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…

You know what's really nice?

Not having a tiny but horrible unshiftable hair stuck in my eye, that's what's really nice. The last 27+ hours were very very painful (I actually started wondering should I have gone into the minor injuries unit at the hospital at one stage). Several sessions inhaling steam with Friar's balsam followed by using the eyebath with my head over on one side did the job eventually. It's still obvious even to a casual observer which eye had the problem, but the swelling is easing.

On the good side, I slept from just after 8.30 to just before 6.00 last night - amazing what the body can do when it feels under attack.

Now I have to catch up with all the things I should have done yesterday but couldn't on account of not being able to see. Not supermarket shopping just yet, it's too hot - the cats will just have to eat catfood instead of meat.

Oh that was interesting, thanks! I had a girl in my year at school who was Brethren, poor girl, her hair was so long and greasy, and she snatched the headscarf from her head as soon as she was out of view from her mother. Her father was REALLY old, in his 70s, and she was very scared of him. She was horribly bullied and had no friends. She went to university (I was interested to read that this is very unusual for PB) and went absolutely fucking WILD, shagging, drinking, not studying… and that was the last I heard of her, hope she stayed wild and free.

I also nursed a couple of PB patients (again interesting to read that they usually access private medicine) and they were very unlikeable and misogynistic. Expected all the other men in their bay to leave while they ate their meals because they aren’t allowed to eat in front of non-Brethren, and put in complaints to the hospital that their beliefs were not respected (well they fucking well weren’t, not by me anyway).

@MavisMcMinty Expected all the other men in their bay to leave while they ate their meals because they aren’t allowed to eat in front of non-Brethren ...

An interesting variation on my dietary requirement for only 5* meals. I'd just have pulled the curtains round them.

Wow - I knew they had some unreasonable clauses, but not being allowed to eat around non-believers is a new one.

Are any of you in the Women's Rights Network? I'm pondering joining.

I am, Binturong. Only been to one meet up so far, but it was really good. We - 12 women and four dogs - met up in a local cafe after hours and were served cake and prosecco by the owner. It got astonishingly loud and was too much in the end, but it was lovely to meet others in real life and to know there are others of the same mind nearby so we can nod and smile at each other on the street. The women there looked just like the ones you see at LWS speak events.

That does sound good. Will PM you.

Sure.

Hooray! I have finished Material Girls and can now relax with my one true love Stephen King.

I am about a quarter of the way through Holly, @MavisMcMinty , and enjoying it.

Any views here on Jane Clare Jones? I've only read her chapter in the Reader. But I saw her being very (I thought) arrogant on twitter about Kathleen Stock. Is there a history, does anyone know?

I'm about halfway through Material Girls which I started earlier this year and then put down and at some point I will go back to it. I love her but I'm less in love with her writing.

I've been meaning to join WRN but haven't got around to it yet.

I'm watching the Mercury Prize. Few years back, I used to fancy that I could pick the winner, and did several times. This year, it all sounds dull so far.

Cat Burglar update.

A while ago, I sent CB's mugshot to the neighbourhood WhatsApp group with a sort of "FYI/whose is this?" message and made contact with her owners. They said they hadn't seen her for ages, but to let them know the next time CB visited us and they would bring her home and keep her indoors until she remembers where she lives.

So, when CB turned up at our house, I duly contacted them and we made arrangements that I would trap the cat in our house and they'd come round to collect. I was slightly surprised when I spotted them walking up our drive with no cat-containment apparatus. Anyway, when CB saw them approaching, she freaked out and tried to run away; I had to catch this struggling cat while wrestling the front door open. As soon as I'd passed the furious parcel over, CB did a spectacular over-the-owner's-shoulder leap and flew off into the distance.

We have since agreed that any repeat attempt will require the cat to be inserted into a cat carrier (I will have to get Phoebe's carrier out of the shed, although I still hate the sight of it right now ).

Since that failed relocation, we've had this heatwave meaning everybody's doors and windows are open. CB has been happily in and out of our house, I have no idea whether she has also gone home but certainly she hasn't been kept indoors (and it would be a bit mean in this weather!). She's been sleeping in our garden each night. And then it was Back To School chaos. So I've not had the headspace to be arranging cat capture.

Last night I had thankfully closed the patio doors, because CB brought a live mouse to us and asked to be let in. I could hear the poor thing's squeaks as she batted it around. This morning I have respectfully interred the murine remains in the compost bin.

I don't know why the owners want her back because she clearly doesn't like them and is fending for herself beautifully.

Makes you wonder what goes on in that house, doesn't it. My older brother was regularly mean to the family cat and when my sister in law and niece went on a trip, leaving the cat to be cared for by my brother, the cat moved out and never went back.

She's a sweetie!

They may think she's "their cat" but she obviously doesn't think of them as "her people".

I think that cat is determined to burgle your entire household and make you its very own. Maybe you should all just bow to its will.

Britinme · Yesterday 19:14

I am about a quarter of the way through Holly

Be sure to go lightly.

I wonder why CB freaked out? Perhaps the people aren't very nice to her?

I’m well over halfway through Holly and am now trying to eke it out a bit longer by doing hard killer sudokus between chapters. I love Stephen King World.

Me too @MavisMcMinty . I just finished Holly - couldn't resist galloping through it. I also like Killer Sudoku.

I doubt they're horrible to CB but they clearly know nothing about cats if they turned up without something to put her in. As we all know, cats are bastards and will pretend that you beat them to a pulp if the mood takes them because that's how they roll.

Django brings in mice and sparrows a lot. Mostly they're already dead, thankfully, he then plays with them for a while and eats them. I might find a tail or a beak but not much else. He growls when he's playing with his prey to warn Francis and me off.

Cupboard Kitty (in her pre-cupboard days) used to RACE past me in the shared hall and stairs to my last flat, ears flat, flinching and cringing as though I beat and kicked her regularly. It was so embarrassing when neighbours were there to witness it.

Agree @MouseMinge, I really don't think they're mean to CB. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say she was freaked out by sight of the children - lovely kids BTW, but perhaps in their younger years they were too boisterous for her and that set the pattern of dislike? Or maybe she was just being like a toddler at soft play who realises Mum is approaching to take her home?

Last night CB brought her own rodent to dinner - we had to leap up from eating to close the door. First thing this morning (we were rudely awakened by the fucking glass recycling lorry), CB announced another (small) mouse/rat. DD1 said, "Oh god, what if she's decided she has to start paying rent?!"

Apparently Bubo pays rent.