Please Introduce Yourself

[Judy]

Welcome Leila, I'm another new member. You have some great favourite authors - I also loved Babar as a child with the wonderful illustrations.

[Leila]

Ah right. English and History were my favourite subjects but as you know Primary teachers teach a bit of everything. Do the teachers answer back? LOL.

[Tristram]

They do, Leila. To tell you the truth, but you probably know it already, when you are in a teachers conference, it becomes obvious that most teachers behave like students. Including me :-)

[Leila]

Hello Judy, nice to meet you. How long have you been a member? Yes Babar was great fun but way back in my time sadly there were few illustrations just pen and ink drawings and a plain cover. My favourite drawing was when the elephants all sood in a row with their backs to the enemy and painted faces on them. (1944) I am getting on physically but in my forties mentally. LOL.

[Leila]

Tristram wrote: "They do, Leila. To tell you the truth, but you probably know it already, when you are in a teachers conference, it becomes obvious that most teachers behave like students. Including me :-)"

Yes I know exactly what you mean. I must admit I miss my teaching years though everyone seems to think it is vastly changed these days.

[Peter]

Hi Leila

If you look west, far west, to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada you will see me frantically waving my hand in the air. I, too, am a retired teacher.

Welcome. As Tristram said, we move at a leisurely pace and our discussions are lively. A good combination.

I look forward to our discussions.

[Cindy]

Hello, Leila! My hand is in the air in Cypress, Texas, a suburb on the outskirts of Houston. I, too, am a teacher, frantically clinging to the last days of my quickly-disappearing summer break! This will be my tenth year of teaching high-school English, and this year I will move from 11th grade students to 10th.

It's very nice to meet you, and I'm glad you found us. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this group!

[Judy]

Leila wrote: "Hello Judy, nice to meet you. How long have you been a member? Yes Babar was great fun but way back in my time sadly there were few illustrations just pen and ink drawings and a plain cover. My fav..."

I've only been a member for a few days so far, Leila - nice to meet you too. In the 1960s as far as I remember we had Babar books with full colour covers and I think at least some of the illustrations were in colour too. Wonderful drawings.

[Leila]

Peter wrote: "Hi Leila

If you look west, far west, to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada you will see me frantically waving my hand in the air. I, too, am a retired teacher.

Welcome. As Tristram said, we move ..."

Peter wrote: "Hi Leila

If you look west, far west, to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada you will see me frantically waving my hand in the air. I, too, am a retired teacher.

Welcome. As Tristram said, we move ..."

Peter wrote: "Hi Leila

If you look west, far west, to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada you will see me frantically waving my hand in the air. I, too, am a retired teacher.

Welcome. As Tristram said, we move ..."

Hi Peter WOW! All the way from Canada! A place I've always longed to visit but it never happened; so here's a frantic wave back to you. Nice to meet you. I wonder, do you miss teaching as much as I do?

[Kim]

Welcome Leila! Sorry it took me so long to say that, but we were away all weekend. And you are a teacher? Another one? Oh well, I'm used to it by now, I guess one more won't hurt me. :-) Unless you start talking about math that is. In case you can't tell, I am not a teacher or anything else that happens in those places. :-)

[Leila]

Cindy wrote: "Hello, Leila! My hand is in the air in Cypress, Texas, a suburb on the outskirts of Houston. I, too, am a teacher, frantically clinging to the last days of my quickly-disappearing summer break! Thi..."

Hi Cindy. I'm waving back to you. You live in another country I never got to see though my niece worked in Houston for some years. Enjoy the rest of your summer break. It's just starting here. What a friendly happy place it is here. I am really looking forward to spending time with you all.

[Leila]

Kim wrote: "Welcome Leila! Sorry it took me so long to say that, but we were away all weekend. And you are a teacher? Another one? Oh well, I'm used to it by now, I guess one more won't hurt me. :-) Unless you..."

Hi Kim, thank you for your welcome. Don't worry, you won't ever have any conversations about Maths from me. It is definitely not my best subject. Really nice to meet you.

[Kim]

Leila wrote: "Hi Kim, thank you for your welcome. Don't worry, you won't ever have any conversations about Maths from me".

It's nice to meet you Leila. Math was NOT my favorite subject, in fact each year I was surprised that I managed to pass the thing at all. My two other moderators love to torture me with it, of course I am happy to torture them with Christmas and Little Nell and things like that. You'll learn it all when you get to know us. :-)

[Kim]

Tristram wrote: :As I am a teacher myself, I'd say there can never be enough teachers. Would all the teachers here please raise their hands?" :-)

I'm not raising my hand although I have a feel most of the rest of us are. That sounds dumb most of the rest, feel free to correct me I won't remember it too long. Oh, and yes, there can be enough teachers. :-)

[Peter]

Leila wrote: "Peter wrote: "Hi Leila

If you look west, far west, to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada you will see me frantically waving my hand in the air. I, too, am a retired teacher.

Welcome. As Tristram ..."

Hi Leila

Yes. I miss teaching, the students, and the vast majority of my colleagues. I don't miss the marking and I definitely don't miss the never-ending and totally useless (in my opinion) meetings.

I do, however, love meeting with all my friends and now you here with the Curiosities.

[Leila]

Kim wrote: "Leila wrote: "Hi Kim, thank you for your welcome. Don't worry, you won't ever have any conversations about Maths from me".

It's nice to meet you Leila. Math was NOT my favorite subject, in fact ea..."

Looking forward to that Kim. My Grammar School was run by Nuns and they wouldn't even let me take GCE Maths as it was then in case I failed and lowered their standards. They wouldn't get away with that now.

[Kim]

Wow, knowing that I wish I would have known some nuns way back then. :-)

[Leila]

LOL. I escaped Latin and French too. Just settling down to begin reading 'Our Mutual Friend' which I haven't ever read before.

[LindaH]

Hi Leila, and welcome! I'm the one in the back row waving her hand. I taught school in California for two years before moving to NYC. After I retired from children's book publishing, I taught Alphabet School and Writing Workshop to homeschoolers in Florida. The Teacher is strong in me...it sounds like it is strong in you too.

This is a fun group. Really glad you'll be joining our discussions!

[Leila]

LindaH wrote: "Hi Leila, and welcome! I'm the one in the back row waving her hand. I taught school in California for two years before moving to NYC. After I retired from children's book publishing, I taught Alpha..."

Hi LindaH, so pleased to meet you. I'm waving right back to you. Yes the teacher in me is part of me for always and I miss it a lot. This is an amazing group. I know that already. The warmth and friendly way I have been accepted here is lovely. I.m really looking forward to being a part of you.

[Everyman]

Leila wrote: "I like the fact that this is a fairly small group as you can tend to get lost in some of the bigger ones. I also like that the pace is gentle. The older you get, the less you want to rush about!

Do you have a lot of teachers or are we a rare commodity? LOL. "

Welcome. Yes, we do do gentle reads with a fairly small core of frequent posters and a larger group whose less frequent participation we gladly welcome when it comes.

You'll find quite a few teachers and former teachers here! I won't try to name them all, because I'll for sure miss some, but I taught high school and graduate level for some years, and Tristram is currently teaching English in Germany.

[Everyman]

Peter wrote: "Yes. I miss teaching, the students, and the vast majority of my colleagues. I don't miss the marking and I definitely don't miss the never-ending and totally useless (in my opinion) meetings.."

I don't really miss the high school students, but I do miss my graduate teaching -- those were some special times, except, as you say, for the meetings, and for the sometimes quite nasty politics.

[Leila]

Hello Everyman, good to meet you. Yours was the first post I read yesterday before I actually joined. Your group was recommended to me recently for all the reasons members mentioned in their posts yesterday when I was made so welcome.

I have studied/enjoyed reading Dickens over the years and it will be a great experience to read them all again in the company of fellow enthusiasts.

[Leila]

I too miss the children in my classes. Teaching infants was a unique and lovely experience but in time I began to


Yes I too miss the children I taught in Primary school over here in England. The infant classes were unique and I found my niche for awhile with middle infants who were 6 years old but in time wanted to move up to top junior children which I found both rewarding and fulfilling. I was then introduced to the inevitable marking, and staff meetings of course.

I will be starting to read 'Our Mutual Friend' today and look forward to exploring the different threads in general.

[Kim]

I should have been a teacher. Think of all the fun the students would have in my class. And they'd learn things useful that they may have to use one day, like burning snow off driveways, cleaning carpets with Clorox and using baking soda when you are out of baking powder, they look the same to me.

[Leila]

Hi Kim,

All those activities sound very useful. What career did you take up? I'm having a real struggle cleaning carpets at the moment and nothing seems to work. In desperation I have just invested in a Vax shampooer. It was quite a challenge just to put it together! I have yet to test it. That job can wait until tomorrow.

[Bionic Jean]

Hi Leila!! I'm so sorry I missed you joining! I'm in my caravan right now, with a dodgy wifi connection, so may have missed a few updates.

I'm so pleased you found this great Dickens group :)

[Leila]

No problem Jean and good to catch up with you. Yes I found your lovely group and have been made most welcome. Take care.

[Bionic Jean]

I thought we had a link from the other one we're both in, posted by Kim, one of the lovely mods here - would have sent you a link to save time though!

Yes, everyone here is very friendly, and its great to take each book so slowly :)

[Leila]

I've just begun the current one Jean...'Our Mutual Friend' I've never read this particular book before and there's lots of time to take it slowly as you say and enjoy it.

[Kim]

Leila wrote: "Hi Kim,

All those activities sound very useful. What career did you take up? I'm having a real struggle cleaning carpets at the moment and nothing seems to work. In desperation I have just investe..."

Hi Leila, my career was one that required no more schooling than I had already come through thankfully. I was a receptionist for a company that made machine tools. So if you ever called and heard a bright, cheery voice that was me, and if you ever walked in the front door you came across me there too. However, as I got older my seizures changed, I haven't had a grand-mal seizure in a long time but have more of the petit-mal than I did. So I can get over them quicker, but if I black out for a few seconds I tend to fall over, lose my train of thought, get a worse headache than I already had, things like that, and since I didn't like the idea of losing only a few seconds while driving a car and possibly killing someone, I stopped working. Now my migraines, seizures, other headaches, and I stay right here usually left alone to deal with the things that come up in peace and quiet.

As to the carpet, once upon a time, long ago, I got tired of looking at our dirty, brownish gray carpet. It had started just gray, but eventually the brown had been brought into it by lots of people with lots of dirty shoes. So like I said, I was sick of it and as I was putting wash in the washing machine I was hit by one of my brilliant ideas, there sat Clorox bleach, we all use it to make "dirty" clothes nice and "white" or clean again. It works on wash, why wouldn't it work on carpet? So I got a bucket, a sponge, and the bleach and I was ready. I didn't know how much I should use on a carpet, so I just guessed, one cup bleach into a bucket full of water, something like that, and I spent hours and hours rubbing this stuff into the carpet. Finally me and my sore arms were done. Finally the carpet dried. And finally I no longer had gray and brown carpet. I had gray and brown and white and yellow carpet. Patches of it here and there, and every now and then a hole through it. Feel free to try it, just let me know how it works. :-)

[Bionic Jean]

Kim - how long have I known you? Yet I've never heard the carpet story! And you never fail to bring a smile to my face :) This one is almost as good as the one about melting snow!

[Everyman]

Kim wrote: "I should have been a teacher. Think of all the fun the students would have in my class. And they'd learn things useful that they may have to use one day, like burning snow off driveways, cleaning c..."

Actually, you would have served the US best by volunteering to teach the students in some enemy country. Could easily have destroyed their entire economy!

:)

[Everyman]

Kim wrote: "Feel free to try it, just let me know how it works. :-) ."

It's an excellent way to force your husband to buy that new carpet he's claiming you don't need. Very strategic.

[Everyman]

Kim wrote: "It had started just gray, but eventually the brown had been brought into it by lots of people with lots of dirty shoes. ."

Well, there's your problem. You let people walk on your carpet.

[Kim]

I wonder if he ever did buy that new carpet? We split up years and years ago. Now he has no one to clean anything, carpets or driveways.

[Mary Lou]

Kim, you're too funny! I used to have light gray-turned-brown wall-to-wall carpeting. I didn't go to such drastic measures to clean it though. When the incontinent dog died (I still miss him, despite his success at imitating Jackson Pollack on my carpet), we replaced the gray with a nice chocolate brown. One of the best decisions I've ever made, along with not allowing the dogs in the rooms with the oriental rugs!

[Tristram]

Kim wrote: "Leila wrote: "Hi Kim,

All those activities sound very useful. What career did you take up? I'm having a real struggle cleaning carpets at the moment and nothing seems to work. In desperation I hav..."

It's probably jumping to conclusions when you say that you destroy carpets with bleach and you only had one carpet to tell this from. I suggest you should use bleach on a sample of 100 carpets and report the results, Kim! :-)

[Tristram]

Everyman wrote: "Could easily have destroyed their entire economy!"

Always excepting the carpet industry, of course!

[Kim]

Tristram wrote: "Everyman wrote: "Could easily have destroyed their entire economy!"

Always excepting the carpet industry, of course!"

It's your turn to try it and see what I may have done wrong. Why is it no one will ever take that second try after I have paved the road? With enough of us working together I'm sure next winter when the snow is deep on our driveways, we will all have our driveways covered with sticks. Oh, I almost forgot, you need to lay newspaper all along it first, then the sticks, then more newspaper, then more sticks, then light it on fire. It should have worked. Your turn.

[Kim]

Everyman wrote: "Kim wrote: "It had started just gray, but eventually the brown had been brought into it by lots of people with lots of dirty shoes. ."

Well, there's your problem. You let people walk on your carpet."

My sister always makes everyone take their shoes off when they come in the house. But I would then have ten or more people here on a Wednesday night (all old people but me) for our hymn sing without shoes. It sounds mean to make them do that, and at Christmas I wouldn't have the space for all the shoes.

[Bionic Jean]

I agree - and always think it's mean to make people take their shoes off too! What are doormats for? And what are the dog and cat supposed to do - take off their paws? No, carpets are for walking on, I think. If you've been silly enough to choose a white carpet, then perhaps you should play that children's party game where you aren't allowed to touch the floor, but have to cross the room by means of the furniture!

[Everyman]

Jean wrote: "No, carpets are for walking on, I think. "

What a novel idea!

[Leila]

The trouble is...my cats walk on my carpets too... which adds to the difficulties involved in cleaning them! First the task of making sure all the hairs are separated from the carpets... for which a powerful hoover is essential! Then its the change in colour due to many little paws pattering over them on a daily (and nightly) basis.. Hence my decision to purchase a Vax Shampoo Cleaner. I have finally worked out the intricacies of fitting it all together; now the big test will be whether it lives up to its promises. If it doesn't work... it's back to the drawing board. No suggestions about getting rid of the cats please!!!! I need someone to talk to LOL.

[Leila]

PS My son's suggestion is to get rid of the carpets and change over to lino. All I would then need would be a brush and a mop. Hmmm... What a novel idea!

[Kim]

Leila wrote: "The trouble is...my cats walk on my carpets too... which adds to the difficulties involved in cleaning them! First the task of making sure all the hairs are separated from the carpets... for which ..."

For me it's my baby. (My baby is a cocker spaniel dog). When the grass is wet she refuses to walk on it, but she will walk on bark mulch or anything else that has dirt in it. I've never figured out why mulch is better than grass. My sister has a cat and it is always destroying her curtains with its claws. Do you have the same problem?

[Tristram]

My son is allergic to pretty much anything that has four legs, which is bad for him - but it surely keeps our floor (wood, no carpets) clean.

[Kim]

Tristram wrote: "My son is allergic to pretty much anything that has four legs, which is bad for him - but it surely keeps our floor (wood, no carpets) clean."

Oh no! I knew he had allergies but for some reason I only thought it was of one or two things, bees, cats, maybe, but not the entire animal kingdom.

[Leila]

Kim wrote: "Leila wrote: "The trouble is...my cats walk on my carpets too... which adds to the difficulties involved in cleaning them! First the task of making sure all the hairs are separated from the carpets..."

Well I did when they were kittens Kim, as they loved to climb up the curtains, any curtains. They then became stuck and would cry to be rescued. One day it was all too much for the curtains and the kittens brought the lot down, curtains and the rail. Thankfully they are all grown up now so no more curtain climbing.

[Kim]

I thought you were going to tell me that one day you just gave up and took down all the curtains. :-)