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!

I’m well enough, considering, thanks @MarieDeGournay 😊

I’m sorry….

I did reject the first image that AI made because it was clearly Scottish. But accepted this one because in my first convent school (primary) whenever we did Irish Dancing displays (for visiting VIPs) the boys always wore dark green tartan kilts. I’m now wondering if this was simply because they were more readily available and cheaper to get hold of. Or maybe they borrowed them from the girls. And it was, to be fair, very much back in the day.

The gerbils said they were taking a stand on the black stuff because it wasn’t on offer. They, quite rightly in my view, felt it should have been on this one night in the year. They collectively decided to be tight-arses and go for Carling. (We need to keep an eye on this new found interest in collective protest… 🤔)

That looks amazing @DeanElderberry

Always even better for a decent spell in the fridge too!

@MarieDeGournay I've always been one for green white and orange vegetables as well, and have done the jelly thing.

Those Scots kilted gerbils reminded me of stopping for petrol somewhere in Kildare a few years back, just before getting onto the M7, and noticing the bloke at the next pump was wearing a fine Saffron kilt with his T shirt and fleece. I suspect he was heading to the Curragh to do something ceremonial.

Eight inch diameter soufflé dish, I'm greedy but not insane.

It’s decades since I ate a trifle, and I love them. But since @DeanElderberry has thoughtfully made one with g-f sponges, please may I request a small corner of it?

(Yes, I appreciate circles don’t normally have corners, but it’s an expression.)

Ooh lovely trifle!

Your trifle is brill, Deano! Lucky friends.

Saffron kilts are worn by the Irish army pipe band, also by the 'Irish' regiments in the British Army, so yer man in the petrol station was probably one of our lads on his way, as you say, to do something ceremonial. Funny that he was wearing his kilt off duty, though..

Irish saffron kilts are even more of a fanciful invention than the Scottish tartan ones. They used to be worn by boys doing Irish dancing, which is a rich source of outlandish outfits with no historical authenticity at all🙄
Not any more😃
Public Dancing Fun with the Gardiner Brothers in Chicago | TikTok

I think this is one of those occasional posts which, taken out of context, look completely random😂

Years ago, when we were in that phase of life when every year featured several weddings, DH and I formulated a theory that somewhere out there is a business from which one could hire men in kilts. Every wedding we went to, mostly south of the Watford Gap, included at least one man in a kilt. Now, I'm quite partial to a fine pair of male legs in a kilt with all the ceremonial trappings, but it did rather strain credulity (or do I mean credibility?) that every single one of our marrying friends and relatives knew kilt wearers. I did start checking, and they weren't all the same man.

One of the bonuses of a cruise which embarks at Rosyth (apart from being a heck of a lot closer to Norway than Southampton) is the number of kilted men on formal dinner nights.

I’m afraid St Patrick’s Day completely passes us by as it’s DHs birthday which is obviously far more important in the Dragon household.

That trifle looks amazing.

I think I need to buy myself some new clothes and, perhaps, get a haircut. I was waiting by one of those buckets that you can recycle old batteries in. An old lady walked up, looked at me and threw a quid in it.

I fished it out, my daughter caught up with her and gave it back to her.

@Magpiecomplex There's always one, isn't there?

Oh dear, Cake, I hope you were able to see the funny side. Maybe @Swashbuckled's stylist could help you out?

@lcakethereforeIam 😂

I might have kept the quid. I'm old too.

Before & after.

That's quite a transformation!

I love those boots she's wearing!

Cake scrubs up well, doesn't she?😂

I'm a bit worried she appears to be offering 'quikkas' outside the pub. I'm sure she'll get some takers from the Staunch Ally just up the road.

Me too! @lcakethereforeIam, please tell us where the boots came from?

I’d say so. This is a selfie of me before I’ve put on my makeup to come to The Blue Stocking.

(Don’t worry; I’m only joking @MarieDeGournay!!! 😉😊)

My arms and legs seem to be a bit long and bendy.

Now you mention it, you do look slightly knock kneed. It's fine though, you have other attributes to distract the eye... 😉

I went to a small in-house works training event once, we were being taught a very early intranet type messagey thing. There was a random bloke there in a kilt. We weren't in Scotland. No-one, as far as I was aware, was getting married.

Some people are so picky.

Your face looks younger, your hair is lovely & then there are... those. But no, just because you're a bit limbly-challenged. OK, I'll put you back to how you were before, if that's what you want.