Spring is sprung, the grass is ris, I wonder where the crepeys is

[herbaceous]

As requested!

So sorry, Auriga. Be kind to yourself

Auriga

That's a lot to shoulder, Auriga. So very sorry for so many family troubles at the moment. xx

Auriga and MI really stressful in different ways. MI the email is a good plan.

I have been to the work doctor today - apparently I have one leg shorter than the other - how has nobody, including me, ever noticed this? More seriously, I am borderline hypertension and I consider that I have a relatively healthy lifestyle.

Auriga

hatty, DD has one leg longer than the other (it is also more sturdy) and there is about a shoe-size difference between the two. It was pointed out by the HV at her 8month check (about 1cm difference then), and has been monitored since - no more than 2cm difference now. How much is yours?

Auriga You have been and are continuing to be a really saintly daughter. I don't know how you manage.

I iz here.
Went to work. Silly woman I am.Home in front of fire and have taken the next few days off. My head is a stone, my glands are puffy, and my eye sockets are black. At least I have it now and not on the Crepey Weekender.

So deeply sorry for you Auriga. A lot to shoulder. Glad you can find some small joy in dds musical career.
Oh my ToTs have gone to Oxfam shop. I can't work miracles.admire your fortitude Monty.

Magi- excellent advice all round.

Hatty- visions of you wandering around school with students following you blindly. Will they give you a tablet for the hypertension ? I take one. Thanks goodness, or I may have spontaneously combusted at some point.

MI you have done a good thing. Affix your own oxygen mask before helping others. You need a long bath, a long swim and a long sleep. Have you a spare room where you can relax with a book and nod off in your own time without yet more judgment.

Beacharoo how are you feeling ?

Cousin now texting me en route from Delhi airport. She is hassling me to get her a phone card and ' her the codes'. I have told her to use parents' phone, that I don't know what she means and that in any case dad can get it for her but she keeps texting me.

Cremo, to bed with you!

Cremo, what were you thinking?! Get better now!

DS has just appeared home - very pumped because he was asked to play in a Sixthform match (he's Y10) and was on for the full 90mins -v- a very posh boarding school (down your way CV!)

Set up your phone the same way you have set up your email, MI.

Disclaimer! I don't know how to do it but am sure it is possible.

If in doubt, ask your teens!

MI, keep saying you don't understand

Am standing firm and telling her to get dad to do it. There are limits.

Auriga and MI, sorry you're having such a horrible time of it at the moment.

I think there would be a stampede to sign my mother's DNR papers.

I have one leg shorter than the other, and it's quite a bit shorter - just under an inch I think. Discovered at the osteopath when I was pregnant and had a clonky pelvis.

Crem, get better for the weekend!!

I will head down Lower Marsh tomorrow and find out the name of the bar.

Yes please, MrsS! You could do some tasting research while you are there

The mojitos are quite fine, I have to say...

MI - sounds like they all want you to micro manage their involvement. Not your job.

BTM - I have half a shoe size difference but it never occurred to me that my legs were different . Not sure what the difference in length is but it can't be substantial.

Crem - hope you get better for the weekend. I am going to see my GP on Wednesday to see what he says - this being France, I'll probably be given tablets - hope I can combine them with alcohol.

Auriga - so sorry to hear about DM.

I've got one leg shorter than the other. I wore an inset in my shoe for a while. In retrospective, I think my pelvis was just wonky so one was hoiked up

So sorry about your dmum and dsis, Auriga.

MI, that message is genius, and love the link to your website. Pity you can't yet insist that they add their glowing review of your novel on Amazon, while they are messing around on t'internet. Naturally only as a distraction technique for their anxiety issues . Perhaps a suggestion for the future.

Not saintly, no

Admit I was bitterly disappointed about missing the concert, which DH said was fantastic, he cried with joy telling me about it. But have managed to get to choir tonight. The music is difficult enough to make me forget everything

Have sent DSis2 some cosy bed socks & some posh (unscented) lotions etc. Will send some boxed sets as well. Do any of you wise women have other suggestions for sustaining comforts & distractions?Ideas welcome. She can't cope with realistic crime, so Scandinavian murder is out.

The Light Years - first part of the Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard? (It's a book, not a boxed set)

DH & I are just one episode away from the end of The Jewel in the Crown - have really enjoyed watching that again.

How about some of the Persephone books? Not too long (why are novels so long these days?), good variety, a joy to look at and hold. Rumer Godden - The Greengage Summer is my favourite book of all time. Or how about Bill Bryson?

I second the Cazalet Chronicles - great suggestion, MM. Avoiding the fifth volume, which features cancer rather centrally. But vols 1 - 2 are ideal; actually there is cancer in vols 3-4 iirc. Anyway, Vol 1 is bloody brilliant.