The Bluestocking: All You Need to Know About Risk Assessments, Jazz Hands, Battenberg and Sourdough (But Were Afraid to Ask) - and gerbils. Lots and lots of gerbils.

[MyrtleLion]

Welcome to The Bluestocking, the perfectly overblown, gloriously chaotic all-women’s pub where you can have a bit of a lie down if you need it.

Expect serious debates on musicals, cake and knitting, and whimsical musings on women’s rights and why the world’s on fire (again), all under the calm supervision of our support staff: gerbils, capybaras, and the occasional quokka on secondment.

The alcohol won’t get you drunk, the pastries won’t make you fat, but the conversation will digress, and that’s the point.

Remember to namechange before posting if you’re sometimes someone else.

Thank you, @MarieDeGournay - and I’m sorry - I thought I had told the Bluestockingers about FIL, but I must have forgotten.

We did know he was on borrowed time - he had bad heart disease and even his doctor was expressing surprise that he was still here. It was very quick and painless, which was a relief for us.

We did know he was on borrowed time - he had bad heart disease and even his doctor was expressing surprise that he was still here. It was very quick and painless, which was a relief for us.

My sympathies, Woley. Even when expected, and even when they have happened as gently as possible, deaths of people we’re close to are very painful.

I am just hearing my first Carol - Good King Wenceslas. I thought it might just be a preview, but no, the whole thing is being played.

It’s 25 November. Is that an official date for radio?

I love them, but am very picky about how carols are sung, unless they are congregational ones. That’s what a total of 20 years in chapel choirs does for you.

I had a cat who must've got sympathy/treats for a 'hurty eye' when she came in from the garden one day. Ever after, if she wanted a treat she'd come up to us & do 'hurty eye' (which was miraculously cured as soon as someone moved towards the kitchen).

There's no good way to lose someone you care for. Just different flavours of horrible. A friend of mine lost her mum after a long illness. She said someone, I think it was the really tall bloke who's on Countdown sometimes, coined the word 'sadmin'. All the stuff that comes along in addition to the grief. The travelling, the sorting, the admin. I suppose it can be cathartic, reminiscing may be healing, but it's often the last thing you need.

Can I recommend M&S pikelets instead of crumpets? Like crumpets, but without the leathery sole.

💙to Woley & family. That does sound a heck of a journey. Anything you can do to lighten the load, you absolutely should.

We pay for our brown bins for garden waste, so I make sure I fill mine. They're due out, and I managed to fill both of them from empty in an hour this morning....

Sadmin is a very fitting term. There is an excellent book called Last Orders that you can fill in to simplify everything for your executors. Location of will, details of bank accounts, foibles of pets, what do to with your social media etc etc. I'm a bit young to have a copy, but DM died relatively young and I'm paranoid.

So sorry, @SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius , I know he'd been on the long walk home for a while, but everything changes totally when they are actually gone.

I love carols, and the fact that you only hear them for one or two months makes them more valued - like seasonal fruits

I like them all, but I love what I think of as 'the great English carols', if you know what I mean - Once in Royal/See Amid/While Shepherds etc.

I think they have such majesty.

They weren't part of our Catholic 'repertoire' when I was young - more the
French and Latin origin ones, unsurprisingly - so I discovered them later.

I believe some English carols also hark back to an older form of sacred music in English churches, before it all got a bit continental with organs and organised choirs - the Oxford Movement's influence I think?

There's nothing like them, and I'm looking forward to hearing them again soon!

May I unrecommend M&S gluten-free pikelets/crumpets?

Generally their g-f bakery items are good, but those are almost inedible.

(The things my Yorkshire mother referred to as pikelets I later learned to call crumpets.The thinner items other people call pikelets were Scotch pancakes to her.)

I had some pikelets at one of the Bettys. Freshly made. Absolutely lovely as a butter conveyance.

@MarieDeGournay , there’s probably a lot of overlap between what you call ‘the great English carols’ and what I referred to as ‘congregational carols’. All good.

My favourites tend to be ones sung only by the choir, though, especially sung in a large ancient space with lots of cold stone echo.

My first proper job was in a Catholic school, but I can’t remember what we sang. Their chapel wasn’t big enough for the whole school, and I can only remember us all trooping to the big Catholic Church once in five years so perhaps it wasn’t a big thing there. Or, I’ve just forgotten. I was still singing in a separate chapel choir at the time.

Did you have Personent Hodie at school, Marie? As well as the tune, I love the way the words sound even though I couldn’t translate much of it.

et de vir vir vir
et de vir vir vir
et de virgineo ventre procreatus
(conceived in a virginal womb)

Did you have golden syrup as well? Delicious.

We have one cracker ourselves though, the Wexford carol.

Sometimes I used to make what we called Scotch pancakes or drop scones for the DC after school on cold days. They could consume their bodyweight in them.

Since we're talking Christmas music, this is one of my favourites (and this version was recorded in the Ship of the Fens).
1

I know carols from King's College is a tradition for many people, but I love the 9 lessons and carols from Christ Church, one of Dublin's two Anglican cathedrals. More homely, but still a 'start of Christmas' moment, curtains closed, lights lit, familiar words and music that leave space for a bit of last minute kitchen pottering if such is needed.

Absolutely, Deano, the Wexford Carol is wonderful!
And in the Irish language, although there isn't a carol tradition, there is the beautiful Don oiche úd i mBeithil, That Night in Bethlehem.
It's only November, but maybe nearer Christmas we'll post links to them, to share our very little carol tradition?

We didn't have Personent Hodie, AsWith, sadly, as it sounds like a delight to sing

I think Fuzzy likes carols too, she'd probably be joining in if her heart and mind weren't elsewhere at the moment💙

<sinks into an armchair by the fire> I have had a busy afternoon in the garden doing some late autumn jobs. Have we got any mulled wine on the go as I really fancy some to warm myself up!

That is lovely. Great acoustic.

I also realised it wouldn't play because I was using a VPN (stops an error box filling my screen). Turned it off and could listen fine.

Of course we have mulled wine!
We also have some nice black chai.

I'm still off the booze but there'slessthanaweekleftofNovember.

Not that I've been finding it tough going, of course.

They've just started mulling and had to kick out a man. The gas masks were an initial precaution. Against the man or the alcohol is unknown...

But they've got you covered.

There's mulled wine on the go, but you might have to get it from the kitchen yourself - the gerbils are getting sozzled instead of serving it.

Yes, beautiful, with that cold old stone echo I love.

I was invited to a fairly small wedding in a Cambridge college chapel. The Gesualdo Six sang the musical parts of the service. (!)