Thread 18 - TalkLair: "That's no moon. It's a space station!"

[RasaSayangEh]

(Previous thread 17)

We've had our heatwave - is this it for the summer? All is lush and green in our LairGarden, flowers are blooming, berries are ripening...

In the TalkLair, all the windows are open, the Pimms is chilled, the MN massive salad is ready to serve. The denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics. We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

I have been to Manchester many times, including in summer. It always rains, even if it's just a little tiny bit.

Stove lit already!

Yes, the heating’s been on here too @RasaSayangEh (mostly with the thermostat, which I leave on the same schedule year round, but a couple of times because mum was complaining about being cold).

Hah, and I thought it was just me being a Southern softy!

I'm not one of those who thinks it bold or heroic or admirable to be cold in your own home! There seems to be a modern tendency in some circles towards this hair-shirt philosophy. I recall at the Old Place people boasting about not putting on the heating, or maintaining a pretty low room temperature. And anyway, it's as much about the hygge.

I'm with you there @moto748e . We also leave the heating to the thermostat so we never actually switch it off. It hasn't come on yet though.

I don’t feel heroic about lack of heating at all, but I do try to keep energy consumption low for environmental reasons and because I just can’t afford it. I really rely on not putting the heating on at all for part of the year so that I can have it on during the coldest months without worrying I haven’t clocked up enough credit on the direct debit.

It felt really cold the last couple of days, but I think that was partly the psychological impact of terrible wind and rain! When I deployed the interim fix of a short spell of heated throw, with added cat augmentation, I quite quickly felt too warm. Another two or three weeks and I expect I’ll be tying them both to my lap.

I turned the heating on (= turned the thermostat up) yesterday morning because the house felt cold and vaguely damp. After about 10 minutes it was fine and I turned it down again. But it had been very wet and windy overnight. I like the idea of multiple feline lap-blankets, though.

In NHS! NHS! NHS! news, I saw our lovely GP this morning and at the end of a rather embarrassingly tearful 15 minutes - mainly tearful because he was so very kind - when I got up to leave he held his arms out and gave me a hug. As this is Mumsnet, I feel I must ask ... Should I report him to the GMC for sexual abuse?

He really shouldn't have, but I'm glad he did if that's what you needed. Rules be damned.

In context, it was simple empathy and kindness and absolutely the right thing to do! There's another (also male) GP in the practice who is infamous for weeping copiously when delivering bad news (which was not the case here). Now he needs to be told to get a bloody grip!

Sounds like a Fast Show sketch, Gonners! 😀

I think your GP sounds lovely @Gonners and I’m only sorry you were so distressed you needed the hug.

Your GP sounds lovely, Gonners, some are so cold and businesslike and it's a shame there aren't more like him.

Sometimes a hug is much needed and sometimes breaking the rules is the right thing to do.

((((Virtual hug)))) @Gonners

What a lovey story, gonners!

I've just seen my first zebra spider of the year, on our back door. Well, I've seen a few out and about, but I normally see in the back yard.

I've hidden it, in case of arachnophobia.

Nice spider. We have one living in the flowerpot by the front door, and several that like to make webs across the paths round the raspberry patch.

Not sure about this MN colour change. Or the incredibly prominent 'original poster'/'my posts' flags.

I was just going to say... so It's not just me, then? The colours can be changed, I guess, but the flags are surely unnecessary?

Just opened MN and my eyes!!!!

Zarah Sultana and Sandie Peggie knocked off the front pages, as MN debates the big issues! 😀

There's a thread if you want to express an opinion: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/site_stuff/5412919-a-few-updates-to-mumsnet?

I suppose if it encourages people to read the OP's messages it might be good, but they might just scroll past faster due to being blinded by the colour scheme.

The highlighting for the OP's posts is now harder to see (unless you choose the tinned salmon pink) than it was under the old options. As are MN posts. It's only the not-button lozenges that now male those posts visible - and I find those much more distracting than useful.

I've just changed the background of "my posts" to grey and "OP's posts" to green (which is "green" rather in the same way that butter isn't) and it's much more readable and less offensive.

I've gone with the pale blue and wishy-washy green. Which is better, but not as good as it was.

You know when you buy something from the supermarket, and the pack says, "New, Improved Recipe"? And that inevitably means "We've found a way of making it a fraction cheaper, and a little bit nastier". So it often is with change.