The Finlay Memorial Cup

 Today is the first day of my holiday from the hospice. 

I’ve kind of wasted the day making mental to do lists, but on the positive side, I’ve also made a chicken and leek stew which I ate with some relish. Roger had a haircut and the stew leftovers 

Mary has a gippy tum , so had chicken and rice.

I’ve had to shampoo the bedroom carpet 💩💨..poor old gal

The First of the flower Show trophies was delivered home today. 

It’s the Finlay Memorial Cup a solid silver cup of good style and value

Seeing the cup again, prompted me to clean his headstone, tucked away by the agapanthus in the front garden 

And I will share this blog entry and memory of Finlay from 24 years ago

“

A Happy Dog

I was reading Yorkshire Pud's blog last night and was reminded of  an area in Sheffield I used to know very well. YP rented an allotment off Hagg Hill, which was the back road between the surburbs of Crooks and Walkley and Rivlin Valley which led into Hillsborough.
At rush hour these essentially country roads were often gridlocked with commuters so  the usual five minute journey across the valley could take a frustrating half hour or so.
Back in 2002, we had only one dog, a bouncy, lively Welsh Terrier called Finlay.
Finlay loved Traffic jams , for it was the only time he was " allowed" to drive the car.
Ok when I say drive the car, he used to sit on my knee with his paws on the steering wheel and his head sometimes out of an open window, a position of power where he could  watch the world move slowly by as we edged our way through the traffic home.
His happiness of this simple little treat always made my day.
On one of these treat days, We were spotted by the traffic police. I never saw the policecar behind me, so the sharp knock on the window threw me slightly
I wound down the window fully and Finlay stuck his head out to say hello to a slightly amused policeman
" What are you doing? " the policeman asked as Finlay smiled broadly at him with big goo goo eyes.
" He likes to drive" I said lamely
" Has he past his test?" The policeman asked
" well  no but , I do the peddles for him " I tried to be funny
" In the back" the policeman ordered with a smile, and before he walked back to his car he kissed a very happy Finlay very gently on the head.”

Finlay leading the charge with Meg and George

The End Of Oak Street

 

Set in an American Small town Suburb in 1982, this dino thriller is clearly a homage to Spielberg’s ET and Poltergeist as well as the obvious nod to Jurassic Park. The Platt family ( Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor) have a troubled marriage. Daughter Audrey (Maisie Stella) is finding her way before college and son Brian ( Christian Convery) worries about his parents and is bullied by local boys . 

The family dog Starbuck makes up the family. 

Suddenly a large circle of the  neighbourhood is inexplicably transported into prehistoric times, and the family has to band together in order to survive the resulting dinosaur threats. 

It’s a daft film, which entertains but doesn’t quite thrill. 

David Robert Mitchell wisely makes the family fallible. Closet lesbian Audrey hides in the garage to gain solace from the Steve Winwood song Valerie, Brian’s only injury comes from an encounter with the bully and father Greg wears some unforgivably nasty shorts and boring white y fronts 

The dinosaurs too are not quite Spielberg. We have slightly unbelievable. giant snakes, copulating herbivores being photographed by Hathaway( the most amusing moment in the entire film) , and quick moving crocodile lizards who know how to break into houses 

Ok the final message is pure optimistic Spielberg , family is everything , and always follow your heart and in the end 

Does the dog survive ? 

I can’t possibly say 

Help

 On the way to work last night, my phone screamed out the emergency text message .

It’s a  creepy sound.

Foreboding, 

I was driving so couldn’t look at the screen 

Nuclear war ? The zombie apocalypse ? 

Trump ? 

When I pulled up at the hospice 

The emergency screen said this 

My Welsh isn’t that good 

But even I could tell it’s a fire warning

Nu

Met Nu today at Bryn William’s at Theatr Clwyd

I needed it x

 

Ecipse

 Jenny from the village , is celebrating the eclipse in her own inimitable way. 

I sat myself by the kitchen wall as the skies dimmed and The Archer’s theme bounced away 

Dum de dum de dum de Dee

Things That Go Bump In The Night

 

Just after four thirty this morning I found myself suddenly wide awake.

Had there been a crash ? 

Or had I been dreaming? 

I lay in bed for a while. 

Mary was asleep , curled up on my right side. Bun next to her. 

Bun was awake and her head was up listening.

I gathered my urology piping and went to investigate 

Weaver was sat on my desk, with her eyes to the ceiling.

I could swear that she was whistling 

Lying smashed in the inglenook fireplace was my gargoyle 

His decapitated head in the centre of the hearth rug. 

When Weaver was a kitten , she would often hiss at the gargoyle’s angry face as he sat quietly watching the room. She wasn’t keen on my dinosaur pottery figure either and even the stuffed dog toy I bought in Kenmare when I visited Nu had been spat at and cuffed as he sat in his box behind the sofa

I flicked two fingers up at Weaver who was pretending to ignore me and placed the gargoyle’s head on the mantlepiece

 

Where do u want to be John ?

Just worked a long day shift

I’d like to be in Madrid , 

But in the Autumn.

When it is cooler

I miss Dorothy tonight, who used to lick my feet until they tingled

I’ve been on my feet all day.

Weaver is in a particularly nasty mood tonight

As Bun greeted me with a yowl when I got out of Bluebell smelling of sweat and death

She sat low in the gloom of the weeping laburnum tree in the back garden 

And scowled 

Mary is not well tonight ,

I’ve given her pain killers 

And her breathing is now easier❤️

This was her twelve years ago 

When she sat in my paella bowl 

 

Timing

 

Jesus, sometimes planets just don’t align do they ? 

Today a friend of three years , called in on his way past from a holiday in Ireland .

He messaged me out of the blue.

I haven’t seen him for over a year, and when we last met, any potential romance wasn’t on the cards as he was negotiating a drama ish break up of his own and even though I fancied him rotten way back then , I accepted the situation with some measured maturity I thought 😕…yeah! 

Today , I fed him tea and cakes, and we talked films and theatre and gossiped and laughed about life in general and his past year regrouping and when he got up to go, he totally surprised me, on the doorstep with a kiss that could have floored a Disney Princess

“I ‘ll call you” he sang out as he walked to his car, waving

My cheeks were burning….

Jesus, I thought , I hadn’t expected that at all …..and I noted that I hadn’t mentioned the surprise of the kiss as well as the presence of the fucking catheter once

And before you comment dear reader 

They are important details…….

Hey fucking ho