Thread 19 - TalkLair: "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long"

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 18)

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...

In the TalkLair, the fairy lights are festooned on the mantlepiece, the tree is twinkling with baubles, the mince pies are in the oven, the MN legendary chicken is ready to feed the hordes. 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…

Now with photo!

Nobody tell @Boiledbeetle

Eating that would make me feel terrible but I'd have to buy one.

If they made a Creme Egg-sized one, I'd DEFINITELY buy it (and several of its brethren, probably).

You know I've been quite free of cravings so far during this diet, but you've just sparked one...

I’d love a Tunnocks teacake Easter egg!

I had a radio controlled alarm clock years ago that was meant to always know where it was and what the time was there. Unfortunately it had a habit of deciding if moved countries in the night which wasn’t at all helpful in terms of the timeliness of the alarm. Usually it decided I’d moved to Berlin but very occasionally it would become convinced I’d moved to Tokyo.

I noticed yesterday I had a free chocolate bar from Lidl. I haven't eaten chocolate in years. I looked at the selection, but no dark chocolate. I went for white in the end. But I've only eaten a bit of it.

I am absolutely not tempted by anything involving marshmallow. I do like the idea of a wandering alarm clock, though. "If it's Tuesday, it must be Japan."

I didn't bother with the free chocolate, but I did get 2 legs of lamb, at £5.95 a kilo. I did one last night and left the other for our refugees for Easter, as we'll be away.

Did I mention we're on our fourth pair? She's a friend of the first lady. We weren't going to have any more, but after the power plants were bombed a few weeks ago and whole families sleep fully clothed, with wooly hats, in the same bed, we took pity.

I saw this on thr Facebook and thought of my science pals.

Given the number of spectrummy people in the sciences, isn't it more likely that autism causes vaccines?

That's funny, @BezMills

Just had an exciting delivery. My youngest brother is getting married next weekend to a Sikh lady and we're going to the wedding. Strict dress code and, given Mr Bear's loathing of suits and after checking it's appropriate, we're both wearing Indian outfits. Mine has just arrived and it's absolutely stunning - a dark teal silk salwar suit with a deep pleat in the middle and lovely complementary fabric, teal trousers and a scarf in the same colour trimmed with the same fabric as the panel. I've never worn anything like this before but am looking forward to it as it's so comfortable and pretty. We've been busily studying Sikh etiquette so hopefully won't disgrace ourselves.

That sounds absolutely gorgeous @BetjemansBear . Salwar kameez (sp?) always looks so comfortable as well as pretty.

Tried it on earlier and it's incredibly comfortable. The pic is from the site I bought it from, not me obvs.

I'll be wearing flat sandals. They're brown and rather plain so I was going to draw a design on in gold pen, something like in the image.

Gorgeous outfit, and the sandal design looks ideal to pair with it.

I've not had the pleasure of attending a Sikh wedding, but I believe like Hindu ones they tend to be exceedingly well catered.

Lovely outfit @BetjemansBear! We went to an Indian-English wedding a couple of years ago and similarly were encouraged to wear Indian festive clothes, it was a gorgeous event!

exceedingly well catered

Looking at the itinerary for the day it does indeed look like we'll be well fed, from 10am onwards.

Looking up more etiquette this morning, perfume seems to be frowned upon in the Gurdwara because it contains alcohol and no alcohol is allowed on the premises. I don't wear it myself but thought that was interesting.

So yesterday I went to the One Year Later event in Manchester, which all went off fine, and met a couple of Mumsnetters, one of whom was a veteran of the Old Place too! The usual collection of black-clad chanters were across the road, with placards explaining that they were Smashing The Patriarchy, amongst other things. As always at these events, everyone is lovely and friendly, and nice have a chat in the pub afterwards. I even found that rarest of unicorns, a through train to Manchester from the little halt station right by my house, and better still, the same on the return journey, so I'm sure the day was blessed!

Interesting that they want to smash the patriarchy when they couldn't be what they are without the dominance entitlement of males.

@moto748e The usual collection of black-clad chanters were across the road, with placards explaining that they were Smashing The Patriarchy, amongst other things.

Can someone explain this to me? I would assume they are just men trying to disrupt?

Some men, some women. They mostly had masks on, and there weren't very many of them.

We met a woman at the bus stop this morning with the most gorgeous dog, probably a Newfie crossed with something even hairier. In the course of the chitchat, she told us that last week she'd been in Canterbury and some young man (or was they/ze?) had told her off for referring to the dog as "she", because it might not identify as female. I just laughed and said "What a pillock" but she was absolutely incensed about the idiocy of it. I wonder if these lunatics query the "gender" of other people's babies as well.

That sounds beyond tedious, Gonners!

We're back from the Sikh wedding extravaganza. It was all lovely - the ceremonies, mountains of delicious freshly cooked Punjabi food, stunning bride, blissed-out husband. Met lots of new extended family members and was told I am now officially sisters with the Sikh auntie I was introduced to in one of the ceremonies.

One of the best parts was the after dinner music and dancing. To my horror, ABBA and Queen had been suggested but thankfully there was none of that and instead we had Bhangra/Bollywood at top volume, enough flashing lights to trigger a seizure, a shouty DJ and all ages on the dance floor. It was surreal to see two of my uncles, both in their late 80s, grooving sedately to such wild music. It was exciting to be part of such enthusiasm and everyone had a wonderful time but, my god, it was good to wake up in our own bed this morning.

That all sounds fabulous @BetjemansBear!

I had a very busy weekend, mostly doing poetry-related stuff, among which I sold two of my books and was delighted that the two guys who bought them were poets I have a lot of respect for. Today I have been to the gym and am mostly knackered.