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

@Britinme wrote: You guys are very clever so you probably all know this anyway, but the class didn't and I had just read (in a Readers Digest my mum had) that new country-boy recruits who were illiterate didn't always know left from right, but they all knew the difference between hay and straw, so the sergeant would tie a wisp of hay to the left foot and a wisp of straw to the right. So not exactly country knowledge but at least the RD was useful for something!

I never knew that. It’s all useful knowledge.

@SionnachRuadh , I enjoy reading Len Deighton, too. My favourite set of books starts with Game, Set and Match: there are three sets of three, and a prequel. Although apparently spy novels they are as much about family, place and relationships. I think.

The first trilogy was filmed for TV in the late ‘80s. Apparently Len Deighton didn’t like the adaptation so it’s never been repeated.

Sometimes I look up Len Deighton to see if he's still alive, because he retired from writing many years ago and, sensibly, has never been interested in keeping up a public profile in his old age. He's still with us at 97.

I do enjoy reading him. He's much funnier than Le Carre, and much less prone to make the story all about his own neuroses. (I love Le Carre's good books, and probably reread Tinker Tailor every year, but by cracky there's an awful lot in his books about adult men who have never got over their horrible fathers, and female characters obviously based on his mistresses, and in the later ones bits where he must have got his sons to explain what a "mobile phone" is)

I also love Deighton's contribution to the world of cookery Cookstrip - Wikipedia

Not quite the same, @Magpiecomplex @Britinme , but I did a Dip in Media Ed back in the '90s.

We had to watch Pretty Woman, while the lecturer waxed eloquently about various aspects of the film. It dawned on me that he didn't understand the significance of the main character watching La Traviata.

I wasn't an opera aficionado, but when I was on a student placement at Leningrad Uni, we used to get cheap tickets to the Kirov Opera which was temporarily housed in the Lenin House of Culture and one of the operas that I saw (sung in Russian) was La Traviata.

I tentatively explained the plot of the opera to the lecturer and he listened with good grace.

I swear @WearyAuldWumman this is why I think Looney Tunes should be on the national curriculum.

Most of the stuff I know about classical music or art or literature comes from trying to understand the jokes in Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Except for my knowledge of Shakespeare, which comes from me as a wean being allowed to watch Vincent Price in Theatre of Blood.

@SionnachRuadh

"Get the waaaaaaaaaaaabbit!"

I knew about Macbeth because Mum bought me an activity pack of colouring in books, etc from Woolie's and it included a black and white comic version of the play. The illustrations were brilliant!

Broadcast sowing potatoes?
😂😂😂

Mind you, I did once genuinely encounter a Londoner who had no idea that bacon came from pigs.

where he must have got his sons to explain what a "mobile phone" is
Which reminds me of an outstanding sketch from Not the 9 O'Clock News.

Barrister: And I will demonstrate to the court that my client is not guilty of theft and can, indeed, produce evidence to demonstrate that he, on the day in question, purchased the microwave oven, the-
Decrepit, out-of-touch judge: A-a-a-a mi-cro-wave oven? Kindly explain, what is a mi-cro-wave oven?
Barrister: Uh, M'Lud, it is a modern convenience, which cooks one's food far faster than an ordinary oven.
Judge (chewing his gums): Ah, ah, I see, how very sensible, yes, please continue...
Barrister: ... Receipts for the microwave oven, the automatic video recorder, and the-
Judge: Ah, ah, one moment, could you explain to the court, what is an automatic video recorder?
Barrister: It is a device, M'Lud, which enables one to record a television programme, so that one may watch it later, at a more convenient time.
Judge: Well, well, what a capital idea. Whatever will they think of next? Please, do on...
Barrister: ...the microwave oven, the automatic video recorder and [eyebrows vanishing into hairline] the deluxe model inflatable woman, whatever that may be-
Judge (suddenly perky): Ah, the deluxe is the one with the real hair and the fishnet- [COURT IN UPROAR]

Apologies for lowering the tone, but that sketch has made me laugh for the better part of 40 years.

This is a rare picture of an Large White Ulster pig, which must have been the ones my old granda used to have before I was born. You may guess from his rotund shape, which would have pleased Lord Emsworth, that the breed was known for very fatty bacon.

It's an extinct breed now. It died out in about 1960, the same time as the Cumberland pig - which is why you can't get Cumberland sausage today, only Cumberland style sausage - because the postwar governments at Westminster and (unusually) Stormont were seized with futuristic ideas of the British people becoming healthier by consuming modern slimline pigs and not these antiquated round ones.

If that sort of thing happened today, with the government deciding rare breeds should go extinct, animal charities would be up in arms and King Charles would be writing irate letters to whoever the agriculture minister is.

😂
Not the 9 O'Clock News was good, wasn't it?

I remember the sketch where a man goes into a police station to report that his wallet has been stolen, and the police look very sceptical,
'How do we know it was stolen? You could have given it away'
'I didn't give it away, it was in my back pocket'
'Oh yeah - a bit tight, those trousers. Somebody could easily see the outline of the wallet in the back pocket. If you're going to go around in trousers like that, showing your wallet, you can hardly blame anyone for trying to steal it..'

John Lloyd is a comedy genius - Not the 9o’clock News, Blackadder, QI and the radio one, Museum of Curiosity. And a very nice bloke too - I know him a little.

When I hear eejits people defending sexist or racist comedians etc by saying 'Oh but things were different back then, we didn't know about racism and sexism..'
although the 'back then' they're referring to was the 19flipping80s!

I wonder how they explain Not The Nine-OClock News, which was not only very funny but, as in the 'stolen wallet' sketch, actually challenging sexism and racism, instead of getting cheap laughs out of them.

Well I have learned something. I hadn't realised the significance. Because Pretty Woman is more Cinderella than La Traviata, but the opera does make it a bit meta.

Interestingly the current series of Bridgerton is such a blatant rip off of Cinderella thar I'm surprised I haven't seen loads of articles about it.

I am fond of idioms and their origins. Sadly my favourite is not in common usage any more. "The game is not worth the candle" comes from gambling in earlier centuries. A candle cost money and if the winnings from a game of cards were not sufficient to cover the cost of the candle, then it wasn't worth playing.

When I first heard that it occurred to me that of course inns and coffee houses would charge for candles as well as refreshments. I think today's cafés should charge for electricity for those who take up a table all day for the price of a single coffee.

I like 'He went for him baldheaded' which I believe comes from the days when men wore wigs, and if they got into a fight they'd lose their wigs!

Maybe that's where 'wigs on the green' comes from too? I must resist the temptation to go googling all that, I have too many practical boring things to do this morning😒

I've been wondering how Boily is, hope the coleopteran mandibles are fully recovered and - did you say you had a cold as well? I think you did, in which case 🤒

Somebody on another thread was lamenting your absence because they knew you'd do a terrific pictorial interpretation of a scolder's insult -
'armchair succubi', if I remember rightly - you have to hand it to these scolders, they have a great line in insults!🙂

I still occasionally use 'the game isn't worth the candle'. It's a very Eastenders sort of idiom, 'Leave it, Frank!!'.

'Armchair succubi' confused me. Succubi are beautiful female demons that seduced men. So, he thinks we're beautiful? I'm flattered. Or it's a bit of a self-own. Where has his imagination been taking him? Then there's the 'armchair' bit. Are we seducing armchairs? No wonder I've been banned from Loaf.Or have we just ditched the whole seduction thing because the game isn't worth the candle? Men aren't worth seducing anymore.

There are a couple of old sayings I like using about politicians e.g. 'He runs with the hare and hunts with the hounds'.

The there's a similar one which I would use but I can't remember the name that appears at the end of it, and Google has never heard of it - maybe Deano or Sionnach could help me out?
'He goes part of the road with everyone, like ??'s dog'
It's McSomething.

On the subject of hares and hounds, there's a story told about an English visitor to the estate of Richard Martin [tireless campaigner against animal cruelty, nicknamed 'Humanity Dick' by George IV] who, viewing the bleak expanse of featureless bog and lake and mountain, turned to a gilly and said 'Tell me my good man, does the King's Writ run here?'
'Indeed and it does Sir. It runs like the hare before the hounds'
😄

I was in the Big City yesterday - Manchester, not London. Although I enjoyed the day, doing a bit of shopping before meeting some old work friends for lunch, I've decided I am no longer a city person. Too much noise, too much traffic, too many people, too much....everything. The drizzle didn't help, course.

Although I usually go in by train, I drove in on this occasion, so that I could pick up a rather heavy item from a store. I'm familiar with the road layouts, but these days you need to be extra careful not to stray by so much as an inch into a bus lane, or a road where there is a timed restriction on traffic, thereby triggering a camera and an instant fine.

I much prefer my more pedestrian life in a little coastal town.

I must be getting old.....😟

I'm with you there, Damson!
The first time I returned to London after a not-very-long break, I was a bit overwhelmed by the speed of everything, especially in the Tube.
That was a long time ago, before I was very old..

so I think some of is about being out of the buzz buzz buzz city environment for a while. And age too of course😒

Anyway, you got there and back successfully, and can now relax again.

I worked in central London when I first left uni, lived in a London borough for a long time, then within the M25 so you’d think almost thirty years would have accustomed me to big cities. I’m still ok in London when I go back to the UK, but I really didn’t like New York when I visited. I found it very confusing. Where I am now is the biggest city in Maine, but it’s still smaller than where I grew up in Hull and it’s about as citified as I would wish to go.

I Iive in a small city but we all say going into town. It has a cathedral but feels like a market town, which suits us very well. Mainly because everything is within 10 minutes' walk.

I have lived in London several times, including in Westminster. I love going back every few months but I'm glad I don't live there any more.

I also lived in Birmingham and a couple of other cities in the Midlands and I love Manchester where I met the Walrus. Oxford was also fun for a few years - I didn’t study there but I did work at university-related organisations. I worked with Susie Dent at one point which was lovely.

Think I missed out on my city stage. Lived in one for a while but even the large town i washed up in was always too much and a temporary place for me

and then I moved somewhere quieter, cleaner , calmer - 35 years later . Get there in the end that’s me !

I'm basically a country person, having only lived in one big city and one small one for short periods of time since my parents moved us out of the Lancashire cotton town where I was born when I was rising 7. The big city was Hamburg, where I worked for about 6 months in total in 2 chunks back in the mid-60s, to improve my spoken German. I really enjoyed living in Hamburg as it was then, particularly because of its amazingly efficient and cheap integrated transport system, which let me buy one ticket between my leaving point and destination which was then valid for the U-Bahn, bus and tram.

The small city was Oxford, where I was a student in the mid-60s, which was much less afflicted with tourism and less crowded than it now is. I absolutely loved living somewhere with so much beautiful and historic architecture, so radically different from the millstone-grit terraces and cottages of the area I grew up in. However, I met and married my husband there and discovered that, despite growing up in Newcastle on Tyne, his ambition was never to live in anything bigger than a small village, which has suited us both just fine over the past 56 years. 🙂

@MarieDeGournay

But it’s a glove and only one of the stepsisters is truly mean… :p

I've lived in an odd assortment of places over the course of my life. I've done a decent dose of City and I couldn't wait to move out of it. There were always Too Many People. If I meet someone here who I don't know, and stop for a chat, there is a high chance that we will know people in common.

Stopping for a chat with a total stranger is entirely normal. I don't like places where people look at you as if you're mad if you try it.

I grew up in an Essex coastal town, had 6 years in Birmingham for uni - living in a variety of its suburbs, some leafy others less so. Then about a decade in a North Yorkshire market town but very much as commuters (me to York, DH to Teeside) . A couple of years on the outskirts of Philadelphia in the middle of that, and then to Lancashire where we’ve now been for over 30 years. Quite a good mix, I like where we are as it’s nice and central in the U.K., lots of different types of countryside around and easy enough access to Manchester.
We’ve been to London a few times in the last year, thought it was considerably improved by the congestion charge/ulez - far less traffic than there used to be and no ‘sooty nose’ at the end of the day.