Thread 10 - TalkLair: “The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles.”

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 9).

Although the nights are gradually drawing in, the new lair of JTT escapees is all cosy and homey inside. The hearth is glowing, the walls covered in dubious artwork, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, 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…

Good name. I was wondering if our old thread might have been bringing people over who were interested in news and updates on the (alleged) sexual predator, Brand, over the last couple of days. If you hadn't been around I was contemplating starting a new one and calling it "Gone and never called me Bertrand". Thankfully that didn't have to happen.

Francis and Django are impressed with the rugs and demanding that I provide them with a glowing hearth.

In other news, first day of socks for the now autumnal weather. Earlier today I texted my friend Snoop to say that it was very autumny today. I texted again later to say that I should have said autumnal but had forgotten that the word existed. A brief exploration of my brain, ladies and gentlefolk.

Three post ment, anyone who hasn't been to the "Most random but ultimately brilliant present you've ever been given" thread, go now. I'm having a slightly difficult week and it has cheered me up so much. I'm currently deciding if I can really justify spending money I can't afford on a taxidermy mouse with a Mohichan holding a cardboard sign that says "Fuck the Tories." I can't but maybe it will be a Christmas gift.

Place marking before I conk out for the night. It's been an exhausting but interesting couple of days in Washington DC, and we have put in more steps in two days than probably the number in total for the previous month.

The present thread is delightful.

could someone please link the thread for general feminism discussions, I guess it’s moved on and I’ve not got it bookmarked.

Here you go:

Merci!

The best thing about that thread so far is discovering I'm not alone in having loved and lost Masha at an early age. Baffling that it's never been reprinted.

It's available on Abebooks, Elderberry, but very expensive.

Yes, I looked it up last year - I'd bought the Encyclopedia of Girls' School Stories for myself as a Christmas present, and that gave me the author's name, but it's beyond my purse atm.

Hopefully you'll be able to treat yourself to a copy at some point, Elderberry. Things like that can really bug you.

? I see no link...

Oh. I posted a link to the Women's rights general conversations thread. Does it show now?

Yes! Thanks @Tricyrtis2022 .

Sorry to barge in; you've come up in active. Can I ask what th chat is about?

Anything you like!

@DeanElderberry - Is this it? £12 from Waterstones, allegedly. But "currently unavailable".

https://www.waterstones.com/book/masha/mara-kay/9780956462640

That's it Gonners - so it has been reprinted - not recently though. The odd thing is I remember hardly anything about it, except that I loved it and couldn't afford my own copy. I must have been about 11 when I read it.

The lost childhood read I did manage to track down was a Chatterbox annual from the 1920s that I read half of on a family holiday in Dorset - the children staying at the guest house all got stricken with a gastric complaint and the very kind hosts put us all in a conservatory with books and games so our parents could get some holiday time without disease-ridden sprogs. I was fascinated by the malevolent alien Woodenheads and worried about the pet dog that had just vanished (apart from his tail) when I was deemed sufficiently recovered to put down the book and go and rejoin my family.

Fifty years later ABE and google enabled me to track down the book - the dog survived!

We just talk about random stuff, where it's not worth making a whole thread but still want to say something about it. Interesting properties on Rightmove, interesting threads elsewhere on MN, a lot of chat about pets, thoughts about books or TV or film, out-of-the-blue ruminations about the nature of the universe or the best shape for pencils...

Feel free to join in!

My dog had puppies nearly 6 years ago, and I try to post at least one puppy picture on each of these threads.

That is Temper Ted in the fireplace, he was Dottie’s CALM-THE-FUCK-DOWN toy from puppyhood, and she used to suckle on him. He survived all those years, then Badger destroyed him aged about 10 weeks. I swear Dottie was more upset about me throwing Temper Ted away than she was when any of her puppies left for their new homes.

@DeanElderberry - I suspect those insane prices on Abe Books and Amazon US have been prompted by a bunch of people here searching for the book after the mention. Suddenly there's interest in what previously cost £5, someone has bought one and the dealers have upped their prices. A few years back I bought a couple of Bergen Evans books (The Natural History of Nonsense and The Spoor of Spooks) from small secondhand bookshops but via Amazon (because that's where they were selling). They were about a fiver apiece. All the other sellers' prices promptly went insane - I'm talking over £100 - for about a week.

Oh thank you, fab. Will quietly join.

@DeanElderberry that's amazing. Never knew anyone who'd read it until this week and now I know not one but two people. It really is a wonderful book. If you'd really like to read it again I can always loan you my copy. Let me know in the messages.

@Gonners it's always been quite expensive which is why it was such an unexpected gift when I was given it by my lovely ex. It felt like a little bit of my childhood was given back to me.

Welcome @OneFrenchEgg! (What's a French egg?)

Ooh, hello new thread. I’m not sure I have anything much to say except that I am unimpressed with the autumnal weather. I went out earlier and got wetter than seems reasonable (partly because my car charging point was reluctant to let go of the charging cable which meant longer in the rain than I’d hoped).