The Bluestocking Boxing Day sale: 1 gerbil for the price of 2

[Boiledbeetle]

Previous thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5457910-the-bluestocking-next-stop-christmas

As the patrons, and gerbils, of The Bluestocking Pub sleep off their Christmas Day food and alcohol intake the capybaras will be getting paid double time to move the pub and contents to the new thread overnight.

All welcome, as long as you are a woman. The men have their own pub The Staunch Ally. It's just down the road, then turn left at the bridge.

You don't have to be mad to drink here but it most definitely helps.

Leave the real world behind and join us in the mayhem and surreal life of a pub staffed by gerbils. Where the food is always exactly what you ordered and the drinks don't give you a hangover the next day!

he was in intensive care until two days ago, he has several strokes.
it is clear to me and my daughter that the young man we knew is gone from us forever.
it’s weird you don't cry for someone who is still alive.
its so crap yet my life and hoglettes go on….

and

Yesterday, less than a week later, his long-term girlfriend, who is only in her mid 20s, spent most of the day in A&E with a suspected TIA and now has an appointment tomorrow morning at the stroke clinic.

Shocking and sad. So sudden, and then everything is changed. Makes me think about how fragile life is, how we just bumble along, worrying about whether we've got too many mince pies or have managed to burn the sprouts. But we really have to worry about those things I suppose. We have to think about those small things, find the absurd, visit the Bluestocking, make each other laugh, and that's 'life going on'.

It's such a strange time in between Christmas and New Year. Like it doesn't exist, a sort of gap in space and time, where the days drag endlessly and yet are gone in an instant.

Sending love and kind thoughts to anyone nearby who is suffering. Also, if anyone wants to help me out with those mince pies ...

So sad to read about young people in such trouble.

And the added horror, in the case of Hedgehog's nephew, of knowing someone you know and care about was deliberately attacked.

That is awful Hedgehog my thoughts are with your family 💐

I'm so sorry, Hedgey.
Somehow it's worse because it was the result of a malevolent act.
Love to you all.

I so hope that 2026 will be a better year for the Stockingers. 2025 has not been kind.

That's a terrible thing that happened Hedgey, your poor nephew. Sending love and hugs to you and all the family dealing with this sudden tragic event

I'm sorry to hear about your dear nephew @Hedgehogforshort.

It is very sad to realise that, whilst many of us are celebrating Christmas or other events with our families, some poor families are undergoing a trauma which will change their lives forever.

It is also perfectly acceptable to cry for someone who is still alive and to grieve for a life that might have been. There will be time in the future to be strong and supportive for his family. My very best wishes go to you and your family

Edited for a MN punctuation error.

Thinking of you Hedgy.

Sending loving thoughts to @Hedgehogforshort & her family. 💙

Hoping that @NotAtMyAge 's grandson's girlfriend is improving & will be 100% well. 💙

That is utterly heartbreaking for you all. Mindless violence that results in life-changing injuries. I do hope your nephew makes the fullest recovery possible in the circumstances.

And on that lighter note that @knittedChristmassysloth spoke about, I put the wordplay/anagram bit of the Times quick cryptic crossword clue into google because I couldn't see it & the AI lied to me & gave me a word that can't be made from those letters! I just tried it again & it did it again but with a different 'anagram':

'AI Overview
The letters in "mygerbilo" can be rearranged to form the single-word anagram
myoglobin. Myoglobin is a real word that refers to a red protein found in muscle tissue.'

Another try produced the answer that there's no 9-letter anagram. But there is, & an anagram solver found it for me.

Same here, Android:
"You can rearrange the letters mygerbilo to form:

• Grey mobile (two words)
• Embroil (one word, uses 7 of the 9 letters) If you are looking for a single word that uses all the letters, it is:
• Embryology Would you like me to find more word combinations or perhaps help you with a different word puzzle?"

It took me three goes to persuade Gemini that embryology doesn't work. Its best solution was Grey Limbo, which would be a very sad name for a gerbil.

I've just been introduced to a name for this time of the the year: Crimbo Limbo.

Cheerier than Grey Limbo, isn't it, but won't work as a gerbil name because it doesn't start with G - hey Grimbo Limbo works, Grey Limbo and Grimbo Limbo can be a comfort to each other

Sound like two gerbils who could be found lurking under the skirts of the Ghost of Christmas Present.

Another vote for the magnificence of cutted up pear. Reminds me of the day I spent looking after a 2 year old friend of my (then) toddler DS1, who threw an immense tantrum because I cut her slice of bread horizontally instead of diagonally.

So sad to read about the young man with life-changing injuries, and the young woman with a TIA. The latter may truly not have long-term concerns though - a friend of mine had one ten years ago in her early 70s that left her blind for a couple of days and made a full recovery with no long-term effects.

I love Leighton Moss, though I haven't been there for some time. I once saw a water rail there - it just wandered across the Causeway right in front of me - after hours of sitting in the hides with my binoculars, hoping for one to emerge from the reeds😁

What a very distressing situation, @Hedgehogforshort , and all because of trying to help someone else. I do hope your nephew makes the best recovery possible.

I’ve seen a water rail there just by the boardwalk path, but my best surprise sitting on a path one exceptionally cold frozen day a few years ago was a bittern!

I had to google both 'water rail' and 'Leighton Moss'.😄
It says the latter is in/near Carnforth - isn't that where they filmed Brief Encounter?

Our daughter has just WhatsApped us with the good news that the hospital has confirmed it wasn't a TIA. They did an MRI and said that based on severity and duration of symptoms, if it had been a TIA the MRI would have shown physical signs (presumably mild brain damage) but it didn't. They have referred her back to her GP for further investigations as to whether the symptoms were migraine-related or possibly stress-related - her job can be very stressful at times. At the moment we're all just very relieved it wasn't a TIA. Thank you again for your support. It was very much appreciated.

That’s very good to read, @NotAtMyAge . Thank you for letting us know.

At least a bit of Brief Encounter was filmed at Carnforth. Apparently you can see signs for Skipton in the background of some scenes. Loved Victoria Wood's take on it. Someone should redub the original into Lancs.

There's a big limestone hill in the area. I believe that there's a golf course on part of it that is home to one of the relict populations of Lady's Slipper orchid.

I've not been to Leighton Moss RSPB for a while. It's not really daytrip-able for us, but the last time we were there we were very lucky to see some otters.

Yes. If you took the train one stop further up to Silverdale you’d be right at the RSPB reserve, which has the largest reedbeds in the north so lots of species. Plus there are a couple more hides right down near the coast. They have otters and red deer as well as birds.

we've been meaning for ages to take the train from Preston or Lancaster up through Silverdale and then it carries on around to Barrow and up the Cumbrian coast.

The lady’s slipper orchids are in the Gaitbarrows SSSI, which is an area of limestone pavement. They were bred by micropropagation at Kew (by a relative!) and reintroduced in great secrecy some decades ago. Afaik they’ve not spread to the golf course, although there are quite a lot of other types of orchid in the area.

There was something on the radio not long ago about Brief Encounter - one of those programs I caught part of accidentally. I think they said they used Carnforth because WWII hadn’t ended, and so it had to be somewhere remote to avoid blackout restrictions during filming.