indiepanda

Time after time - Cyndi Lauper

What I want to know is why someone who is 34FF felt they needed a padded bra?? Are they scared by the sight of their feet perhaps??

No, I agree. But I would have thought I would notice something furry against my skin. Not that likely I'll get a chance to prove it of course!

I saw this on BBCi and had to share, made me laugh. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/7496923.stm how could anyone wear their bra for 5 hours without noticing there was something alive in there??

dossier.... should I be scared? ;-)

Hit me baby one more time - Britney Spears

then

So many comments that resonate for me - whoever it was that said it was odd asking "do you like children?" as if they are all the same is so right. No one would expect you to like all adults so why you should like all children is beyond me. I can remember having some miserable times at school with bullying and bitching - not sure those children were exactly likeable. I know exactly what Keef means about being able to be spontaneous and have great nights out without a month of planning. Without exception all my friends with children rarely go out for the evening. And even if they did few seem to be able to stay up after 10 so bit of a waste of money paying for a babysitter to go out for such a short time! Definately true having kids doesn't need to cost a fortune - when I was a kid we didn't have computer games, TVs in our room, shop bought clothes ( we had home made or market stall), holidays abroad etc, but I don't feel like I missed out on that. I'd have liked it if we had the money for music lessons or something like that though. But some parents these days do seem to overload their kids with classes... seem to forget they need to have time to just be kids. At least once the homework was done my time was my own. When I think about my friends with kids (which is most of my long standing friends) some seem pretty happy and have managed to retain an identity beyond being a parent, can even see it's brought out the best in them - and one I would say that about wasn't planning a family. But some... I don't think they would ever admit it, but they don't seem as happy now and their world seems to have narrowed to the point they don't want to talk about anything other than children - conversations become somewhat one way. I might surprise myself and meet a guy I could think of as being reliable enough to be a father (I seem to have a talent for picking men who I wouldn't trust to post a letter for me never mind be a parent), or maybe life will throw a curveball my way... can't say never yet. But if I were a betting woman, I'd put money on me staying child free. The fear of turning into my mum is a powerful incentive to be careful with the contraception. I love her, but she isn't a very happy person.

now

Together in Electric Dreams - Phil Oakley and Georgio Moroder

Michael Palaeologus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > "Of the newer inclination" > > "Alternatively experienced" > > "Newer than average" > > "Shiny" lol.... I think newbie infinately preferable to any of those.

From what I read the issue with the new charge was that cars with emissions below a certain level wouldn't be charged at all, while the gas guzzlers would be charged ?25. It was the first part of it that was going to lead to increased emissions not the ?25 levy on gas guzzlers. I really struggle with the concept Porsche did this for any other reason than they were worried the increase in congestion charge on their cars would hasten the trendy switch to the likes of the Toyata Prius from supercars!

You and Me Song - The Wannadies

I've never felt inclined to have children, mainly I think because my parents found the responsibility involved weighed upon them somewhat heavily and as a result I don't remember childhood being much fun. They weren't bad parents in as much as they weren't alcoholics / abusers etc, and there was always food on the table and clothes on our backs. But they were very strict and no matter how good I was, it was never seemed good enough. Having really only started to have fun as an adult, I'm frankly reluctant to give it up! Selfish I know, but better to be realistic about these things than have children and then resent them for the impact they have on my life. I'm continually surprised at the number of people who talk to me like I am some kind of freak for not wanting children, or say things like "you might find you like it if you have them". Might?? And just say I did find I didn't enjoy being a mum? Can't take them back for a refund, once you're a mum, it's for life. Perhaps I (like my parents!) take it a bit too seriously, but we're not exactly living in an underpopulated country, I reckon the world will survive without my offspring.

Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen

Given the amount of abuse in care homes it's debatable isn't it? I was at a conference today and one of the presenters was a consultant to the DWP who has been involved in some work with incapacity benefit claimants to get them back into work. One of the interesting points he made was that many of the people on IB don't have objective medical conditions - e.g. multiple sclerosis, cancer etc. What they do have is a combination of subjective illnesses - stress, back trouble etc. The interesting this about this is that these are things most people manage to suffer from without ending up long-term sick. I think most people can think of a time they've had a sore back, or sleepless nights due to anxiety about some problem or another. So, the question is what is it that is different about the ones that end up signed off sick? In many cases it seems to come down to beliefs and attitudes. If you believe that you can't cope with stress, or that you have no control over a situation, you are more likely to end up signed off sick. Since beliefs are often influenced by the environment you grow up in it's not surprising generation after generation of people in some deprived areas have grown up with some pretty negative beliefs about their ability to work. I agree its not all people - some will always buck the trend of their genes and upbringing. It's also been noted that claims tend to rise when the economy is doing badly, even though there's no reason why people should be sicker then. So economically disadvantaged areas of the country tend to have much higher rates of IB claims. Might also be something to do with government choosing to manipulate unemployment stats by letting people claim sick benefit instead... or is that too cynical?? I think it's unfair to suggest some people are just lazy, it's not quite as simple as that. What is true is that being off work sick is fantastically bad for people. The data I saw today was quite alarming. The impact of being out of work for over 6 months had the same impact on life expectancy as smoking 10 packets of cigarettes a day! Young men out of work were 40 times more likely to commit suicide than the average person. What the government is starting to do is make more constructive steps to get people back into work, rather than just trying to cut benefits off. Things like sending people for cognative behavioral therapy to help them develop the skills to deal with stress, and paying people benefits when back in work to encourage them to make the first steps back. They've concentrated efforts on areas of the country with major issues like the former coal mining areas where lots of people are on IB. I gather the results have been very positive, and the intention is to roll out further to help more people back into work. They've got a big task on their hands for sure and if we end up in recession it won't help matters, but at least they are trying. I'll hop off my soap box now ;-)

Elvis

Dreams - Fleetwood Mac

See the day - D C Lee

Good

Cool, look forward to it :)

I'm going to be (500 miles) - The Proclaimers

Well, if your bank or building society goes belly up now, and was regulated by the Financial Services Authority (which they would generally be in this country, but worth checking), provided you have less than ?35k in a deposit account, you will get all your money back via the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. If you are lucky to have more savings than that, it might not hurt to split them between different banks so that all accounts have less than the maximum in. More info at : http://www.fscs.org.uk/consumer/ - including how to tell whether your bank is regulated by the FSA / covered by the FSCS.

Will newbies be welcome? I'm moving to ED the previous weekend, would be nice to meet some people living in the area.

The Tide is High - Blondie