The Bluestocking Women’s Pub: Where Clever Women Sit and Think, While Gerbils Run the Bar.

[MyrtleLion]

Come in. Yes, you’re in the right place. No, you don’t need to explain yourself.

Coats will be drycleaned before you depart. Bags won't be stolen because Gubbins will play her triangle. And you really don't want to hear it.

The gerbils run the bar.
They are small, brisk, and unionised.
One is polishing a glass with unnecessary seriousness.
Another is keeping the tab and will remember what you ordered last time.
There is a triangle involved. No one knows why. It keeps Gubbins happy.

Sit. Think. Drink. Join in.

The gerbils have it from here.

Previous thread...
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5481554-the-bluestocking-womens-pub-definitely-full-of-ludicrous-halfwits-who-refuse-to-get-a-grip-with-unionised-gerbils

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius I haven't had a long haired cat, but having watched many Cat Whisperer videos, he cuts some lumps out but generally shaves the cats with really badly matted fur. Not sure if that's something I'd attempt with any of my cats, I think I'd lose more skin than they'd lose fur!

There are some wise knowledgeable people on The Litter Tray who may be able to give better advice. I know there are a few people on there who have Persians and other long haired cats.

I'm pleased you're home, Cake. That must be a relief.

DH and DD are watching a loud and annoying programme. Time to put my headphones on...

Edited for grammar

Lovely to hear you're home, Cake, and I hope you have a really good rest after that difficult day.

The Dr Bessie+ care-gerbils/carebils team have followed you home, so you'll be in good hands

Just popping in with thoughts of love and healing is appreciated, Fuzzy, and I hope life calms down a bit soon.

I'm not a pet person myself, but I completely get the relationship to little furry companions who have been around for years, like PoppyCat, RIP, so I wish all the elders of the feline world well. I hope there's a way to take care of their fur that feels nice for them, so it can be gentle and comforting.

Android - am I allowed say 'phwoar!' about myself?😍How different, how very different my life would have been if I really looked like that
And just imagine having a dog like that to protect me from.. everything!

So AI hasn't heard of 'husky rats'? Sometimes they are called Dumbo husky rats because of their cute ears, and they come under the heading of 'fancy rats'.

But I'm happy with my husky-husky, thank you, and the scale-model afternoon tea is very appropriate for me😄

Thank you everyone ❤️

The shops they are closing? I went to the brand new smart branch of JL in York a few years ago. An old college friend, whose son works for JL, told me in a Christmas card that he’d spent the better part of the year getting it ready.
It’s already closed.

coo, they're all still snuggled up with their sleep gerbils.

I'll just pour myself a cup of tea (very quietly) and take it back to bed.

Wish I was! Still, it's starting to get lighter in the mornings, so that's good.

I’m glad you’re safely home, Cake and Marie.

In the office today. Kitty got up to have breakfast with me, which was nice of her, and then went back to bed for her morning nap while I went out into the greyness & rain.

Just occasionally, I think she should go to work while I stay at home & relax.

Morning all, felines and humans and androids and others!
I agree with Magpie that the brighter mornings are welcome - you can close the curtains and get cosy when the evenings are dark, but getting up in what seems to be the middle of the night is plain wrong!

One of the many benefits of being retired is not having to get up in the middle of then night every day to go to work in the dark.
'Courage, mes braves' to all of you having to do so.

I hope Cake is having a restful morning after a healing night's sleep - take it very easy today, Cake, pop in if you feel up to it. The Good Wishes Gerbils [multi-tasking little blighters, aren't they?] are there with you all the time.

I'm feeling better today, relieved that surgery on my ankle has been put off for now, and being an optimist, I'm working on the basis that it will never be suggested ever again, ever, so I don't even have to think about it.

I heard an old song - from Oklahoma I think - in which the singer declares that she is a Cock-Eyed Optimist.... the title hasn't aged well I think, but I liked the words😏

I've just checked, it's South Pacific.

When the sky is bright canary yellow
I forget ev'ry cloud I've ever seen
So they called me a cockeyed optimist
Immature and incurably green

I have heard people rant and rave and bellow
That we're done and we might as well be dead
But I'm only a cockeyed optimist
And I can't get it into my head

I know one shouldn't anthropomorphise dogs, but really....

Whenever I walk B&B, Brains gives me the odd look which says, 'Fun, innit? Any chance of a treat? No? Okay....' And off she trots.

Batshit, OTOH, looks at me much more often, and the expression on her furry little face is, 'I'm havin' SO MUCH FUN! Are you havin' fun too? Fun is so much fun!'
'That's what I believe is called a tautology, Batshit.'
'Wut? Fun times! You have fun too!'
And off she gambols like a spring lamb, to glance back at the next corner. 'Which way? That way? Still FUN!'

I think I can see the sun. I’d forgotten what it looked like.

Having mentioned my imminent retirement in a card to the lady who lived next door to us for about 10 years after we moved here, she got in touch and she’s just been for coffee. She barely seems to have changed in the intervening 20+ years, and apart from there being a lot to catch up on (still not complete) one of those people you can just pick up with as if you’d seen them yesterday.

That’s lovely, @ErrolTheDragon.

Apologies for absence and I'm really pleased that Cake and Marie are home from hospital and in the safe hands of Bessie and her team.

I went to that London yesterday for a meeting. Which was good but went on. It meant I was only in the pub for 20 minutes afterwards as I'd agreed to meet a friend an hour after the meeting. Next time I'll say two hours.

It was good catching up with her and discussing our own hospital stays and forthcoming treatment as well as laughing about some people we both know who are hopelessly incompetent but believe they are amazing at everything they do. I wish I could tell you how awful they are and how they talk about their activities with such pride, but it would be too outing.

This morning my neighbour has texted me telling me I need planning permission to lay a patio.

😅🤣😂😅🤣😂😅🤣😂😅🤣😂

Excuse me for laughing hysterically.

Our garden plan comes entirely within permitted development - because of course, being me, I checked the rules before we started.

We live in a conservation area, which sounds very grand but our houses are a modern development built in the mid-1990s and at least three neighbours have conservatories and gardens laid to patio.

I have emailed the planning department to confirm we're within our rights and will send her the confirmation when it arrives.

She has known about our plans for two years and even said on Sunday when I told her what the work was and that it was starting the next day, that we should all gather in the summer to toast the new garden with prosecco.

I think watching the retaining wall being built and the slabs and bricks coming in has probably upset her.

I think she's worried about surface water collecting on the hard standing, but we are having gravel drains put in.

She's also slightly up hill from us, so is not at risk of water collecting in her garden, which she is very precious about. She is a keen gardener and we are not at all.

So I think it's that she just doesn't like what we're doing.

My gardener has said he is very happy to talk to her (and also laughed hysterically when I told him what she had said), and I've let her know that she can come round any time.

It will be fine by the summer, I'm sure.

Weirdly, where we are, we had to remove a deck that had been built by the previous owners without permission (we were applying for building permits for our kitchen extension and other renovation work we were doing) but didn’t need a permit for a patio. Since then they’ve relaxed all the rules about lot coverage and we could have left the damn deck alone.

I wish you could bring Brains and Batshit to play with our two dogs, @EdithStourton - I think our mad Labrador would love Batshit, and Brains and our rescue pointer cross could roll their eyes together, at the antics of the other two.

That's why I❤Batshit.
We should all be more Batshit
Neighbours getting mixed reviews, eh? Errol's sounds lovely, Myrtle sounds like a pain.
Nice to know the sun is shining somewhere😏

@MyrtleLion This morning my neighbour has texted me telling me I need planning permission to lay a patio.
Sounds like she should be added to "the list"

My "occasional gardener" came yesterday and worked for several hours in the drizzle, fuelled by regular cups of tea plus cake and bikkies. He took out a couple of old shrubs which were too big for me to tackle, including a Mahonia that fought back (vicious things they are). He also trimmed my little Victoria Plum tree and some shrubs, which means I now have space to plant some new things. I have been visiting local nurseries and garden centres for a couple of weeks and have my eye on several plants - including my very own damson tree! 🤗
I actually have a ready supply of damsons in the local area, from friends and family but would love my own tree. I discovered there is one which is grafted onto a dwarf rootstock called Pixy, which would stop it from taking over the entire garden. I think another visit is in order......

None of the dwarfing rootstocks for Prunus are very dwarfing, Damson. I'm sure you already have, but do check final height and spread. At one point I lived in a house where the previous owner had planted an apple tree in a raised bed less than 6 feet from the back door, and directly over the sewer return. Needless to say it came straight out as soon as we moved in!

Yes, thanks @Magpiecomplex good point. The dwarfing root stock should keep it to about 3 metres, which will be fine and it's not near any buildings, but my Victoria Plum and a Morello Cherry are also down there, so I don't want them fighting with each other.

I'm not sure what "the list" is. 🤔

We have got on really well with them since we moved in nearly five years ago. They bought their house off plan in 1995 and our house had hard floors and lots of different tenants for about 10 years before us.

They have been lovely about how quiet we are - probably because we laid carpet with thick underlay throughout and the only contention has been a few coments about how untidy the garden was and how there were rats under our decking, so could we stop feeding the birds and encouraging the rats.

And now we're doing something about it, they've gone from, thank goodness and let's have a drink (we've had them over and vice versa, occasionally taking a bottle round to their garden during a summer evening) to these concerns.

I suspect she's worried her garden will have more water, but it's honestly not going to be a problem.

Mmn, 'Be more Batshit' has it upsides. But also some downsides (falling off the footbridge into the muddy ditch...)
And Woley, the idea of two dogs eye-rolling at two Batshits....😂

We have lovely neighbours to one side, but the bloke gives off strong vibes of not liking change. I make quite sure to tell him well before I do anything radical along the boundary, so he knows exactly what is going on. It sounds if Myrtle has a neighbour who is one up on this...

Every variety of wild prunus that grows in this area puts in constant bids to grow in my garden. I have a clump developing at one end of the garden, and I plan to let them flower this spring, and shall then be horrible and ruthless with the secateurs.

Currently debating where to take B&B this afternoon. They're loitering with intent, very unimpressed that the longer evenings quite often mean a later walk. Everywhere is so bloody muddy....

I am impressed at the gardening prowess of the Bluestockingers. I am a dreadful gardener - mum and dad were both very keen - dad grew fruit and veg, and mum was an iris breeder and collector of many, many interesting plants - at one point we had over half an acre of garden, and mum had made it an absolute horticultural wonderland. I only have to look at things to kill them.

Dh is keen on a neatly mown lawn - he’s not obsessed, but during the spring, summer and autumn, I get weekly updates on his lawn mowing activities. We think that he may do more actual gardening, when he retires, but until then, we are left with an acceptable lawn with some scruffy bushes along the back fence - and one good apple tree. I have pots and a vintage enamelled tub that I try to do container gardening in, but again, I kill more than I nurture.

It doesn’t help that we live in cold and rainy Scotland, and I don’t know what plants to choose, that will do best here. I have worked on the theory that, if it is sold in a Scottish garden centre, a plant should be suitable for Scotland, but that might be naive of me. I love lavender, peonies snowdrops, cherries and marguerites, but my success rate with the first three is patchy at best - I haven’t tried marguerites yet. I do have a cherry tree (no 2) that isn’t dead yet, and has once produced a cherry, but a bird ate it. I did try gooseberries once - I bought two plants and put them in a corner of the garden. One was dug up, dragged around and killed by our chocolate lab, who would give Batshit a run for his money, and the other one sat sullenly in the corner for two or three years, neither growing nor dying - just sulking.

Seeing what does well in neighbours gardens may be a better bet than trusting garden centres.

I’ve got loads I need to do in my garden but I’ve filled the brown bin already and I can’t quite summon up enough enthusiasm to go outside at the moment. Feeling at a loose end…what I probably should do is sit down properly in a comfortable chair and read something.

My friend who believes she can't make scones came over this morning so we could make them together. Obviously they were amazing, because scones are so easy if you know not to handle them much.

So we had fresh scones with clotted cream and homemade damson jam while we caught up on one another's news. It was great.

I'll drop a couple of scones around to my neighbours, who are absolutely lovely. On one side is a couple in their 40s with 10yo and 7yo boys. One the other, a young couple with a 3 year old and a baby. The 3yo is like my kids were - talks the hind leg off a donkey and I love her for it.