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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

The Bluestocking Women's Pub, in which Gosie returns to the trail

898 replies

Magpiecomplex · 27/07/2026 20:46

Next thread!

OP posts:
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103
PastaAllaNorma · 03/08/2026 11:09

FuzzyPuffling · 03/08/2026 10:12

I quite like being "Fluffy". It makes a change from "Fuzzy". One day I will be "Immaculately Groomed Puffling"

( Not much chance of that 😂)

Argh! I didn't even twig - sorry, Fuzzy! I'm not firing on all cylinders today.

(As a Pasta, I wonder if those cylinders are cannelloni, rigatoni, or merely macaroni today)

PastaAllaNorma · 03/08/2026 11:13

And when I saw you in spring 2020, @FuzzyPuffling , you were looking positively dapper! And to think you started as such a wee egg.

The Bluestocking Women's Pub, in which Gosie returns to the trail
The Bluestocking Women's Pub, in which Gosie returns to the trail
ChristmasStars · 03/08/2026 11:23

FuzzyPuffling · 03/08/2026 10:39

You might be waiting a long time!

🤣🤣

ChristmasStars · 03/08/2026 11:23

FuzzyPuffling · 03/08/2026 10:41

Quite smart here....

Beautiful. Very noble looking.

FuzzyPuffling · 03/08/2026 11:43

This was in my garden this morning. Isn't it gorgeous?

The Bluestocking Women's Pub, in which Gosie returns to the trail
EdithStourton · 03/08/2026 11:57

ChristmasStars · 03/08/2026 09:45

Ooh intriguing @MyrtleLion

Batshit sat on the edge of the kerb and slid off it is my favourite line today 🤣

I cracked up at that. Exactly the sort of thing that Batshit does.

Indeed, time for a Batshit Update.

We had a very nice walk yesterday, across one of my permissions which is now mostly wheat stubble. There is a very modern scarecrow (mawkin, as some Suffolk people still say), wearing a boiler suit and a cap, put out I suppose to frighten the pigeons off the ripening crop, and now positioned out of the way of the combine and the baler. The first time Brains spotted it, a few weeks back, she was deeply disconcerted. Looks human, does not smell human, no detectable heartbeat or breathing (IME dogs can hear you breathing from a surprising distance). She got close, established that it was indeed not a human, and wrote it off as not worth her time. When she saw it again yesterday, she totally ignored it even though it had been moved. Batshit of course didn't seem to clock it either time. Batshit was also not the one who flushed a little covey of partridges.

We did a little bit of heelwork along the lane back to the car, and then drove home. Brains hopped neatly out of the car. Batshit decided that she was very excited and jumped out diagonally, slipping on the edge of the boot. She landed mostly on one of her shoulders, got up, shook herself with a look of bewilderment, and then proceeded as if nothing had happened.

I think I mentioned the other day that she jumped up onto a bale and, despite knowing exactly how wide bales are from long and also recent experience, completely misjudged the necessary velocity and went straight off the other side.

So yep, sitting on the edge of a kerb and then sliding off it is 100% something she would do. I'll let you know when it happens, not that we encounter many kerbs.

EdithStourton · 03/08/2026 12:08

Myrtle, you have my dogs pretty much nailed. And my tendency to mud-coloured clothing, though that slips a bit in warmer weather. Though I was wearing a mud-coloured t-shirt over the weekend, when I saw Gosie, so...

NB The t-shirt was a linen one. Can 100% recommend for hot weather. I wish someone made linen bras...

EdithStourton · 03/08/2026 12:09

FuzzyPuffling · 03/08/2026 11:43

This was in my garden this morning. Isn't it gorgeous?

I think it's a Jersey tiger. I saw one at a nature reserve last summer and took excited photos.

FuzzyPuffling · 03/08/2026 12:11

EdithStourton · 03/08/2026 12:09

I think it's a Jersey tiger. I saw one at a nature reserve last summer and took excited photos.

Yep, I think so too. It's the second time I've seen it in my garden recently and im rather excited too. But I also love all the brown moths and less spectacular insects.

Magpiecomplex · 03/08/2026 12:13

EdithStourton · 03/08/2026 12:08

Myrtle, you have my dogs pretty much nailed. And my tendency to mud-coloured clothing, though that slips a bit in warmer weather. Though I was wearing a mud-coloured t-shirt over the weekend, when I saw Gosie, so...

NB The t-shirt was a linen one. Can 100% recommend for hot weather. I wish someone made linen bras...

I'm just grateful for M&S finally discovering that women have boobs bigger than a G cup, and that it's possible to make non-wired bras for us, and that (and this is the real breakthrough) it's possible to make them from cotton-mix fabric! They still can't measure properly, so I have to go up both a back size and a cup size, but I'm prepared to accept that in exchange for not having sweat rash under my boobs, as has happened every summer for pretty much the whole of my adult life.

OP posts:
MyrtleLion · 03/08/2026 12:17

Magpiecomplex · 03/08/2026 12:13

I'm just grateful for M&S finally discovering that women have boobs bigger than a G cup, and that it's possible to make non-wired bras for us, and that (and this is the real breakthrough) it's possible to make them from cotton-mix fabric! They still can't measure properly, so I have to go up both a back size and a cup size, but I'm prepared to accept that in exchange for not having sweat rash under my boobs, as has happened every summer for pretty much the whole of my adult life.

I remember the days of the "minimiser' vra they sold, which squished your breasts as flat as possible ans was painful.

When I discovered Bravissimo and proper measurements 30 years ago, I cried because my backache stopped and I finally felt really attractive, not just big-breasted.

Magpiecomplex · 03/08/2026 12:28

MyrtleLion · 03/08/2026 12:17

I remember the days of the "minimiser' vra they sold, which squished your breasts as flat as possible ans was painful.

When I discovered Bravissimo and proper measurements 30 years ago, I cried because my backache stopped and I finally felt really attractive, not just big-breasted.

Oh god, those minimiser bras were horrible. And if you think about it, even the rationale for them was pretty nasty - the fashion industry basically saying "your body is wrong and we're not going to make clothes which look good on you, you have to make your body fit our clothes".

Did you visit the original Bravissimo shop out at Ealing Broadway? They didn't have much that fit me at that point, but they were still such a breath of fresh air!

OP posts:
EdithStourton · 03/08/2026 13:19

My odd combo of band size and cup size is a bloody nightmare... It takes a very experienced bra fitter to sort me out, and I've never found one in M&S.

EdithStourton · 03/08/2026 13:31

And I've just onto the M&S website and ordered a selection of bras in a couple of sizes the shops never seem to stock.

With any luck one of them will fit. And if it does, I'll buy 2 more, because Bravissimo is bloody expensive!

RumNotRun · 03/08/2026 13:35

That jersey moth is getting around! @AngleofRepose and I have both had it visiting our gardens and now it's your turn @FuzzyPuffling I suppose it could be different ones but I prefer one moth, working its way round the visitors to the Bluestocking.

Magpiecomplex · 03/08/2026 13:44

RumNotRun · 03/08/2026 13:35

That jersey moth is getting around! @AngleofRepose and I have both had it visiting our gardens and now it's your turn @FuzzyPuffling I suppose it could be different ones but I prefer one moth, working its way round the visitors to the Bluestocking.

It's visited me too!
If @MyrtleLion needs another subject for her writing, the peregrinations of Jennifer the Jersey Tiger moth would be good!

OP posts:
Magpiecomplex · 03/08/2026 13:45

EdithStourton · 03/08/2026 13:31

And I've just onto the M&S website and ordered a selection of bras in a couple of sizes the shops never seem to stock.

With any luck one of them will fit. And if it does, I'll buy 2 more, because Bravissimo is bloody expensive!

Yes, I forgot to mention I can only order from the website, I stand no chance whatsoever of finding my size in an M&S shop.

OP posts:
Magpiecomplex · 03/08/2026 13:49

Magpiecomplex · 03/08/2026 13:44

It's visited me too!
If @MyrtleLion needs another subject for her writing, the peregrinations of Jennifer the Jersey Tiger moth would be good!

Having just checked, I'm fairly sure that Fuzzy's is female, and I'm likewise fairly sure that mine was. Jennifer she is!

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PastaAllaNorma · 03/08/2026 14:21

You've all reminded me the M&S sale started and I need a new swimsuit. Thank you!

I've been to my favourite vintage jewellery shop (or second hand, depending how fashionable or not you want to be) and I bought myself a beautiful opal ring to cheer myself up after my rotten few days. It's lovely, although very simple.

Magpiecomplex · 03/08/2026 14:22

PastaAllaNorma · 03/08/2026 14:21

You've all reminded me the M&S sale started and I need a new swimsuit. Thank you!

I've been to my favourite vintage jewellery shop (or second hand, depending how fashionable or not you want to be) and I bought myself a beautiful opal ring to cheer myself up after my rotten few days. It's lovely, although very simple.

I think we're going to need a picture of this ring, Pasta.

OP posts:
FuzzyPuffling · 03/08/2026 14:26

PastaAllaNorma · 03/08/2026 14:21

You've all reminded me the M&S sale started and I need a new swimsuit. Thank you!

I've been to my favourite vintage jewellery shop (or second hand, depending how fashionable or not you want to be) and I bought myself a beautiful opal ring to cheer myself up after my rotten few days. It's lovely, although very simple.

Ooooh show us a picture please?

ErrolTheDragon · 03/08/2026 15:14

Oh yes - I love opals but have never owned one.

AngleofRepose · 03/08/2026 17:18

FuzzyPuffling · 03/08/2026 11:43

This was in my garden this morning. Isn't it gorgeous?

Love it, Fuzzy!

AngleofRepose · 03/08/2026 17:24

Ooh I'd like to see the opal, too, please! Glad you got yourself something to cheer you up, Pasta.

EdithStourton · 03/08/2026 17:40

Nature Notes - raptors
I was out in the garden last week and heard a lot of indignant noise coming from the evergreens in next door's garden. I thought it sounded like a kestrel, but switched on Merlin to check. Merling told me it was a hobby, and then decided it didn't know, and then decided it was a kestrel after all and Edith knew best. It went on and on and on for about 10 minutes. Next door's chickens were all lined up along the side of their run like a squad of mini velocipators, just daring the kestrel to try anything on. I'm out in the garden now, and a more moderate version of the same noise is emerging from the same clump of trees. I'm wondering if there are kestrel nesting there, though it seems very late in the season - even the sparrows have given up, though not the woodies, obvs, they're still shagging on various roofs, with much cooing, strutting and flapping of wings.

Over the weekend I was having to wait for a pub to open. DH and his cousin were engaged in conversation, but I spent the time watching a buzzard. First it gyred upwards anti-clockwise, then with a few flaps reset itself to go up clockwise, before deciding that there was nothing doing on that patch of stubble and heading off westward. It glided a little, then folded its wings above its back like a predatory angel - something I've never seen a buzzard do before, and it really picked up speed - and then gliding again.

And then it disappeared, and also the pub opened. All interest in birds vanished, to be replaced by pale ale.

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