Kind

 I wish I hadn’t got out of bed today

I’ve been very busy at work  I’m tired, I was supposed to be off tomorrow and my off duty wasn’t amended as it had been originally agreed so I am unable to go to the theatre tomorrow night as had been arranged 

Paperwork regarding my pension claim has been processed by an absolute moron ( I spent my lunch time on the phone to said  moron) 

And when I got home I opened a fine for 60£ for unknowingly driving through a bus gate in Sheffield last week.

On a positive note there was a casserole ( and a pudding! ) left for me on the doorknob by my sister 

I listened to radio 4 on the way home 

I think the moral maze was asking the question when we’re you last kind? 

I will ask you all the same thing as it’s a lazy post

So

When were you last kind? 

Volodymyr the sushi Stealer

Tomorrow’s lunch 

 The secret of making good sushi rice is to infuse and fold in the heavy seasoning, a little sugar and rice vinegar into the still warm rice before putting it somewhere to cool before assembling your Chumaki Rolls. 

I prefer to make chumaki rolls as they are more robust sushi and therefore are able to tolerate thicker fillings, so today as the rice was cooling outside on the patio table , I prepared fillings of pat choi slices, long strips of salmon , wasabi ,creamed cheese with garlic and dobs of sweet crushed peas.

Preparing sushi is the nearest I get to proper mindfullness .

Volodymyr the spunky bantam cockerel was watching everything and tiptoed into the garden under the dogs’ and Albert’s radar and managed to cop a dozen gobfulls before Mary realised what was happening and dropped her rubber chicken 

Volodymyr

Borscht

 I’m back to work tomorrow so today feels like that awful Sunday night knotty feeling you used to get the say before school.

The community Association put on a soup and roll lunch in aid of Ukrainian Refugees and in support the village school children had designed Ukrainian flags to stand on each table.

Polish Monika , the hall’s caretaker had made Borscht which was absolutely delicious as the obvious choice of soup to have, even the the Velvet Voiced Linda gave us a choice of six from the menu.

I sat with Affable Despot Jason’s father in law and we talked central heating and bara brith for a while.

Mrs Trellis sans her bobble hat was upset that the church was closing and village elders Ian, Nick and David seemed to be putting the worlds rights over tea and cake.

I gave Bron Haul Marion my raffle tickets and I wanted to get back to light the fire and to do jobs 

I’m working four long days in the next five

Moving On

I got home from London just after midday.

I was studying the film Stagecoach on zoom by 1pm

And I was fast asleep in front of the fire by 6 pm , so bloody well missed choir.

I think I needed the nap

Nuala told me yesterday that she texted a mutual friend on Sunday to remind her that they had started nursing on March 6th back in 1989. 

I suddenly recognised the date but said nothing

March 6th 2015 was the date of my wedding Anniversary 

And for the first time in seven years,  I had forgotten the day.

Cabaret

 

I adored CABARET 

From its flamboyant start to its somber , and given recent events in Ukraine, all too relevant  ending.

The whole of the Playhouse theatre has been transformed into the 1930s KitKat Club with many of the patrons sat at tables around the stage with drinks and lamp lighting. 

Nu and I sipped our champagne from real glasses and sat back and emmersed ourselves into a heady art deco Berlin galloping towards fascism 

Eddie Ramayne was suitably seedy, asexual and knowing as the ever present Emcee,  Jessie Buckley provided a rather different Sally Bowles with her plummy English accent and short stature but she truly smashed her big number " life is a Cabaret " with style. 

I found the sub plot story of the September love affair between the aging apartment owner Frau Schnieder ( Lisa Sadovy )and Jewish fruit seller Herr Shultz (Elliot Levey) 

 incredibly poignant, and when the Nazi threat started to show its teeth their predicament is wonderfully moving. 

A standing ovation summed up everything for me. 

The best show I've seen since Come From Away

Elliot Levey

Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley

Lisa Sadovy

Train

I enjoy travelling by train.

I’m so used to it now that I feel as though I’m a sort of seasoned traveller, and by being such, I glide into a well rehearsed routine of booking my coffee on line so it arrives at my seat moments after the train leaves Prestatyn station.

Coffee and iPad in place, I can plan the free time Ive got between reaching Euston at 1pm and meeting Nu for Korean food at 4 ish.

Today I’ve decided to go to the Curzon cinema in Bloomsbury, there are a couple of films I fancy to see there.

Later Nu and I are going to see Cabaret at the KitKat Club at The Playhouse.

I’ll be back home for lunchtime tomorrow.

I have a film course studying Stagecoach at 2pm

It's a glorious day and I've found a lively sushi place in the Brunswick centre, Bloomsbury for lunch

I've booked to see the film Ali and Ada 

Lunch

 “ Darling John , you’re wearing a jacket ! It’s very becoming “

Chic Eleanor has never really seen me looking neat and tidy before and I was glad she was impressed . We drove down the coast to meet Mimi Fernandez our friend and partner of Pask who sadly. couldn’t make lunch this time and it was a lovely to have a civilised and robust Sunday lunch at Conwy’s Erskine Arms

The World Is Your Lobster

 

My trip was lovely, despite the weather and a Big Brother Airbnb host.

Such is life.

I’m home and the weather is glorious. 

Dorothy, as bulldogs have a want to do, is playing I love my home Diva and after a walk has taken herself off to sleep under my duvet with a contented sigh.

Mary is sunbathing on the back of the trendy blue sofa.

I have a day free today. I’m not planning anything more than pottering and cleaning and reading.

Tomorrow I’m having lunch with Chic Eleanor “Darling john I simply can’t wait” and Affable Despot Jason and I are going to the comedy club evening at Theatre Clwyd.

Today it’s home.

Mrs Trellis stopped as I was sorting logs out for the fire. She’s written to Putin about the war.

The cost of stamps have gone up , she noted. 95 pence for a first class now

Still good value we agreed.

We were still chatting when the postman dropped off a parcel 

In it was a lobster and a card which read simply “ The World Is Your Lobster” 

Mrs Trellis was intrigued as a while ago she had bought me a smaller one in a jumble sale 

Hilda Ogden used to say “ The world’s your lobster” on Coronation Street 

https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199916108.001.0001/acref-9780199916108-e-8821

Which was an endearing malampropism in itself.

There’s no return address or even a name on the card or packaging so I am intrigued too

Thank you to whoever sent it.

I’m making curried vegetable soup 

Albert has been sneezing at the spices 

Salad Day Thirties and an Airbnb Disaster

 Lol, well everything went tits up at the Airbnb 

I thought things may not be as stable as they could be after the owner refused to dog sit Dorothy after finding out out that her “aura”  was apparently “fraught” with anxiety. ( I had provisionally booked the service prior to coming over to Sheffield)

Dorothy was happily oblivious to this assessment but the apparently experienced dog sitter owner 

Said it was something she couldn’t possibly cope with! 

I let it go and rearranged by arrangements and those of my friends.

This morning I walked into the cottage kitchen wearing only boxer shorts only to see the next door neighbour looking through the kitchen door apparently checking up on me.

It was the same neighbour who contacted the Airbnb owner last night to say incorrectly that the dogs had been left in the kitchen, stressed,  all afternoon and into early evening when they had been left  after a six mile country hike,  sleeping together. between 3 and 6 pm only and then walked by myself and my friend Mike soon after. 

The cottage owner texted me her concerns and I told her that her neighbour was incorrect and misinformed .

She immediately apologised but the texts and invasion of privacy had upset my evening somewhat

This morning I felt under constant observation 

And so I loaded Bluebell and drove home with Dorothy quiet and sleeping in her crate which I covered in a throw like a parrot slumbering in a cage. 

I had a lovely break wed and Thursday and the girls were well behaved in their new surroundings  but I only saw half the people I originally planned to see. 

Which was a shame.

The four friends I did catch up I’ve known for over 33 years 

We are greyer ( except in Mike’s case) , we are older, slightly wrinkled, fatter, wiser, more sanguine perhaps. We have all been put through the wringer, at times, with losses and life brickbats ….but we hugged each other, just as we’ve always did, with love and gusto and with the warmth we’ve always had when we were in our salad day thirties.

Thursday pm

 

The dogs were walked until they dropped today.

I left them sleeping for a couple of hours and met my friend Sarah for tea in All Bar One which was lovely 

I then picked up my old mucca Mike from work and we walked the dogs then went to the pub ,just around the corner for a few drinks and chats which was also lovely .

I’ll leave you with a photo of the village hall in Trelawnyd

The collection for items to support the refugees in the Ukraine arrived today

Day 2

When Nursing a hangover, there is one sure fire cure and that is a brisk walk in the dales.

I haven’t been to Derwent and Ladybower for years, and it’s wonderful to see the beauty of the place once again. 

Had lunch in Hathersage and am just about to meet another friend for a early tea in town.

 

Sheffield

 The journey was a fucking nightmare 

Dorothy barked solidly from inside her crate for 2 hours solid 

Even the insertion of an emergency sausage roll only gave me a respite of around 50 seconds

And snake Pass being closed, I had to drive to Sheffield via Woodhead Pass which was shrouded in mist worthy of any Jack- The -Ripper 1970s thriller.

The Airbnb is a sweet little terraced house in the surburbs, an area I know nothing about even though I lived only 2 miles away for 20 years.

My friend Jane turned up on time with a bottle to match mine  and we put the world to rights as Dorothy made goo goo eyes at her. 

Tomorrow I’m meeting Jane for a walk at Ladybower Then tea with Sarah and an evening with Mike 

I went to Morrisons to buy provisions , a visit to an old supermarket I haven’t been to in 17 years

Rather emotional all told 

Sheffield bound

 The roadtrip begins

Breakfast Out, St David’s Day, a very small world and A Pure Heart

 

Americans seem to do " Breakfast Meets" . Brits less so. 

I like them. Ive Just got Dorothy out of her car crate( which went much better than I dared hope, -probably because of the pigs ear I'd hidden in her blankets) and after a walk on the beach I'm off to meet my friend Polly for breakfast at Bryn Williams in Colwyn Bay

Breakfast always tastes fabulous after a walk

And it did.

Film studies  on zoom lecture thus afternoon, then choir....

My film studies course is an in-depth review of five world famous movies. This week the film in question was the 1935 musical comedy Top Hat.

It’s not a film I particularly like or indeed have ever sat through for its entirety , but I enjoyed the forensic dissection and discussion of the movie, which is also stimulating . 

In one of the breakout groups I met a woman from Kent who, as it turned out knows my ex mother in law.

It’s a small world.

The “professional “ Trelawnyd Male Voice Choir singing Calon Lân

Choir was hard tonight. Jamie ( sans 1940 RAF moustache) only had 13 of us to deal with and decided we

Should sing the traditional version of Calon Lan which is one of the most famous Welsh Hymns ( it means a pure heart) 

The harmonies proved to be very difficult for me as the bass lines are so different from the original tune.

We also sang an anti war song which had incredible resonance with the news from the Ukraine and today I’ve been reminded of my own Ukrainian Village here on the field which also has its own resonance .

One of the village wardens , Jo ( the powerhouse that runs the toddler group in the hall) has organised a collection of necessary goods to be sent out to the Ukrainian refugees and within hours had pledges of all manner of items by village people. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/516296659309750/user/1219668197

Crates

Housekeeping day 

I popped down to the pet wholesalers and bought dog food ( there is a shortage in the supermarkets ) 

While there I also bought two dog crates for the Airbnb jaunt, petrol and fire logs.

Any longer journey will need the energetic Dorothy safely confined in the back of Bluebell.( hence the crate)

I called in to Aldi too and purchased lots of cheap spring flowers to cheer up the day and the patio 

It’s been a miserable and very wet day all told made better by the presence of two pre teenage girls outside  the supermarket who were holding a homemade Ukrainian flag as they filmed their supportive waves on their phones. 

I’m having breakfast out tomorrow, then have booked a film course before choir .

Pottery later

The Duke ( Yawn)

 

The Duke bored me

I didn’t like any of the characters 

I didn’t get them 

The bumbling Broadbent, I found irritating , rather than his usual endearing self and Mathew Goode looked rather odd when he faced the screen in bifocals which gave him the look of the terrible Japanese horror that was Micky Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s 

I feel odd today 

Flee

I’m sat in the Storyhouse cafe feeling something thoughtful 

The film I’ve just seen was called Flee and it’s a powerful, heartwarming animated piece which tells the story of Amid , who is a successful academic living in Denmark who is about to get married to his boyfriend Kasper. As the wedding approaches Amid retells the story of his journey to the West. An illegal immigrant trafficked from Afghanistan , his story  is a complicated and at times a dramatically harrowing one and his suspenseful tale of liberation is not only from political oppression, and depredation but is one of sexual liberation and freedom.

It’s beautifully told and at times incredibly moving , so much so that when I got up to leave I caught the gaze of a man sitting behind me who mouthed the word “ Wow” as he stood up

“ That was incredible “ I said as we fell into line on the way out and started to chat as people do.

The man was perhaps in his late forties and wore an old fashioned duffle coat with toggles.

He had a very kind face.

We chatted more and stopped in the foyer to continue our conversation on just how good the movie was. He told me he “blubed “ several times. 

I told him I hadn’t heard him.

We laughed hands in pockets

I told him I missed giving a good film a post Mortem and he agreed.

“ Over coffee and cake is the best way! ” he said cheerfully and I suddenly almost thought it was a kind of invitation.

There was a slight pause , then he added awkwardly

“ Well I have to go……I’m meeting my husband…..he hates dubbed films” 

“ Mine did too” I replied and we both did that little hand up smiling wave thing men do when they say goodbye somewhat shyly.

Im having a coffee with a slice of cake, now

And I’m writing this  

Missing Your Rubber Chicken

The dogs were hyper when I collected then this evening from Trendy Carol’s 

She had family visiting including children all day  and my girls had delighted themselves playing and socialising for hours

Dorothy fell asleep immediately she was lying next to me

Albert sneaked next to her carefully and dozed carefully.

But Mary had missed her chicken so very much  and has woofed playfully at him solidly  for the past hour We’ve  all been home

Where’s the gin bottle  

I’m on holiday for 10 days !!!

 

No News

Im Working today

It's mild and the goats have filled the nurses car park with a thick smattering of little black pellets before climbing the Orme in order to graze.

It looks as though a group of kids have been playing a boring game of marbles before dissapearing to bed.

There's not much more to share

Giselle -