Contratiempo

Great to see a more mature hero taking centre stage

A wonderfully strong , tense performance by Ana Wagener

Now if you fancy a convoluted, classy and satisfying Spanish thriller which has more twists than the Monaco Grand Prix go and see Contratiempo ( The Invisible Guest), its great fun, even though it's got more holes in its narrative than a lump of Swis cheese.
Now I need to take a deep breath here as the story is comwhat complicated.

Successful, married  entrepreneur Adrian Doria (Mario Casas) is accused of the murder of his mistress (Barbara Lennie) after he is found unconscious next to her dead body in a locked hotel room in the mountains . With time running out before his trial a witness preparation expert on her last case ( a statuesque Ana Wagener) has just three hours to come up with an impregnable defence, but it is suddenly made clear that the murder has been made more complicated by the accidental killing and subsequent cover up of the death of a young man and a desperate investigation by the man's grief stricken parents to find the truth.

Like I said this is a cracking thriller that had Nuala and I shrieking at the screen in the  tense excitement of it all and the final reel  twist is so satisfying even Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud to say he had directed it.
9/10

Casas and Wagener

Camp

" May I have a word?" 
This phrase seems such an innocent one doesn't it? But when a patient's next of kin says it with her head around your office door, you know that something awkward is about to happen.
I motioned for the relative to come into my office and I got up and closed the door.
"What can I do for you" I said in my best charge nurse voice
The woman was in her fifties , well dressed and confident
" I'd like to see if we can change my husband's primary nurse?" the woman stated, a polite smile on her face.
Now her husband, had been only recently admitted to the ward following spinal surgery and unlike most of the patients on the Ward he had the luxury of walking out of the unit on his own two legs.
His allocated nurse was an experienced gentle Filipino nurse called Stan.
Stan was as camp as Christmas.
The relative cut to the chase immediately
"my husband feels somewhat uncomfortable having such a flamboyant carer" she said bluntly
I smiled a big smile
A BIG BIG FALSE smile
My reply went something like this
" Your husband has been allocated a talented , well experienced nurse to over see his care, , he has been admitted to a centre of excellence and has even been given a room of his own. We have a long waiting list for admissions here and your husband got a bed without too many problems, 
I'm sorry I'm not changing any of his nursing care"
I was shaking like a leaf inside
But ..........it felt........ Soooooooo goooooooood

Aliums & Aquilegia

It's my birthday next Friday.
I will be 56 years old.
Even without a calendar I know I'm almost there because the alliums and aquilegia have just flowered in the garden. The blue iris should bloom by the first of June too.....
Blue iris lift the heart.

Several bloggers out there have picked up that I've not quite been myself as of late and of course they are right.
I am not quite myself.
But I hope that a normal service will be resumed at some stage soon.

Sulk

I picked the Welsh terriers up from their kennels this morning.
They had been away a week.
Seven days.
And Mary decided that she was sulking.
When we arrived home she took herself off to the bedroom window seat where she gazed off into the far distance with the pinched look of a young Scarlett O'Hara.
This lasted until 19.20 pm when she found me reading on the back patio
I was reading about wartime potato Peel pies and she looked at me for a long long time
And finally jumped up into my lap for a cuddle

Moll's Gap, Lady's View and Kinsale.

 Just off to airport.......
Hey ho

Last Day

The sun is shining

Irish farmhouse breakfast!!!!!!!

Black pudding, potatoes, onion, bacon and an egg! 

Now off to Moll's Gap, Killarney lakes

And Cork

Nu's Birthday

What a cracking day....sightseeing, a long walk, adventures with good food, wonderful scenery,lots of talking, scrabble, a film and lots of laughter..happy birthday Nu! I love ya xxxx

Film night the excellent Spanish thriller Contratiempo

Kenmare Bay

The Ring Of Kerry

Nuala's cottage is picture perfect.
A delightful hideaway surrounded by what looks like an all encompassing forrest
It was nearly ten o clock when I took this photo and the light in this part of Ireland seemed not quite of this world.
We talked, ate sea bass and sipped wine and I slept nine hours solid without having a wee.

A Good Show

I've been watching some of the wedding at Manchester Airport.
I found it all rather moving.
Mind you the dignity bubble which surrounded the occasion was somewhat burst by a rather common woman in an orange singlet who was drinking a pint of lager from a plastic glass.
She turned to her companions and roared " Meghan's a real classy bitch ain't she? "

Outwîtted ...updated

Irene , now in the livery stables fields! 

Right on our side we had the collective force of Sue " the sheep", livestock experts Eirlys and hubby John, village elder Islwyn and his brother, blogger sue and her lovely hubby, me, sailor John and Irene's favourite neighbour Mandy who was waving several slices of delicious bread!
On the other side was Irene......

Having leapt the field fences she is now running with the ponies down the road!

Till next time dearheart

Postscript

Nuala my best friend will meet me at Cork Airport tomorrow
I think I am in need of my friends at the moment.
Little kindnesses have been the order recently, as...as you all know, I've not been quite myself as of late.
And little kindnesses have come thick and fast......and for these I have been so very grateful.
From the kind chat over the graveyard fence, a surprise lunch out,a workbased phonecall when busy, messages, messages, messages....an unexpected arm rub whilst on a walk, an on line reunion with a spunky old psychologist friend, sweet blog comments, a couple of hugs and bizarrely enough , a trip to a flower arrangement presentation with 70 old ladies!

I am very lucky , ...hey ho

Throbbing Like A Porn Star's *€+!

I am on a hefty dose of flucloxacillin which has played havoc with my digestion.
Thankfully this morning my septic thumb is responding to the therapy and has ceased to throb with the intensity it did yesterday, even though it does resemble a  large Victoria plum.
I aim to go back to the hospital later for a dressing change, but only after corralling Irene , who will be going to pastures new today if we can catch her.
I've conscripted a somewhat eclectic band of helpers. Village elder Islwyn, chicken keeper Eirlys and sailor John amongst others said they will be available but I am dubious that we will be successful ......
Watch this space.
The cottage is quiet today. William and Mary went to kennels yesterday so only Winnie and George are home and in these warm spring days they only have the energy to snooze and fart.
Albert is out hunting baby rabbits
Tomorrow I fly to The Irish republic to stay with Nuala for a few days. She has a cottage there, out in the sticks and it's her birthday.

It will be good to see her.

Blast From The Past

Watching Tenko on sky! 

I'm a sad fucker

I loved Rose and Blanche best

Septic Thumb

A Conversation at the local minor injuries department 6 pm this evening

Nurse: " Keep the dressing dry and come back on Friday for us to reassess it"
Me: "of course"
Nurse: " Have you got anyone with you today?" 
Me : " Yes Mary is waiting for me in the car"
Nurse: " Can she drive you if you have problem with the gears?" 
Me: " No she's a Welsh terrier!" 
Nurse " Smart Arse!" 

News

I let Mr Hughes into the church last night in order to photograph a memorial for the fallen from this parish from The Great War. He has just realised that several names have been left off the main memorial Cross by the village Hall.
He has made it his mission to ensure they are added the short list of the dead.
Afterwards I attended a meeting of the new Community Association .I like the new members, they are vital and friendly and alive.
They also have their meeting in the pub over a pint, which is a nose flick to the stuffiness of most official meetings .
I told them about the running of the flowershow , and was pleased that they may resurrect it at some stage albeit in a different form.
On the way home I stopped outside the Hall to listen to the Male Voice choir at their rehearsal
It was quite beautiful

Smoke And Mirrors

Nursing helped me to read people.
Especially those in stress, illness and crisis.
My speciality has always been rehabilitation, where encouragement, occasional bullying and humour was the order of the day.
Yesterday a friend from the village asked my advice.
Her elderly mother had been poorly and after treatment had retired to her bed.
As we all know Bedrest in the elderly can be a one way ticket and so I offered to give her a pep talk.

I used the old  " smoke and mirror" approach
I took along my old sphygmomanometer and after a bit of banter I checked her pulse and blood pressure and asked questions about tablets and pain. I was courteous but relaxed and we laughed with my face level  with hers before I finally suggested that she needed to sit out of bed at least every morning and every afternoon .

She agreed without hesitation .
It must have been just a tad galling for the patient's daughter who had spent hours cajoling her mother into activity to finally see her move her arse off the bed but the outcome was worth it, with everyone happy.

I was reminded of a teenage paraplegic patient from long ago who refused to get into his wheelchair for the very first time. His named nurse, who was a blowsy, big busted and big hearted girl called Ruth had  approached the situation appropriately for a while. She had sat the patient up in bed over a few days, explained the procedure of getting up, listened to the patient's fears and supported his anxiety and had used a former patient who was already up his his wheelchair as a peer support but the boy was steadfast in his refusal to get up.
Ruth decided to use a more unorthodox method of rehab.
She pushed her cleavage to its max and vamped things up with wry smile.
A bit of harmless flirting, did the trick as the proximity of a straining bust, the threat of a less than motherly hug had the boy calling out to me  with a resigned and playful "okok get me up get me up...get me out of here"! 

Like I said. Smoke and mirrors....smoke and mirrors.....
And a small bunch of flowers from the daughter , delivered last night, proved that smoke and mirrors do work when things need to get done.

Don't You Love Banksy?

The Secret Garden

I thought I had killed it.
The Montana clematis that I planted eleven years ago was pruned hard in the autumn, and up to only a week or so ago, I was convinced that this year it would not have crowned the homemade iron gate my brother in law forged for us when the garden was made.
I need not have worried for in a space of what seems like days, it has burst into life on the gate arch and has transformed the garden back into the secret bolt hole I always wanted it to be.
True, visitors now have to bend double to get through the gate, but I've always kind of liked that.
It makes the garden feel, well......cosy.
I'm writing this in the garden with George.
The other dogs and Albert are all in bed as it is still early.
George is waiting for the crusts and eggy bits left over from breakfast and he has just started to drool
This is his very individual daily treat .
I'm rather introspective today.
But That's not for here.

Cloud Watching

I  burnt my face yesterday.
Cloud watching in buttercup filled field overlooking the sea at Beaumaris .
I haven't cloud watched for an absolute  age.

Books

‘THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY: THEY DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY there.’ 

I've never read L P Hartley's novel The Go Between but I am aware of the first line.

The line came into my head this morning over coffee

I've just started The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. £3.99 from Tesco

How cheap are books?

The skies are blue today, 

A walk is the order of the day
Eurovision later, I've suggested beer and voting

What are you reading this Saturday btw ?