The Bluestocking Pub: Infinite Cocktails, Questionable Logistics

[MyrtleLion]

Welcome to the nth iteration of the Bluestocking women’s pub, where gerbils are staff, the drinks are free, and alcohol has no effect except to get you to the sweet spot just before the drink you really shouldn’t have had.

Men can go to the Staunch Ally next door.

It’s OK if you don’t understand. Just assume everything is normal.

Previous thread is here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5523989-bluestocking-womens-pub-its-maytime

I'm not much of a poetry fan, though I still have bits of Horace and Virgil rattling round the back of my heid from school.

I recently picked up a volume of H.D. though, and it's surprising how much is familiar, though I don't know where from.

That's just the stuff from the dining room and living room!

They have stuff in three bedrooms as well, plus furniture and kitchen equipment in the garage.

Mr Pasta's car is large and we couldn't fit all the waste cardboard in it! They would order stuff from Amazon and chuck the package in a cupboard and shut the door on it. There's acres of this shite to wade through.

@FuzzyPuffling - that's my late Mum's sewing machine; she made a lot of her own clothes. Niece claimed it when her business idea was making and selling stuffed toys. Then it was chutney and preserved, then fermenting, then crochet amigarumi.

We found out via the local newspaper that she and Mr Feckless have just rented a stall in the indoor market this weekend. A "crochet" shop. Talk about niche. Not even yarn.

Here's what's behind one of the seven cupboard doors in the spare bedrooms they've left at Dad's house. (They've put a lock on their own room so god knows what's in that!)

I'm beyond disgusted.

Oh, Pasta, what a nightmare for you. I'm assuming they won't be allowed back into the house again, except to collect their stuff, if you can get them to do so. As for the lock on "their" bedroom door, there should be no rooms in his own house to which your father doesn't have access.

Exactly what @NotAtMyAge said. What top- level CFs they are. Your poor dad...and poor you too, having to sort it out.
Have they had their marching orders?

They did a moonlight flit while Dad was in hospital.

Dad texted to say he "agrees with their decision to move on, as it's clearly time," because they wouldn't answer his phone calls. There were some manipulative and frankly unpleasant messages from Niece, then they blocked his number.

Her dad, my brother, is just around the corner and is assisting Dad as best he can but he's got 5 other kids and a 3 year old grandson living with him, so he's pretty swamped himself.

To add to it, MrPasta's mum has a series of hospital appointments so we'll be back and forth to Wales relentlessly in coming months.

Oh Pasta, what a mess. For you to sort out. I'm sorry this has all handed in your lap and pray you have the strength to get through it all.
Families sometimes take the bleddy buscuit.

That's awful, Pasta!
Do they think they still own all this Amazon stuff, or can you sell it - although I realise that's yet another job for you.
When I was leaving England, I got someone to sell stuff I didn't want to ship to Ireland for me on eBay.
She took 30% commission, but that was OK as I was much too busy to do it myself, she called and collected it all, and 70% of something was better than nothing.
It's called 'consignment selling'.

The locked room full of their stuff is an issue. I'm channelling Judge Judy here in suggesting that you could give them a deadline to retrieve it, and have somebody neutral there when they come to get their stuff.

The gerbils are ready and willing to help, they don't just do catering you know

I have today received an official ADHD diagnosis and the clinician recommended an ASD referral as well (one is already in hand).

That's really great news but I need to jump through a few more hoops to get medication.

Sadly I also received the MRI results.

I have a 50% tear in my Flexor Hallucis Longus tendon - the tendon that works the big toe.

I also have a split tear (lengthways) in the Peroneus Longus Brevis tendon that runs on the outside of the foot. This was under pressure in 2022 but not torn.

So probably another operation but it will need to be managed carefully because the ankle mechanics are so complicated.

Oh Myrtle, that's a lot for you!

I'm taking the least confrontational option, @FuzzyPuffling , because I don't want to mar my brother's relationship with his eldest any more than it's damaged already.

So I am not binning any of the endless, pointless shite at all. I'm just removing packaging, consolidating, packing it up and labelling it for collection. It was strewn all around the house. Now much of it is out of Dad's way.

What a horrible situation for your dad @PastaAllaNorma and also for you, having to sort it out from a distance. I would be inclined to shift the whole lot into a storage unit, pay the fees for one month and give the niece and partner a date by which it must be cleared, with anything remaining after that date to be removed by a house clearer (if it can't just be taken to the tip). Also, as the owner of the house, your dad has the legal right to inspect any rooms being used by a lodger after giving reasonable notice, to check whether any maintenance is required.

@AuntieMsDamsonCrumble is right, @PastaAllaNorma . Take advantage of legal remedies!

Sorry to hear this Myrtle, but at least you now have the diagnoses and can start to plan a way forward on both issues.

I'm loving the Gosie chronicles, but I've just realised that I identify with a certain guest house owner in Plymouth who can 'discuss the properties of marmalade for 15 minutes at a time without pause'. And don't even get me started on damson jam.....😁

@Chickadeeinme and @AuntieMsDamsonCrumble - if it was up to me, we would!

But she has a very lovely sister who is trying not to take sides, she's Dad's granddaughter (and he loves her very much despite this) and I'm being careful not to upset anyone beyond the inevitable.

She will be incandescent when she finds out I've boxed up her stuff. One of the aspects of her autism is being extremely precious about anyone ever touching her stuff. (Although that didn't extend to doing her own laundry) When she discovers I've packed everything, including her teenage diaries etc, she will have a conniption.

Christ, I need a drink. Barkeep, you finest vintage champagne to celebrate being at home tonight!

Another day in London today. Gerbera, Genista and Geum went with me today, and got very excited when we saw their namesakes!

Large vat of hot chocolate please, bar gerbil.

A mixture of news there, Myrtle - it's good you got an ADHD diagnosis at last - people often say that it makes a lot of things fall into place for them, and I hope you take positives from it.

The foot diagnosis sounds concerning, I hope they can do something for the problems without needing more surgery!

Certainly Modom. And Modom's room has been prepared for Modom, should Modom wish to rest..

I've been to the dentist today. Just a check-up, but it was slightly daunting as the dentist is new to me. The last couple of times I've travelled back to my old dentist, but I decided it was time to find a new one nearer to my current home. I needn't have worried, of course, he was a lovely man, with a soft Irish accent and was very reassuring.

It's still a bit galling though, to be charged the best part of £100 for a check up and two X-rays, to be told there's nothing wrong with your teeth😶

Oh, Pasta, I thought I was the only one who had relatives like this (hoarding, entitled, etc.). So sorry to you are having to deal with this. I do feel your pain, anger, and exhaustion- have done it all with grandparents' house, with additional flooding (not repairing things they should have been repairing), things stolen, and squatters... Just ❤💐

Myrtle, I appreciate you keeping up with all of Gosie's voyages, with all you have on 💚

Have a Talisker on me!

Modom most certainly does wish to rest!

Looking at it another way: Being told you need a filling you need a root canal you need an extraction there's nothing wrong with your teeth: priceless
I'm being facetious - that is a lot of money😟

But she can’t seriously expect you & your dad to leave everything untouched until she can be bothered to collect it?