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.

Beautiful work!

After that little trip down memory lane to the model Bluestocking, it's time to say g'night all, and sending special wishes for a restful, peaceful night to Cake and Pasta 🌛

My knees are heading towards dodgy. I suspect that they will be my mobility weak point when I get old.

@AngleofRepose it's said as Josie. Her parents couldn't spell. Grünhilde is quietly disapproving of this, but knows better than to say anything.

Much love and support to both Cake and Pasta.

@lcakethereforeIam I send you so much sympathy

We're all just waiting to see whether Dad gets through a second surgery. They've turned him down for hip surgery as "Too Risky" for 6 years because of the open sores on his legs.

So everything crossed

I suppose that I never really looked at anyone else's foot...and I'll have you know that I was a married woman at the time.

When I first got together with DH, I went round to his shared flat & he was sitting there with bare feet. They were the most beautiful feet I'd ever seen: shapely, smooth & cold as marble. I assumed that I would spend my life with him, admiring & stroking his gorgeous feet. I was up for that.

Nope. That was a one-off. In 40+ years I've almost never seen his feet again. I sometimes pleaded with him as he removed his day socks, but the most I got was a flash of foot before the night socks went on. Aaaaaargh!

DH had bonny feet. I did see them a lot, but that was because I had to look after them for him latterly.

We won't go into my feet. Mild bunions - inherited. Don't believe people who say it's the shoes. It isn't. It's genetic.

Second toe is shorter than the big toe and the middle toe, like a hand so I always thought toes mirrored hands. Stubby little things but that's genetic too. They actually look a bit pretty.

I LOVE seeing The Bluestocking as built by Marie. Such amazing work. I built models before I took up knitting last year. I still have two unopened kits that I must build. It's fiddly but at least it's just assembling and glueing. Marie made 95% of her model from scratch!

Reading another thread, I came across this phrase & remembered that it annoys me:

nearly half a decade

I mean, it's trying to co-opt all the impressiveness of a 10-year period, while it could mean as little as 2.51 years. My mind reads it as decade = 10 years, then half a decade = 5 years, then nearly half a decade = anything over 2.51 years but less than 5 years. It's so clumsy & it works backwards IYKWIM. It disrupts the sentence by making me decode it, backwards, in the middle of a forward-flowing sentence.

I've also seen 'nearly half a century' which, again, reaches for the gravitas of 100 years while actually meaning potentially as little as 25 years & a day. Why not just say '20-30 years' or 'more than 25 years' or just, you know, the actual number of years?

When did this start & where did it come from?

I love the fact that I've got bouquets of support about DH's foot denial. 😂

You are right!

I am currently on page 16, thinking I really ought to be in bed at this time of the night, and there are 33 pages on the thread at the moment 🥹

I also have this problem. You all go too fast for me!

I had a car with a sat nav that always announced distances in tenths of a mile. "In two tenths of a mile..." Cue cognitive disconnect while I thought "but that's a fifth, just say a fifth".

At church on Sunday I was talking to a woman who was talking about her knee replacement ( successful) and whether she would have her hip or ankle dealt with next.

She is 5 years younger than me. I feel fortunate, either genetically or lifestyle. Or maybe both.

I have this same issue with "up to 100%" - could mean anything, could mean 2%! Or 0%! Advertisers give me the rage. At least I only see them on YouTube now, since I gave up TV last year.

Morning, all! Sunny and windy, I really should do some laundry and cleaning, but I need to keep up my walking, so I know which one I'll choose today!

Oh, very good!

If Gosie wants to travel further North, the West coast of Scotland has a fabulous weather forecast for this week. My colleague and I are now planning a sampling trip for this week which strictly speaking we don't need to do for another two or three month but one look at the forecast decided the timing for us.

Something that sets my teeth on edge is an ad on TV which says that a product has TWO TIMES AS MANY....', why not 'twice as many..'? Gets me very time😒

Also a TV ad which says 'if you have dry skin TRY TO TAKE A SHOWER WITH SANEX'.

Try to? as in 'attempt to?' Why is taking a shower such a doubtful action?
I worked out that what they probably mean is 'TRY TAKING A SHOWER WITH SANEX', meaning that it might be beneficial.

Weird that nobody at all seems to have picked up on the fact that 'try to' and 'try' don't mean the same thing.

Hits the same nerve as 'nearly half a...', Android😠

Don't you see his feet when be showers? Or swims? I'm confronted with my DH's clodhoppers every bloody day.

I'm not into feet, so if you'd like my viewing slot, you're welcome to it...

Chickadeeinme, knittedsloth - take heart, you have read 'up to 100%' of all previous posts😄

Thinking of you and your Dad today, Pasta💙

The youth now seem to say 'train station'. It's the bloody STATION. Bus stations are like hen's sodding teeth.

I grind my teeth every time.

A lot of them - mine included - also tend to say 'glaysher'. It's a gla-ci-er.

I will admit to being an arsey mare.*

*I have handled enough mares over the years to have great respect and liking for the arsey ones. We get on well. My two favourite horses of all time were both mares, both 'a bit too strong' for the inexperienced, but absolutely wonderful when ridden by someone who was reasonably competent and had the confidence to keep them in line.

And @PastaAllaNorma, thinking of you.

I'm reminded of another bug bear, in relation to false "gravitas" in the news:

When the news story is something like "this is the worst [whatever] the country has experienced since... 2021." Usually referring to the economy or terrorism or crime of another description.

When was " worst ever since" reduced to a few years, as though we were all born yesterday and have the attention spans of gnats? The hyperbole is ridiculous and counterproductive as well. We used to have " worst" occurrences once every 100 years, or at the very least, once a generation.

It always just comes across as trying too hard to make a story interesting. And then we are left with no real crises anymore because "the worst EVER " happened last year!

I am a grumpy old woman.