The Bluestocking - where Spring has sprung and the grass is riz.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Welcome all. Can the gerbils please ensure that all the Tunnocks products are safely stowed in the capacious larder, and perhaps the quokkas could be responsible for counting everyone onto the bus and back off at the new thread - many thanks!

@MarieDeGournay it's just a scent they give off when they're growing which you catch as you walk past. Not as nice as the smell of the flowing blackthorn (=> sloes=> gin).

And yes, it is easy here to put one's feet up and just chat...

I hope Marie doesn't become too grand for the likes of us.

I've just learned something. Those bands of non-fluffy material at the ends of towels are called dobby borders 😃

Oh, Cake, don't worry - I'll never forget the little people I used to mix with in a previous life😂

Or since I'm Irish, that could be the Little People I used to mix with...☘

'Dobby borders' - that's priceless, Cake, a wonderfully obscure word

Ladies, your help is needed! There is a thread where someone went to Gail's and they refused to toast a hot cross bun!

Someone suggested a protest, so I've spoken to the gerbil campaign team.

I'm definitely Team Toast. DH, however, errs on the raw side. Wrong.

Aw, the little sweeties look so concerned, especially the little one on the right! And they are very good at writing upside down.
I'm not an expert on whether or not hot cross buns should be toasted, but isn't the hint in the first word.....?

Perhaps we need Judith Butler to clarify the issue for us😆

“I notice we're not an item any more, Swash. 💔
It was just a fling for you, wasn't it? You pirates are all the same, aren't you - a 16-17th century French feminist philosopher, translator and writer presenting as a black-winged punk angel in every port.😭”

I’m confused @MarieDeGournay!

I can’t work out what has prompted this comment? Please let me know so I can apologise to you 😔.

Are you forgetting this?

I do have a little place ashore. I mean, I love galleon life, but sometimes I need to be on my own and enjoy the solitude. I come here in between voyages. Read, light a fire, chop wood, enjoy a little bit of terra firma.

I mean, hello? not a mention of your 16-17th century French feminist philosopher, translator and writer presenting as a black-winged punk angel😞
I can take a hint...
<flounces off>
<then remembers the wings, and flies off instead>
😄

Ah no, the happiest of couples may benefit from having their own space from time to time, surely?

And maybe Swashy is making it cosy before she invites you...

Ah, I like that suggestion a lot, and Errol's
As long as I'm not an afterthought😕

It’s true; I do need a decent amount of restorative solitude in between missions. It’s very crowded on those galleons @MarieDeGournay There’s so much noise, and fighting, and lack of any personal space. Even the crow’s nest gets filled with passing crows. Incredible birds, but not the quietest.

But wherever I am, on sea or shore, I will make it my business to pop into The Blue Stocking. (And that’s where you are.)

I hope that takes the sting out of my soft spot for solitude…

Can I order you a drink while I’m here? 😊

Very large chocolate milkshake please, bar gerbil, and your comfiest seat. I've been standing up in the sun for most of the day and everything is either hot or sore or both.

Oh go on then, you silver-tongued pirate you!

I thought about a Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet and even a Clos de Tart, but I'll split a bottle of Saint-Amour with you in a quiet corner of the Bluestocking, sweetie😍
[they are real names of Burgundies😄]

No thanks! I'd much rather hear what the boiled beetle has to say about it .... <Judith Butler indeed> <mutter mutter>

Yes, that's so true!

'Yere 'tez!

Just right, thanks Inky!

@MarieDeGournay Phew! 😊

Is that a basque I'm wearing?? It looks very uncomfortable...

I'll throw it out ASAP, along with all the others in my wardrobe... in other words, I'll put all my basques in one exit😄

May I slip into something more comfortable/less leather/with fewer strappy-reveal-y parts please? Maybe I can borrow one of your nice loose shirts?

But I like our matching hats!

Santé, ma chère

It took me a few seconds to work out 'Yere 'tez!' - love it😄

Magpie your day sounds very trying but it's all all right now, you're in the Bluestocking in your favourite chair - the one that has a gap for your tail! Very clever, those furniture-making-gerbils.

I hope you managed to reach your choccy milkshake, your expression suggests it was thoughtlessly placed so you'd have to expend some energy reaching it, which falls well below the standard of service expected at the Bluestocking.

Don't worry @MarieDeGournay, my fan-bearing gerbil companion rapidly realised that I couldn't reach the straw from where I was (my muttered curses may have helped in this regard) and set matters straight.

The humans on here are stunning.

The birds are equally stunning though, @FuzzyPuffling!

This is true. Just more feathery.
Has @DrBlackbird been around?