Not mentioning the T word at all

littlecal

(((((hugs))))) PiC,D&DD,kidcat.

I've been up for hours too but I have a good reason - I'm 50 today!!!!!! WHOO-HOO :j:j

I've got a loving OH (after a miserable marriage) a roof over my head and food on the table.Yes I have a moan and throw my toys out of the pram from time to time,but I still think "I'm so flippin' lucky"

GreyQueen

((kidkat)) and ((DD&D)) oh my goodness.

Please accept friendly internet good wishes for the young man's fast recovery from the surgery-to-come. Just a terrible shame that it is necessary; sounds like the poor lad has been thru the mill a lot in his short life.

kidkat, how unbelivably awful that school are being towards you. To pester a Mum who is very ill over something as trivial as lateness shows a lack of both commonsense and common decency which takes the breath away. Please ignore then and take the rest you so obviously need.

Hester, couldn't agree with you more about your comments. A schoolteacher pal is beyond disgusted with social services. Calls them about children who are so undernourished that they collapse at school (transpires that they haven't had anything to eat in days) and gets asked how old said child is? They are secondary school children so SS come back with; "Well, they can sort themselves out, then".

OK, so we assume that the official position is that if there is no food in the child's home, and no money to buy food, instead of investigating what the heck has gone wrong, the SS response is that the child should shoplift food? I kinda thought I was living in the twenty-first century in a modern, progressive country with a social welfare system which is designed to prevent such things.:(

Everyone is getting Child Benefit which is £87.97 pcm for eldest/ only child and £58.07 for each younger child pcm (multiplying the weekly rates up by 52 and dividing down by 12 months) for every child thereafter. I spend less than the lowest figure a month feeding myself, andI could spend less and still be adequately-nourished. Plus there are Child Tax Credits which often run into thousands a year; I've seen ones for £11k and £13k.

If things have gone so badly wrong that this money isn't being spent on the children's most basic needs like food and clothing, I think SS ought to ruddy well be in there, so fast that they burn rubber.

I have a fairly poor opinion of our childrens' social services based on several encounters with them during my working life and seeing how they leave children, even infants and toddlers, in druggies' homes where the Police won't even take their sniffer dogs inside because of the amount of uncapped hypodermic needles underfoot (I've seen the pictures and they are beyond belief). Plus the filth..........! If you kept a dog like that, the RSPCA would prosecute you, and rightly so. Other agencies who deal with both the parents and SS are often left shell-shocked and despairing by SS attitudes to the risk and horrendous neglect that they will knowingly leave the children exposed to. Seems that there is a dogmatic attitude that blood-ties conquer all.

OK, rant over, sorry.:o

Kaz2904 I have a bit of a thing about bowls, too. They have to be properly bowl-ish, with that feeling of cupping and cradling the food, not openly flaunting it like dishes do (imagine me shuddering at this point).:p Life is a quest for the perfect white bowl.......... I have even done pottery and made some of my own. You are not alone.

Well, better have brekkie and then head allotmentwards. Although it is hard to imagine spring, it creeps up on a body and any slacking on these winter weekends will make it harder come the New Year. Sun is shining and sky is flawlessly-blue, long may it last.

Hope everyone has a great day.

katieowl_2

littlecal wrote: »

(((((hugs))))) PiC,D&DD,kidcat.

I've been up for hours too but I have a good reason - I'm 50 today!!!!!! WHOO-HOO :j:j

I've got a loving OH (after a miserable marriage) a roof over my head and food on the table.Yes I have a moan and throw my toys out of the pram from time to time,but I still think "I'm so flippin' lucky"

Well a Happy Birthday to you!!! Hope you have a lovely day!

Kate

littlecal

Thank you x having the yellow ball for a few minutes would be nice but hey-ho I'll just have to carry on grinning like a cheshire cat:D

GreyQueen

:bdaycake::bdaycake: :j:j:j:j:j:j:j



HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLECAL

Hope you have a fantastic day!

VJsmum

Happy Birthday littlecal xx

I am on a train headed dad-wards (God bless Virgin wifi)

I intend to use part of the journey to catch up with various magazines - work related and otherwise - that threaten to overwhelm us with their volume. My bag is massively heavy but will get lighter throughout the journey. My own little bit of remote decluttering.

kidcat

Happy birthday littlecal hope you have a wonderful day.:)

lizzyb1812

littlecal - Happy Birthday :j

I remember thinking "Phew, I made it!" on my fiftieth

Have a great day :beer:

Justamum

Hugs to kidcat and D&DD (and son)

Happy birthday littlecal. I'll be joining you in 18 months and DH is 50 in just over 2 weeks.

Kaz2904

Happy Birthday littlecal have a wonderful day