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…

I discovered an expired tin of crème de marrons at the back of the cupboard, so I have turned it into a cake

Ooh that looks good!

And all the nicer warm!

Phwoar! Luckily your cake reminded me I put 2 frozen M&S pain au chocolats in the oven 21 minutes ago - perfect timing, thank you!

@artant that sounds like a very strange arrangement, a freezer that disposes of your ice cubes doesn't make sense. I wonder who came up with the idea.

I'm staying at a B&B near Whitby, as I have to do an offshore medical in a couple of hours. It's very picturesque, lovely views over the moors. They have a pond, with various waterfowl.

There are mallards, with ducklings and last night, a drake came and settled near my foot, then tucked his head away, for a kip!

I've just come out, with my cup of tea and encountered a moorhen, with a pair of chicks - on the path. They got up and wandered onto the grass, no hurry.

That sounds lovely, SinnerBoy.

Yes, moorhens are usually very timorous.

@SinnerBoy I love reading your descriptions of things, you paint such a great picture.

I remember my first visit to Whitby as a child. I was quite frightened as the seagulls were bigger than I was.

Morning all. I just had a bit of dispute with my NDN. Weird old fucker, he's been chucking breadcrumbs onto the roof of my shed, on my side of the fence. It attracts the bloody seagulls, they perch on the shed and shit all over it, and then drop the crumbs in my yard. So yesterday I got the step-ladder out, climbed up and brushed the crumbs down to the ground with a broom and disposed of them. Fuck me, I wake up this morning, and my shed roof's got another coating! So out came the step-ladder, rinse and repeat. Then luckily I caught him in his yard. I said, please don't put breadcrumbs on my property, and it's not good for birds anyway, and it encourages the seagulls. He wittered on about "the poor sparrows", but he clearly wants me to deal with the mess, not him. If he continues with this, I shall just be chucking the crumbs back over the fence. But I really don't want a fall-out over something like this. But it's CF territory nevertheless.

That sounds like a pain, duc. If he wants to feed 'the poor sparrow' he could do better than put out breadcrumbs.

Are you going to start a thread in AIBU? 😉

If anybody remembers MarianHaste from the old place, she runs an excellent coffee, soup, cake and sandwich shop in Whitby called Beckett's, in Skinner Street. It is dog friendly and a.so sells second hand books. Ideal place, and the food is good.

The Robin was interesting yesterday. Having raised their chicks, he and Mrs Robin are now living separately for the summer so he's coming alone for his mealworms. Yesterday he came to the door so I put the dish down for him on the doorstep and he ate a few. After this he hopped off the bowl and stood a few inches from me, then stood on one leg, bent over to one side and fluffed up his feathers towards the sunshine, but only those on his body and not the wings. Stayed that way for a minute or so and then hopped back onto the bowl rim and repeated the exercise. Then he had a few more worms and hopped off to a favourite haunt under the lavender bush. It looked very strange and it was thrilling to see so close up.

The blackbirds were also doing their thing of imitating road-kill and laying about in the sunshine in odd positions. They don't even move when I walk past them, just stare up at me.

That sounds delightful, Brit!

Are you going to start a thread in AIBU?

God, no! 😉

He's an odd fish, but I don't want to start a war over this.

That’s bizarre. Why doesn’t he chuck the crumbs in his own garden, if he must feed the poor sparrows shite?

Because he doesn't want the mess in his back yard, I assume.

macman has a cataract in one eye that has recently deteriorated quite quickly. He saw the optician 2 weeks ago, who asked his GP to refer him for cataract surgery, he was seen today at a private facility that the NHS is using to bring down waiting lists, and he will have surgery in a fortnight! Not fucking bad, eh?

I had both mine done last tear and was surprised too how quickly it was sorted out.

Last year, obviously.

Both my parents had both their eyes “done” and both could suddenly read without glasses again! Amazing, life-enhancing surgery. I had a few patients with incurable cancers who had their cataract(s) fixed on the NHS, because of the quality of life angle.

Aren't cataracts usually fixed on the NHS or did these patients just have them done sooner than usual?

Mr Tric's mum had one cataract done a few months ago and was driving again within days. She had the second one done a few weeks ago and still had badly blurred vision two weeks later, so went back for a check and the new lens had somehow become displaced. She was incredibly careful, wore plastic the eye covering all the time and was very diligent with the drops, so no one could figure out how it happened. The operation was done again and she's fine now, thank goodness.

Oh yes, Brit, they are, and this was in the days the NHS was adequately funded. It could be considered surprising that the NHS would “spend money on people who were going to die soon”, but it was considered a QoL benefit. Dunno if it’d be the same now.

CyanCrystalViolet

I love reading your descriptions of things, you paint such a great picture.

Oh, thanks! I got to the doctor early and waited for a while, there were loads of birds. House martins, swallows, blue tits. I was under a wild cherry tree and a couple of male blackbirds were harvesting them and eyeing me intently.

Anyway, high blood pressure has seen me fail the bloody medical, I have to go to my own doctor, with the letter from the guy today. I need to lose a minimum of 10 kg. Arse!

And there was another accident on the A 171 and traffic was diverted through a load of villages and then through Middlesbrough, total gridlock, even though I managed to sneak ahead in places - thanks to the bike. A sub two hour journey turned into 3 and a half. I stopped for petrol in Middlesbrough and the rain started, so I put my waterproof trousers on.

Thunderstorms and poor visibility had me keeping the speed down, I was amazed at how many drivers were tanking it past me.