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…

350ish here.

The 'warm' front is moving in, manifested by lots of white flakes floating down from the grey sky and settling on the existing snowdrifts.

If I can't get to a supermarket soon the poor cats will be getting catfood without any added raw beef. So sad.

According to Google maps I'm 92.7 miles from my place of birth and fallen into a mild rabbit hole of reading about the road where I was born and the hospital annex I was born in!

I've got an appointment with a GP in half an hour. Huzzah! Cancer sucks but while you're still on the cancer pathway, which I am with immunotherapy, you get GP appointments on the day you call. Silver lined clouds and all that!

@Britinme I hope that the teeth decide to ease up a little at least.

305 miles for me. Our whole family is a bit strange with birth places. My maternal grandmother's family were from County Antrim, but G Grandfather was a marine architect in South Shields both Gran and her older sister were born in Dublin, then decamped to Shields, then to Belgium when Gran was 2 and back to the UK when she was 15, in 1938.

I looked last night and I'm mid-range too; 136 miles (although I'd have guessed it was farther, it's a journey I've only made once).

I was born in Bombay, and we moved to my dad's home town of Hull when I was almost 5. I grew up there and then went to uni in Leicester, then lived in an outer London borough and then in Herts until I moved across the Atlantic when I was 52.

I am feeling marginally less grim this morning,and can cope with the tooth as long as I stick yo lukewarm stuff. I will be very glad to have it dealt with, though my bank account may complain a bit.

Spent the day cleaning the skillet and now it's ready for seasoning. Soda and scrubbing wasn't cutting it, so resorted to a wire brush attachment on a drill which was far easier. It's coming up lovely.

In fortunate news, I just happened to spot the other day that the fabulous I'm With Her are playing in London in May, and managed to bag a ticket (much cheaper than I expected). They are currently my Live Act I Most Want To See, so delighted about that.

Three clever young girls getting recognition and encouragement

www.rte.ie/news/2025/0110/1490075-young-scientist-exhibition/

@Britinme marginally less grim is not good enough but it'll have to do. I'm hoping for less grimness and quick action from the dentist.

@duc748 top live music ticket buying!

@Vegemiteandhoneyontoast you have done such a marvellous job, that skillet looks beautiful!

@DeanElderberry something for other young women to look up to that isn't being the Rose of Tralee. I'm not knocking that because I wanted to be the Rose of Tralee when I was a child and unsure of how I would manage it. Thankfully I grew out of that sort of thing.

I saw a lovely doctor. The last four letters of her name are the same as the last four letters of my name and to anyone how knows my name you'll know that's quite unusual and whereas my name is all Irish Catholic hers is all Indian subcontinent and Muslim. I got my new favourite antibiotics. First day you take two then for the rest of the treatment you take one a day which makes life so much easier. I'm on more steroids for a while as well. I still feel lousy but less lousy and mentally in quite a good mood. That is probably due to listening to a series of podcasts about the Franks, within the Franks the Merovingians and the Carolingians and superstar crowned as emperor of "the Roman Empire" on Christmas day 800, good old Charlemagne. I studied that whole period for A level and hated it. Really enjoyed the podcast episodes although was slightly cross to find out that in the 500-600s there were a couple of queens - through marriage and then queen regents for their sons and grandsons who were determined to do away with each other, much like Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots and like them they never met. They were Brunhilde and Fredegund, queens of different parts of the Frankish kingdom. Fredegund was originally a servant or slave and a canny murdery sort. Brunhilde was less murdery but also canny and not shy to do or get killing stuff done. Both better rulers than their husbands, sons, grandsons and Brunhilde was still doing regent of her great-grandson before being murdered most horrifically by one of Fredegund's sons. Fredegund got to die in her bed. Anyway, we started our A level look into "the dark ages" in Europe - which as we all know nowadays really weren't so dark at all - with Clovis the first Merovingian king so we should have covered them but back in the early eighties they clearly weren't considered important enough. Bah!

Old antisemite Wagner's Brunhild is thought to be a merging of both these queens into one character.

And now I shall stop with the boring on.

Much as I enjoyed the episodes it didn't make me want to go back to studying around that era of history. It's all a bit too fighty. When Charlemagne was king and then emperor there was one entry in the annals that said "nothing was done today." which meant no fighting and warring. The rest of the time it was wars and battles and seriously, that shit gets really dull after a while. I'd LOVE to know more about the social history but of course there is little to nothing out there about it because the majority of people weren't literate and leaving writing behind for us.

That said, at the end of the last Charlemagne episode they played the Choir of St Bartholomew the Great singing Veni Redemptor Gentium which was written by St Ambrose in the fourth century which is mad! I don't think I've ever listened to an older piece of music. I enjoyed it enough to listen again.

Vegemiteandhoneyontoast · Today 16:37

Damn! I should have used the Dremel!

Amazing job on that skillet @Vegemiteandhoneyontoast

Gorgeous skillet!

@FagsMagsandBags i remember being thoroughly bored by St Paul’s missionary journeys during compulsory RE lessons at school, but nowadays I think I’d be far more interested. When DH and I were in Greece we visited the ruins of Corinth and I stood on the bema where Paul preached, and atheist though I am I still found it historically thrilling. Perhaps I have a low bar for thrilling!

there was one entry in the annals that said "nothing was done today."

Marvellous. There was a similar occurrence in the early days of the BBC (I think very early television rather than radio). The evening news bulletin stated 'There is no news today. Instead, here is some music.' Given that this was the late 1930s I suspect there had been a least a bit of news somewhere, but nothing thought worthy of the British public's¹ attention.

Top work from those Tralee girls.

Vegemite I don't suppose you fancy popping over and doing my wok?

¹ The 100 or so members of the public who lived close enough to Alexandra Palace and had a TV set.

Brit

Perhaps I have a low bar for thrilling!

Oh, I dunno. I explained to my then almost six year old that the terracotta pipes we were looking at through a grating were 4,000 year old toilets was pretty amazing.

Knossos.

@FagsMagsandBags The Rest is History! I've just finished listening to their Frankish series too - I knew nothing about that period of history until now

Next time!

Skillet's just starting its second layer of seasoning. Four or five to go.

I want to know how to use the molasses, and whether black treacle would do the same job. Also could I use it on an old knife?

I think molasses is black treacle, isn't it? I used Lyle's and it worked really well. Reckon it would work on your old knife too.

The method I came across called for a 1:10 dilution and then you immerse the rusty thing and let it soak for however long it takes for the rust to be consumed. The skillet I de-rusted was done in winter and the bowl was outside, so it took a long time, 55 days. In summer it's supposed to be much faster. You could do it indoors but you'd need to cover the container as the mix can get quite smelly.

The length of time was okay with me because I just wanted to see what happened during the process. It still amazes me that molasses gets rid of rust.

Interesting. My old omelette pan and big knife will have an adventure.

If it's any use to you, I followed the guidance here:

https://sherylcanter.com/wordpress/2010/01/a-science-based-technique-for-seasoning-cast-iron/

Thank you. I'm now going to go to the shops for the first time in a week. Adventure!

Have fun!

Have any of you read Jodi Taylor's "Chronicles of St Mary's" books. The first one is called Just One Damn Thing After Another. They're funny and they have a lot of history in as well. One of the later books in the series gives the likeliest reason for the source of the wooden horse of Troy story that I've come across.