An Important Person In Your Life

I saw this photo recently.
My favourite actress Olivia De Havilland is 100 years old.

I am lucky because I have had a good number of vitally important people in my life
The Prof , my sisters, my best friends, all are as essential to me as breathing, but this photo of the serene and gracious De Havilland reminded me so much of someone who taught me how to be warm. How to love without strings and baggage , and how to laugh at life with all it's brickbats and hard times.
The photo reminded me of my maternal Grandmother, Mary Helena Fry

My gran had a big heart.
She loved easily and was loved
She had an incredibly hard early life
And gave her grandchildren the strength to cope with our slightly sad childhoods.

Who was the most important person in your early life?
And why
Hey ho

"Harmonica" and other tales

I have been a bit remiss.
Village news has taken somewhat of a back burn recently , what with a holiday in Kent, Fridge Door disasters and a month-long Prof sabbatical.
I shall share a brief update as I wait for the windows to fill the two ugly voids in the front of Bwthyn-y-Llan

Today we are back to normal. The Prof has donned shirt and tie and Elvis has FINALLY left the building! 
and Winnie has finally met her two workmen this morning, both of whom have rubbed and kissed her so much that she has finally collapsed in a moist unnecessary heap upon the back patio floor.

I have noticed that we have had a few new residents in Trelawnyd recently. Arfon from Pen-y-cefn Isa told me that the new guy renting his old bungalow is a bit of a gardener and that I should pounce with a Flower Show Schedule, but I have resisted the urge. We need to have a post Flower Show meeting soon to decide which village  initiatives get supported this year and I wanted to check how Auntie Glad is doing. I saw her yesterday, sunbathing outside her front door and she looked well.
- she had a bright yellow duster tucked into the pocket of her pinny

Another new Trelawnyd-ite is the sweetly good natured " Harmonica"
Harmonica ( derived by me adding "our" to her first name " Monika" geddit? ) is, I think Polish. She could be Dutch, but I can't be sure as I am shit at accents, but anyhow whatever country she indeed comes from , she is now here with her partner and young baby, living a few doors down from Auntie Glad.
Almost daily I see Harmonica. She pops down to the field with her baby to feed the birds and like most  animals everytime, they see her coming they crowd en masse by the gate like the forest animals did with Snow White. Like I said she's very sweet, and like many new mums, perhaps a little isolated.
The other day, she asked ( because I am a village elder ( oh errrr) ) if I could help her,
She was, ( pre baby) a busy aerobic teacher and wondered if she could put on some free village based keep fit sessions on in the hall.
I told her that I would ask the powers that be.
The upshot of all  this is that the Hall manager has said yes and Harmonica has been given the green light. I am pleased for her and plan with Trendy Carol ( who had a striking trouser suit on today!) and The Prof to join in ( albeit on the back row)
I wish her well!

I have still got to treat Islwyn and Cameron the teen boffin to something for their work on the field when we were away. Neighbours Mandy and Pat the animal helper have already been given flowers for their input!

George remains his bright and normal Self but will be going to the vets this week. His lump has reduced in size and smell but now remains as a residual and on the surface harmless mass.
We shall see.....
I've been brushing his teeth this morning....It would be easier juggling the contents of a scatter cushion.

The Flip Side

Over the weekend I cared for a patient that required physical 24 hour supervision by two people at all times
It was a necessary, labour intensive, expensive and at times mentally draining task, but strange as it may seem not one that nurses on intensive care are unfamiliar with.
I was " supervising" the shift and was helped both nights by agency nurses, with different levels of experience and knowledge.
Throughout the often long night shift, I had the opportunity of discussing the experiences of both and one in particular, a support worker who travels all over the North of the country in search of work, was an eye opener to say the least.
He told me that he loved working in environments like ours.
The reason?
He was party to " nice"  staff and high standards of care,
He also told me how lucky I was having everything I needed to hand.
I explored his statements further and was somewhat shocked to hear of just how care varies in some public and private care situations.
He told me that he has cleaned  stinking carpets in the middle of the night in an effort to provide an environment suitable for old people to exist in. He has endured bullying and exploitation by burnt out and uncaring staff and he had worked in places that thought providing one pair of gloves a shift was a luxury.
He told me of one dilapidated private home which had one resident's room open to the night's sky whilst another always had one pristine and beautifully furnished empty room on standby just in case the inspectors came to call..
It was depressing stuff.

Working as a nurse in the public sector is not always a piece of cake. But generally in my experience, the care is excellent, standards are high, the environment is suitable for purpose and respect is high.
Sadly in the " real world" that is not always the case

Thoughts readers?

Bank Holiday

Burkinis in the distance

Thank God, the Welsh only have hang ups about sex and chapel!
We are sitting on the beach again happily enjoying the sight of a dozen or so Muslim ladies in Burkinis having a bit of a surf.
It's a very jolly sight.
I've only had a couple of hours sleep but after the "Fridge door " incident, I thought it prudent to get out of the village with the Prof who has had to cope with the cottage responsibilities unaided for the past 48 hours!
Not only has the " door" put him into somewhat of a mental decline, he's finally lost his patience with our elderly bed mattress which for him is as comfortable as lying on a barrel load of hedgehogs and these two things coupled with a middle of the night lightening storm which triggered a somewhat unexpected canine diarrhoea event, the poor academic is in need to a beach break.
He doesn't do the mini disasters of real life.

So here we are again,
but this time I've refused to burn my arsehole !

Tomorrow will be an exciting day...the Prof goes back to work after a month off, the cottage is having  new Windows fitted and Winnie, well, Winnie will be beside herself, cos she will be given free rein with two ( YES TWO!!! ) window fitting workmen all of her own! 
The subsequent  bulldog masturbatory frenzy will be sight for very sore eyes!
Hey ho

Busty Worries

Cheap movie thriller circa 1950
Busty blonde with pointed tits turns to rugged and probably gay leading man
" It's awfully quiet out there" she purrs
He frowns, showing  his beautifully square jaw to the camera
" yeah.........too quiet"

Indian arrow slams into tree next to them
Busty lass screams!

I'm in bed and have been for six , blissfully silent hours.
There has been no noise from downstairs all day!

I'm worried! 

!!!!!

To those that disbelieve 

The " new" fridge door

( see previous post)

Thank god John Lewis delivers

Sod's law

I wasn't going to blog today, not enough time.
Working the next two night shifts, finished some gardening today and by the shopping was done and the animals fed and my arse lathered in aloe vera........ I was just having a sneaky five minutes sitting on the toilet with my ipad before going to bed when there was an almighty crash from the kitchen.
" The fridge door has just fallen off!" The Prof bellowed
And by the time I got downstairs he was manfully trying to keep the dogs away from a mound of broken bottles, spilt jams and preserves, milk and what looked suspiciously like splattered mustard after the top part of the fridge freezer had collapsed into the centre of the kitchen floor
" My life is shit!" Moaned the Prof
Bless him

As A Crisp!

This afternoon.....I fell asleep with my head inside our beach tent
.....but with my " builder's crack " in full sun
This evening The Prof has been applying aloe vera liberally to the affected parts
It's very painful

The Beach Tent Row

i bought a beach tent from Aldi yesterday
And we had the customary public row about how to put it up on Colwyn Bay beach this afternoon.
Lovely to be back on the sand again
And we have wify too!

Shit

The older I get, the easier I find I can access my assertion/anger button
Some of that comes from experience and confidence.
Some of that comes out of need.
and some of it comes from the way businesses feel that they can treat the general public like shit

Today, I've been waiting for a  Customer Relations Person to call me and every time the phone has rung, it has been someone else on the line......This has proved to be somewhat galling given that just before I picked up the receiver, I have psyched myself for a bit of a verbal joust
( a case of too much testosterone with no outlet)

Finally, a rather prim Mz Beale called me, ( 5 hours after I was promised a call) and I was just about to let rip when I let out an uncensored and unchecked scream of " nnnnnoooooooooooooooooo! "
I lost all credibility.
Out of the corner of my eye, I had caught Albert placing two very heavy paws right into a newly gloss painted  window ledge.

Bake Off

Three posts in one day? Bloody hell
I had to leave things on a lighter note, what with Sad George and French Birka overkill dominating today's posts
The bake off is back!
And hats off to the BBC for finding another 12 delightful contestants
We have a feisty PE teacher, a vicar, a ditsy grandma, a sweet natured boffin, a potentially arrogant banker ...and best of all a camp-as -Christmas Sikh Queen who was seen skipping around the bake off tent like a middle aged Harvey Feirstein
Wonderful stuff

Madness

The sight of four French policemen " requesting" that a Muslim sunbather remove her makeshift " Burkini" on a Nice beach, saddened me greatly today.
It reminded me of when my best friend Nu worked in Saudi Arabia.
Then the religious police stalked the streets looking for women who had not covered themselves with their abaya properly and were not adverse in swinging their sticks to maintain public modesty.
The "need to do something" after the dreadful terrorism in France is understandable
But...this?

Meatballs On the Dashboard

I am aware that I haven't given you all an update on George since we got home.
Today seems to be "George Day" so I shall endeavour to rectify this somewhat.
The truth is that there seems to be no real news at the moment.
On the surface, the old boy is well. The foul smelling lump under his jaw is receding in size and odour and he is still three quarters the way through his antibiotics.
He is eating well, and looking bright but I am not blind to the fact that he probably has something sinister lurking around his jaw, and in various lumps and bumps over his body.
He is an old dog, and after his course of medication we shall consult the vet yet again for guidance.
In the meantime, he is having some nice George time.
Today he came with me to B& Q
He sat on his own towel ( and cushion) on the passenger seat and felt very spoilt as he could look through the windscreen without hindrance.
He was bought his very own pack of chicken meatballs ( his absolute fav treat) and was fed four ,( one hiding his morning antibiotic tablet,) in the car park as he happily watched people ambling around with their shopping trolleys.
And he was taken to the beach promenade for his very own, uninterrupted and unhurried mooch from one fascinating piss mark to another .

I need to prep and paint the front door today.
There is washing in need of hanging up and all of the other animals are stamping their little feet for attention.
But for one peace filled hour,
I sat with my grey eyed old scottie
just him and me on a beach facing bench.
Sharing cheap meatballs.

Handy Hint Number One

Tonight I re watched the opening ceremony of the London Olympics
I cried buckets, it was so good.
Wrung out I pleased myself afterwards by finding a new ( and indeed better use) for a fairly useless Garfield which I had been given nearly 40 years ago
I am thinking of making a regular feature called Handy Hints! 

At first glance a vintage Garfield

Look again! 

The perfect ipad holder! 

Household Cockups

The Prof is away and I am just about to finish a serious bout of housework.
I don't mind as the job is quite satisfying especially if you have left a cat like Albert have free reign in the house for a week.
It's a bit like being a serial killer as you have to remove all traces of the dead bodies .
The living room was covered by the almost mumified parts of what looked like  some sort of tit.
Under the bed was quarter of a small rabbit and I found a pair of back legs and a tail of something unfortunate underneath the bookcase.
My friend Bel Ami  only does housework when he has a row with his wife which is a shame as I think he's missing out.....I find cleaning strangely therapeutic even when there are putrefying bodies involved.
Now, long term readers of Going gently will remember that I used to be a bit of a fiend when it came to household bleach. I used to have a tendency to splash it too liberally around the toilet bowl and bath and on  more that one occasion have burnt my buttocks rather badly when I have forgotten I had not rinsed away the residue.

Today's mistake was to spray all of the throws and cushions in the living room with fly spray instead of the more fragrant spray starch
I've had to rewash everything.......

What's your worst household mistake?
It's nice to get back to some sort of normality here, so I would be interested to hear?  

All Intact

I've just sat down
At the end of a long day. Dogs have all returned. Albert is fine. The field animals are all present and correct.
All are asleep.
My sister has looked after George superbly. We will wait and see what happens after his antibiotics
I will leave you with this happy photo as  I can't be arsed explaining anything else

A note of Thanks

we are homeward bound this morning and by teatime the children  Sorry, animals will be collected and collated back home.
We can find out more about George's affliction, prise Winnie from her foster mother and pay a kings ransom to the kennels housing the Welsh terriers, who will, no doubt, sleep for the next 24 hours.

I've enjoyed my time in Kent. Thanks to Sorrel for her hospitality and for her never ending effort to go the last mile. Thanks to Jon and Charlotte for hosting some delicious meals and thanks to Duncan and Izzy for the use of the beach hut even though it took us an age to work out what went where!

Richard was a brick chauffeuring us around the Dover cliffs and Leo was very sweet quizzing me to distraction about soddin Star Wars. 

So a big thank you to "The family Prof."...

The Art Of Not Noticing

Sometimes it a bonus being totally unaware of what is going on around you.
Some people just seem to have this skill.
Nothing seems to affects them !
I ENVY THOSE PEOPLE
I am reminded of an elderly enrolled nurse, I once worked with in psychiatry called Donald O'Hara
( enrolled nurses were affectionately known as greenies btw as they often wore green uniforms ) anyhow.... he was Irish, a bit dim, but rather sweet and  had the unerring talent not to be involved or notice any conflict or violent incident when it occurred on the ward, a ward which catered for 30 odd long term mentally ill men.
One lunchtime, I was supervising " dinners" with two other student nurses when one particularly florid schizophrenic patient kicked off  with a fellow patient. Within seconds the two patients had hit each other with full plates of cottage pie and as we students jumped in to separate the men another patient waded into the scuffle by throwing a full jug of juice into the array.
The fight progressed to the heated dinner trolley, where a metal container of baked beans was launched into the mix and as I ( bravely) hung onto the instigator ( who was then screaming that he was original King of Spain) I was spun  into a bamboo planter full of spider plants and knocked the entire collection onto the floor.
To add to the confusion a particularly degraded patient who had the unfortunate nickname of " The animal" crawled into the mess happily eating all of the trampled pastry and mashed potato which had been flung onto the floor.
Of course we students didn't have the gravitas to stop the whole melee, but stop it did when the charge nurse thundered down from his office and bellowed a sharp and aggressive shout of
" DESIST THIS FOOLERY THIS  INSTANT  !"  from the dining room doorway
He looked at us student nurses and baked bean covered patients with a sneering disgust and walked back to his office shaking his head.
Only then did Donald appear. He had been reading the Racing Post in one of the buxton chairs adjacent to the dining room and as he tucked it into his uniform pocket he gave me,  the other food stained student nurses,  and the cowed patients a brief sympathetic  look.

" what's for pudding?" He asked without cracking a smile.

Margate

We went to Margate today

Curved Ball

I should have known better.
In the last post I mentioned that I've not been worried about the animals
And a few hours later my sister rings with the news that George has something wrong with his jaw.
A sudden foul smelling mass which looks suspect according to the vet who examined him
The Prof and I tried so very hard to smile through a family dinner tonight
But I suspect we failed miserably.