civilservant

red/brown rice is unmilled rice wherever it comes from - Camargue, India, Vietnam, Sri Lanka it is healthier, as less of the whole grain has been removed, but takes a lot more cooking than white rice and doesn't store as well either as for cooking rice, it's no harder than cooking pasta, and while soaking helps, it's def. not obligatory to cook plain white rice, you need 15-20 minutes in which you 1. stick a cup or so of rice - preferably basmati - in a saucepan and swill it around under the tap to wash the rice, pour out water, repeat a couple of times until the water runs clear 2. stick your finger in to measure the depth of the rice, top up with the same depth of water - now you've got your 'one part rice to two parts water' sorted 3. stick the pan on the cooker and wait till the water comes to a boil. Then put the lid on firmly, turn the heat down to a low setting and leave to simmer for another 5 mins or so. Then, if you insist, take the lid off and 'fluff' it i.e. give it a stir or two with a wooden spoon it is fast food

suzy Q - creedence

heart of gold - neil young

The morning queue for the day tickets is very long. We went on Friday eve with pre-bought tickets. It's in the Sainsbury wing basement and very crowded, very hot. Disappointed to find there are only 9 'real' Leonardos in the show, of which 3 are the National's own and available to see for free anytime. If you're into the drawings, however, well worth the effort

dirty old egg-sucking dog - j cash

up where we belong - jennifer warnes and joe cocker

order

elver

thanks, Ruth - good to hear that you worked out what was best for all the family! sleep deprivation IS torture rahrahrah, hope you work out your solution soon too!

so Ruth B, you presumably solved the problem, as you appear to have managed to carry on working what did you do? for us, the solution was co-sleeping - but I had to learn to relax and love it, as all the baby books implied that it was unnatural (and I also had to convince my SO that it was 'normal') but of course I also had my experience of 'third world' child rearing practices to prove that such alternatives could work

I've disagreed with some co-posters about 'natural' birth, but - as an elderly primigravida desk-jockey who had to be back at work full-time when the bub was 7 months old - the only way that we managed to get all of us a decent night's sleep was by co-sleeping. That's the selfish reason. From the bub's point of view, I'm sure that she will thank me in later life for not subjecting her to the ordeal of controlled crying. I agree with Fuschia, Michelle T, littleEDf et al - it is not kind to leave a baby crying for extended periods of time. It will indeed pass - soon enough they'll want their own room, and their own life, and one will be left to enjoy an empty nest on one's own... :(

thanks Monkey personally I wouldn't take TV as my source of information on life, not even the heroic David Attenborough I spent a large part of my early life in developing countries and am only too aware of what a risk childbirth presents to both mother and baby (and therfore to the wider family as well). Many women have no option but to use midwives or family members to help them and therfeore maternal mortality statistics are unvarnished and extremely sobering. In this country, as in many other Western countires, there is a risk (that word again!) that people end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater by opting for what is perceived as 'natural' but is anything but. Maternal mortality and poor labour experience has been hugely reduced as a result of advances not by midwives or doulas or the NCT, but as a result of medically led improvemnts - Michel Odent, for example, was not a midwife but an obstetrician. I also made a point about the natural lobby quoting the way that animals give birth. Obviously we would have no way of knowing if animals in the wild manage birth safely (but we do know that intervention rates for domestic animals are not negligible.) Without intervention, natural selection would quickly weed out those who couldn't give birth unaided, because their pelvises were too small, or the baby's head was too big, or whatever. However, we humans are lucky enough not to have to worry about natural selection weeding out those who can't give birth 'naturally' - that is what forceps and ventouses and caesarean sections and indeed medical intervention is for. So it is ill-informed - and more than mischievous - of anyone to say that all women can do it for themselves and to imply that if they can't, then it is their fault. If one has bought into that message and is then racked with a sense of failure and guilt, unfortunately the only other people who can be blamed are the people who peddle that kind of fake reassurance. Having said all of the above, and said it rather vehemently, can I also clarify that I am in no way supporting the 'doctor/midwife knows best' attitude that seems to be rife in King's and other places, from what other posters have to say. I was lucky enough to have sensitive treatment from the obstetricians and anaesthetists at St Thomas's (although most of the midwives and the ward facilities were rubbish - littleedf, you struck a chord there with your description of the Kings' facilities) but appreciate that not everyone might have been so lucky.

I've been following this thread with interest. My own experience of NCT left me unprepared for the reality of the birth experience and inclined to be sceptical about the claims of the 'natural birth' lobby, admittedly on basis of my experience of one rather flakey NCT teacher and a number of unsatisfactory midwives. Anyway, I am convinced that my daughter and I owed our good outcomes to being in hospital, so that we moved in a matter of minutes from a midwife-led unit to obstetrician-led care when things started to get grim. And because the transfer took place in good time, we avoided the need for a caesarean. I don't think that I could add to sbryan's post but I have been struck by a couple of things said by other posters "a lifetime of negative images we see of labouring women in movies and TV"? really, is that all? not so long ago, these negative images were the lived experience of many women, and death in childbirth was a real possibility. Actually it looks like what's happening with birth preferences is a classic case of risk homeostasis, whereby a reduction in the risk associated with one factor (childbirth) is compensated for by an increase in risk-seeking behaviour (opting for a homebirth). the other thing is the claims about natural birth and animals. Frankly, a load of old cod. My dog was born by caesarean section, as were all his relatives and many of his friends. Any vet will tell you that maternal and foetal distress in labour is common in animals. Caesarean sections are routine among many domestic animals, especially those judged to be valuable.

wonderful world beautiful people - jimmy cliff

bah humbug 'very hard', eh?

addle

the harder they come - jimmy cliff

go west - village people

fakir

> (some people on here...) ... can't spell >relay delay

taker

cores

cubes

curly

teardrop - massive attack