Our Girl and Captain James Discussion Thread Volume VIII

[icemistOBE]

Feel free to join in as we discuss all things Our Girl related

Honorary Members of The CJ Collective:
Ben Aldridge
Tony Grounds
Lacey Turner

Eldest DSs CV finally done - in other words a made-up, exaggerated pack of lies that disguises the fact he's a lazy, underperforming layabout. Off to youngest DSs school football match now, dreaming of blindfolds, lancaster bombers, wonky crowns and audio clips. Double away!!

On lunch at last- lots to catch up on! Not even looked at the YouTube clip- will do at home so I can do screen grabs if needed.
elsie you are the nuts. Can't wait to have a ringtone - I keep meaning to have one of the songs but forget once I open laptop.

As we're talking techie stuff...one step back, please...have mercy and give me the link to the whattaman clip, please. I can't find it on YouTube! Where is it??

Ps: woofwoof, are you sure it's the right thing to make the cv for your own cub? I mean, why don't you let him try with his own version? It's part of the learning process and actually a good opportunity to stare at some ugly truths and possibly take action
(I have helped doing mock interviews recently, that also helps if you find someone outside the family network that can give the right kickinthebutt nudge

m.youtube.com/watch?v=y-Z50Tuzh8I

(Blimey this bread is not baking and I am late for pick up and the timer in this ikea over broke 3 times already...grrrrr....bread or kids? Which do I choose??)

When I do the ringtones later I'll try and include some instructions for how to get transfer to phone and setup (on iPhones & androids). I'm saying all this like I'm an expert (which I'm most definitely not in this field!) but hopefully I should be able to get it working.

Rhubarb I loved your latest chapter. It's so emotional I came over all teary. Like a few of said a while back about reading. I am an avid reader and haven't picked up a book since September! One of the joys of reading for me is having a picture in my mind how I want it to be. Rhubarbs FF is excellent because just like a book where we all have our own picture of the story other than the characters. Bravo!!!

cherin I used to make bread (in a machine). I would set the timer so it was reading when we woke up. Waking to fresh bread was amazing. Kids got fed up of country grain so I switched to 50/50, but still rebelled. It's now collecting dust.

DS1 home, not very good results, mainly C/D and an E. I was trying to avoid wine mid week, that's not gonna happen :(

Cherin try this, at work so doing on my phone, I'll sort later if it doesn't work

richtea I wouldn't worry too much about the mock results, as long as he starts to do some work now he can still do well. In fact sometimes good mock results can be counterproductive, can lead to complacency and disaster. So basically DS needs to get his head out of his a*, dig in and put some bloody effort in.

rhubarb I've just read your latest chapter, fantastic

Had a lovely afternoon with CJ and a box of Heroes but episode 3 won't play on the DVD

richtea I am now only using the bread machine to do the mixing (am telling myself that's not actually cheating, as kitchen is draughty so rise is never good otherwise), then I bake it in the oven into a cast iron casserole. Lid on. Sourdough starter. I swear it's delicious!! I try to make it 50/50 too, or 30/70 as with sourdough the rising is soo much longer if you use wholegrain flour. But it's been an habit for years now. Only problem, I often get the timing wrong and end up in baking late at night or borderline-late for pick up.
(I clearly choose kids over bread, btw. They are safe and sound at home. Actually, I am in the car parked in front of home, with a sleeping little one. Bless my wifi router ;-)

I'll search for the Ted talk. I didn't like the speaker but the message was clear. Too much testing and too early puts some kids into regression and then they either start cheating or bond with others performing even lower (to feel better). Focus should be more on the process of learning and stimulating the appreciation of a challenge, no matter what the result is. Because if you focus on the grades only, most kids gets depressed. And I must say most of my male friends had that attitude ('fuck the grades, the teacher hates me, I am going fishing') until they got older and at university, where they felt more in control of timing, of subjects, and the relationship with professors was less personal and direct. So they took it more objectively. Just saying...don't want to make generic statements ;-)

Well, a very quick trawl of the dregs of the sales didn't turn up anything exciting. A bit sad, hardly any stags to be seen now.

Just reread your latest rhubarb and am awestruck once more at the brilliance of the world you've created. How far are you taking the story? Are you going beyond the original? I'm looking forward to your take on the restaurant scene (assuming you do one that is).

We're on our second bread maker; the first one lasted years and we use it every day or rather overnight. I've never had the confidence to make 'real' bread other than soda type bread (Nigella does a great super quick recipe).

Sorry richtea that the results weren't what your ds wanted. Hope he's not too downcast. Mine has uni interviews next month. I do think he's almost given up though on trying to achieve what he's really capable of and is happy to coast and under achieve. He's got your friends' attitude cherin except it's going to his mates for band practice rather than fishing!

orphan I would not want to advertise this as a good morale, but the mate who used to go fishing more often is now a millionaire that stopped working for money at the ripe age of 35, and now works as a skipper for leisure, or sets up cookery classes....he cheated all his way through uni, but he was actually clever and sniffed the right opportunities etc etc. unmarried, and quite a hunk, he's still having the time of his life (sailing around Greece or the Caribbean)
The nerdy ones in our group are teachers or clerks despite having masters and PhDs. So you can't always tell what the future is ;-)

New soundtrack for the journey home- so lovely having CJ talking to me.... He is lovely...

Look who's on my desk

icemist are you exerting self control and not flicking ahead?!

cherin Mmm, might not share that story with ds! You're right though, dp has a Phd and is def nerdy but on a pretty rubbish salary (wages frozen for the last 4 years).

icemist love the calendar!!!

DH home and had a family discussion re. Results. We have decided that there is no point in getting angry (me), upset (DS) we are waiting until tomorrow Eve, which is parent Eve, where we will speak to all his teachers. Why I feel passionate about qualifictions is because my DH left school not doing any because he went into the family business. Top of the range car, house etc, etc. Then in the 90's the markets crashed and they lost everything. We went from many holidays, even a Concorde trip! To being bankrupt.... That's a confession! DH has worked hard but it has not been easy.

Anyway back on a lighter note, must try soda bread out, that might work.

Did anyone read five years on today? Really good

Evening all!

Got in a short time ago from actually doing some proper work and have to go out again almost immediately so I won't be back on here for a couple of hours at least - I don't do mobile!. I hate Wednesdays due to over complicated kids activities - I am literally a taxi going backwards and forwards. Just long enough to say thanks for all the lovely comments. Much appreciated.

Now "TAXI!!"

I completely missed the 5 years update with the excitement of new zombies. Thank for the heads up Richtea.

Right you lot, I've uploaded a few more clips to Soundcloud as they're easier to listen to up there....

Link again..
soundcloud.com/elsie3g/sets/og

But I've also put the individual mp3 files on a sharing site called Dropbox from where you'll be able to download as many as you like. I've still got a few more requests to do, but some clips have been tricky to get hold of, then you have to make the video into audio, then edit each bit...but I'm pretty happy with the results so far ;-)

Dropbox - mp3s..
www.dropbox.com/sh/olcb31qa1la1cdp/AABVAxsM5HWG1_BLzu02UPlLa?dl=0

Ringtones are a slightly messy affair, especially in the case of iPhones! They have to be in the correct format (this differs across devices) so I just need to do a little more fiddling about before I'm happy I've (a) got the right files formats and they're working on the iPhone etc and (b) got a set of instructions that people will understand!

I think I've cracked it on my own iphone as I've just had a new text alert shouting..."Private Dawes, PRIVATE DAWES!" Just need to give you guys the files in the correct format.

Watch this space...

richtea sorry the results werent as good as you were hoping. If its any consolation I failed all my mocks, but it made me work harder and I did alright. Hopefully it will be a good kick up the backside?

Ooh, kids out the bath, gotta go, quick pics of brains and dangles

You are very talented elsie would not have had a clue how to even start that!

Was wonderful having CJ whisper into my ear on the way home

Love how the restaurant scene has been played 170 times- fess up who has it on repeat?

Here is the blindfold scene can't work it out ...

rhubarb just read your latest, loved it as usual!! Just wonderful!

Off to investigate the sound clips now, I could do with CJ whispering sweet nothings in my ear!!