The Bluestocking Inn, cocktails and cocoa and all

[DeanElderberry]

Opening soon in a salubrious location.

And thanks to the miraculous qualities, although we will indeed have

One-steps and two-steps and the divil knows what new steps
We know that we never would be dull again, bedad
We'll have wine, porter and lemonade.
We'll have cocktails and cocoa and all
We'll have champagnes tonight
But NO real pains next morning
Tonight when we dance at the Bluestocking Ball

slight apologies to Frank Harte

I'm a night owl (I creep off to bed, though not as light footed as this - hoping not to wake the family)

Yes, probably! Gemini isn't playing ball so I can't show you how green I feel, but imagine a magpie where the white sections are a delicate eau de Nil colour. Yesterday they were chartreuse green.

I was chatting with my eldest sprog about my recent travails. A days or so prior to going for surgery I'd been thinking about the general anaesthetic. I understood the tradition is to count backwards from 100. That seemed a little pedestrian to me, so I was thinking what I should do instead. I thought a soliloquy from Hamlet, 'To sleep, perchance to dream', might fit. Pluses; right topic, a little macabre. Minuses; pretentious, a little macabre, not 100% I could remember enough of it (it'd be embarrassing to run out and still be conscious). One speech I could (more or less) remember, Mark Anthony in Julius Caesar. Pluses; stirring, I could remember it, the theatre staff might join in, all those drapes could pass as togas. Minuses; pretentious, the theatre staff might join in, not on topic. Finally I thought I could tell a joke, especially if I went under just before the punchline. Pluses; always leave your audience wanting more. Minuses; timing, might wake up with the theatre staff stood round my bed wanting to know how it ended.

In the end, I went into theatre with a cob on because I'd spent all morning traipsing round the hospital and a medical student told me he'd be squeezing my hand (to got a vein up I think) then squeezed my wrist, so I didn't say anything.

Hope you feel better soon but in the meantime -

I love Kermit and that song is one of my favourites.

I also love the song 'Halfway Down the Stairs ' by Kermit's nephew, Robin the Frog😁

I'm glad you're feeling a bit better, Magpie. I love your shades of green.

And Cake, anyone would do well to remember anything when being put under. I'm never sure if I'd one of those people who'd struggle and fight, or whether I'd just think, 'Thank God, I'll be out of it for a bit...'

We have sunshine here again today, after a spot of drizzle overnight.

If there are any Imelda May fans in the Bluey - go to 3.19 on this longer video, where she sings 'It's Not Easy Being Green' at a concert to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising - it came after a video montage of Irish social history and the intro sounded not unlike the national anthem. Then this happened!

from 3.19

Cake - Love your idea for a Hamlet soliloquy while going under. I've had never got past six, on a countdown from 10.

We've also had some dry weather here over the last few days, with spells of sunshine and the odd shower.

The occasional gardener did a good job of clearing some old shrubs that had outgrown their space, so I've been planting a few things to replace them, including my small damson tree, a camellia and a daphne. Also some pots, including an acer to soften the corner of the seating area and a gardenia which assures me it is hardy to -10C. We shall see....

There's a woodpecker drilling away in the woodland near me and several magpies (normal hue) squabbling on next door's lawn.

I just seen a bumble bee! I do hope it hasn't woken up too early😐

@AuntieMsDamsonCrumble I saw a bumble bee yesterday, my first of the year. The wood pigeons are getting on with reproductive activities, as apparently are the kites that have taken up residence in the local woods. A pair of swans has staked out a farm reservoir that I regularly walk past, and local semi-feral peacocks have started squawking. Any day now the pheasants will be joining in...

Whoever said the countryside was quiet? 😂

I've been looking at the Tesco Clubcard FAQs and gosh, all human life is there!

There's jealousy:
My friend can view the Clubcard points detail for every transaction they make, but I can only view my points summary. Why is this?

Deep philosophical questions which I think we can all identify with:
I am missing points. Where are they?

And finally, the tragedy of bereavement and inconsolable grieving:
One of my relatives has died. Can I change their card to my name so that their points aren’t lost?

That reminded me of a Private Eye cartoon - mourning relatives in a funeral home - the receptionist is on the phone, telling them 'It's Tesco - they want their bag for life back'.
😁

LOL no!
Farm machinery, chainsaws, a steer brought up from the marsh bawling his head off in a barn half a mile away, a maniac in a sporty hatchback treating the lanes like a race track, tractors with wagons full of spuds/ sugar beet/ corn rumbling to and fro...

Mostly it's fairly peaceful, but it has its moments.

Brilliant! Gotta love Imelda May!

No one who has lived there!

This morning the birdsong was very loud, mostly goldfinches in the silver birch

One of my relatives has died. Can I change their card to my name so that their points aren’t lost?
A friend had to sort out the funeral of a particularly annoying relative. No one else was prepared to stump up on the expectation of a pay-out from the estate, so she went through the Co-op funeral directors.

She got dividend points on about 3 grand. And was repaid by the estate.

I was astonished when I got points back on Dad's funeral. (Hasn't happened with subsequent funerals.)

I used them to buy chocolates for the District Nurses.

I agree! I was relieved that her talent survived her change of hairdo - that rockabilly quiff was so her for ages, it was brave to get rid of it, in case she was like Samson with the hair...😄

That performance at the centenary concert was amazing - it was totally unexpected, such a strange choice of song - A Muppet song at a concert to mark the centenary of the founding event of our nation? WTF? - until she put so much new meaning and emotion into 'being green'.

I was watching live on telly [as was most of the nation!] and was blown away by the performance.

'goldfinches in the silver birch'
- beautiful image, Errol ❤

Whereas I get lusted-up peacocks from a field away.
'SKRAAAH! Skraaah! SKRAAAAAAH!'
So tuneful...

I've just fallen down a ww2 rabbit hole. Admittedly ww2 is such a rich source. There's a beach at Crosby, just north of Liverpool, where much of the rubble from the bombings was tipped. It looks like a fascinating place to visit. It's near the Anthony Gormley statues. There's a place in Manhatten, called the Bristol Basin, where ww2 rubble from Bristol used as ballast in returning ships was dumped. Sheffield's was used as hard-core for footpaths. In one German city they used it to build a hill which became the site of a (now defunct) monitoring station during the Cold War. Another (Berlin?) helped landscape an area used for a future Olympic games, now a well used park.

Also, in some countries probably Japan, Colgate makes a seasonal clear toothpaste with little Christmas trees in it 😍I want some. Although I know if I got some and we were still using it after Christmas it would really annoy me.

Thank you Marie. I was happy for the Walrus to oversee the slab unloading but he left it on the landscaper 🤣.

I am being booked in for an MRI to look at the tendon. I saw the orthotics department yesterday and they are going to provide orthotics to take the weight off the big toe which should help. A very lovely man with a learning disability pointed out that I have a frog in my throat. I was heartened by his comment (others might have thought him rude) because it means my hoarse voice is noticeable and not my imagination. ENT appointment in April.

The funeral was fine actually, I was just very very upset. Not helped by my ex BF asking about her long deceased cat under my FB statement about my friend's death. When I said it had died some years ago he put a crying emoji. No such emoji for her actual death. He is a very troubled man.

I am feeling much better now, though I have had my 35th job rejection. I am obviously difficult to place because I don't fit the criteria as well as others. I was very happy in my old job and never thought I would leave, so it's very upsetting that I was forced out and still don't have work 18 months later.

You have so much to deal with all at once, Myrtle, including all those job rejections - especially when you had a job that you liked and in an ideal world wouldn't be looking elsewhere at all.
Getting yourself into a better place healthwise is important to job hunting as well as to just feeling better and not having to have so many interactions with the medical profession

Cake, that's exactly the kind of trivia rabbit hole we love at the Bluey!😄

The town is very quiet around here - any wildlife with any sense is huddled in somewhere against the snow, which is falling again today. I have to go out in time to clear it off my car as I have an appointment for a massage (and lunch afterwards with the masseuse, who is a friend of mine). With any luck the roads won't be too bad - the snow isn't as heavy and the wind isn't as strong as it was on Monday.

Cake: There's a beach at Crosby, just north of Liverpool, where much of the rubble from the bombings was tipped. It looks like a fascinating place to visit. It's near the Anthony Gormley statues.

I know that stretch of coast well, Cake and remember when the debris started to emerge from the sand dunes a few years ago. Apparently, it was dumped there partly to try to slow the erosion from the sea and the many storms that hit the area full-on. It always strikes me as being very sad that the detritus of the lives of people within living memory is being exposed in such a way.

Just a bit further down the beach towards Formby Point, whenever there is a storm, it exposes the fossilised footsteps of Ancient Britons who walked along the shore.

On a lighter note, in my area of the coast, they use Christmas trees to combat erosion. Every January a call goes out for people to take their Christmas trees to a collection point. They are then laid along the beach in rows and eventually a sand dune will form over them. It's quite a sight!