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

Sorry, I hope you didn’t think my ‘nice story’ comment implied it wasn’t genuine, Glad?! A very pleasant news story (for a change) is what I meant.

🚐
…well, leave a gap after the gin before running away in a campervan!

Oh, no, I know it’s genuine - the one at King’s can be seen from the A1134 - so it never crossed my mind that you were implying anything else.

I was just amused to see King’s own video after reading the BBC article.

When they first started the wildflower meadow I thought it was a bit performative, the college does get a lot of publicity from it, but I like that they have continued with the meadow and share the bales. It’s good that there’s now a “town” wildflower area as well as a “gown” one, in addition to smaller ones in the city parks.

BTW, if anyone has any young people considering applying to King’s or Trinity but who think those colleges are too “public” with tons of visitors and just grass, both have large and beautiful private gardens with student accommodation on the other side of the road. I’d been visiting Cambridge for about 40 years before I discovered that.

It's incredibly personalised, isn't it?

Bovvy is brilliant. I've been there so many times but some areas keep getting revamped & DH's & my conversations go, "I'm just going to wander through where the StuG used to be, & then I'll see you where the gun display used to be." It lives on in our minds in all its iterations at once, which I guess is what happens when you get old.

I think the horses are running the social media account.

Good morning

I like the sound of those breakfast options.

For several years the historical societies have been involved in a Thing which I have steered clear of, not going to meetings held 30 or 40 miles away, and confining myself to making encouraging noises at the participants and holding hands while they fill in (or fill out) forms.

But today they're having a meeting in town, in the hotel beside the supermarket, and there's a FREE CARVERY LUNCH so I'm going. I do love a carvery lunch. Must not let myself be so distracted by food that I accidentally commit to tasks or actions. But a carvery lunch less than ten miles from home is too tempting to resist.

HAGADAPA

I’m still drooling about the last carvery I had. I was able to direct the server to the meat skin and fat which I shovelled down

That’s a great video, @AsWithGlad . And yes, not the expected style!

@Hedgehogforshort your school run description sent me back into the trenches. One memorable day twin 1 didn’t want to come home from nursery and was squalling angrily. I picked him up to cart him to the car- he bellowed and protested. I put him down. He did that deliberate, collapse to the floor beloved by dramatic toddlers everywhere, but hadn’t noticed the puddle. So he’s bawling about being wet as wall, absolutely scarlet with rage and indignation and not to be consoled at all. I carried the screaming ironing board under one arm while holding hands with twin 2. The whole school walked past to get to lunch.
There was a similarly noisy event when he got himself stuck under a trolley in the supermarket. I’m so pleased everyone grew up.

I once spent a good few months staying at a hotel Mon to Fri where work paid for my evening meal.

I had the carvery EVERY NIGHT.

I have no regrets.

I used to work at a school where they did a decent roast once a week, so I'd have that. The head cook was a serious feeder and would pile my plate until the spuds were precariously balanced. And I'd waddle home after work and inform the family that today was school roast day, so they were fending for themselves for dinner.

I love the description 'screaming ironing board'. I vividly remember that awkward crouch into the back seat, one knee pressing not-too-hard on the middle of the ironing board until the nappied arse hit the car seat, followed by high-=speed clipping-up of the 5-point harness. I'd emerge with my ears ringing. It's probably why I've got tinnitus and a bad back.

Oh, and the carefully-staged slo-mo 'LOOK! LOOK EVERYONE! I'm flinging myself to the ground in ANGUISH!' Then the prostrate screaming, with the odd pause for the sideways-and-upwards glance to see if Mummy and her friend were watching, or just chatting away as if NOTHING WAS HAPPENING! The outrage! The indignation! The slow fizzling down to 'Nothing to see here, I never started that in the first place...'

Loving the heavy horses, by the way. And the old farm machinery.

I should go to Bovington one day to admire the tanks.

Glad, that's more like it! (avoiding the disgusting discussion eewww...)

Shire horses and wildflower meadows! 😊

Bore da, Bluestockingers!

(👋Hedgey!!)

I helped out a lot with my sister's kids (she had 3 under 5s, and BIL was USELESS, don't ask) - I still vividly recall that cutting the youngest's nails as a toddler was H-E-Doublehockeysticks On Earth: the screaming bloody murder, the screeching, tears, wailing, taking two of us to hold the child and clipping as quickly as we could. Every screech rose higher and higher, and every time we did it, we thought "someone's gonna call the cops!" 😬

I sometimes did get her to pause briefly if, after a piercing scream, I hollered "Can I get an AMEN?!!" My sister did not find this funny (at the time).

Ironing boards don’t arch themselves the wrong way though.

You haven't seen me trying to get an ironing board up.

DH's one criticism of the Centurion (or was it Chieftain?) soundtrack was that it wasn't noisy enough. I think it must have been a Chieftain...That was the older one...I think.

We swung by by the camp and there was a bloody great tank at the gate. Next thing, DH is out there caressing it.

In the end a sergeant came out "I know you're reminiscing sir, but we have to ask you to move away for security reasons..." (I think DH might have been wearing his Greys polo shirt.)

I recall DH telling me that when the regiment was in Germany on manoeuvres, a sheep was accidentally hit by a shell and the farmer received generous compensation.

Next thing, there seemed to be an epidemic of sheep wandering into the field of fire...

Known in our house as The Steel Starfish.

I'm being very autumnal today - making roast butternut squash soup to take to a friend's house for lunch, where I will be helping her with her crochet pattern that she's got in a muddle with.

The words that sprang to mind were 'What were they on??'
but it made me laugh, there was something a bit innocent about it, like nobody stopped to ask is that a bit OTT? or silly? or inappropriate for a Cambridge college? they just though nah, it's fun, let's just go for it!😃

I love the image of a screaming ironing board, but I sympathise with anybody having to deal with one! Are toddlers related to cats? We recently had a reference to cats making themselves long and heavy when they don't want to be lifted, it sounds a bit similar. Minus the screaming.

You did brilliantly, Hedgey - everybody got home, and you got in lots of steps.
Enjoy window-shopping for camper vans, and planning a Great Escape.

I've never been 'good with children', I find little kids quite intimidating. They smell fear, you know. You try to say something you hope will be 'engaging' and they fix you with a cool, cruelly assessing stare for just a few moments too long, before turning away dismissively and leaving you standing there looking like the fool they have concluded you are😦
I suppose if I had sole responsibility for the care of a little one, I'd work it out to our mutual satisfaction somehow, wouldn't I? Parents have to.

That sounds like A Grand Day Out, Deano, enjoy, but don't be lulled into such a post-prandial torpor that you accidentally volunteer for all sorts!😱

Re the delightful video, given the long history of Footlights, Monty Python etc etc I wouldn’t find anything from a Cambridge college unexpected, up to and including The Spanish Inquisition.

I'd need at least 4 days to properly test that lot!

Apart from the kippers.... I love them but life is too short to deal with all the bones!

I had to take yesterday evening off to calm my blood pressure after following the tribunal tweet thread on and off all day. By the time I came back to the Bluestocking we were another 5 pages on😨

Welcome to newbies and returners.

Commiserations to Mr Walrus and Myrtle on the cyst front.

I'm with Hedgehog on the camper vans, I hate camping but love camper vans, with all the little nooks and crannies to stow things away. They are almost as good as narrow boats.

Love the shire horses too. I hadn't realised we had so many resident animals in the Bluestocking. No wonder it takes an increasing number of tractors, trucks and camels each time we move🐴

I'm off to catch up with the tribunal thread again😬

I was called upon by a student this morning to admire the picture of him holding the large fish he caught yesterday. I duly confirmed that yes, it was a fish, and yes, it was very large (it was, to be fair), while womanfully managing not to make any comments about his current or future dating app profile pictures. I think that deserves a hot chocolate, don't you?