The Bluestocking - Best Pub on the Internet

[EdithStourton]

Welcome to the Bluestocking women's pub. Excellent (if sometimes wilful) gerbil bar staff, varied cocktails, splendid cakes, cracking Sunday roasts...

Voted Best Pub for the umpteenth thread running, join us for conversation about tractors, units of measurement, films, wildlife, and even, sometimes, women's rights.

Just keep Glenda off the gin.

Any men, you can trot along to the Staunch Ally just up the road.

Files information away for possible future need....

Cuddle from animal would be much appreciated. I thought it would be inappropriate to ask the gerbil who served me my coke n crisps.

A certain billionaire's super yacht has been mentioned by a few of them. I don't know if they were meaning that's what happened or they wish that was what happened!

Honestly any of the gerbils if asked will stop what they are doing and immediately go into cuddle mode. Beware of the little ones. They try telling you there's a charge per minute. There isn't. They are just after extra pocket money for the sweetshop.

Ok, you’ll find me in a pile of mammals and marsupials in the padded room. We are going to listen to something ancient on Radio 4 Extra, and will emerge refreshed and ready for the literary chat.

There's no crockery left. I used it all earlier.
Between madness on one thread, and a recalcitrant item of domestic machinery wasting half my afternoon, I needed a good smashing session.

But given Glenda's state this afternoon - and she's on kitchen duty - there should be plenty more by 6pm.

Sure there is stuff to throw - so many people have had decent clear outs lately

I got rid of 30 things today but none of them made it into the crockery room.

The 17 years out of date barrier cream from an operation in 2007 did go in the bin though!

Whoop! Whoop!

ETA forgot it was 2026 so had to update my number of years out of date!

A full set of 12 dining settings in one pattern and 8 in another, courtesy of my dead dad. I just need a gerbil, no make that a capybara to transport the china to the Bluestocking.

Or... Save them a trip and go throw it at your own back wall. I'm sure some gerbils will come round and help you persuade the walrus that if he loved you he'd sweep up the mess.

I have a sore knee
I can’t have a sore knee as I am in training
and I can’t rest up tomorrow because I have to run messages

Do you need a massage from a capybara?

What a lovely article! Beats Stanley Milgram into a cocked hat. Now we have a glimpse of your rich inner life dear hedgie 🦔

Oh, thank you Hedgie.
Rosie somehow knew that I needed some support, and after her visit I slept well.

Goodness me Myrtle, that is incredible, to have discovered that your lymph nodes never developed properly. I am so glad you are feeling much better these days. It has been a long time coming through all of this hasn't it? And there you are, applying for jobs like an absolute marvel.

I hope you feel proud and happy!

Tales of Brains and Batshit Part??

I took B&B for a very lovely walk. Batshit was zigzagging about being herself, and Brains was quite smug as she had managed to obtain a ball. She was carrying this, and now and then suggesting to me that I might like to throw it for her.

On this walk there is a bench - just a solid plank with no back - and as I often do, I suggested that they might like to jump for a treat. Brains jumped straight up, carefully put the ball down so that it wouldn't roll off, and then fixed me with a hard stare of the 'Treat? Now!' variety.

Batshit eagerly jumped up too. But she was too eager, too much propulsion, and fell off the other side, landing cleanly and pretending she'd meant to jump off after all. She bravely tried again. This time she jumped into Brains. Brains didn't give a millimetre, and Batshit ricocheted off and half-fell to the ground. Nothing daunted, she tried for a third time, and managed to land just behind Brains. She then stepped forward to be next to her, trod on the ball and almost fell off a third time as it rolled under a front paw.

Truly, she has special gifts.

They each got a treat.

Edited for typo.

Darling Batshit.

I loved that pub pisstake story several threads back. Here’s mine, exact same except it was at work not a pub and a rumour not a self description. I decided to start a rumour at work just to see how long it took to get back to me and if anyone believed it. The story was that our bosses were going to introduce a dress code/uniform.
It didn’t take long. (We were academics)

I found and chucked two bottles of out-of-date vitamins the other day.

I found a ten year old jar of Chinese five spice paste the other day. It's waiting for me to work up the courage to open it and scoop the contents into the food waste.

You can tell the quokkas are back. So much for a quiet night reading the newspaper!

And I'm not being funny but are the 'gerbils' behind the bar actually furries?

Thank you! The same genetic error also means I only have one kidney, but it's doing a terrific job.

That hug is awesome! Very soothing, and accompanied by the cutest, softest @Hedgehogforshort 💙

I am very proud of myself for getting through such a tough period. At the time it feels difficult and I just plough on through, but also impossible to stop. It's only in retrospect that I realise I should probably have rested more and how ill I've been.

The Bluestocking has been an important place to recoand feel supported 💙

As @MarieDeGournay said (though it might been another Irish patron), what's for you won't go by you. So something is on its way.

You are a lovely lot xxx

Almost forgot - I found and chucked out a jar of Easy Garlic the other day.

Let's just say that it was well past its best.

Quick question do you know how many vitamins were in the bottles?

As currently just with the vitamins by your counting you have thrown away 2 items.

By my new and improved 2026 counting system let's say there was 48 in bottle 1 and 50 in bottle 2. That's 98 items. 100 if you count the bottles they were stored in!

Oh, there were at least 30 in each...so 60 plus two bottles plus two lids equals 62!