Crepeys of a consistently high standard

[Stropperella]

So there. :)

Oh yes, I remember Ranmoor! I thought it was all boys? But I was only at the Poly, so what do I know!

Am attempting some pruning here myself, although not of the aggressive kind. More lady-pruning, although I think that maybe something else..

Rose, I would feel quite hurt too, but don't hold on to it. let it go.
I think QQ is right-be direct and put Maestro on the back foot.

MI I feel very frustrated on your behalf for the orchestral situation. Back in the olden days we had orchestra , choir etc after school.
Why does it have to eat into class time.? And the teacher has no right to bully dd into a voluntary commitment. Dd is being very practical and pragmatic.

This morning I have been to the cemetery. It is the third anniversary of the death by suicide of my beautiful friend and colleague.

OH Cremo :(

MI tell the school where to stick the orchestra as I will be doing with the extra curricula sports clubs the PE teacher thinks ds should sign up for......

BTM ds's mate is a girl :)

Oh Cremo .

I am most cheered by your sympathy for little (and fierce) DD2. She's out doing her grade 5. I'm sure she'll play the pieces beautifully, not so much the scales.

I am on rewrite #1 of The Novel. Introducing all sorts of lurid details. Terrific fun. Nothing like a 19th century madhouse to get the imagination going.

Cremo

BD, girls can banter too!

Have just been for a BP walk with DH which was actually very pleasant. He even sat in the sun at the café with me without wanting to rush off!

In S&B news I have just done a rather dispiriting charity shop trawl...and then found a white cotton/linen sleeveless Gap top and a black cashmere sweater which looks brand new, for just under a fiver total .

BTM I know! Just pointing out :)

Ooh, MI, that's very cheering. Cashmere!

Really sorry to hear about people's ongoing work traumas, and glad that Auriga has got out of it and Stropps has avoided getting into it. I have to commiserate with Rose though: people often blithely say "Oh, do some voluntary work" but it can be a complete nightmare due to megalomaniacs who get away with murder in unstructured and non-unionised set-ups. And the lasting damage is just as real.

Crem good advice…I have a very passive aggressive relationship with Maestro The Terrible. We did have coffee recently…unexpectedly, she has invited us to all the parties of her DD's Batmitzvah at the end of the summer hols. She talked a lot about choir but didn't mention the concert…..
So very sad about your dear friend…I have lost 2 to suicide over the years.

Tilly Ranmoor was mixed I think but in common with a lot of halls at the time, the corridors were single sex…notionally

I must learn this charity shop knack so many Crepeys seems to have….In other S&B news I took delivery of this lovely dress and I'm so pleased with it. I have tried to get another one in a different colour but as the sale has now started there's only size 6's and 8's left

I have also tried on an evening dress for a function two weeks today…a gorgeous Ted Baker I bought in the sale two summers ago. It is wrinkling unflatteringly at the bodice. In a panic I have texted my alterations lady but I don't hold out much hope as she now works for Alexander McQueen ….aargh

X post…yes, Molly spot on.

Amazingly a google search found it even though it's old stock!

Oh Crem, how very sad..

MI, pah about dd2. And I am all for kids sorting out simple misunderstandings - or their own bad behaviour - themselves, but they can't really tackle incompetence or nastiness in adults, IMO.

ds is back from his cadet camp, had a wonderful time and made a point of going to thank one of the teachers and tell her how much he had enjoyed it even tho she was in the midst of a family reunion (gorgeous bouncing babe, very happy to see his mum, blimey teachers who do these trips are amazing). He and dh are off on a well-timed holiday to Greece tonight. How many white Magnums would it take to reinflate the Greek economy?

Rose, how very petty and small minded of them. I agree about directness. I agree about voluntary work - I volunteer in a very structured set up (some might say it is inflexible) but I really like it for that - the job is very well defined, you do it, you get thanked and occasionally taken on an outing or given a chocolate biscuit, that's it. Lovely dress.

Smashing frock Rose. Love the neckline especially.

Love both the frocks Rose.

No need for summer dresses for me in 10 days!

Well, we bought a car. Yay! Same model as current one, and from exactly the same salesman. He offered us a sum to take our current one in part exchange; I am now going to enter into negotiations with our Finance Director who also wants to buy it.

Just had a lively last - minute catch-uo with my old friend who is over for the summer but only in London for 2 days. Can't believe we first met 28 years ago

I was in Ranmoor for a term. I remember getting back at 4:30 am soon after moving in. I took my shoes off and tiptoed up the stairs not wanting to wake anyone. Needn't have worried. Someone on my corridor was playing heavy metal at full volume

Well, you know those weekends where on Saturday morning you get up at silly o'clock to wrangle the dcs out of bed so that you can drive an hour to run a 5k after doing minimal exercise for 5 months and find it strangely easy. So easy, in fact, that you are inspired to drag the teen out of bed the following morning and run another 5k round some local woods. And then come home to cook lunch and fancy a glass (or 2) of wine and find yr bastard oh has drunk your share of the decent wine so you have to drink the dodgy cooking wine instead. Well - that.

Stropps.

Lovely Crepeys, please clutch, light candles, pray and generally do everything irrationally optimistic for Molly's and my friend who was so terribly bereaved and is now in the very early days of another pregnancy.

(I cried. In public.)

What a bastard, Stropps. Happens to me all the time. When DH had given up drinking, on one of the many occasions that he does, I bought myself a really good bottle of Bordeaux. I opened it while I was cooking, had a very small glass, took the dinner through and found he had finished the bottle. It can hardly have touched the sides.

Crossed fingers and holding thumbs for your friend, MI.

MI, your DFr will be in my thoughts. My family member, who had to have 3 terminations because of problems with the babies, is progressing nicely apart from the threat of gestational diabetes, so sometimes things do go well.

I will catch up later with the thread, but wanted to say that we had a great time with DGS1 on his mini holiday, but we came back knackered. We are off to Leicestershire on Wednesday to stay with my widowed friend for a few days. Enjoy the rest of the weekend, Crepeys.

I'm crossing, MI.

Had a rather eating out day brunch with my friend, ice-cream with free prosecco at the new ice-cream parlour (after a long walk with another friend, so I had earned it) and just now a curry buffet with the family because DS was staaaaarving

Had a lovely day with our friends - I couldn't be arsed to replace all the BBQ food I'd already bought, so I just oven-baked it instead. I mixed a couple of large jugs of Pimms, DD1 did something creative with home made cookies and ice cream for pud, and it was all very chillaxing.

I have just spent an exhausting couple of hours supervising packing for DD1 (off to PGL tomorrow) and DD2 (off to Germany). Both suitcases were ridiculously overstuffed with non-essentials. From DD1's I had to cull a ton of beauty products and two huge bags of Dorritos. From DD2's I removed a pair of speakers , a huge fluffy blanket, and a large can of foam play-soap. Needless to say, neither had remembered to pack essentials such as deodorant or towels. I'm just hoping there's no French strike tomfoolery affecting the ferries this week.

Talking of DS, I had a call from the police today, because yesterday he was found (with two friends) swimming in a nearby quarry. Oh, the invincibility of the young... it really hadn't occurred to him that this wasn't a good idea, or that every year teenagers drown in such cold water on a sunny day. The policeman was very nice about it (I recognised his name and vaguely know his wife, which helped... ) and I think DS has taken the message on board.

CV, how terrifying.

DD2 off to Belgium. It's pissing down so I can't go for a Ladyjog and DP about to take her to school for pickup so would be hard to negotiate a swim (after the amount I've eaten and drunk this weekend that's all a bit unfortunate)....

And after yesterday's lovely news I've just picked up a text last night from DSIL saying she and DSis are splitting up. (Hope that's the sad emoji.) after 16 years and two kids...DSIL formally adopted the boys a few years ago (as is not bio-parent) and I don't think that would have been a major issue in any case but I am v sorry - you can never know other people's relationships but I also think living with DSis's mental health issues cannot have been easy.

Oh that's horribly worrying, CV. Glad they were spotted and were safe.

Fingers crossed MI.

I'm the only one in the house having to do anything today. Grrr. Everyone else is first day of the holidays so will just flump around all day and my train is full of happy, chatty travellers going to Gatwick. Not what you need on a Monday morning.

Still went to the village fair in Saturday and bought two nice bracelets and a Jack Wills hoodie for dd2 for £2!

Interrailer has got to Berlin

Nasty weather here