Welcome to the Bluestocking! It is celebration time for everyone!

Gets comfy.

Tell us more...

Not to my knowledge. Do tell us more...😮

It definitely is.

Have we covered the Indiana Jones of the Ocean, the female Blanket Octopus in the Bluestocking yet?
She's my current favourite animal and I forget whom I've subjected to my ridiculous fangirl rant, and who is as yet uninitiated into the Worshipful Order of Blanket Octopus Stans.

I didn't know that either. Isn't nature amazing?.........especially when it is in a different country and unlikely to be eating through houses in the UK 👀

I did like the handbags though.

Amazing, Woley!

When MrPastaSnr was in A&E sitting in their standard issue wheelchair we swapped so he could have my comfortable cushion from the Trusty Steed.

I'll be honest, I assumed when first mentioned upthread it was some sort of suduko type thing.

Numbats always sounds to me like some sort of maths puzzle.

Well, if they weren't so pig-headed about not asking for directions...

Oh dear, that's going to be a disaster for Terry and his mates.

Possibly Nathan and Nicholas the numbats might find them.

That sounds like money extremely well spent, Woley.

I wore knee high compression socks on the flights to Australia, and part of the way back, @MyrtleLion - I was wearing a navy blue dress, so they looked OK. I did find they stopped my feet swelling on the flights over, but my feet did swell up while we were there - I think I spent too long in the wheelchair.

Oh, and I got a bargain in Australia - we rented a wheelchair and a rather swish gel cushion which was so comfortable, I asked do if we could buy one. He looked them up, and they were $420 Aus, which was rather out of our price range, so he asked the rental shop if we could buy the one I was using - and because it was used, they said yes, and charged us $75 Aus - about £35! So we lugged it home in the plane, and I’m using it on my chair in the lounge.

I stand corrected, thank you. All social insects are amazing, even the bitey ones.
As are slime moulds.

Hortie, termites don't actually eat wood. They shred it as growing medium for the funghi they farm in their colonies, which is their real food.

Termites are incredible.

I am advised that it's unlikely that the male termites will find The Staunch Ally because they ate all of their maps when the food ran out and definitely won't be asking for directions.

I love the little beaded handbags! Hopefully the males from the colony find an equally warm elcome at the Staunch Ally.

Our tiny friends have proposed that they will only eat as much wood as can be magically replaced overnight providing that we arrange for cocktails on tap, which seems reasonable. They assure me that the men were abandoned to their own devices many miles away, having been found to contribute very little to the colony.

So we are accommodating the first ever renegade group of female termites and I think that that’s rather special, they had been searching for us for ages. So solidarity because

Termite
Women
Are
Women

I think that I've got all the pins and extraneous wiring out.

I nearly yanked out the wire leading to the porch light. Oops.

I'd better hoover up the bits now. (Lots of paint flakes.)

Agreed. According to Wikipedia termite colonies are roughly equally split female/male. Also apparently they're a type of cockroach!
Nina and Naomi will need to consult with Gourmet in the kitchen to find a suitable alternative diet. I Can't Believe It's Not Termites, possibly.

I'm not at all comfortable with the numbats eating Tiara, Tallulah, Thea and their much loved family members (several thousands of lovely ladies I believe) It's against the principle of interspecies collaboration and mutual respect that we have adopted. Even the Vixens managed to restrain themselves.
And anyway it's The Bluestocking, any damage will self-repair.

I've tried the tights - if I can get them on, typically they're not tight enough; if they're compressive enough, then there's the same difficulty getting them on.

I used to wear shoes from DB WideFit etc; then the ortho chap told me that they were unsuitable because my heel is still narrow - he told me which catalogue to use to order my trainers.

I now try to make sure that I always have a plain pair of all-black trainers so that they don't look too out of place.

My running trainers are bright purple - it means that I don't mix them up and waste them by wearing them for scuffing about the garden.

Elcome indeed. Didn't realise we had termites. Well, not us personally, I assume, I assume it's the building. Although, if they're female termites (do termites do the eusocial mostly female thing, I suspect they do) should we be giving them names beginning with T and embracing them as fellow Bluestockingers?

No wonder The Virago keeps running aground.
We're going to need a smaller boat.

Well, that should solve the termite situation. So win-win.