Food and Drink #26

[Geetbo]

Dog spam part 1.

 

[Froggies]

Husband has had a car accident. He’s fine (well apart from being a bit stiff) but the car is written off.
He beeped a defender that pulled out of a driveway right in front of him so the defender slammed his brakes on. Husband swerved to avoid hitting him and hit a lamppost instead. The other driver stopped, got out of his car and started screaming abuse at him he’s really shaken.
The other driver called the police who were not impressed to be called out and made it known that they were aware of how the accident occurred but without dash cam footage, nothing could be done.

It was a car my husband had wanted for years. Only small, quite old, used as a runaround but one that made him smile every day. He’d only had it 6 months but said it was the best car he’d ever had. I’ve said the important thing is he’s ok but he’s so, so shaken. He’s a really careful driver and has never had an accident.

Master Froggies has kept the number plate, sobbed a lot and written a card to the car

 

[Geetbo]

Now I’m wanting to get a kitten which probably wouldn’t be wise

Geetpup has settled in amazingly well actually. I have a photo of him on me and he looks adorable but obviously don’t want to so I’ll leave you with this

 

[MancBee]

It's a Sin was an amazing series. I am so sad to hear you knew the real Colin, as his story affected me most.

The Gaultier show handles it as you've described it. The sad scene blends into how the Pride movement took off and the strength of the gay community coming together. Jean-Paul has rarely spoken about it, so it felt very intimate seeing the events represented in dance and theatre.

Yes Colin (not his real name) came from a village my grandparents lived in. He was a lovely lad, only mid 20's. He was arrested in his hospital bed as he wanted to leave and go back to Wales to die. His last few days were spent with a policeman in full PPE outside his door, handcuffed by chain to his bed. Horrific.

The hospital had been abandoned years before, it was a TB isolation hospital that was brought back into use with second hand beds and equipment that had been donated by other local hospitals. They had trouble getting ancillary staff to work there and the nursing staff and volunteers did things like cleaning and porter work. However the nursing staff and doctors were amazing.

I remember the ward clerk on "Colins" ward, a young girl no older that 20. To this day she works as administration assistant on the HIV wards. Now nearing retirement, she is the sort that should be awarded an Honour.

 

[Geetbo]

Well lads I hope you’re prepared as there’s going to be puppy spam from me for the next two weeks. Me and the other Mr Geetbo went to look at a puppy this morning, and decided to do a chaos and add him to our menagerie. V excited.

 

[EllaEm87]

Just popping in to send To everyone struggling both with the MT and real life stuff.

Maisie says hello @Geetbo and @Into_the_tunnel dogs

 

[Geetbo]

Dog feat socks. And manky old slippers.

 

[Geetbo]

I think it’s fair to say puppo has settled in well.

 

[Wooh]

Good morning.

Well, I'm depressed. The capital D sort of an episode where having a shower is impossible due to the sheer weight of the water, and where sleeping 4pm to 1am seems totally normal.

I'm in anti-depressants, and will use my experience and resourcefulness to trudge it out.

I have to laugh, though. Depression is so stupid. I actually know I'm a smart, funny, amazing woman. Why on earth would I listen to my own brain telling me I'm so unworthy that washing some cutlery is not permissible?

As always, I am fine at work. My depression brain is extremely good at compartmentalising.

Anyway, it's good to normalise talking about depression and anxiety as if it's a bad cold. I've built somewhat of an immunity to it since 2018, so I may well do some housework on my day off tomorrow. And I'll spend time with the trio of ponies. Force myself. It's not climbing a mountain, but mountains are comfortingly always there to welcome me back. Thanks beautiful mountains.

!No responses needed! I hope you've all had cheery weekends

 

[traumatised sideboard]

@Wooh

Seven quid for a jubilee party?! That's a third of a weekly food budget for two people!

The MT is a lot, I've got 20 pages of the new thread to get through so I know it's going to be nothing good (from her, not the incisive and witty frauen). It's DKL watchalong at 7pm though which is always fun if anyone wants to join in.

Daily Kitchen Live rewatch #1

Did she actually say "contrary to common conception" 🤣

tattle.life

Spoiler: mental health team appointment ramble

Everything went surprisingly ok considering the last time I saw an NHS psychiatrist he was an absolute twat who gave me idiotic (and actually dangerous) advice. Did not appreciate that they didn't tell me there were two student doctors sitting in with the psychiatrist and nurse though. I didn't like to say anything until the doctor asked me why I was looking out of the window so much and I felt like where tf am I supposed to look, I've got three strangers facing me like they're waiting for me to burst into a virtuosic rendition of Landslide. It's also really worrying when you haven't said anything in over a minute and you can hear multiple people scribbling or typing away. You start to wonder what it is you're doing that's interesting enough to write down and question if you're just acting really strangely.

Anyway, I agreed to switch antipsychotics. My main issue with the one I'm on (and why I started taking less than half the dose) is that it makes it very difficult to wake up during the night due to the sedation and I was worried that someone would break in and I'd need to wake up immediately to defend myself. The new one apparently has the opposite effect and I might be totally wired for two weeks but the voice in my head had fuck all to say about it so Just waiting for my GP surgery to write the prescription so I can collect it.

A genuine thank you to all of you for your kindness and letting me stomp all over the thread like the main character of Twitter. It really does make a difference to an anonymous sweaty lonely sideboard. I'll draw all of your gardens when I'm better. If you don't have a garden I will buy you some fascist merch instead.

 

[Geetbo]

There you go. No socks I’m afraid.

 

[traumatised sideboard]

Never stop sheep spam and if we don't get at least 5 pictures of Geetpup I will cant riot.

I've been getting enthusiastic with the ignore button on the MT and it's making for a much nicer experience. I've been reporting as well, soz mods for giving you more work. Tunnelly you're allowed to me-rail here If the MT me-railers had come to this thread first I'd be much more sympathetic. Just wanted to state that in case I looked like a knob who doesn't care about anyone struggling and it was putting people off who wanted to share here.

Speaking of me-railing:

Spoiler: me-rail

I saw my GP yesterday as a follow-up from two months ago when I went about the migraines I'd been ignored and she did an urgent referral to the community mental health team. Tbh the mental health nurse should've done that when I saw her two weeks ago but I had left out a critical detail about why I'd stopped taking my antipsychotic properly because she didn't specifically ask about it. A nurse rang me today so I've got an appointment on Monday with her and one of the doctors. Now I feel like I'm being dramatic and wasting their time when it's not actually that bad but then they probably don't mark things as urgent for fun and japes. I'm also worried that Sideboard Cat is never going to forgive me for abandoning her or maybe has already forgotten entirely about my existence by this point.

 

[MancBee]

Spoiler: Manc Bee

Just wanted to give you a internet hug. Songs can be so emotive and I'm sorry Jack has triggered sad memories for you with her narc behaviour.

Jean-Paul Gaultier has a cabaret show, and one of the scenes relates to the HIV crisis. The song used now always makes me stop and think.

The TV series "It's a sin" was one of the best representations of the HIV crisis I have ever seen. The person that Russel T Davies based his character Colin on was a friend of mine (as was Russel back when he lived here). The old abandoned hospital brought back into use was true, and I remember visiting friends who were in rooms with broken windows with cardboard over them. I watched that series and could name each and every person that his characters were based on. Heartbreaking, but handled very delicately.

Everyone thinks it must have been a permanently depressing time, but quite the reverse. A sense of community I would find hard to describe meant that gay men came together and fought even harder.

Unlike the recent Covid crisis, HIV was seen as something that was your own fault, something that came with shame. HIV caused years and years of illnesses increasing in severity, hammering your immune system until it finally gave up. Thankfully modern medicines mean that HIV is no longer the death sentence it once was, but the shame still exists.

 

[Falkor]

Sorry, I will stop with the sheep spam shortly, but most of the ladies are now back out. They bounced, barged and span their way up the road - I don't know what Viv Squiggle and number 29 have fallen out about, but it's obviously serious because they kept headbutting each other. Back to the open hill and poorer grass, but you can see how broad in the beam they've got in just a few days. Youngsters had a half scoop of ewe rolls mixed in with their muesli this evening and after initially being a bit suspicious decided they were worth a go. I'd usually put them on ewe nuts first, which are the same feed as the rolls made in a smaller sized pellet, but I don't have any right now and if they'll go straight to these there's no point in bying 20kg of the nuts, which is the smallest available sized bag.

 

[Geetbo]

@MancBee found your story very moving. Not going to go on about it but the bravery of you and your generation changed everything for gay men like me who came after you.

I would send more puppy spam but I just trod in a turd while barefoot so am not currently convinced of his cuteness.

 

[Griftymcgriftface]

Spoiler: Me rail - partner

MT exhausting, I usually try to just say jokey on it but she doesn’t know she is born.

partner is in hospital again- complications of crohns and infections etc
Thankfully he got a bed really quickly after a day of convincing to go to a&e. Last time he was in a hallway overnight before they admitted him for 2 weeks.
He is in a bed and getting moved to the proper ward, on IV antibiotics, feels like shit. No yomping around for a chippy tea. Infliximab appears to be doing nothing other than making him sick (been 3 months) don’t really know what my point is I just want to off load a bit. Sorry for the merail

 

[traumatised sideboard]

@Nottonightbabe it was Sauce Shop maple habanero but it seems to be out of stock everywhere now The Meat Lust ghost chilli sauce is good too. I try and restrict myself to three hot sauces on the go at once so I can fit actual food in the fridge around the bottles.

Good luckos @Kittypops I'm sure you'll smash it and you'll have your very own pens that nobody is allowed to touch under any circumstances, not even for a second.

I experienced something positive which I need to appreciate (I am not appreciating the new medication). My sister works at a school and my old biology teacher started working there recently. To cut a long story short, my sister gave my teacher my number and I had a lovely chat with her today. It was difficult for me because she was the reason that I wanted to study biochemistry and in fact ended up going to the same uni she went to and I feel like I let her down when I fucked it all up. Oh no, I'm making it depressing again! It was nice, honestly. It would just be nicer if every time I caught up with someone I didn't have to lie about being well, or dance (a nice gavotte, maybe a ballet number) around the fact I've been unemployed for ten years. Still, as Mario would say, we move spine bright my lovelies. Kick the rest of Friday's arse!

 

[ChocolateTeapot]

The less chaotic of the teapotcats wanted to say hello. I think we can all agree I’ve caught his best side here.

Spoiler: mt

(Also finding the MT very hard going at the moment. @MancBee - as others have said, I’m so sorry to hear how jack’s upset you. I’ve found your posts here very moving and I wanted to say thank you for sharing).

 

[Orphan_Black]

Ahhhh Traumy-S, it was a fantastic sauce! I am partial to the Cholula sauce normally, but I'm switching now. My fav thing is sweet potatoes dirty wedges, covered in hot sauce and jalapenos. THAT MAN is trying to flog a tray bake like it in Tesco, I should sue!

Also, this is my neighbours new roomie, Kit-Kat-

 

[Falkor]

I'm in civilisation for a few days and had my first ever Hotel Chocolat milkshake. Oh my gods....