Lifeboat Muster Point for TalkExiles - Thread 2

[Kucingsparkles]

Continuation of previous thread.

Gather here all ye refugees from the foundering ship of JTT, if ye be in need of "How the heck do I format my post?" "Why can't I edit my typos?" "What do those acronyms mean?" and most importantly, "Where is everybody that I used to know?"

Or just to chat randomly.

That is a wonderful garden.

It's warmed up a lot here - I'm not sorry, I slipped and fell on ice yesterday and have been hobbling around and groaning all day - I'll be glad to get into a warm bed. Though the groaning and hobbling didn't prevent me from finishing* decorating the tree, putting baubles up on the sloped ceiling in the dining end f the living room, and putting almost all the figures in my nativity tableau - Jesus won't be going in until the day, and a few angels need to be put flying over everyone else.

*my darling friends the fucking cats take baubles off almost as fast as I put them on, but seem less interested in straw decorations, so the tree is looking increasingly upstairs downstairs.

That's a stunning garden.

It's been raining here all day that's enough now.

That’s such a lovely garden, @MavisMcMinty

Great that you’re all moved in, @IReallyLikeCrows

And hello @Peae - assuming we’ve met before, who were you?

The snow gas finally melted here today but I’m not at all happy about the rain.

Hey, I remember you artant, bint and splatts. I remember all of your names. I was most active around 9/11, the original Big Brother threads... I can't really remember. They are the ones that I remember.
I remember lucicle, cavey, artemis, xbod, Toss, leftie, JennyRad, Mack... feel bad about the ones I've missed. Lucicle was lovely to me when things were tough, about 2004 I think. Thor, BlackKnight(?), horsey. I think stuff went on that I didn't really fully catch.

I feel a bit nervous about giving my name, I had a bit of a problem with an ex stalking and he knew I was on GU/JTT as well as MN.

I've just seen Tass's posting on your feminism thread; it made me realise just how use I've got to the MN culture.

Because I was moving to a home with night storage heating I was worried about being cold so ordered myself a thing, I think they call them Oodies? It's a dupe, the brand ones are v expensive. So, it's ugly. They only had one in a pink that is very Pepto Bismol only less attractive. It would still be ugly in a more fetching colour but this particular puke pink takes that ugliness to a higher level. Did I mention that it's ugly? But oh my days it is miraculous. There is no heater in the bedroom here so there is more of a chill in the air. Now, the chill is as nothing. Clad in my ugly garment I am toasty warm and its ugliness is only matched by its softness.

People of the lifeboat if you want to be warmer, if you want to turn the heating down then this is the garment for you. And to top it all it has two big ole front pockets. I am a most contented convert. Tomorrow I will have Ugg dupes delivered. I will be a walking ugly cliche and I couldn't be happier!

N.b Ugg slipper dupes. Happy to dress ugly indoors. Outdoors requires a modicum of trying not to look like a deranged lollipop lady.

*Peae# Yesterday 20:07

Artemis died all those years ago from cancer. I remember her telling me about going on the back of her dad's Vincent motorbike.

I remember Artemis well. I went to a party at her house and met Buschibaby and the late and much missed Sorcha there.

Sorry to hear about your fall @DeanVolecapeAKAelderberry hope it's soon mended and forgotten.

Hello @Peae, I don't know who you are but nice to see you!

@MavisMcMinty that's a beautiful garden. You're giving me garden envy - but not quite, because in reality I'd be too lazy to maintain any space bigger than a pocket handkerchief 😴

I hope you're OK after your fall @DeanVolecapeAKAelderberry. I'm glad you managed to do your Christmas decorating though! Is it cheeky to ask for pictures?

The weather was quite strange yesterday. Still sub-zero before lunchtime with a brief flurry of chonky snowflakes, then drizzly rain most of the afternoon whilst still being cold cold cold. Had the fire going all day to keep us toasty. Early evening we wrapped up like waterproof Eskimos and set off for the carol service and the rain had frozen onto the pavements and paths, which made for a slightly worrying walk to church (much clinging to walls and fences). But when we emerged after the service, the air was noticeably warmer and most of the ice had melted. So yay.

Good widhes from me too, Elderberry.

Thanks folks - no serious harm done, but a muscle I was unaware of in the front of my thigh is quite ouchy and I have some bruises.

Not cheeky at all Kuci, but I'm still struggling with my new phone and not sure whether I can managed pictures. If I conquer it I'll provide.

Today I hope to cut down a holly that has run away with itself (not the whole bush, just the stuff that's heading for the electricity wires and the bit that's blocking the kitchen window). There were berries before the cold spell - with luck there'll still be some.

@Peae, a blast from the past, some of those names. I met Lucicle at a gardening thread meet up at Kew Gardens and she was lovely. Lusmeri, Raffles and Snazz were there too. It was a good day out and so nice to meet people irl. I remember we all held copies of the Guardian. Lucicle was also friends with the late pushkin, who was a friend of mine too. I never met pushkin, but we emailed for years. I liked her very much and she's still missed.

Anyone know what happened to Leftie? She seemed to live in quite an uncertain world.

This is my kind of thread:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4700881-ive-solved-the-how-to-read-in-bed-without-your-arms-freezing-problem

I'll have a read of that, Kuc. Growing up, my bedroom was like an ice box in winter, with ice on the windows and seeing your breath and all that. I used to put my dressing gown over the covers and then put my arms into the sleeves, which worked pretty well for reading in bed.

I'm off to the office and to do a mercy dash to a friend who is currently recovering in hospital from gastric surgery (due to a reoccurance of cancerous cells). The NHS seem to be incapable of providing any food she can eat - she is a vegan who needs at the moment to be on a fairly low fibre diet (so no brown rice or wholemeal bread and limited fruit) She has been living off dry white toast and jam, which is not ideal when you nedd to recover from major surgery.

The NHS is so shit at stuff like this and we seem incapable of making that any better. (Don't get me started on how bad they are at preventative medicine.)

@Ginmonkeyagain trust me the private US system isn't much better in providing suitable food for anything but the standard American diet.

@DeanVolecapeAKAelderberry - I am also hobbling as a result of a fall on slippery sleet on Friday. Ironically I was on my way to the doctors for a routine check up and Covid booster plus flu shot, and as I didn't actually break anything (sprained ankle, pulled calf muscle, banged-up hip) he informed me I had aced my osteoporosis test. Yay!

"The NHS seem to be incapable of providing any food she can eat - she is a vegan who needs at the moment to be on a fairly low fibre diet"

I will defend the NHS to the hilt but am in agreement with the quality and variety of food available. One of my jobs when on night shift is to input the menus for the meals, so I get to see everything they have, including the vegetarian and vegan menus and the vegan menu in particular is awful. If I am ever in hospital I shall arrange to have my own food brought in, I am lucky that I could do that, not everyone can.

The really annoying thing about the shit food as well is that it's outsourced and each meals costs a bloody fortune, one manager told me it comes to about £20 per meal on average.

@DeanVolecapeAKAelderberry I rudely missed your fall, caught up in my own stuff. I hope things are a lot less sore very soon. I'm just about mended from my rather violent meeting with a pavement three weeks ago so have recent experience of just how shit it is. It's not just the injury but the fear/panic you feel as you head down and the shock in the immediate aftermath.

Today I am waiting for broadband magic and filled with delight that Francis figured out how to use his top loading litter box. I've only had to clean up one pee incident!

NHS food is not good but I used to love getting Ice cream every day and on my ward we got positively giddy waiting for our Sunday lunch. We didn't get out much. Literally.😃

Dotellhimpike

The really annoying thing about the shit food as well is that it's outsourced and each meals costs a bloody fortune, one manager told me it comes to about £20 per meal on average.

My wife had her gall bladder done at the Freeman, 4 years ago. She said that the food was really good!

I wonder if the PFI firms have found a way to exploit the food provision?

The food in Craggy Island NHS Trust is made in-house and very nice. I think the difference is the hospital chefs working in the hospital as opposed to some guys in a factory kitchen miles away.

Every day for nearly 10 years, I had the delightful smells of the hospital kitchens wafting into my office. It was incomprehensible to me why, when good food smells so nice, it always smelled like shitty school dinners.

No curry spice smells, no Italianesque smells of garlic and oregano, just mince and onions. Revolting.

Pike - I can't quite believe £20 for all, but I bet you're right for bought-in rubbish. I wonder what hospital food is like in areas with different demographics? Birmingham? Bradford?

When I discovered, years ago, when I flew posh on the company, that you could order "Hindu vegetarian" options on BA and AirNZ, I began to look forward to the flights. Neither a Hindu nor a complete veg (no red meat, thanks) but a very appreciative diner in the sky, I was. Sometimes it was so delicious it might have been delivered direct from Drummond St or Stoney Lane.

The only thing I can remember eating in hospital is sandwiches. The last time I was in, in 2010 to have my appendix out, I went in on the Wednesday night and had nothing until late Thursday. That was at the JR in Oxford. All I remember is dry bread with cheese and not being able to eat it. Finally got home late on Friday and my first home cooked meal was overwhelming.

Apart from that, I support the NHS wholeheartedly. I wouldn't have reached the age of four without them. I also watched my dad work his arse off as an NHS GP, up half the night when he was on call and then going to work as usual in the morning. He racked up 45 years of that.