Moos

Ha ha, toldja. Snorky, hand over that ?5 you pinched from Mr. Cricket.

Over 2,500 posts, Brendan! That's halfway to Keefdom.

well I only thought of 4 stages, but maybe that's because I haven't got all that far yet...

Stage 1 (Newbie) - reads the forum from time to time - has been caught by boss giggling at Forum - has posted on someone else's thread - has very possibly been given a kicking by regular Forumites for "having a hidden agenda" - is seriously but nervously considering going to a Forum drink - number of posts less than 100 Stage 2 (Regular) - reads the Forum weekly, even on holiday - has started a thread on a frivolous topic - no longer gets a telling off by boss for unexplained random giggling, just receives a hard look and a sigh - wouldn't miss a Forum drink - number of posts less than 500 Stage 3 (Addict) - reads the Forum daily, even on holiday - has started a thread on a serious topic, and fought off opposition from all comers - Forum has been mentioned in annual appraisal - invites other Forumites to important personal events in Real Life - has secret crush on one or more other prominent Forumite - has trouble deciding whether to go to next Forum drink or brother's wedding - number of posts less than 2000 Stage 4 (Conversion Complete) - has difficulty distinguishing between Forum and Real Life. - gets jittery if not able to log on several times a day - has had Forum addiction cited in breakup with partner / divorce proceedings / getting fired - has been summoned to the Quiet Room - (if male) has not-so-secret crush on Dulwichmum - (if female) has not-so-secret crush on James Nesbitt - (only kidding!) - number of posts ...

Thanks Kalam... could newbie be a state of mind? Someone did mention 'stage 4 Forumitis' not long ago.. was thinking of starting a thread on the topic of stages of Forumitis.

Be very, very careful; I have a decades-long ardent crush on Hugh Laurie.

Don't be disturbed, embrace your inner Eddie.

No, I did get it Mockney, just taking the opportunity to have a pop at Snorks out of sheer mean-spirited spite. Sorry, Snorky.

Lordy, I'm still thinking of myself as a newbie and I've sailed way past 100 without even noticing! Erk.

It was the perma-pout, skin-tight bodycon dresses and famous footballer husband that tipped me off.

Snorky, Jiminy Cricket doesn't really exist, he's just your troubled conscience manifesting itself as a separate entity. But one day you WILL get to be a real boy.

I hate to think it, but I reckon the Obama/Clinton battle, Homeric though it is, will leave both candidates bloody and bowed, and McCain will sail in. He is less terrifyingly Right than Bush on the social agenda, but really pretty conservative generally. Sorry Snorky, to return to your actual thread - it seems a common phenomenon that people vote for just for change when they're fed up with the status quo, regardless of what the change really means. Could we argue Blair and New Labour were just that? - a young, charismatic new leader, one in the eye for the Tories, etc etc? I might be stretching a point here using the wisdom of hindsight...

Just a bit. I dunno. Maybe posh is in the eye of the beholder.

how about Quids?

MarsAttacks didn't say he (he, MA?) lived in ED... apparently t'Interweb is available all over the worrrrrld, so perhaps people in Bangalore and Sao Paolo are thinking we are all a jolly funny and rather nice bunch of peeps. Or perhaps not.

Re: teachers, I understand what Gerry means by saying they need parenting skills, but what they really need are supportive parents of the kids in their classes. The two roles should be absolutely separate and complementary. Schools are increasingly taking on a 'parental' role with behavioural classes, citizenship and so on - in my view a job for the parents and not for schools, and totally pointless unless the values taught are initiated, instilled and lived by example at home. Re: grandparents, I guess I should get Ma Moos onto this! but I think it's a good rule of thumb that local grandparents who get to be around a lot of the time and take on a more active and constant role in the raising of the grandchildren and the formation of behavioural norms should stick by the parents' rules and support them, and it applies even if they think the way the children are being raised is newfangled and weird. If they don't, the kids will be totally confused and new parents' confidence could be horribly undermined. (Unless the children are being endangered, of course) However, grandparents who don't get to see their see their grandchildren very often ought to be cut a bit more slack and allowed to break the rules more: you can't spoil kids in a weekend. Do g'parents on the Forum agree, or am I talking nonsense?

I'm going to come as Quids. And Mockney, you are a bit posh. Sorry.

Well, that sorts that one out, Mockney - I thought Mr. and Mrs. Piers were just being a bit cruel when they named their wee boy.

Gerry, are you looking at the teacher angle? It seems to be pretty much teacher lore these days that when a teacher disciplines a child, the parents are just as likely to abuse the teacher as support the discipline. (obviously there are 2 sides to these stories.. but still, I think it shows a shift in general approach to parenting)

I made a knitted hat once at school (aged 8) but disgraced myself by taking 3 terms to do it instead of the regulation 1 term. All the other kids made a skirt which they modelled at the end of the year in a catwalk show, while I sat glumly in the audience clutching my knitted hat.

Naughty moosling, told you before about chatting up old men.

Also, hostas are lovely but very slug-prone. I think they're worth it, but just so you know.

*slinks off bearing rucksack in which can be spied highly awake mooslet (now a biped, by the way)* I would have got away with it if it hadn't been for that pesky kid.

I like the Quiet Room, I shall move in here and adopt a lifestyle of meditation and peace. *dumps rucksack*

Oh Steve, have I blighted your afternoon with my thoughtless unkindness? Bad me, it was not my intention. Have a nice cup of tea, I was just warming my hands on one. Amazing how teachers moan, isn't it? My physics teacher was always telling me off for my lack of knowledge of physics. At the time, I just cowered in a corner and hoped he would go away. I wish I had had the courage to respond 'WELL, TEACH ME SOME, THEN'.