laura g

when we had the secondhand / antiquarian bookshops, i ended up pulling the older dog training books off the shelves. One particular one advocated a good hefty knee in the dogs chest to cure jumping up. couldn't guarantee that some loon wouldnt buy thinking it was ok methods to use.

so sorry teq. thats (to me anyway) extreme behaviour in the least. i wouldnt know where to start. interesting thread though. quite relevant to the fact that i've decided to keep off of full time work for the next few years - because of the kids. Sam is 12 and going into year 8 in september. rachael is moving up to year 7 to join him. at a time when most parents are using the opportunity to go back into work full time, we've decided its best that i'm around. it seems like time and 'effective parenting' opportunities are like water running through your fingers - if that makes sense. i'm not going to be on their case or smothering them. i can keep a handle on them and be here when they need me. respect is the key word. i think its fair to say that some parents present themselves as friend rather than carer. boundaries are blurred. my children have friends. and i'm not one. a different role entirely.

interesting to see all the gatwick ads - we're only 5 mins away and this time of year do a roaring trade in family and friends. wouldnt dream of charging but a duty free bottle never goes amiss!!!!

excactly the bit i picked up on. was she checking couples didnt cohabit before the event too?

Rachael turnedd 11 last month and goes up to senior school in september. the school holds a 'junior prom' on the same evening as the senior leavers do. 'newbie' youngsters get to see the glamorous older ones, like simikins lois, leave for the south of england show ground ..... took this picture of rachael just before she left. cant believe how grown up she looks.

really lovely. you'd never want to leave it, even in the winter wrapped in a duvet with a mug of hot chocolate....

excellent ideas all lmao at the waitrose thing. you were me last night when the steak and stilton open topped pies had been put down to 20p!!!!

Blimey no. darent do RMF it's like the land that time forgot - go in for 'a quick look only' and you lose the day! Kane is fab. We could staple you on or something?!

Excellent stuff so far. And interestingly enough stuff i'd already been thinking about. So great minds and all that. BMAK (before marriage and kids) I was a qualified BSAC diver. Always wanted to dive Scapa Flow... so that's on the list. Right behind getting fit enough not to look like Mrs Blobby in a dry suit!! And if I'm getting fit, number two on the list is western riding -have been inspired by the fact that we now live on a quarter horse stud farm!!! Dont fancy working with orangutangs. Like carrying coals to newcastle after living with my kids / oh!! If I could go anywhere in the world it'd be the Galapagos Islands. Love the tattoo idea. Would really like a stylised hare. OH would had an apoplectic fit. So that's number 10 out of the way too! More info needed! Buying one? Playing out fantasties involving Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall in one? Building one? What are we talking here? Oooh you can have a go at Jacky's Kane. Just watch you dont fall off him like everyone else seems to!! sorry. done that already!!! much better relationship now the business has gone and he spends two weeks of every month in dubai!!!!!

ooh. sounds like a plan!

could have sworn I's started this topic before but perhaps not - or did someone else? Certainly the brain cells are decreasing in their thousands as the birthday approaches! Right. I'm 40 later in the year. Life has been a bit of a repetitive, turgid swamp for a good few years. So shakeup time. I've sort of started a list: 40 things to do at 40. Plenty of categories to choose from. Cheap / easy / cheap and easy / expensive / insane and dangerous / expensive, insane and dangerous / cheap insane and dangerous etc etc etc etc etc What would you do? Or have done? ps: might be a prize for the most inspirational and / or shocking!

thats a good thought. when we were looking the first time, agents would ask what kind of dogs I had. In my naivety, i thought they wanted little toy ones rather than big and hairys. So I was describing the (then) two lurchers as 'oh you know, normal sized cross breeds). Turns out what they DONT want to hear - or at least round here is 'bull breeds' or the other breeds most in the press these days. Bloody tragic.

funny jules saying that. as a bookdealer (and with no chance of being at your bootfair) my advice is just check what you have there. Very little value in 80's enid blyton but some, even paperbacks, from that time are highly collectable.

we found ours through a high street agent. no extra deposit required. advert made it clear it was rural and animal friendly. only issue for us was slapping holding deposit down first and fast. i actually signed up for it without husband even seeing it!

absolutely. i remember peter coming home from the park quite upset - with himself. he'd taken the kids to play and another little girl had fallen off the swing - bashed her knww, bawling her eyes out. His first though, rather than runnign to help / comfort was what him approaching the girl could have looked like to others. He actually walked to a group of women further in the park and asked them to come help. it hadnt helped that only a few weeks before, he'd been helping at the school. walked into the classroom, they must have been 5 or 6 at the time. Two children immediately started screaming and crying - it's not that they had ever been abused by a man, just from a female only house and never interacted with one!