Bluestocking Women’s Pub - it’s Maytime!

[ErrolTheDragon]

Welcome to any women who want the company of women!

Thats it really….ok so this place is staffed by gerbils with the occasional quokka or capybara but it functions like a friendly pub where you don’t have to know what’s going on all the time.
The drinks don’t intoxicate and the food is delicious yet healthy so please do come in.

Is sella rice or pre-cooked rice any better?

Idk - we rarely eat rice at home. Nor (this may be a shock to some!) potatoes - we pretty much only get those when DD is home and we have a roast. I found the remains of the Xmas King Edward’s quietly sprouting in a black cloth bag in the utility room last week😬.

@AngleofRepose- the answer to your question is of course that U.K. house prices are too expensive. Banks allowed mortgage earnings multiples to get far too high during the years of low interest rates. And people foolishly think houses are an ‘investment’ the value of which should rise in real terms - they’re not, they’re things to live in which deteriorate over time rather than magically improving.
Sorry, more serious than you probably wanted but with a youngster looking at buying in an expensive area it’s worrying!

Morning all, and good luck today Magpie!

Sometimes meteorologists make me go 🙄like when they tell a sodden nation that the band of rain which has been p*ssing all over their plans

'Will move eastwards over the night, clearing the east coast by early morning'
😃🌞🍻🏊🏃🚴🎉🏏

'when it will be replaced by the another band of rain...'
😡🌧☔

Yes, meteorologists, it really matters to the general public which particular band of rain is ruining their plans for a barbie🙄

Seriously though, I do understand that that is what meteorology is all about

Thank you.

Does this mean if someone oversteps your personal boundaries you can whack them with a big stick? And then shake annoying little bells in their face?

Why do i think Gubbins would be really good at this?

Good luck with the house-hunting, Angle!
My theory about house prices being expensive in the countryside as well as the city is that as city property prices went up, and city life became less popular - COVID gave that a boost - people sold their city houses, moved to the country which changed the property market in rural areas, and they had bundles of dosh from their city property, which drove up rural house prices.

Errol is so right about the artificiality of house prices - the same box made of bricks or blocks which fulfils the same function of keeping you dry and warm and keeping the outside outside and the inside inside can fluctuate in value for all sorts of reasons, but it's still just a house, isn't it?

And even if the house has increased in value from the time of buying it, you can't capitalise in that until you sell it. In our case it will be once we're dead. DSD will be wealthy, though she'll need the money to support her for the rest of her life.

In the meantime, young people can't afford deposits and rents have gone sky high to cover the mortgages of the buy to let landlords. When housing was rented by the state, rents were more reasonable.

Yes, although you should first try waving a hankie at them. I’m convinced Morris is the English (is it practiced in the other uk nations?) National martial art.

Thank you for the recipe! I think it's the wheat, so I may try the oat bread.
If it toasts well, this will, however, mean that I will have to start eating butter again...

Well, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

Thanks, Errol and Marie and Myrtle, yes, it's all just "fake" money, isn't it? I just want something big enough to accommodate a carer, perhaps, when I'm old (no family left except my sister and her grownup children on the West Coast, USA), and some kind of garden I can enjoy, but not so big that I can't manage. I don't want to have to move again, and I will need to be closer to city amenities and hospitals than I am now. Bus routes especially. There is a bus that runs through my village, but it's once every two hours, and often unreliable.

Just haven't found my compromises yet, I suppose, and this burst of house hunting won't last long (it comes in waves). It's all just so discouraging, but might need to wait a while for the market to "refresh " as they say.

Still, counting my blessings that I have a roof over my head that's mine, unlike so many young people trying to buy now. Even my sister's kids, in their 30s, are still renting, but neither has kids themselves yet. Housing on the West Coast is ridiculously expensive!

we’re In a similar situation thinking we should move from being in a small village with no amenities. We spent a damp Saturday recently at the estate agents in an area we think would suit our requirements. Any hits are going to DH, he’s had nothing yet he thinks is worth even discussing with me yet. Meanwhile DD and her BF are starting to look at buying, in Cambridge for their sins which is one of the most expensive cities.

There are nice villages just outside that are a bit cheaper Errol would they consider those?

Possibly, but it has to be one with a station on a line to Stevenage because BF works there and doesn’t drive. Her job is to the south of the city but if she moves on most of the opportunities in her field are to the north.

It used to be that Ely was a bit of bargain but not so much any longer - it has definitely got posher over the last 35 years.

DH thinks we'll need to move closer to amenities sooner than I do. There are lots of decrepit people around the village and I don't see why I can't become one of them - except that if I do, I will become a complete pain in the arse to my DC, so I owe it to them to be sensible. I know the exact road I want to move to in my dotage - decently-sized houses with good-sized rooms, small but very pleasant gardens, short and fairly level walk to shops, GP, bus stop, restaurants etc, close to open space to run whatever my dotage-dog ends up being, lots of local clubs and societies - and friends in the area.

I would just like to some forewarning of when my dotage intends to begin... Because I'll be spitting tacks if I move to the dotage-house, and downsize to the dotage-dog, at 75, and find myself still striding around the countryside and craving a working dog ten years later.

I'll be even crosser if DH insists on moving when we're 70...

'Dotage - are we there yet'? is a very good point! I have to correct myself a lot because I keep referring to 'elderly neighbours' and then thinking feck, I AM an elderly neighbour😬

Just last night I had a talk with an old [in both sense of the word] chum about when we would declare ourselves in need of a personal alarm - we both live on our own and have no family/no family nearby - 'before it's too late'.
And we agreed soon, but not quite yet..

But we also agreed to try very hard not to be 'squeamish' about admitting that we are getting old, incredible though that may seem and will need support, probably sooner than we think!

I think that if you [one] are [is] thinking seriously about moving house, the sooner the better. because the upheaval will get harder and harder as the years go by. That said, property prices might come down... but there's an emotional and physical cost to moving house, apart from the financial cost.

I've concluded that although where I live is not perfect - no amenities or public transport close enough to be within walking distance - I do not have the physical, and possibly emotional, resources to move.

So like Angle, I'm just thankful I have this roof over my head, that I own. When I read about people losing the homes they've been renting for decades, and becoming homeless in their 70s and 80s, I feel so very lucky.

Edith - I would just like to some forewarning of when my dotage intends to begin...

I realised when I had a knee injury that stopped me driving for 3 months, that it would be impractical to stay in my old village if ever I could not drive permanently. I moved to my current home two years later (Covid having got in the way) and have not regretted it. Aside from having family nearby, transport links and shops are much better and I have been able to set up new interests and activities, but can still drive back to my old location an hour or so away to meet friends.

I suppose it's a bit like the advice (about loos) I was given once when going on a long coach journey across Europe - 'Go when you can, not when you need to'.........😁

We moved to our "dream" house (Kent to Cornwall) and in less than a year, DH was diagnosed with blood cancer (age 50, not dotage) The distance to hospitals ( 45 miles) almost killed both of us. We stuck it out for 7 years and then moved to somewhere much more convenient. It's not so pretty, it has no kudos or status, but it has buses, shops, libraries, health care provision all within walking distance. And the people judge a LOT less.

I want t stay in this house until I die. In reality if my joints are fecked, two flights of stairs to bed isn't ideal.

Did I tell you the surgeon said as long as I can lower my BMI by 0.9 then I can have a knee replaced in the autumn? That would be amazing.

Dreams don’t always translate to reality. Wise move Fuzzy.

That’s a heck of an incentive! Do you want some gerbils to guard your fridge?

Send in the Wombat

Have you been interviewed yet? @Magpiecomplex
yes- hope it went well! When will you find out?
no - hope it goes well! When will you find out?

👻200 posts behind now! What a time I've had, locked out & hammering on the windows & shouting but nobody would let me in. I've cleared all the rubbish out of the way & now I'm back.

Gerbils, something comforting & restorative, please.

Not been in because busy.

There was some Morris dancing, with sticks, at the weekend, but not involving me.

I have taken some time out of my busy schedule to go and vote - Senedd, as I'm in Wales. I saw one other voter. The officiating people must be dizzy with boredom.