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!

I'm just catching up. And was going to mention migraine, but I see it's been suggested by the hospital.

I had what was thought at the time to be a stroke, but turned out to be my first hemiplegic migraine which mimics a stroke and can be brought on by stress. Scared the shit out of me the first time but I've learnt to live with them now.

Hopefully they'll get to the cause of her episode soon xx

@Hedgehogforshort I'm so sorry that's happened to your nephew. Why are people such mindless arseholes? All you can do is hope that he improves, even if only a little bit, as time goes on.

Have you looked at CICA?

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/criminal-injuries-compensation-authority

As it was the result of an attack and it's looking like he's going to need long term care, and no longer be able to work he should be entitled under various different tariffs. It won't make him the person he was before but might help pay the bills. Plus if put into a trust (costs about £700 to set up) it's not counted in means tested benefits calculations

Thank you for being the bearer of that very good news, NotAtMyAge!

I've been told that although they changed all the 'Carnforth' signs, there was one painted on the wall of a tunnel that you can see if you're lightning fast

It sounds like a great area - the Brief Encounter station, water rails, deer, otters, Lady's Slipper orchids and the strong possibility of bumping into a Bluestockinger

I must re-watch Victoria Wood's Brief Encounter, I remember it was brilliant.
After she died, I couldn't watch her being funny, it was too sad, but maybe it's time to remember her for what she was brilliant at.

I've just googled it -

but it's not available here because 'blocked on copyright grounds'😡
I remember her reason for going into town every week was to return her library books and...... something hilariously unlikely, which I can't remember.
So if anybody watches the video, please remind me

One more! Just one more to go!

Although I have been persuaded to continue in 2026 so I'm going to enjoy only having 1 more to do before I reset to only 365 daily tasks to go! The joy of completion will be short lived!

Without wanting to sound patronising, you should be extremely proud of yourself Boily. You have achieved something really impressive, and inspired me to make a couple of resolutions for the first time in living memory. 💙

Not patronising at all. I am gobsmacked I've kept going. My cleaner who has been coming here for over 10 years said last week the house is the tidiest she's ever seen it! It's apparently much easier to do the hoovering these days!

I'm still nowhere near finished though, there is still cupboards that need sorting properly, and I still need to do a good clear out of stuff. So I'm going to tweak my rules of what counts slightly but continue on the "just do one bloody thing every day" path as it seems to be working.

Hopefully by next December I'll be able to say I'm not doing it in 2027! By then I'll probably be down to a deck chair in front of the tele in a completely bare house!

Thank you @Boiledbeetle

As it happens i have banged in numerous claims for victims of serious DVA and sexual violence over the years.

So it is on my radar, my DH specialises in PIP and other welfare rights appeals so we will be able to help his parents to access some fiscal security,

which i have mentioned to them.

i am very grateful for your advice.

Victoria Wood's Brief Encounter spoiler alert..

She runs off with Dolly Aznicott. ( May have the name slightly wrong).

Doesn't she get a scone, or something, in her eye?

Oh yes, I remember that now!

On the subject of videos, I came across this one, by the incomparable Roche sisters.

When it starts off it sounds like they are taking the p*ss, 'the vandals took the Handel'😁but as it goes on.... wow, they're really doing it, all three of them!

That's extraordinary, Marie!

Thank you

Wow! Thank you Marie. I've heard (and sung) the Hallelujuah Chorus hundreds of times, but I've rarely heard it sung with so much musicality or precision.

Well that's praise indeed
I first discovered the Roches when I was stopped in my tracks hearing The Hammond Song on the radio for the first time - it sounded like nothing I had ever heard before, women's voices as I'd never heard them before, singing about a friend or a sister going off with a man they didn't like - not a normal pop song topic!
And it contained one of the great song lines:
'We'll always love you - but that's not the point!'

I had that same reaction to hearing a song on the radio just two other times: Laurie Anderson's O Superman, which sounded like Aliens had landed and had taken over the radio station, and Sinéad O'Connor's Mandinka.
Stopped me in my tracks and made me want to find out who these amazing voices belonged to.

edited to say that in the Hammond Song, they're not just saying she's throwing her life away if she 'goes off with that fella', but also how much: they'll miss her
Do your eyes have an answer
To this song of mine
They say we meet again
On down the line
Where is on down the line
How far away?
Am I okay?

I had the same reaction the first time I heard Mandinka.

G'night all, may the Sleep Gerbil do the biz, and may the Dream Gerbil bring dreams of health and happiness, which then come true🌛x

Yes I stayed up. Yes I may have pre-readied my last daily task of 2025! Yes I chose something quick! But...

Woohoo!

Daily task 365 complete!

Finally after 53 years I have made a New Years resolution and seen it through for the whole year!!

Now I get to enjoy nearly 24 hours of 0 daily tasks left.

Then I start again on Thursday!

I'm a very happy, totally full of myself, beetle right now!

Thank you for letting me prattle on about it!!

And thank you to Gloria who having been bribed a pair of Highland cow slippers stayed up to pop the champagne for me and act as safety warden.

Night night

Bb xx

Well done Boily!

Yaaaay for Boily !🎊🎆🎉🎊🎇🥇🏆

Brilliant Beetle.

Yesterday I failed at general Christmas + flu inactivity and cleaned my fridge after accidentally turning a large tub of grated grana padano upside down.Three shelves dusted with the stuff.

It was bin day so I threw out a few (probably perfectly edible) things with use by dates in 2023. Or even mid 2025. It is not exactly empty but there is a little more scope for air circulation. Knackering though, I had to take to my bed again afterwards.

The sleep gerbil is being kind, I'm sleeping about 9 hours a night, but still pretty knackered.

Well done Boily. I'm super-impressed.

I'm not having the greatest week...a trapped nerve in my neck/ back is causing a lot of pain. Curses!

Well done Beetle! 👏 I'm so impressed I'm going to have to emulate you and think of and see through a resolution starting next year...or tomorrow, as it may also be known.

That’s one of those things that can sound ‘minor’ but be excruciating and debilitating. Hope it eases up soon.

Amazing work @Boiledbeetle
Ouch @FuzzyPuffling

It's definitely getting better. Yay!

Well done, Boily, what a hero you are! 🍾

You're an example to us all - #bemorebeetle is my motto for 2026😄

Sorry to hear about the trapped nerve, Fuzzy, that's a very painful thing, hope it gets better soon