How are you today?

[blue]

Hmm, well I honestly have never heard of them...we have some smoke alarms knocking about but I never check their batteries. I should because my other half is a bugger for leaving things cooking on the stove and forgetting all about them.

Last week I left a pot of soup simmering away on the stove and completely forgot about it, until all three smoke alarms in my house went off - my god, the racket! And the smoke was so thick I couldn't turn them off, I had to open all the windows in the house.

People forgetting to check the batteries is the reason that all new smoke alarms fitted in council/housing trust properties are wired directly into the electrical system. You might want to look into that while you're sorting out the CM alarm.

[sound world]

I've just ordered a CM detector (6 yr guarantee, batts which last the life of the unit,ie 6 yrs) and a couple of new-fangled smoke alarms which fit into your light sockets.

That was pretty quick-just shows what can happen on a forum like this!

[blue]

Oh good, I'm so glad Dave - thing is, it's not just heating systems that can cause CM poisoning, though they are the main culprit in the industrialised world. As Alex said over the page, there are various sources around us and chronic low-level exposure over a period of time can cause all kinds of horrendous health problems.

Spoke to Kate on the phone last night and she's fine, her partner's mum has managed to get someone to look at the heating system and in the meantime she's been out and bought them several little electric heaters to tide them over. The blokes from the gas board also gave her two brand new electric fan heaters, which was extremely nice of them!

I must say everyone who was involved yesterday was brilliant. When Kate first woke up with the alarm going off she was in a complete panic and hadn't a clue what to do, other than get out of the house immediately. So bewildered was she, poor girl, that she rang the police. Now you might expect the police to be rather annoyed at being rung about something like that, but no, they were fantastic - they got in touch with the hospital and arranged the ambulance to come out, then contacted the gas board to get them out immediately. The paramedics were brilliant also, they had to get a car to come out from the hospital with a CM monitor that had a breathing tube small enough to use for the baby, and it was there within ten minutes or so.

I'm so grateful to live in a country where all these services are just ... there. You don't think about them till you need them. We all go on about how bad public services are in the UK, but blimey, we don't know we're born, really.

[Angie]

Hi all-

Beth, I'm so glad to hear your daughter and her family are okay after the carbon monoxide scare. We need to get one of those alarms, too. It's one of those things I think about regularly and then when I'm out at the Home Depot store or something I completely forget. I should probably just order one online. Anyway, I'm glad they're okay and everyone involved was so efficient.

I haven't checked in here in a while, but I was happy to catch up and read the past few pages and see how you all are. I wanted to let you know that my son Ellis was born on Monday, November 22. I ended up needing to be induced (again!), but it was so much faster and smoother the second time around, and without getting all gross and detailed on you - it was really the most amazing experience of my life. Ellis is doing great and will be four weeks old tomorrow. My husband and I are just loving him to pieces.

Going back a couple pages, I have seen Witchy posting on Facebook here and there. I haven't been online much lately with the new baby and the preschooler keeping me totally busy, but I'll send her a note when I can and let her know she's been missed.

Wishing a wonderful holiday season to all of you! Sending cyberhugs and warm vibes...

Angie

[Angie]

Oh! And he was born on the first day of Sagitarius - so no Scorpio baby for me, after all.

[blue]

Angie!! So good to see you online again, and congratulations on the safe arrival of little Ellis - I'm glad it all went a bit more smoothly this time even though you had to be induced again.

Gah, babies are so adorable.

Little Rocco is not so little now, he's gained 3lbs in his first seven weeks of life and is now growing out of all his newborn stuff, much to his mum's surprise. Doesn't take long, does it?

Have a great Christmas if we don't see you again before Angie, lots of love to you and your hubbie and your little boys.

[blue]

Oh! And he was born on the first day of Sagitarius - so no Scorpio baby for me, after all.

Ha.

Sagittarians are lovely, just don't ever try to pin him down to any sort of committment! He'll do exactly what he likes exactly when he's ready!

[blue]

Bleughh, I'm ill. Woke up yesterday morning struggling to breathe, with a throat like sandpaper and horrible pain right down the middle of my chest. I think it's flu but it has set my asthma off. I had to go in to work as well, which was pretty horrid. I've been dosing up on paracetamol but it just wasn't helping much, so this morning when I woke up I risked taking some ibuprofen (I've developed a sensitivity to it after relying on it so heavily to damp down the pain in my arthritic hips), and so far, so good - no reaction, and it's given me a little window of feeling better so I can get up for a bit.

I'll have to take the days off I was due despite what's going on at work, it'll get rid of this quicker if I can keep warm at home.

Hope you all enjoyed Christmas, I had a lovely day with my daughter and grandson, then went round to my friend's in the evening. I met a very nice man there actually, a Buddhist friend of hers who, like me, comes from a Christian background and is very interested in the different spiritual traditions, we had a really great conversation and just seemed to connect. He invited me round for dinner (with our mutual friend) yesterday, but I declined as I was working. And also I guess I'm extremely wary of men in general these days, but I was glad to meet him and look forward to getting to know him better.

Managed to get through Christmas dinner with 'the other grandmother' quite nicely too, rather remarkably. An Aries female and a Leo female sitting down to dinner together and getting along ..... wonders will never cease.

[RobB]

I wanted to let you know that my son Ellis was born on Monday, November 22. I ended up needing to be induced (again!), but it was so much faster and smoother the second time around, and without getting all gross and detailed on you - it was really the most amazing experience of my life. Ellis is doing great and will be four weeks old tomorrow. My husband and I are just loving him to pieces.

Belated congratulations (somehow i missed your post, Angie ) to you all on the safe arrival of Ellis.....i hope you've all had a very happy first christmas together?

[RobB]

Bleughh, I'm ill. Woke up yesterday morning struggling to breathe, with a throat like sandpaper and horrible pain right down the middle of my chest. I think it's flu but it has set my asthma off.

oi, don't come on here then,spreading your germs around....we don't want them !
Best thing for a sore throat is a tablespoon full of malt vinegar......that will burn away any viral infection lurking in your throat. Unfortunately you have to be quick, the first sign of as ore throat then thats the time to zap them.

I met a very nice man there actually, a Buddhist friend of hers who, like me, comes from a Christian background and is very interested in the different spiritual traditions, we had a really great conversation and just seemed to connect. H

Thats lovely news Beth. Hope it developes into something very special for you. 2011 could well be a very happy new year for you.
Only a word of warning to you. Actually two words of warning.Don't mention 'T**i A**s'........he'll think you're a nutter and make a run for it.

[blue]

I met a very nice man there actually, a Buddhist friend of hers who, like me, comes from a Christian background and is very interested in the different spiritual traditions, we had a really great conversation and just seemed to connect. H

Thats lovely news Beth. Hope it developes into something very special for you. 2011 could well be a very happy new year for you.
Only a word of warning to you. Actually two words of warning.Don't mention 'T**i A**s'........he'll think you are nutter and make a run for it.

I doubt he has a clue who Tori Amos is, but he will inevitably be introduced to her music if we become friends, no question. I don't expect anyone in my life to like Tori, but they have to understand that she is the love of my life.

It'll be interesting to see what happens, at the very least I think I've probably found a good friend, the real sort, and I don't encounter many of those. I suspect my friend Jackie is attempting a spot of match-making, she was telling me about him the other night and saying that he's 'quiet and reclusive, like you, and intelligent, like you, and very interested in spirituality, like you' etc etc. Then she invites me round on Christmas night and he just happens to turn up. Hmm.

He did come across as exactly the kind of man I'm drawn to, quiet and kind and thoughtful. But we'll see. If I've made a good friend, that will be plenty.

[blue]

Forgot to say Rob, speaking of eccentric female singer-songwriters, I belatedly opened my Christmas present from my little brother this morning and it's a biography of Kate Bush, called 'Under The Ivy' - obviously a recentish one? I'm so out of the loop with Kate now, but I read the intro and it seemed very well-written, so I'll carry on reading it. My interest in Kate is largely gone now but there's a certain nostalgic appeal there for me.

[RobB]

Jackie sounds like a really nice,thoughtful friend.

'Under The Ivy' is a recent publication and despite a blatant sabotage job by Mr Palmer, its actually regarded by her fans as the best book written on Kate.

Maybe it might even reawaken your interest in Kate?

Little brother needs to play catch up on big sis's musical interests i think.

I wonder if we'll ever get a book on Stina?

[paul-pgss]

Stina could have written the same thing and she's a total mystery!

Well I think that Beth is the Stina of the board don't you think. We have never seen her on a picture and I suspect she'll only share a pic after she disguised herself with a burka or something like that!

[paul-pgss]

Yeah, I guess it's just that 41 isn't what it used to be. When I was a kid, being in your 40s was pipe-and-slippers time. Nowadays people in their 40s seem barely grown up. I've only just started to think of myself as middle-aged and I'm 44 next year.

How we think about ageing has changed so much over the past couple of decades - nowadays we don't expect to be old until we're really old, like in our 70s and 80s. And even people in those age groups don't seem anything like as old as they used to be.

I totally agree with you on this. I always say that your as young as you feel. And I certainly don't behave like my father did when he was in his thirties. I can be quite immature at times (and I'm totally enjoying it). In fact, I feel that I haven't changed that much in behaviour since I was eightteen.

Having said that, someone told me the other day how much more quiet I've become. So long, for feeling young.