The Bluestocking is reopening

[ErrolTheDragon]

It's time we reopened the Bluestocking, I think.

This is the FWR pub, situated in the charming village of Badley Fuckitt near the Shady Pines rest home. It has a cannon (for reasons lost in the mists of time), goats in the paddock next to the beer garden and a menu including many soups and cakes. It's open all hours, serving breakfast and tea to all weary women, in addition to being the ideal location to metaphorically drown your sorrows.

Naice coffee ...

@wrongthinker Here. Dig in.

Those of you who have been swimming in gravy have caught the attention of the bluestocking dogs...be warned.

I'm so sorry, @wrongthinker

It's a hell of a way to find out who your friends really are.

<lick, lick>

@wrongthinker I'm so sorry.
<passes vast dish of roast spuds with salt and gravy>
Some people are, unfortunately, not the friends you thought they were. It's a horrible experience.

Beats getting a shower. Have at it. Just not behind my ear it tickles

This literally is our car! You are freaky.

Home. Cats all here and I've given them treats. Main cat to be collected from the cattery tomorrow. All frozen stash in the freezer. All cheese in the fridge. All ibuprofen stashed in the top drawer. And the water is hot and a bath is drawn ready to sink into.

I'll be catching up on everything tomorrow. Once the guvnor is back from the cattery.

I was raised without gravy. My mum disapproved of it, in the strongest terms - what was the point in her cooking lovely food for us, if we were just going to drown it in gravy. We were allowed horseradish or mustard with beef, apple sauce with pork, bread sauce with chicken and parsley sauce with gammon. We didn’t have lamb - she disapproved of lamb too. Tomato ketchup was grudgingly allowed with certain meals - but ohhhh boy was she grudging.

I still don’t have gravy, a lot of the time - but I do make a delicious home made gravy, with duck bones, to go with the goose at Christmas.

Thanks @EdithStourton @ErrolTheDragon and all you lovely women. It's definitely a way to find out who your friends are. I'm currently full of anxiety about who else is going to fall out with me, and resisting the urge to message everyone and check that they still like me. It's so, so stupid. I think being cancelled triggers that primal terror of being driven away from the cave and the campfire. I keep telling myself that the people who love me are the ones who matter, and everyone else can go. It's costing me work and opportunities, too. But all I can do is just hold my nerve. No way am I apologising! I've done nothing but speak the truth.

Anyway. Potatoes!

@wrongthinker , am sending a virtual hug.

Virtual hug from me too, wrongthinker . It's cold comfort, I know, but if people don't accept you for what you are and respect you for what you believe, they are not really friends. I hope you feel supported here, we're always here for you and some of us have roasted potatoes to share

And from me too, @wrongthinker - it hurts, I know. But I also know we are on the right side of history, and people are going to have to do some serious back-pedalling when this madness fades.

@AlisonDonut This literally is our car! You are freaky.

I know I am - but what IS your car? DH reckons possibly a Ford Ka, from the picture. The AI gave me a choice of four images, the others being a 2CV, a Fiat 500 & something a bit Swedish.

Sorry to hear that, @wrongthinker . The irony of them telling you to learn more, when it is always learning more that leads us here.

MrBint and I were both raised in gravyless households, and have been making up for it ever since. At least mine was only gravyless - I had plenty of ketchup, mayonnaise, bread sauce, hollandaise etc. Whereas MrBint's parents' house is almost entirely condiment free. They offer vinegar with salad, and I think I've seen a jar of mint sauce once. That's it.

Sorry for those of you with weird parents.
DM wasn't a great cook but she did good Yorkshire pudding and gravy.

Ughhhh! I think I had a bit too much to drink yesterday.

Why am I wearing a swimming costume?
Why do I smell like i've bathed in Marmite?

Hair of the dog might be a good idea.

Why am I covered in dog slobber?

Oh! Just been sent a photo of yesterday's outdoor activities.

It explains a lot!

Im on soft drinks this week I think!

@wrongthinker I'm so sorry..It's a horrible thing to happen and makes you question all aspects of a friendship. But you're in safe hands here.

I was brought up on very plain food ( parents wartime hangover, plus both parents working FT and my mum preferring the garden to the kitchen) - gravy was a thing, but ketchup, maybe etc were definitely not. Even now, I have never eaten ketchup. It looks disgusting!

White Citroen C3. Weird huh?

Why has Beetle only got 4 legs? What disaster happened, or are they hiding?

Sympathies to all those who grew up without gravy. DM was a fabulous cook (often on a very limited budget) whose Yorkie recipe I use to this day. Her roasts were the food of the gods. As were my godmother's.

The ILs, on the other hand, are almost uniformly terrible cooks.

A gravyless household, what fresh Hell is this?

We had gravy but I only found out about ten years ago that we didn't have red or brown sauce because my dad doesn't like vinegar. I didn't even taste HP sauce until I was 18 but liked it very much. These days the kitchen cupboards are full of vinegar based condiments and pickles. Lots of different vinegars too.

@wrongthinker That is so frustrating but it's the same bullshit as we see on here, educate yourself and repent.

The more you educate yourself the more you realise that the whole thing is built on utter nonsense. It's a whole made up boomdongle that only benefits the medical establishment.

I've had a good mull over the reason people go for it though whilst I've been away. I'll share my thoughts later but I need to go get dressed and pick up the sunshine of my life.

Whilst I'm gone, if anyone wants some courgettes, there's plenty in the wheelbarrow. It is mad out there in the potager.

Thanks all. It's just bullying, really. Say what you're told to say or we'll stop friends with you, spread lies and rumours, try to get you kicked out. People who join in with bullying me are not my friends, I know this. But at the same time it's really hurtful and I would just like it to stop. At the moment my plan is to not respond to any of it and just carry on as I am, let it burn itself out. It's just so fucking mean and it's taking up so much headspace.

Best plan, I think. Responding will only stir them up.

I've never tried brown sauce. I keep meaning to pick up a little sachet from somewhere to give it a go, but I'm not really sure what I'd eat it with.