The Bluestocking Women’s Pub: definitely full of ludicrous halfwits who refuse to get a grip (with unionised gerbils)

[MyrtleLion]

Welcome to The Bluestocking: convivial by design, opinionated in the best way, generously stocked with excellent food and drink that complies with whatever it’s meant to comply with, and any calories, gluten or alcohol are entirely virtual.

Staffed by impeccably trained, unfailingly polite gerbils who run a tight bar with plenty of enthusiasm and good intentions. Quick with the drinks, but terrible spillers spellers and liable to turn an idle thought on existential existence into a full blown musical with Busby Berkeley routines. You have been warned.

All women welcome, just in case that isn't obvious. Men can go to The Staunch Ally round the corner.

Previous thread here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5477133-the-bluestocking-your-local-womens-pub-warm-friendly-and-not-at-all-unusual-in-any-way

Idk what my accent sounds like - northern parents, raised in Essex, 6 years in brum then mostly in the north. 😂

I sound fairly RP, until let loose for any extended period of time with Suffolk-speakers (also Norfolk and proper old-fashioned Essex).

@Britinme I know what you mean about the Anglo-Indian accent. Sounds a bit Welsh, but is very much not Welsh once you recognise it. Have you ever read Bhowani Junction? One of the characters is written with the cadences of that accent, without being a pastiche.

Also, sympathies to all those with terrible mothers. I had a terrible father, which is crap in a different way, but gives me some understanding of the horrible churning emotions involved.

I'm RP with a tendency to glottal stops, because I live in the heart of Estuary English. Talking to Estuary speakers I glottal stop, talking to other people I don't.

Excuse the sudden change of subject but ..OXALIS😡
I haven't been able to go out into the garden recently, not very mobile, but today there was a break in the almost-constant rain, so I had a hobble stroll around.

Oxalis everywhere. Daff and tulip bulbs are coming up but they are peeping through a thick carpet of bloody oxalis.
Anybody got any ideas?

It's quite a pretty plant, Ill give it that, but it has no boundaries!

Ah yes, Oxalis is known to be a good "ground- cover" plant, but it can be invasive. I tend to treat it as a weed (definition - a plant growing where you don't want it!) and pull it out if it invades other plants.

It's definitely a weed, by that definition!

And where I would like to have 'ground cover', is there any oxalis? of course there isn't😠

I've managed to keep it under control in the past by pulling it out by the handful but I physically can't do that at the moment.
It's doing the cat is away/mouse play/make hay/sun shine thang.

It's a pain, but totally outclassed by mind-you-own-business which gets f*cking everywhere and is almost impossible to eliminate.

There are directions on Google for how to propagate it. In my experience, probation can be achieved by 'one minute piece with a single millimetre of root dropping from the trug when you take the weedings away to dispose of them.'

I hateses it. If I could borrow Errol to breathe fire all over it, I would.

I love hellebores. They come out when there's not much else about, flower for ages, aren't thugs, but seed about very politely.

They are completely indiscriminate about breeding though. Left to their own devices the seedlings all revert to muddy pink.

Back to accents for a moment, our O-level English teacher regretted suggesting we tried a Welsh accent when reading aloud Under Milkwood 🤦‍♀️

I used to torture pupils by asking them to do a Northern Irish accent when we read "Bold Girls".

My garden is mainly mud, but with some snowdrops. I could swear that I've lost some. Perhaps the cold and the wet has been too much...or perhaps narrows eyes the grey squirrels are to blame.

The street has been inundated by them. The mad bugger down the road a bit has apparently been letting them into his kitchen for a feed because they're 'cute'.

Bit like humans, then?

Fair point. 😂

I read Bhowani Junction many years ago! Currently I'm listening to the audiobook of "The Covenant of Water" (which is magnificent and highly recommended). It's read by the author, Abraham Verghese, and he has a natural accent which is essentially Anglo-Indian, but at some points he has to mimic a Scottish accent, which sounds decidedly odd but you have to just tell your ears that's what you're listening to.

Rainy rainy rain is raining here. We're in the allegedly 'dry' bit wrt this weather thing.

droppety droppety thumping down drops.

swoosh goes the dirty brown water along the sides of the road.

It's very similar here.

I think that I may have been gulled into giving too much info on a thread where a poster was asking for info about a gynae problem.

A few of us replied and another poster kept asking me follow-up questions. It might be sincere, but my spidey senses started to tingle the last time I answered.

Maybe I'm too suspicious, but I've hit the report button and have asked for all my responses to be deleted. Fingers crossed.

That is so descriptive @DeanElderberry I have a clear picture in my mind of the conditions.

The sun has come out here after a night and morning of very heavy rain, so I went for a walk, dodging the puddles. It's relatively mild but still very windy, which has given me an earache. Should really wear a hat, but I hate them🙁

We're in the storm zone, but I've managed to get a load of washing almost dry on the line.
And it's all fluffy too!

Gosh, if I put my washing out today, it would probably end up in Whitby!

I only used the best rufty-tufty pegs!

It's been grey all day here - closer to night.

The fish van arrived and I had to hold onto everything to protect my dignity. It's only supposed to be 40 mph gusts, but it feels more than that.

I just have to hope that the greenhouse etc stands up to it. The last time round, I had to replace some glass and I'd rather not have the faff when it's so muddy.

The sun came out here, though it’s cold and windy. We were going to brave the elements for a bit of a walk but then a call we’d been waiting for came through and by the time it was done it was a bit too late.