The Bluestocking, where Maud reigns supreme...

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

... & Magpie regularly drains the hot chocolate bowser.

If you understand that, or you're just cool with it, come on in & bagsie a chair by the fire.

Previous thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5410054-the-bluestocking-the-one-where-the-nights-start-to-draw-in?page=1

I had my flu jab today too, just a slightly sore arm so far.

There’s always something you can do with any yarn. I might buy it thinking it would make a lovely thing to look at, and then enjoy making it become a scarf. Then I could admire the finished item rather than risk damaging it by wearing it.

I don’t think I’ve ever bought yarn without knowing what it could be, even if it never transforms into that.

It’s very difficult for a small wool yarn shop to be financially successful nowadays. It’s therefore very important to both have plenty of yarn at home for when you feel inspired to knit (or a small grandchild asks you to make a precisely defined something on a Friday night, true story, and you can’t wait for the post) and also to support small businesses, often ones run by women.

Is this in any way convincing? 😉

.Poor you! The rest of the team are on their way, they're just popping in to check on Errol's sore arm

The Italian conversation was only understandable to me thanks to google translate but that's much too much to expect of a poorly puffling so here's a synopsis - one staff member at Pasta's holiday hotel warns another that the weird guest in rm 345 seems to think this place is staffed by rodents! and my contribution was 'Oh no, what is her online review going to be like?'

It’s possible that I also had a flu jab today. The nurse warned me that I might feel a bit under the weather for a few days: i don’t remember them normally doing that.

So fat I feel completely fine 😇

Thank you Marie- you're always so kind. It hasn't gone unnoticed.

I have an autoimmune condition which means my immune system overreacts to everything. It is the teenage drama queen of immune systems. Last time I had a covid jab I had a cytokine response. No more of them!

We were told that because we both turn 65 before the end of next March we’d get the over 65s jab. I asked what the difference is, apparently it has something in it to generate a better immune response in aging immune systems. DH has some autoimmune issues including (probably) the uveitis which is hopefully calming down and he doesn’t want to set off again, so he asked if he could have the other one. The nice boots pharmacist said he wasn’t allowed to choose… but was he sure he didn’t have any sort of egg allergy as if he did then he’d have to have the under 65s one?

So fat I feel completely fine

That is exactly what I meant to type.

May I have yours? I’m not old enough for the free one.

Boots charges (very roughly) £10 for the flu jab but £100 for covid. That’s a lot of wool out of a state pension.

I had no idea what a cytokine response was, so I asked DuckDuckGo. It tells me
“Cytokines are not only important for normal immune function but also play a role in various diseases. Overproduction can lead to conditions like cytokine storms, which can cause severe inflammation and tissue damage, as seen in certain viral infections”

That does not sound good. I can understand your not wanting another Covid jab if you don’t have to.

I understand today is the first day that ‘people of a certain age’ and other non-pregnant adults can have the flu jab this season.

Going by the completely random sample of people here, they are certainly getting us vaccinated very quickly.

I took paracetamol four times in 24 hours for the first couple of days after the jab - was fine by day three. And slept really well for those first nights. Let's hope it works and none of us get flu.

Covid jabs and flu jabs are among the things that beneficaries of Medicare like me get for free. It's not really free of course because they take our Medicare fee out of our social security payment before we get it, plus there's paying for the Medigap policy on top of that to cover the 20% that Medicare doesn't cover, plus the drug cover policy, so all in all about $500 a month, but at least there's no co-pay on top of all that.

When I was in France in June I had to go to a hospital briefly because a very large cyst on my breast chose that time to come to a head and burst and I was worried about infection. The poor young doctor took half an hour to squeeze the repulsive thing out, and gave me a prescription for an antibiotic and a box of disinfectant wipes. The bill just arrived and was 68 Euros, which I have paid. Americans I have told this story to go "wow so cheap!" and Brits go "what? Daylight robbery!"

I'm not old enough for this year's ( it's 75) but as I have a selection of chronic health conditions and am carer for DH and his "got it from someone else "immune system, I was offered one.

You're welcome to it.

I’ve just arrived home after driving back from the coast again.

I have poured a gin. Slim pickings on snacks again until I get my shopping tomorrow.

Thanks for the flu jab reminders again. I get mine because I work for the NHS but can’t remember at what stage we are normally told to get them. I do think it’s early, but perhaps not as early as some. I shall definitely enquire.

No jabs for me, and i don't think i will bother just yet.

Flu jabs can be hit and miss anyway.

I didn't bother with the last two Covid’s available to me either.

maybe when i am a bit older.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you were older than I am but I can see now how my post could be read that way. I thought you qualified through your health conditions.

I’ve only had Covid once, but don’t want it again. I wonder if having long Covid helps there? 🤷‍♀️

I haven't had my flu jab yet, but I do have a sore arm, due to the air pressure playing havoc with the bits of metal holding my bones together.

My plans for the evening are to pour myself a stiffish rum and watch Freebie and the Bean, which I haven't seen for decades, and nobody seems to remember except me and Quentin Tarantino.

Please send gin.

I have a friend with mental health problems due to stuff and they’re just off the phone and they want me to go and be physically supportive and I really don’t have the emotional bandwidth to do that.

And they’re trying to guilt trip me because mental health issues but I can’t set myself on fire to keep them warm. As they say. So crochet and gin it is.

I also have metal holding bones together. What’s your scores? Mine is 4 plates and 16 pins and screws. Do I win?

You probably do. The surgeon showed me the x-ray, you know how surgeons love to show off their work, and the inside of my arm just looks like Meccano.

And I thought I was the only metallic one around here.

I love my metal. It makes me great fun at airports 🤣🤣🤣🤣

18 pins and two plates.

One of mine looks like an Alien facehugger clamped to the bone.

I'd change my username to Allfleshandbloodhere but I don't want to jinx anything.

Had I broken my femur more recently than 1967, I would undoubtedly have a pin in there. As it was, the doctor didn't want to leave a young women with a big scar so I spent the summer in hospital with my leg in traction, and ended up with it mending half an inch shorter than the other leg. This doesn't cause me to limp but does mean extra wear on my right hip and knee and occasional times when my back goes out. I think on the whole I'd prefer to have the scar.

With my measly one plate in my left wrist I'm definitely totally outclassed here. 😉