How Green Is Our Valley

Richard Llewelyn wrote How Green Was My Valley even though he was English and seldom visited Wales.
I always thought that Sara Allgood who played mother Beth to be the only Welsh actor in the cast but recently I found out that she was indeed Irish. 

I always loved this scene, where her sons return home, even though , that house would have been a two up two down in real life

The rain that we’ve had overnight for the past two nights has lifted the countryside around Trelawnyd back into a hopeful green. Things feel fresh again. The Velvet Voiced Linda and her volunteers held an afternoon tea in the hall this afternoon . 

I missed it

I took a card round to the youngest Randa gal, who has got a’s and a+’s in every exam . I hear she’s planning a career in medicine. I’m so proud of that little girl who I used to make zombie cookies with and who brushed Winnie’s teeth with the Prof’s toothbrush. 

Ten years ago I wrote this blog about Liv 

Enjoy

“What made you laugh last?

Now, I'm not talking about a furtive titter at a joke, or a polite ha-ha in a casual small talk conversation here.
I am talking about an unrestrained, let rip chuckle or belly laugh that underlines a moment of pure mirth.
Yesterday I took the girls through the churchyard to see if the wedding flowers had been left around the Church door. Liv, who is Margo Channing in a 6  year old's body , skipped around the graves like an Marta from The Sound Of Music before asking about the large 13th Century Cross which stands on the South lawn.
" It's a prayer Cross" I explained, " it's where services were taken before the church was built"
Liv rolled her eyes theatrically then rather dramatically clasped her hands in prayer and knelt at the foot of the cross with all of the grace and chutzpah of a drag Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story.

Now this tickled me. I am not quite sure just why...I think it was all just too camp for one Wednesday afternoon to cope with , but I laughed a big belly laugh laugh all over the churchyard

When did you laugh last?
And why? ”

Let Not Poor Nellie Starve

Nell Gwynn by Jessica Swale , is a warm, witty, bawdy and at times moving romp into Nell Gwynn’s rise as London’s first leading lady actress. A former prostitute, hawker and orange saleswoman , this quick witted and humorous survivor of the slums developed as a talented actress through natural skill and sheer tenacity. Played with some gusto and cheeky charm  by Rose Shalloo the audience at the Grovernsor Out Door Theatre in Chester, warmed immediately to her rather moving scenes with King Charles 11 ( Guy Wolfe) and I think we all felt that we learned rather more about the characters than his final words of “ let not poor Nellie Starve”

 

Tony

 

Lunch out with a friend then more cinema today. We went to see the biopic Tony , which told a 1976 based snippet in the early life of Chef and writer Anthony Bourdain. 

Set during a summer in Provincetown Massachusetts, we meet Tony (Dominek Sessa) the entitled, selfish and generally obnoxious 18 year old as he drinks and does drugs whilst trying to impress university girl Nancy ( Emilia Jones). By change he meets a stern Latin seafood chef ( Antonio Banderas ) who employs him as a dishwasher and the older man, mentors the thoroughly dislikable teen and reigniting his own love of cooking, shares it with the famous- chef-to-be.

Banderas steals the acting honours here, his eyes twinkling charmingly behind his beard. Sessa is bravely conflicted as Tony, and British actor Leo Woodall is both attractive and repulsive as Tony’s kitchen sous Chef friend, Cal . 

The film isn’t as good as everyone would hope , but it’s an easy watch on a rainy ( thank god )day

Wednesday

 I didn’t much feel like counselling today, but I pulled up my socks and got one with things. I’ve seen three clients ,I’m glad, I always carry out a “ chemistry “ test on the first session with a get out clause for both of us, if the fit doesn’t feel quite right. 

You can’t fanny arse around with only seven sessions to play with

I bought pork mince on the way home and made spicy pork patties for supper, as I chatted to my old friend Nigel on video. Tomorrow I’m off out with my friend Ruth and Friday my sister and I are off the see Nell Gwynne at the outdoor theatre in Chester on Friday.

I need to use my holiday time well

I want to do something wholesome and just for myself at this time. I need to regroup and recharge.

I need it 

I’ve just bought two books Dead Now of Course by Phyllida Law and Grief is a thing with feathers by max Porter.

Porter’s book was suggested by a counselling client , who is grieving, I think it’s going to be useful professionally .

I will leave you with the art instillation at theatre Clwyd , the cardboard box city…quite lovely

 

Phyllida Law

She died yesterday ….🙀

On The Sea

 Set along the coast at Menai Straights, On The Sea is the very first gay Welsh film, I can remember seeing ever! It’s a serious, slightly bleak but surprisingly tender film, by writer/ director Helen Walsh who tells the story of middle aged Jack ( Barry Ward) who is a mussel fisherman feeling his age in a family business dominated by his boorish brother (Celyn Jones) 

Jack is a kind man, who worries about his slightly wayward teenage son ( Henry Lawfell) he has been with his wife (Liz White) since they were 16 and has never left Wales, but it is clear that he is quietly attracted to the Scottish deckhand Dan ( Lorne MacFadyen) the single crewman of his friend  fisherman Bernie ( Danny Webb) and they embark on a secret affair which is complicated by Jack’s health issues, and the tight knit Welsh community’s  reaction to gossip. 

There is little humour in this story and the cinematography by Sam Goldie is muted, and strangely devoid of colour save for one memorable scene where the two men are happy together on a sunlit trawler trip in the sea east of Anglesey .

Barry Ward is impressive in the lead role. And while Closeted and conflicted gay characters are not rare in cinema ,he makes Jack a complicated and sympathetic soul with his scenes with MacFadyen passionate and movingly tender.

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