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.

I sometimes get them free with gardening magazines, but have only ever managed to get two or thee plants to bloom, possibly because I keep forgetting that I've sown flower seeds and then proceed to weed them.

Only in the Bluestocking could an image of a huuuuge beetle climbing up a lioness be a gesture of support and affection💙

Mine is probably shitting himself! He's currently pretending the first he knew of anything was end of last year but is totally bamboozled as to how he overlooked it once he did know about it. .

I'm just wondering how far into a hole he plans to dig himself whilst being totally unaware of the stuff I also sent in the post to his bosses this week that he doesn't know about.

The words that used to strike fear in my heart at school concerts (at my place of work) were "And now the First Year Xylophone Ensemble".

They used to have the notes written on the instruments.

So sorry to hear what a crap day you have had Myrtle and your reaction is hardly surprising. A combination of tiredness from last night, frustration and someone at the end of the phone who perhaps doesn't have the knowledge or the authority to solve your problem, would drive many of us to tears, if not drink. I hope your complaint sparks them to delegate someone who knows what they are doing, to contact you and sort it all out for you.

And commiserations to everyone else who is having to deal with Corporate incompetence or disinterest.

How are you feeling today, ThisIsMyGCname , has the Bluestocking combination of caring rodents and limitless drink made the world seem a somewhat better place?

With phone and mobile companies I just used to keep pressing the options to get through to the department that deals with cancellations. Usually they tend to be the most helpful but even that's starting to get a bit hit and miss

This is my favourite recording of Shosti 5 on YT. they also have a stunning version of his 4th, actually the entire channel is awesome.
s

😁

I had success with Sainsbury's earlier. I confused the gentlemen somewhere on a different continent so much that he ended up refunding me twice as much as he was supposed to. I'm not about to phone back and try to explain the error!

LOL

That's such a let-down, Igneo! It's Shosti 5 played by an orchestra, not a class of Japanese 6-year olds on mouth-blown keyboard things and an awful lot of percussion instruments. Very disappointing🙁
😁

If it helps, Myrtle, I was booking a mobility scooter at the RHS for another birdwatching trip in a week or two and I went round in circles for ages. The website said to phone the gardens to book. I rang, and they said it's all booked online now, they don't take phone bookings.

I logged on again as instructed and AGAIN couldn't find the booking system. The links for Mobility Vehicle Loans just took me back to the page with the instruction to phone to book.I rang a second time. Apparently, I should have NOT gone on the bit about Mobility Scooters if I wanted a Mobility Scooter. I should have gone to the page booking tickets.

But as a member, I don't need a ticket, why on earth would I look there?

What I was supposed to intuit was that I should go to book a ticket (which I don't need), then choose the day I'll be coming, and then I'll see the 'Mobility Scooter Loan' option among the various tickets, but it's priced at £0.00. And I have to go through the checkout to 'pay' my Zero Pounds, and then it's booked.

I swear to god some places don't think a damned thing through. I share your frustration.

Love, PastaAllaNorma

Thank you Android!
It's a bit of a bummer I'll have to wait four centuries for the tumble-dryer to be invented, but heck with that much G&T who cares?😃

It's so infuriating isn't it.

Computer says no

Phone says go to computer

Computer says no.

Phone says go to computer.

And trying to actually get a human to understand the issue seems impossible.

It shouldn't be so difficult!

If I order a bath can I count that as tonight's shower?

@MarieDeGournay - I think the mouth blown pianos are Melodicas? I seem to remember one kicking about here for a while before DP murdered it for our sanity it was sadly damaged, although enthusiastically played until then.

We are not a very musical family. DS2 did 5 terms of violin in primary school and could correctly play 4 notes. He was desperate to play electric guitar in high school and that ended up with two half-learned songs after a couple of years,

Particularly when that is providing a service for people with disabilities, not all of whom find accessing these things easy.

It is a wee bit subdued by comparison, that's certainly true :)

Sure can!

I tried to add a Japanese child playing the melodica to what was supposed to be a string quartet, but the AI refused on child protection grounds.

PastaCrones, I toyed with the idea of showing you in the bath on your mobility scooter, but thought better of it in case it looked like some sort of crime scene, so have lots of flowers & gerbils & a glass of whatever you fancy. 💐🐹🍷

Oh Myrtle, it's not like you to get overwhelmed so you must have been forced to the end of your (very long) rope.

I start waving consumer law and the relevant ombudsman at organisations that piss me off and don't comply with legal requirements. I got £100 last time. I could probably have haggled them up but I'd lost the will to live.

I learned two things from FB today.

1. There is a town in the West of Saudi Arabia called Yanbu. I thought it was a joke so I checked on Google Maps.
2. Beatrix Potter was a Bluestocking natural who thought guinea pigs make good gardeners. See attached image, once it gets the MN stamp of approval.

I once had to ring a utility company for something I knew would be a complex conversation about meters. I accidentally dropped my phone while going through the "Press one for..." options. By the time I had scrabbled under the sofa to pick it up, then got back into my chair (not an easy feat), the phone was being answered by a really nice young man who managed to sort out my query very quickly. Perhaps this sort of thing flashes up in the call centre as "who's this numptie who can't follow instructions properly?" and they put their best people onto it.

@EdithStourton - I used to move the garden hutch every two days so our guinea pigs could more the lawn 4m² at a time.

I sometimes find deliberately selecting the wrong department helps, as they have shorter queueing times & often know exactly who can best deal with my query.