EmmaG

Pickle - you're right - at our end-of-term do at school today, I ended up on the babies' table. I must do more to avoid babies for the next five months! New things learned so far: Having a baby is like doing a poo Ask your mother what it was like for her Get a packed lunch and breakfast each day as you won't have time to make your own Midwives use fishing nets to fish poo out of the birthing pool I might investigate the Epi-No I will look like a tramp I'd better get a bottle of water next to the loo Bloody hell. I'll pass all this onto my husband so he's warned. But the best thing of all is that bra with the bottles attached to the front. God, I'm sniggering and giggling AGAIN about it. Teeee heeee

"Also (don't laugh!) if you;re expressing a lot, and esp if you have a double pump, try one of these: [cgi.ebay.co.uk]" OMG I've just killed myself laughing. This can't be true. OMG what the hell have I let myself in for? Jesus. Hahahaahahahahaha.

I love, love, love this thread. Thank you so much. I'm expecting my first baby at the age of 41 and everything's a big mystery. A dear friend (mother to three kids of 2, 3 and 4) recommended the Baby Whisperer and said "don't wait to read it till after the baby's born" so am ploughing through. I am horrified that you need your husband to make a flask of tea in the morning in case you won't have time in the day. What the hell have I left myself in for?

I've got my Oakwood midwives pack here and it says they provide all your care both for home and hospital birth. So I don't think you HAVE to do it at home to get the benefit of these wonderful ladies. I have to admit, my flat is nowhere near private or soundproof enough to have a homebirth - poor neighbours.

Oh here we go. An argument. As usual. Why did I bother logging in. Enough fighting in the world as it is.

To address some of the points made about the school accommodation; I work in a boys' secondary school of 850 in a site built for about 400. The boys do "pour out" at the end of the day. Most rush off to catch their buses and ride their bikes off to whereever they're going. Many more stay behind for basketball, art club, cineclub (my club!!), etc, etc. They do disperse quite quickly. Several of them do muck around and misbehave when outside school. It is the school's job is to deal with this. I don't know how they're going to manage the boys' breaks and lunches. Ours already spend all their breaks queuing to be served in the canteen and at the sheddy things in the playground that sell snacks. Upper school (Y10+) are allowed out to go to Greggs and Burger King for lunch in order to relieve the pressure on the canteen Boys definitely need a place to kick or bounce a ball around. Ours have a smallish playground. Can't see evidence of one of these at Harris. I think this is a big issue.

Mick Mack - I agree wholeheartedly with your rant.

> "900 young men between 11 and 18" - 11 year old men? > the 'man' term is used so loosely these days - i saw > a headline the other day of 'man stabs teenager' and > they were both 19. God, some people will pick an argument about anything, won't they? Boys at secondary school can, and are, referred to as "young men". Indeed I call them "chaps", "gents", "lads" to their faces and "boys", "youngsters", "kids" and "young men" when referring to them.

Wow, it looks absolutely fantastic. Not sure about the sliding dividers between classrooms though as it means if you're doing a noisy activity of watching a vid (or shouting) it disturbes next door. Wonder why they need classrooms for 60 boys anyway ... a glimpse of the future perhaps. Lots of stairs to lug your resources up. Lots of space given over to a large atrium - not sure if that's particularly good use of space or if it's good for sound insulation. Nitpicking a lot here: the breezeblock walls are no good for sticking pictures on and it's the pictures that show what the boys have been doing in school. Anyway, it's the people inside the building that make a school good/bad/indifferent, not the building itself. Let's hope we get some super people as our neighbours and don't have the bus-vandalising ones we had before. I've really enjoyed being able to get on a 63 at any time without having to watch my timings to avoid the foul language, aggression and anti-social behaviour commonplace during the last incarnation of the school. Fingers crossed and thumbs up!

Does anyone know why there were a group of about four or five police officers hanging out on St Aidan's this afternoon?

Wow - this is AMAZING. Thank you so, so, so much for joining the forum and being a whirlwind of efficiency.

Hi Louby Loo How awful for your poor son and *thank you very much* for being neighbourly enough to warn others to be aware and possibly pick our kids up from school or organise adult supervision. Hope he's OK and it doesn't prey on his mind. One of the kids at my school was approached in the same way (not here, in Surrey) and it's good advice to share with others that you should give up your phone if someone's prepared to stab you for it. Thanks again for taking the time to warn other to be aware.

Let's hope someone buys it who wants to turn it into a B&B. Still hoping that will happen one day. Funny that there's a plethora of hotels in Crystal Palace but nothing round here

I went 11 miles from Sutton to East Dulwich and it took two and a half hours. Train from Sutton to Clapham Junction (20 mins). Crossed platform and waited ten mins for train from CJ to Battersea Park. Got there and waited 45 mins for "delayed" trains before mounting the train that went to Crystal Palace. Arrived there and skidded up hill to bus station and catching a 363 (bless that marvellous bus) to Forest Hill Road. All in all I spent well over two and a half hours getting home. Sigh. I just can't drive on the ice at 7am up Sydenham Hill. Too scary.

I heard there was a piece in the Standard about the Rye being closed for Elf and Safety. What makes me laugh is that the Rye (voluntary access) is closed for H and S but the roads and pavements (essential access) are neither closed nor made safe!