How are you today?

[RobB]

I think if you look back, you'd be amazed at just how much energy you did have when you were younger and your daughter was a baby. Its quite scary just how ones staminia does seem to vanish over the passing years. bah humbug

[alx5962]

I have a sneaking suspicion that Alex probably knows more dirty jokes than the rest of us put together.

you are so right ! I LOVE dirty jokes, that's typically french also

[Angie]

So I guess I'm not the only one wishing to see my fave bands live so just tell me what's in yours ?

I've been very lucky... not many come to mind. A few years ago I got to see Leonard Cohen and it was a lifetime highlight that I'll never forget. Breathtaking.

I'm pretty sure this didn't even happen first time round when I was a new mum, but then I was a great deal younger I suppose.

There are times I wished I'd had my children when I was a little younger. As Ellis gets more mobile I'm trying to brace myself for what's ahead. But I'm sure we'll muddle through it. That strategy has worked out okay for us so far...

[alx5962]

Leonard Cohen performed live here last year but it was so expensive I decided to spend my money on more important stuffs (tickets started at 75 euros and nicer seats at 140 !!!); I guess I'm not rich enough to be a Cohen's fan

[Angie]

Ugh, I agree. It just seems to get worse and worse. I don't remember how much our tickets were for that one, but I'm sure I justified the cost since it seemed like a once in a lifetime thing, and because we don't go to nearly as many concerts as we used to. Quality over quantity, I guess!

Is anyone else experiencing a heat wave? We've had heat advisory warnings all week.

[alx5962]

Is anyone else experiencing a heat wave? We've had heat advisory warnings all week.

There's rain everyday since 2 weeks in France

[alx5962]

Always useful: 8 Great Ways To Get Drunk During A Heatwave

[sound world]

We've had rain just about every day in June and July.
In fact a friend sent me this the other day-

INSTALLING SUMMER.....
███████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 44% DONE.
Install delayed....please wait...
Installation failed. Please try again. 404 error: Season not found. Season "Summer" cannot be located. The season you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable, or corrupted. Please try again another day, thank you for your patience.

[blue]

Well I for one am glad there's not been much of a summer, we had one hot day here last week and it was too much for me. I don't mind the rain.

I had a bit of a bust-up with the new manager in my shop on Saturday. There's been a few things simmering that I've been keeping my mouth shut about, in fairness to giving him a chance and so on, but we lost a member of staff the week before last and I came in on Saturday to find the manager had decided to take this week off as holiday, leaving me and my colleague to run the shop between us - taking turns to work all day, open till close, by ourselves without even being able to go to the bathroom, never mind a lunch break. I couldn't believe he was actually prepared to allow his staff to work alone for nine hours without a break. Insane.

Well, needless to say, I ended up letting him have it. I sorted the situation out myself, with one phone call that got us cover from another shop. I really don't know how this guy has become a manager. Actually, I do - he's a friend of our Area Manager, who gave him the job without even interviewing anyone else for it. Um, isn't that illegal?

Anyway, suffice to say I don't think he'll be doing a roster like that ever again.

[blue]

I have to look after a stinky dog all this week. She's an elderly Boxer who belongs to The Other Grandmother, who's gone away on holiday and left stinky dog at my daughter's. My god, she stinks. Her breath could be harnessed by the military and utilised as a weapon of mass destruction.

Would it be very cruel of me to put an elderly stinky dog out in the garden all day?

[sound world]

You can buy chews which negate the smell, Beth.
There's nothing quite like DogBreath....

[blue]

Good lord, it's really really bad, I mean to the point where it stinks the room out. I've resorted to having the back door and all the windows open.

Poor old girl, she's lovely in temperament and very well behaved, just very smelly.

[Angie]

Aw, Boxers are so cute. Dog smell is one of the reasons I'm way more of a cat person though.

[alx5962]

Aw, Boxers are so cute. Dog smell is one of the reasons I'm way more of a cat person though.

same here, cats are great

[sound world]

Just off on holiday for a couple of weeks. My partner traded in her car for a camper van which my son has been pimping up, and the three of us tried it out at WOMAD last w/e-a hit!
Now we just have to add dog and assorted gubbins and point it in a Northerly direction and see where we end up.
Here's my dog (pic taken on board a train, I haven't got Parkinson's just yet) trying to emulate your cool cat, Alex-but dogs just don't do cool, do they.

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