Simon Pegg on kissing men and the first broody hen of Spring

This brief and somewhat too broad editorial was highlighted on the BBC news website a day or so ago

Straight men should kiss each other more to understand homosexuality, Simon Pegg says.
The married actor said that homophobia comes from a fear of the unknown.
He told Glamour: “I’ve never been homophobic and I like flirting with gay guys; they’re easier to flirt with than women. I flirt with my gay friends quite happily, even in front of my wife. They like it if you are a bit cheeky and touchy-feely; it’s fun and more slapstick.
“Once I had to kiss three guys; real full-on snogs. I think every man should snog another man. A kiss is so much more than physical touching; we laughed about it at the time, but there was no passion.
“It would help them understand. Homophobia’s all about fear of the unknown, like it’s something you could catch. But it’s not a choice, it’s biological.”


I found this piece interesting not because of straight Pegg's comments on kissing gay men...no, it got me to thinking about how the behaviour of "men kissing men" has actually changed over the last decade or so.
Now I grew up in the 1970s  where the North Wales coast was (and is) a million miles away from the Mediterranean lands where demonstrative papas kissed the foreheads of their sons at the dinner table. I actually remember kissing my father just the once when I was an adolescent, and that was a peck on the cheek after he had bought me and my sister an austin 1300! ( GDM 744K)
It was just not done.

Today, things ARE different, and it is refreashing to see men, that are secure in themselves, greeting other men with an unconcious peck or two. Of course all this has been always present in  artistic circles (I have a lurvie darling mate that will pucker up at the drop of a hat), but I do see it creeping in within the blokey hetero world!

Mind you, I do find this man kissing thing all a bit difficult, I think my 1970 Welsh roots still govern this intimate show of affection in a rather negative kind of way...however....I do hug my male friends , but it is always in that casual lumberjack-ish way that you often see in American sit coms ( lots of back slapping and laughing!)

Recently I saw my  brother-in-law kiss my brother on the forehead. It was one of those brief almost unnoticed acts of affection that said so much more than a wave or a hand shake.....and I remember cursing the difficulties I sometimes have kissing the people closest to me......

lesson to self......pucker up and get on with it!......mind you I may not start my journey into kissing men in greeting at the next Trelawnyd Community Council meeting.......There are farmers with guns on the committee!

Spring is almost here...you can almost smell it. The first of this year's broody hens have started to sit, and this sweet natured Light Sussex called Cora has walled herself up into the spare rabbit hutch on the field.
Broody hens can be a pain. Often they dont eat and drink for the three weeks of sitting, so need to be removed from their eggs twice a day and " encouraged" to feed and poo (Broody hens save up their poo for one HUGE dump a day).
Whenever possible it is important to break broodies by sin binning them ( a day or so in a crate where they cannot sit on eggs can help) but Cora was so gently insistent that she have her own eggs , I have relented , and left her well alone.
Chicks in three weeks perhaps?......more mouths to feed....my animal hoarding continues!