Thread 6 - TalkExiles: "Yup, still round."

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 5).

Gather here all ye refugees from the JTT Flat Earth Society, welcome to the reassuringly oblate spheroid of MN! Ye all already know the answers to the questions "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?"

So really we're all here just to chat randomly.

Last summer I noticed a robin frequently hopped around in the hedge opposite my office window, and wondered whether he would come to a dish of worms on the windowsill.

By Christmas this was feeling like an excellent idea - I had several brief visits a day and thought I'd made a lovely little bird friend.

I'm now wondering if it's going to bankrupt me. He no longer flits in, grabs a worm, and flits off. He just stands there, shovelling down worms, then glares at me when the dish is empty. And today there's also a pair of bluetits lurking hopefully in the hedge.

The birds are getting awfully noisy in the mornings - evenings too. Spring is here!

Robins are very bossy. Last week when I was doing a bit of gardening I was glared at by two of them if I dug too slowly, one on either side (no idea whether they were husband and wife or just two unusually tolerant birds).

It started to thaw here but now it's belting snow again. The postman called so I'll have to get wellingtons on to keep my feet dry on the way to and from the letter box.

Heavy snow continues hereabouts, still not settling. 'Tis pretty to watch the flakes drifting and swirling.

But DC school have emailed to say that all after-school activities are cancelled, and the buses will be setting off immediately when the school day ends. I suppose that means conditions are worse (or forecast to be) where the school is. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that their bus-ride home is uneventful.

Drizzling like a bastard here. I ventured out to do a tray of cosmos for the seed-cooker, as I've just taken a tray of scabious out. It was not pleasant!

The “I’ve lived too long” thing is hard to hear. My mum, who I look after so hear all her complaints, also says she’s lived too long and definitely isn’t planning on having another birthday. She’s 97 and now claims she only intended to live to 95.

Her world (and, by extension mine too) got immeasurably smaller thanks to lockdown related mobility loss (she didn’t go out much before that but weekly trips to the shopping centre meant a bit of a walk on a nice flat indoor surface) couple with both her eyesight and hearing getting worse.

She’s from a long-lived family though: both parents lived into their 80s which was highly unusual for the time (both born in the late 1880s, I think, and with lives of hard work and significant poverty) and one of her grandfathers was in his 80s when he dropped dead at work. Mjm says “oh, he wasn’t doing much the last few years, just labouring”. That would be “just labouring” in a sheet metal works!

My dad dropped dead at 48 though (and his father died in his 30s but I’m not sure how) and in most respects I seem to have his genes so consider myself on borrowed time. My siblings seem to have more of mum’s genes so I fully expect them to live to about 110!

Feeble amount of snow here last night, which has been washed away by incessant freezing drizzle. The weather is about as sad and uninviting as it's possible to be, short of scary dangerous storms etc.

Tragically, I have unexpectedly run out of coffee shy of my planned big shop later. I've been telling myself that one cup is enough and I can last, but I really really can't, and must brave the sodden hellscape outside to go to the shop.

I am on my way to Amsterdam! Vermeer here I come!

Have a brilliant time, @SqueakyDinosaur ! I went to the Rijksmuseum in August and was absolutely blown away. At the risk of sounding a bit odd, it was a very emotional experience and a little bit overwhelming. Would definitely return, and would have loved to see the Vermeer exhibition.

I’ve just arrived in Edinburgh and it’s disappointingly mild after me dressing for Siberia. The merest inference of snow on the ground, hat barely required even for a baldy.

Hope your sis is on the mend pikers.

Have a great time, Squeaky! I would so much like to go to Amsterdam, but it's really old hat to MrBibbs.

Have fun @SqueakyDinosaur - I am well jealous of your Vermeer opportunity.

Have a fabulous time @SqueakyDinosaur - I love the Netherlands.

We're going through Northern France,and along with a "Green Fields of France" earworm, I have just had an absolutely overwhelming wave of sick rage about Brexit. Never forget. Never forgive.

Most of my trips to Amsterdam have been with large groups of students staying in a cheap hostel (cleverly advertised as the worst hotel in the city (maybe the world, I can’t remember) thereby shielding themselves from any complaints, though it wasn’t actually terrible) so I don’t particularly have Amsterdam envy but I do have Vermeer envy.

For those thwarted by lack of tickets, more were released a couple of days ago apparently.

Oh, have a terrific time, squeaks. Green with envy, though it looks as though we are going to amst for my son's 30th in november. The Night Watch is featured, spot of culture, but also various less salubrious locations, if I know my family!

Have a lovely time in Amsterdam, Squeaky!

I was going to recommend a lovely Amsterdam restaurant, but it seems to have closed. Which is a shame, but unsurprising given how long ago my last visit was.

Have any of you found an archaeology thread around here anywhere?

Have a fantastic time, @SqueakyDinosaur . I am incredibly jealous but also glad that someone I "know" is getting to experience such a fabulous exhibition.

No snow here but a lot of rain. It also feels warmer than the temperature says it is which is odd. We're supposed to be free of rain at the weekend so my friend B and I will enjoy strolling around the charity shops in search of bargains.

There doesn't seem to be any general archaeology thread here like the one in the old place. It's one of the things I miss but I still feel too much of a newbie to start one.

I thought you'd know if there was one, Elderberry. I'll drop it here then.

explorersweb.com/dna-analysis-eight-new-european-hunter-gatherer-groups/

www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05726-0

There’s a history folder and geeky stuff folder although the latter just seems to be full of tech questions but I haven’t seen an archaeology thread yet.

I love charity shops. They are a different creature here than in Maine though. Ones at home are mostly much bigger and more generally "for charity" whereas here they seem to be dedicated to individual charities and other than the big British heart foundation ones near here that sell furniture they are mainly small.

Loving this thread:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4759710-to-want-to-know-something-youve-experienced-that-currentfuture-generations-wont?

In other news, this very early morning I have woken up to a blanket of snow - not sure exactly how much snow yet because (1) it's slightly dark outside (2) it's still coming down. I suppose we'll have to wait for information from school about whether the school bus is running, but the 'indulgent parent' part of me (admittedly this is a veeeeeery tiny part of me) is wondering whether I could let the DC have a Snow Day.

The archaeology links are fascinating, but I particularly enjoyed seeing the 'Venus figurines' described as possibly representing longevity. It's taken such a long time for male scholars to admit that yes they probably are depictions of post-menopausal bodies, and that that means so much about survival and wisdom and aspiration. Almost any female can do fertility - living for many decades, that's harder.