The Bluestocking Pub, where we continue to read about gerbils nobly and bravely working undercover in the Fen.

[AsWithGlad]

Welcome to The Bluestocking, the best (perhaps only) online women's pub. Nothing in the food or drink can harm you, everything is served by a very enthusiastic crew of gerbils, who enjoy doing this, and any curious menfolk are welcome at the Staunch Ally down the road.

Previous thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5564959-the-bluestocking-womens-pub-in-which-we-wait-excitedly-for-the-next-instalment-of-goseis-adventures

Mumsnet HQ have now unhidden my post. Apparently "sometimes our systems require us to check posts before they are visible on the site". No call for alarm.

@chickadeeinme. We're here!!!

I'm glad the deleted post was undeleted. It was most un-Bluey-like.

Nightcap, anyone?

Maybe there’s a filter on long bullet point lists as they quite often feature in AI output?

Possibly. That was all me, though. They should read The Gosie Chronicles, as there is a tonne of AI in them😂.

Dealing with a stressful situation which led me to consult a local accountant today.

He was helpful and reassuring and refused payment. When I pointed out that he's running a business and has to make a living, he told me that if I wanted to pay to make a donation to charity and maybe I could consider the local cricket club which is running programmes to help youngsters.

Seems very fair to me.

Realised that the theatre/community centre that I frequented as a youngster now has a café so went in for a coffee. Finished up having a coffee, a bowl of lentil soup and a Caesar salad. A much better day than I'd expected.

There are four in the sky in your very accurate photo…

That’s reassuring, as I couldn’t work out how I’d missed it.

One problem with the react button, apart from the limited choice of reactions, is that we can choose only one at a time. That excellent post needed thank you (the detailed insight into your day), love (your successes) and support (with the complications.)

edit - had it been on another site I used to visit I could have marked the post educational, interesting, funny, agree and love. I would not have clicked on disagree even if it had applied as it upsets some readers, so I never do.
It’s possible to hide any or all of the reactions if you want to, so you never see if anyone disagrees with you, for example. Reactions are anonymous.

Just popping on because been distracted so will have to read this thread properly tomorrow - am knitting squares for college blanket and may have become transfixed by the bill sharing thread and the idea that BF will start keeping a log of the number of loo paper squares used on each bathroom visit and divvy up the GF’s share. Am in the camp that it’s another made up one. Like the one about the 15yo who got onto a very prestigious 6wk film making course in Hollywood, during term time? LOL

I need a good parking thread! Or a neighbour bashing one.

Actually am going to do an “AIBU: to ask the neighbours not to BBQ outside?” Because my doggos sit alongside their fence gazing at them and drooling adoringly. I suspect they would dump me for a sausage if the chance came. They completely abandoned me while the amazing smells stench of succulent meat wafted in through my window.

On parking threads the diagrams are a particular attraction, I find. They have labels such as “my house”, “annoying neighbours’ house” “kind neighbour’s house” and so on, which please me. Sometimes we get colour and little sketches of cars, too.

Thank you @MyrtleLion - I'd never have found you otherwise because I rarely look outside the Sex and Gender bit of Mumsnet.

Thanks to you as well @Magpiecomplex :-)

Good luck for today's job application, Myrtle. You deserve a quiet Friday after yesterday.

And I also enjoy a good parking thread, and find the limitations of the react buttons annoying.

Weary, your accountant story reminded me of a local sparky. Our cooker once stopped working a couple of days before Christmas, with the family to feed. I dashed along to a local business where I knew electrical work was being done and bgeed the sparky to take a look at the cooker. He said he'd call by as soon as he'd finished for the day and did.

It was something to do with the clock/timer and he got the thing working again. I was pathetically grateful and asked what I owed him. 'Oh... well, it only took 20 minutes... my wife keeps the books, she'll kill me if I don't charge, how about a tenner?'

Given that he'd just rescued Christmas, when we needed work done thereafter he was always our first port of call for electrical work, until he went off to work for a big company.

There are some lovely people in the world.

I have a similar plumber. We spotted his van outside a house when we first moved here five years ago and I took down his number. Didn't need him for ages, then he has done a lot of little jobs and some big ones for us. And if I call, he'll either pop round after his day's work or early the next morning.

He charges £80 for a job - we had a leak from the top loo which we discovered when our neighbour knocked on our door as it was running all the way down the pipe and then spilling over the front door. He popped round, was done in 10 minutes and a rubber washer had perished.

Reasonable price I thought.

State of Gosie:

I have four or five chapters in draft, which means AI has written them and I need to edit them. Chapter 26, due today will be done very quickly - sometimes AI just writes something and it needs only a little bit of editing. Other times, it is so wrong it takes three days. Chapters 16 and 19, I'm looking at you.

And then I read those chapters and ask myself why they took so long!

You should have today's episode around 5.30pm as usual and hopefully the rest will arrive on time. I have no commitments this weekend so I am hopeful that I can get ahead and write a few more.

I am still completing the cover letter though which has to go in asap, so there is always a risk that the episode will be late.

My dad has a similar handyman who does whatever needs doing & always makes the time for a cup of tea & a chat. Plus a mechanic from the local garage lives on his estate, so when Dad’s car needs its MOT this bloke always walks up to Dad’s house, drives to work in it that morning & brings it back in the evening.

Good luck @MyrtleLion!

Edited to add that obviously the cover letter takes priority, and I’ll tell @BoiledBeetle off if she gets impatient.

I don't actually think @boiledbeetle has joined this thread yet. Maybe... <whispers> she hasn't actually read last night's episode yet...

😮

Last time Boily disappeared didn’t she end up on that dodgy boat?

I am wearing a jumper today!😨

Admittedly, it is a light cotton one, but I found myself thinking earlier "what are these things hanging down my arms?" and realised they were sleeves! Even though it's mid teens outside, the north wind is making it feel noticeably cooler.

I met a friend yesterday afternoon for coffee in a town a few miles away and we were delayed leaving because a women's cycle race was due to pass through and the traffic was being stopped, so we went to have a look. It consisted of about half-an-hour of police motorcycles and cars racing along the road, followed by a few support cars and a camera motorcycle. Then one lone cyclist, pedalling furiously, followed shortly by a huge group of cyclists who whizzed past within about 5 seconds. Then a cavalcade of dozens of support vehicles carrying various spare cycles and parts. Our immediate thought was "is that it, then?"

My friend rang me later to tell me her husband had been watching it live on TV and saw the whole thing, including spotting her bright red mac!😁

Found you! Because I only ever read this board [apart from the very occasional diversion into Shopping] that's what opens automatically on my laptop, and I thought it was getting very quiet around Peak Woo...

Here we all are now, and thank you AsWith for starting the new thread. I always get anxious if I think it's my turn - it used to be about coming up with a witty enough thread title, but now it will also be where it is located😬

No need for mea culpas
but thank you for reminding me of what naughty altar boys used to murmur in the days of the Latin mass, too quietly for the celebrant to hear
Me a cowboy
Me a cowboy
Me a Mexican cowboy😃

It appears to be autumn in Fife: only 14 degrees and a change in the quality of light - it reminds me of the start of the uni year.

Ah, of course. Sewing machine bobbins. Rescue drone rotors. Easily confused.

I suppose it’s what you’re used to seeing. I have been thinking about doing some sewing for a while now. 😀

I am sort of here but lurking because grandchildren visiting is soaking up all my posting time. We had a lovely day at the lake yesterday where the two British granddaughters and the two American granddaughters got on like a house on fire and had enormous fun on canoe, kayak, paddleboard and just swimming, and youngest British granddaughter made really good friends with my American granddaughters' youngest American cousin. That's confusing... My son and his wife are sharing the (enormous!) Air BnB with his wife's sister and her two sons and husband, and it was the youngest of their children who palled up with the youngest of my granddaughters. Anyway - we all had a blast.

I am!