Bittersweet Paris

 Not as good as the London ceremony , The Paris Ceremony shone brightly in spurts.

The galloping horse up the Seine was inspired, and literally took your breath away

As did good old Céline who nailed Piaf’s Hymne á L’amour halfway up the Eiffel Tower

God that was an emotional watch.

I’ve only been to Paris once and that was back in 2001. It was a slightly upsetting jaunt as my then boyfriend ( and husband to be) ended our relationship just as I was enjoying the lighting up of the Eiffel Tower 

Happy days

The Gangs Of New York

 Chester Storyhouse, houses the professional Grovenesor Park Outdoor Theatre each year.

We went to see the impressive production of The Gangs Of New York by Kieran Lynn last night and we’re pleasantly surprised to me more entertained than I ever was with the awful film version.

The messages about how corruption, power and American politics go hand in hand were not lost on the audience or the ad-libbing  actors and although the drama was often played for laughs the violence on stage felt visceral, graphic and at times shocking. 

Great performances by Hanora Kamen, Yondola Ovide, and a rather sexy but menacing James Sheldon as Bill The Butcher.

A lovely evening

My girl

 

 

My laburnum, like us all, is another year older.

The council workmen and gardeners came for their first grass cut of the year at the Churchyard today and I found myself hurrying like a pioneer woman in an Indian Attack to the stockade which was the Church wall to check on the safety of my laburnum.

I should not have worried

Standing firm and with a mop of grand leaves, she stands strong and robust against the other trees d,And

I’m proud as any parent would be

No Twins

 Yesterday left me feeling , if not sad, certainly a tad melancholy.

Subsequently all those little jobs I had planned , didn’t get done, 

And the cat flap has yet to be fixed.

The kittens ( who will be henceforth now be referred to as the twins ) will not be arriving today as planned either,

Lily’s hernia is not quite right and because of that the Cat Manager agreed to keep her under observation at home until the 5th of August, the day I’m back after London, and of course Weaver will be staying with her. The twins will have their own room upstairs until they are more robust. 

It’s already decked out with cat litter, a few toys and old copies of the Guardian 

The next three videos are random, my favourite Italian cook, who hangs her tea towel on her bra strap ( love that) a video of the Gop Hill behind Trelawnyd at dusk and Conwy Castle ,the beautiful castle I see everyday going to work.

A Gay Funeral

 

No kittens today, I will collect them tomorrow.

Sunday, I heard that it was an old friend’s funeral today. 

Not a case of bad news travelled fast

It didn’t. 

I wanted to go and did so without reservation, this is the second such funeral I’ve attended

I’d dated David sporadically in the 1990s up to the Millennium  but he was in the closet and my temper wore thin with secrecy . So I finished my relationship with him to date a more volatile  and handsome Philip

Who was only slightly less closeted than David

It wasn’t a good time lol.

David and I romantically crossed paths only when I was single. When I was in a relationship my rules were always platonic and he respected that. 

He was the last friend I had that still wrote proper letters 

My last to him was only three months ago. 

Our last meet was in 2022 at the Ibis Hotel in Chesterfield

I met his partner this afternoon. An old Yorkshireman with a ready but sad smile 

“ I’m sorry , I don’t know who you are “ he said to me in the Crematorium line 

“ an old mate from the 90s “ I told him 

There were a few single guys my age dotted around  I noticed, a few smiled when Laura Brannigan was played as the curtains closed

Good Practice

 I have always focused my nursing on best practice 

And I have always made it a priority to praise good practice when I see it.

Both here and within the clinical areas.

Best practice isn’t always evidence based , and research supported .

It is often the small, and vital and the very human 

And I see it every day 

I once decided that a support worker was going to be a good friend by the way she brushed a patient.’s hair

She sang feed the birds as she did so

Thankful - Grupo Talia

It was warm when I got home, and dusk allowed me to lie on the damp grass of the front garden for a little while. Roger under my right arm, Mary under my right

After a 12 hour shift, it’s the best way to clear your head, 

Listening to my lisping choir, gently pulling their punches

I’m two thirds through my counselling course and am actually on track with my academic work and my practical assessments and experience.

I’m working to finish my final nursing revalidation this month ( the last time I will need to prove to the NMC that I am a nurse worthy of practice) 

I am expecting new kittens on Tuesday and the 49th Trelawnyd Flower Show takes place next month 

In ten days I’m in London seeing A Chorus Line at Saddler’s Wells followed by the trip around the gardens and state rooms of Buckingham Palace. 

Trips to see Come From Away, The Gangs Of New York, and some old friends from Sheffield plug some of gaps 

I’m 62

There’s a lot to be thankful for

Asparagus and pea

 The bin men have just been.

As usual Roger has been bouncing up and down at the kitchen wall in order to greet them. 

They miss Dorothy and said so, as big gloved hands patted smiling bouncing Terrier on the head.

Mary can’t be bothered.

Last night I went to Chester with a friend and we say Ghost The Musical.

It was dreadful 

We walked out at the half time interval, but laughed a lot.

It was an amateur production, which of course, you make allowances for, but dire is dire is dire and We are too long in the tooth to waste too much time on crap.

The sun was still shining when we talked out so we sat in the still crowded market place and ate cake and people watched. 

It felt as though we were on holiday.

Today, I have nothing planned , no films, no lunches out, no company.

I’m working all day tomorrow, to today will be rest day

However

I am going to make an Asparagus and pea risotto now thickened with lots of Parmesan 

Bloody lovely