Thread 9 - TalkLair: “Russell's teapot goes on being round”

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 8).

The new lair of JTT escapees is all cosy and homey; we have truly settled here. Outside, the garden is blooming with summer flowers - should bloody well be, what with all that rain. 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 didn't know that. Have you seen it?

Yes, watched it a few weeks ago. The historical accuracy is questionable, but it's a lovely - if very sad - story (and the cats are utterly adorable).

Refreshers

I shall add it to my list of films to see. The trailer certainly looks encouraging, there are pleasing sets and plenty of cats. The filming of it must have been interesting.

@Gonners

i Castle Bromwich, to the east of Birmingham. Horrible place, I was very glad to leave it. Whereabouts did you grow up?

Oldbury, the industrial back country. Huge chemical process plants, heavy engineering and light engineering, some world-class stuff. But hard graft for the men - and it was pretty much all men - in the facories and the forges. Nights filled with the clang and thump of huge machines, green and yellow smoke from the chemical plants contributing to smog so dense that walking home from school was exciting but fraught. The last gas lamp at the end of the road by the canal, atmospheric but feeble light.

I count myself lucky. But glad to get on and out and not end up like my dear old dad, utterly worn and drained by 50 years labouring and toolsetting. Looking back, I don't know how he did it.

Closest I came to your neck of the woods would be Erdington, where Mothers used to be. Saw some cracking stuff there in the 60s.

As far as I can remember, I never went to Oldbury but am familiar with the surrounding area. It sounds like it was a tough life there, for the men especially. After my grandparents left the Lakes for my grandad's work, my dad grew up in Dudley and he said the nights were filled with the flares from the steelworks and the roars of lions at the zoo. I lived in both Walsall and Wolverhampton for a while in the 80s and found them both claustrophobic. In fact, most of the Midlands felt claustrophobic. I live in a rural market town now and am a great deal happier.

I should think so! There's a terrific childrens' book by Allen Ahlberg called The Boyhood of Burglar Bill, which is set where I was born. YA, really, I guess. A corking read, anyway.

This is a lovely nostalgic thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4888703-i-found-a-shopping-list-from-1969?

I haven't read that thread in full but I did enjoy the list in the OP. I got married in 1971, when I was 21 and still an undergraduate. We had such a tight income - £900 a year in our first year - that I had to write everything down in lists like that. In those days if you went overdrawn you got sarky letters from your bank manager asking when you were going to square things up.

@crabbyoldbat Yes, of course! Thank you!

How familiar the writing looks! “Old” people all wrote the same, exactly as they were taught.

I had to get up early to take macman for his post-cataract check-up, and Christ, I don’t know how I survived my alarm clock for 35 years, how horrible it is being woken up by anything other than my bladder! Felt so grotty and grumpy, which I never do when left to wake up naturally. So I spent £200 I don’t have in M&S food hall while I waited, to cheer me up, and now I have a fridge full of loveliness and a McDonalds inside me as my reward. And my car enjoyed the run to Barnstaple even if I didn’t.

I love that shopping list! I like that they recorded the cost of the 4 x 8d bars of chocolate.

And yay to a fridge full if nice things @MavisMcMinty

I hear you @MavisMcMinty on the subject of being woken early. I got to sleep around 12:30amlast night and woke up about 5:30. I went back to sleep around 7 and the damn dentist woke me at 8 to hassle me about a hygienist appointment I don't want yet to see if I want to get there at 9:30 for a cancellation appointment. No.

I'm awake now. Bah.

Well! Stephen King’s latest novel has just arrived! I pre-ordered it months ago and forgot all about it, so it’s like a wonderful present in the post!

But I’ve decided I must finish Material Girls by Kathleen Stock first, I’m getting through it a few pages at a time, and want to like it more than I do, because I LOVE her.

Less than 100 pages to go. I can DO this.

I've just got the new Stephen King but luckily I've almost finished the murder mystery I'm reading ("Murder in Belgravia", set in 1915).

Fewer FFS.

Yesterday was the first 'hot summer's day' of the year here. In September! Had the back door wide open all evening, and, going upstairs, noticed for the first time year that it was warmer upstairs than down, a sure sign. So had the get the bike out for a bit of a run today. Whilst I still can.

It’s 32C here right now, too hot for ball games, as I keep trying to explain to the dogs. But on the upside, the dahlia tubers I potted up 2 or 3 weeks ago have lots of lovely green leaf, and if we have the long hot “Indian” summer (why is it called that?) I’ve been praying for, they might even flower! This is the one, Cafe au lait, they cost £1 each and were big fat multiple-tubered when they arrived.

https://www.suttons.co.uk/dahlia-cafe-au-lait_MH-77060?feed=shopping&acq_source=%5Bmed:ad%5D%5Bsrc:g%5D%5Bcid:15569980237%5D%5Bgid:134120508394%5D&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_id=15569980237&adgroup_id=134120508394&source=SGWEBPPC&gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxuCnBhDLARIsAB-cq1rF7iZs8F7XHLVa3eSGPA62XzI8Yr706UKMp4NxACcW4JSDdEqtsnsaAk4iEALw_wcB

From Wiki:

Because the warm weather is not a permanent gift, the connection has been made to the pejorative term Indian giver.[8] It is also suggested[by whom?] that it comes from historic Native American legends, granted by the God or "Life-Giver" to various warriors or men, to allow them to survive after great misfortune, such as loss of crops.[9][10]

Looked it up and see there's a series of three books. Is there one you especially recommend?

It was hot out today but I managed to stay in the shade for most of the time. I wore my new-ish hat and it did its job very well indeed. Hurrah for sun hats. I like that this one has a full lining which soaks up the sweat, though I get hat-hair.

I remember reading Burglar Bill (the original one) to my DS. So long ago...