wickychoo

I had a Mexican woman in my old job who would talk in Spanish to one of our collegues who was also mexican. It didn't bother me too much as I speak spanish, but I felt it excluded the others who didnt. If it excludes one person specifically I think its really rude. I'm good at languages and will natter away in several but I would never dream of doing that n front of someone who wasn't able to join in. But I do agree its lovely to be able to just "switch off" and speak your own language to someone. Again its about context and judging the situation. It also gave her a nice shock when she realised she couldn't start slagging me off in spanish as I knew what she was saying - to say the look on her face that day was priceless is such an understatement!

morning RMFers. Have been up since silly o'clock as the gas men were coming at 7:30 to do something with the meter and pipes (probably involving digging my front flower bed up). Needless to say they've not been and Tyler wants a walk, but you know the moment I step outside they'll come. Plus I need more coffee as have run out Also, gentle for Georgia, hope she gets on at the docs ok and can get some relief

Hmm, it does sound like it's a welly-related problem. I have recently discovered I have flat feet and the insoles i was given have made all the difference to me, but wearing them in wellies doesn't make much difference, there's not a lot of support in a welly compared to a trainer or a decent boot. I know you don't qualify for NHS yet, but I'm sure some fugee knowledge and a bit of googling might find something you can put in your wellies, or as Di says, only wear them when necessary and you'll feel much better for it

Ooh one of my uni mates went to Keswick School. I thought that might be the place you were talking about. It is beautiful, set in such levely surroundings too

Flippin' 'eck I just did a bit of an edit and the ether swallowed it I just wanted to clarify that I meant shock collars, I can see the benefits of other remote collars for deaf dogs. Also there's a lot of psychological literature saying that aversive training and negative reinforcement works across all species, but thats conducted in such controlled environments no-one could replicate that in the park/field etc. Besides, its a lazy way to get your dog to "behave". Shocking an animal you take into your home to love and care for seems wrong to me. Taking the time to train Tyler with positive reinforcement methods gives me so much pleasure, that one moment when he finally "gets" it and he's so pleased with himself (and normally with the sossidges too!) is what its all about (also ignoring all the times when he just blimmin' ignores me :roll eyes:!)

Oh bum Helen You've got to tell the potential rescue you H/C's them for. What if they then go looking elsewhere? The sad thing is, though aversive training *can* work in some cases, its so very much dependent on the knowledge of the owner/trainer and the individual dog that it just compounds the problem in 99.9% of cases, and as Ange says, you end up with a shell of a dog instead of a happy dog who cooperates with you.

God, don't! I'm dying of embarassment now and I don't even have to face them both over lunch tomorrow . I just hope against hope they heard nothing, or the nice things, or can at least appreciate that people do talk about their friends and take it as it was meant I may just go finish the bottle of wine and hope I forget about it...

RM(kinda)F: you know in movies how awful it is when they talk about someone who just happens to still be on the phone, but never hung up properly? Well that happened to us tonight, not saying anything awful but just that these friends we know (a lesbian couple) are both pretty but never wear make up and surely they'd be even prettier to each other if they did once in a while. Perhaps to spice things up etc (as we're all old marrieds now and such things need to happen ). Then we hear a voice. Someone never hung up the phone OMFG! Now we all feel awful (and perhaps rightly so) but we have no idea if they heard us or any of our conversation. They're not technically my friends, they're my best mate's friends, but she's having lunch with them tomorrow. Needless to say that's put somewhat of a dampner on our dinner and movie night somewhat Also: did anyone see Cloverfield and actually get what on earth went on?!

Tyler-whuppet has one of these, its very soft on his baldy belly and very strong and I never found he slipped it until last weekend when he spotted a very fluffy GSD in a beer garden to go and rarrr at , luckily one of our group grabbed his collar as he flew past, it literally happened in seconds - him doing a sort of back-flip wriggle out of his harness and scrabbling round the table. The GSD just looked on unamused I may have had the harness a bit loose though (as he normally wears his equafleece under it but it was too warm) so that may have been the cause. I also may be knocking up Laura's webbing clip-thing today now for extra security...

Mr wickychoo after an untimely collision with another surfer's board in Devon yesterday. I took this photo especially for you fugees, it had gone down quite a bit by then though and stopped bleeding as profusely (which is what will happen if you surf in the freezing cold sea!!)

if they're a little tight wear a pair of thick socks with them on in the house, that will sort them out quite quickly (just don't answer the door to anyone in them

its a weekender, so its still there on sunday too (at least thats when i'm planning to go ) BBC weather says its dry both days, so it should be fab

We have a panasonic 254 and my fave loaf is the "french" one which is: 400g strong white flour 1 tsp yeast 1tsp salt 190 ml water that runs on the "french" setting we have on ours which is a 6hr cycle with 45min-1hr rest at the start (which is included in the 6h total) OH says the recipe for "normal" white bread is: 400g strong white flour 3/4 tsp yeast 170ml water 1tsp sugar 1tsp salt that runs on the normal "bake" setting on a 4hr cycle with a 45 min rest period at the start included. If you want a specific recipe let me know and I'll look in my pansonic book for you ooh and a quick edit, the book says to put the yeast in the bottom, then cover it with the flour salt and sugar and then pour the water over the top. Back-to-front from how I would have done it, but despite my doubts it always turns out ok (and we leave ours going overnight so if it was going to go t*ts up, it would!!)

i think my bmi is about 29, im 5'3" and about 12st (was 11st last year but have since rediscovered my sweet tooth ) I'm only a dress size 14 though. According to the chart i should weigh 10st 3 max, last time i weighed that I was a size 10, so if I was my "ideal" bmi, it would mean I'd be a dress size 8-10 I don't think it takes into account muscle and how much more that weighs.

ARGH! Have just cycled through pouring rain to work, to realise I left something at home!!! Have now got to go into town to get one from there and its still tippiing with rain On the plus side, if I go into town in the rain then surely I deserve something nice from the yummy bakery...