The Shawshank Redempion

 

Oh I did enjoy my night out with Georgous Dave  last night.

We went to see Owen O Neil and Dave John’s adaptation of the film The Shawshank Redemption at Theatre Clwyd and from the get-go it was clear we were watching a quality piece of theatre.

I think most people know the film, so I won’t worry too much about spoilers , suffice to say we follow the prison life of Andy Dufresne (Jo Absolom) who is incarcerated in the notorious Shawshank Prison during the 1940s. Bright and optimistic and shouting his innocence in the double murder of his wife and her lover , Dufresne strives to change his lot and the lot of his fellow prisoners by making their existence a little more humane even though the Governor, officers and two predatory prisoners all connive to destroy him and his innate goodness. 

Dufresne makes a lifetime friendship with Red Redding ( Ben Onwukwe) who like Morgan Freeman did in the film, narrates the piece with similar chocolate tones but with more of an impish take on the much loved character.

From the get go the play is brutal and compelling to watch. The sets full-fill the brief wonderfully as do the small but very able cast and I loved the ending where the two friends finally meet again against a stunning and unexpected tropical sky, an ending much better than the more talky film ending

Not a dry eye in the house.

So it’s Tuesday, 

College day,

Covid jab no 4

I’m cleaning Bluebell later and am making spiced sweet potato soup 

Betty

 Three blogs in one day ! 

I’ve just got home and heard the sadness of the death of Betty Boothroyd 

She was a bloody one off 

For those that don’t know she was the speaker of the House of Commons, MP , a Yorkshire woman and former tiller girl. That one sentence sums her up nicely .

A class act

Kindness

Kindness has a power all of its own when it is witnessed
In an Istanbul football match yesterday the crowds donated thousands of teddy bears to lift the spirits of the babies and young children caught up in the recent earthquake .

And the.act of giving lifts the human spirit

Badgers

 It was around four when I heard Albert “ Chatter” 

It’s a funny sound and a rare one in this house as I can only liken it to a very small person shaking a very tiny set of maracas. 

Cats usually chatter at birds that they can’t reach or ambush and Albert is no different 

But the chatter was in the middle of the night 

And the only birds around at that time are a pair of barn owls that swoop silently across the valley from Marion Mawr.

Albert was sat in the window seat looking down into the lane with wide yellow eyes.

I got up and wrapped the quilt cover around my shoulders and joined him.

He moved over without averting his gaze.

He was watching a pair of badgers in the lane who were trotting after each other somewhat playfully.

February is the mating season for badgers.

Living in the country has its upsides and downsides. But how many people can say that they have watched badgers courting outside their windows at night? 

Not very many. 

The boar wagged his fat bottom as he trotted into the garden and stopped to listen as Roger sleepily barked once  from the kitchen. 

They pottered and played for a while like hairy pigs.

Badgers are noisy animals and grunt and snort when they explore and as I grew cold I left them too it and returned to bed where Dorothy spooned me without waking up.

I heard Albert chatter some more before everything returned to a sort of silence again

I asked my google cube what time it was 

It’s now chatting as a butch man and told me in a manly way that it was 4.22 am

I asked it to play a tropical rain shower which it did and I fell asleep almost immediately with no dreams of badgers or of Pedro Pascal or of anything of note for that matter

Day off today. 

A walk, 

Some shopping,

And theatre later with Gorgeous Dave 

We are seeing the stage version of The Shawshank Redemption 

I’ve just put out the reclycling and saw a few untidy holes in the borders of the front garden 

The badgers have removed many of my spring bulbs from beside the stone wall.

And tufts of grey hair can be seen stuck in the lower branches of the hydrangea that faces the West

You can’t complain

Not when you’ve left the gate open

Tashe

 I’m awake an hour before I need to be up

And I dreamt of snogging Pedro Pascal at a party in the village hall before I opened my eyes.

God I was disappointed to be living today’s life!

He’s a great kisser is Pedro

It’s the moustache 

Bliss

 Friday night 

After work most people have a Prosecco now.

A takeaway. 

A scented bubble bath with avocado candles 

A Netflix binge with exotic beers and parsnip crisps 

Sex in front of the fire

Korean noodles

Hot sugary tea

An Indian head massage 

What do I do ?

A lie down with no socks 

And a well trained bulldog licking every inch of my feet

Bloody lovely

Ps this blissful scene was turned on it’s head minutes before bed as when I moved all the dogs to get off the couch the resulting growls of upset caused a fight between Mary and Dorothy

Resulting in the damage of the above tv……..

Sigh

When Darkness Falls

 

When Darkness Falls is a play , that if written in the 1950s would have toured in rep around Yorkshire for most of 1957.

It wasn’t dreadful 

It was just static, slightly boring and remarkably not scary.

Ok the one big scare moment was foiled by a man on our row ,getting twenty people up to go to the toilet ,but having said this , I was bored silly. .

But it was nice to go out though. I enjoyed the event.

One of my besties was seeing the revival of  Oklahoma  in London last night  ….wish I was there lol

I’m on three 12.5 hour days shifts now ( don’t ask ) 

Blogs will be short xxx

November Ultra

Thank you all for your suggestions in yesterday’s post. They have galvanised me somewhat for next weeks sub committee meeting which was running the risk of being overwhelmed of what we can’t do instead of looking of what we can do. 

I’ve reflected long and hard over this recently . 

That’s why I’m attracted to warm “ can do” personalities 

The negative ones, walk to the beat of my mother’s “can’t do “ old drum

That’s why I’m trying to distance myself from those with negative energy

You know the sort….people that can suck the life blood from a lemon without really trying.

I just don’t want to deal with it .

Anyhow, Tonight I’m off to the theatre clwyd to see the play When Darkness Falls.which is described by the Guardian as being able , to leave you cowering in your seat! 

Ooh arhhh

I’m going on my own , which is fine.

I need to get out tonight and can’t always rely on the company of friends.

I will leave you with the above song  by November Ultra 

A song which was playing this morning on the radio, when Mary was sat on my knee bumming toast crusts.

She’s getting on now, and is slower, slightly arthritic and more cranky than her pack mates.

And for a couple of minutes we danced slowly around the kitchen together to this tune ,

Her head tucked under my chin, like a puppy

Making Money

 I am one of the trustees for the Trelawnyd Community Association which is a charity . 

It’s “official remit is as follows

The TCA was formed in 2018 by a group of friends to try and enhance social cohesion and reduce loneliness in our small rural village. The aim was to provide activities, entertainment and education as well as advocacy and help for those that needed it

 A recent subgroup of the charity has been formed to take on the running of the Memorial Hall, a building which given the recent financial crash , has proved to be an expensive place to run. I am a member of the sub committee which is in the process of marketing and fundraising for the hall.

One of my ideas is to make use of the buildings massive windows 

There are five in the hall proper  , each with 48 individual panes of glass in it.

That’s 336 panes of glass in total.

I was thinking that we could offer each of the panes out for sponsorship , in memory of a loved one and that person’s name could be memorialised on a plaque or on the window itself 

After all the Hall itself was built at the turn of the century by Michael Ralli, in memory of his wife Polynmia 

Sponsoring a pane for say 30£ Could earn the hall over 10, 000£

Any other fundraising ideas ?

Watching The World

 The choice of film wasn’t good this afternoon Women Talking was worthy and painful and an acting masterclass but boy was it grim .

So today, the lightest moment came from Roger

Two male blackbirds have been fighting in the garden with pre spring hormones and Roger, fascinated in the fisticuffs sat himself comfortably in the kitchen doorway to watch them for an absolute age

I photographed him and realised I love him even more than I thought I did 

Women Talking

 I forgot it was half term today.

So no college and no late night home journey.👏🏻

I gave the dogs an extra long walk this afternoon then came to Chester where I treated myself to a beef pitta, coffee strong enough to blow your tits off and a film. 

The film is Women Talking .

Sarah Polley’s version of Miriam Toews’ novel which tells the true story of a group of Mennonite Women in an isolated Bolivian community, is a serious watch. A grim and talky piece with a stella cast, has the women beaten, sexually abused and degraded by their men folk.

Taking what time they have together, the women young and old have to decide whether to fight the abuse from within the community, acquiesce to it, or escape to form a new life , albeit one which is excommunicated from their community . The parallels with Weinstein’s Hollywood are only too clear.

Claire Foy shines with anger as Salome as does Rooney Mara and the powerhouse Jessie Buckley and their scenes are compelling to watch but, after a while the film feels as though it’s constrained and is what it is ….a sort of filmed play 

Gladys ….Auntie Glad

 

How strange it was that yesterday , I found myself thinking of Auntie Gladys

I posted a blog about her , months and months after I had done so before 

She crept into my head like she often did when she lived in the village,

Vital, and with purpose

Her milky blue eyes, smiling, unless you vexed her.

Aunty Glad’s daughter messaged me this morning. To tell me that Gladys had died yesterday just a couple of months short of 103. She commented on the timing of my post. 

How strange it was.

I took a moment to take the news in.

How strange that a woman in her 80s and 90s could have such an effect on a middle aged gay man who was new to her village .

She was my friend from the day I met her and she accepted me and my husband without falseness so common in many long term churchgoers.

I remember her walking to the cottage to give me a wedding gift when she was 95 and added to it a bag of scones , fresh from the oven. Her head to one side,, looking smart in her winter coat she made her way back to her home after refusing a lift home .

“ I like to get my face to the sun” she explained “ God bless You Both”

I need to go to the village Hall now, it’s the soup and roll lunchtime

But I sat at the kitchen table for a short time 

And had a small weep.

Gladys opening the flower show six years ago

Something Beautiful

Auntie Gladys was famous for her homespun quotes about doing the right things

Many were bible-esque type quotes

Economical and not too flowery 

Having said that I remember her walking around the last  Flower Show, the one that she herself opened as guest of honour , 

She was looking at the baking section with bright , critical blue eyes, 

Her gaze running across, loaves of bread,and tarts and plates of biscuits and mounds of her own scones

And she smiled and waved her arms like a school girl

“ Always look for the beautiful every day “ 

She said excitedly 

 

Nice things

 

My Matsumoto Hogi Frog print arrived yesterday it’s huge and benign and will look lovely in my hallway

I loved this video of a thoughtful gay man sharing a thought about his very straight best friend 

Roger watching The Bourne Identity tonight 

A recent impulse purchase a Japanese tea bowl ( not arrived as yet) 

Raquel Welsh actor and celebrity died aged 82 three days ago 

Never one to take herself too seriously she was a talented actress and comedian 

She was offered the Faye Dunaway part in Towering Inferno 

Day Shifts Again

 I haven’t done day shifts for ages

Up before 6 am, 

Five pairs of blurry eyes blinking in the light.

LBC radio on the alarm

Dogs walked,

Avocado on toast with egg

Proper coffee( no time for bucket)

Shower very hot.

Clinique happy on uniform

Put Roger in his crate with an egg to play with, Trendy Carol won’t be long

Storm Otto is outside

Albert is up late for breakfast

Noodles and left overs for lunch, with fruit and Diet Coke

Radio is silenced

I want to go back to bed

A Quiet Day

 Coffee time at the kitchen sink 

David Sidaris then Lesley Manville on Desert Island Discs

Both nice people .

I’ve put a bacon joint in the slow cooker and covered it with butter beans 

That will do for supper.

Lunch will be noodles, with walnuts and some boiled rice 

Apart from dog walking, I’m not leaving the house today

The weather is blustery 

Book Club

 Book Club was an interesting meet tonight

Smaller in numbers than meeting one , I missed the presence of the cheerful Faisal but the group was certainly buoyed up by two new members, a bright, chatty lesbian couple from Savannah, Georgia .

Our book was Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton which is an exploration into white supremacy radicalisation within a private English School and the subsequent armed attack on teachers and pupils one snowy morning.

I enjoyed the book , unlike most of the group , but the conversation grew rather intense when one of the facilitators asked the American couple their take on it, given the fact they had only just arrived in the country and that school shootings were very. Much a product of the US

The women looked at each other carefully and the dark haired girl told her story of when she experienced a school shooting as a child where many children , her friends,  were killed.

It was a sobering, moving and total unexpected moment that shocked us all.

And in the silence that followed ,the blonde partner , smiled a big smile and said simply

“ why do you think we have come to the UK to live?”

These two women, bright democrats both  then told us stories of their experiences of guns, gun crime and gun mentality .

They were neither exaggerating or angry, just resigned and tired of it all

And when they had finished 

Discussing a novel didn’t quite seem the most pressing thing to do

People Watching

 After dog walking, I treated myself to breakfast in Sainsbury’s cafe.

I also bought two large coffees and read my book in a comfortable booth.

When I was eating breakfast I people watched .

Next to me two middle aged friends met up for tea and sympathy.

They hadn’t seen each other since December and hugged a greeting

Their conversations were animated and warm and loud and as I looked around I noticed a frail slightly older lady with a crutch leaning against her table watching them.

Her expression looked sad but there was more to it and I know I read it correctly 

It was envy.

Trelawnyd

This tiktok video has been made by recent Trelawnyd resident Kelda as she climbed up Gop Hill which stands guard over the village 

Sweet 

A Good Read

 I’ve read recently that Going Gently is now sanitized.

I guess it depends on what you understand the word to mean .

As a nurse sanitized means cleansed 

I will leave the debate there .

Today will be an indulgent and rare day for me as I will be reading

All day.

It’s book club tomorrow and I want to finish Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton

I’ve had to get up early though and have walked the dogs, blogged, straightened the house and tidied Bluebell

Only then can I allow myself to read and nothing else