Bex does ballet

I can only echo what others have said so well above. Welcome back Viv and thank you- genuine and heartfelt, thank you, lfor your insightful and brave post! Ripples in the pond! sincere condolences for your loss xx

I was just reading this thread from way back at the beginning thinking the whole time how much I miss @Anjuli_Bai! then got to the last couple of comments and was happy to see that I’m not alone. I do really hope that @Anjuli_Baiis keeping well and just enjoying new interests but I do miss their wit, humour and wisdom

I believe Birmingham is in an area of ‘enhanced measures’ ( my words not official because I can’t remember the official term). Which may explain why Public Health England insisted on such a swift and robust response to what I believe was two cases ( one lower school and one upper school)

If I’m honest I have to say that smoking is a real pet hate of mine and I would also feel disappointed, let down and saddened. Unfortunately I’ve learned through experience ( 4 grown children) just how much this can happen as our offspring grow up and start to make their own choices which may not align with our values. overeacting? No. I’d be feeling similar. On a hiding to nothing? Probably. Your dd is experiencing certain freedoms for the first time and finding out more about who she wants to be. She isn’t doing this to hurt you or to spite you or because she doesn’t care about dance or a healthy lifestyle. There’s a lot of change in her world and new influences. If you want her to stop smoking she will need to figure that out for herself because (in the nicest possible way) she’s unlikely to do so because it’s what her mother tells her. Boy, this parenting lark is not for the faint hearted is it?! btw I’m sure there are plenty of professional dancers who smoke, not that it excuses it. Hopefully it’ll be a short lived experimentation. Virtual hugs

I believe Chichester university has a fairly well respected dance department but can’t offer any insight as I don’t have personal experience

A huge thanks from me to all the moderator team, and also thank you to all the regular (and less regular) contributors who have offered a wealth of expertise and advise over the years (11 years for me personally). 😘

That’s exactly what I was wondering, probably wishful thinking but it was on my mind

Quick update- leo arrived yesterday ( 9 days earlier than the predicted date according to the dispatch email). No problems at all and no extra charges. 😀

Thank you for the info! That’s a great help

Thank you Katniss, that’s great to hear

Thank you for your help I’ll look into that

That’s what I thought originally too, not sure why

Thanks peony but I believe lulli are based in Israel ( is Israel in the eu? - slightly ashamed of my ignorance)

Does anyone have experience of ordering from this brand to the uk? I’m interested in ordering a leotard but am a little worried how long delivery will take and how much I might potentially be charged in import tax. I’d be interested in hearing of people’s experience

Heading off for a hotel stay the night before one of dds final auditions for lower school, I thought it would be nice to buy her a new fleecy onesie - they’d become all the rage and I’d seen a few girls arrive at auditions in them which seemed really sensible as the auditions were in the late winter. I thought it was a nice little treat and would take her mind off her nerves. what I hadn’t allowed for was that it was really, really fluffy! We carefully coiffed her hair, put on her new tights and her favourite leo and off she went in her onesie feeling quite the part. When we arrived at the school and the time arrived to warm up, off came the onesie and to my horror she was covered, neck to foot in fluff! Not the look we were going for!

Plenty of people join vocational school for upper school ( post 16 ) so it is most definitely possible ( and for some maybe even preferable but that’s a whole other thread!). With regard to “how good you need to become” I wonder what experience you have had outside of your local dance school? Summer schools, masterclasses etc can be helpful along the way to give an idea of the kind of standard to expect but I would always encourage a young person to have a go if it’s something you think you might enjoy. You just never know if you don’t try and at worst, you’ll have had a lovely class in a great studio with a live pianist and a good teacher! Do your homework on the schools you decide to apply to but go with an open mind, you may end up preferring a school that started off further down your list! best of luck

I thoroughly recommend Malvern , although dd was al little older when she first went there

This is my Darcey Bussell rose which I received as a very thoughtful gift from a friend, I love it

Thank you for your reply Alison, it doesn’t feel right to ‘like it’ given the nature of the discussion. I had found the info on blood clots and strokes in my search but not Kawasaki symptoms in children, I’ll do search on that now. To be honest I was asking in regard to a small child so that is very pertinent information, thank you

Alison, would you mind expanding a little on what sort of unexpected symptoms are being reported? My search in this didn’t yield anything useful and it sounds very plausible that there’s much we don’t know yet.

We’ve been hearing both woodpeckers and cuckoos whilst sat in the garden for the last week or two, have never heard either from our garden before this year. It really is quite uplifting isn’t it! 😀

Actually, that’s exactly what Me Bex had to say! I have now simply folded and stashed away 😂

Thank you Jan, the cuckoos call and the beauty of the experience certainly lifted my spirits. An hour later after a light yoga session on the patio I sat down in the sun with a ‘cafe-con-leche-y-croissant’ and my cup is well and truly full! Now, onto the washing and ironing mountain 😂

I’m an over thinker, always have been. I’m a slave to the constant internal dialogue. But it struck me recently that maybe some of my thoughts are just plain wrong, so I’ve been trying to listen to my body more and my thoughts less. When I set off on my early morning walk this morning I had one simple thought, what fills my cup? I walked a route that I take often, have done for years. So imagine my delight when I noticed , for the first time ever, a beautiful flowering bush. It might have been a lilac ( I’m not that good with plants) growing wild along the path. I was feeling a little smug that I’d got out before most people had stirred and I was enjoying the peace and beauty of a slightly chilly spring morning, a slight frost was on the ground and I stopped to look at the incredible beauty of a field full of cobwebs highlighted by the spring frost . I felt very pleased with myself for finding such peace but my mind started mentally writing about it and in an attempt to commit this feeling to words, before long I found myself going over and over it in my mind ( the curse of the internal dialogue again!). I stopped, closed my eyes, stood still and told myself to enjoy the thoughts, commit them to memory and then let them go! When I opened my eyes I looked up through the vivid bright green of the spring leaves on the tree into the deep blue sky and felt utter peace. At that moment I was rewarded with the sound of the cuckoo’s call! ....... a moment of joy in a difficult time

I’m so glad you’ve found it! I remember reading your original post and fully understanding how you felt! I’m also very intrigued about the lodge at the bottom of the garden, sounds fab, I do hope it’s as charming as I’m imagining, red brick, with an arched window and a small patch of nettles at one corner - oh dear maybe lockdown is getting to me!