I don't know if it can still be shade when said in a tone filled with such obvious dismay.

I was wondering about situations like that with all the Ottilies popping up. There were at least five in the first few pages of Times birth announcements recently, and I always sort of assume that people who put announcements in the Times all know each other.

YES. I know of a brand-new Jackson here in London. He's been universally greeted with, "Oh! How American!" in my circle.

Everyone I went to school with has a daughter named Freya or a niece named Freya. I really liked it till that happened – such a nice name, such a shame.

I randomly came across an English version the other day – it doesn't cover as much time, but it's generally more relevant for me.

That's really refreshing to hear – I don't have kids but colleagues do, and various kid-related topics are brought up *constantly* at work. Whatever thoughts I have about parenting (things I think I'd like/dislike, what I think I'd want, etc) get dismissed because "you'll feel totally differently when you're a…

I was browsing online while waiting for my sleeping pills to kick in, and it happened right in the middle of this piece and I'm actually crying with laughter. It was "engagement ring from a penguin-shaped box" that finally broke me.

Me too. I'm on day 10 of a sort-of-Master-Cleanse-esque thing, and it's amazing to think how much food I eat usually, and how little I actually need to eat.

Absolutely, me neither — oddly I'd never thought of actually specifying that we're happy to shoot any sort of couple (or group, or those weddings you see on the "and finally" bit of the news where someone's married a building, or something).

I refuse business for loads of reasons, including getting the very strong impression that the client's a dick and I just don't want to be in the same room with them (which is tricky when the job would be to spend 12-odd hours photographing them). I don't *tell* them that I'm not going to take the job because I think…

Ooh, you've made me think I should rewrite some of my copy to make it explicitly clear that we *do* welcome gay couples. Cheers!

Yes! I've feigned unavailability to avoid weddings I didn't want to shoot (although my favourite is to just quote a higher rate!)

Exactly! I've lied about availability because I didn't want to shoot certain weddings before, and everyone was happy. If these people weren't trying to make some sort of anti-gay stand, why not just avoid the issue?

I'm really rubbish with hair products, except for dry shampoo – it makes my hair bigger and bouncier. I use it on totally clean hair!

I used to get the Batiste brown one… but then I discovered the Batiste extra volume one, and now I can't go back. It's white so I have to be more carefully about brushing it through, but it makes my hair SO much better.

Yep, it always pissed me off! The blood drive posters around my old office building always said, "Everyone welcome!" and I used to take my red pen and correct it.

I could never give blood either, when I lived in the US, and I always thought it was mental but then recently I started reading up about CJD (and am now terrified!) and apparently it's still possible that WE ALL HAVE IT and the people who became symptomatic just had a super fast-acting version and the rest of us have…

Almost totally agreed. I do sometimes use the phone for long chats, because it's nice to hear someone's voice if I can't see them, but for anything practical at all text and email are far more efficient and reliable with my set-up. And, I go back through past correspondence to find info daily. So handy!

And in my case: 9. LET'S GET MARRIED! and 10. Did he actually grow up to be insanely handsome over the past six years? He got really, really hot.

Is Kylie not famous in some places? I thought she was a global megastar! (Do I think that because I wore out my cassette of her first album?)