The Bluestocking Women’s Pub - The Return of Salad and the Lion

[MyrtleLion]

It’s been a while since I last saw everyone!

Welcome to everyone, regulars, lurkers, newly ventured in.

A place for women to discuss whatever takes their fancy, where the bar staff are attentive gerbils, Rosy the Red Panda is available for cuddles and all sweet things have no calories and all alcohol leaves the drinker slightly merry and hangover-free.

Previous thread is here:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5326705-the-bluestocking-womens-pub-where-brains-can-exist-in-a-single-state

I grew up not far from the sea, but the sea was to my right, and on a clear day you could see Scotland.

Narrator: there weren't very many clear days

My parents were lancs and yorks, DM referred to minerals.

My Manchester granny referred to mineral too - Dad just called it fizzy pop.

Given the shipyard connection, my guess is that brown lemonade is, like Irn Bru, made from girders😂

'Minrels' chez nous. White lemonade or something that was called 'cream soda'?
Cidona when you were a teen, and Tanora if you were from Cork. Fanta was exotic.

We didn't really have Fanta then, we had Club Orange.

Though my favourite was Maine Pineappleade!

We had Panda Pops, which were very small bottles of fizz.

At Christmas we would have two tall glass bottles of lemonade and cola, and one each of cherryade, limeade, orangeade and cream soda, delivered by the milkman. I have some cans of cream soda under the stairs which I can only drink at Christmas.

Three and a half years of this regime and four stone lost. Another two stone to go, though I look much slimmer than my BMI suggests. Then I will have a stone to play with and can drink and eat toast and potatoes whenever I want, knowing a month of this way of eating will take the weight off again.

Incidentally I read yesterday that over 95% of people on weight loss injections will put ALL the weight back on again within 10 months of stopping the injections. This is a faster weight gain than the gains seen after usual dieting. I don’t use them, but I wonder if it’s my moral duty to let the WLI threads know that they may have to fork out £150 a month forever.

That's amazing Myrtle, seriously impressive weight loss! I need to lose ideally four stone but in practice would settle for two and a half, but it's difficult to manage when my job is so stressful. I'm getting better at not relying on sugar to keep me going though, so that's a start.

That’s interesting Myrtle - I was wondering if it was ethical NOT to have injections since the news about health benefits came out, but now I have another good excuse for my ‘no’! Well done on that slow steady weight loss! I managed the best part of 3 stones after a health scare, but after holidays / Easter / birthdays / loss of willpower I’m now over half a stone up again. 😩.

Going back to an earlier discussion, I don’t see myself as an animal or a food but a tree! Crooked over by the wind but defiantly still standing. (That’s not a typo for ‘definitely’ btw).

I think for those with huge amounts to lose, like more than 10st, they are probably essential, but be prepared to be on them forever.

DH was 21st when we met in 2011, I was probably 14st. I lost 1.5st in two or three years by cutting out carbs and he lost 2st on the 5:2. We got together in 2016 and I put on 4st during the pandemic - mostly alcohol.

Then in 2022 I joined Zoe and we started only eating between 11am and 7pm, a form of 5:2, and no carbs and no booze. Lots of fermented food, nuts and seeds. We would lose quite a bit between January and March then eat through the summer, losing about a stone a year. Then I lost two stone last year due to stress so I’m back where I was in 2014 and it’s hard to shift the last two stone to get to 10.5. Then I’ll be as light as I was in my 20s. My BMI* hits “normal” at 11.5st but I want to lose the extra stone so I can enjoy things I don’t have a lot of and then get rid of it again.

DH is now 16st, but he drinks a lot of Pepsi Max and chocolate and realises he needs to stop.

We are very generous with the timescale, so we blow out on holiday and Christmas and we’re now trying not to drink unless it’s a bank holiday, birthday, anniversary or on holiday. Which works out about 10 times a year.

Yes I’m aware that the BMI is a population measure created by the Victorians that is too heavily relied on, but it’s a reasonable way of measuring it, particularly because the NHS loves* it so much.

Goodness, so many conversations this afternoon I want to join in with.

@MyrtleLion , good to hear that you have a diagnosis, and trust that it’s helpful to know.

It’s all upside down at Blackpool which freaks me out.
No, in my not-humble opinion, it’s exactly the right way up in Blackpool.

I can get used to it being the wrong way up on the east coast of the Scottish Highlands and in Yorkshire, but Sheringham (which you’d think is on the east coast, in Norfolk) is completely wrong. When you look out to sea the sun sets on your left.

A former colleague, who is from Belfast, told me that lemonade is brown there and brought me a bottle back to prove it. He said if you want clear lemonade you have to ask for “white lemonade.”

I wish I could.

It was disappointingly underwhelming.

The salted caramel has a really strong salt kick which catches at the back of your mouth which is all you can really taste. The pistachio bit is rather similar to halva, but not as crispy, and if you didn't know you wouldn't necessarily realise it was pistachio.

Tellingly since having a piece yesterday I have yet to feel the urge to have another bit.

I mean it's nice, but personally don't think it's £8.50 a bar nice.

That will definitely help me resist buying it for myself, @Boiledbeetle - thank you. I do have a selection of teeny Green and Black’s chocolate bars, mostly dark chocolate, which satisfies my cravings without overloading me with sugar.

I have made two more hydrangea heads today - the assembly does take a while because all the individual stems have to be wrapped in yarn before they can be assembled - lashings of hot glue were involved, but only one minor burn.

Someone close to me has finally been prescribed Ozempic/Wegovy on the NHS, after several years on the Tier 3 weight loss service at the local large hospital. She should have been timed out from that, but appealed to their good nature with various reasons and was kept on.

When she started well pre-Covid said there was a drug coming soon which they would be able to prescribe, but the date kept being put off and off. She lost 20lbs through calorie-counting and their support, but put it all back after developing long Covid.

The last stage, after NHS approval, was the hospital pharmacy saying they would be unable to supply it for workload reasons, so they organised an arrangement with an online pharmacy.

She speaks to someone from the Weight Management Service every month, then the consultant reviews what has been said and prescribes the next month’s supply. Because of one continuing side-effect (constipation) and another which has resolved she’s still on the original dose after 3 months, with almost no appetite suppression. The full dose is 2.4mg, the original is 0.25mg. After some time at the full dose reviews will be less frequent but will still continue.

She is being properly supervised, in my opinion, at considerable cost to the NHS, so
the idea that people can just go to their GP and ask to be prescribed it doesn’t seem sensible to me.

BTW, she spoke to the consultant about what happens when the two years are up. He said he thought people should be allowed to continue on it, to avoid putting all the weight back on.

Very realistic hydrangeas, Woley, and I see you can have several colours in the same cluster, unlike in nature. Apparently.

I thought the colour of hydrangeas depended on the acid/alkali lever of the soil, and as a child could never understand why there were pink and blue flower heads on the same plant in several neighbours’ gardens. I still don’t.

I lost 3 stone about 4 years ago just through controlling calorie intake. Sadly I have put most of it back again through stress-eating. I'm a size 16 and want to be a 14. The 3 stone loss took me to a 12/14. So much effort and misery for a dress size.

It’s not encouraging when it’s so easy to put weight back on after a long period of effort and restrictions made to lose it.

It’s three separate hydrangeas heads, @AsWithGlad - I am doing 14 different coloured heads, so ds2’s gf can choose which ones she likes. Two are going to be a wedding present for a friend’s dd who is getting married in the autumn, and any left over might go to the next Woolly Hugs craft sale.

I’ll have to look out for the next WoollyHugs sale. I have bought some lovely things from there, things I would have neither the skill nor the dedication to make myself.

Great pic of me on page 1, android - I am indeed to so elegant and beautiful (😂😂). I love the view too - field views take some beating.

Myrtle, on the plus side a diagnosis rules out sundry other nasties, though needing a diagnosis in the first place is a bit of a bummer. Sorry you are having to deal with so much hassle at the moment.

And - now that I am awake from another doze - welcome to our newcomers.

SIL update: she talked less today. I am worn out, but clearly so is she. It is odd talking to her: a heavy duty personal topic will be broached almost by accident, she will manage a few minutes on it, and then resort to platitudes which result in a change of subject. This is the case whether it's me opening up, or her. It prevents any sort of proper closeness developing and is deeply frustrating. And it means that a lot of what she says (and she says a lot) is just inane chatter.

Introvert Edith is peopled out.

Hey Boily, what is this?

Sheringham (which you’d think is on the east coast, in Norfolk) is completely wrong. When you look out to sea the sun sets on your left.
As can be seen from the maps, Sheringham sits on the north Norfolk coast so the sun does indeed set in the west to the left.
I believe that there are only two places in the UK where the sun both rises and sets over the sea on the same day: Cromer and Lowestoft. Cromer is a few miles east of Sheringham and Lowestoft is the furthest point east in the UK. If you travelled directly north from both places, you would not hit land and would end up at the North Pole.
My DM was persuaded to see a magnificent sunrise in Israel many years ago and grumbled that she had to get up far too early and she’d seen better on the Norfolk coast.

Second post is deliberate. I’ve reported the first one as it had identifying information on it and has now been removed.

Ooh ooh ooh

ALSO ALL MINE!!!