The Bluestocking. All gerbils welcome, must have own frou-frou skirt.

[Magpiecomplex]

New thread!

Thank you, Fuzzy.

It's the betrayal and the deliberate deceit that causes the pain and I'm still reeling.

Hugs to you, too, and to Dean.

❤️

Some people are very strange. My experience was also baffling, and I only realised years later that many issues at work over the few years before it all blew up had also been manipulated. She had a great deal of charm when she wanted, and I came to recognise a particularly soft and gentle voice as a 'tell' that she was up to something. And a bit like a certain MD we've been reading about, as she got nuttier, everyone - management, Union, parent department- were terrified to cross her.

And then she self-destructed (not her life, just the career she lied and cheated to get - realised she couldn't do it and walked out after less than three months). It does leave you shaken.

I have been told by many people that it will all catch up with her in the end - precisely because it's an internal insecurity and someone will call her out.

It has taken me decades to work out that seemingly lovely people can be completely uncaring.. or at least, they only care when they feel like it, not when you need them to.

I never bothered with what I would have dismissed as 'psychobabble' when I was younger, and I now regret it, as I would have recognised passive-aggressive and narcissistic behaviour earlier and run a mile sooner😕

I'm so sorry you're going through such a painful time, Myrtle

I was self trained early in life to spot honesty and integrity, or more often the lack of therin.

there is a phrase everyone has a price, i think many good people are conditioned in to this way of thinking.

not me not I. I am by every definition a bit of a pain in the arse, but i will stand my ground on right and wrong.

i am not perfect but i am not for sale

so here’s to us all as you would not be here if you were not a free thinker

cheers.

On a less serious note is @Boiledbeetle too busy in the beetle nursery?

I feel as though I am very slow to trust people these days, or to offer too much of myself.
It's easier to be a puffin.

I completely agree. My neurodiversity means I have been too trusting. I am honest and candid and assume others are too. So if someone doesn't say they're uncomfortable I assume they're fine. And believe me, if more people were honest and direct rather than try and save people's feelings, the world would be a much easier place to navigate.

I'm looking for Boily.

I can't see the BoiledBeetle for all the little beetles...

I think I've found Boily, but she's really, really busy.

I thought she was in a Malteser factory for a moment then, and I got all excited.

Ha ha me too

I've been out. Doing nothing. On my own. Just wandering aimlessly.

<drops Polaroid out of back pocket>

Thank God Myrtle ate adopted all the baby beetles.

<shudders>.

Kids. Blghhh. Totally not my thing.

It's a pity the wonderful Dr Emma Hilton hasn't (afaik!) joined us because she's FondOfBeetles...

The quote about god being 'inordinately fond of beetles' is by JBS Haldane, not as often misattributed by Darwin, so the arrival of the swarm of beetles yesterday is mere coincidence - belated happy Darwin Day wishes.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J.B.._S._Haldane

Just been catching up on threads, all on my lonesome. Just me myself and I.

I'm pretty sure most beetles just lay their eggs somewhere suitable and wander off, leaving the resultant larvae to develop into full sized beetles which fend for themselves.

So I suspect these 'babies' are just some similar looking but smaller species than you, Beetle - distant relations at best.

Dr Hilton is not personally fond of beetles, nor is she an entomologist. But she likes Darwin.

And of course she would be very fond of Boily if they met.

Zzzz

Good day one and all! I am back enters the Bluestocking, extravagantly bows with a flourish of a taffeta covered wrist and plonks herself in the corner to wait for @FuzzyPuffling to come and sip a cocktail and discuss books

Hello Maggie! What are you reading? I'm greatly enjoying " Ordinary Time" by Cathy Rentzenbrink about a disgruntled vicar's wife.

Good morning all. Brew anyone?

Yes please Errol. Are the coffee gerbils working?

Yes please @ErrolTheDragon

That sounds very intriguing @FuzzyPuffling . I’ve just started The Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates, which is about a serial killer (I think). I’m only on page 50 but I’m very tense……so I hope it is about a serial killer and not about an actual fun loving babysitter otherwise I’m either doolally or the writer has missed the mark!

I like a thriller, but not if it's gory. Scaredy-cat. Or just a too-vivid imagination!

Actually, thinking about it, endless descriptions of games of peek-a-boo, or Uno or Monopoly with your babysitter would probably be more terrifying.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Psychodrama! Yeah I’m not sure my head could take it! I don’t even generally do thrillers. That would be a whole extra level