Thread 13 - TalkLair: “I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.”

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 12).

Looks like spring has sprung! Tulips, apple blossom and early hay fever are upon us. In the TalkLair, we remain hunkered down keeping cosy and warm, because "something something 'til May is out". 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…

I have peony envy! There is a pink peony here that hasn’t flowered for a few years. There should be a red one (I think) but that hasn’t ever flowered (I think it may not be enjoying being on a fox patrol route) and a pink and white one (again, I think, it didn’t flower last year) that may produce two flowers this year!

Aquilegia, because if you turn it upside down, the spurs on the flowers resemble eagle's claws. If you prefer your birds more peaceful you can use the common name, Columbine, so called because the flowers look like five little doves, each bird sharing a wing with its neighbour. That one is a very pretty colour.

Other Bangors are available. With their own pronunciations.

That sounds a marvellous trip, Brit. Please give my regards to Antimatter.

I have just handed in my notice. Last day of employment will be Bastille Day - it seemed a suitable day for liberating myself.

I love aquilegia and so do the bees. We started out with one single plant - deep blue - and now have loads, in three or four different colours. So there must be a fair bit of cross-pollination going on around the local gardens.

Thanks for the reminder about the peonies. Every year I forget to stake them and they collapse in a heap. I've just been out and Dealt With Them.

Aquilegia has a common name of 'Doves Around a Dish' which is charming.

They're extremely promiscuous, Gonners, you never know what you'll get from one year to the next.

Congratulations on notice-handing-in @NoBinturongsHereMate, have you got another thing lined up?

Not a thing! I'm getting off the hamster wheel.

Thanks, Bint. They are lovely anyway, and seem to have 'appeared' this year.

(Well, there's a house to sort, a garden to tame, a local community farm starting up, a pool and gym membership that I've never been able to make proper use of, a world to visit, and I might see if Tribunal Tweets wants a volunteer. But nothing paid, or that involves being in the same place doing the same thing every day.)

This 'work' lark is so overrated!

Bastille day sounds perfect for the start of that freedom!

That sounds like a great plan, time to enjoy yourself!

I'm green with envy!

Congratulations Bint - retirement is wonderful!

God, that sounds amazing, bint! I'm wild with jealousy. Of course, I'm sure you've planned sensibly, so can't begrudge you it, whereas the fact I have to work till I'm 103 is entirely my own fault.

That sounds exciting @NoBinturongsHereMate

I highly recommend not working (even though I have replaced work with full time elderly parent wrangling which is not something I’d recommend). I sort of retired by accident as I took voluntary severance intending to take a bit of time off, start another MA and then start looking. The pandemic came along and my mum got a lot less mobile and work isn’t part of the plan now.

Indeed. My nephew used to live in one of them. That one’s pronounced a lot like the Maine one but with a Welsh accent. I have a friend who always deliberately pronounces it banger and it really annoys me.

Only one Bangor can boast a Pickie Fun Park! Accept no substitutes.

I expect there to be some elderly parent wrangling in the future, but not trying to fit it around work should make life a lot easier than last time. Three out of the remaining four are still in pretty good nick, but I know MaBint will need a hand in the not too distant future once StepPaBint can't manage at home any longer - even if not downsizing immediately she'll be preparing for it. And in a rambling Edwardian house with multiple attics and half a century of accumulated things that 'might come in handy'¹, that's not a job for a lone septugenarian.

¹ Many of them not small, although she's already stealth cleared the boat, 2 lathes, and probably over a tonne of 'useful' bits of metal.

@NoBinturongsHereMate - Top Tip! Take a paper shredder.

And a metal shredder. And a china crusher. And a lorry to take books to the charity shop.

Frankly I look around our house - and I have no children within 400 miles (youngest) and 3000 miles (the other two) - and wonder how the heck we'd manage to clear it. The basic house isn't too bad apart from fifty million* books, which when I cark it my children will undoubtedly donate to Goodwill. It's the basement, the attic and the two car garage which is too full of stuff to get any vehicles in it that give me pause.

• Rough estimate

Not much of a reader, eh? I hope your trip will be amazing. I once worked with a guy from PEI and he wasn't amused when I asked if he was a Newfie;; still, everyone else thought he was American.

My wife's Aurora pics have turned out better than mine, I'll post some later.

And my dad's neighbour has found goat moth caterpillars on his allotment, dad saw an adult last year. They are endangered.

Frustratingly, I have the Aurora alert app on my phone, but after months of "boy who cried wolf" when it pings Red Alert and I rush outside to see a Big Fat Nothing, I ignored the alerts yesterday evening. And went to bed. Woke up to a bunch of WhatsApp messages from friends in London with photos of the Aurora over parts of central London. FFS.

Speaking of London, I was just browsing a thread where the OP was asking about what to visit there as she had never been. But the thing that rather astonished me (and I dared not comment on that thread!) was that she had never been on a train. I know, everybody is different, etc - but still, somehow very surprising, to me.

Understandable for people who grew up in Unst or similar, but definitely rather odd in most parts of the world.