The Bluestocking Women's Pub, where brains can exist in a single state

[Magpiecomplex]

Welcome all. The booze here is minimally intoxicating, the food is calorie free and the staff are warm and cuddly. And if the thread title sounds nonsensical, blame the guy Myrtle was listening to this evening!

That was such an unwelcome ordeal, Flower, and it sounds like you really really need a holiday now!! I'm glad you got an acceptable alternative.

Commiserations to hayfever sufferers - there is just one pollen that sets me off, and it only lasts a couple of days, but I know people who dread this time of year.

How did the DS get through the exam Cautious? I hope it went OK.

I abbreviate usernames, so FlowerUser is Flower, and as I typed it I thought - isn't 'Flower' used somewhere in England as an informal term of address like 'Hen' or 'Love' or 'Hon' or, as I was surprised to hear in Bristol, 'My loverrrrrr'...😄?

Am I correct or have I imagined it?

You have not imagined Bristol (and related parts of the SW).

In my part of the world women are automatically 'darlen' to any bloke more than a few years your senior who feels he knows you well enough. As in, 'Thank you, darlen, that was a lovely cuppa tay'.

My sympathies to all of you enduring hay fever. My expertise is in rashes. I have had some absolute corkers in my time.

As for Pencils for Peru, I feel the pain. Last night it was an especially dim parish councillor not grasping basic concepts of risk vs reward. Fortunately the financial bloke was there and laid the law down a bit. I was starting to slide off my chair by this stage.

Luckily I do not have to relive the horror as I wasn't taking minutes.

I am on too many bloody committees. I HATE committees. They attract a mix of the public spirited, the self-interested and the self-aggrandising. It can get very wearing.

The only chance of surviving committees is to be the chair, set an arbitrary time at the beginning that 'we have to be finished by' and be ruthless in the extreme with waffle.

Very interesting idea about the pencils Penelope, sounds excellent, does anyone disagree with Penelope's suggestion|? Good, I propose a subcommittee to make the arrangements, seconder? Thank you. And would everybody be happy to disburse €25 from petty cash to be spent on pencils? Good, Penelope, talk to Mike the treasurer after the meeting.

As long as Penelope and her gang of three can't spend your annual budget you'll be fine.

Of course it gets more complicated if the c'tee memberships includes local elected representatives who believe their ongoing access to political power and their expenses is dependent on The Public knowing that they are in favour of motherhood, apple pie, and pencils for Peruvian schoolchildren, but ensuring their names are included in reports that 'the committee approved...' usually works, They are often lazy as well as power-hungry.

What you do if your c'tee for encouraging young writers is specifically meant to focus on artistic expression, and has a clause forbidding you to shell out on paper or implements for marking it, is a complication.

I feel bad because I used to be on and chair a lot of committees and now I do nothing. From solid upright community citizen to stopping it all.

Sometimes I think I should get back out there and join in, and then I realise that I have better things to get on with, like book nooks and watching streaming TV and so I get over myself. Though it’s probably the easiest way to make new friends in this place. We’ve been here four years and I only know the neighbours.

Also I think my time will be eaten up with work when I eventually get a job.

Cake is also right. I couldn’t work out why I was so upset, except I’d also spent 40 minutes at the hygienist with my mouth open and my jaw was trembling. I’d also had a note to say my pre-clinic assessment was being brought forward and I was very overwhelmed.

It was when I realised the resort had been badly flooded weeks ago that I became angry. We’d planned and paid for this special 5* experience in the anticipation that I would have a job, and it was all about to be taken away with no idea when we might be able to afford it ever again.

ChatGPT is such a help with setting out consumer rights and writing letters or scripts.

I’m only on one committee now - our Residents’ Association - and that is a very easy job, 99.9% of the time - I think we’ve done our share - probably more than our share, because too many people sit back and let the few of us who are chronic volunteers stick our hands in the air every time.

Another job application where I didn’t even get an interview. But this time the panel were delighted I was prepared to be considered and asked that the recruiter extend their thanks to me.

Which is lovely.

But doesn’t pay my mortgage.

That absolutely sucks, @FlowerUser. I wish there was something I could do to help, but all I can do is be supportive and encouraging, and hope that this just means that the perfect job is just round the corner. As they say in Scotland, what’s for you won’t go past you.

I made a hydrangea flower, but have spent most of the afternoon picking superglue off my fingers, so next time I think I will try using the hot glue gun - I may end up with burns, but hopefully it’ll be easier to deglue myself. 😂😂😂

I’ve just been catching up a bit - sorry for your woes, Flower
DH used to have horrible hay fever during exam season (I met him at uni) and for many years - the beconase plus eye drops eventually seemed to work well and then rather wonderfully he seems to finally have stopped suffering from it when he was in his late 50s. It was during the covid years, so fortunate as we were doing a lot of walking in Silverdale and whereas the lovely meadows had been rather dreaded he was finally able to enjoy them.
(I , having never had any allergies started with something at about the same time, not sure what but not too bad).

we’re enjoying some Scottish weather in the Great Glen - a mix of sunshine and atmospheric mists.

So sorry to hear about the non-interview, Flower, and although I am a mild-mannered person, even I think you would be justified in telling them what to do with their 'delight' at you being prepared to put yourself forward, and the 'thanks' of the recruiter😡

What a beautiful hydrangea, Woley, it's magnificent! You've mentioned it while it was in progress but I hadn't visualised it as being so nice. Clever you!

When you mentioned superglue on your fingers I had visions of you typing your post with your nose to avoid gluing yourself to your keyboard

Beetles are fascinating. I really should learn more about them!

Um, like that they have an exoskeleton?

Do I not?

Is Co Pilot wrong?

<Goes off to Google>

I haven't got to skeletons but bloody hell

"They are over 300 000 known beetle species on the planet. They make up over 40% of all known species of insects! "

You're going to need a bigger venue for the next family reunion....😂

Glad you managed to renegotiate terms for your holiday @FlowerUser Sounds like you really need it.

And sucks to the panel who thanked you but didn’t offer an interview. You deserve a drink!

And here you are…❤️

Thank you. Two rejections today without interview. I’m beginning to think I’m never going to get a new job.

It’s really horrible.

It is really horrible.

How long have you been searching?

Lovely hydrangea, sodding job recruiters, hooray for salvaged holiday.

snigger at beetle bones

I've been taking a piriton at night for months, since the very early start to opening of the hazel catkins, and was wondering was I being stupid. I was relieved when a doctor on the radio said one should take them all the time in the pollen season rather than stopping and starting. I have noticed that I have a slight tendency to wheeze and sneeze in the last hour before I take the tablet, which suggests I shouldn't stop just yet.

Almost nine months since my departure.

And I’ve been looking for a year.

That really sucks @FlowerUser . All I can offer you is a few more drinks. You totally deserve them for your tenacity and determination alone ❤️.

Thank you.

It’s a strange feeling I have in here sometimes. A kind of caring restraint. For example, if we were in an actual pub, we’d be talking to Flower about her field, and maybe sharing a fantasy of her setting up her own business, and thinking about opportunities in the area etc.

Similarly with me. That practical, stressful project I mentioned has been awfully stressful. But I’ve done some rethinking and have made some changes and feel a bit more relaxed about it (we’ll see what happens though).

And I use restraint in both cases because we’re not really hunched by the fire, and everyone can read us. But, I just wanted to say that the restraint isn’t disinterest. Of course we all know that. But I needed to say it anyway, and not restrain myself in that 🤣.