The Bluestocking - where the laugh emoji is sorely missed.

[MyrtleLion]

Welcome to the Bluestocking Arms!

The company is always sparkling, the drinks are always sublime, and the cakes are mysteriously free from gluten, sugar, calories, and troublesome booze… not that you’d ever notice. 😏

Our enthusiastic team of gerbil waitstaff is ably supported by capybaras, quokkas, and other charming creatures who excel at their jobs while looking outrageously adorable.

You will find many things to laugh at - usually out loud - so take care not to spit out your tea. We are considering a petition for the return of the laugh emoji - just as soon as the AI gerbils learn how to spell.

New Bluestockingers are always welcome. Men can pop along to The Staunch Ally nearby.

Currently also knitting a Woolly Hug blanket for Bluestockinger Swashbuckled. Details here if you can knit or crochet a square before the 18 July.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5350941-woolly-hugs-desperately-sad-news-we-are-afraid-making-a-blanket-for-lovely-swashbuckled-whose-son-has-tragically-died

What have I walked into tonight?!

@ifIwerenotanandroid have you tried turning it off and on again?

Maybe android should give it a shake if that doesn't work

Likewise! I keep using hearts and applause but it's just not the same.

I knew timeously. But then, I am a word-nerd.

Asking for a friend: are Stockingers allowed to nip over to the Staunch Ally for a quick pint?

Yep! Don't bring Dave back with you though.

The other guys.... Sneak them in through the gerbil trade entrance, I'll be waiting in room 69 for the one with the gun

You'll have to make do with someone else, I'm afraid...

Not Dave, though. Apparently he's being 'sobered up' with the help of several buckets of cold water.

<plucks up the courage to shuffle up a chair with the irish contingent>

My Nan was Irish, born in Port Arlington.brought up in Abbeydorney.

She came to the UK after her younger sisters and worked in munitions.

She could speak the irish language.

I used to visit her with my little ones and watch Gaye Byrne on daytime TV, in the early nineties.

Up came an item on the Caircevene babies (i have spelt that wrong). My Nana knew the family.

There was a strong feminist contingency in the audience, i managed to locate the book about the awful details of what happened to the woman whose name escapes me.

What stuck in my mind was the Judges willingness to contemplate the possibility that she was pregnant with two babies fathered by two different fathers at the same time. And shipped in experts about this.

it just smacks of what is going on now, how males will adjust their credibility to accept complete nonsense for the ultimate benefit of men.

as an aside I lent the book to my great auntie and never got it back. Does anyone know what the book was called and the name of the woman.

Thanks for looking that out @Igneococcus. It’s lovely. He’s really thoughtful and musically perceptive isn't he?. Nice to hear him talking about learning poems for Burns Night (well “day”) at school. I remember doing that.

I guess it’s fitting in the FWR BlueStocking to be looking back to auld lang syne where the statement that a man’s a man for a’ that was an uncontroversial statement…

That is fucking awesome!

Yes lovely played it twice

Don't worry. We are the cockroaches of history. We are indestructible (especially if we are beetles).

Tá fáilte romhat
So.... your granny was Irish..... are you any good at football at all??.. just wondering... you see, there's this UEFA relegation match coming up and we haven't been doing too well of late... 😄

Joanne Hayes was the name of the woman in the Kerry Babies case.
The only positive to the story was the crowds of women who were outside the court every time she appeared, supporting her, giving her bunches of flowers.. it was a very loud and strong shout of revolt - and revulsion - at what was happening.
The police interviewed a couple about it recently after DNA tests, but there hasn't been anything further about it. I was hoping that advances in DNA would solve the mystery of poor little 'Baby John'.

I saw an interview with one of the retired policemen involved in the case - he still thinks they did nothing wrong, and certainly implied that 'there were no other suspects' except JH. It was a reminder of how sexism can warp a man's mind to believe any crap at all, as long as it is anti-women.

Before I sign off tonight, I'd like to remind dear Swash, if she pops in, that she is still in our thoughts and in our hearts.
And the cleverer amongst us are knitting hugs
💙

@Boiledbeetle @EdithStourton Sorry, ladies - capybara says no, the men's pub is over there.

When Boiled snuck into JK's boat, it had never crossed her mind that her old nemesis Venus might have decided to become a stowaway too

Well that made even less sense without the image attached

Your Nan for certain sure knew my old over-the-road neighbour (RIP), who was from Abbeydorney (current population 418) and went to school with the aunt of Joanne Hayes, the young woman in the Kerry baby case.

Small world.

I think Edith stayed over at the Staunch Ally anyway. And I personally had an early night, alone, which was going well until the nightmare that woke me in the middle of the night.

I've not been able to sleep since.

I mean Lambrini? It's 2025!

Good job it was just a bad dream.

Edith was back in the Bluestocking by 11.30.
<prim>

I had a long chat with the guy with gun about historic weapons, semi-autos, rifling, etc.

Sorry about the dream, Boiled. I can confirm that Dave is sleeping it off behind the bar at the Staunch Ally, with the (underused - the floor is sticky) mop end as a pillow.

I'll happily lose a tea cake to that vicious creature if it helps keep me from its clutches.

I reckon JKR got it shipped in as she was loathe to give me my super yacht back. She was only supposed to be borrowing it for a publicity photo (The cigar one) but has since done a runner with the engine keys and the first mate.

I seem to recall that the clientele of the Staunch Ally have been sometimes permitted into the stable yard to watch gerbil performances. And the sun sets late this season.

I advise being tucked up in bed with a glass of milk and a good book by 10 as usual, but have it your own way, the nights are warm, the bushes are bushy, the Sukebind scents the summer air.

Back by 11.30? It must have been Gladys and Glenda (off to see Clive and Carl the security Capybaras) that were giggling like school girls and muttering about "being in there" that I heard unlocking the bicycles at 12 last night.

I was hoping to say something erudite and/or witty, but it's not going to happen, so just ...
Good morning everyone!

Maidin mhaith!