Touchdown at the Newest Bluestocking Inn. Pudding, cups of tea, the vegetable garden coming into its own, and gerbils beautiful gerbils all furry.

[DeanElderberry]

All females welcome for intelligent discourse and non-harmful comestibles.

Very clever!

Of course you could have all arrived in style with Puffin Airways. As I did.

I did a skydive once. No Tunnocks involved though.

My air balloon seems insufficient so i have had to jog here

I think I'll have a large gin and join Empress in the crochet corner, if she doesn't mind. I've abandoned my knitting project because I'm not sure it will fit the recipient, and I need to go and see him to check.

The problem with airdropping in the Tunnocks was that nobody set up a clearly marked DZ beforehand.

That sounds very daring @FuzzyPuffling
For myself, I've never understood why anyone would want to throw themselves out of a perfectly serviceable aeroplane 😬

That would be lovely @EdithStourton.

The aeroplane is quite shit. There are no seats for a start. And no packets of nuts.

What, no seats? no packets of nuts? Shocking customer service, even worse than Ryanair! No wonder you stormed out!😄

Thank you Deano for the new thread, that's what I call an entrance - very spectacular.

Hi all, large rum please Bar gerbils and a slice of Madeira cake. I made one in the bread machine and am a bit addicted.

That last thread seemed to fill up very quickly. One minute I was reading about languages, then a certain idiot poster, then suddenly it was closed. I must stay more up to date in future.

I got blown off course and landed on Peak Woo. I think I'm the first to use the zip wire this year.

Could I have a G&T and something to nibble on please, bar gerbil?

<knocks>
<pokes head around the door>
May I come in? I've been thinking about trying joining you for a while now, but you keep moving the joint!

You all sound like my kind of people.
...
...
...
um... I brought pudding...?

Thanks Deano for the new thread, and right now - in keeping with the pudding theme - I'd really like a chocolate gravy ring.

This always confuses English friends, but any child in Belfast knows that a doughnut is something with jam in it, but if it's got a hole in the middle it's a gravy ring.

Hello WW23, I wasn't here when you arrived, so belated welcome, and i hope you're having a nice quiet read in one of the many cozy corners in the Bluestocking - it's magic that way, it looks square-ish but there are as many corners as lovers of cozy corners

The gerbils have a noble history - I believe their Creation Myth is somebody using the phrase 'Foucault-addled grievance gerbils' to describe the easily-offended. This was deemed perfect for a t-shirt, and somehow the gerbils decided to take ownership of the gerbil-related IP and set up their own t-shirt factory....
all of this was aided and abetted by AI-generated images of the talented little rodents, and one thing led to another and here you are, being served an excellent coffee by a gerbil.

You see, it's all very sensible and not baffling at all😁

In short, a funny reference to 'grievance gerbils' took off, and we've been having fun with them ever since; you have to admit, they are very very cute, aren't they?

The yukky American type pudding, I'm afraid, but it's chocolate

Helloooo, and welcome Marie will be along shortly. Drink?

ooh yes please- hot chocolate please gerbils! Been looking forward to this

Hello and welcome to @Waitwhat23 and @AngleofRepose . Great to see you.

Such a perfect potted history.

And welcome to you too, AngleofRepose!
You've probably learnt some of the key features of the Bluestocking if you've been peering in the window for a while - any food or drink you fancy is not just immediately available, but available in limitless quantities - swimming-pool size G&T? vat of hot chocolate? with marshmallows? no problem! And better still, nothing contains problematic stuff like gluten or calories or alcohol, but everything still tastes yum.

Thank you for bringing pudding. Even as we speak, a team of gerbils have taken it to a kitchen/lab and are reverse engineering it so they can produce something of similar deliciousness - though it probably won't be quite as good as when you make it

And you'll have noticed that the serving staff are gerbils - see previous post for what passes for an explanation😄

I don't crochet and I don't knit. <has a think>
oh but I do quilt!
Well, when I say I quilt, I have made an awful lot of patchwork quilts, but I'm really lazy about the quilting bit.
Hoping to teach myself proper hand quilting when I get motivated.

Thank you! I know the pudding is not going to go down well (it's very, puddingy), but didn't want to arrive empty handed

Oooh oooh me too...no woolly stuff but paper patchwork is my favourite.

<Breathes sigh of relief at another non- knitter appearing>

This is one of my lockdown efforts.

I'll just sit here in a corner and soak up the atmosphere while I suck the cream off the top of my hot chocolate with a straw, trying not to make too much noise. It's been decades since I've been in a pub!

<oops! almost sat on a gerbil, not a great start >