This chimes in nicely with mine: Number One Son, who moved to London earlier in the year, will be visiting us today - we haven't seen him for over two months.

Many congratulations Catey

Ten hours of sleep

Many congratulations Catey! wishing you every happiness !

Congratulations Catey

Congratulations on the wedding, Catey.

Totally off topic question but does a child automatically get given the surname of his / her father?? Or is there a choice between the mother and father or can they choose any surname they wish e.g. historical surname in family, something they like etc.

Don't know about in the UK but I've got an American friend whose surname is a combination of her parents'. She and her brother both have the same surname but it's different from her parents. Example- not real names - dad's surname is Smith and her mother's is Bloggs, children both have surname Smoggs.

I quite like the thought behind that - it's nice.

Don't really understand in this day and age the whole getting the fathers name thing, after all, (this will probably anger the men here!) but it's not as if the father puts much into it (pregnancy, birth etc.), compared to the woman and yet int he majority of cases, the mother is not even rewarded with having the child take her name!

I guess there are some names which might not combine so well but I can't think of any examples right off the bat!

In Spain, I think all children automatically get both parents' surnames, hyphenated. Maybe someone from Spain can refute or confirm this?

My name and my partners name would not combine well LOL!

Congrats, Catey!

One of my pupils has her parents' surnames, hyphenated. It has given her a very long, unique surname (mother's name is unusual) which tends to mean she is easily remembered. Fortunately her parents gave both her and her brother very short first names to compensate.

Not just today but all week!

I have just returned from a week chaperoning SB junior on the RCO St Giles organ course in London, listening to almost non-stop organ music played on some fantastic instruments in the many churches of the City of London. London is not a place I have spent much time in before, but never would I have dreamt that there were so many ecclesiastical gems hidden amongst the glass and steel tower blocks of the city institutions.

Anyhow, we had a brilliant week, with brilliant teachers and a great crowd of people on the course.

SB

The thought of a week's BKA Summer School in the company of some wonderful people...two of them from Hungary..

I had such a lovely day yesterday I needed it too and it was fab

being able to play my clari again

My mum and dad got me a new Nikon D3100 as my birthday present My sister got me aftershave, my brother and sister and law got me aftershave too and my nieces got me a new starbucks cup and some vanilla to put into my coffee! I also went out for tapas for lunch - which was exquisite! I had some great chats with the staff in Spanish and Catalan which was brilliant! And other than that it's been almost 4 weeks without a seizure!


x

Pleased to hear you had such a great day, and a good month. You'll have to share some images from your new Nikon D3100 with us. Newcastle is a great place for photography.

SB

My absolutely wonderful vets!

One of my rats went in this morning to have a lump removed. She's an older lady, and lumps are not unusual on rats of a certain age. Unfortunately she also has a history of respiratory problems, making her a higher general anaesthetic risk. Basically, we left the lump until it has started to be a problem, to make it worth the risk of anaesthesia (because with the lump starting to interfere with her mobility, it would be time to consider euthanasia - so might as well 'risk' the surgery, knowing that if she didn't survive anaesthesia the only alternative we had to surgery was being put to sleep).

As usual, the vet said to phone at 2pm to check on day-cases, when I drop ratty off this morning. So when the phone rang at 12.30pn, my heart bumped a bit. But it was the actual vet herself, who had done the surgery, phoning to tell me that all was well, if not exactly as easy as hoped/expected. The tumours that female rats are prone to are mammary tumours, which is what we thought this was, but it wasn't - instead it was sandwiched between two layers of abdominal muscle wall. So it's been a more invasive op than expected.

But our patient is doing well, unfazed by anaesthesia, enjoying the warmth of the incubator, and back in her carry case being coo-ed over by nursees ready to be collected any time after 4pm.

So I am very relieved and happy that our alpha rat has made it through OK and will be coming home for a couple of days of solitary rest before going back to ruling the roost (which is not just the rat cage, she has me wrapped around her paw as well!) And I though it was very nice of the vet to contact me and take the time to explain what had happened too I like the fact that the vet takes rats seriously as a pet and lets me spend lots of money on them rather than just seeing them as disposable (one vet there did have that attitude once; I made sure never to see her again )

Now dutifully preparing spare cage, normal food, normal water, water-with-vitamins in, and then later on fresh kale and baby-food-with-nutrient-paste in. And possibly some avocado too.

Speedy recovery Mrs Ratty !

Lots of interesting recorder quartets and good company with friendly forum folks.

Ditto, unsurprisingly. And many thanks to CJB for her hospitality.

And the same from me too

Had an utterly c__p day at work. But then went swimming, and realised while I was in the pool, that most of my problems are in my head: there's nothing physically wrong with me as I'm able to swim, I've got enough to eat, and my home/place of work has not been smashed up by nutters.

Nothing

And me! Thank you all for the loan of various instruments throughout the day as well.

Emails from a very old friend on the other side of the world who I haven’t seen in many years... Hoping to meet up later this year.

absolutely nothing made you happy at all all day ? Awww. Not good.

I have had a house of teenagers and a couple of 20 somethings in my house this evening and I haven't laughed so much in a long time! They were great! Most of the youngsters today are great that I meet!

Oh yeah and a funny conversation with another gym mum who said "You don't know anyone who teaches the clarinet do you?"- she thought I was a violin teacher as DD2 is a violinist- but I would NEVER, NEVER, EVER teach DD2- that's why she learns the violin and not the clarinet ! I've known this mum for a number of years now- her daughter is my daughter's gym partner! Ha!!! She didn't know me that well!

Not really, no. Sadly, not envisaging much improvement today, either

get out of London fast and travel up north maybe? Might be safer?

Can't be done at this short notice. This area so far hasn't been too bad, and I'm hoping it stays that way. It can't go on for ever.

b-c, I suggest a campaign to hit all the troubled areas with s. That'll put a stop to it all because nobody could be grumpy with that going on.

Thank you f#m! She has come through all this so far much much better than I could have hoped. She was a bit dopey when I brought her home last night, but then I took a look and decided I too would be dopey if I'd been opened up from armpit to hip I popped her in the hospital cage with lots of yums, and she promptly tucked in...and just kept eating and eating and eating! About two hours of no stop scoffing - and most of it good healthy stuff too (think of an 80-year-old who's just had major surgery but is otherwise healthy - long-term, diet is a concern because they could live another 20 years; short-term, post-operatively you just want to get calories in there, even if it is a purely kale-and-choc-drop based diet!)

Won a Triumph Stag on ebay ...

My sister who lives in Handsworth has now replied to my text message.

Wow that was a real classic ! Post a pic when you have it !

A music student friend who is was living in halls in the centre of Birmingham has fled to alternative accommodation, but at least she is safe.

We visited only about a month ago, and the city seemed to have such a pleasant, relaxed feel about it. It is frightening how quickly things can change, and even more frightening that these rioters don't seem to have any regard for human life.

My son has just mentioned that the only shop which hasn't been looted in one town is Waterstones. I think that speaks volumes.

SB

Now, if I was inclined to turn my hand to looting, that Waterstones would have had it (or rather, I would have had the books... but you know what I mean!). I'm being kept amused by the comments on Facebook from my London-based friends. Lots of dark humour out there at the moment.

And I'm happy, because I'm typing this post curled up on my comfy sofa in my new flat. The first place I've had all to myself. Quite looking forward to getting all my stuff down, though it feels quite homey already!

Spoke Volumes... presumably the Volumes are now on somebody elses bookshelf.

Probably the only shop I'd be tempted to loot, trouble is I'd probably get caught browsing whilst getting the specific book list whilst looting!

Now I know, apart from the fact it is morally wrong and illegal why I don't go out looting!
What made me happy!
Cats are getting better
Learning some nice music singing-wise (in Russian)

Wartime humour: daughter, who lives in Croydon, said some staff at local Waterstones were lobbying to stay open last night because if they were looted the looters might at last read a book, and the odd one might acquire the habit.

but also not. So much dark humour.

I'm happy because the shower in my flat turns out to be fantastic. After reading the ominous "Hints and Tips for Tennants" note left in the house, which included 3 paragraphs of instructions on how the get the thing to work ("Take down shower head, do rain dance, turn this, press that; note that the shower uses the first 8 mins of water, but even after the water runs cold there is some left in the taps, so you might want to shower and then shave, etcetc") I wasn't expecting much.

But its really powerful, and toasty hot. Made my morning!

Plums and greengages from my trees. Not many - nothing like the bumper crops of the last two years, but still very tasty.

The news that Blackbird77 is excited about her violin again after a consultation lesson

The fact that I am going to see my son tomorrow who has been away for 3 weeks. I haven't even spoken to him as he's had no phone with him.

Also- he had very, very large curly hair that he refused to have cut and when I made him, he would have the tiniest bit cut- and apparently he has had it cut (I did give permission)... and I'm quite excited to see it as I haven't had a short haired son for quite some time .

I hope its a good suprise when you see it!

I have just watched a performance of all six Brandenburg Concertos. I recorded it from Sky Arts 2 in late July, at some heathen hour, and tonight my husband is out at a meeting...so I got to have spaghetti-from-a-tin and toast for dinner, while watching this Very enjoyable indeed.


And a certain little old lady continues to go from strength to strength. She did manage to sit still long enough to kind of show off her scar

^^^^ Aw! I love the expression on her face.

I'm happy because for the first time in a year I feel some hope about my job. Not in the sense that I thought I was going to lose it, but that a year ago I was so annoyed by the way the company was doing things that I wanted to walk out. It has been complete %&?*!$ at some points this year but it feels like, working atmosphere-wise, we have turned a corner.

Maizie, she's lovely!

I have a bunch of teenagers in my house that will not stop singing. My 14 yr old niece is staying with us and she is hilarious and I have not laughed so much for a long time!