I,m in the mood for dancing
well Liverpool are top of the league
we are top of the league

did you see us lindy , how well did we play 4-0

I'm in the mood for dancing....romancing.....

Wow what a match Georgy
The atmosphere at Anfield must be electric!

Almost as pleasing though
Is to hear us routinely mentioned by commentators
As one of
"The top four"

Fingers crossed xx

It was lovely to get away for a few days.....

but its so odd to see people getting older...and kind of reminds me of my own mortality and that age is very much a one way street. Its a kind of reminder to get on with it and enjoy life...but a bit bitter sweet as well.


The football results look good....its nice to find things to celebrate and enjoy isn't it..

busy week this week, but thankfully its the holidays next week.....so I can be busy and look forward to a bit of break next week. Hopefully I will be able to get into the garden to get it mowed and sorted out a bit !!

Hi Marion

Glad you had a good time xx

Good evening

nice to see you back Augusta pleased you had a good time

sending wishes nyannies way
hope she feels better soon

and Lena i hope she is ok, wishing her well also
bit worried, been a while since she posted

siting here with a face pack on
not sure they do a lot of good for my skin
but the whole idea and promise, makes me feel better

hope everyone had a lovely mother day
my boys got me perfume, Bvlgari Jasmin noir, lovely and the perfect gift

my old brick of a phone
got dropped and didn't bounce this time
so i have a new one, and yes i went for the iphone,
well it makes sense, we are a apple computer family
going to take me a while to get the hang of it.

Husband is back from Dubai, he had a good time
but i think he was more excited by the liverpool results

going to wash this stuff of my face and
have a long soak
sending good wishes x

(SINGS) .......... I think i,m alone now
i,m now churning out bad 80's or perhaps 90's songs
not sure when it was released

but i,m not mad
which is why, i shall leave and then come back
because this might be in doubt
if i start talking and posting to myself

evening all......what a strange day......Its so nice to be home and able to relax.

were there any good April fools day jokes yesterday? And has anyone else been affected by this air pollution. Its odd, the sun is out but the sky is grey and misty.

I didn't see any April Fools jokes
but we have been affected by the air pollution
everything is grubby
cars and the patio furniture all covered in a light coating of sand

how about you Augusta, not sure how long this is going to last

Pollution is horrible Feels dusty and damp at the same time

Sorry I keep disappearing

The whole house move thing is so .....
Absorbing, dispiriting, nerve-wracking, time-consuming.......
We are trying to agree terms for exchange of contracts
And have *maybe* hit the buffers a bit

Should have more news tomorrow
Will let you know

Meanwhile sleep tight all

Lindy xx

Morning all

Was supposed to go to London today but have cancelled - my breathing isn't great and people with lung conditions have been advised to stay inside. Back on antibiotics.

Quiet weekend and busy week next week.

So pleased you had a good break augusta - I am having to chase roofers. The one who has been hasn't given us a quote so need to start all over again!!! Hate this - why do builders and roofers do this? If they don't want the job, they shouldn't bother to come out.

I am going back to bed - I still feel sleepy most of the time and don't have much energy.

See you all later

I have a feeling that roofers come almost on the off chance to try and get the easy work.....if its complicated then they aren't going to bother...but....it isn't really very fair...

Isnt there something incredibly satisfying about taking the bottles to the bottle bank and smashing them all..........

The sky is odd, but I haven't really noticed that much dust in the air, or on the ground, but we are out near the north sea, so to be fair we don't really have that much environmental pollution from the cities etc. I know we used to live near Romford road in east London, and we think the exhaust fumes from the cars on the road, set off my husbands asthma. When we lived there his breathing was awful but out here is much better.


Good luck with all the house move details lindy......

Thats ok lindy
house buying is a serious and stressful business
hope all goes well,
my parents are doing it to
they had lots of offers but it took them ages to find a place they wanted
to buy, but they have found something now

hope you feel better soon
and you're right to stay in
the pollution is awful, it just nasty out there

its hard to find good tradesmen, and the good ones are usually booked solid
hope it gets sorted soon
take care of yourself
love Jx

love the bottle bank
its fun and i like the noise to

very grey here, sand all over the patio table
and i had just power hosed it
did it while i was taking out the lady birds

wow........I hadn't realised that there was going to be sand everywhere........That must be really odd. and what a shame after you had just cleaned it......

I like power hoses as well.....they are so good at cleaning things quickly......I need to do my patio soon....

its like the rain water has dried
and the grit in it has been left behind
all over the cars as well

love my power hose it makes the hard jobs easy

ps augusta have a look at my twitter
i posted my first photo on there with my phone
its a pic of one of my favourite things

love the pic Georgy...


I heard something crazy today re school funding.....traditionally kids from disadvantaged backgrounds would get a pupil premium and extra money would be allocated to the school for them, and they would be identified because they were eligible for school dinners. Mr Cameron or someone decided it would be best to give all KS 1 children free school dinners.....so the schools are now scared they will lose out on this pupil premium as all the children in the infants dept will be entitled to free dinners!! So they wont be able to differentiate between children who need extra and children who don't!! oops

Thanks for the sympathy on the house move guys

It seems now that all parties have agreed to a 5% deposit; but now there's disagreement over exchange and completion dates. As the estate agent said to us today: "you are the nice, flexible ones in the middle of the chain" !!

Anyway we do seem to be edging towards agreement...........edging.......

The pollution is horrible isn't it?

Sorry you had to cancel your trip to London nyannie
Hope you feel better soon

Re schooling, I have a question for you Augusta

I heard on the news today that OFSTED wants nursery school children to learn more social and academic skills, from starting to read to being able to hold a pen! Do you feel that nursery children arrive at primary school well prepared, on the whole? Just wondering....may as well ask an expert if you know one

Ah well, off to read my book now and try to relax.

All the best everyone and sleep tight

Love, Lindy xx

Morning all.

Well, I am breathing a bit easier this morning thank goodness.

Managed to wash the floors yesterday and to shred some old paperwork. Felt really tired afterwards. I am getting fed up with feeling terrible.

I too love powerhoses georgy. We use ours for the patio and the drive. We have had water restrictions so haven't used it for a while.

I plan to plant out my herbs this weekend - winter savory, marjoram and tarragon. More dahlias arrived in the post so will find homes for them too.

Well, must get going. Have a good day everyone.

Hi all

Can you bear another instalment on the housing front?!

We still haven't settled on exchange and completion dates (maybe tomorrow......) and now another issue has arisen. We got all the search results by email today - 70+ pages of them - and the house we are hoping to buy is reckoned to have "a moderate risk of subsidence" due to geological factors Of course we are welcome to pay for a further report from a chartered surveyor to give us further advice . We have yet to establish the likely cost of this.....

Has anyone here bought a house with a "moderate risk of subsidence"?? I can't quite decide whether it is truly significant, or one of those catch-all terms that professionals use to indemnify themselves against any future legal action! Will discuss further with the surveyor on Monday and in the meantime just hope that our vendors don't show an uncharacteristic desire to fix removal dates!!!

Am glad you are feeling better nyannie and hope everyone has a good weekend

West Ham v Liverpool on Sunday afternoon........fingers crossed

Sleep tight all

Lindy xx

morning all..

Lindy I would check out the risk of moderate subsidence with someone official.....it doesn't sound good. but it might just be a covering clause. Its hard to say. I know our endowment had a moderate risk of not paying out as one of its definitions...and that was a bad thing...!!

As regards Nursery children being ready for school, that's a hard one to define. Some children are ready to start school and ready and eager to learn complex skills like reading and some really aren't! Personally I think its to do with them and their maturity and developmental stage. Some 4 or 5 year olds, especially the girls, are ready and some just aren't.

Of course in theory girls 'mature' earlier , and are more likely to be able to concentrate and cope with fine motor skills like drawing, but then they also don't have to cope with the testosterone surge that hits boys around the age of 4, that basically turns infants into boys , and makes them less likely to be able to sit still and concentrate.

I think what frustrates me about this statement, is the expectation that all children are going to be the same. I think to some extent the politicians are getting it the wrong way round. I think education should be designed around the needs of the children, not expect the children to reach the expectations of the system. !!

Im not sure either that children need to be 'ready ' for school by 5. I think they are ready when they are ready, so if they aren't ready until they are 7 or so, then maybe we could copy some other European countries and delay the start of formal schooling until then. There are so many other skills, like playing together, talking clearly , listening to stories, creative skills and physical skills that young children need to learn. I would prefer to start teaching formal skills later, and then move faster. instead of trying to teach things too early before some children are ready and just having to repeat it in any case.!!

I think we are currently under the misapprehension that all children are the same, and will be able to achieve the same goals. when they clearly aren't. some children are very bright and academic, and some are more practically minded. and we need ALL these skills in society, not just academics that can pass tests to a high standard.! (although of course we do need some academics, we cant clean our houses, cook our food, clear up rubbish, fix our cars and machinery..etc....) I think we are forgetting to value and teach some of these other essential skills.

So I think nursery children should be allowed to be children and to play , and not to be made ready for school!! So why does it matter really if they are ready or not?

If you want to talk seriously about getting children ready for school a middle class child who is looked after at home on a 1-1 or 2-1 basis with an educated mother or father, or grandparent , there to nurture and teach them, who has been to a playgroup with other children a couple of mornings a week is going to do so much better and be much more ready for school, than a child who has been to a full time nursery with a 13-1 ratio.


Yet both of these categories are more likely to be ready for school than a child from a 'deprived home' with very little interaction with adults. or a child maybe with delays or behaviour issues who cant speak much or who is still in pull up nappies. etc


So I personally think school readiness is more to do with background than anything else..and im sure how you are meant to recreate the 1-1 support given to middle class children with 2 parents in a nursery setting?

A friend of mine bought a house with moderate subsidence and he did pay for a chartered geologist/surveyor (can't remember which). Turned out to be OK but it was worth it for him to be reassured. What with mines, etc - you never know. I personally think all houses have some risk of subsidence but I definitely would pay for the surveyor/geologist.

One way to get round you paying is for the current owners to pay for the geologist/surveyor. Surely they have some info when they bought the house! Ask your lawyer to deal with this.

Hope it helps.

Morning all.

How are we all? I have just planted my herbs and the herb garden looks a bit less bare.

Reading HEMINGWAY'S BOAT which is quite interesting.

O/H in garage as usual and I will be tackling the study shortly - do want to see some tennis though.

Take care all

Thanks nyannie

Looking at google, it seems that over half of all houses in the UK are subject to moderate, or even high, risk of subsidence. This has obviously increased due to climate change .....

We will have a word with the surveyor on Monday but are feeling less worried about this issue than we were yesterday. Will keep you posted