The Bluestocking women's Pub- spring is sprunging and MN's name generator can do one!

[lcakethereforeIam]

Welcome to the Bluestocking women's pub. Men are directed to the Staunch Ally just down the road. Otherwise all are welcome. Pull up a chair, give your order to the Wait Gerbil or the Gerbil behind the bar.

Don't forget to name change if you wish to.

She didn't come for the cars, but she stayed for them.

She may be another day or so.

One of our teachers trained in the north east and thought it amusing to ask us to translate some phrases she'd learned. One pupil had asked her 'yuh gannin ham fer tey Miss'
We were 🤔 but loved hearing these stories. And she wore fabulous shoes. My faves were the pink metallic high heeled slingbacks. Oh how I wanted a pair.

If the gerbils get there first, and go exploring, the Roswell cover-ups will be as nothing compared with the attempts by the Artemis II crew to conceal the fact that they found intelligent life on the dark side of the moon.

My dad talks about being beaten at the grammar school for speaking in the local accent. Only Secondary Modern pupils were allowed to speak like that he was told.

Much angst in the Pasta household. Three young people are about to arrive for the Easter weekend expecting to be fed well, and the new oven still isn't installed because there is something wrong with the wiring.

The kitchen is bedlam of tools and wiring and an oven in the middle of the floor. Argh.

I shouldn't worry Pasta. That sounds quite civilised compared to living conditions at uni.

They have submitted their meal requests in advance! (We have a reputation to uphold)

I can do tonight's Mexican meal (fish or chicken tacos, loaded nachos, lime and coriander rice, extra guacamole, salad. I can do a stir fry for Friday, and they are out Saturday but Mr Pasta promised a big roast dinner for Easter Sunday. I promised lemon shortbread and a cake.

They are such lovely kids, and their parents spoil DD rotten when she visits them, so it would be nice to reciprocate properly.

But if we can't, we can't.

I'm currently collapsed on the half-dismantled sofa because the enormous seat cushions are too big for me. How did I agree to buy such a stupidly huge corner couch? It's 7'x7', stuffed with feathers weighs a tonne.

(I'm vacuuming up biscuit and crisp crumbs down the gaps in the cushions in a fruitless attempt to persuade DD's friends I'm not a complete slatten)

Gerbils, a restorative draught, if you please!

OOoooooh, Pasta, have you got some furniture to assemble????? I'm on my way, it's my favourite thing to do in the world.

Woohoo.

Turns out Jonathan is still alive.

https://x.com/i/status/2039638099605569730

I find assembling flat pack furniture very relaxing.

It is another tragedy* of my life that I no longer live within 30 minutes' drive of an IKEA.

*not actually a tragedy

I had two Billy bookcases to assemble once, the very tall ones. The instructions told me that this would require two people.

It didn't.

I love laying out all the bits first and counting them up.

My training was a childhood deep my own Lego, and anyone else's.

Yes, I fear we were had by a particularly sad attempt at an April fool.

talking of which I’m not convinced by the gerbils moon attempt - I don't like to nit pick but I can only see Stars and Stripes flags, surely incorrect?

IKEA green cakes are the best thing! And ds3 doesn’t like them, so we don’t have to share with him - mwah ha ha ha!

IKEA what now?

Green cakes?

The only ikea I’ve ever been to myself was when we lived in Pennsylvania.
We got our current kitchen table and chairs from them online, and left them to our teenage DD to assemble, why deprive her of the fun of flatpack?

Punschrullar, @Chersfrozenface - a marzipan coated almond cake - Punschrullar.

I put together one of those high beds with a sitting area underneath for ds once, it took me three evenings, it was glorious.

Lidl sells these during their Scandinavian week.

When I did the dining room many years ago I had about 6 full height Billy bookcases to disassemble and then 11 full height Billys and 4 half height ones to construct. I was ready for the flat pack Olympics by the end!

They definitely do not need two people! They may need 2 men, but only one woman!

They may need 2 men, but only one woman!
Never a truer word, Boily, never a truer word!

Over yonder was part of everyday language when I was growing up in Lancashire in the 50s and 60s. Must say I haven't heard it recently.

Also, I love anything with marzipan.
Hence the thicker-than-called-for layer of marzipan baked into the simnel cake, which will soon be getting more marzipan.

If I never have to visit IKEA ever again, I will be a happy magpie. I find the whole thing claustrophobic and overwhelming.

I think the astronaut outfits were a job lot from Gerbilzon.

In 3d graphics, the clipping planes (defining a ‘slice’ parallel to the screen) used to be referred to as hither and yon, though I fear that nowadays they’re liable to be more prosaically called near and far.