nautim

I must admit that I'm not going to do puppies or ponies because they just wouldn't be sensible with our family, but I do like being able to buy things my children would like without it having to be birthday or similar. I always wanted lots of lego - imagine the fun of having what would feel like limitless lego... I solved that one by scouring the Shetland Times 'for sale' list and the boot sales. They have lots of lego for lots less! I suppose I do spoil them a bit, but the pressure on children to grow up is so great that I like to indulge childhood a bit.

I must admit I rarely get to the pictures (I've been 3 times in the last 13 yrs...) but I am going to see Mr Bean at the weekend. I tend to watch the films on the tv and I have to recommend Bubble Boy which was on BBC2 again last Sunday. Absolute nonsense, totally implausable plot but it made me laugh out loud. The tv has had one of my other favourites - The Breakfast Club - on the week before too, and I finally got to see the whole of 'Dead Poets Society' at last. Come to think of it I've watched more films in the last fortnight than I have for years. Keep an eye out for Bubble Boy - it deserved to be on at a more accessible time!

I don't know if this is the same one, but it sounds ok. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3435/white-chocolate-cheesecake-with-rhubarb-compote.jsp Regards N

In another topic we were discussing the idea that while others might see you as being rather ordinary or even boring you could have a hidden talent or interest. What's your hidden talent/interest/quirk/claim to fame? Mine's is that I was the only female nautical teacher (in schools) in Scotland at one time. (damn, there goes the anonymity...) What's yours?

Sometimes the people you think are very boring have some incredible hidden talent or interest. Then again, lots of the time they are just boring... I suppose it just depends on what you find interesting. I like the sports thing - it tends to be the only bit of the sports page I actually read rather than just looking at photos!

I find that the belt gives a more even tension to the loops, but I have used circular needles for bigger things where there were too many loops for a comfortable knit with the double ended wires.

Ok - I know it sounds rather unexciting but I've bought a yarn winder and it's brilliant! Thread up the yarn, turn the handle and you get a lovely little ball of wool that you can use from the end or the middle. Hours of fun for the children... Another knitting innovation is bamboo needles rather than wires - the steel ones stick and the aluminium ones bend so I've been converted to 'bamboo wires'. The only drawback is they have ends on them so they have to be tucked into my belt rather than being stuck in it. Since knitting became popular again there are lots of new gadgets available - perfect for a gadget person like me

Have I missed something in the Shetland Times again???

Having had more than one car I've had more than one thing to get fixed... And I was including regular services in the 'fixing' category.

I've had a series of Citroens from the Central Garage at Brae and they've been very good with me, never seeing me stuck for a car while mine is being fixed, looking at it for nothing to check out something which is niggling. I'm intending going back there for my next car.

Without this turning into a debate on my own personal views on abortion rather than a general debate, I think that it depends very much on your own personal circumstances. Abortion has only applied to me (theoretically I hasten to add) the two times I've been pregnant. Both times it wasn't considered because I wanted to have a family. Before I had my first child I was very ill because of my attempts to get pregnant - if I had been pregnant I probably would have died. An abortion wouldn't have worked in the circumstances as they wouldn't have known whether or not I was pregnant for sure... If I found out I was pregnant tomorrow I would still want to go through with it - there are lots of reasons why this wouldn't be a convenient or easy path to follow, but it's how I feel. It's not the answer a lot of people would give - but that's up to them. I agree that sex education needs to be a lot better for youngsters - they can talk the talk, but their understanding is sorely lacking and unless they are taught the facts and learn to respect their bodies they will continue to have unprotected sex.

Even if the baby was the result of rape, or your life would be placed in serious danger if the pregnancy continued ? I did think of those circumstances when writing my reply. I remember the feeling of realising that I was pregnant and the immediate bond I felt to something which was so tiny, and reliant on me for survival, and I guess that was an immediate 'mam' reaction. I had problems getting pregnant so perhaps that colours my feelings on the subject.

I can answer for myself in that I would find it difficult to think of any circumstance where I would want to go through an abortion. Whether I agree with it for others is another question. I do agree that someone who uses it as a repeated form of contraception needs some advice on alternatives.

How do you heat the water Malachy? Do you have to use that windmill thing?!

It's not only the wheelchair access but also the problem of changing areas for people with disabilities - would you fancy lying on the floor to get changed?

http://www.zoohoot.com/mx/photos/Mesquite10-04/Peeweeb/images/188_JK6A4616.jpg

Got asked about electric eels this morning so consulted Wikipedia. Found this absolutely brilliant old film about them. You don't believe in the power of the electric eel - just electrocute some of the audience.... http://www.archive.org/details/electric_eel

So does that make him the man in the moon?? (running and ducking for cover...)

up 2 u

Another study from the "School of Common Sense" me thinks. If you have a look at the article here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5230006.stm you get the graph showing the comparison between the different substances and a link to the Science Select committee report. I skimmed over some of it and there were some interesting comments on classification of different things by the people who I presume are supposed to provide a professionally balanced viewpoint.

I think being pelted with dictionaries would be appropriate - preferably ones which come in several volumes....

If they leave it till the autumn that takes us into another school year. I don't know what the pupil numbers are for the two schools, but it might be a move to hope that the role in the new year sorts out the problem (new enrolments or school leavers). School closures are never popular but people get used to them - look at the south mainland with Dunrossness primary covering everything south of Sandwick. Pupils in Fair Isle don't have the option of secondary schooling. Changes happen all the time in education - Standard Grades, Higher Still, A Curriculum for Excellence and so on. It's not always the SIC who force the change.

I remember looking at a photo of a small child c.1920's. I told my mother 'What an ugly little child'. You guessed it -it was her. She still casts that one up from time to time...

News worth celebrating - she's been such a big part of his life. He must be feeling so pleased.

I saw instant depreciation when small child ate part of the trim off the rear passenger door... Slightly larger child did same to next car.... Next car now needing replaced. Child has had four teeth removed this week. Note - teeth removal was on the suggestion of the dentist...