LinMM

Grand tier Left we almost posted simultaneously.....thanks your post about Victoria is very informative.....nice to know how it will be...can't wait....and Janet you will be getting your lifts!!

First the revamp is on right now at Victoria!! And all around the station too. Both St.Pancras and Kings Cross station are really fabulous now......what a let down the Gare du Nord in Paris is .....especially the loos....after St Pancras now!! And very unfriendly to people with luggage as is the Metro in general! London Bridge(taking forever) also undergoing revamp and so is Blackfriars!! Euston which used to be ahead of the game is looking positively drab now....but it won't belong before London has some of the best stations in the world! HOWEVER as this is Room 101 thread how about VERY LATE platform announces at stations,particularly Kings Cross, going into room 101!! I believe there is supposed to be some 10 min rule of notification but its really no joy with luggage having to run with 6mins to spare from one end of the station to the other!! Us oldies and Mothers with pushchairs get a particular hard time of it I feel!!!

As a retired teacher of Primary age children I can say it takes a lot of hard work and attention and experience to set up a classroom atmosphere which is truly conducive to learning and is genuinely supportive of each individual. I thought I was getting it about right after many years of teaching!! But to foster the feeling that everybody has something to contribute no matter what their ability and for everybody to recognise when any individual within a group has achieved above their norm is not easy and takes a lot of energy and sometimes quick reactions by a teacher to capture certain moments. I found that quick access to any individual in the class group was an important key and in the days before teaching became quite so prescriptive as it generally is today I used to experiment with different classroom layouts. My favourite when the size of the room allowed was a sort of three sided square so all the children could see each other no backs turned and I could be in the middle to quickly access any child to see if "stuck" or work needed positive rewarding. It is so important to foster this group feeling and that unpleasant or destructive comments are dealt with sometimes openly sometimes privately.....teachers have to judge this too. Often you find that there is a bit of a ringleader in these giggly whispery groups who is feeling threatened and may also need some support but I agree this cannot be tolerated in a class like that and either the whole culture needs changing within that group or particular individuals have to be identified and dealt with appropriately. I love Anjuli's post and she does just about say it all really. I hope both girls situation can be resolved soon......and maybe the girl at Hammond can have a rethink about her situation there....can the school be approached about this problem? Being away from home is very tough for some even if they enjoy the ballet/music or whatever and girls entering puberty need a lot of extra support in my opinion as this in itself can sometimes cause problems within a group if not dealt sensitively enough with. If she is happy with her studies there it seems a shame for these to be disrupted for problems which may be resolvable.

On the eve of the prog on The Secret Life of cats....a warning as to some of the possible content!! Yesterday there was suddenly a terrific squawking coming from the garden so rushed out in time to see a cat we know has been lurking around in the bushes for a while now disappearing over the fence. I couldn't see if he had a bird or not but all the baby starlings were het up and cheeping a lot so probably had one of them. I couldn't see any walking wounded around at any rate but it was the sound of a bird being "got" so to speak. We also have baby great tits just fledged and a robin nest very soon.....so will not have a very restful time for next couple of weeks I think. What with worrying about them and trying to keep the bindweed down could be positively fraught by this time next week!!

Hopefully in the big revamp going on this prob will be solved with a lift or two!

There must be a way of designing them so it can be seen what's in them and then they are checked reasonably often. It would be easy still to leave a "suspicious package" on Victoria station....all sorts of nooks and crannies...so I'm not sure that the removal of ALL litter bins is actually saving us from that many bombs!! There are probably fairly regular checks one would hope on any unattended luggage etc left standing around so a check on perhaps one or two litter bins for our use could be made.

Well some consolation for being a Friend and not being able to make that much use of it then

I love my garden and it was to have a garden which was one of my main motives in moving out of London after 30 years without one. It's not that big but has a lovely view looking to the southeast down to the sea and northeast over the downs so I am very lucky. At the moment the bindweed has just got to that point where it's about to get the better of me and the garden unless I get out there every day. We've just dug up what seems like thousands of forget-me-nots which found their way there somehow....we let them flower and then clear them out but there are still more each year! In the front we are just waiting for the seven big herbaceous peonies to come into bloom.Peonies actually LIKE chalk which is why we invested in them but they are very rewarding to grow as again each year they get bigger and more floriferous.....disappear to nothing in the winter and then the joy of the lovely red shoots coming through in Spring. There are a lot of fledgy starlings and great tits at the moment which may mention on the catalogue thread because of yesterday!!

Thanks Ian for this clarification. It was interesting anyway but explains why she didn't talk more about actual film!

There is however a problem at Victoria station in that there are no litter bins as far as I can see!! I get fed up with having to bring rubbish back to Brighton to dispose of it!! Still no need of the reaction of this man....chucking it around! And the abuse!! Looks like he had problems though. So the policy of no litter bins at all on some major stations for room 101!

Is this the whole review? really she is bringing into discussion the possible exploitation of children exposing them in this way to such extreme scrutiny in these types of competitions ...rather than its a straight review of the film. However these are important issues and as I have said before the obvious one being burn out for those who are more successful (and so go on to do more) and rather disheartening and public rejection as such if one has put heart and soul in and gets no prize! One has to be so careful what one says on forums like these...one can be so open to misinterpretation. Although I said I really enjoyed this film,which I did, and I think Bess Kargman did a good job in making it, this doesn't mean I think it's a good idea to do all these competitions far from it....I probably would not have allowed my child to do any public competition before the age of 16....I say probably because I do not have children(unfortunately) and don't know how easy it might have been to get drawn in if ballet teachers /sports teachers whatever etc were keen for this. My own mother kept well away mostly...only coming to end of year shows etc.....she never watched a ballet class...mostly because I didn't want her to!! And she certainly did not sew my ribbons etc on after the age of 12!! But she had her feet on the ground in making sure the academics were kept up as well so I would probably have been similar.....though might have insisted on watching the odd class or two!! But putting young children through the pressure of public competitions especially to try to win scholarships is not something I personally support.

Well at least you had me chuckling this morning Meunier!

Because even as a Friend I had NEVER been able to get an Insight eve ticket I got a bit suspicious and asked the Box Office if tickets were either actually going on sale before 10 or a small group were buying them all up!! They told me about this other level of Friends...Advanced Friends or whatever and that because the Clore theatre is so small and the Advanced friends get priority booking over ordinary Friends. its very unlikely one will get a ticket for certain events. One of reasons I joined the Friends was to be able to go to such things as insight evenings so feel very disappointed that unless I pay even more money out for membership this is now unlikely.

Probably just worn out after all the emotional drama of Mayerling yesterday!! Good luck to your daughter doing her A levels and anyone else's sons and daughters too. Don't tell her but I had recurring bad dreams about A levels for about ten years afterwards!! It was always I had gone to the wrong place or taken the wrong exam or couldn't get there on time or had left my pen at home and there were no others.....etc etc all in that ilk!

They're not daft then know a quality watch when it's on!!

My dads cat liked snooker too!!

When my cat Toscar(he is dead now) started developing kidney problems our local vet said on a January visit."don't expect him to be around at Easter, he's only got a few months left. Well after reading an article in a Health Magazine about him we decided to take Toscar to a homeopathic vet called Tim Couzins. he changed his diet(mostly fresh chicken and fish!!) and gave him some pills (which were a nightmare to administer.....we had to hide them in bits of chicken...but would still find the odd one on the floor) and Toscar survived nearly another two years!! (About 20 months) He was certainly no more expensive than our local vet and spent from between 20-25mins with him every time we went. Even though it was nearly 20 miles away when Toscar did suddenly take a turn for the worse he offered to come over to the house to put him to sleep if we felt it necessary.....but luckily we did not have to make that decision in the end as he died here in our arms after suffering a stroke one afternoon. We felt that as long as he was eating okay and not in any pain (that we could detect) and seemed happy enough.....he was always a big purrer then we would let him live out his life(a thoroughly spoilt one by then). So Porthesia I am sorry to here it is not so good news but heres wishing you lots of lovely times still to come and you will cherish them more because you know about her situation.

I stopped growing somewhere between 17 and 18. I reached my full height 5ft 8ins while I was in the second year sixth. Most females have reached full height by 18 but not everybody falls within the norm. I tend to think body proportion is more important than height anyway. If somebody dances beautifully that's what draws you in and you look at that person...though I am aware that some company's have these height parameters. I went to see the Royal Ballet on Saturday (Raven Girl/Symphony in C) and just looking at a couple of the principles that night Zenaida on one end of the stage and little Roberta Marquez on the other! With Marianela and Laura Morera in between...all different heights!!

Good luck tomorrow and I hope it's not too bad news will be keeping fingers crossed too

Regattah hope you will look for a class now and wont be put off by all the stiffness etc!Yes flexibility does take a time to come back and as you get older is easily lost again too ....2 weeks holiday and can barely touch the floor!! Ive mentioned this before on this thread but when I went back after a 20 year gap I couldn't do a full plié for at least 6 months and in fourth position not for a year!! Jumping was the biggest disappointment to me though as not only could I not even get an inch off the floor but I was puffed out after doing half a dozen changement! But it is worth persevering as that was two years ago and I'm really enjoying it all now and can get about three inches off the floor so things are looking up!! Just wish my feet looked nice and pointy underneath still a bit flippery for my liking! Also I noticed that at first I would drink a whole bottle of water during the class and need a pot of tea immediately afterwards and now I only drink about a quarter of a bottle and can wait till I get home for the tea!! so a bit of fitness gained at least.

Hi yes I got worried about the Chelsea date and emailed Louise and she has just confirmed that it is the 5th August starting date.....I had it in my diary for the previous week for some reason( perhaps this was a previously discussed date ) Anyway luckily can still do it and in a way that week is better for me as the previous week is the last week of my friends from Oz stay.

Haven't got this but will check on YouTube.....thanks

Just seen info on another thread about the LAB performance on the 6th July.....obviously not connected to the summer intensive of course. Maybe I will try to get along to this.....though because I will be up in London the following w/e (Franziskas course and RBS students performance which I will have to queue for returns this year as couldn't get ticket earlier on the Sunday) I don't think I'll be popular with R if want to go up this weekend as well!! The prob is the location will have to check whether can feasibly get back to Brighton from there afterwards as going for a half day might be better received than having to stay up AGAIN!!

Unfortunately many ballet schools do not like their students taking classes with other people.....mores the pity!! I know supposedly they dread potential clashes of teaching etc but sometimes I get annoyed with all the "petit jalousies" going on! It would definitely be good to be doing more than one class a week and style too. Check with the "new" school whether if your daughter attended there she could do more than one class in her grade a week. Because if that is so and you say she is not that happy with current teacher then this could solve your problem. Check though that this "dislike" by the current teacher is real. Some children feel that if they are corrected too much the teacher doesn't like them even though this is in their interests!! It is probably preferable if you can find one really good teacher that you are very confident about and happy with etc but if this not an option just at the mo and you feel your child needs an extra class then I would try to get away with the two teachers if you can!! There will be others on the forum who have currently dancing DD's who can advise you better but this is just my opinion as someone who has had a long association with ballet. I also realise it may be slightly different this having other teachers thing for an adult than a child.

Michelle is there a performance associated with this course. Too late for me this year but would like to see a performance if there is one!! Does this LAB course not clash with the Chelsea Ballet one though(29th- 2Aug)