The Bluestocking Arms Women's Pub, where women make friends with Beetles, Androids, Cakes, Dragons, Hedgehogs and other women, where wit and wisdom flourish

[inkymoose]

Here at the Bluestocking there's a place for all women. A break from Reality, and many laughs and stories to share. Have your fill of Tunnocks bars and tea cakes, sing feminist anthems, drink as much beer or gin or hot chocolate as you desire. It won't make you fatter or drunken but oh, it's fun. Sit in the garden with our Lion resident or the Quokkas and Capybara. Express your opinions loudly in Pedantry Corner. Ask for whatever you fancy to be served by our obliging Gerbil staff. Come in, all women, welcome!

You didn't specify so the gerbil took the liberty of choosing red

Perfect, thank you to the kind Gerbil and greetings to your good selves… I have a pin badge saying Bluestocking. I bought it for myself. The cap definitely fits!

Lovely to see you here, @ShockedandStunnedRepeatedly!

More wine is available on request and sometimes before you ask. Fortunately it only gets you a little bit merry - enough to take the edge off, and if you have any food, it contains no calories.

The gerbils can be erratic, but they mean well and are lovely.

On salads: my humble suggestion would be chopped anchovies. Alongside capers they liven up a salad no end, I find. But I am partial to salt, I admit.
I can think of few things that aren't improved by the addition of capers and anchovies :)
I get salt cravings post migraines, I'd lick one of those salt things for cattle at that point.

There's a cuckoo singing its heart out outside my house somewhere, I take it magpies aren't that fond of cuckoos?

I'm not sure any birds are that fond of cuckoos. Apart from other cuckoos!

At least magpies aren't a third of the size of a cuckoo chick.
We don't have magpies here, they haven't made it across the hills, I always watch out for the first magpie when I get to the central belt.

Olives for me. Also a tamari-coated seed mix (Good4U salad topper) which gives a bit of salty crunch.

You are my people. Only last night I sat outside with a glass of Prosecco and a bag of Good4U salad topper.

Love olives. Tamari coated seed mix, ooooh, I will have to look for this.

I just put White Mausu Peanut Rayu into my shopping basket, I've seen it mentioned on so many "best condiments" threads. I'm very much looking forward to trying it.

I heard my first cuckoo on Monday - I couldn't work out exactly where it was, but some distance away.

I need something reviving this morning. DH slept badly, which meant he twitched and thrashed all night, and woke me for good just after 5am.

I got up at 3.30 this morning because I thought I heard cats growling outside, like a fight about to start, went outside with a torch in my pyjamas, couldn't see anything, went back inside, looked out the window and see our cat strolling proudly across the street from the direction I heard the growling, I've been up since. He's friendly with all the other cats usually, wonder who he had a standoff with.
Need to take ds to school for his first exam now.

Good luck to all exam candidates…

And strong coffees to all of us who need it .. I like a cortado with a nice glass of water. Esp today: oggi, scorchio!

I heard my first cuckoo on Sunday while over in Yorkshire.

DH is a poor sleeper, he very often wakes 4-5ish and reads the ‘papers’ for a while before (hopefully) settling again. A bedroom each is a lifesaver - I like to stay up a bit longer than him, and we both snore sometimes.

That was a very entertaining read, thanks for the link, Boily. I particularly liked neverknowinglyunreasonable - wonderful username! - being really helpful with:
That's a Deadly Sting Bastard. Get out of there and don't look back. It's probably already too late.
I hope she pops in to the Bluestocking for a drink and a chat sometimes, she'd fit in well😃
I also loved the German rhyme about cockchafers and Pomerania being burnt in the 17th century or something - where else but MN, eh?

I think the thread has made it likely that Barbara will be treated with great care and respect, and not a little sheer terror from some posters

I didn’t RTFT but thought the German rhyme was somewhat similar to ‘ladybird, ladybird’.
so obviously I asked ChatGPT to find more such rhymes

Certainly! Here's the complete, copy-friendly list of rhymes from around the world, grouped by type of creature:
🐞 INSECTS🇬🇧 England – Ladybird, LadybirdLadybird, ladybird, fly away home,
Your house is on fire and your children all gone,
All except one, and that’s little Ann,
For she crept under the frying pan.
🇩🇪 Germany – Marienkäferchen, flieg weg!Marienkäferchen, flieg weg!
Dein Häuschen brennt,
Die Kinder schreien,
Der Vater ist im Krieg,
Die Mutter ist im Pappensarg.
Translation:
Ladybird, fly away, your house is burning,
The children cry, the father is at war,
The mother is in a cardboard coffin.
🇳🇴 Norway – Mari, Mari, MaribarnMari, Mari, Maribarn,
Fly til himmels og be om sol,
For nå regner det i vår jord.
Translation:
Mary, Mary, Mary child,
Fly to heaven and ask for sun,
For now it rains on our earth.
🇷🇺 Russia – Божья коровкаБожья коровка,
Улети на небо,
Там твои детки
Кушают конфетки!
Translation:
Ladybug, fly to the sky,
There your children
Are eating little candies!
🇫🇷 France – Coccinelle, demoiselleCoccinelle, demoiselle,
Monte au ciel,
Petit point rouge,
Vole jusqu’au déluge!
Translation:
Ladybug, little lady,
Climb to the sky,
Little red dot,
Fly until the flood!
🇯🇵 Japan – Haiku (Fireflies)蛍のとぶや / ほそい一すじ / 天の川
Hotaru no tobu ya / hosoi hitosuji / Amanogawa
Translation:
The fireflies fly—
A narrow band
Of the Milky Way.
—

🇮🇳 India (Hindi) – Titli Udiतितली उड़ी, उड़ के चली,
फूलों में जा के बैठी,
कहने लगी, देखो ज़रा,
कैसा है मेरा देश प्यारा!
Translation:
The butterfly flew away,
Sat among flowers,
And said: Look how lovely
Is my homeland!
🐦 BIRDS🇺🇸 USA (Appalachian folk rhyme)Go 'way, crow, don’t peck my corn,
Fly to the woods where you were born,
There’s a scarecrow waitin’ with a grin,
Come back again and I’ll box your chin!
🇮🇹 Italy – PasserottoPasserotto va via via,
Porta via la malinconia.
Torna poi con il bel tempo,
E canterai sotto il vento.
Translation:
Little sparrow, go away,
Take the sadness with you.
Come back with fair weather,
And sing beneath the wind.
🇨🇳 China – 燕子飞 (Yànzi fēi)燕子飞呀飞，春天回来了，
啼声唤绿树，唤醒百花开。
Translation:
Swallow flies and flies, spring has returned.
Its song calls the green trees, and wakes the hundred flowers.
🐸 FROGS🇬🇧 England – Froggy Went A-Courtin’Froggy went a-courtin’, and he did ride, uh-huh,
Sword and pistol by his side, uh-huh...
🇳🇬 Nigeria (Yoruba proverb)Akèrè gbọ́dọ̀ jíjà
Sùgbọ́n ọ̀rọ̀ rẹ̀ kì í tóbi ju ti àkàlà lọ.
Translation:
The frog may croak loudly,
But its words will never be greater than the toad’s.
🇯🇵 Japan – Frog Haiku by Bashō古池や / 蛙飛びこむ / 水の音
Furu ike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto
Translation:
An old pond—
A frog jumps in,
The sound of water.
🐭 SMALL ANIMALS🇮🇸 Iceland – Lúlli litli músLúlli litli mús,
Ekki naga hús,
Fáðu þér ostbita,
Sleppirðu við kúst!
Translation:
Little Lulli Mouse,
Don’t gnaw the house,
Get yourself a piece of cheese,
And you’ll avoid the broom with ease!
🇬🇧 England – Hickory Dickory DockHickory dickory dock,
The mouse ran up the clock,
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory dickory dock.

I get salt cravings post migraines, I'd lick one of those salt things for cattle at that point.
I thought that only happened to me Igneococcus!
It's lovely to hear it's A Thing with other migraineurs/euses, I feel less weird

I always make sure I have Migraleve and a packet of crisps in an easily-reached place in my kitchen.

It's amazing how the sudden onset of a migraine can make simple things really difficult - like finding things, opening packets, working out which side of the bubble pack the Migraleve comes out - I've been reduced to tears because as the migraine got worse and worse, the tablet wasn't coming out of the packaging no matter how hard I tried. I eventually realised that I was pushing on the foil side to get the tablet out on the transparent side - logical to my migraine-brain: that's the side where the tablet you so desperately need is visible, so that's the side it comes out.
By this time the migraine had taken hold and the Migraleve didn't work anyway🤕

Then hours later when the pain has subsided, it's good to know exactly where the source of salt is.

Marienkäferchen, flieg weg!Marienkäferchen, flieg weg!
Dein Häuschen brennt,
Die Kinder schreien,
Der Vater ist im Krieg,
Die Mutter ist im Pappensarg

We sang a different version of that:

Marienkäferchen, flieg. Marienkäferchen, flieg.
Der Vater ist im Krieg,
Die Mutter ist in Pommerland.
Pommerland ist abgebrannt.
Marienkäferchen, flieg.

Oh yes, I take Zolmitriptan, the number of times I've been almost in tears because I couldn't open the pack. Occasionally I get a pack where you can't even get the individual pack off the sheet of six and it's even more difficult to get the foil off if they are still attached. I cut these with scissors usually.
I was once at a supermarket checkout and I could not remember the PIN for my card, I'm good with remembering numbers. I luckily had enough cash to pay. About an hour after I was home the migraine symptoms started.
Everyone in the family knows that nobody is allowed to finish the last of the ginger cordial and open the last bottle of fizzy water. I drink it to deal with the nausea. I used to have ginger ale in the house for that purpose but they now have artificial sweeteners which just makes the nausea worse. Same goes for the salty crisps (Lidl's salted potato sticks from Spanish week are great), not allowed to open the last pack.

I'm feeling a warm glow of sisterhood😄
I don't know anybody else who gets migraines like I do [plenty of people who get bad headaches which they call migraines though😡]
I'll stop the migraine derail after this, but:
Do you have a prodromal stage where the grass looks so green the flowers have never been so lovely and maybe the world isn't such a bad place and people can be really nice??
Then the axe descends😨

On the topic of the wonderful rhymes from around the world - thank you Errol, that's fascinating!- they are mostly little nonsense children's rhymes about flying away and sitting on flowers and creeping under frying pans and tra la la la.

Except for Japan, where apparently even the nursery rhymes have the minimalist elegance of:
The fireflies fly—
A narrow band
Of the Milky Way.
and
An old pond—
A frog jumps in,
The sound of water.

Or maybe the researchers picked up a book of haikus instead of a book of Japanese nursery rhymes by mistake

And then there's poor old smouldering Pomerania and mother in a cardboard coffin. And there's actual word in German meaning 'a cardboard coffin'?

Everyday a school day at the Bluestocking, and it's only 11.30am!

And suddenly my urge for a Marmite butty / beef tea as a migraine subsides doesn't seem like some strange coincidence. I am wondering though what the connection between end of migraine and salt cravings is all about!

'Libation' is an excellent word.

I don't have migraines. In fact I rarely get headaches, even if I drink to excess. A headache to me is associated with really bad flu. And I have naturally low blood pressure.

So I have a hypothesis about migraines which I would turn into a research programme if I were involved in biomedical research.

I think migraines are related to high blood pressure. I would love to know if there is a correlation between migraine sufferers and strokes. The fact that you are nearly all reporting a desire for salt afterwards makes me wonder if a migraine is caused by an increase in high blood pressure and experience a serious and sudden reduction in blood pressure once it is over. Salt is very bad for blood pressure, but I crave it and I'm allowed it because of my low blood pressure. Potentially a crash in blood pressure might lead to a salt craving as a result.

And the reason this may not be widely known or researched is because women are more likely to report migraines than men so it is seen as a women's problem and therefore not as worthy of research as men's issues. Like many, many other women's issues.

The absolute best migraine hangover cure, any hangover really, is a bowl of beef pho. When I lived in the US there was a pho place close to my flat and also the lab, I miss them so much. I know Vietnamese soup places are common now in the UK as well but they haven't made it my bit of Scotland yet.

They do sound like haikus and I wonder if they follow the 7-5-7 syllable format in tut original Japanese.

I do get the thing where all the colours are brighter, yes. That is interesting that that happens to others as well.I also get scintillating scotomas but never with any other migraine symptoms.
dp and both our children get migraines, but I'm by far the one with the highest incidence of all of us.