Computer returns!

My computer has been fixed! Hallelujah !!!
Nuff said!

Village Hall quietness

The Chicken course is going very well, and despite the weather , all of my "students" turned up this evening at the memorial hall.
We has a lively and rather animated evening of "chicken talk" which woke me up after last night's hospital shift
We finished the session at around 8.15, so while I waited for Pat the ever cheerful caretaker to come to lock the hall up, I had a peaceful amble around the deserted and silent village hall.

Although we have only lived in Trelawnyd for 5 years I have a great deal of affection for the village hall. (seen right at last year's Flower Show- I am standing by the table!).

Tonight I could imagine nearly a hundred years of history crammed into the very walls of the building, and although the Ghosts of the past could be imagined and recalled, I didn't feel at all ill at ease standing there alone in the dark.

Some buildings have a nice feel about them, I always think. Our cottage does to be sure, as does the Village Church, but the Memorial Hall has a certain lightness about it, which is hard to describe. I always feel comfortable and at home when I am there.
Off to bed...it's been a long day

Thank you

The UK "readership" of Going Gently has just about reached the 10.000 hit mark ( for the past 12 months or so!) which I find an absolutely amazing fact given the rubbish I sometimes churn out here...
I am grateful for the visits and would love to know who in fact reads the blog
drop us an email at jgsheffield@hotmail.com if you have time, so I can see.
Thanks again
x

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding

The best thing on tv this week was the channel 4 documentary My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding on Wednesday evening.
This was a rare look into the amalgamation of ancient wedding culture and "high fashion" of the "traveller" population of Britain, and was a brief but fascinating glimpse into a community that is mistrusted, hated and feared by the general population.
At first I thought that the programme was just a vehicle for some snobby voyeurism ( and there was an element of enjoyment in laughing at the monstrous fashion designs that are expected to be on show at these affairs),
However what I found more interesting, was the rigidity and adherence to tradition that was evident within the gypsy community and I would have liked if the documentary would have explored the dichotomy between religion (the families that were shown were terribly staunch catholics) and the well known view of gypsies being unlawful
If you didn't see it, I would recommend you give it a view

Supper Night

The bloody snow is back with a vengeance this morning, which is another bummer. Before I opened up the 13 hen houses I sneaked an extra feed to the guineas to bolster them up after an icy night in the Churchyard elm. From left to right we have Hughie, Alf and little IvyLast night my family braved the elements and almost killed themselves getting to our village for supper. My brother in law ( who is a bit of a daredevil and an ex rally driver) decided to drive up Gwaenysgor Hill ( which is 1 in 4) in a BMW along with my two sisters and another brother in law ( with all the starter in a huge picnic basket). The road was closed due to ice, but he in typical Indiana Jones style "gave it a go"
Suffice to say that after much shouting and fallings out (and a multiple yard slide down a steep snow covered grass bank) they left the car teetering on the edge and walked down the hill to catch a taxi up to us.(the long and safe way around)
Now I don't think it was the shock of nearly rolling down the hill that made them feel the cold ( a few gin and tonics and large glasses of wine soon helped them recover from their ordeal)

But all of them thought that our cottage was freezing even though the coal burner was on full draw. That's modern day central heating for you! Bloody softies! Halfway through courses they dug out all of our welsh blankets and sat there in the living room like a group of elderly old farts. I have a feeling that we won't be holding another supper night until spring time!

Smells

Four dogs, one cat, one fairly unhygienic slob (me) and Chris, all crammed into a tiny cottage in winter means just one thing! Smells! The whole family is coming round this evening for supper, so today I will stretching my stress neurones to the limit by fighting the tide of country living ( in true King Canute style) in trying to rid the place of muddy paws, animal hair and doggy farts. It never quite works! and the cottage although homely never looks like those wonderfull staged country homes I love to look at from Home and Antiques and Country Home Magazine! The carelessly picked ( yeah right!) bunch of flowers from the garden ( not in season) will be positioned casually on the kitchen table with a loaf of home made scones and a tiny pot of jam! An open bottle of Pinot can be seen on the rustic sideboard with two sparkling glasses and the fruit in the bowl looks as though it has been painted by some great master. And the home owner!!! ( who always looks like a psychotherapist) has the open mouth smile of a woman who has just paid the cleaning lady to scrub the floor and wash the dogs bottoms before the camera clicks!. Me! I aint no Jane Asher! Ok I have polished the silver, and I have "arranged a couple of blooms" in an art deco vase and there IS fruit in the bowl, but what we don't see is the merry half hours I have already spent chipping a stubborn Scottish terrier skid mark (poo not paw) from the floor lino and the sweaty few minutes retrieving putrid cat litter grains from under the cooker! I have not even steeled myself for the scrubbing of the loo basin yet.(I may need a large cup of coffee and a scented candle before I face that little job)
It's good that family visit, I thought as I wiped cat snot from the living room windows.....at least the cottage gets a clean

The Windy Side of care

I am not a lover of Shakepeare, but I do remember being totally blown away by Emma Thompson's Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. It is the only filmed piece of Shakespeare that I actually understood and enjoyed!
When she uttered the words "Yea, my lord; I thank it (my heart), poor fool, it keeps on the windy side of care" I totally believed her
In my view she has never looked or acted better in her career!

Snow, sleep and Rhode Island girls

The snow is back!
Blizzards hit around midday and soon after our freezing walk William sneaked up to the bedroom for a sleep UNDER the duvet in an effort to keep warm!
I took my computer into Prestatyn for fixing.
then drove up to Denbigh to pick up my kind gift of 3 beautiful Rhode Island Red pullets.

All three are just at point of lay and chirped playfully away to Classic Fm as we drove home. I have set them up in an isolation run for a while, just in case they have picked up some bug or other, which I doubt. The trio are buxom healthy hens.
To continue my usual cinematic "chicken names theme they have been christened Laura (as in Linney), Audrey (as in Tatou) and Thelma (as in Ritter)


Two of the Rhodes minutes after we got home.

In the Electric Mist

I am a such a sad sausage.
I have a few favourite actors whose careers I follow with the interest of a ten year old with a stamp collection! Laura Linney, Russell Crowe, Audrey Tatou are but a few of my "heros" but I must admit I do also like the work of actor Peter Sarsgaard (above).
So, this evening, it was with practiced interest that I sat down to watch the movie In the Electric Mist, which Sarsgaard is billed third.
As it turned out the film was no better that a tv movie thriller and as usual Sarsgaard was underused. Most of his recent films have been run of the mill, basic thrillers in which he has not even been the lead in.....it is a shame

Cold

It has been a bloody awful day, cold and very wet! Far too wet to be digging the veg plots and far too cold to be thinking of planting broad beans and early potatoes. Even the dogs seemed unwilling to stay out on the beach for their walk, favouring the comfort of the arms chairs in front of the fire (above)
I have braved the elements for a while, and placed a few well chosen stones on the ever growing Church wall but allowed myself to be interrupted by a visit from the fat faced welsh farmer, who gave me loads of advice about setting up the next pig enclosures, a job I want to start next week! He said he would give me a hand stringing the pig netting taut, but stated he couldn't help me sledgehammer the 4 inch posts into place (at 71 I wasn't expecting him to!)..." I get a little breathless" he explained in his usual understated way!

For part of the afternoon I was effectively rained inside the house and caught by accident a re run of the 1944 classic Jane Eyre . Now I am not really a fan of Orson Welles (Mr Rochester in the movie) and I have always favoured the sweet faced Olivia De Havilland over her feuding sister Joan Fontaine (who played the plain Jane Eyre), but I kind of enjoyed this Gothic romp on the Hollywood moors. It was the ideal antidote to a miserable afternoon!

Walkabout

The turkeys went on walkabout this morning. I had cut my dry stone walling effort short ( I had only placed four stones in the wall to be honest) to take the Welsh terriers out for their walk, and was returning home when a four by four stopped and the driver asked me if I owned " some bloody big birds", apparently, he said four "big buggers" were having an amble down our lane (Cwm Road) and were having a great old time of it all.

I ran down the lane ( not easy at my age with tight longjohns and wellies on) and caught all four junior turkeys a hundred yards beyond the field.

Now Turkeys are bright little devils! Never EVER be fooled by their depressive big brown eyes and slow gait. They know when they have done something wrong and understand only too well when they are being told off.

All it took was one sharp "get here!" and quite meekly all four scarpered back to the field gate, with heads bowed ( and muttering quietly to themselves), I shall clip their wings again quite soon but wanted to wait for my "chicken course" students to do it as part of their learning...which will be fun.

Anyhow I have now spent a few hours at my sister's house, filing out a laborious job application on line. It is amazing how much I rely on my computer on a day to day basis....a scary fact in many ways......

"Gi Oeeer"

My netbook has crashed, so I am effectively computer less (well that is until Chris gets home from work).It is a nightmare as all my notes for my chicken course are locked away behind a blank screen as well as a ton of other documents and information.
Computer Boffin Nige has kindly been on the case this evening and has offered some sound advice, but for the near future I am sans netbook!!!!!!

Anyhow work on the dry stone wall has started.
According to Steve it is important to start with some large "key stones" on the base of the wall, which you work "outwards" from. The filling of the oddshaped gaps between these larger stones remind me of a basic childs' puzzle, and as long as the stones are supported from behind, the whole job sounds easier than it is in reality.
Apparently the whole wall has to lean backwards ever so slightly (to 33 degrees) and long connecting stones should be placed in the wall (and into the bank behind the wall) to tie the whole structure into place.
I hope the Church council will be happy when we eventually finish

This afternoon I have been busy weighing out feed and mixing it with poultry wormer ( which is phenomenally expensive). As it was snowing this afternoon ( yes snowing) I worked from the back of the Berlingo to keep the feed dry and parked on the field, with the Welsh terriers tied up behind. The scotties were free on the field.
A group of hikers went past mid afternoon and as usual Maddie ran forward barking loudly at the "intruders". I shouted out my usual telling off of "Give over Maddie" and one of the men in the group cheerfully shouted out "Now there's a good Sheffield accent!"
This tickled me as I has not realised that I had used the typical Sheffield phrase of "give over" (pronounced "gi oer") which literally means "give it a rest"or "stop it"
But on reflection, I realised that I always seem to use this Yorkshire phrase time and time again, especially when dealing with the dogs, another legacy of living a decade and a half in God's own country.

Chicken school

There is something rather benign about Chicken keepers I always think. 5 of the 6 course students attended my first "teaching" session this evening and they were just like my "first" group from last year!,in so much as they were cheerful, informed, slightly obsessed with animals and attentive. (yes I know.........sort of mini-mes in the making!)
The session went well, (even though I forgot the coffee) and the course fees will pay for this month vet's bills and two sacks of pig food!

Chicken Course II

I am in the process of topping up my depleted caffeine levels, as it has been a weird kind of a day. I worked last night and have not had any sleep this morning as I have been battling the on line NHS Jobs website as well as negotiating a somewhat unhelpful HR department by phone. (I have been debating applying for another job)

This afternoon I have been dog walking and field working and at 6.30, I am due to teach the first session of my second "chicken keeping for beginners" course at the village hall, and I feel completely knackered.

hey ho, after a few cups of the lovely black stuff and a hot bath and I shall be right as rain.

Phil Archer RIP

It's the end of an era. Jill Archer spent a rare day out with Peggy Woolly and Christine Barford and came home to find her 82 year old husband dead in the living room armchair.

It has been a long time coming as actor Norman Painting, who has played the Ambridge farmer for over 58 years, passed away last October, and I must admit I wondered just how the BBC would "get rid" of one of their most loved and respected characters!

In the end, Phil was found by his wife, in a peaceful understated scene which , as it turned out , was incredibly underplayed, brief and rather moving........The BBC does it again, as when it counts, this wonderful old soap comes up trumps again

dawn in Trelawnyd

It is usual for me to go back to bed for an hour after going the "chores" on a Sunday morning....Let me paint you a picture! There is Chris, sipping coffee and.....reading a biography of the Queen Mother whilst listening to radio 4 and the Sunday service........
and there is me, covered in dogs, listening to my digital radio ( the bitchy steve Allen on london talk radio) still in my woolly hat and longjohns.......
Happy Valentine'd day!

Inglourious Basterds

I am not a lover of Quentin Tarantino movies, but I must admit I have a sort of grudging admiration for the guy after sitting through the world war II revenge movie Inglourious Basterds.

Every Zig zagging Tarantino trick is used in this movie....the audience is wrong footed time and time and time again, as characters are suddenly introduced, then seem to seesaw back and forth in their own power struggles and importance before being dispatched or dropped with an icy cold and very violent regard.

As usual the plot is convoluted and cram packed with overly "clever" dialogue (the opening 10 minute exchange between French farmer (the very attractive Denis Menochet) and Nazi Jew hunter Landa (Christoph Waltz) is a particular standout, but it is in certain tension cranking set pieces (and I am talking about the scene in a pub basement where a British agent,Michael Fassbender is unearthed as a spy) that Tarantino really flexes his muscles to the greatest cinematic effect.

I enjoyed these moments of the movie greatly but hated the gratuitous violence within other parts of the film. I also found Brad Pitt'S performance ( as the Jewish hit squad leader) rather uncomfortable and irritating to watch, but must add that Christopher Waltz was a revelation as the charming,unpredictable and psychopathic Col Landa and the two women in the film,Mélanie Laurent as a Jewish survivor and Diane Kruger as a German double agent are also particulary good

An interesting, uncomfortable,sometimes irritating and occasionally exhilarating movie 8/10

(photo Denis Menochet- sigh)

Dry stone wall geeks

Saturdays are usually a day for the weekly shop, a massive cooked breakfast at Sainsburys and a long walk on the beach. It is a day for Chris to "come down" after his busy week stretching his brain to excess at the University, and is also a day that I usually don't have to cook anything! (I am not the best of cooks!- but I can bake).
Anyhow when I returned to the field to check on the stock, Steve (above) had already started on the Herculean job of preparing the foundation of the repair of the Church wall. I have said before, he is going to teach me how to dry stone wall, but I guess he couldn't quite resist getting stuck in.
He figures that the original wall was constructed in the 1700's, and when I asked him what would be our course of action if we come across a skull or a pair of feet from the ancient Graveyard as we continue our repairs.... he wryly stated
"we stop!"

Tonight is a night in with lasagna and a movie. We are watching Inglourious Basterds, which I will review tomorrow (I hope Alex, Bel and Victor H will review it too!!!)

I have been given three young Rhode Island Red's from a friend in the village. Which was a awfully nice thing for her to do! The young girls will help plug the hole left by the fox attack two weeks ago!, and I will pick them up on Wednesday.

Guilty Pleasures & reorganisation

There was another burial in the churchyard this morning, so leaving the gravedigger and his lorry parked on the field, I went to Prestatyn to complete some jobs for Chris and to walk the dogs. Chris' moped broke down on the way to work today at 6.45am, but our phone is not working properly so didn't ring when he called for assistance! Subsequently he had to get my sister and her husband out to help him as I slumbered!Suffice to say he was not happy!! hey ho!

Now today's blog is entitled Guilty Pleasures ..... and no I am not reviewing some trashy tv movie starring Elizabeth Montgomery from the 1980s (My friend Nigel would be upset that this is not the case), I am actually referring to those little treats that you afford yourself to from time to time.....
This morning was a case in point.
I lost one of the dogs' leads on the beach this morning, so I called into "Home Bargains" ( the cheap shop in Prestatyn) to buy another one. When I was waiting in line to pay I notice jars of frankfurter sausages for the knockdown coast of 49p and on impulse bought one! Now all this is not particularly interesting, I would admit...but I have to be honest when I say I am rather partial to these cheapo amalgams of offal, even if they do look like dead man's fingers!)

Sitting back inside the car at the car park, I opened the jar and gave each dog a hot dog of their own( this can be a difficult procedure as the hot dogs are slippery little buggers and are surrounded in saline)- then I sat back comfortably and chomped my way through the 6 others with great pleasure.
I even have a particular way of munching the hot dog without even holding onto it, a feat which drives the dogs wild with excitement!
The whole event was watched by an elderly couple, who were sat in the car opposite....they must of thought I was some sort of lunatic!
I thought I would list my other "guilty pleasures"

Proper coffee,
custard slices,
Judge Judy
Chopper coppers (or any other tv police reality show)
Reading "home and antiques" on the loo,
Magnum ice cream
Cinema visits in the afternoon,




Anyhow enough of all this navel gazing. This afternoon I set the buffs up together again into a small breeding group. I had originally separated Scotty ( the cockerel) from the 5 hens as their feathers and skin were in a dreadful state after being covered constantly by the old cockerel Clover ( who died last year).Now they are in tip top form and look quite beautiful, so I have decided to put the birds together so I can collect some fertilised buff eggs for the incubator and to replace the two buffs that were killed recently by the fox. Scotty (above) is a sweet natured cockerel and is not quite as rampant than Clover, so, hopefully the girls will be left unscathed. It will be nice to have some chicks again.

Anyhow the gentle pace of the day continues. I am off now to start clearing the next vegetable patch and have arranged to start repairing the foundation of the Church wall next week with Steve. I am looking forward in learning how to lay a dry stone wall

Lonely

http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/ is an incredibly funny blog site that displays wry. pithy and often hilarious notes left by the general public.
Tonight I noted this rather sad message left by a college student on his/her bedroom door......
and my heart broke just a little......a brief message...but it says so much.....