The Thread of Random Chatter

Victoria · **Joined:** 17 Nov 2011, 02:45 **Posts:** 1069

I have trauma dreams anyway but the lockdown has made them much worse.

All this "weird dreaming" that people are experiencing is a fairly normal stress reaction.

exile · **Joined:** 30 Jan 2013, 15:57 **Posts:** 947

I've not had weird dreams but I have woken up wanting the answer to very strange questions - does Latvia have a baseball league? (Apparently yes). Has a North Korean visited the international space station? (Haven't checked but I doubt it).

Katharine · **Posted:** 02 May 2020, 15:25

For whatever reason, I do think my dreams have got much weirder and (often) darker over many years. Nothing to do with the virus anxiety.

They once frequently had a fairly simple and reasonably cheerful pattern, which is vanishingly rare now.

Anyway, do wonder if the closed St Margaret's school in Exeter could have been the inspiration for St Scholastika's? Probably not, because seems it was always a day school. Maybe EBD was thinking of the St Margaret's boarding school in Hertfordshire? But there are/were several schools with that name:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Margar ... ed_Kingdom

Oddly, the Exeter school doesn't seem to have a Wikipedia page. Is a bit surprising how it's (frozen in time) website, is still there:

http://www.stmargarets-school.devon.sch.uk/index.html

There's also the Maynard School in Exeter. Maybe the CS family name came from there, who knows? It used to be a boarding school, too, so maybe that was Scholastika's.

Caroline OSullivan · **Posted:** 03 May 2020, 08:41

I had to chortle the other day. Dominic (SLOC) had an order for a Doctor Who tardis consol in lime green - he has a 3D printing company :lol:

beecharmer · **Posted:** 14 May 2020, 20:30

Lol, could well be someone on this board with that combo!

Dreams wise I’ve had relatively logical ones, I keep dreaming I’m answering video calls and realising afterwards I have no top on.

Really struggling with video calls, as I lip read a lot if someone could invent a decent subtitling service for video calls / zooms etc that would be amazing!

Katharine · **Posted:** 28 May 2020, 21:48

I came across this on Tumblr, it's from a private girls' boarding school in Toronto, Canada. The motto on the crest seems kind of unintentionally apt for the current world situation. But it looks like the blog never got very far, and is long-abandoned:

https://kilt-press.tumblr.com/

Also, there are some incredible abandoned school exploration videos on Youtube. I prefer the North American ones, because the UK ones tend to be too heavily monitored by police/security guards, so a bit boring.

The American buildings seem more interesting as well, sometimes built on such a huge scale that you wouldn't find over here. There's an especially creepy one where two young women explore a heavily decayed school building.

silverstarz · **Posted:** 03 Jun 2020, 12:32

whitequeen wrote:

Anyone else having mad dreams lately? Last night's one involved Emma Woodhouse, Henry the 8th, his mother, Ardeth Bay, an assorted cast of soldiers and aliens, a time machine and a mysterious piece of technology that all of the above wanted.

If I was a better writer, and anything at all of a historian, that could turn into something fun!

I tend to have weird dreams but they seem more and more common. Recently I seem to have a tendency to dream about the books I'm reading - so I've had dreams involving The Chalet School, and the new prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy. I have others that are even more strange or sometimes disturbing, I remember them when I wake during the night, but when I wake up properly to get up in the morning I only have vague recollections.

Victoria · **Joined:** 17 Nov 2011, 02:45 **Posts:** 1069

Report in the Beeb news says 2 in 5 people are having "more vivid dreams than usual"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52911395

cestina · **Posted:** 04 Jun 2020, 18:01

Victoria wrote:

Report in the Beeb news says 2 in 5 people are having "more vivid dreams than usual"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52911395

That certainly applies to me at the moment.Not exactly nightmares but very intense dreams which leave me feeling uneasy.

But given what is going on at the moment that is hardly surprising.

Noreen · **Posted:** 19 Jun 2020, 21:21

I shouldn't smirk at this, but - our neighbours have an un-neutered male cat who intimidates our cats ( I tell them in vain that they weigh twice what he does!). The other day I noticed him looking rather soggy, when I knew that it hadn't rained for a while, and then notice that the bird bath was half-empty - evidently he'd sat down in it without noticing that we'd refilled it with water!

RubyGates · **Posted:** 10 Nov 2020, 12:05

Noreen wrote:

I shouldn't smirk at this, but - our neighbours have an un-neutered male cat who intimidates our cats ( I tell them in vain that they weigh twice what he does!). The other day I noticed him looking rather soggy, when I knew that it hadn't rained for a while, and then notice that the bird bath was half-empty - evidently he'd sat down in it without noticing that we'd refilled it with water!

I've just started learning German on Duolingo and as the only German I know is what I picked up from the Chalet School it could take me a while. But why, oh, why does one language need quite so many forms of the word "the"? Is it really necessary?

cestina · **Posted:** 10 Nov 2020, 12:19

RubyGates wrote:

I've just started learning German on Duolingo and as the only German I know is what I picked up from the Chalet School it could take me a while. But why, oh, why does one language need quite so many forms of the word "the"? Is it really necessary?

Oh RubyGates you don't know how lucky you are. Czech has so many I have lost count....

And if you lose heart there is an easy trick in German - just make everything neuter, which makes "the" "das". You do it by adding the diminutives "chen" or "lein" to any word. It does leave you with silly words like "das kofferlein" for the little? trunk but never mind....

RubyGates · **Posted:** 10 Nov 2020, 17:09

cestina wrote:

Oh RubyGates you don't know how lucky you are. Czech has so many I have lost count....

And if you lose heart there is an easy trick in German - just make everything neuter, which makes "the" "das". You do it by adding the diminutives "chen" or "lein" to any word. It does leave you with silly words like "das kofferlein" for the little? trunk but never mind....

Thank you Cestina, I'll try to remember that.

cestina · **Posted:** 10 Nov 2020, 19:43

RubyGates wrote:

cestina wrote:

Oh RubyGates you don't know how lucky you are. Czech has so many I have lost count....

And if you lose heart there is an easy trick in German - just make everything neuter, which makes "the" "das". You do it by adding the diminutives "chen" or "lein" to any word. It does leave you with silly words like "das kofferlein" for the little? trunk but never mind....

Thank you Cestina, I'll try to remember that.

I think maybe koffer should take an umlaut....

exile · **Joined:** 30 Jan 2013, 15:57 **Posts:** 947

I've only just realised that GGBP have reprinted New Mistress. I wrote myself a note - "get new mistress". I fear it may be misconstrued by anyone chancing upon it...

Alison H · **Posted:** 25 Nov 2020, 13:58

I remember someone once posting about leaving a copy of "Exploits of he Chalet Girls" lying about, and the title being somewhat misunderstood by a visitor.

Victoria · **Joined:** 17 Nov 2011, 02:45 **Posts:** 1069

I've just spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to find the "way in" to a quilt cover.

It's part of a rather smart set that I don't use very often and I had completely forgotten that the "opening" has a very small and well-concealed zip fastening!

Victoria · **Joined:** 17 Nov 2011, 02:45 **Posts:** 1069

Much amused to receive an email from an Extended Family Member in which they tell me how much they regret not being able to spend Christmas with me because of the restrictions on the number of families...

My amusement is because said EFM has NEVER spent Christmas with me/seen me over Christmas or anything else Christmas-related. I feel it's likely they have sent the email out to the "wrong" list!

Elder in Ontario · **Posted:** 15 Dec 2020, 19:22

Thought this would amuse the EJO fans among us:
I took one look at the photo at the head of the Telegraph on line's Life and Style section this morning, and without even reading the article headline, immediately thought to myself: "Good heavens, that's Kentisbury!!" It was indeed Arundel Castle! Definitely gave me my 'lift' for the day - and the article itself was interesting, even though I've never been to Arundel.

MaryR · **Posted:** 21 Dec 2020, 16:42

I read that this morning, as well, and it was indeed very interesting, Elder, though, like you, have never visited it. Perhaps we were reading in sync! :wink:

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