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…

That sounds like a lovely trip, glad you enjoyed it. Kew Gardens is lovely. I've only been once, on a GUT meet-up over 20 years ago, but remember the gardens well.

I was at Hyde Park with my cousin last week and we saw a lot of green parakeets swooping between the trees. Fascinating though they seemed somewhat out of place.

Happy anniversary @Britinme!

And what a lovely trip @SinnerBoy

Just landed back in Blighty an hour ago. How gloomy I feel right now.

Those parakeets have been around for years, @Vegemiteandhoneyontoast. We have hordes of them here in East Kent - every morning they go scrarking west over the house, in gangs, with the one in front shouting "This way everyone! Follow me!" The trees in our road are often full of the blighters. Then in the evening they head back east, equally noisily. They are naughty and destructive - a group of them once took a peck out of every apple on our tree, then bit through the stalks and simply left the fruit on the ground - but so beautiful. The tree died, but I don't think they can be blamed for that.

Yes, I get loads of them here in West London. They are cheering to look at.

I've seen them before, @Gonners just not for many years so they took me a bit by surprise. They're very beautiful to watch so it's a shame they're such a nuisance. Taking a peck of every apple is quite disgraceful!

Mind you, squirrels did the same with my friend's apricot tree, the scoundrels tore off the nets we put around the fruits and took a bite out of every one on the tree.

I've read about the parakeets, but it's the first time I've seen them. They are rowdy buggers and were hectoring crows, periodically.

Hedge sparrow chicks in the back yard - 3 weeks old.

Time for the earplugs?

Sourdough nirvana this morning, or, rather, last night. Just occasionally, when the stars all align...

Ooh lovely bread @moto748e!

That's good crumb!

The parakeets are spreading through Hertfordshire as well. Which is good news for peregrines, who find them very tasty.

Meanwhile our coach home from the airport has broken down on the hard shoulder of the motorway. Welcome home indeed.

That sounds scary. Hope you are ferried home soon, Rasa.

We’ve just been told a replacement will be sent in due course. Presumably we are then meant to decant, including an entire hold of large suitcases, on the hard shoulder.

Oh, and it’s raining.

With the benefit of hindsight, we should have just paid for an Uber from the airport.

I hope it’s not a long wait, Rasa.

What a massive drag, Rasa. Fingers crossed the replacement coach gets you home soon.

Replacement coach is here. Also Highways Agency. We’re not allowed to transfer our own luggage, it has to be done by the driver. I have visions of several suitcases being left on the soft shoulder. Teenagers are in foul mood.

Oh @RasaSayangEh what a rubbish way to come home! I'm so sorry. Hope things improve in due course.

(Of course the teenagers are in a foul mood. It's their JOB.)

Well, we made it home. Mochi was very pleased to see us and is clearly not the sort of cat to have a pretend sulk - straight onto our laps with much purring and kneading. Made everything feel better! And even the teens cheered up.

Now all I have to do is stay awake until this evening...

Glad you made it home safely, Rasa. A broken down coach on the motorway sounds like such a rubbish welcome home!

It does, especially with the rain!

Mochi really is a very fine cat indeed! Just the sort of welcome you all needed at the end of that journey. It must have been obvious that you needed cuddles.

In MeMeMe news, we went to Canterbury today to get frozen dim sum (from the allegedly Thai shop which seems to be staffed entirely by Cantonese speakers, so at least they know what they're selling) and first made a detour to Seasalt in search of jeans, as absolutely nothing in the local shops fits and M&S sizing has gone mad. I am apparently now, at 165cm (5'5"), "short". Harrumph to that!

Anyway, I tried on their Dipping Sun linen trousers (colour "dark drift") and they were perfect! The saleswoman (probably nearly as old as me) then talked me into trying what I thought was an unwise choice for a woman of 74 - Bosvenning stretch jeggings (colour "squid ink", fact fans). Again, a perfect fit and gloriously inappropriate. Mr G loved them (though this was probably dementia talking) and they are really comfortable, so what could I do? I also picked up a very nice organic cotton t-shirt: query - surely all cotton is organic?

We never did buy the dim sum.

That’s a lovely hotel Brit, and that’s not a lovely homecoming Rasa. It sounds like your suitcases made it, too, which is a plus. It’s quite unusual for vehicles to break down these days, thinking about it.

Though I had an almost 2hour longer than expected railway journey from Cumbria last Wednesday - no trains broke down but lots were cancelled for no apparent reason, including mine, then trains into Euston were very delayed after a ‘fatality’.

On the bright side I should get all the cost of the journey refunded. It’ll be about £50, so I may buy some earrings, or something equally frivolous.

I got an email recently saying I was entitled to a refund because of a delayed train, but when I actually got into the nitty-gritty of claiming it, it was such a faff (or asked me for info I didn't have, or something), One of those situations where they have all the info: they know I bought the ticket. They know it's assoiated with the debit card used to buy it. They know where I live. Why can't they just send me the money? Too easy, obviously. Anyway, I gave up in the end, which was the objective, I suppose.