stuff out, I'm sure. And maybe some of ds2's stuff would be good for mini herbs - ds2 is nearly 10 but on the wee side so is still mostly in 8-9 clothes. Although I'm not sure when I will get to a meet up as I can't make the end of April (was it the 25th?) as my sister is visiting from Germany. Maybe we could organise another mid-London coffee/lunch on a Thursday - if it's within a radius of Farringdon (St Paul's, Fleet St, Holborn?) I can get there.

Rose - hope you get your computer sorted - what a pain that must be! Might be worth taking it to a computer hospital to see what they think.

Just rushing in to give Crem a big hug. So sorry to hear of the travails with dd. And every good wish for your op. Hope everything goes smoothly.
Beachy, please give my love to Borneo. :) Are you going to Sabah? I spent a lot of time in both Sabah and Sarawak back in the olden days... The fact that my first driving licence was obtained in Borneo says all you need to know about my driving skills. I am very good at swerving round water buffalo while driving 80.
Am currently avoiding distressing family issues by focusing on the fact that I have completed my first teaching practice with flying colours. Feedback today from tutor: "You have done brilliantly and I am so proud of you."

Ooh, I was feeling most jealous of the crepey hand-me-down-a-round, and didn't think there'd be anything suitable for DS, but maybe a bit of ex-Wilbur would be just the ticket! He's currently a pretty average five-year-old size, and slim (or at least slim compared to most the trousers out there), but is growing like a weed.

My sis sent him her sons' Star Wars hand-me-downs as a 'well done for being so brave' present. He got a Darth Vader outfit, a Clone mask, and a Jedi outfit. The whole lot were declared 'totally awesome' and he's apparently never taking them off. Except to go for a pooh. Something of a complicated business - Darth Vader must have had to factor in a few hours in the day for 'personal toilet'.

Sorry about DD, Cremo - it had been looking quite promising, hadn't it. But you do need to concentrate on you too. Own oxygen mask first, and all that.

I'd be up for another Thursday meet-up in the Russell Square (or further afield, depending on schedule) environs. It was v jolly last time.

I am green (or orange and hairy) with envy of beachy's trip to see the orangutans. I've always wanted to do that. If you pass back through Malaysia, see if you can go to Mallaca - amazing houses built around courtyards, and the most gigantic komodo dragons living on the river banks.

That's a shame that you can't make the 25th Wilbur, but given that we aren't too far apart, we could always meet for a quick coffee and pass-on somewhere halfway! I will PM you if when DD goes through her clothes.

Monty, and CV, sorry to hear you are Rudloph-like, and Rose, sorry to hear of your computer woes.

X-post with Strops! Well done old bean! That kind of feedback is just so marvellous to get, and no doubt so well-deserved. I am ing for you!

I am feeling slightly more deflated about my own teaching. I feel like I have forgotten every single thing I've learned over the past year, and can't imagine how to formulate a lesson on anything. However, I'm sure this will pass...

Sorry to hear of all the Crepey colds. These winter germs do seem to be hanging around for a long time this year.

Aww, thanks, Herbs. It's a roller-coaster ride, this teacher training lark. I bet you'll have your teaching mojo back soon. I just wish they hadn't given us an insane workload for the next few weeks. I am taking tonight off and determinedly thinking happy thoughts.

Hello crepeys, version 3 of the cookbook now available, same link as before (it should say version 3 24 March), including a couple of recipe to challenge the trousers of truth. PM me any more recipes and I will save for version 4.

Stropps that is top news. It must be a real rollercoaster.

Well, it looks like I finished season 3 of House of Cards without realising - it more or less ends mid-sentence. Bah. So Poldark it is as long as they speak properly outdoors or in well-lie rooms, not like Jamaica Inn.

Monty, feel better and Rose, hope your email gets better. That happened to me in Thunderbird (ingoing OK; outgoing not) - it was my port number (apparently). I didn't know I had more than one.

Lalsy, what's that about the university changing the ground rules so late in the day for dd? Wtf???

Quite, Stropps, wtf indeed. She is still waiting to hear. It is a subject not module choice problem (which only affects three people in the whole university) - she would not have gone there without the assurances they gave her that she could do it this way .

If she has it in writing, surely she has a jolly good case for making them honourable agreement??

Bah, ruddy tablet: honour the agreement.

You would think so. They have changed the rules and this is an unintended consequence I think - they cannot have meant it to work out like this IMO. Pah.

I don't see how they can justify changing the rules for students already at the university

You and me both, Stropps. I don't think they can - and hope that is why it is taking a while to sort (in that they are sorting the root of the problem, not dd).

Fingers crossed for a sensible outcome in the favour of your dd, lalsy.

I'll throw the, erm, bin at them if not