Dark and stormies all round! Bluestocking piss up

Cinnamon, a little cassia, touch of nutmeg, allspice, and tonka bean - maybe a drop of vanilla extract and a tip of a teaspoon of honey, depending...

I'll take a whisky dram to add to some fruit macerating for a cake if that's OK.

Spiced milk sounds really good arranfan, how would you make it?

I've just polished off the last dregs of a bottle of Highland Park. We have quite a whisky collection - anyone else fancy a dram?

Pops head round door with scarf over face - hands out brandy, Vic and honey with lemon.
It's been an up and down week but the awesome Posie has lifted hearts tonight. And the Stonewall petition is well over 6,000 and there's been so much publicity and horrified awareness following the KW court case .
Hopefully some of this will lift the spirits of all the poorly in here.
and mulled for all who need it tonight.

Spiced milk please. Foul journey home - every train was substantially delayed than a tree on the line, bus replacement that didn't come, and shared a cab that dropped me a distance away from home as I had to share one with several others (very expensive as we crossed several zones).

If I slide to floor, please ignore me, but if you find it in your heart to drop a blanket on me, I will be grateful.

Colds are wretched. There is one knocking about this house right now, and I have this horrid cough that feels like I have loads of phlegm in my throat but nothing happens when I hack until I nearly pass out.

Bloody seasonal changes. Yeah yeah, pretty leaves and an excuse for candles, but sod off with your viruses, Autumn. Git.

fermats colds suck

Whisky and a disprin chaser sounds good. And pasta bake is nutritionally superior to anything I've conjured up so far today. Thank god for tomato soup.

Currently trying the towel and bowl of steaming water trick - as always it seems to have settled on my chest (I always wonder at times like this what lasting effect my mum's 20-a-day habit back when I was a kid has had on my lungs).

I'm pretty sure in 63 there was only honey and lemon with optional whisky. Maybe with a disprin chaser.

Hope you feel better soon.

If he likes pasta bake and is ok with other DC, I am your woman. I'm coming out the other side of this cold and it is miserable in the middle.

Staggers to bar...

A mug of your finest lemsip, please, the '63 vintage should do nicely. And a large box of hankies.

Also a babysitter/meal-cooking service for the small boy, please.

I can't think of any reason why I would be happy to never eat lots of potatoes and cheese and drink wine again.
Life is too short!
I flipping hate diets/food policing so I don't.

But I tried that sort of diet a few years ago and I was the most miserable bastard all the way through it.

Years ago, when it was the diet du jour, my female partner and I did the Atkins diet for a bit. We have different body types (I'm pear-shaped, she's apple) and she loses weight massively more easily than I do; however, we both did lose weight on it...

The key difference was that I was like a dead person after a fortnight. I had no energy at all. I was a keen and regular runner in those days (my knees won't allow it now), but I couldn't get 50 yards without feeling like I was going to collapse.

Luckily, I happened to run into a doctor at work one day and told her about it - her response was along the lines of 'Are you fucking INSANE? Stop it NOW!"

I could happily inhale all of the above arran ! Crikey, a once-a-day only meal with no carbs I can't imagine. I'd be gnawing my own limbs.

Yes, a friend of mine has lost so much weight on that keto-ish diet that was in the news recently. He is very happy and looks great, which is lovely for him.

But I tried that sort of diet a few years ago and I was the most miserable bastard all the way through it. I enjoy eating, and I enjoy drinking. As it happens, the work I do is very active, so I lose weight quicker than I put it on, but I can't think of any reason why I would be happy to never eat lots of potatoes and cheese and drink wine again. I mean, I will give them up for Lent because I enjoy them and that's what sacrificing and penance should be about, but doing it forever? My sanity and the well being of those around me would be dealt a death-blow.

I'm on quite low carbs and finding it relatively easy three months in. A friend of mine (who has type 2 diabetes) does the keto diet - so virtually no carbs - and only eats once a day.

I'd fucking kill myself if I had to do that.

I made macaroni cheese for tea tonight. Lots of melted cheese. It's a very satisfying food. It's a somewhat dissatisfactory insult, really. A step up from plophead, maybe. But, you know, not really going to get any venting joy from that, are you?

Well, I can actually offer you some very nice pigs' melts, done using a recipe from The Fifth Quarter (a very good, offal book).

However, I have alder-smoked hazels, hickory-smoked almonds, and some smoked cheese (all smoked at home so I know it's not liquid smoke). I have some very good Spanish, spiced fried broad beans (not mine but I have 1kg and am happy to share) and some spiced chickpeas that I did.

Usual assortment of gluten-free breads, 'normal breads, and various fillings on request.

"Melt". Hmmm. Cheesy.
Sorry I'm probably missing the point. Is the bar open for snacks, I'm suddenly feeling peckish?

I think "melt" is originally an Irish insult (I'm sure I remember it from Roddy Doyle's novels).

I do have a degree of sympathy with the trans individual here. It sounds as though the whole body search was handled extremely offensively by the security staff. There should be some way of dealing with this in a way that protects the dignity of the transperson being searched, and respects the boundaries of the security staff, and it's not like it's a new situation - surely it's something the managers of the security team should have anticipated happening.

But that t-shirt is just fucking offensive.

I thought melt was quite old? Sure I recall "ya soft melt" being a Scouse insult thirty years ago. Implies "pathetic and stupid", usually aimed at silly younger men...

I was feeling really down and discouraged so I'm enjoying some Magdalen on YouTube. She's such a tonic.

Someone on the deleted thread said it was an insult in Irish, but it still didn't make sense to me.

According to this page it is Dublin slang for 'Vagina'

www.irishslang.info/dublin/dublin/melt

So, terfs are cunts maybe?

This suggests idiots

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=melt

The Love Island hypothesis suggests a crush (ew, I hope not)

www.collinsdictionary.com/word-lovers-blog/new/love-island-lingo-collins-guide-to-the-top-10-words-phrases,378,HCB.html

Maybe if we serve up some good Guinness an Irish poster might enlighten us?

Melt is a fairly new insult. I think it's come from TOWIE/love island type programmes, probably a local dialect slang term that has gained currency.

I suppose you'd alternatively say 'idiot' or 'pillock' or something of that nature. Or you could run it through the translator and the t-shirt would say 'Women who say things I don't like are melts'. It doesn't make any more sense, but it's honest. You'd probably need bigger norks to fit it on, though.

DP is at work now, so I am definitely enjoying my Erasure this morning. I think I shall move on to Queen afterwards, too. Having a magnificently camp morning.

Hang on so a TW was outraged at being searched by a man rather than a woman but the campaign for self ID would mean that a woman would have no right to complain about being searched by a man presenting as a woman? I didn't read the thread so I might be totally wrong but this is the gist I am picking up. Wrong? And what does 'T*erfs are Melts' mean

So I had a brilliant conversation with a friend about the consultation, it was very heartening, turns out she is also GC.

And then.....I woke up. Yes, my dreams are now filled with this too.

I think I need a nice cup of tea. On the plus side, I saw a fpfw leaflet in the station (not a dream this time!) So someone near me is GC......