wickychoo

Us girls in the office have been debating about this (work is boooring at the moment!) and while we all agree that the medical stuff has come on in leaps and bounds, with babies being so premature but still viable outside the womb, the 24 week limit should stay. The women that have such late abortions (generally - from reading published papers on the subject) are: young girls in denial, abuse/rape victims, women with mental health issues, women from disadvantaged circumstances and women who have had to wait that long to get the results of tests. And they are such a small percentage of the total number of women who are having abortions, removing this option from them - arguably the most vulnerable women in society - will only cause more pain and suffering. They are the ones who would be punished by changing the limit, not the women who have multiple/"social" abortions. I personally would be happy to see the limit come down to 20 or 22 weeks, with the option of 24 weeks being available for medical tests that need that timeframe to provide a result *but* that would require the NHS to scan/test women much sooner than they do currently (AFAIK 19 weeks?). The pressure therefore on the currenly over-stretched maternity services would just be immense. How much more can that service take? I also think that using it as a form of contraception (surely a contradiction in terms?!) is only a reality for a few women. And while that is abhorrent IMO it is only a tiny minority. Those women I do know who have had abortions have not made the decision lightly.

oh my word! Robins and blackbirds are my faves, we have a few of each that visit the garden and sing to me in the mornings and evenings

Maybe try Pilates then if yoga's a bit much. Not sure what DVDs are out there but I do a class and its loosened up my knotty shoulders a treat. Its very much "go at your own pace" and it was originally developed to rehabilitate soldiers after WW1 but has moved on somewhat

I'm Amy Jones, the same as lil_angel We are not related though. People call me A, Ame, Ames, Chicken, Chicky, chicky-pie, chicky-woo and wicky-choo. I will basically answer to anything it seems

I have just got back from a luffly if somewhat hot and burning, weekend camping in the New Forest, we saw loads of foals along with the normal ponies, cows, sheep and a pig not seen one of those there before! But it got somewhat spoiled by Tyler getting constipated (too many exciting things to see and sniff to eat any dinner don't you know?!) so I'm now watching him like a hawk to make sure he's *just* constipated and await the reappearance of poo, or whether we're off on a little trip to the vets... that and OH's aunt saying they've got an 11wk old Pom puppy for their daughter (aged 18) because they think it will help her out (she had ME a few years ago and claims to still be ill now but somehow it seems to fluctuate with her parents being in/out and what she fancies/doesn't fancy doing. I'm not bashing anyone with ME, its just all a little fishy and suspicious from where I see it, and a dog certainly isn't going to help that...)

I voted "can't decide" because I agree that it should have a "last orders" affair on it like Pingu suggests, to enable people to (hopefully) close off some of the things riased today. But I think it should be amended as others have suggested to include a full list of what rescues can/can't post, the allegations and a rebuttal from each. I do think that as The Refuge grows, more people will come and as DP chucks more people off for whatever reasons, there needs to be a centralised accessible place to allow the rescues the right to reply to the accusations levied at them there. Many times I have opened a reply up in there only to fail to find the words to accurately express my opinions and feelings about it. Anne's post in t'other thread was spot on, people have to learn about all this for themselves, as uncomfortable as it is to read at times. All new members are a likely to go along with the board consensus, it takes time to "settle in" and then learn to read between the lines (or read whats blatantly posted in some cases!)

Fab, nice to see you're living up to my mental image

pingu makes you wear blouses to host? or is it a personal choice? I'm getting a mental image of a late-70s early-80s nylon affair in shades of brown and vom... edited for inability to spell

Happy Birthday. Hope its fab!

stainless steel? I'd always try white vinegar or lemon and bicarb of soda (sprinkle bicarb on and rub with half a lemon) first, failing that, Barkeeper's Friend is your friend!

RMRant: I am so flipping enraged with bloddy Maggiore. I have just been chasing my tail about this stupid fine(s) we got in Florence (for which we were not forewarned) and they just washed their hands of it and told me I can write to their complaints department. God I wish I knew how to swear in Italian

getting 2 stupid traffic fines in the post from our trip to Florence last year. Driving in a restricted zone - yes the hire car place is in the restricted zone so we got one fine to drive it away and one for bringing it back. Barstewards!

It really is twirly

If you go to Naples (the home and makers of the bestest pizzas in the whole wide world) they have lots of pizzas without cheese, the original and best is a marinara - tomato, anchovies, capers, black olives and oregano. Obviously no good for you Pendlewitch as its covered in gizmos *But* its a very old and traditional way of topping pizza, tell the crazy people that next time you ask for no cheese!!

Run free at the bridge Bumpy

Fanks everyone Came in to work to find my desk covered in cards and pressies

Its yellow on the pics, but I'm sure my actual rainbow brite doll had orange hair

I think mine's Hedgehog or Amaranth, probably followed by Peachy

Oh my word! That's such a transformation! Fabulous! Can I please have the burger follwed by the chocolate mousse cake?!

Got shouted at by a horrible woman in the park today I have mum's 2 dogs (plus Tyler) while she's away to visit my sister in Oz. Mum's Lakeland Terrier Teddy gets a bit errm, frisky, with Tyler and ages ago I found letting them run off-lead helps then sort out their dominance issues and then they settle much quicker at home with less sniping. Unfortunately Teddy has no recall whatsoever, but luckily there's a concrete fenced-in basketball/games court at the park, so I can let them off in there for 10 mins while they run about and play in safety. Anyway, this morning they were actually playing a little bit and a woman just come over to the fence and start shouting about how its inappropriate for me to have dogs in there, its for children and that the dogs will do their business everywhere and it will make the children sick etc etc. She just launched straight into me, didn't give me a chance to say why I was in there or anything and then once she'd finished she announced "well, what are you going to do about it?" And I just stood there and was like "right... " I agree that its probably not the *best* place to have dogs, but there are no signs on it prohibiting dogs and our park is full of bloody signs prohibiting this that and the other. The local yoofs hang about it in the evenings and I've had to kick bits of broken glass into the corners - that can't be good for children either. I've only ever used it a few times and I always pick up after them, and we go in at the end of the walk when the "tanks are empty" so to speak so they don't piddle everywhere. I can't believe that she just came out of nowhere and shouted at me and made me feel so small and rubbish. And that I couldn't think of anything to say back to her, I was just so stunned. It really soured the walk as the dogs picked up on my mood and shouting really frightens Tyler Anyway, I have since been to the gym and taken it out on a punchbag

Ours is a bowl-in-the-freezer job. I think its a Kenwood like this one. We've only used it a few times as it was bought as a wedding gift but we didn't get it until November.

I'm not a parent, so I can only speculate about stuff, but I agree with the ladies above, I don't think its more prevalent its just we're more aware of it because if the media. I used to be allowed to play out (late 80s early 90s) but there would always be a few of us from neighbouring houses playing together. When I was bigger we were allowed to go a bit further and we used to spend afternoons climbing on the castle walls and exploring the area around where we lived. We were always told about strangers and not to talk to them, and I do think its easier to do that if there are a few of you, it seems less rude somehow (we were brought up not to be rude to our elders so it was almost a catch 22 situation). Even now the familes that live in the houses opposite me have kids who play out, they make chalk hopscotch thingys on the path and made a lovely happy easter chalk drawing a few weeks ago. Its one of the reasons I love where we live so much, if its not perishing cold the kids are out playing or doing homework outside

yes

Oh my word, I was reading that and it echoes what happened to me at school I was a bit quieter than Emily seems to be though and used to do say stuff in my head to people - mainly stupid teachers - but not out loud I was the child who, when set a question about the start of the world, sat and wrote about the Big Bang while all the others wrote about Adam and Eve (we were a C of E school but when my teachers couldn't give me *proof* of Gods existance I opted out of all religious stuff I think I was 7 at the time.) I wanted to be a paleontologist and played at digging up dinosaurs from when I was that age too while all my friends wanted to be ballerinas and played with dolls I can't really recall what the school did specifically to help me out, I know I was about 2 years ahead in my maths and comprehension, I just used to work at my own pace but on different maths/english books. I wouldn't do phonics either, I can still remember most stuff I have written down or words I have seen, even from years ago. Mum got sick of my incessant questions once and bought me a massive encyclopaedia, so I read it cover to cover more than once. Its not a lot of help and I don't think I was as gifted as Emily I certainly don't condsider myself particularly clever (I still do plenty of stupid things), but I went through school and came out with good grades and stayed on a pretty even keel with my behaviour. Well done for trying to take some action though, its hard being bored at school especially when all you want is more stimulation.

Ooh I think I'm ill: I have been to the Gym and Pilates today Is this some form of lurgy? In other news, I got a long recall lead and a double lead today from TRPD Just in time for my mum's hols when I will be wicky-3dogs for the duration of April. I nearly come a cropper normally walking Tyler and mum's 2 obstinate sods lovely dogs, but hopefully the double-ended lead will solve the problem