Nice People Thread Part 9 - and so it continues

LydiaJ

Hello again. RL got busy for a while, but not in a bad way or anything. I'm back now. :hello:

I know you've posted volumes since I was last in here, so I'll be catching up slowly and replying to hopelessly out of date stuff three posts at a time. Forgive me!

GDB2222 wrote: »

I agree that it's great if you can find somewhere to park on the street - very MSE. If you can't find a space on the street and don't mind paying a fiver for the station car park, there's a list here:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/tubestationcarparks/

Thank you. Very useful.

lostinrates wrote: »

Lydia is saying a matinee....which suggests a weekend? If its a weekend it changes what I would do slightly.

I certainly wouldn't do a3 from where she is (I used to do these route a bit when I lived near her ).

Oh, how the British love to route plan

Weekday in half term.

SingleSue wrote: »

Last day of school holidays here, still need to get youngest's shoes but he was completely freaked out when we tried before and refused to take his shoes off to try any on, so going to have to try again today at the little choice local shoe shop rather than Clarks. The advantage there is it is quieter, the disadvantage is the quality.

Shoe buying has always been difficult with him, he has a thing about changing footwear or being bare footed but this year, we appear to have gone back to the trauma of years ago when buying shoes. Even if we manage the shoes, the next challenge is going to be getting him to wear the new school uniform, he doesn't like new clothes either!

He had improved but this last 6 months has been spent regressing back to pre high school days and getting worse by the day as the end of school holiday has got closer.

Grrr, it's almost like we have gone back 10 years in his developement and therapies....most frustrating!

I am so cross about the way his school has messed him about recently, and this just makes me feel crosser. :mad:

By now term has begun, so I hope it's been going OK so far. (Perhaps there are more posts about it that I shall find as I carry on catching up.)

LydiaJ

lostinrates wrote: »

Want. Can't have.

http://www.sphere-fountain.com/prices/

Crystal ball garden feature.....

Love it. I've seen metal spheres like that too, and even stone ones - suspect those would be a bit more forgiving of scaling up or getting algae or whatever.

SingleSue wrote: »

Yesterday was horribly hot, it feels a little bit cooler today.

A very stressful last 36 hours with middle son getting into a tizz over starting 6th form and going on an outing for the first day and youngest son going into meltdown mood at the thought of going back to school.

Thankfully, got middle son sorted at 3am Thursday morning...only to have to get up at 6.50 to take him to school for the trip, unfortunately, I had only been able to sleep for about an hour though.

Youngest was like a bear with a sore head, his new school blazer which had only arrived 20 minutes before (and cost £40!), was thrown, dragged and generally not treated well, new shoes were thrown, doors were slammed, tears were in evidence but we got him to school on time.

Not that he (or I) are happy, they have given him the same English teacher as last school year, the one who refuses to believe anything is wrong with him and who decided he didn't need any help in exams/tests/class work and sent the help away or didn't give youngest access to it. This all caused major problems in the last term and was instrumental in a further backwards slide in youngest....so 2nd day back and I am having to go for a meeting this morning to try to sort it out!

One good thing though, youngest has found a degree he would very much like to do and a university he feels comfortable with and wants to work towards it...so it might all turn around yet!

Good news about the uni decision. Am hoping to hear about the English teacher as I keep reading.

DS not happy about school either. Doesn't want to go and gets very down about it. At least he's pleased to be in top set for science and even more pleased to be in bottom set for French & Spanish. Also very happy with his new Geography teacher who seems to be much more on board than any of his other teachers with the "please let him use a word processor" thing - actually letting him have it for ordinary class work rather than just in assessments. Drama is one of the few subjects he likes - he's sad to be getting only one lesson a fortnight of it instead of two like last year - but I've persuaded him to audition for the school production. Waiting to hear if he's got a part and if so what.

lostinrates wrote: »

We had rain over night and this morning but its really beautiful now, a perfect late summer day. Cooler yes, but lovely.


I am beginning to panic that heating is going to be an issue again, the new company are playing silly beggars. I hope we am being overly cynical, But......at least this time they won't be starting work until we feel more confident.

Oh no! Hoping you get proper heating and hot water very soon.

LydiaJ

chewmylegoff wrote: »

Well I didn't get promoted on the basis of an inadequate answer to a question in the interview - they couldn't tell me what the question was though. So I shouted at the HR person about how ridiculous it was that it has taken 6 weeks to work out the I failed the interview. That made me feel 1% better.

Now have to wait until Monday to find out who got the jobs and whether I need to leave in a reactionary hissy fit. I will spend the rest of the afternoon sharpening up my CV.

Hugs - if you accept hugs - or some equivalent expression of sympathy and support if you'd rather.

michaels wrote: »

I understand exactly where you are coming from Yorkie - I would feel 10% happier if I didn't see clutter everywhere I went but the process of actually dealing with it defeats me.

If you increase the percentage to about 70%, that would also be so very true of me.

michaels wrote: »

Speaking of brambles I meant to post that we had blackberries and ice-cream last Sunday. The relevance being this was the only meal that has even partly come from our garden here ever.

I have brambles in my garden but they never seem to make any blackberries.

GDB2222 wrote: »

You are welcome to join in. You just need to bare your soul a little.

Everybody here:

a) Lives in Herts or Outer Herts. (Outer Herts comprises the rest of the universe outside Hertfordshire proper, which is the hub of the universe.)

b) Likes mushrooms. Or they don't.

As for me: I live in N London, which is quite close to the hub of the universe. And I like mushrooms. (Not my favourite food, but I can cope with them.)

I am usually in the "will eat mushrooms to be polite as long as they're not too overwhelmingly strong" camp. I went on a weekend away last weekend (of which perhaps I'll say more later) and we were served a starter of mushrooms in some kind of sauce. I had only just arrived - very late for the opening meal - although the organisers knew I would be arriving late because you can't leave my part of the country at 5:30pm on a Friday and arrive in Woking by 7:00 - and wanted to be "nice" so I accepted it and ate it ... and found myself really liking it, which was rather bewildering.

michaels

LydiaJ wrote: »

If you increase the percentage to about 70%, that would also be so very true of me.

Umm I think that was 100%

LydiaJ

lostinrates wrote: »

Also today spoke to a sort of but not really client (confusing relationship) who told me her son who was iffy had indeed gone back to school to do
His a levels. I was delighted, he's got great gcse's in sciences. Oh no, she said, he's decided not to do sciences, he's doing three 'new' subjects...sort of fluffy ones iykwim. A kid, great at sciences, not great at much else, and doing something else not that well regarded by universities or employers. I asked why and she said the school advised him they were 'easier a levels ' and made a really good timetable. I find both reasons depressing.

Grrrrr. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

lostinrates wrote: »

I have less stuff that's 'mine' rather than 'ours' than I realised donwn stairs. I don't know how I feel about that. Crowded out mainly.

Hugs. I feel like that about my house too. DS finds letting go of stuff hard, and DD is actually a pathological hoarder. I am wondering how best to help her, while being sensitive to the fact that it's understandable that both of them are hyper-sensitive to loss.

lostinrates wrote: »

iB as in international baccalaureate?

That would be more like what DH did. I'll ask him when he gets in how many subjects he studied to 'a level' standard. Six still seems really small selection still though,mdoesn't it...to say to a sixteen year old (and fourteen year olds, it was hard choosing GCSE subjects...) this might shape your future, what you are doing in a time that's thrice your life span might depend on how well you narrow things down now.

I can see for some fewer subjects is better, and I'm not necessarily saying its wrong, just I think its tough. And that maybe schools and those governing them should be making some choices that pupils and some parents have not the experience nor wisdom to navigate?

IB is three subjects at higher level and three at standard, plus theory of knowledge, some kind of community involvement, and an extended essay/project type thing. Your 6 subjects have to include your own language (with literature), another language, a science, maths (or "maths studies" if you can't manage proper maths), a humanities subject and one other. Your sixth subject can be an extra one from one of the first five categories, or a creative subject like art. It's certainly broader than A-levels.

michaels

Who do NP use for phone/broadband. I am in a dilemma, my O2 broadband has become sky (boo hiss) but because of this I have 6 more months free. My landline is BT I normally pay 12 months in advance and for some historic reason get free evening calls as well as weekend. We use the BT line for the odd (2/week max) free call to landlines plus we use 18185 override for 5p calls at other times and also use it for free offpeak calls to 0845 nos.

When this started about 3 years ago BT was about 100 quid for the year now it is 141 and due for renewal. There are cheaper packages but they often involve changing broadband which seems silly as we have 6 more months free but 6 months of BT standard monthly rate would be crippling. There are other cheaper providers of landlines only but they have no free evening calls often and almost none have free 0845 which are at least 5p/min and it is unclear if they will allow 18185 for the length of the contract plus they tend to be min 18 month contracts and I might want to have a package with broadband in 6 months time. Sorry for the essay but I can't see a good answer

PasturesNew

LydiaJ wrote: »

I have brambles in my garden but they never seem to make any blackberries.

Brambles up your back passage can lead to dingleberries.

misskool

michaels wrote: »

Who do NP use for phone/broadband. I am in a dilemma, my O2 broadband has become sky (boo hiss) but because of this I have 6 more months free. My landline is BT I normally pay 12 months in advance and for some historic reason get free evening calls as well as weekend. We use the BT line for the odd (2/week max) free call to landlines plus we use 18185 override for 5p calls at other times and also use it for free offpeak calls to 0845 nos.

When this started about 3 years ago BT was about 100 quid for the year now it is 141 and due for renewal. There are cheaper packages but they often involve changing broadband which seems silly as we have 6 more months free but 6 months of BT standard monthly rate would be crippling. There are other cheaper providers of landlines only but they have no free evening calls often and almost none have free 0845 which are at least 5p/min and it is unclear if they will allow 18185 for the length of the contract plus they tend to be min 18 month contracts and I might want to have a package with broadband in 6 months time. Sorry for the essay but I can't see a good answer

sky for landline and broadband. which reminds me, must be time to switch again. £110 cashback, 50% off BB for 9 months and only 12 months contract. No brainer really.

Last one was O2 BB but I could never remember to top up my PAYG phone so ended up costing loads.

we need unlimited so our options aren't that many really except for switching every so often...

LydiaJ

SingleSue wrote: »

The meeting on Friday went well, the only teacher who could talk to me about the problem with youngest's English teacher....was his English teacher! So I took the bull by the horns and we thrashed it out between us (verbally and calmly I hasten to add!). The upshot of it is that they have agreed to try to get on this year and to possibly increase his working outside of the main class more (despite it going against what we have been trying to achieve with his socialisation, but we have to think of his education and potential) and youngest is a lot happier and more positive towards his teacher now.

Good news. Hope s/he sticks to it.

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Hope you and DD enjoy your respective 43rd and 10th birthday presents! And that you got them the right way around - DD's is pinker, I think, and is definitely shorter. I forgot to label them before I gave them to LIR.

LIR had labelled them correctly for you (although I think DD will probably take the attitude that hers is hers and mine is ours - but I'm OK with that as long as she takes good care of it and accepts that she can only borrow it when I am not planning to wear it myself. )

lostinrates wrote: »

We mention houses all the time, Fixing them, our personal journeys on buying them, or selling them. Hating them, loving them. Furnishing them. Painting them, heating them, freezing in them.

Do feel free to join in. We do so like a new nice person.

And now I am going to stop catching up on here and go and do some decluttering on mine!

LydiaJ

silvercar wrote: »

Totally agree with the first bit. Not really on the 2nd bit - pentacost is god giving the jews the commandments, day of atonment is god demanding atonement for our sins, 10 plagues come from god on passover.
All a bit inter-related.

Those can still be described as things that "happened to the Jews" even if God was the one doing things, though. Whereas the Christian version of pentecost is the only Christian festival about stuff "happening to the church" because the big two (Christmas and Easter) are about stuff that took place before there was a church for them to happen to, IYSWIM.

silvercar wrote: »

Also come home to find a whole load of paperwork about the mental health act, legal nearest relative, power of attorney and 4 "get me out of here!" texts. It seems my sister isn't coping and has now decided she won't be the legal nearest relative and doesn't want the power of attorney etc.

Hugs. Hope you can work things out with your sister so you can share the load. Do you have other siblings?

I dread this stage. Haven't had it yet because my dad is still compos mentis and was able to be "the relative" for my mum. It'll be me when it's his turn, though. Hope that's not for a long time yet.

PasturesNew wrote: »

Parent presents as a fully functioning set of brain cells..... it's only by knowing them that you realise most of it's cuckoo.

My grandmother was like that - extremely convincing. Mum wasn't, but that was partly the parkinsonism, and partly the particular (and less common) type of dementia that she had.

Yes, I know I said I was going to declutter. I've renewed my buildings and contents insurance just in time (expires today) and am off to get some food so DS and DD won't starve. THEN I'll declutter, honest guv.