The Bluestocking: home of the ice-cold Mojito foot-bath

[MarieDeGournay]

Welcome all to the Bluestocking Women's Pub, where food and drink are free as in gluten free, calorie free, alcohol free - but still delicious. And free free too, of course.
Served by highly professional staff who are gerbils.

The Bluestocking Ice-Cold Mojito Foot-bath kept us deliciously cool through the heatwave. Come and join us, in case there's another one🌞

I tried getting you on the no bite list but they wanted an extortionate amount of Tunnock's in return.

So... Enjoy your many bites this evening.

Sorry!

@PastaAllaNorma , thank you for your blood donation.

Does that mean you are healthier now, hence able to give blood, rather than for some other reason? I hope so. ❤️

I’m sorry to read that you get bitten, too, Boily. The bitey things must be very determined in order to find a soft spot in your outer layer.

We understand your inside soft spots are partly held for Tunnocks. .

35 years ago I was told the antidepressant I was on meant I should give blood. That's no longer the advice, because there was a donor drive in the city centre and I asked about it

The nurse today said not to give blood again until I know whether or not the knee replacement will go ahead in autumn, because they won't perform surgery within 3 months of a blood donation.

That I shouldn't , I meant.

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius

What gorgeous dresses, a real labour of love.

Ah, understood, Pasta. I had to stop donating blood when I started medication for high blood pressure.

It’s good that they are so careful about the blood they accept.

Those dresses are just stunning, Woley! Very impressed by the skill - I've never attempted to make clothes, just bits and pieces of tailoring when necessary. I did used to make clothes for my dolls, but that's not the same thing at all!

I have borderline anaemia, so every time I gave blood they said I was anaemic and they had to do the dropping through a blue liquid (copper sulphate I think) which would be fine. But it happened so often I stopped going.

They had a blue one for women and a green one for men. Men have higher haemoglobin levels, apparently.

Is it just me, or is the pollen just EVIL today? My eyes are so itchy I almost can't stand it, and that's after my one-a-day allergy pill. The heat is building, too. Might be 31C by Thursday. Tired. of. it.

The viewing went well. I get a really good feeling from the house, and, as Fuzzy says, it's not all doom and gloom having the nirth-facing garden. It's quite small, but does get some sun. I think it has an established apple tree as well. Nicely-proportioned rooms, 1960s house, so definitely not the prettiest house I've ever! But, who cares? Great location.

Downsides are many: the house needs a complete overhaul, and I mean everything, except the heating system which is new (I suspect they couldn't sell it without the new system, certainly not at the price they are asking). So I need to spend a day or so deciding if I'm willing to spend 8 months or more fixing it up. It will need some structural work as well, and the drains appear to be completely blocked (at least at the surface level), and there are some mysterious cracks. A few ceilings will need to come down, and that may mean getting the specialists because it's likely that some of these ceilings will have asbestos in them. I've bought and sold so many times, I know problems when I see them. I struggle to view now without seeing all the problems, which is probably why it's taking me so long!

So, just a matter of deciding whether or not to offer. It hasn't gone through probate yet either, and I wanted to buy something this year, so we'll see how I feel tomorrow. I think it's overpriced, but I need to decide if it were cheaper, would I want it, knowing the work? (was thinking about what we had to do with this current home, and what Marie has just been through, and wondering if I have the energy anymore!)

Some heavy thinking to do.

Marie, I hope all your work got finished today!

How did they know, or think they knew, you were anaemic before the dropping-through-coloured-liquid process?
I thought that was the test they used, but I am well out of date.

Commiserations @AngleofRepose I have also moved house many times over the years and have come to the conclusion that, unless the house is actually falling down, you can fix most things apart from the location. I learned from bitter experience that the right house in the wrong location can be a constant irritation. The main thing is how much time and effort (and money) you are prepared to put in.

Thanks, Damson, yes, it's got to be location, especially this time, because I don't want to have to move again! Will need to weigh up the cost and disruption. It's not a bad price on the face of it, but add on renovation costs...!

Exactly what Damson says. I have moved house a lot too and the location is the fixed thing. Although that house sounds like it needs a lot of work, it means you get to choose style and fittings that suit you, not putting up with someone else's vision. It could be short term pain, long term gain. And at least you'll get it all done at once.

Obviously only if the price reflects the work.

That's how I view it too, Fuzzy: if it has to come out, you get to replace it with stuff that you like. You endure however long of disruption, and then settle down to enjoy a house that's how you want it.

And Boily, I can't believe how little influence you have over bitey insects. Can you at least get the flies to sod off out of my house? I thought I'd managed to empty them out of the living room by opening the window, buthalf a dozen still seem to be loitering around. Perhaps they've come through from the kitchen, where I've been whacking the little sods all day.

There were two tests. The blue liquid may have been the first one, but the other one involved a disc thing.

ChatGPT tells me it was a Lovibond haemoglobin comparator, which was still in some use around that era.

It worked like this: a pinprick of blood was diluted in a small tube with a reagent (usually Drabkin’s or a similar solution) to convert the haemoglobin to a stable coloured compound. You then held the tube up against a flat rotating disc set with a graded series of glass colour standards (from pale to deep red) and turned the disc until you found the closest match.

Each position on the disc corresponded to a haemoglobin value in g/dl, which the nurse read straight off.

I would always pass that one.

I used to donate blood when I lived in England in the 90s but since I came over here in 2002 the American Red Cross has turned me down because of fears about mad cow disease. Possibly I’m now at 76 too old anyway, but I did try.

I can't donate blood as I've had a blood transfusion so I'm permanently disqualified from giving blood.

Last time I checked, they won't take blood from people with fibromyalgia so that's me ruled out. And have been for 30 years. I'm O+ though, so I'm not exactly in demand. Mr Magpie is O- and used to give blood regularly until they made it almost impossible to find somewhere to do it.

Oh! I've just checked again and it's changed!

I gave a lot of blood as a student, and started again when DH was having weekly blood and platelet transfusions, as a sort of payback.
I can't do it now because of medication.

Interestingly, post transplant, DH now has a new blood group. I thought it would have been an ideal time to rob a bank. Forensic fun!

That’s amazing.

I was a regular donor for quite a long time, aside form a massive lull when I had the DC.

I used to go to a local hall which was always packed, but was decreed to be 'too small'. I said to the bod who tried to rebook me that they would lose a lot of donors and they said it didn't matter, they had people queuing up in Ipswich. I did try to donate a few more times, despite the tedious drive (the nearest place is now 15-20 minutes drive away), and it was so chaotic that I just gave up.

For a few years they sent me begging emails about how desperately short they were, and I'd try and book and I'd find there was a two or three week wait a 20+ minutes drive off and thought, if they were that desperate, they'd be doing what they used to do and using a lot more village halls.

I do feel a bit guilty, but the attitude when I said they'd lose a lot of donors really pissed me off.

Glue on some fake fingerprints and you're good to go...

I'm trying to work out how someone's bone marrow can be compatible when their blood type is different. Not a biologist... Where is @Igneococcus when you need her?