The Bluestocking Pub wakes up to lighter mornings and darker evenings, but we don't care as long as we have gerbils

[MyrtleLion]

Welcome to The Bluestocking, the online pub just for women. And we have a legal definition, thanks to the Supreme Court, whatever anyone else says.

Gosie's latest adventures are finally drawing to a close, so expect a terrific denoument in about a week. Nothing in the food or drink can harm you, everything is served by the lovely gerbil crew, who enjoy supporting us and the other female animals in our menagerie (with a respectful nod to Colin, the dachshund.

If you've heard of us and have spent a long time peering through the windows, wondering if we're an actual cult or just a bunch of very busy women with a ridiculous sense of humour, do come in. Everyone is welcome, though curious menfolk are welcome at the Staunch Ally down the road, where they are invited to support us from a respectful distance.

Previous thread is here:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5588672-welcome-to-the-bluestocking-it-is-celebration-time-for-everyone

Never heard of them, you learn something new every day! Apparently a less unwieldy version of a French horn. Which are awkward to play and seem to need draining quite often.

Yes even Gubbins who is working on a Symphonic Poem for Percussion Idiophone and Orchestra based on the adventures of Gosie. It has stalled a bit on the 'and Orchestra' bit, but she is undaunted...

Gubbins needs to go back to the Grieghallen in Bergen, which has a Dovregubbens Hall named in her honour - Gubbens obviously being the Norwegian spelling. She made such a hit there with her triangle solo that I’m sure they’d be happy to help.

I've had One of Those Mornings.

Nothing major, just a series of small cock-ups and frustrations, and the breakage of some much-loved kitchen crockery.

The gerbil matching band has cheered me up no end.

Our clock keeps going back an hour a day so that we end up in the right time zone when we get to New York. I appreciate the lack of jet lag in the end but it’s just slightly weird in the process having effectively a 25hour day, and I’m having to manually adjust the time on my phone while we’re still at sea (I’m guessing it will do it on its own once we arrive).

Sorry to hear that, Edith
A marching band is good for lifting the spirits, especially if it is a gerbil marching band in splendid uniforms....

Sousaphone
Saxophone
..Mellophone?? new one on me too..

I see Gubbins has brought the triangle to the concert platform - brava, brava, bravissima! <wipes away furtive tear>
She is known reverentially as La Giubbina in all the major cities of Europe. And Bergen. And Peak Woo.
She looks so sophisticated and elegant in that beautiful dress - Vesti la Giubbina., innit?😄

"She looks so sophisticated and elegant in that beautiful dress - Vesti la Giubbina., innit?😄"

👏👏👏

I’d have thought the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra would be honoured to perform with her.

Don’t forget xylophone

Um, guys? I heard something very disturbing today on BBC Sounds and it seems to be true...

Gerbils caused the Black Death, not rats.

Is this something we just gloss over in a "don't mention the war" way?

I'm partial to a glockenspiel, personally.

I expect great gerbils are different from Bluestocking gerbils.

I assure you, all the gerbils I've met at the Bluestocking except Gillian are GREAT.

It's a giant smear campaign.

Obviously they were rats who identified as gerbils. PR stunt.

If you read the article, they think the problem occurred when climatic events caused a crash in the population of gerbils and marmots in Eastern Asia and the homeless fleas hitched a ride on camels and merchants to Europe.

So, really not the gerbils fault.
To prevent plague, look after your gerbils and attend to the hygiene of camels.

Oh yes, also gorgeous, glorious and grand. But they still might not belong to the Great Gerbil species or genus or class or whatever it is.

Didn't someone mention camel plunge pools? Sounds like an excellent hygiene measure!

I'll have no rat blaming. Rats are our friends.

I've known some lovely rats. They played football and hide and seek and liked fishing for peas.

Right, Errol's pointed out it was poor gerbil health that was responsible. Gerbils are clearly exonerated. Phew.

Gillian would like to point out that if she was male, she'd be congratulated on having a 'go-getting attitude' and commended for 'leadership potential'.

Anyway, she's behind the bar, cracking her knuckles.

I was going to post on a thread on the Doghouse this afternoon, but it had gone to hell with promises of instant flouncing etc, so I backed away carefully.

I went round to my neighbour's with some village news, and came home a glass of wine later.

Whereas the Litter Tray is only dangerous to people who buy kittens online & / or can’t be arsed to spay & neuter their cats.

It's too cold.

I must hibernate.

I'll need feeding first.

Gillian has new purpose as the Drum Major for the marching band (check the name badge in the picture).

Hey, everyone, been busy today clearing up the garden and other things. (Why do I bother? There are still leaves on the trees, so will have to do it all again in a couple of weeks, no doubt)

I saw one of those history programmes several years ago (BBC or Ch4, I think) that demonstrated conclusively (I thought) that the Black Death was actually caused by fleas that lived on humans, so not rodent fleas. Apparently, since everyone had fleas, we did it to ourselves. Wish I could remember the name of the show.

It's clearer now than it was earlier, and I saw three satellites pass over the house. I'm used to seeing satellites, since I try to look for them, but they used to be very small, faint, and you really had to search and you needed extremely dark skies. Now they're suddenly everywhere, very bright, easy to locate, and occasionally travelling in a long string of them across the sky. I've read that these are the new Starlinks, and one of the best places in the world to see them is in the UK, due to location and latitude. They travel in a long string when first launched, then are deployed.

The ones I saw tonight were travelling in different directions, so I guess not recently launched.

That must feel quite strange! Have they managed the clock-changing, or has that passed? Or is it Sunday coming up?