La Santa Maria

 Between now and 7 am Saturday morning , I have to squeeze in two night shifts , one visit to someone in hospital, and a date with a rather sweet guy for dinner.

Early Saturday morning , ( God Willing) I shall be flying to Barcelona in an effort to meet up with my family over in Sitges. Just for a couple of days

I’m only going for three days, I’ve got night shifts and a visit to London to fit in after that to see Nu’s Christmas gift of  Too kill A MockingBird at the Gielgud 

Basil Davies

 

Covid and long term illness has meant that several of the old characters of Trelawnyd  have been effectively isolated from everyday village life. 

Basil Davies , was one of those characters. 

Today was Basil’s funeral. He was 85. 

Born and bred in Trelawnyd, Basil farmed Ochr y Gop most of his life. A bachelor, he shared his beautiful Georgian farmhouse with his sister Mona, who was famous in my eyes as a champion scotch egg maker but who also was the school mistress of Gwaenysgor village school for many years.

I had a great deal of respect for Basil. 

When I had my small holding up and running, he would often stop at my gate for a chat and when I held my open days and ran the flower show, he would always turn up in his Sunday best to support the event.

Quiet and measured, praise given by him , always had extra gravitas and meaning and I remember once feeling near tears when he stopped to thank me for what I had “done for the village”, once one of my open days was over.

I was always grateful to him too as he always took the time to ask how My husband  was and always referred to Chris by his name. That acceptance has always had my respect and was never ever forgotten .

Trelawnyd said goodbye to a dear son today

God Bless You Basil

Streams Full of Stars, like skies at night

 The delightful P reminded me of a poem I know but have never read.

W H Davies’ Leisure 

WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

I went to Chester this evening to see the Spanish comedy The Good Boss with the delightful Javier Bardem.

It wasn’t as good as I hoped , so I left the Storyhouse early .

It was raining so I drove home and got home late for me at around 10.30. 

The dogs and Albert and I walked down the Lane soon after 

It was humid and raining still, but only lightly 

And we all stopped at the end of the lane and stared at the sky to the West, the clouds over the hawthorn hedges that shadowed the hidden moon.

Albert chatted his teeth at the bats that circled the single street light and seemed to stand and stare too

And Dorothy growled a low growl when the horses in the livery fields stomped their feet in the grass.

Mary sat down and leaned against my calf , just happy in company

We stood there for an age, until my hair flattened 

A poor life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare

The View From My Kitchen Table

 

I’m not sure what I’m doing today.

The new washing machine was supposed to be delivered but that’s been delayed until tomorrow.

I’m sat eating brunch which is an air fried sausage on mozzarella bagel delight and am looking out of the door onto the patio pondering my day.

 

I’ve been pondering for almost two hours now. 

I’m an excellent ponderer. 

Coffee cup getting filled just twice.

I’ve finally booked to see the Spanish movie El Buen Patrón tonight at the Storyhouse

Which pleased me .

Open Range

 I’m just enjoying one of the most underrated Westerns in cinema . Open Range (2003) stars Kevin Costner ,Robert Duvall ( at his most understated) and the gloriously attractive Annette Benning 

The film says a lot about respect, friendship and loneliness. I’m enjoying it with a beer and a large packet of cheese and onion

Benning is the only woman I’d ever go straight for.

Saturday Night & Sunday Morning

I’ve just been sent this song from a friend

They have had , I suspect, a couple of scoops

And are tired and emotional.

We’ve all been there on a lonely Saturday night/ Sunday morning, have we not?

My mother would often ring people late at night “ for a chat”

Those were the days before mobiles when a phone call late at night would always mean bad news.

Often , that assumption would be correct , as my mother could spout drunken rubbish for hours.

Nowadays, our mobiles know who is calling.

And we don’t answer.

Egg and Soldiers

 

Sometimes you get a craving for the food of your childhood

Of butterscotch Angel Delight,

Beans on cheap white bread toast with lashings of butter

Or corned beef hash.

Fruit cocktail out of a tin with only half a cherry, 

Artic roll,

And lucozade with the orange film wrapping.

Neapolitan  ice cream

Evaporated milk mixed with the juice of tinned mandarin oranges,

Coca Cola in glass bottles

Custard with skin

And semolina in school only made bearable by a blob of raspberry jam

Cheese triangles with the ends bitten off and the cheese sucked through.

Full fat ice cold milk

Tonight I had a lightly boiled egg 

And soldiers 

Arse

 

I’m an arse

I’ve been caught speeding again. This time 57 in a 50 zone. 

My fault it was after night shift.

I’ve now set up my sat nav at all times

It reminds me when I’m going too fast

Little else to report. 

The pace of the last few days has changed to a welcomed and silent coffee at the kitchen table.

Albert is happy we are home

By the look of the white duvet cover on my bed he looks as though he’s been making snow angels 

Night shift tonight

Kew

 Now I know Kew Gardens well, it’s a favourite place for me and Nu to go and talk as we amble down the avenues of trees , through the glass houses and by the lakes.

On a beautiful day it’s especially impressive , and doubly so given the scorching high temperatures we’ve been experiencing recently.

Kew has been on Janet’s bucket list for ages , so it was nice for her to tick the box so to speak .

She was up in the hot house platforms like a whippet , with me in tow , but as I really don’t do heights , I refused the tree top walk ( next photo) as 60 feet is out of my play zone.

We met Nu for lunch , then tired weary but contented we jumped on the surprise surprise delayed Avanti Westcoast train home.

London

 

It was a busy day yesterday as Janet wanted to jam in as many tourist things as possible .

Breakfast was coffee and something tasty on the hoof , then a round Robin walk, South Bank, Westminster Bridge, Parliament and Embankment .

We caught a tube to Kensington, enjoyed the Beatrix Potter exhibition and tried not to get over faced with the exhibits. My favourites were Samson Slaying a Philistine by Giambologna and Tippo’s Tiger- the automaton organ from 18th century india

I briefly showed Janet dippy the dinosaur at the National History Museum before we returned to Covent Garden for an early dinner at The Ivy, which was excellent I must admit.

A brief drink later, then it was The Lion King at The Lyceum before an amble back to the hotel.

Today, we are off to Kew Gardens then lunch with Nu 

It’s been good

London

 Lovely to see London through my sister’s eyes

She’s a new visitor 

A great night, meal in Covent Garden , soho bars and Chinatown 

Trains and Mistakes

 

Breakfast table 

Bucket of coffee time. 

I’ve just read my sister’s Facebook entry for today. 

She’s posted the itinerary I put into her Birthday Card and said she was was looking forward to the break

That pleased me no end.

We leave for London this afternoon, a day earlier than planned .

I can thank he RMT strike for the extra day

Fingers crossed the journey in uneventful .

Another coffee…I have time

Just recently I have been thinking of how to deal with someone who sporadically but ,consistently seems to enjoy pointing out my mistakes. 

At first I thought it was me being over sensitive as I’m fully aware of the legacy being a child of critical parents can leave with a person,  but after some feedback from others I realised that this friend, through whatever reason does feed on the mistakes others make too, and is in fact well known for the behaviour

I’ve ignored the comments until recently, but during a conversation they inappropriately reminded me of something I did wrong from over a year ago now!, and did so with a chuckle. 

I stopped my inner child from reacting.

It’s easy to bark back at a snappy dog and with a presence of mind , on reflection I was pleased with

I said simply and quietly “ That comment hurt my feelings “ 

I said nothing else and rode out the short embarrassed silence that followed by thinning my lips and raising my eyebrows in a kind of There Ive said it expression before leaving the situation unrushed.

All of us are often very adapt at saying nothing in situations like these, and I include myself very much in this statement as I can often pick up someone else’s criticism and negativity and carry it around like a badge.

This time I didn’t, and I am glad I didn’t even though it’s easier to say nothing and curl your toes in irritation.

Joni Mitchell “Both Sides Now” with Brandi Carlile Live at Newport Folk ...

This sort of broke my heart a little but uplifted it too

Tula Tula

 A new normal has begun me thinks. 

Travel chaos seems to springing up in hotspots. 

Covid has reached another hidden peak 

And The Archers have finally returned to their Friday night, 7 pm slot.

I listened to The Archers with interest last night ( For those that perhaps don’t know , The Archers is a radio 4;soap opera which has been running nightly ( except Saturdays) since 1951. It airs for under fifteen minutes a night and centres upon the farming community of Ambridge located in the Midlands) 

During the programme, the only Welsh character Natasha ( Mali Harries) has brought her newly born twins home with clueless husband Tom. Whilst the usual banal banter continued ,Natasha and her mother sang a lullaby ( Suo Gân)to the twins in Welsh, the two woman harmonising quite beautifully.

It proved to be a rather sweet moment of gentle drama and pathos in a soap, not always known for its subtly and it’s nostalgia and sense of place can be described well by the welsh word Hiraith

Recently one of our more serious and devout nurses left the hospice and I remember her gently singing the Welsh Hymm Dros Gymru’n Gwlad alongside a patient who was approaching end of life. The music to the hymn is well known to me as we sing a version of it it choir. Sibelius’ Finlandia, but there is something magic and somewhat humbling when you hear someone else sing it out, without embarrassment of self doubt.

Years ago, and I mean perhaps, twenty five years I remember watching one of the African nurses singing a lullaby to a young male patient who couldn’t sleep. The boy was paralysed from the chest down, and was on strict bed rest so she almost knelt at the side of his bed and held his hand, which she  placed under her chin so he could feel the song as well as hear it.

The lullaby was called  Tula Tula and I remember to this day how the busy  ward slowly quietened to silence as everyone, patients and staff, all stopped to listen

Conwy Estuary from Deganwy

It’s not many people that have a full scale medieval castle which dominates an estuary as a view on the way home from work.

I stopped this morning to look at the view.

And felt grateful

A Good Read

 

I’ve read most of the morning 

It’s an indulgence I rarely allow myself during the day, and it’s interesting that I only allowed myself the time to do it once every chore I could think of had already been completed. 

I take after my mother in that respect.

She would only have a drink once all the hoovering had been done

Little Women

 Grosvenor Park Open AirTheatre was holding their version of Little Women tonight

The night the heatwave properly broke and the heavens opened.

But it was fun

My sister and I got incredibly wet

The open air theatre produces bawdy, musical and comic versions of classic novels and reworked Little Women into a 1914 Edwardian Chester drama with the March sisters , working in ammunition factories, nursing soldiers in hospital and with Laurie going off to war in the trenches.

It worked rather well, which is surprising. 

The actors were as soaked as the audience which endeared us, especially to the doomed Beth , who slipped and fell flat on her face on stage just before her death.

A death which was incredibly moving , given the lightness of the production.

I’ve always remembered her matter of fact speech to sister Jo

“ I have a feeling that it never was intended I should live long. I'm not like the rest of you. I never made any plans about what I'd do when I grew up. I never thought of being married, as you all did. I couldn't seem to imagine myself anything but stupid little Beth, trotting about at home, of no use anywhere but there. I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is the leaving you all. I'm not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven."

You can see the rain

Ive had a nice week…..working sat and sunday  

Prima Facie

 

I’m a bit breathless 

Prima Facie , the filmed play by Suzie Miller has left me thoughtful and somewhat shaken . 

A one woman show, it has Jodie Comer playing, Tessa an incredibly successful criminal barrister in London. Tessa has made good from her working class Liverpudlian roots and by using every trick in her considerable arsenal she has proved herself to be especially adept in defending men in sexual assault cases. Now Tessa clearly proclaims that she always works to prove the legal truth in her cases and this is a game to point out the holes in the prosecutions case and this game is a game she is good at.

However, when she is assaulted herself, by a potential boyfriend who is also a successful barrister, she is left to fight a paternalistic legal system weighted against her as a woman. 

Comer is truly remarkable as Tessa. With real Liverpudlian timing she hits her delivery with true machine gun zeal and that pace is maintained full speed  for two hours straight. 

I couldn’t quite believe she maintained the pace and the emotion throughout 

Stunning.

Quite Stunning

Watering Rabbits

 The thunderstorms which have been promised haven’t materialised. Subsequently the ground is dry as a bone and the grass on the field is like straw, yellow and burnt.

I climbed up the field gate and over the church wall. 

It wasn’t a pretty sight. 

All arse and groaning!!!

I refilled the shallow enamelled dish with water, the one I’d placed out a week ago to water the rabbits, then watered my laburnum which is looking healthy and happy. 

It took the rabbits a few days to feel safe with the dish and it’s satisfying watch them, a whole gaggle of birds and the stray white cat drinking from it, especially at dusk.

The dish, laburnum ( top right) and the historic thirteenth century church prayer cross on the top left

I’ve done a pile of paperwork today. Bought a new washing machine on line and measured the outside of the cottage for the CBM who will be designing a roof for the patio before autumn . 

I’m about the embark on downsizing the spare room which is in drastic need of simplifying . 

I want it streamlined and simple.

Ready for becoming a proper study for September’s course

Ness Gardens

My friend Colin and I met, like two middle class ladies sometimes do , for lunch and a mooch around Ness Gardens .

The place was more or less deserted 

 I bought a white agapanthus from the shop