Post the best caption
Daughterhood
My Sister and I went to the theatre tonight to see a fringe production called Daughterhood
It captured perfectly the push/pull relationship often seen between sisters who have lived very different lives due to circumstance, age and fate and we both enjoyed the interplay between actors charlotte O'Leary and Charlotte Bate who provided some powerful performances!
It tickled me that Janet and I actually counted the audience number
66
Songs Of Praise
The Songs Of Praise evening was a rather sweet and emotive affair.
Stand in vicar Dot, ( she of the jeans and purple hair ) was relaxed yet rather passionate about the church and village she was babysitting and started ( and ended) the evening by blessing the village and it's inhabitants.
The simplicity and sincerity of her blessings almost moved me to tears.
Flower Show Ann, Radio 4 Tim, The affable despot family, Mrs Trellis, Pippa from the rectory, Trendy Carol ( yellow top, snakeskin pants!!) and Gaynor the mad organist were all there and we sang a dozen or so hymns all dovetailed by asides from the vicar, who at one moment read from a piece of prose downloaded on her mobile.
Liv Randa and some of the other village Children gave readings and prayers and the vicar ended the service by explaining just how hard it was for the tiny existing congregation to keep the place going. Her acknowledgement of their struggle and for their obvious love for the institution , I think was gratefully received and again very emotional to listen to
It is rare to have a champion for middle class church Going types
Respect
A shakey selfie of Trendy Carol and I
Your Julia Roberts Moment
I was asked recently where I get my love of theatre from.
As I recall I don't come from a family that ever went to the pantomime let alone go and see a ballet or an opera or a west end play.
My love of theatre comes from a chance visit to the Leeds Grand back in 1986
I had just started work in a mother and baby unit in York and had been asked out on a ward night out by a tall willowy occupational therapist called Ali, who felt that a cultural night was more in order than the usual bun fight down at the Hole In The Wall Pub
She arranged for us to see Bizet's The Pearl Fishes
and I remember sitting in the vastness of that great Northern auditorium thinking " I have no idea what is about to happen"
I was blown away
It was a beautiful production with a full orchestra and more colour than a LGBTQ flag.
And when the two friends Nadir and Zurga finally sang their duet of friendship Au Font Du Temple Saint
I was totally Overwhelmed .....by the homoerotic subtex ( only in my mind), the power of the voices, the beauty of the music and I promptly burst into tears with the magic of it all
From that moment I went to everything that was going. Opera, the world famous Northern Ballet, touring farces at York's Theatre Royal, even the Mystery Plays in the Roman Gardens, I lapped everything up and when I moved to Sheffield with The Crucible and Lyceum Theatres standing tall in the city centre I was in seventh heaven..
So my question today is what is your Julia Robert's Moment?
Her first trip to the Opera in Pretty Woman really mirrored my own Pearl Fishes moment ( though she looked just a tad more beautiful)
What production moved you, in only that way live Theatre can do
Radio 4 Tim
I feel a bit in limbo at the moment
The paperwork needed before I can start in the hospice is still on going, and I am bursting to give my one month's notice at the nursing home.
Keeping busy is one thing
Moving on is another.
Mary and I met up with " radio 4 Tim" on our evening walk. He is the chap that bought the house next to Auntie Glad's and his post divorce Labour of love is to transport the old school back to its Georgian splendour. I call his Radio 4 Tim because he has a rich speaking voice which could give Richard Burton a run for his money.
It's like verbal chocolate, made deeper by illicit fags, smoked by the back door!
I'm quite sensitive to voices and in particular accents.
I miss the broad vowels and pace of the South Yorkshire way of speaking, and find the sharpness of the mish mash of the Welsh coastal accent rather grating as its part poor Welsh part merseyside and Lancashire .
I've just mooched today
Which is symptomatic of feeling in limbo land.
Oh I did buy a yellow cushion which matches nothing in the cottage at all.( I'm a sucker for Soft furnishings) which Winnie has taken a sudden liking to.
Mary is in season and is playing somewhat sexually with a rather bemused Albert
The paperwork needed before I can start in the hospice is still on going, and I am bursting to give my one month's notice at the nursing home.
Keeping busy is one thing
Moving on is another.
Mary and I met up with " radio 4 Tim" on our evening walk. He is the chap that bought the house next to Auntie Glad's and his post divorce Labour of love is to transport the old school back to its Georgian splendour. I call his Radio 4 Tim because he has a rich speaking voice which could give Richard Burton a run for his money.
It's like verbal chocolate, made deeper by illicit fags, smoked by the back door!
I'm quite sensitive to voices and in particular accents.
I miss the broad vowels and pace of the South Yorkshire way of speaking, and find the sharpness of the mish mash of the Welsh coastal accent rather grating as its part poor Welsh part merseyside and Lancashire .
I've just mooched today
Which is symptomatic of feeling in limbo land.
Oh I did buy a yellow cushion which matches nothing in the cottage at all.( I'm a sucker for Soft furnishings) which Winnie has taken a sudden liking to.
Mary is in season and is playing somewhat sexually with a rather bemused Albert
Tuesday Night is Choir Night !!
Not our choir but you get the gist
Even he was knackered....so as you may expect I was practically ready to be sedated and ventilated.
He was impressed that I aim to get fitter by bike riding from this Thursday!
He offered his son's Cycle stabilisers as a support!
The rest of the 25 minutes on court , we sat and chatted about this and that.
I enjoy the talk as much as our game
" You look happier" he told me
" I am" I told him back.
Earlier this evening nearly a full complement turned up for choir.
Jamie, his 1940s RAF moustache and his husband had been away on a much deserved holiday and we all had missed our rehearsals much more than we had expected.
One of my fellow bases had a paper crown on his head for some reason and I was quite amused no one asked him why....I love the British way of ignoring the obvious !!
We grappled with the Croatian folk song Zbogom Moja which turned out quite beautifully then learned Ali Burns' When Love Had No Road ( see the above version ) and ended up singing to Jamie our own version of happy anniversary as he has been our choirmaster for 5 years.
I have seldom seen so much genuine affection shown by a group of middle class, mostly middle aged old pongos to one person since I watched the cast of the movie Cocoon moon over Steve Guttenburg
I felt my mobile phone vibrate that a message had come through just as I sort of mastered a tricky bit of Croatian , and I knew what it meant
My former father-in-law had died peacefully after a very short medical crisis .
I'd known him almost twenty years!
I got home after 10pm and found a couple jiggers of my holiday gin left in the fridge, and pouring a large one... with a smile I raised a glass to him
You were a gentle, sweet man, Richard Burton
You always treated me with kindness
But your joke telling was fucking shite!
My father in law and I circa 2007
Judith Rose
Sometimes a little gem of a piece of writing finds its way to you from out of the ether.
On a Monday The New York Times publishes readers stories which describe the city.
This piece has so much to say in just a few short lines.
I was rather moved by it
Dear Diary:
I was 19, fresh from my tiny hometown in rural Nova Scotia, visiting New York on my own for the first time.
While I was walking through Madison Square Park early one morning, I saw a young man with a bulldog coming toward me on the path.
Naïve and intimidated by the young man’s tattoos and grim expression, I kept my eyes on the ground as he got closer.
The bulldog sneezed.
“Bless you,” the young man said quietly.
— Emily DeWolfe
Vigil
Last night I worked with a doe eyed young woman who is about to embark on her student nurse training in University.
Our conversations lead us to the subject of the care of the dying and she showed considerable knowledge of the use of end of life pathways,associated protocols and research but had little practical knowledge and experience of what I think a nurse's role in the act of a vigil.
I listed of my nurse " rules" to her as we mopped and polished the day room
Our conversations lead us to the subject of the care of the dying and she showed considerable knowledge of the use of end of life pathways,associated protocols and research but had little practical knowledge and experience of what I think a nurse's role in the act of a vigil.
I listed of my nurse " rules" to her as we mopped and polished the day room
- Be clear from the get go who you are and why you are there.Relatives are distressed and seldom are able to listen to long winded explanations and instructions. Give them permission to ask questions and to quiz you about what is happening.
- Be calm and move slowly. Don't rush. Make sure the bedpace is orderly, clean and tidy. It sounds old fashioned and a bit twee but order and calmness breeds order and calmness
- If the patient is monitored transfer the digital readouts with its waveforms and noise into sleep mode ( where the nurses at the nurse station can see the monitor readings but the family cannot)
- Explain everything you do
- Follow your protocols. They are their to maintain your patient's comfort and dignity. Many medications will combat the more distressing symptoms in the dying process, such as a " wet " chest or cerebral irritation.
- Encourage breaks out of the vigil room, provide an overnight room to use if available and bring in regular drinks, water and food if possible. Provide teapots and hot water jugs as the process of tea making will give the relatives something to do. Allow family to help with personal cares if they wish to but don't push it if they decline.
- Find out more about your patient ; often anecdotes and family stories can be shared at this time especially when the patient perhaps would have had a chronic condition which exhibited itself into a change of personality and abilities.
- Be flexible . Pets, children and best friend Eddie who can't make visiting until 2 am must be catered for .
- Be honest, often through experience you can judge when a patient is going to suddenly deteriorate but that be not always be the case. Patients can hang on for days
- The dying process can affect personal and family dynamics considerably and conflicts can arise and quickly get out of control. Be sensitive to these, disappear when needed but be prepared to control the situation if needed. Anger is an emotion most readily mobilised in grief
- Acknowledge the surreal nature of the situation and be aware that relatives can be affected deeply by the " normality " of life outside the vigil room.
- Don't use euphemisms for death . Be clear and unambiguous in the use of your language.Be very sure that patient has actually passed away before you confirm it
- Be kind....Explain that the patient may be able to hear a loved one's last comment even though they may be hypoxic or deeply sedated.
- Be prepared for anything to happen. I have been slapped by one grieving wife and have had dozens of distraught traveller families force their way on a ward to show their respects.
- At the end of your shift personally introduce the nurse taking over to the family. Don't rush this and say don't gong nice and positive about your colleague . This is especially important if you have worked alongside the vigil a long time
" I've never seen a dead body" my co worker admitted as soon as I had finished my speech
- So I added number number 16...all ways support your junior and less robust colleagues
Urges
When I go to get my eyes tested I always get the urge to kiss the optician when he looks deep into my eyes .
It's a very strong urge
I almost pucker up as soon as I feel the smell of aftershave.
I can't be the only one
Surly
This morning I took the bike into Halfords and was supervised by Dom who had a ginger beard and an impressive sleeve tattoo.
Now I am not a lover of tattoos but his sleeve was an incredibly muted depiction of a koi carp amid flowers and it was so beautiful I had the sudden urge to stroke it as he entered my details into his computer.
Of course I didn't
but I would have loved to
Its a quiet day today, and it's sunny.
I am working tonight, and I have not given my notice in as yet as I am waiting for my official start date at the hospice.
I am about to cut the lawn.
Trendy Carol has just passed in an impressively billowing pair of snakeskin print trousers!
I asked her if it was crocodile!
what do I know?
Laurie (the soft spoken Scot) stopped me this morning to say that he was thrilled to get a mention on the blog. Him and his family worked so very hard to put on the folk festival this weekend so I told him it was the least I could do...Ive had such a nice weekend I want to maintain the momentum of it all.
So apart from some unsociable nursing shifts I have organised a lot over the next two weeks. Badminton with Gorgeous Dave,theatre with my sister, cinema with a friend, choir x2 , a bike ride ( the bike is returned to me on Thursday!) a church singalong! and a two day visit to Sheffield when I have booked to see all my old friends for tea, and supper and lunch and walks in the Botanical Gardens
hey ho
You have got to scratch an urge when they come...….
A Face Like Thunder
Last night I went out with some new friends to celebrate a birthday
It was a nice meal with an eclectic bunch of characters which included an Italian Professor doing medical research along the North Wales coast and a precocious but articulate 14 year old who found me terribly amusing!
The food and the company at the Erskine Arms in Conwy was delightful!
I got home late and fed Winnie and Mary hours past their dinner time
before walking them around the Churchyard with a lazy swagger
Albert wasn't happy at all
I had made him wait for his dinner too, and he had not eaten since early morning...
but as usual he followed us with a sudden bad tempered swagger and as we entered the lych-gate he jumped up on the wall and boxed my face with very angry paws
Cats always bear a grudge
worse than any gay man I have ever known
but he wouldn't even let me pet him
"The Greenland Whale".... and my scruffy people...
Hattie and I doing selfies
I've had the best of nights last night!!!
The folk weekend in Trelawnyd is something I've never done before, so I pulled up my bra straps and took myself off by myself to see what all the fun was about.
I had just bought myself a cider ( I never drink cider!!!) when a Scottish fiddle player Ryan Young and a guitar player Jenn Butterworth started a traditional duelling banjo type of set.
It was magical
I was transported immediately to that scene in Whisky Galore when Gordon Jackson's straight laced mother attended a ceiligh and as the music built in its intensity she drank the whisky left out on the shelf and enjoyed herself.
I downed another cider,...
As the pace of the fiddle increased, the crowd stamped their feet on the village hall's floor, and I stamped too, loving every minute of it, especially liking the experience as I recognised the crowd as " my people" , a few hundred scruffy bastards dancing and clapping under the felt bunting without guile and with a great deal of good humour
I saw lots of people I knew. Cameron, his mum and dad, The Manley's...Pippa ( who complained she could hear the harp!) and eventually met my fellow choir member Hattie who took me by the hand and told me I had to stand at the front of the crowd to listen to Sam Kelly and The Lost Boys who sang a collection of songs which included Cornish language ballads, Welsh and Irish foot tappers and a lovely Canadian Greenland Whale shanty.
After this Cameron's mum told me she had some news for the blog
She had a 5 foot foxglove in her garden
I told her I would photograph it today xx
The night finished around eleven after Cameron had bounced around dancing with a dozen others in
front of the stage and the air was cool and refreshing on the village green after the confines of the concert.
Hattie waved her goodbyes as I sat for a moment on the benches my Flower Show bought for the village to use some years ago now.
And I let the night's dew cool my face
And I thought......to myself ...with some slightly drunken pride....
I am home......
I had just bought myself a cider ( I never drink cider!!!) when a Scottish fiddle player Ryan Young and a guitar player Jenn Butterworth started a traditional duelling banjo type of set.
It was magical
I was transported immediately to that scene in Whisky Galore when Gordon Jackson's straight laced mother attended a ceiligh and as the music built in its intensity she drank the whisky left out on the shelf and enjoyed herself.
I downed another cider,...
As the pace of the fiddle increased, the crowd stamped their feet on the village hall's floor, and I stamped too, loving every minute of it, especially liking the experience as I recognised the crowd as " my people" , a few hundred scruffy bastards dancing and clapping under the felt bunting without guile and with a great deal of good humour
I saw lots of people I knew. Cameron, his mum and dad, The Manley's...Pippa ( who complained she could hear the harp!) and eventually met my fellow choir member Hattie who took me by the hand and told me I had to stand at the front of the crowd to listen to Sam Kelly and The Lost Boys who sang a collection of songs which included Cornish language ballads, Welsh and Irish foot tappers and a lovely Canadian Greenland Whale shanty.
After this Cameron's mum told me she had some news for the blog
She had a 5 foot foxglove in her garden
I told her I would photograph it today xx
The night finished around eleven after Cameron had bounced around dancing with a dozen others in
front of the stage and the air was cool and refreshing on the village green after the confines of the concert.
Hattie waved her goodbyes as I sat for a moment on the benches my Flower Show bought for the village to use some years ago now.
And I let the night's dew cool my face
And I thought......to myself ...with some slightly drunken pride....
I am home......
People Day
It's Friday morning and Winnie is noisily trying to retrieve a couple of rogue garden peas from under the kitchen cabinets
She has the nose of a blood hound and will not rest until anything edible is found and devoured .
I am late up today as I was at Samaritans on a night lift last night.
True to form I was stopped by the police on the way home.
It a " people " day today.
I called in to see how Jason and his heroic hand was doing only to left standing in a queue of small boys by his front door who I presumed were waiting to play with liv, Jason's youngest.
They weren't
After I had found out the " hand" news
Jason cheerfully piped up to the boys " Are you ready for a game of football?"
They had come around to play with him and not Liv
This amused me no end.
Mary and I stopped by the Green this morning to chat to village Elder Bryn. The conversation centred about the Folk festival weekend in the hall , to which I had been given a free pass to by the organisers
I had already chatted to Laurie, one of the organisers , who is a quietly spoken Scot who has nightmares controlling his floppy footed setter, Barney.
For months now, on a sort of ad hoc basis Laurie would knock on the lane window as he and Barney were passing and I would join him with the sanguine Winnie in tow. Together we would walk Indian file around the Churchyard and within minutes Barney would change from an over excited, defensively aggressive hound to a bored bulldog sidekick.
Dogs are at their most relaxed when following each other out on a walk, it's that wolf line mentality and I have found it is a trick that calms even the most aggressive of dogs .
Only a month or so ago , after Laurie had calmed down as much as Barney did I walk close by and give him Winnie's lead. He was absolutely gob smacked that the two dogs were stood side by side without trouble......of course his reduction of stress had a little to do with it all
First train the owner!
It's not rocket science
The new vicar ( who has the delightfully Blog positive name of Dot Gosling) is opening up the Church for a sing song next week.
I think she has pink streaks in her hair , a fact which has shocked at least one member of the congregation, but she's gone all progressive by flying the village with information and by asking for requests.
One of the congregation who lives in Rhodfa Arthur ( Rhodfa is Avenue in Welsh) asked me to go as she knows I can sing. liv Randa is doing one of the readings so I have already said I will go
I need to go
I am meeting my one Welsh gay mate Mave for lunch today and will need to iron a shirt as my best Walking Dead T shirt will just not do.
Mave comments here quite regularly and is a cross between Kenneth Williams and Joan Crawford with his pithy and filthy one liners.
Mind you Mrs Trellis is not adverse to a bit of gay banter. I saw her yesterday and she commented that it was London Gay Pride this weekend
" Apparantly there are a lot of hot pants being worn!" She said
I have no idea where she found that one out!
Hey ho
A Light Read
I'm going into the hospice to complete paperwork
But I thought coffee and some light reading was in order
Has anyone of you had this conversation?
But I thought coffee and some light reading was in order
Has anyone of you had this conversation?
Bluebell +
Yes that's Winnie trying to look invisible in the back
My soon to be ex husband has taken all the things from the cottage he wanted save for his bike which he has instructed me to get rid of.
It's a much better bike than mine and so in a fit of testosterone I went down to Halfords today to buy a new bike rack. I have the idea to have the bike fully serviced then use it with Mary in some sort of baby carrier
" is it easy to fit?" I asked the salesboy when he pointed to a box with two dozen separate parts in it
" Any moron could do it!" he chirped up helpfully
When I got home, neighbour sailor John smiled ruefully when I told him I was just about to assemble it
" Call me if you need a hand" he offered
He knows me and my lack of dexterity so well
But I did it myself I really did... And John's eyebrows bounced upwards in an impressive inverterted v when he spied my handiwork
Honesty
Perhaps a decade ago now I worked with a bit of a misery.
She was footloose and fancy free, had a career on the rise, and was ( and is ) an attractive woman with a sparkling smile.
But back then, she was clearly unhappy about something and like many the causation was hidden away unrecognised and nebulous.
A twelve hour shift became a bore when she was on
And her moans almost became a habit.
Now my relationship with her was( is) a good one , and I knew I could banter with her, and so with a smile and a lightness I told her I was only going to allow her ten moans per twelve hour shift.
A rationing of complaints
We laughed about it
But the message had struck home
She stopped moaning
Recently she referred to that bit of honesty
She's an Earth mother of three and couldn't be happier
But then, she admitted the moaning had become a norm
I am not sure what I'm trying to say here
I guess we all, at times need a mirror held up to us by a friend
But one that is held with affection and not with criticism
She was footloose and fancy free, had a career on the rise, and was ( and is ) an attractive woman with a sparkling smile.
But back then, she was clearly unhappy about something and like many the causation was hidden away unrecognised and nebulous.
A twelve hour shift became a bore when she was on
And her moans almost became a habit.
Now my relationship with her was( is) a good one , and I knew I could banter with her, and so with a smile and a lightness I told her I was only going to allow her ten moans per twelve hour shift.
A rationing of complaints
We laughed about it
But the message had struck home
She stopped moaning
Recently she referred to that bit of honesty
She's an Earth mother of three and couldn't be happier
But then, she admitted the moaning had become a norm
I am not sure what I'm trying to say here
I guess we all, at times need a mirror held up to us by a friend
But one that is held with affection and not with criticism
Promenading
At this time in Sitges I would be promenading alongside a thousand other Europeans in the still roast hot air of Northern Spain
Tonight, in Trelawnyd, it's still sunny with blue skies,
But it's pleasantly cooler, and few people are about.
Mary and I went out to Promenade .
With no choir in Gwaenysgor on the cards, we walked to the hall to listen to the Male Voice Choir at their professional rehursal. They were singing Elvis' Can't help falling in love with you rather gently and beautifully. A district nurse on a late visit walked out from the pensioner bungalows as I leant on the Hall wall.
She looked tired
I smiled to myself. When my family came to listen to my choir's concert the other night, my sister in law got the venue wrong and went to sit in with the male voice choir rehursal instead of ours.
The chattering Welsh singers were, I think, quite taken with their small audience of one!
Eve Randa was sitting in her bedroom window as we passed. She looked every inch the slightly bored pre teen that she is but she told me that her dad was doing ok.
I saw him today as I drove through the village. He was chatting to Animal Helper Pat.
She had had her hair done!
There is a folk concert in the village hall this weekend http://www.therecordjournal.co.uk/
I hope to go on Friday.
Two nuns in light grey habits stopped their car to allow us to cross the road by the school( I couldn't make it up) and as the sun dropped low over the West of the village lighting up the graveyard in a burst of yellow ,my red geraniums, planted out only a month ago, seemed to bloom robustly on the kitchen wall
A bit of Sitges in Wales I thought
Tonight, in Trelawnyd, it's still sunny with blue skies,
But it's pleasantly cooler, and few people are about.
Mary and I went out to Promenade .
With no choir in Gwaenysgor on the cards, we walked to the hall to listen to the Male Voice Choir at their professional rehursal. They were singing Elvis' Can't help falling in love with you rather gently and beautifully. A district nurse on a late visit walked out from the pensioner bungalows as I leant on the Hall wall.
She looked tired
I smiled to myself. When my family came to listen to my choir's concert the other night, my sister in law got the venue wrong and went to sit in with the male voice choir rehursal instead of ours.
The chattering Welsh singers were, I think, quite taken with their small audience of one!
Eve Randa was sitting in her bedroom window as we passed. She looked every inch the slightly bored pre teen that she is but she told me that her dad was doing ok.
I saw him today as I drove through the village. He was chatting to Animal Helper Pat.
She had had her hair done!
There is a folk concert in the village hall this weekend http://www.therecordjournal.co.uk/
I hope to go on Friday.
Two nuns in light grey habits stopped their car to allow us to cross the road by the school( I couldn't make it up) and as the sun dropped low over the West of the village lighting up the graveyard in a burst of yellow ,my red geraniums, planted out only a month ago, seemed to bloom robustly on the kitchen wall
A bit of Sitges in Wales I thought
Skid Marks
The dirty holiday clothes , sweaty skid marked shorts and the like are in the washer and I'm lighting the fire in order to have hot water for a nice long bath.
It's nice to be home.
The answerphone had five messages waiting for me when I got in
All but one unimportant , the hospice wants me to go in to sort out some paperwork.
The dogs were pleased to see me too.
George's death has unbalanced them somewhat.
I didn't sleep until 4.30 am, the late night flight home wrong footed me and now I feel groggy and a bit listless .
It feels cold
No choir tonight which is a shame
Jamie and his 1940s RAF moustache are on holiday too
Thank you to Yorkshire Liz for this gift, it was waiting for me when I got home
It's nice to be home.
The answerphone had five messages waiting for me when I got in
All but one unimportant , the hospice wants me to go in to sort out some paperwork.
The dogs were pleased to see me too.
George's death has unbalanced them somewhat.
I didn't sleep until 4.30 am, the late night flight home wrong footed me and now I feel groggy and a bit listless .
It feels cold
No choir tonight which is a shame
Jamie and his 1940s RAF moustache are on holiday too
Thank you to Yorkshire Liz for this gift, it was waiting for me when I got home
Bench
From my third floor balcony I have a lovely view of Sitges Promenade and Church
In a corner near the beach steps is a single rainbow bench
It's a favourite meeting place of couples, straight and gay.
I've watched many during my time here
Meet, kiss, laugh, and argue there
This morning the bench is empty
I go home today.
The sky is blue
Sunday
My family arrived in dribs and drabs over the past days and so with a final group of eleven souls ( the youngest being seven and the oldest 71) , the dinner table was noisy and animated to say the least.
I love these big, galloping, emotionally warm meals,
With their chatter and laughter that you can dip into and out of with non judgmental ease
Having said this I love the simple quiet solitary breakfasts too and this morning knowing the family will rise in staggered groups, I got up early to watch the other characters and to think
In Sitges there is a somewhat scruffy little square each corner of which has a bar.
Now each bar faces it's seats two by two, and each paring faces the opposite bar like seats in a theatre.
It's a square to watch the Promenaders
It's a square to watch the talent.
"a good natured meat market" as my sister-in-law described it
I went to the museum Del Cau Ferrat yesterday to look at the art exhibitions. It was cool and calm and quiet in the Baroque rooms with their blue walls and heavy woodwork and afterwards I sat in the shade of one of the many palms and ate a sweet crab and pineapple mix bought at a little supermarket with my fingers.
I am aware that I choose to pick up on the more whimsy part of this Spanish town, very much like how I prefer to pick up on the whimsy of the little Welsh village that I live in.
I make no apologies for this. Like anywhere, including Sitges the darker side of life lies only a hair's breath away.... with its sex and open relationship fun on line, dark rooms and very very late nights.....
I'm off to read a book on the beach
Hey ho
People Watching
She was sat on a low wall and looked in pain
" Do you know how to ring a taxi ? " she asked "I think I've broken my leg"
She wagged a rather large left leg at me
I told her I was nurse
Her ankle was swollen just a little but she let me prod it a little and I told her that I thought it was sprained
It's amazing what people allow you to touch if you say that you're a nurse!
" what do I do for that?" She asked , her anxieties reducing to almost normal"
" Rest, gin and ice!" I told her
She fist bumped me, which made me feel rather hip.
A house sparrow homed in on my breakfast this morning and was eating my scrambled egg when I returned to my table with coffee.
An old Belgium queen in an oversized straw hat at the next table looked shocked when I continued to eat it and wafted himself rather too energetically with a napkin in order to recover.
I love people watching
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)