u/Front-Pomelo-4367

Wedding guest in early September, I expect Spain to still be scorching unfortunately. And because I can't control the weather, I'm trying to control other things!

I have a list of "event perfumes" that wear incredibly well on me, last for hours, but they're all...not quite the energy I want from 30° weather

- L'Interdit Rouge Ultime

- Tom Ford Café Rose (I also own Soleil Blanc EDT and it doesn't last long at all, but Café Rose lasts an entire workday)

- Good Girl Blush Elixir (this is a maybe for the weather? I feel like it wears lighter. I'm almost out of the 10ml I have, though, and I can't find other 10mls of this being sold anywhere)

Basically, my skin loves a patchouli base note; I have fruitchoulis that last similarly

Chloe Nomade and Burberry Her EDT (the pear one) also last really well on me, but I wear them pretty frequently so they don't feel special. I'm not sure how the other Nomades and Hers wear for me. Lush Rose Jam is also a great one.

I'd want to be able to get a 10ml for under £30-£40, ideally, and to be able to sample it in-store!

That aren't Night Watch and May!

I always love how seasonal descriptions are such a huge part of many Discworlds

Off the top of my head, The Truth and the worst winter A-M has seen in a century (depending on who you ask), and Feet of Clay and the autumn fog

Which other books have such strong seasons you can taste it? I like reading seasonally (or out of season – I'm reading The Truth in this heatwave)

Flaired meme for lack of "discussion"

Mid-September, Málaga/Seville/Granada region (we'll have a car for part of the time as a family, and then I'm doing solo travel afterwards based in Seville with no car)

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Generally we're very interested in historical sites, I know that the Alhambra is on the list, Alcázar is on mine – there may be others that we need to plan in advance. I was also thinking about Caminito del Rey. Our itinerary has some hard dates, because we're fitting some tourist travel around a wedding

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How far in advance do we definitely need to lock in dates for tickets to high-demand sites? I know that day-of purchase definitely isn't recommended, but is it something we can sort in the week leading up to the trip, something to start thinking about now, etc etc

Having a nice Sunday strolling through Attenborough Nature Reserve. There's a specific path with signs telling you to keep dogs on leads because of ground-nesting birds.

Walked past two groups of people with dogs not on leads. One of them at least went "oh, is there?" when I said just so you know, there's a sign on this path saying that dogs need to be on leads.

The other one? I passed an elderly couple whose dog wasn't on its lead. Told them, very casual as I passed, by the way, there was a sign just back there saying that dogs need to be on leads, because of ground-nesting birds.

The woman looked at me and said, very nastily, "yes, I know" and kept walking.

At least have some shame. Jesus fucking christ.

Listening to the Pod and Prejudice of Mansfield Park to accentuate my recent read, and they're in the depths of Henry telling every single person around Fanny about his proposal to subtly exert pressure on her, and it just reminds me so much of how he's a dark mirror of Darcy. Not in terms of their character – Henry is incredibly charismatic, Darcy is...not – but in terms of how they handle their infatuation with a woman who rejects them.

During Darcy's second proposal, he comments on how he was raised with good principles but was left to follow them in pride and conceit. Henry was *not* raised with good principles, as seen by him thinking that the Admiral (despised by Mary for his mistreatment of his wife) is a good and excellent man.

Henry's proposal involves him procuring a promotion for William to make Fanny happy, and then making it very clear to her that he did this *for her* and rolling straight into his proposal. When she refuses him, he tells Sir Thomas, tells Mary, repeatedly returns to the house, etc etc. He insists to her that he knows he's behaved poorly in the past, but he's going to change. When he *does* get the opportunity to demonstrate his change, he initially does a pretty good job (Portsmouth) but then has a fling with Maria (demonstrably *not* having changed).

Darcy's failed proposal is certainly given a harder shutdown than Henry's, because Elizabeth is much bolder and angrier than Fanny, but he ends the conversation and goes away with only the letter to clear up her most significant misunderstandings. He doesn't continue to press his suit. When she sees him again, he demonstrates that he *has* changed, not just giving her the promise of it. When he helps Lydia, just like Henry helped William, he tries to conceal it from Elizabeth and after she speaks to him about it, he admits that he did it for her and then gently re-opens the possibility of his proposal. But he puts it *entirely* within her court. If she still says no, she'll hear no more of it.

It's just so interesting to me how the same commonalities – helping a family member for the sake of their love, a failed proposal and rejection – plays out so differently for both men. I really do think that if Henry had acted more like Darcy in this case, he could have stood a better chance, and certainly been a better man – but that's not the principles with which he was raised.

A memorial was held today at St Paul's Cathedral in remembrance of those killed by the infected blood scandal here in the UK, and the news piece on it was playing while I donated on the TVs here in the donor centre.

Imported blood products from paid donors, contaminated with HIV and hepatitis, were given to haemophiliacs. More than 30,000 people were infected, with over 3,000 dead to date.

Blood safety is more important than anything else in this process. More important than our egos, more important than swag. Nothing else matters other than the safety of the vulnerable patients who rely on us.

Had class today – wore a new leo in a new colour and realised before we were even half-done with pliés that it was showing everyyyy drop of sweat. Especially underboob sweat.

I finished out class with a perfect underboob outline *and* a mark around my bellybutton. I didn't dare look at my underarms or back. I already knew that I sweat a lot, but now I'm really dissuaded from ever wearing cute leos in colours other than black. (This one is being relegated to home practice, because it's evil.) And it's super embarrassing!

Please share your mishaps and embarrassments to make me feel better, because ughhhh

So I'm scheduled to go to trial as a victim/witness, in a case that I've generally kept completely secret from almost everyone around me except for a handful of people. In my case I'm in the UK, but I'm sure that this happens all the time in various legal systems, especially with victims of sexual crimes.

If someone I knew (or, more generally, a hypothetical "I") got jury duty, would they be told the names of all the people involved so that they could recuse themselves? I have an unusual name that would be immediately identifiable, but how would that work if the victim was John Smith? Or would it be "the trial has started, oh no I know that person, we need to pause and get a new juror and start again"