Thread 16 - TalkLair: "Well, I'm not exactly quaking in my stylish-yet-affordable boots, but there's definitely something unnatural going on here."

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 15).

Another year over, a new one just begun...

In the TalkLair, the hearth is glowing, the walls festooned with tinsel, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, rugs are down on the floors, the tree is twinkling with fairy lights (and possibly being clambered on by cats). The denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch though, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics.

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey Christmas roast beast over there in the corner of the cave…

I'm looking forward to seeing some snow, though it's forecast to be dark when it falls. I'd love a repeat of the night we had snow when the sky turned pink so the snow turned pink too.

Log moving is a job to be done here too. We're burning ash at the moment, which makes a good heat. We're also cooking a big pot of beef rendang but Mr Veg has made it a bit too spicy for me so we'll put in some potatoes and maybe some other veg. I'm sure it'll be tasty and just the ticket for a snowy night.

I'd be agog at snow, we hardly ever see it here. I think about 4 flakes are forecast, which may be optimistic.

We don't get much snow this side of the Pennines, but I must order some more logs and fuel, Xmas stocks are running low.

The weather warnings are quite wide so we’re in a yellow warning despite there being essentially no chance of snow settling. I love snow but it’s so rare for it to really settle in London now.

I must go and buy the makings of a couple of vats of soup. Broccoli, leek, courgette and Stilton for one, the other TBD.

I've got some soup on the simmer right now, and a few milk rolls rising to go with it. Winter food!

My book was my second book of poems (first one was published through a very tiny press here that doesn't sell on Amazon, which I did not know when I did it, being totally naive in these matters - also the work in general I think is not as good as the stuff in this second book).

It's very weird to me that you in the UK are having more snow than us - we had a "white Christmas " by dint of a two inch fall that happened a day or two before but is all gone now. Normally we've had at least three snowstorms by now - real ones dumping five or six inches. I suppose we'll have some this month or next but it's much warmer than usual for January , which is traditionally the coldest month here. Temps at the moment are in the mid 30sF and they're normally hovering more around 0F.

It's been snowing steadily in the Tatra Mountains, we ended up going on an "easy 40 minute walk, suitable for children" walk in a forest. Daughter came and was fine, finally managing a bowl of chicken noodle soup at the end of the walk.

By Hell, the rough ground and steep slope played murder on my knee. The first half an hour was OK, but then it got really steep and I kept slipping.

At the bottom, I had a local black pudding, which was like haggis, without the pepper. I bought a bottle of cherry beer and one of plum beer, detailed report to follow.

We're on a yellow warning but it's not going to snow here by the seaside. It's cold enough for it but my guess is we'll get cold rain instead.

I remember you telling us about your second poetry book, @Britinme and I hope you get another publisher soon. I hope you can get it on Amazon too. Mine is going to be quite a while in the making especially as I'm enjoying the research so much despite the fact that the tiniest amount of the research will make it into the book but I'll know the rest of it and it will help me understand my characters and their environment too.

Is this fiction or non-fiction, can I ask, FMB?

Fiction. The plan is that it will be about a couple (or more) of women who are private detectives. Set in the 1880s-1890s.

This sounds right up my street, I would definitely read that!

Woke up to a covering of snow, maybe 2-3 inches, and it's still coming down. DH is itching to get the kids out of bed for a walk, but I've said we should wait until full daylight at a minimum.

Also, just spotted this thread

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5245090-she-poured-the-marinade-that-the-raw-chicken-had-been-in-on-the-cooked-chicken-and-served-it?

and SINBU in the slightest!

That book sounds great, and the research will be fun - I'm imaging Molly Hughes, early bound volumes of the Girls Own Paper, and Elizabeth L Banks 'Autobiography of a Newspaper Girl'.

Snow here, I'm going to be able to take advantage of the extensive prepping described on Bluestocking yesterday - but really hoping the electricity doesn't go out.

That marinade thing sounds nuts - my only hope is that maybe she sets some of it aside before the puts the chicken in with the rest, and uses that? I have done that with a very fresh-herbs rich marinades.

Put me on your list of potential readers FMB - that sounds right up my street.

I have Molly Hughes. Also reading all about the Victorian home, history of forensics, Acts of Parliament, fashion - one of the reasons for choosing the 90s especially is that fashion was having more of a sensible moment - London life, and so on and so forth. Oh and class, obviously. Class and money is supper important.

Thanks for being interested. I can only hope that it'll be good. It's one thing having a good idea and this really does excite me, it's another writing a good read but because I'm excited by it and the excitement is still going strong about three months in, I know I'll give it my best and see what happens.

When was the Rational Dress movement? All I really remember is that it's a big feature in one of Louisa May Alcott's novels where a girl, Rose, is being brought up by her uncles.

I always enjoyed this - I see the main account has moved to Bluesky which I'm not keen on so far, but it is certainly a way into an 80s and 90 female worldview.

x.com/GirlsOwn

example: ‘Rose’ enquiries if it be “proper for a gentleman to speak to a lady at the seaside without an introduction.” Does she really feel doubtful as to the license which the proximity of saltwater and sand may concede? Is a man to forget his honour in the breezes of a watering-place?

The Girls' Own was published by evangelical Christians, so presumably they saw Sin everywhere!

Were they wrong? Or do you think it more likely that respectable men, in the presence of sun sea and sand, may be relied upon to remember their principles and shun a woman so lost to decency that she attempts conversation?

By the etiquette of the time, a man should not speak to - or even acknowledge - a woman he knows if he sees her on the street unless she acknowledges him first. So he certainly shouldn't strike up conversation with a stranger without an introduction.

@SqueakyDinosaur it was founded in 1881 which is part of my reason for the period but also, and I think because of the Rational Dress Society, fashion had become less over the top. In the 1880s the main feature was the bustle and the line was long and thin at the front with a lot of decoration. I'll be very close to the end of the 1880s although at least one of my women will be all about rational dress and general feminism. Gorgeous as the whole bustle thing can be to look at it would be difficult to do much in it. And, in terms of being a private detective when you were out and about doing detecting stuff - I will be writing better descriptions than "doing the detecting stuff" - you'd need to be as "invisible" as possible. That would mean dressing for your class, which would mean dressing like a trussed up turkey. Wearing rational dress would make you stick out because it wasn't common. I guess it would be like having short hair, dungarees and Doc Martins in the 1970s. Everyone would notice you because it was a bit radical.

B7 1892 the bustle was gone and fashion was a bit less extra although leg-o-mutton sleeves came in and got a bit stupidly big by 1895. But the shirtwaist shirt/blouse came in, things were easier to move in and in 1889 we had the introduction of the safety bicycle and it became a huge hobby in the 1890s - something for my ladies to zoom around London on if the need arises. Women were also more involved in all manner of sports, more active and going places. the 1890s is a great "burgeoning" decade. All sorts of things on the verge of blooming but not quite there yet. It's still not a great time to be a woman, but there's a lot more hope for a better future for women of the middle classes.

@DeanElderberry thank you for the link to Girls Own on the Twitters. I've joined BlueSky but I'm not using it yet. That said I'm not using Twitter either. It is an absolute cesspit and one day BlueSky will be a cesspit too but when I had a look it seemed almost like olden days Twitter although I don't doubt that it's not very Terf friendly.

Speaking of the Twitters I sort of love it when two people who are absolutely beyond the Pale have a falling out. It's delicious that this morning Farage was bigging up his alleged friend, Musk and then a few hours later Musk is all "Yeah, he's shit. Shouldn't be leader of Reform. They need a new one." Shame, shame I know your name, Farage.

I'd love to be despised by Musk because it would mean that I was almost certainly a decent human being, but I've not been kissing his arse for years, so I'm guessing that Farage is almost eating his fags and knocking back spirits like there's no tomorrow right now. <teeny tiny violin plays a melancholy tune>

I don't know whether you watch Murdoch Mysteries? It starts in Canada at the end of your period - late 90s - and for all the slightly far fetched stuff and woman having more and better jobs than is likely, and tolerance of people having sex lives, it's fascinating watching the way the changes in technology and science change people's lives.

Of course, you might want to avoid it to stop contaminating your own imagination.

Gonners · Today 16:40

The Girls' Own was published by evangelical Christians, so presumably they saw Sin everywhere!

What?! Is there no place I can hit?