Nice People Thread Number 11 - A Treasury of Nice People

vivatifosi

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

That's most of London, I think. Near my Chambers, there's a house for sale that costs several million quid, with no garden (a tiny courtyard) and no parking, either.

Speaking of chambers locations... I don't know if people remember but last year I was helping a friend of mine from the USA trace his family tree in the UK and I ended up showing them round in Doozer's neck of the wood, in spite of initial signs suggesting we'd end up on Merseyside (red herring).

Well, my friend's mum works for a small museum in the States and brought over a couple of documents that they had in the museum to show me and for me to help translate from late secretary hand and 17th century English. One of them was for land in London on which there are now chambers (Little Essex Lane), but in the 1690s were houses. They didn't know this at the time, but the purchaser was previously one of the Levellers. The document is on vellum and absolutely beautiful. It has a hand-painted royal crest at the top too. It's safely back in the US now.

lostinrates

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

We have a fairly small car - a Fiat Brava - and that is fine for us. A small car's important if you use residents' parking or other on-street London parking - you need to be able to nab small spaces or you'll spend a lot of time circling trying to park. It fits Kermie's backwards-facing seat in the front, and I sat with Isaac in the back, when we went to my parents' house in Kent. But you can also put the baby seat in the back with no problem.



e.

Is there an issue with baby seats in cars with air bags in the front or have I imagined this? Newer cars might be more of an issue?

Doozergirl

michaels wrote: »

Smax is a great car by all accounts but I think they want something small on the outside as they are living in one of those ridiculous parts of London where spending Norht of a million quid doesn't get you off street parking:eek::eek:

Mini Countryman .

I don't like big cars so have always wanted the smallest thing that holds everything. It's plenty adequate for two kids and you can get a large dog in the hatchback.

PasturesNew

Tahlullah wrote: »

I am really looking forward to my 50's. Every decade seems to get better and better. The stresses of youth fall away. No worries about how I look to others, do I fit with the crowd. Just great.

My only regret is that I did not have the wisdom I do now when I was younger and that shortly, my health will start to fall away. Already started with my eyes. Suddenly, I need glasses. What's that about?

They say women over 50 (or is it 40?) are "invisible" in the street ... it's true ... certainly in your 40s and beyond you do feel you're walking along invisible to everybody else.

And glasses.... yes, suddenly I now have to use reading glasses (£1/pair) to read the back of microwave meal packs

LydiaJ

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

We have a fairly small car - a Fiat Brava - and that is fine for us. A small car's important if you use residents' parking or other on-street London parking - you need to be able to nab small spaces or you'll spend a lot of time circling trying to park. It fits Kermie's backwards-facing seat in the front, and I sat with Isaac in the back, when we went to my parents' house in Kent. But you can also put the baby seat in the back with no problem.

lostinrates wrote: »

Is there an issue with baby seats in cars with air bags in the front or have I imagined this? Newer cars might be more of an issue?

Yes there is. In a crash, the air bag can kill a baby in a rear facing child seat - the baby gets its head crushed because it's much closer to the dashboard than it ought to be. Air bags also kill people who are sitting facing forwards if they're not tall enough. The air bag is designed to restrain the head and chest of an adult sitting in the front seat. A forward facing small child's head will be high enough to be restrained by the air bag but its chest will be below the level of the air bag. In an accident this snaps the head back relative to the chest and breaks the neck.

The back is much much safer than the front of a car. The front is simply where almost all the damage usually happens. The accident that devastated my family is typical - in the front, with air bag as well as seat belt and crumple zones, LNE was killed; in the back, with just booster seats and ordinary seat belts, no air bags, DS and DD only had bruises and a couple of minor broken bones.

NDG, I know you are a good and kind mother who wants your baby to be safe. Please put him in the back, especially on journeys out of town where you will be travelling faster than 30mph.

PasturesNew

Generali wrote: »

13 down, 2 to go.

This was my first thought when I loaded the thread

Nearly there! Nearly there!

PasturesNew

zagubov wrote: »

:shhh: the munchkins don't need (or want) to hear this.

I listened to this a few weeks ago and got a shock when I found out how old it was.

I've no speakers so don't know if I know that one .... I tried loading it, but now my CPU's going nots and I'll have to find/kill a process or reboot.... old PCs suck

PasturesNew

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Can you get one of those camping showers? They are cheap, and are like large black bags you fill with water and leave in the sun to warm up, so no extremes.

Camping showers could be great if you're camping and want to shower as you just got up, or just got back from a bike ride or the beach or want to wash your hair .... not so good if your objective is to have a deep and hearty scrub down because you're covered in fence preservative/paint. They simply don't have the pressure, nor capacity, to achieve the job.

PasturesNew

vivatifosi wrote: »

...a small museum in the States and brought over a couple of documents that they had in the museum to show me ... It's safely back in the US now.

I never understand this on Who Do You Think You Are and Time Team ..... why people are touching/using original documents when, instead, it'd make more sense to use that "out of the shelves" time to photograph it so it was more easily available to a wider audience and SAFE.

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

Is there an issue with baby seats in cars with air bags in the front or have I imagined this? Newer cars might be more of an issue?

I don't think you imagined it - might be something to do with a bag exploding in their face ... so they have to face the rear.

LydiaJ wrote: »

Yes there is. In a crash, the air bag can kill a baby in a rear facing child seat - the baby gets its head crushed because it's much closer to the dashboard than it ought to be. Air bags also kill people who are sitting facing forwards if they're not tall enough.

... oh, I got it the wrong way round... but I've never had a child in my car *cheers*.

I'm probably not tall enough, which is why I always make sure I'm facing forwards when driving