Ladies and Ladies: The Bluestocking is open: again

[DeanElderberry]

Newly renovated, beautifully appointed. Food and Beverages, excellent (if sometimes unexpected service), delightful clientele, special accommodation for invalids, pedants, readers and normal people.

Ceol agus Craic

Entertainment!

! Gerbils beautiful gerbils!

❤🐀🎧🐀🎺🐁🎷🐖 ❤

all furry!

! ❤AI and Scientists❤

less furry !

All women welcome

well behaved male visitors from the Staunch Ally are welcome in the stableyard but not across the threshold of the main building

ooops. posted too soon

there ye go

Goodness me, Inky, that's a full-on bacchanal! Which room is that happening in?

In the Bacchanal Dungeon. There are some magnificent chandeliers in there. It does have a strict dress code of off the shoulder crinolines, but if you go down to the wardrobe department they'll sort you out.

I'd be mightily impressed by anyone in real life who could fit my dreadnorks into an off the shoulder crinoline dress, but of course in the Bluestocking it's not a problem for the wardrobe department!

It is indeed! and, for anyone familiar with Belfast city centre, it looks as if it's taking place on Donegall Street - that's Belfast City Hall in the background, surely?!
Shush - not a word to the Free Presbyterians, they wouldn't like it😄

I was thinking St. Paul's Cathedral in London, @MarieDeGournay, but I haven't seen Belfast City Hall. I suspect all the sober businessmen in the City wouldn't be terribly keen either 🤣

It's all been v quiet in the Stocking since..let's see 21.52 last night. Hope you have not been blown away! My part of Ireland wasn't the worst hit, but we had record-level wind gusts, and I lost a couple of shrubs and a small tree. Nothing compared to the poor people who had hurricane winds and are now without power, and in some cases water.

Here's a picture of Donegall St in Belfast with the City Hall in the background. It's definitely where the bacchanale took place, probably on the Sabbath too😱

It was fairly wild here yesterday - we were under the red warning - lots of trees and fences down around here, but thankfully we only saw minimal damage. A few ridge tiles have come loose, and a fence slat came off - dh spend days and days putting up new fences last year - the poles are really securely concreted in, and the cross members are firmly secured, but the individual slats are nailed on so they are safe but not tightly secures - his theory was that the slats would blow off before the wind could do damage to the posts and cross members, and it looks like he was right.

So far today we have had a couple of hailstorms, snow, and now it is sunny. Dh and the dogs got caught in the first hailstorm this morning, and we think it was the first time our rescue dog (from Cyprus) had seen hail, and she was running in circles trying to escape it - he had to catch her and hold her between his knees, until it stopped

We were very lucky in our neck of the woods, as far as weather is concerned.

In more personal matters, not so much. A hot chocolate with a double brandy in it, please, gerbils, in one of those lidded cups with a straw, to take away.

Something like this?
You can ignore the double ended pencil (no idea where that came from), and the gerbil added some nuts and sprinkles because she thought you needed a bit of extra.

Ah, Giarmees, one of the finest and oldest established distilleries in all Cognac, Cher, so you'll feel instantly restored...
Sorry you need it though

I think that should be 'oldest-established distilleries', shouldn't it?
Oh no - I'm becoming careless about hyphens! That's awful! Can I have a slug of your Giarmees, please, Cher??😰

Yes to hyphen as it's a single adjective phrase.

@MarieDeGournay this is the only aspect of St Paul's which would fit the image. On balance, I think I tend to agree that it's Belfast City Hall.

I've been doing important tidying type stuff and am now in need of a large hot chocolate also, please. I'll leave the Giarmees for Cher and Marie though thanks.

Nuts and sprinkles are OK, ta. Nuts are protein, right?

Help yourself to the Giarmees, @MarieDeGournay.

Picture of the actual distillery.

Coming right up, with added chocolate for completing tidying.

Perfect! Thanks Myrtle!

Isn't electricity lovely! reading lights and the cooker and the microwave and all the side benefits like running water and the central heating working and the internet. Nearly 36 hours without it.

That sounds very unpleasant Dean, glad you've got the electricity back now! Are you ok?

Sending love, @DeanElderberry 💐💐💐

I am, as we say around here, the finest.

Which doesn't mean finer than anyone else, it means better than fine.

I must go and feed the cats who were very brave and noble while the house was shaking and the wind was roaring around us, but who will be grateful for a bit more indoor warmth - the woodburner was a lifesaver but an extra boost from the central heating makes such a difference.

Sounds awful Deano, glad you're back on the grid again. Here's a mug of Barry's for you
It really was an ordeal for so many, at one stage there were over 700,000 homes without power in Ireland - at the worst of any previous named storms, that number was 300,000+.
I escaped the power outages, fortunately, and I'm very sorry you didn't escape.

'It's an ill wind' - pardon the pun! - I have bad tinnitus which sounds like storm force winds all the time anyway, so I had to look out at the trees to see when the storm was getting really bad!

I had left the kettle switched on (silly thing to do, but it worked out well) and the central heating also on, so by the time I'd walked round the house to re-start the water pump I was able to make a mug of exactly that wondrous liquid. And then filled my hot water bottle so it will just need a top-up at bedtime.

I also had enough light to find a bottle of Pinot noir, which will go nicely with the mystery pasta plucked at random from the freezer. Checked RIP to see has an old neighbour died - no word yet, but will hear at church if she's gone.

Cats express courage and nobility in extreme weather conditions by not spending the whole night marching up and down over the staff and yowling loudly asking her to MAKE IT STOP.

A bit like this?