Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

lostinrates

LydiaJ wrote: »

He was just beginning to be useful at it when I got the phone with the sat nav app anyway.
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was thinking less of you than of him really! developing a sense of ''control'' and knowledge and awareness. but if he has aquired the skill and shows no more interest then the idea is no good.

LydiaJ

lostinrates wrote: »

was thinking less of you than of him really! developing a sense of ''control'' and knowledge and awareness. but if he has aquired the skill and shows no more interest then the idea is no good.

I know you were. The trouble was that even when he could work out from the map which way we should go, he wasn't terribly good at translating what he knew into intelligible instructions that told me which way to go in time for me to do it when driving in traffic, which I found very stressful. And the pair of them used to fight over whose turn it was to read the map. I ought to get him to read a map when we're walking somewhere and there's no time pressure.

PS You'd have made a fantastic mother if things had gone according to plan. And if you ever do end up with any kids (by whatever route) you still would. :A

zagubov

lostinrates wrote: »

I think its at 24 ''our'' eggs start declining in quality? Horrific when you think about it. the increasing risk of things we know can go wrong with ''older'' mothers (who aren't yet older women) and the things we don't yet know that could be related.

there is no reason many women can't have babies when older...my mother did, but she points out the pregnancy when she was younger was easier, and so was the recouperation afterwards....and the running around.

Ideally for me ...no health issues considered I'd have wanted to do it between ages 28-32 I think. I'd rather have a baby than our house...we could have just had a different house.

What kids are taught now is that birth defects are more common in younger mothers but proportionately more common in older mothers, the apparent contradiction being explained by the fact that "older mothers" simply don't usually get to be mothers. And it's not as if IVF usually works either.

OK this all sound a bit gloomy! I know this isn't a music thread but turn your speakers up, pin your ears back and tell me if this isn't the most ridiculously upbeat music you've heard this year!

lostinrates

LydiaJ wrote: »

I know you were. The trouble was that even when he could work out from the map which way we should go, he wasn't terribly good at translating what he knew into intelligible instructions that told me which way to go in time for me to do it when driving in traffic, which I found very stressful. And the pair of them used to fight over whose turn it was to read the map. I ought to get him to read a map when we're walking somewhere and there's no time pressure.

PS You'd have made a fantastic mother if things had gone according to plan. And if you ever do end up with any kids (by whatever route) you still would. :A

what a very kind thing to say, thank you. YOU always say the nicest things....then ''accuse'' others of it, lol.

tourist maps are good, when visiting new cities...very large scale, very quick ''reward'' of success when you reach the next junction and can confirm where you are.

dh has a slightyl annoying habit of getting lost then I have to find him on google maps and direct him, only he never stands still, so by the time I've found him he's somewhere else entirely, and WITHOUT FAIL walking in the wrong direction.
On the phone the other week I was talking to him as he walked home from work, and kept asking him where he was. He's been making his jouney to work about twice as long as he needed too..:rotfl:

misskool

chewmylegoff wrote: »

Dunno. At the moment I'm just being a typical male commitment-phobe. I think I do want to have kids eventually and obviously will buy a house again at some stage. However my current focus is on career and financial security rather than worrying about having children. It would mean a complete change of lifestyle and moving away from all our friends in the fairly near future in order to be somewhere where we could reasonably bring up children.

Basically I want to wait about 5 years but since she is about to turn 33 it is easy to see why that probably isnt going to happen. One of the most important things to try to sort out is that at the moment she expects to be able to take the kids to australia to see her family twice a year for two weeks at a time. So basically our whole life would be going to work, saving money and accruing holiday in order to fly to Australia twice a year.

I am not doing that...

It will be abundantly clear very soon that flying that often is not feasible when you have a house to pay for and maintain. We flew to Asia twice this year and we are well and thoroughly stretched.

Add children into the mix (which you think she wants) then 18 months to 2 years becomes normal. Many of my friends only fly back every 2-3 years. It just becomes normal.

And as my friends who have children enjoy telling me, there is never a right time to have children! :rotfl:

lostinrates wrote: »

because the nice people know everything:

we have a indago snooper sat nave, its six/seven years old I think and we on't and never have used the camera thing, just the sat nav function...at which its very, very good (though guess the maps are getting old? how does that work? in a sat nav) BUT the in car chargers are shokcing...they fall apart within weeks. last time we broke one we bought something that sort of fitted but wasn't correct brand and it doesn't work.

I do not want to replac e something thats not old, but getting fed up with buying expensive new car chargers....it doesn't have a great battery life. any ideas?

Do you need map updates? Otherwise, buy the cheapest one from a reputable brand. We bought a cheapie one from Currys and it's lasted almost 3 years now. The map is slowly getting out of date but if we hang on to it for another year or two then we've gotten our money's worth from it.

misskool

LydiaJ wrote: »

He was just beginning to be useful at it when I got the phone with the sat nav app anyway.

Talking of DS.... He likes making lego animations, and he's pretty good at it to within the limits of the equipment he's got. I'd like to encourage him in it, and I think he's getting to the stage where it would be helpful to get him some better hardware/software. Do any of the nice peeps know anything about this sort of thing, and has anyone got any recommendations? Thanks.

Does he just like making animations? One that comes highly recommended is RPG maker, it's online so you just need a bog standard laptop with internet connection. Otherwise, something like little big planet really stretches their imagination as well.

PasturesNew

Today I found out that a 6'6" car easily slips through a narrow opening that says it's 6'3" wide.... as I approached I said "no idea what this car is ...." but it fitted fine. It wasn't even a straight route, with a tall/gnarly/granite/ancient wall on one side and a house wall built into the sheer drop on the other. They never mentioned the low hanging branch at the far end either.... got under that though OK.

This is what happens when in Cornwall and it looks like you're at the end of the world and there's a narrow lane and you find yourself saying "wonder what's down there..." well, I can tell you, first it's sheer drops with crumbly edges, then there are 18" deep ruts and holes, then a couple of hairpin bends, then a 1-in-4 stretch ending in a 1-in-4 hairpin, before reaching the sign saying how wide the road is a bit further up....

I did get some "she never got that vehicle through there, surely...!!" looks from some locals at the end.

lostinrates

zagubov wrote: »

OK this all sound a bit gloomy! I know this isn't a music thread but turn your speakers up, pin your ears back and tell me if this isn't the most ridiculously upbeat music you've heard this year!

can't do this now, apparantly we are watching polar express which I have found a terribly upseting film...it seems to be really weird and odd messages in it. Either that or I'll be talking about reptiles and zionists throughout 2012. but really, hate hate hate this film. Like the foot massage I've had through its very longness.:D

vivatifosi

LydiaJ wrote: »

That's what I used to say. However, now my phone happens to have a satnav app, I use it. I have to admit, it's probably a good thing for other road users that I've got it. I consider myself to be a reasonably good driver, and certainly a competent mapreader, but some of my attempts to drive and read a map simultaneously (especially in London) have resulted in less than ideal driving. Of course, if there are two adults in the car so the mapreader and the driver are separate people, it's quite different.

We have satnav, I just prefer to use overseas as a pedestrian where they are very handy for getting around in cities you don't know. London I know pretty well, fortunately and everywhere else is, for the most part, easy to get around. I use the AA site quite a lot. Unless of course the place I'm going to has a ring road. Then I would hoist up the white flag, admit defeat and use one.

vivatifosi

PasturesNew wrote: »

Today I found out that a 6'6" car easily slips through a narrow opening that says it's 6'3" wide.... as I approached I said "no idea what this car is ...." but it fitted fine. It wasn't even a straight route, with a tall/gnarly/granite/ancient wall on one side and a house wall built into the sheer drop on the other. They never mentioned the low hanging branch at the far end either.... got under that though OK.

You're a better driver than me Pastures. I have before now been so petrified of the road conditions that I've stopped, got out and told DH to drive. I hate sheer drops. Thankfully there aren't a lot of those in Hertfordshire.