The Bluestocking: Next stop, Christmas!

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

Join us as we open our slightly wonky advent calendar. 🌲

(copies available behind the bar £12.50 each, no refunds)

'Epidemiology' might be on of my favourite words. It has a lovely cadence. 'Cadence' is another good one. I think the Broad Street Pump is one reason why I couldn't get on with Game of Thrones.

It's been years since I last managed to find a plain chocolate walnut whip....

Love the poem, Fuzzy.

Well, I went to the secret fishermen’s pub. As old as the late 1600s, apparently (although with some alterations since). I went earlier than planned as I knew the weigh-in would be late, but I feared I’d fall asleep if I didn’t go early. Very quiet and I got up to leave just before 10:00. As luck would have it, the night fishermen came in at that point (in drubs and drabs) for the weight-in. There were 20 expected but I left after about 10 of them. It was interesting. Seeing all the fish being measured and weighed in. Different types. A young boy had the most. They seemed to think it was perfectly natural that a random woman and her dog were joining in the proceedings, which was nice too

I used to love walnut whips when I was little.

Weren't there a whole plethora (another good word) of Walnut Whips? I'm sure I remember a coffee one. They took a turn for the worse when they started being moulded rather than piped. There was a hazelnut chocolate (possibly in Roses) that took the same dark road. The nut used to be on a chocolate button, iirc, and it had chocolate piped round it.

The fisherman’s pub sounds delightful, glad you and the hound had a nice evening Swashy.

Yes! I remember the coffee one; was my favourite…

Thanks, Errol ❤️

There were certainly the standard vanilla and coffee, they may have occasionally done other flavours.
As a student I had a flatmate who was fond of them and bought a threepack. One of them was in some way defective so she complained and received another threepack. As luck would have it, one of those was also defective and yielded yet another three. The run finished there but 7 for the price of three isn’t bad going.

I admire her restraint for not just scoffing the third defective one.

Google seems to think there was a maple one but I don’t recall those.

Come to think she might have done, it’s far too long ago to remember if she had to send them the evidence.

I had a friend when I was at school who found what looked like a blue streak of mould in her animal bar. She posted it off to them and, after a good eight weeks, received a jiffy bag in the post with about a dozen different chocolate bars in it. I admired her restraint too.

Yes, back in the Age of Innocence, companies would take your word for it if you wrote and told them that you were more disappointed than angry etc etc... it was quite a side hustle for students

A maple walnut whip?? that sounds divine. Anything maple is divine, IMHO.

Your visit to the fishermen's pub sounds lovely, I'm glad you had a good evening.
It sounds a bit exotic to me - coastal, English, 1600s - all very not at all my milieu or experience. So I really enjoyed reading about it, it was a nice bedtime story thank you

G'night all, may the Sleep Gerbil and the Dream Gerbil be accompanied on their rounds tonight by the Good Health Gerbil🌛

I got an off packet of Rainbow drops once and Swizzels sent me a massive box of all of their sweets.

We ate well in the student house I was living in that week!

Me neither. But there's a first time for everything & I've got nothing on for the rest of the night. Fnar fnar.

... Oh I say! Wiz zese firemen you're really spoiling us, Gemini!

Anybody need a clone?

He does look quite lickable, but frankly I feel too ill

My best response, food related, is from Tunnock's. There was nothing wrong with their product, in fact I told them how wonderful they were.

I was a very happy beetle that day.

Good night all, I'm trundling off. I've had a day to myself irl today and greatly enjoyed hanging out wrapping presents (mostly imaginary, but also two real ones!) and helping with the Big Thread Move.

Can we persuade the nice, possibly cloned, firemen to visit this new place? I feel a fire safety check must be required?

They'll be here when you arrive tomorrow. 😉

@Boiledbeetle Boily, did that first photo have your details on it?

Don't worry, I can run you off a clone when you're feeling better.

No i covered my name and address with my homemade Tunnock's snowballs fridge magnet and my name is covered on the compliments slip using a Tunnock's logo homemade fridge magnet!

The address that's visible is the Tunnock's return address.

Clever beetle!

It is worth waiting for!

I tried to get Copilot to draw a lovely Christmassy scene but it didn't want to. It was really wanting to make a picture with some monsters in it. In the end I have to give up and go to bed! Up the tree for me.

Sorry android but I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. Acres and acres of bare flesh, eww, he needs a nice woolly knitted cardigan atop a substantial vest.

Dream gerbil and sleep gerbil have decided to stay away tonight. 😢