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.

@MarieDeGournay wrote
It's only November, but maybe nearer Christmas we'll post links to them, to share our very little carol tradition?

That sounds an excellent idea. I look forward to it.

Mulled wine sounds perfect now, even if I’ll have to fetch it myself. Ah…

Can't remember who needed the sleep gerbil, but here she is with the dream gerbil.

Could I have some mulled apple juice please? I don't know what the massagerbils put in their liniment but my leg is feeling much better today.

As the possessor of a December birthday, I'd also like to say a hearty

BAH HUMBUG

to everyone talking about carols. Humph.

Hence the gas masks for table service.

Christmas music is my absolute favourite! I well remember Personet Hodie - I can’t remember the last time I sang it, though.

My personal favourite is In Dulci Jubilo - the 8 part arrangement. But to be honest, if I started listing all my favourite Christmas music, I’d be here until the new year!

Oh that might have been me! Thank you, I love that.

None of those unmentionable songs

I haven’t seen any gerbils but there are other small fluffy beings, like meeces.

Ah, I lost the link with the edit.

Try this one or this one.

Oh yes, perfect!

Thank you so much for that link, Edith. A truly exquisite rendering of a carol I first learned in 1960 at the age of 14 when I'd just started to learn German. Our young and enthusiastic German teacher tried lots of ways of leavening the hard work of mastering the grammar, including carols and folksongs. I later sang it in the chapel choir in my first year at college in 1965, for the annual Nine Lessons and Carols by candlelight, a revelation to someone brought up in the simplicity of the Congregationalist tradition, where candles were unknown.

I heard The Gesualdo Six live in a huge old church in deepest Suffolk a few years ago now. The acoustic was perfect and when they finished I had chills down my spine.

Very nice friendly chatty blokes, as well.

Leathery sole mnmnmmmm

I meant to let you all know that the interview went really well with one of the interviewers saying things like "perfect", nodding her head and looking very pleased.

The cheerleading gerbils were very supportive and discreet.

They say that the right job is really easy until it isn't and this one is still really easy. Thank you all for your support 💙

🤨 Aswith is NOT impressed

Some baked goods need gluten and trying to make a GF version is simply futile.

Correct!

That image is just like me, except my hair is long and still dark, and I’m fatter. The piano and the glasses are just right. 💓

That all sounds very positive, well done. I am Glad.

Fingers crossed for continued good news @MyrtleLion .

Woolly Hugs recently had an auction to raise funds, shared between WH and two care leavers’ charities. There was a prize for the person who most accurately guessed the amount raised, which was £4602.87. 💜🤍💚

The winner was announced this evening. @Magpiecomplex, it could have been you.

Picture will follow.

😂😂😂

I started reading that as if their regular domicile is a huge old church in deepest Suffolk. Thought it was a bit weird, an artistic ménage à six... Then I realised my error.

Fingers crossed for you, Myrtle.

I haven't seen any Muppet things in years and years, thank you for reminding me about how wonderful they are! and how well they have aged.

There are some stand-out moments from their TV programmes that I still remember decades later - like their interpretation of the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill - Jill was played by Miss Piggy I think? wearing a trench coat with the collar up, a black beret at a jaunty angle, and a Veronica Lake curtain of blonde hair half-covering her face, saying moodily:
'I'll go up the hill with ya, Jack. I'll fetch a pail o' water with ya, Jack. But I won't take the tumble with ya, Jack'😁
Literally unforgettably funny!

I hope the outcome of the interview is good, Myrtle, and I'm glad that the cheerbils did their job discreetly, it could have been off-putting if they tried to answer the interviewer's questions with a piece of interpretative dance, composed and choreographed by Boily

So knittedsloth - you like the leathery bits at the bottom of crumpets?

I've just checked online, and yes, it's true: the diet of the sloth consists of

• Bobacaceae flowers
• Barrigon leaves and flowers (Pseudobombax septenatum)
• Liana
• Espave (Anacardium excelsum)
• Poró (Cochlospermum vitifolium).
• Jobo (Spondias spp.)
• the leathery bits at the bottom or crumpets.

I didn't know that! Every day a school day at the Bluestocking, eh?

[I love the word 'Pseudobombax']

Maybe this veggie/vegan alternative to leather can be used for the paw pads of knitted sloths?

Thank you Edith for that lovely piece by Praetorius - and for cleverly tying together two themes: Ely Cathedral and Christmas music.

The only piece I know by Praetorius is his very jolly dance, La Volta, which was on a 'mix' tape I had in my car, when cars had cassette players

I'm fascinated by the Latinisation of names - I get the impression that if you were a scholar in Northern Europe at that time, it was the Done Thing to find a Latin equivalent for your surname. Praetorius was born 'Schultze'.

Neither Schütz nor Scheidt Latinised their names, it's as if they looked into the future, saw a very serious-looking Radio 3 announcer and said -
'Let's keep our names as Schütz and Scheidt.. tee hee..'