Thread 8 - TalkLair: “Brewing Russell's teapot”

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 7).

The new lair of JTT escapees is all cosy and homey; we have truly settled here. Outside, the garden is blooming with spring flowers. Inside, the hearth is glowing, pictures are up on the walls, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

My mattress can be turned over but it hasn't been turned over because there is no way that I can do that by myself.

@MouseMinge I've just spent a lovely hour and a bit watching Yusuf/Cat Stevens doing Glastonbury. His last song was Father and Son and out of nowhere it made me cry. It was a wonderful set and oh my days he is a total silver fox. He's just beautiful and his voice is still as good as it was more than forty years ago.

More than 50 years ago! That was released in 1970 and it made teenage me cry then. I watched a clip of Amadou & Mariam at Glastonbury and the keyboard player shown at the start was the image of my lovely stepson, who might well have been playing with them. I was mentally composing a very stern email along the lines of "How dare you not tell us!" when he turned his head and the nose was very slightly wrong!

I got a new mattress recently (mine is Otty and it’s really comfy to sleep on but the edge is quite soft which I’m not that keen on; I think that may be true if a lot of the boxed hybrid mattresses though) but still have the old one propped up in my studio waiting for me to get round to booking the council to take it and assorted other crap away. I didn’t want it taken away when the new one was delivered because I wanted to make sure I liked the new one first. And, more importantly, because the room was a tip and needed a lot of cleaning and tidying before I’d let anyone see it! The old mattress is visibly old (the cover is torn in a couple of places on the sides) but not noticeably stained.

@Gonners he was singing as the father and then it went to video and sound of him singing as the sun back when he was young and it was that bit that set me off. It was so bloody beautiful.

I'm now watching Sir Elton of Johns. Thankfully he sounds better than the last time I saw him doing some live music on TV. He was singing "I'm Still Standing" and it sounded like "I'm Dill Dando" and as though a 33rpm had been played at 45rpm. It was absolutely dire. So far, while far from his peak, he's doing a good job. It's all the well known stuff as well and once he'd done Benny and the Jets he had me. I bloody love that song. The crows are happy.

I absolutely loved Elton John's music in my teens and found it so comforting. He was the first person I ever saw in concert on my own, at about 14-15. Birmingham Odeon, I think, when he was in his Pinball Wizard days. So many costume changes and feather boas. It was great.

Up inhumanly early to wait for the BT engineer, without having had a confirmatory robot call confirming it. The fella I spoke to on Friday was in Ireland and couldn’t actually make the appointment while I hung on the phone waiting - I said “well my internet’s working while you’re on the line, any way I can just keep you chatting for the rest of the day?” and although he confirmed that would suit him just fine, he’d continue trying to fix the appointment without me. Broadband worked for 2 whole hours after the call ended, then nothing at all for the rest of the day.

Every time this happens they express amazement that we have no mobile phone reception down here and no other method of going online, as they advise me to “go online”, or ask for a mobile phone number they can text me on.

So fucking sick of it, how will we ever sell this fucking place when the time comes?

I went through a period of listening to Cat Stevens a year or two ago. Well, re-listening, really, cos I had all the albums as a teenager. He can be very solemn. He has always seems to me to be absolutely serious in his faith, though perhaps a little joyless at times.

That said, I still love him. "The Wind" changed the way I think of my life, a couple of years ago.

I'm sitting here rather anxiously, just dropped angelica off for an investigation under GA. I can't stay on the ward. She was supposed to go in at 10.30 with the op scheduled for the afternoon but they called her at 7: "have you had any breakfast?". All a bit of a rush but it will be good to get it over and done with. Fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed, angelico. x

Just had Brian from Ireland on the phone again, with a new BT engineer appointment made for tomorrow from 12.00. Might go back to bed, I was up at 07.30 and didn’t go to bed until the dawn chorus had begun. Dogs will no doubt join me there.

Best wishes for angelica

Just read a(nother) thread about the mother of an 8-month old not wanting to leave her baby for 8 hours to attend a child-free wedding. I told my sister last week I was on Mumsnet since being banned from Twitter, and she thought it hilarious. She’s a health visitor and a mum of three, and I asked her if she had hated other people gushing “my baby!” (pretty sure I said that a LOT when seeing her babies), or hated handing over her precious babies for other people to hold, like so many Mums on AIBU - “Ha ha!” she said, “God no, I’d hand them to anyone!” and I remember her buggering off to the shops with our Mum and leaving her (very unhappy, very Mum/breast orientated) newborn with me for the afternoon.

So I’m just wondering how common that fierce protectiveness is amongst new mums? When Dottie had pups, as sweet and submissive as she is, she growled for the first 48 hours whenever we went near her nest, so I know it’s a normal instinct!

Hope all goes to plan for angelica.

I watched a bit of Cat Stevens too last night. I always remember the weekend I bought Tea For The Tillerman: it was in the middle of Wimbledon, and was so sick of the tennis that my Mum prob had on wall-to-wall, that I wanted to buy a new LP. But I was never that enthused about him. His voice (then, anyway) seemed unnatural and affected to me.

Glasto really does get older and older, doesn't it? As someone (here, probably) pointed out, it's equivalent to the first Glastonbury having a bill of Frank Sinatra and Vera Lynn. And someone else, whom I forget.

I always get Cat mixed up with Al.

All good wishes for Angelica 💐

@MavisMcMinty I was always quite relaxed about other people holding my babies, helping to feed or cuddle or whatever - because there were two, and I'm not an octopus.

But the first time we really "left" DDs was when they were around 8 months old, to attend a child-free wedding. They went to a nearby friend's house for half the day; I recall writing a detailed (but thankfully only one page) Word document which must have seemed hilarious to our friend, who had grown-up children.

Heh, I wrote a similarly detailed document when leaving my animals with other people! And all Dottie’s puppies went to their new homes with a detailed handwritten life history.

Just because I’m talking about puppies…

Best wishes for Angelica.

Fingers crossed for angelica.

Cross your fingers for me too, folks. I had a diverticulitis flare-up a couple of weeks ago and was still having symptoms after ten days of antibiotics so my doctor gave me another four days of antibiotics and scheduled a CT scan for this morning (abdomen and pelvis) in case there's anything else going on in there. I have to be at the hospital at 9:30 and drink contrast medium and then hang around until 11 for it to percolate through my digestive system before they do the scan. I doubt whether there will be anything other than the diverticulosis we know I have but I guess it won't hurt to check.

Yes - good to check, Brit. All the best.

Many thanks for all the good wishes. She just texted me from the ward and she's met with the surgeon and waiting for the anaesthetist. I am suddenly terrified. :(

To @Britinme and @angelico53 I shall keep my fingers crossed!

Best wishes to angelica and Brit, hope all goes well today.

Fingers crossed for Brit and Angelica.

Best of luck to @Britinme and angelica for the medical procedures.

I had to go back to work when T was not quite six months old so I didn't really have a choice about leaving her. But I really don't think it did her any good. She was the clingiest child I have ever met and still follows me around from room to room at the age of 16 in case I somehow give her the slip and vanish into thin air.

Haha! At least T is showing consistency. It shows that you mattered then and you still matter now (or that she doesn’t trust you further than she can see you)!

💐 and 🤞 for Angelica and @Britinme