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.

Whoops link!

www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/stories/themes/vermeer?utm_source=nieuwsbrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=voorpret-vermeer&utm_content=bezoekers_en#msdynttrid=Iw0wjOHkdJ8fn0kmvzcErukXcwkJujpepBgWJTZonaE

Oh, lovely. I'll save that for perusal once I emerge from this wills rabbit hole.

Which also has some interesting nods to sex and power dynamics. All the 19thC ones in the current batch (pre-dating the Married Women's Property Act) contain at least one bequest to a daughter of money 'for her sole use, without interfence from any current or future husband' (some also explicitly banning use to cover any debts a husband might incur).

Some of the earlier ones hint at other fascinating stories. One man with 5 daughters leaves £10 to each unmarried one, £5 to one married one and just 1 shilling to the remaining married one. And in the 1600s there's a 'large piece of gold', worth 4 pistoles, that I've been able to follow through 2 wills - I now really want to find Walter's will to see where it goes next.

Thanks for the tips, Squeaky. I am looking forward to going all the more now and have booked that restaurant. We're booked for 09.00, so hopefully there'll be a bit more space, free of idiots taking photos, when they can buy a postcard

One of the paintings that isn't in the exhibition (I believe) is this one:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheGirllwiththeeWine_Glass

Bizarrely, the art gallery in which it hangs in Braunschweig doesn't even have it on its website, and the gallery was deserted when we were there in October. I could therefore look at this beautiful painting for a long, long time.

Booked for 09.00 to see the exhibition I should clarify. If only we could edit...

Many thanks for that link, Squeaks!

Well, I was wondering about what to do in my sort-of retirement, and I was considering a PhD - but all bets are off! An old employer who had offered me funds for a PhD years ago has instead offered me a brilliant job, half time for now (and possibly forever) at a good daily rate, with some human factors projects that are just fascinating. Squarely in my field. I don't know what I've done to deserve this at my age, although I did bring in a lot of work in the past. I feel younger already.

Some of you were very kind about my desire for studying and research, thanks again everyone, but that's going to have to wait a bit now...

Over the moon, Brian, 200%.

Fantastic news, angelico! Enjoy your new adventure!

Amazing, @angelico53 ! Congratulations.

Oh that's brilliant Angelico! How exciting!

In further Amsterdam news it's now snowing quite heavily. So Blummm from t'other place and I stayed in a bar after the exhibition, drinking beer/wine and eating prawns/meatballs, while our companions sallied bravely forth in search of the perfect Dutch peacoat.

Hoping for a canal cruise tomorrow, which is supposed to be warmer.

Great work, @angelico53 !

Fantastic news, @angelico53!

Snow Day was a great success here. Snowball fights, sledging and hot chocolate. This afternoon DC have had to knuckle down to cover work set by teachers, but they're not complaining too much because they know they've had a good deal today.

Good days for many of you then, hooray! I still have a fridge (and freezer) full of lovely M&S food paid for by our lovely lovely lodger and bought for macman’s birthday, so a good weekend beckons, what with that 30-odd bottles of wine WE MUST FORCE DOWN OUR NECKS in time for the next box’s arrival in July.

That is great news @angelico53 .

Lovely snow pics @Kucinghitam

Sorry to hear of your travails @MavisMcMinty but I am sure you will do your best.

Lucky old you, Angelico - I hope it turns out to be everything you hope for.

After an ECG at the surgery yesterday I had another at the hospital today. A funny beat is confirmed and a saw "long PR interval" on a slip of paper. It'll be up to three weeks to get the more definitive 24 hour ECG.

I'm advised not to die in the meantime.

I’m sure you won’t die in the next 3 weeks, mach - why did you have the ECG done in the first place? Did you have symptoms?

Fantastic - snowy Amsterdam Squeaky.

Are you going to be cruising round at night? I went to a conference in Amsterdam once and we had a nighttime cruise that was brilliant - the Dutch famously don't close their curtains at night, and from the carnal you can see into the houses - not to see the inhabitants but the glorious old ceilings and walls.

Yes, quite; you are not to die, mach. How could you think of such a selfish thing, eh?

😄

Not at first - my home BP monitor picked up an irregular beat two weeks ago. I waited a week to see if it went away, but it didn't. I started getting a funny feeling at the top of my chest, close to my throat, like a lightness or pressure. I also get suddenly sleepy. No dizziness, fainting or pain as yet. Oxygen is ok - generally 96-99%.

I've been diagnosed with sleep apnoea so is suspect the dicky beat is related to that.

Oh? Well, good luck with the medics!

The funny beat comes and goes on my monitor - it was absent in five readings over ten minutes this morning without an odd beat.

I've been taken my BP and spreadsheeting it for over a year - if the sawbones want it it's a minor cornucopia of all things machbeat.

Hoping it's all OK Mach.

Just wondering whether to blow my savings on private treatment. The tests would be quicker.

Papamonkey had that.

He got a stent and now he is fine.

If i go private....

...now is the winter of our discount stents.

<reaches for blunderbuss>