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 all looks so yummy! A nice breakfast of Bluestocking viennoiseries ( I've never written that down before, and spellcheck clearly has never heard of it)
and a nice sunny morning and the thoughts of such supportive and caring fellow Stockingers from last night - cue 'Morning' from the Peer Gynt suite

BTW when I referred to my former self 'flitting' between France/Ireland/UK/USA - my life wasn't that exciting or high-flying, I visited rather than flitted. Except for France, which was like a second home back then.

Anyway, another big thank you for 'listening'

Plus je connais les gens, plus j’aime les gerbilles. Et les pandas roux - does Rosy do a loyalty card?😄

OK, this image needs work (but woman's Hour with Helen Joyce is soon to start and i don't want to get sidetracked and forget!) but hello to @Bowednotbroken a fellow volume 2 poem writer!

Always remember that in the Holy Bible when Job lost all his money, and all his livestock, and all his children, and everything else he ever had, and was smitten with boils, the very worst thing that happened to him was his friends turning up and sounding off.

We got utterly shafted by friends in the Cornush village we lived in. Too long and distressing a story to relate. We moved house.

I am very careful who I make friends with now, and know I am very guarded.

Send Rosy.

Oh look, here she is!

I'm starting to think the quokkas had the measure of Rosy. They say they're always ready to drop everything for a cuddle, gratuit.

I must re-read that, the Holy Bible and the News of the World had this one thing in common: all human life is there

@MarieDeGournay - I am sorry I didn't comment on your post yesterday, but I read it and my heart went out to you. I do understand the frustration of not being able to do things that used to be easy and fun. I am lucky that my friends both in real life and in here are so accepting of me and my general uselessness, and make me feel good for the things I can do, not bad for the things I can't. When I read your post, I wanted to be able to take this 'friend' to one side and read her the riot act.

I have long thought that MN needs a Hit Squad - a bunch of women with no more fucks to give, who will visit and tear strips off interfering ILs, thoughtless partners, bullying colleagues/managers, stupid interview panels and unkind 'friends'.

I think the Bluestocking is the best option, though. And Rosy is both cute and cuddly, and I will happily pony up for some hugs. Did she get the idea from reading old Peanuts cartoons?

I am a huge fan of the Discworld, and of Vetinari - but I'd forgotten his use of committees - yet another brilliant Pratchett-ism. Vetinari does have a Ho Ho in the garden of the Patrician's palace - like a haha (the ditches at the edge of a garden that stopped cattle getting in, without ruining the view). A hoho is like a haha, but much deeper, so when people wander off after a bruising talk with Vetinari, and fall in the hoho, Drumknott (his secretary) has to fetch the ladder to get them out.

I'd like a hoho round my house. The world can be very .... people-y.

Thank you for that Woley, much appreciated.
The concept of the hoho made me laugh out loud! I'm not familiar with Discworld so it was new to me and highly amusing 😂

I also like the Hit Squad idea - but I think if people just don't get it, they just don't get it, so I tend to just quietly turn away from them, while maintaining some contact because of the past friendship, and because no-one's perfect.

So I'll rely on the Bluestocking with its wonderful regulars and furry cuddly staff 💙.
If one of the staff want to set up a Psychiatric Help 5c stand, I'm in!

Thank you for the beautiful brunch breakfast. I was surprised and delighted to the point of derangement that it was still open at very late o’clock when I finally got up, but this is the Bluestocking.

I’m so sorry, Marie, that people don’t get it. It must be infuriating. My legs have always been bad and I’m about to find out why on Friday, and breaking my ankle has caused osteoarthritis which has made it worse. Yet I’ve been accused of laziness and been whined at by people say I’m spoiling things because I don’t like walking.

And I have lovely well-meaning friends saying oh this next one is yours! just before I get another rejection. I know they mean well, but I really need practical help right now.

And people say well, there’s a lot of competition, and I’m a great change management specialist but no one really wants change, so I’m too qualified/scary to hire. I’m sure they’re right but it still hurts. And how do I find the roles where they do actually want significant change?

Thank you to everyone for sharing your own struggles. I love the Bluestocking for the support and silliness that makes it all a little bit easier.

Thank you so much FlowerUser.
And I'm definitely saving your wonderful phrase 'delighted to the point of derangement.' though I suspect I may use it with an edge of sarcasm - it would work well like that I think

That's just one of the lovely things about the Bluestocking - breakfast is served until Whatever O'Clock!

I was wondering there for a bit what 'avatar' you would have as 'FlowerUser', so I'm glad to see you are still pictorially our Leonine Queen - looking very cheerful, and that's a proper 'summer frock' you're wearing.

It reminds me of the 'good' summer cotton frocks of my childhood which had little puff sleeves and ties at the waist which Mammy tied in a double bow at the back
Worn with Clark's sandals with the punched pattern....Oh look I actually found a picture of them, isn't the Internet wonderful??

Just jumping in as I saw a headline. Is the equality consultation happening? I wondered if I should be responding

*Waves back to BoiledBeetle! Fancy you recalling that! And an uncanny resemblance to me - except I have completely gray / silver hair, and wear glasses, and am a lot older….. 😊 Apart from that, exactly!!

I'll be talking to myself for the first hour whilst I get over the horror of the Clark's sandal. My mother used to try to get me to wear stuff like that. She gave up eventually thank God.

I had shoes exactly like that. And I loved them!

As the only girl with three brothers I developed a sense of wanting to have pretty things but not wanting to do girlie things.

I think I had those sandals too. My mum was a big fan of Clark’s shoes - we never went anywhere else - and always Sensible Shoes - mainly lace-ups. It wasn’t until I was at least 16 that I was allowed to buy myself a pair of wedge sandals, and mum disapproved heartily.

Of course, I then went into nursing, where I had to wear sensible brown lace-ups, which pleased mum no end - and now I can’t wear shoes with heels over about an inch. I wear either Hush Puppies slip on sandals or a pair of Sketchers. I wear the slip on sandals even in the coldest weather - people tend to tut when it is snowing! 😂

The 'nice girls' in primary school had them - girls who were that little bit more proper and correct and posh that me. How I coveted them. I had perfectly nice well fitting shoes, but I think my mother would, without using the term, have regarded those as having notions (and costing more than a child's shoes needed to cost).

I coveted them so much.

I found a pair of them school shoes at a jumble sale in the 80’s, in none worn condition at a posh village jumble sale.

they went well with my tie and dye rap around skirt and my frayed holed jeans.

I loved them as i was trying to be erm alternative at the time lol

Actually, my mother was really mean about shoes, she wouldn't let me stand on the magic x-ray machine either, on some spurious grounds about radiocativity being bad for me. So unfair. She was a volunteer Civil Defence scientific intelligence officer at the time which may have fuelled some of that nonsense

@FlowerUser I hear a few NHS Trusts are in need of some change…If only! The world is a strange place.

This was my first ever pair of proper shoes.

I’m so sorry, Dean. Some of the well-meaning actions of our parents are very wounding, particularly when we are little. I’m not a parent but I always think parents should evaluate the level of risk compared to their child being perceived as different. The low level X-ray was probably less damaging.

Oh I would love to get my hands on elements of the NHS, but I have no experience in health and that’s a major factor in recruiting for senior jobs in that sector. IMO, it’s also partly the reason why they are in difficulty. Group think.

You look so forlorn!

💕

Those sandals were part of my school uniform! Independent primary school with delusions of grandeur.