The Bluestocking, where the short days shorten and the oaks are brown

[MarieDeGournay]

Welcome all, regulars and newcomers, to the Bluestocking Women's Pub, a place of refuge and inspiration and camaraderie and silliness, where all alcoholic drinks are non-intoxicating, cakes contain no gluten, sugar or calories, but still taste yummy, and the attentive staff are small but very professional rodents wearing snazzy little outfits.

Other roles - such as acting as foot stools, looking decorative in the garden, or just being impossibly cute when you need something impossibly cute to go awwww at - are filled by a team of miniature pigs, quokkas, wombats, etc etc.

If real life is difficult, you can bring your troubles to the Bluestocking and a comfy chair will be found for you at a roaring fire, a miniature pig will settle down happily to support your tired feet, and a gerbil will serve you promptly with a comforting drink - very large G&Ts or massive mugs of hot chocolate with extra cream and marshmallows are popular choices [don't forget: no calories in the Bluestocking].

Dressed?
<faints>

Myrtle, I hope you escape in time to sleep in your own bed.

Maud needs to get in there and kick someone into action on your behalf...

Dressed, Myrtle? That must feel great! I assume when you say 'dressed' you mean you are wearing a full-length midnight blue dress with stars on ?😁

I hope you are out of there ASAP, with all the important bits and pieces they have to give you, and Mr Walrus can whisk you home to your own place, your own choice of meals, and a good night's sleep in your own bed - you've earned it!💐

Hooray - I hope Myrtle is safely home now. Sleep well lioness!

I like being vaguely ageless in the Bluestocking - it's just part of the being-somebody-else that appeals, it's not hiding my age, which is early 70s.
I remember all kinds of corny songs from my - and your? - early childhood!

I agree - I'm 75 but I like the vaguely ageless digital thing, but it's nice when one's own cultural references are referenced.

And I've just spotted the lovely typo in my own message in your post. No the Lord did not grave the day.

I hope so too. I don't want to have to resurrect Joy Adamson!

Myrtle is still stuck at the hospital

@MarieDeGournay I hope i have not offended you with my post elsewhere i am worrying about it now dear friend

I was this close to getting out.

I have to see the outpatient team first thing in the morning so the Walrus would need to drive me here from home and return for a work call from 10-12, then come and pick me up.

It's logistically easier to stay in one more night and then get a hospital taxi home once I've seen the outpatient team.

And I'm back in a gown.

Tribunal tweeting may take a hit as well.

This image will be worn out by the time you finally get home.

Time to recycle this image!

😂😂😂😂😂

Born freeeeee 🎶

In other news, I cleared a cupboard and found an old bottle of golden syrup. Rather than waste it I made some cinder toffee. It's just cooled down enough to turn out and taste. It's lovely but doesn't half stick to your teeth. Just lets say I'm glad I'm typing this.

Does golden syrup actually go off, Cake?

I don't see how, but I had another bottle somehow so it might breed.

Myrtle, that's rotten - I hope you sleep well all the same.

cake, stuff with enough sugar in never really goes off. I once found, at the back of a cupboard, some stem in ginger in syrup that was a decade or more beyond its sell-by. I opened it, sniffed it, put it in a pear and ginger crumble. Total success.

Sugar is traditionally a preservative

Isn’t the osmotic pressure too high for bugs or something if the sugar is concentrated enough?

I think honey found in Egyptian tombs was still edible.

In that case, thank you for selflessly saving the human race from a hideous fate at the sticky hands of a mutant race of golden syrup derived monsters.

sorry to keep you on tenterhooks, Banned, I've just read this - not at all the case dear Banned, and I really appreciate your post.

I wish 100% of the world's population agreed with 100% of what I think, but for some strange reason......
I got unusually worked up about that topic, and it suggested that
✨NC✨might have feet of clay, so I was not a happy poster!
But we're good💙

@MarieDeGournay Xx

Myrtle, I'm so sorry your return to the wild has been delayed, but only for one night, think of it as a very substandard B&B!

I made some spiced plum and apple jam this afternoon, but sadly it's not good enough to give to anybody else as I took my eyes off it for two minutes at a critical juncture and some burned on the bottom. I can taste it though fortunately the spicing hides it a little, but DH says he doesn't care and will eat it anyway. I love that man.