“ I’m not mad at you I’m mad at the dirt”

“Are you having a sale? “ Mrs Trellis asked over the garden wall, her watery blue eyes were twinkling

She pointed to the small yellow arm chair and the living room rug  which sat sunbathing on the lawn.

She was the third person to make such a joke this morning

Indeed, one Walker asked if I was selling the chair which she said was “ Ever so cute”

I’ve placed cushions and throws all about the garden on bushes and walls.

There is nothing better for a doggy household to deodorise things than to place them in full sun

I’m spring cleaning today. No theatre, no friends, no cinema , just carpet cleaning, proper hot water washes on the paintwork and five loads in the washing machine.

I find cleaning very therapeutic , which is all well and good when you share an 17th Century cottage with 2 dogs, a cat and a log burner. Of course having a new dyson hoover and carpet cleaner help, and I’m such a sad bastard that I always “ look” at the amount of vacuumed detritus whenever I’ve given the living room a good going over.

There is something very satisfying in inspecting the fluff amount! 

Am I the only one that does this? 

Again, I realise I am a sad bastard 

Doors and windows are open wide letting bird song, and the scent of honeysuckle into the cottage as well as Mrs Trellis’ old lady's “ You hoo!!! “ 

It’s warm and sunny

And it’s a joy to be home

Visiting

 

All of my Welsh terriers have visited my patients at some time or another.

They possess a stillness about them when around people who are poorly or distressed that is interesting to compare to the rambunctiousness shown by the bulldogs who greet everyone as though they are the centre of everyone ‘s world.

Today I went into work for fire training and I took the girls with me. 

Dorothy had to be left watching at the patient’s door , but Mary, as requested sat patiently in an arm chair next to the hospital bed and watched the patient carefully.

Moments later, and with permission she jumped lightly onto the bed and carefully lay down between the patient’s legs, her head resting on a tummy, and there she lay her big brown eyes watching the frail rise and fall of a chest underneath the patchwork quilt.

I couldn’t of been more proud of Mary as I was watching her lying quietly with that patient this morning.

Treat

 Lovely night

Big gay quiz tonight , which was a big laugh

We came 2nd

Bought Peony bouquet for kitchen window 

Lovely 

Whipping Boy

I never really got on with my father.

I’ve written about this fact before 

He died in 1989

Before I was fully cooked, so,to speak

Just a few years ago I learned that my paternal grandfather was a bit of a bully.

He was a dour Scot and used the belt as corporal punishment.

He used it a lot.

Today his actions would be seen as bordering on child abuse.

My father was the eldest of three boys.

And he would always be the one who got a whipping

By stepping up, it would seem that he protected his two brothers, the youngest six years his junior

I never got on with my father,

But, now, I’m approaching my sixties

He’s a bit of a hero of mine.

Role Model

 My commute to work varies from 30 to 40 minutes depending on traffic.

Usually I relax with the radio and last night I had the pleasure of listening to Radio4 ‘s Fromt Row interview with Ian Mckellen

A year or so ago, I saw McKellen in his one man show and the evening was pure magic as I remember with the old actor relaying old theatrical memories with warmth, humour and delight.

His radio interview was very much the same, with the actor showing his playful and naturally youthful side as he discussed playing Hamlet some 50 years after he first performed the role.

If I had a role model, it would be McKellen. I envy his playfulness and the way he engages people with effortless charm. He is an eternally optimistic and joyful man.

Who is your role model?

FUD

 I’m not hungry

Overnight I’ve eaten a homemade chilli stir fry with chicken.

And that’s it

No snacks , no cake, no toast....no anything else except de caffeinated coffee and water.

It’s taken an age but I’m finally found my “ groove” so to speak with my diet .

I knew I would get there, but it has taken an absolute age 

My relationship with food has, like it is with so many people , been rather complicated 

I comfort eat, that much is a given, but I also really enjoy food, a passion transferred to me from my grandparents who had austere lives when it came to putting food on the table.

Food, to them , was basic , so anything out-of - the - norm was considered a luxury and something to be savoured and thankful for.

Eating with them was always a joy, as everything was finished , everything was enjoyed.

Today I will enjoy eggs on toast for breakfast , fruit at lunchtime ...if I wake up and another chicken stir fry for tea which I will half and finish sometime during the night.

I’m working alongside a woman who is dieting pre wedding, so we are fantasising about scotch eggs with some good humour.

I’ve always said that weight was my last hurdle to “normality”  and peace of mind

And I guess ,it is

Sink Bath

 Back on night shifts for three from tonight then almost three weeks holiday! 

Just caught up with house jobs the best of which is bathing Mary in the sink 

Blindness

 

Dave’s on the right

Gorgeous Dave and I went to the theatre tonight.

We went to see the “ immersive” piece straight from London’s Donmar Warehouse called Blindness.

Based on the novel by Josè Saramago, Simon Stephens has produced a truly unnerving and emotional piece of theatre, where the audience is sat in covid bubbles of two , scattered over the main Anthony  Hopkins main stage in near darkness.

Each one of us were asked to wear headphones over which we heard Juliet Stevenson’s savage narration of a doctor’s wife experience of internment by the authorities after her husband and thousands of others are inexplicably turned blind by a mystery pandemic.

Stephens uses tricks of lighting , heavy darkness and the claustrophobia caused by wearing masks in the theatrical space to great advantage and at times when Juliet Stevenson is urgently whispering her fears and observations into your ear, it actually feels as though she is there!  

Both David and I were quite unnerved by the whole experience, and rather moved by it.

The sign of a good theatre trip is how much the audience talks about the production afterwards.

And we talked about it all the way home . 

Wisteria

 

My elder sister bought me a wisteria for my birthday with the strict instructions of keeping it well watered  and fed with cold tea.

I planted it today and put in an arch over the front gate as Dorothy watched me carefully. 

Mary lay on the lawn carefully watching her very own rubber chicken with an obsession previously attributed to Winnie

The arch needs securing to the wall but I rather like it’s height and position over the gate and while the wisteria grows, I added some sweet peas to its base which will fill in the gaps this summer.

Mary couldn’t sleep any closer to her rubber chicken

Middle Class & Homosexual

 

One of Wathen’s massive paintings

I treated myself to an art gallery day today.

Richard Wathen’s New Eyes Every Time at The Mostyn Gallery 

Salad in the cafe, shopping in the atrium 

I know the girl on the door and she asked me what I was doing today 

“ I’m being all middle class and homosexual today!” I told her 

“ Spend wisely “ she laughed

In the end I treated myself to two things . A driftwood bird with nail legs by Rachel Sumner and a fox platter by Jenny Murray. I have other bits by both artists.

Thank you Andrew and Rachel

And to Fleetwood Mac of course

I was in the audience for this one

Fabulous

All Green

 It’s Tuesday isn’t it?

I wasn’t sure. Weigh in day

I’ve lost 8 lbs 

Bloody hell

I’m off to Mostyn Gallery today.

Theatre with Gorgeous Dave tomorrow night

A new book to start to read tonight after gardening.

The road remains closed , but hey , I rather like the peace with no rat run traffic

It wasn’t a big deal in the first place.

The sun is shining, and the view from my bedroom window is all green

In The Heights - Washington Heights Trailer

Lin Manuel Miranda ‘s In The heights 

Is something I’m looking forward to 

A bit of sweetness...it looks such a celebration ........

I’m not moaning , I’m just saying that I’ve not been myself recently

I’m  quick to upset and easy to anger.

I’ve been prickly and defensive and probably have been a bit depressed 

Depressed people arnt good company and I’ve always prided myself on being good company 

Which fucks me off even more.

I’m getting back to normal but it’s a work in process and it’s slow.

So don’t walk on eggshells with me

I’ll try a bit harder.

Mingling

The plastic box kinda kills the photo but it’s a must as the postman refuses

to use the letter box due to Mary’s game of bite the postie

It’s hot and humid today and just like the matriarch Winnie , used to do ,Dorothy has laid her nipples to cold concrete in an effort to remain cool.

The honeysuckle over the front door is heavy with perfume which can be smelt from halfway up the lane.

Just by opening the lounge window allows the perfume to creep around the cottage scot free.

Monday we will learn if the final covid restrictions will be lifted on June 21st. 

I suspect they will in place for yet another month so hopefully the 19th of July will be the final cutoff point.

I hope so as I’m back in London for a whole three night weekend July 23rd

Look At him! Galavanting again ! I hear you say 

My next jaunt to the city will be another eclectic visit. 

The main thrust will be Nu’s post covid party where her friends from all over will finally meet together but on the Friday I have arranged to be a real geek for the day and will accompany my nephew to comic con at Olympia which will be a total first for me.

He asked me to meet up with him with typical Asperger’s understatement, and my emotional joy at being asked was probably lost with him as, to him the request was pragmatic and clear cut.

After all we have been in regular contact for the past three years.

I told an old friend that I was meeting up with him and the friend voiced some surprise that was the case which intrigued me.

Why wouldn’t I keep in touch ? even though I wasn’t a blood relative. I’ve known the boy since he was born! 

Perhaps thirty years ago Nu and I took her wisecracking Liverpudlian nieces to Chester Zoo. 

It was a magical  afternoon with the pre teen girls playing up with me as their favourite aunt’s bestie and three decades later they have asked to recreate the afternoon with another visit with their own children in tow.

I shall be delighted to attend too.

So Leo and I will be geeks for the day very soon.

I shall wear my very best Walking Dead T shirt for the occasion .

I shall leave you with two late entries from the view from my window competition 

And a poem about post covid mingling by Babs

Enjoy

Mingling
by Kim Stafford

Remember how we used to do it—
weaving through the crowd, brushing
shoulders, fingers touching a sleeve,
adjusting a lapel—first an old friend here,
then turn to banter with a stranger, finding
odd connections—“You’re from where?...You
know her!”—going deeper into story there, leaning
back in wonder, bending close to whisper, secrets
hidden in the hubbub, as if in the middle of this
melee you have found a room and lit a lamp…
then the roar of the crowd comes back,
someone singing out a name, another
bowing with a shriek of laughter,
slap on the back, bear hug void
of fear? Imagine!
Just imagine.

In The Pink

 I complemented Bethan on her corner garden this morning. I’d say she has the fourth best garden in the village behind Marion Jones, Animal Helper Pat and the lady who lives in the London Road cottage whose name has just escaped me. She told me she had just scattered her mothers ashes into a new herbaceous border filled with only pink flowers .

“ She always said she was in the pink , when you asked her how she was” Bethan quipped “ Now she is!”

The velvet voiced Linda at the coffee morning

The Memorial Hall was open today, the shenanigans with it’s insurance sorted by the Community Council.

It was nice to go to the first coffee morning of the year.

The first person I saw crossing the road very carefully with his wife was Mr Poznán.

Now Mr Poznán is perhaps my most favourite man in the village. 

In his late seventies, he has the most benign and friendliest faces of anyone I have ever met and with his crinkled smiling eyes and broad grin he always reminds me of a soft featured Polish Farmer ( hence the nickname).

When I separated from the Prof and was in danger of losing the cottage , it was Mr Poznań who originally proposed the idea of buying the cottage so that I could stay in it.

He is a gentle quietly spoken man, who is popular in Trelawnyd.

It is well known that Mr Poznań has a cardiac history and catching his wife’s worried eye, I realised that he was more breathless than usual so I popped over to take his pulse and to share some nursery advice.

We sat and talked for a while.

It was lovely to catch up.

I cut my visit short as I’d planned to meet another old friend in Chester. 

I’ve known Nigel, who now lives in Manchester for nearly thirty years, and we talked solid for three hours. Drinking Turkish delight tea in the Storyhouse restaurant and eating Mr Whippy ice cream by the Dee

Inside the Storyhouse

The Dee

Touching base with friends, over the last couple of weeks 

Life feels normal once more

Dinner Out

Chic Eleanor ( right) with Mimi Pèrez

In the Crown Tonight

 

A Quiet Place II

 

Finally , an evening trip to the cinema ! 

I met up with friend Colin for supper PRE CINEMA ! which was a real treat in itself and we sat in a restaurant outside, on a picturesque Chester street, eating pizza as if on holiday .

The film, too was a treat as unlike most sequels it holds its own against film no 1 which monopolised the silent linch pin horror genre.

Director, hunk of spunk  and star of film number one John Kraninski stars in a short, action based catch up sequence which sets up the film in true crank-it-up-a-notch style as the audience gets to see just how the Abbott family first comes to grips with the aliens who only hunt by sound.

The narrative then switches to a more industrial backdrop as mom ( Emily Blunt ) siblings Marcus and Reagan ( Millicent Simmonds & Noah Jupe) and the baby in the suitcase try to illicit the help of a shocked survivor Emmett ( Cillian Murphy) to help them find safety.

Wisely Kraninski gives the film several directorial twists to stop reinventing the wheel. 

He cranks up the tension in several narrative branches at once, flitting from one to the other with confidence without ever losing out on the pressure and intensity of the story.

He also shys away from letting his wife dominate the action as a sort of Ripley in Aliens character , enabling  the two elder children to take the lead as unlikely heroes of this dangerous new world.

Millicent Simmonds, as the deaf, serious faced, slightly lumpy but bright as a button daughter shines in this  movie and will I am sure provide all teenagers watching, regardless of gender,  with a new age role model .

If you want to sit through a well crafted , thriller with heart and intelligence  you can’t go far wrong with A Quiet Place II 

It’s great fun

Wild Flowers

I’ve slept a lot of the day , apart from walking the girls twice and collecting wild flowers from my field.

Years ago I made sure there was a wild border of flowers amidst the animals and without the chickens they have eventually flourished 

I collected flowers today before venturing off to Chester for cinema and supper.

 

Stritch

 

Sometimes I feel I’m slowly morphing into Elaine Stritch

No ,I haven’t got a voice like glass strewn sandpaper, 

No, I don’t breathe whiskey fumes from behind eye glasses the size of the Titanic’s portholes

And no I don’t burst into a rendition of I’m Still Here every time the fridge door is opened 

But we do have something in common, with this old Broadway Babe and that is humour.

I have used humour all my life, well later on in my life as I , like Stritch admitted in her famous 2008 interview with Robert Faires. 

You make people laugh and you can get them to do anything for you she rasped 

My family may question this statement as they have experienced a more reflective, quieter John these past few years , but in general I can perform just as stridently as the old hoofer with an attitude, when the wind is in the right direction and the mood takes me.

And people like to laugh, and smile and giggle

It’s a powerful skill, especially in nursing

Strange as it may seem, like Stritch I have hardly any memory of life before I was eleven.

I am sure there are psychologists from all over who would have a lot to say about that one

I’ve just been making a co worker laugh after an ok shift

You won’t go to heaven

She told me in between giggles

I hope not I said, channelling my best Stitch, scenery munching expression

Humour giving me much more back .....

Darling John

 “ Darling John! “ was all I needed to hear, I never even had my mobile on speaker phone, but “darling” resonated through the air like birdcall and I knew who it was before the phone went to my ear.

Chic Eleanor was excited and you could almost make out the wild sweep of her pashmina as she called down the phone “ Darling John, dinner is booked for Friday 7.30 ! Sara and Pask are coming too so it will quite the reunion” 

I smiled. The last time we all met up was last summer where we had an Italian dinner party in our friends’ garden. 

“ I will be there “ I told her and she burst into happy laughter

“How joyous !, friends , good food and lots of wine !!!!.......” she sang out

Oh I wish I could bottle Eleanor’s positive nature. She has the enviable ability to be able to see the world in a wholly good and efficacious way.

She is charming without ever being false 

So that’s Friday booked . Thursday I am meeting my friend Colin for supper and cinema.

We are going to see A Quiet Place 2 which has got rave reviews, a rarity for a movie sequel. I shall be back writing proper film reviews , a thing I have sorely missed .

The rest of the time I’m on night shifts

On Saturday I’m catching up with another old friend Nigel, but not before I go to the first of the village Coffee mornings which will be back in the Memorial Hall. I had an idea that the villagers could organise an “ impromptu “ get together soon on the green with people bringing their own food and drink.

We will see if it gets off the ground....

I’ve very good at giving my ideas to everyone else to run with.

And finally some more views from windows....I used to live next to one of these

1.38

A lovely day 

Enjoy my gardens