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!

Morning all. Dr Badger will do her rounds shortly and administer ✨magic healing✨to everybody who needs it.
It's OK to be whiny about being sick, Hedgey, we have a special area for that, the Whine Bar😄

I've enjoyed reading about the childhood of the Bluestockingers. I loved 'being a tree' (aka standing there and occasionally waving my arms around) and was always a bit disappointed we did it so infrequently, probably because everyone else was so bored.

As a young teacher my father made the mistake of trying to make 'music and movement' a bit more interesting and divided the children into 'animals' and 'hunters' before putting the record on. 30 seconds later, surrounded by howling children, blood and hair everywhere, he understood why experienced teachers always suggested something that involved keeping still.

I loved lego too, and reading, but my pals and I used to play all sorts of elaborate games that combined hide-and-seek and tig for maximum exploitation of rather small suburban gardens. And my mother was very good about letting us cook (the kitchen had to be immaculate by 4.30, we had to let her know in advance what ingredients we'd use).

I really need to go out for supplies today. I’m just having a coffee whilst procrastinating. It’s still snowing heavily and it’s a decent walk. I’d have a bag for life in each hand on the way back and could wear my wellies. I’ll go at some point as I need loo roll. Sometimes people go a bit mental in the snow and I’m hoping it’s not bedlam in there.

So, you're going out and you may be some time.

Wow, even for me that's dark.

I don't recall being a tree but I had to be a seed, then a seedling, and so on.

That's very frontierswomanly😄
I remember going for supplies during the last really big snow fall here - I think it was 2013 - and I really enjoyed it, it felt like A Big Adventure.

I wouldn't recommend wellies - no insulation and can be slippery. Hiking boots with gaiters, or trousers tucked into long socks so they don't trail in the snow.
And a backpack instead of shopping bags, or as well as if nec.

There, that's all the advice from me channelling Nanook of the North😁

I hope you're not bringing Hound with you, as you might have to eat him on the return journey😬

Please reassure us when you get back safely.
And FFS don't forget anything, don't come back with everything...except loo roll!

Thanks, Marie.

I have neoprene wellies with good grips and I think they’ll be better than my DMs. I can also fit two pairs of wool socks in them (to boot 🤣). I don’t have a back pack with me here, but hope the bags for life will give me balance. No accompanying hound, as I wouldn’t be able to carry the shopping and hold his lead. But he wouldn’t be allowed in anyway.

I’ve just made a decision to go later, having realised my shower part is due to be delivered today. Of course, the delivery window may change due to the snow.

So I’ll hole up until it arrives then reassess. Nice to think of it as an adventure though.

@Swashbuckled have you got one of those big flexitubs? I can be found on various threads (gardening, chat, relationship probably) recommending the things. I'm starting to think they may be the greatest invention since the wheel. Anyway, as well as potentially holding shopping (with a rope to drag behind you), I think they could be used as a sledge or, inverted, as a makeshift shelter. If you don't already have one they can generally be picked up foc at the side of many A roads.

I have a flexi tub inland but not here. I like the rope idea.

This reminded me of the Spanish pueblos where everyone uses buckets for their shopping instead of bags. It’s so sensible. Can’t see people using them here. Mind you, I suppose they’d be easy to steal from whilst you’re walking home or waiting for a bus. Or they’d get filled with rain, in our wetter climate, and your potatoes might sprout. I seem to have just talked myself down from my earlier position. Great in the pueblos though…

If your tub was big enough and you were flexi enough, you could have a bath in it in front of the fire in the shower stayed broken,

I have several flexitubs full of water between the front door and the gate in case the electricity goes out. It's lovely to be able to flush the loo. They're slightly too small to double as Lidl-style cryo-baths if everything freezes.

Genius; I could practise being bendy, Deano, until I get one.

A spot of good news. Both new shower parts are now being delivered today (the trap was originally due tomorrow). I have doubts about the trap as it’s not the same size as mine seems an unusual one. But I can always return it. Fingers crossed the bracket thing fits. I will either be doubly happy later or doubly disappointed.

Poke some holes in the bottom to drain the water then, when you get home, leave them on deck and fill them with dirt. In a few months you'll have many, many more potatoes 🥔 Although there may be an immediate short term spud shortage.

....take half the potatoes out, the less sprouty ones, leave the rest to grow.

Actually flexitubs are far too useful to deliberately hole. Save that idea for finding a damaged one. I reckon bags for life are big enough to grow spuds in. You can take them back and get new ones after the harvest.

Yes, I’ve come across people growing potatoes in bags for life. Fair play to them.

My delivery window has been missed so it’s difficult to plan my expedition into the great snowy wastes for supplies. I’m contemplating trying to remove a couple of light fittings from the ceilingso I can wash them. They’re not to my taste, but are metal and glass, and filthy. There’s three sections to each light, and it looks like they can be unscrewed at each end (four screws per piece). That’s 24 screws in total and I could wash them in the sink.

We acquired a couple of big flexi tubs last time we had the scaffolders in. Plus a load of scaffolding connectors, but the tubs were the real win! They didn't seem to want them back, I assume they must have dozens of them.

Parts arrived; all now fitted and perfect! Very happy.

Am going out there for supplies. Yes, I may well be some time ☺️

Flexi tubs.I LOVE THEM!
When we moved in here the bath and shower were unusable for 3.5 months. ( Bastard sellers lied they'd had it fixed). We washed in a flexitub.

Also I have just bought 5 new ones for less than £20. One is for the garden, one is my new washing basket, three are awaiting new jobs.

Wise women of this thread...

How does one remove candle wax from an item of clothing? I managed to dip the end of a dressing gown in an electric wax melter and didn't notice. If it helps it hasn't been in the washing machine since I did it.

Garment is 96% viscose, 4% elastane.

Is it removable? Or do I have to live with a waxy bottom?

Honestly, you just never know what is going to be the topic of conversation when you pop into the Bluestocking - currently it's flexitubs😁

Very useful things. Like Deano, I used rainwater collected in one to flush the loo when the water was cut off recently.

I put a cover of wire mesh over them in the garden, so leaves don't get in, the water remains cleanish.

I hope Swash makes it to and from the shops without frostbite or attack by polar bear❄

Try putting it in the freezer and then chip the wax off. Any residue, iron it onto brown paper.

I’d start by scraping off as much as you can with the edge of a spoon, then put kitchen paper (or toilet paper) over the area and press with an iron on low heat, and as the paper absorbs some of the wax move a clean area of paper over the waxy area. If there’s a stain left, put washing-up liquid over it and leave it a while before you wash it. Oh and before you start scraping, put the whole dressing gown in a bag in the freezer for at least half an hour to make the wax brittle and easier to scrape.

Breathing has eased somewhat so I'm happier.

Trying to work out which west end show to go to on Monday. Sadly Six isn't showing that day.

Othello starring David Harewood and Toby Jones £59 middle of row O or £79 edge of row G.
Just For One Day (Live Aid Musical) £65 almost anywhere in the stalls - I only ever sit in the stalls because of my ankle.
The Devil Wears Prada Row D £65.

@FuzzyPuffling @Britinme thank you. I've shoved it in the freezer for now.

Othello or Prada for me.

@Swashbuckled in my dream last night it was revealed to me that if you want to buy eggs at the supermarket you now have to take your birth certificate with you so be warned.

Mission accomplished!

The snow was deep but it was only snowing lightly on my way and not snowing on my way back.
It wasn’t even busy. I almost forgot loo roll, Marie, but remembered at the end when I found myself standing in front of it. I could only get a four pack due to walking and chose some infused with coconut oil. Things are really looking up on the bathroom front!

I was going to suggest the freezer, Boiley, but don’t class myself as a domestic goddess. Glad someone else did.
I can’t help with the theatre decision, Myrtle, sorry. Not up on London listings.

I used to have eggs everyday, but haven’t bought them for a while now. Perhaps that’s why…

I admire your patience, Fuzzy. I’d be desperate to allocate each a role. It’s much better to wait until their true destiny emerges, shining through the mist.