Chat thread 5 🐥🍲(Mumsnets could do better cont…)

[EllaDisenchanted]

@stomachamelon @humdingerydoo @diamond82 @missconductUS @quantumbutterfly @comedycook @25milesfromhome @olderglaswegianlivingindevon @beretinparis @edithstourton @sharonellis @towerofsong @purplechrayne

I’ve tagged a few people to start off the next thread. Please tag anyone else I’ve missed.
I felt bad calling it Mumsnet could do better 😬

@MissConductUS yes, its pretty clear.

And yes I will - I'm not a regular at prayer, but when I do, I will keep you in mind. Best wishes for a good and speedy recovery.

Thank you for that article. I loved the 'picturesque lack of srlf awareness'.

All the very best for a speedy and gentle recovery.

@MissConductUS Sending you my best wishes. Be kind to yourself in your recovery. It is not a straight line, as much as we wish it were.

Thoughts and prayers @MissConductUS I’m so sorry you’ve been through such a hard time. And wishes for a smooth recovery
I always find your updates really interesting.
Great article on Iran.

@MissConductUS
Wishing you a speedy recovery. Probably an incredibly stupid question, but how are you feeling?

I feel better now than I did in hospital, that's for sure. Now it's mostly pain where they harvested the veins from my arm and leg for the coronary artery bypass graft, and on the sternum where they cut open my chest. I'll have a lovely 10-inch vertical scar there, but they really did a great job doing a very neat closure. It may not be that noticeable in a few months. My biggest problem now is insomnia, which is a common post op complication and isn't helped by the residual pain.

I'm wearing a compression sock on my right leg to help with the edema. So I'm not going to win any fashion shows for a while. And I can't drive for another two weeks as they don't want to chance my being in an accident and having an airbag go off and hitting me in the chest until the sternum is healed.

DH has been an absolute angel, driving me everywhere and making heart health home cooked meals. He does most of the cooking normally, but we also get a fair number of takeaways, which are now mostly off the list.

Thanks for asking. 😊

Oy @MissConductUS , insomnia doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun! But I'm so glad to hear your DH has well and truly stepped up and is doing his best to help ❤️ Take care of yourself, and take it easy. Who wants to leave the house in January anyway?! So you may as well just stay at home and make the most of it.

Wishing you all the best in your recovery @MissConductUS and sending you healing vibes and prayers.

If anyone wants a bit of a laugh, there is a thread on AIBU with a poster asking for unbiased news sources. She considers BBC unbiased and also was impressed with how neutral Al Jazeera have been on Gaza 😂😂😂😂😂

How are you getting on today @MissConductUS ? Hope you're resting up! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe your neck of the woods are predicted crazy amounts of snow over the next few days? If so, hope your loved ones are all ok

Thanks, @Humdingerydoo, I am taking it easy, but starting to ease back into some exercise and I have my intake appointment for cardiac rehab next week.

Yes, we're going to get walloped with a foot or more of snow this Sunday into Monday, oh joy. We'll be fine as long as we don't lose power.

Sounds like you’re on the path to recovery @MissConductUS. Sending best wishes to you.

perhaps on the plus side for us, you’ll have loads of time to unearth interest CITME-related reading that you’ll share. 😜

Thank you, @BeretInParis. I do feel much better than I did a couple of weeks ago. I'll see what I can do to find some interesting ME related things to share.

I've subscribed to a video service called The Great Courses, which has hundreds of university lectures from famous academics on all sorts of topics. I'm currently watching one on the Old Testament and another on military history - great battles that went wrong and the lessons learned from them.

It wasn't too cold yesterday, so DH and I went for a walk along the Hudson River. There's quite a lot of ice. The picture with the birds shows two seagulls and a heron. We also saw a juvenile American Eagle, but it was too far away to get a photo.

Stunning photographs, you live in a beautiful part of the world.

Thank, @quantumbutterfly. It is lovely here. Here's some more information about the region of NY I'm in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Highlands

Hope you're getting out and about for more walks, and that the upstate NY winter isn't too biting.

It started out fairly mild, but has turned into a corker:

https://weather.com/storms/winter/news/2026-01-23-winter-storm-fern-historic-ice-snow-forecast-south-northeast-midwest

And it's very cold, -15 C currently. It is too cold to go for a walk. I have a very nice Bowflex stationary bike that I ride when I can't get out to walk. In some ways, I like riding the bike better. It has a stand for my iPad, so I can watch my favorite videos on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV while I ride. I'm almost done with a lecture series on the Old Testament, which of course overlaps with the Torah. Fascinating, and I understand it much better now.

You might like 'Reading Genesis' by Marilyn Robinson. Absolutely brilliant.

And yeah, minus 15 is no fun. Been there, done that.

I'll have a look for that book, Edith, as Genesis does confuse me.

Here's a bit of news from the Middle East. Israel is quietly providing support to militias in Gaza that are opposing Hamas.

Israel Quietly Backs New Gaza Militias Fighting Hamas - The Palestinian fighters live in an Israeli-controlled zone but target Hamas in places that are supposed to be off limits to Israel’s troops

I think it's a smart strategy, but it comes with risks.

Israeli drones and other weapons will give those militias a big advantage over Hamas, which has lost its supply of arms from Iran.

Ran Gvili is home. Baruch Hashem! יהי זכרו ברוך
I don't even know how to process this feeling, quite emotional.

!עם ישראל חי
🇳🇮

@EllaDisenchanted I saw this on the news earlier and thought of you tbh. So pleased he is finally home x

It feels like closure

It must do.
The idea of kidnapping a body is just horrendous.

Here's an interesting article from a military news site I follow about what the challenges may be in disarming Hamas, based on the experience of the U.S. Army attempting to disarm rival militias in Iraq in 2003.

Disarming Hamas: Lessons from U.S. Efforts to Demobilize Militias in Iraq

It's not going to be easy.

This is from the WSJ's editorial page yesterday about the current political situation in Israel. I'd be interested to know if @EllaDisenchanted and others knowledgeable about Israeli politics agree that Bibi is headed for defeat in the next election and that the Ultra Orthodox may lose their exemption from compulsory military service.

Bibi has been around for so long, I was under the impression that he was unbeatable. And I can see how the exemption for one group would really rankle others who had to serve in Gaza, or had family members serve in combat.

Can Israel Move Past Netanyahu? - The Jewish state could help bring down Iran’s regime, but it faces internal strife at home.

The regime in Iran is in the weakest state it's been in since its inception.

@MissConductUS to say that the political situation in Israel is complicated is an understatement. The likelihood is that Likud under Bibi will not be the largest party following an election but the potential opposition centre right coalition is also currently not headed for a majority and would also have to from some sort of coalition. The ultra orthodox parties know their best bet to be part of a future government is to side with Bibi because other political parties would likely not form a government which includes their parties.

There is a lot of hostility towards those ultra-orthodox could could enlist but dont. Some of them do not support the state because they believe it should only be established when the messiah arrives. However they still demand money from the state for welfare and educational purposes. It is only fair to point out however that the are orthodox men, including ultra-orthodox, who do enlist and play an important role in the army.