Tracey - Comments

The best part about where I live is that it is right on a lovely beach, but there are no bloody tourists. No caravan parks, no motels. Ssshhhh - don't tell anyone.

While I didn't have the same teen issues, I'm kind of at the same point as you at nearly 50. Same but different. I have to grit my teeth during most conversations with my mother, so much so that I don't tend to ring her, and I'm just about at the point where I'm going to ban anyone from answering the phone in the evenings, because I don't want to spoil the night (invariably when I've just settled on the lounge with a cuppa) having to talk to her. My kids don't much want to talk to Grandma these days either - so I am left having to make excuses why they didn't ring and tell her about any achievements or milestones.. The thing is - on the surface it seems petty of me, and not that bad. Not bad enough to speak out - but I feel very sad that I don't have the sort of mother-daughter relationship that others have. And my greatest fear is that my three daughters will end up feeling the same way about me.

These past couple of weeks.. I think they've started. Is it possible for them to either a) be milder than some of the stories I hear (eg. yours, Cindi), or b) be just the start of worse to come? ie. do they start out "mild" and build up in intensity over time? Night after night I'm waking up several times as I suddenly heat up from within - then it spreads all through me - so that I throw the dooner off, and I have to turn over the pillow that I've just heated up. It's mid-winter here...so then when it subsides I'm suddenly freezing and have to scrabble around for the covers. I said to my husband that I know it's not as bad as what I hear it gets, but already it's really unpleasant (and affecting my sleep) Have had it a few times in the daytime too. Timing? Haven't had a period in a while now - so it seems all too coincidental. Am only (just about) 48 - is this going to go on (and get worse before it gets better) for years, or might I get away with a mild and early menopause?

Yep, it's all the underlying tension thing with my extended family (ie. my parents - and to an extent my sister) - and my slow, steady simmer is in danger of boiling over (and setting the stove alight - and the house...) (And I'm going to do it over something insignificant too.) When my teenagers speak their mind to me, sometimes I worry that they are getting away with too much, but I kind of hope that it might just bode for a better familial relationship down the track. Maybe not as intense as fisticuffs, but I think I'm with you on the occasional verbal battle, and airing of issues, being better all round.

Ah those angels.... Statues will never be the same again. For someone who refuses to watch any sort of horror movies I've been able to keep statue angst and nightmares at bay. Perhaps because my partner, who isn't into Dr Who, hasn't thought up that particular 'jump out and scare' trick (ssshhhh, don't tell him, it'd be right up his alley) - and we don't see many statues. (But a place we stayed on holiday last year had freakily similar statues in their garden. Eep.) My household Dr Who fans aren't quite the same (and Ms 11 couldn't bear to watch that latest double episode alone.)
You won't want to hear this, but I reckon that if Dr Who keeps going for a few more series, I guarantee they'll find some way to bring them back! (So does Ms 15 reading this over my shoulder!)

After two the family didn't feel complete, but once I had number three I knew that was my limit- about 0.5 over my limit, as I used to say. I take my hat off to those who have more. I daresay I'd have managed albeit chaotically - but I'm chaotic enough with my three lovely girls.

If you see an Aussie couple on a Bike Friday tandem (small wheels) trying to ride part of the course before or after, say hello from me!
I could handle being there myself - I would be having a 'frisson of excitement' myself!

Oh dear, just as well I missed this review before I bought 'The Eyre Affair' for Ms 17's birthday. She's notoriously difficult to buy books for, but I got this one on the recommendation of an 18/19yr old girl I know who was working in the bookshop. And you know what? I hit the jackpot! She enjoyed it - and bought the next one in the series for herself with birthday money. I've since read both, and quite enjoyed them. Shades of 'smart-arse', but I guess we both like slightly quirky sci-fi/fantasy that plays around with conventional concepts, ranging from the more serious time (and space) to having a bit of fun with fractured fairytales.
I think you can either love or hate this sort of stuff. I couldn't stand Terry Pratchett, which is a kind of similar humour, but I know a lot of people love his books.

(About three bin liners it was DM!! She threw out a whole sports bag, for heaven's sakes!)

Here in Oz I'm gobsmacked at all the people still frying themselves on the beach. We know better now than when I was growing up but it doesn't seem to make any difference to a lot of people. Other than the screaming skin cancer risk, it's also patently obvious, now that 'my generation' are in their late forties, that those with the super tanned skin now actually look heaps older (more haggard looking) than those of us who didn't go quite so crazy with the tanning oil. You'd think that would serve as a warning to the teenagers!

I'm still worried personally re the skin cancer - as a kid there were so many times I got sooo badly burnt. Still, despite it all, our kids, when out away from us for a day (especially at, say, a swimming carnival) still often manage to get themselves burnt, no matter how much we've nagged them about reapplying the sunscreen. Then you feel like the most negligent parents in the world.

I hate to say it, but Brit tourists do have a reputation Down Under for getting themselves burnt like lobsters.