The Bluestocking - your local women's pub, warm, friendly, and not at all unusual in any way.

[MarieDeGournay]

Welcome to The Bluestocking, the welcome is warm, the conversation is wide-ranging, the food and drink are delicious but magically free from anything they need to be free from, and the bar staff are highly-trained, professional, efficient and very friendly gerbils.

Oh god I am so sorry.

I’ve made him Welsh.

<peers cautiously from under table>

Happy Birthday Fuzzy.

That picture of the loft puppy reminded me of the fire demon that came for some homemade parkin at our bonfire the year before last.

Myrtle: 'The baby blanket is finished and attached. I bought blocking mats with an Amazon voucher given to me by The Girl in the Tower (DSD - we call her that because she has the top floor to herself and we rarely see her, and she loves the nickname).
I was able to pin the blanket out using the grid lines, so it's mostly very straight. You can see where I accidentally knitted stocking stitch instead of seed stitch in one row, but I don't care.'

Oh, I love that stitch! Did you spray the blanket when you blocked it? I had a blocking set for Christmas, too, but I haven't tried it yet. Did it make a big difference to the blanket?

Happy Birthday, Fuzzy!
Apparently, you’re four.

I painted my crooked shelves last night and today. Finished the last coat at 13:30 and was looking forward to putting the books and stuff on them this evening. But then I realised they’d need to cure and the internet suggests 5-7 days. So thats sad.

I have an old friend, and her husband, who live about half an hour inland from here. Haven’t see her for twenty years. Anyway, I emailed her last week and explained about me being nearby (she’d heard about Bear already) and she kindly invited me for lunch tomorrow.

I was with the secret fishermen that evening and mentioned this in passing as we chipped in with conversation. One chap said “Ooh, be careful!”. I asked why and he said he’d done the same thing a while back; reconnected with a couple he hadn’t seen for twenty years. I asked what happened and he said “Well, let me put it this way. I walked out before we’d even finished the starter!”.

I should have probed further but either it felt too intrusive to ask or the conversation just moved on. Obviously, now I’m fascinated…

Such wisdom in one so young!

Evening.

Two impressive numbers there! Well done Boily. 💙

Good evening. Congratulations!

Went for a walk up a nearby hill today. It was fucking freezing! I'm normally good at dressing appropriately for the weather but seriously underestimated the wind chill.

I’m just going to hide in here and crochet.

Going by my experience it will feel strange, but then term ends and he’s home again for the holidays.

Then, when you are just about used to him being around again, he’ll be back to college.

It's all right, we won't tell.

<whispers> Gerbils, please take Taztoy's order.

I don’t know anything about such sites, @Taztoy and @Magpiecomplex , but I know someone who probably does. 😀

(I’m catching up from being away from the thread for about 12 hours. We were discussing academic sources, not something rude)

Yep, that's my experience too. Lovely to have him back, to start with, and then it becomes normal again, and then you miss him again when he goes back. But you can't stop them growing up, and you wouldn't really want to.

@Boiledbeetle wrote
I was once offered the choice of a holiday abroad or a drill as a present by my then boyfriend. He was most put out when I chose the drill.

I think, when people give holidays as presents, they are often as much for the giver as the recipient, who is then obliged to give up their time and, probably, be grateful while the giver gets the holiday they wanted.
It can be the same with tickets.
It can be different if the recipient has expressed a wish to go to the place/concert.

There’s a current thread about something similar.

Sad timings😄

I googled again to see if anyone disagreed. The consensus seems to be to leave bookshelves to cure for two weeks!

Even sadder timings 😫🤣

I mean you could stick your books on now, but they'll all have stuck to the paint next time you go to pull one off the shelf!

Yes, but it would have been much sadder if you’d not realised and your books etc had stuck to tacky paint!

You’re both right, of course, Errol and Boiley. I shall give it two weeks. Sad times with a touch of “it’s all for the best” times.

Hello everybody <lifts head of bar and thinks about ordering a gin and tonic>

having moved my hoglet and grand hoglet’s from A to B, spent 3 days and 2 nights in new house,

Rocked the baby to sleep three times daily while hoglette unpacked.

baby wailed and screamed from 1 until 4am (cutting teeth)

then DH developed DnV on Friday night up and down from midnight.

in bed all day Saturday

The other grandad also there started being sick etc last night.

Hospital called 8am (okay as already been up for two hours) mother fell downstairs and in hospital.

Got home tea time cannot go to see mother as yet in case i develop the lurgy.

Direct brothers, waste of space.

Rant over

Double please gerbils.

Blimey Hedgy, that's a hell of a lot to cope with.

@Hedgehogforshort
Large enough?

Drums fingers waiting for image to appear

I hope you are having a happy birthday, @FuzzyPuffling , and all the best for the rest of the day.