Going Gently

Ghosts and Bones

Next to the Memorial Hall and just across Chapel Street is the old Ebenezer Chapel.

The chapel and chapel house which makes up the building total used to be a market hall and dates from 1700.

The building has been bought by a property developer in the hope of making a quick buck. We understand that he’s planning to change the whole building into seven apartments which to me seems rather excessive given the limited amount of parking space there is in the village centre.

Affable Despot Jason lives next to the proposed build and his garden will be potentially overlooked by many of these flats and I reminded him on Saturday of the Ghost of John Wynne, a story he already knew very well.

Now John Wynne was responsible for the growth and development of Trelawnyd around 1700

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trelawnyd and it is thought that his remains were indeed buried under the floor of the Chapel itself.

A sobering thought for any developer to deal with me thinks, especially as he was obviously unaware of such a tale before he bought the building.

The figure of a man in a long coat, who is thought to be the Ghost of John Wynne has been seen by several locals, including the Randa girls and Graham the sheep when he was a teenager.

More Singing

Thank you from anon , who suggested this wonderful video on my last blog

Singing In The Rain

It’s 70 years since Singing In The Rain was made, and so it’s easy to forget just how buff Gene Kelly actually was as a young man.

He was very easy on the eye.

Around twenty five people turned up for film night which is probably better numbers than the professional Scala cinema in nearby Prestatyn

And I must admit the film holds up very well despite its age.

Hazel

This is Hazel

She was my second cousin ( I think) and was a dear friend of my mother and a favourite aunt to my elder sister

The photo has a sweetness about it

Especially as Hazel died tragically giving birth to a daughter only a few months before I was born

I just wanted to memorialise it

It’s also been a baking day today

I’m made two boiled fruit cakes for the show , one slightly bigger than the other

I may enter both

It’s singing In The Rain at the Village Cinema Club later

Flower Show

My flower show entry for the photograph class “ pet”

The Manley’s came to the kitchen wall this afternoon with boxes of dog food for my pack.

It was a bittersweet visit as they’ve just had to put down their floppy setter Gilly but I managed to make them laugh a bit as Roger bounced madly in the background like a loon.

I like the Manley’s, a no nonsense couple in their 50s who love their community and who can be relied upon to do what they say they will do.

Ma Manley sported a great homemade pair of dungarees and Laurie Manley seemed enchanted by Roger’s welcome. They are entering the flower show and are looking forward to it .

Minutes later Boffin Cameron’s mum popped around with her old flower show cup.

I have a soft spot for her, as Lorna loves to support the Flower Show and has exhibited for years.

“Is it ok that I enter 20 classes?’ She asked

“Is the Pope Catholic ?” I replied

And she beamed and laughed sweetly

She’s a star.

Mrs Trellis waved at me at teatime too , when I was drinking a brew on the patio

“ I’m entering the vase of flowers “ she called energetically as she passed and I suddenly felt like having a weep

The troops are starting to come up trumps

Me thinks

Gaenor The Mad Organist

With the church now shut, I haven’t seen anything of Gaenor The Mad Organist for an age now.

Never one to hide her emotions behind a smile, she would liven up any village service with a Les Dawson face, usually pulled towards one of the Church wardens who she disliked immensely.

Sometimes I felt I was watching a panto rather than a church sermon.

I heard that she had very recently died

In more recent times, I would bump into her in the supermarket, where I would infuriate her with the game of Fill The Basket.

Now fill the basket is a cracker of a sport.

You first pick a victim ,( ideally this is a person you already know) and you follow them around the supermarket unseen .Then you start to fill their trolley with arbitrary items from the shelves, gaining more kudos for adding the most bizarre bits and pieces.

For The Mad Organist , I once managed to add two packets of durex,a packet of tena lite incontinence pads, budgie seed and a pair of fluffy ear muffs into her trolley before she stopped dead at the checkout

Such fun

Revisited

Seventeen years ago

I wrote this, on one of the very first blogs I shared publicly, I was reminded of it today by an odd comment, overheard

It’s just one small reason I love my sister so much

little actions of kindness

Today I have been thinking of something that happened on a Christmas many years ago.
It was a little action of kindness that had a profound effect on me and made me believe in the humanity within man.

One sunday, I think it was around Christmas, we were having lunch at home, all of us "visiting" my parents. My twin sister and I would have been around 26, my elder sister and her husband in their forties. My mother was a not-so-secret drinker and was pretty smashed as I recall. She carried on preparing the lunch and serving it as though sober, but it was all too apparant to all how much she had indeed drunk. In typical English/family secret way we all tried ignore her slurring and clumsiness, but as she tottered off into the kitchen my father could not bare it anymore and burst into tears.
We were all mortified!, and concentrated on our lunches as though they were the only meals we had ever been presented with. Only My elder sister reacted. Immediately and gently, and withour undue fuss she lent over and cupped her hand on my father's cheek. It lasted but a moment, but in that one tiny act of kindness she gave him her support,affection and control, it quietened him and he carried on his meal as we all did.

That gesture strengthened us all, and I have never forgotton it, it was something unique and special andthese things are often surprisingly overlooked in our self absorbed lives.

Real Life

Its all been rather busy.

I was planning a blog entry yesterday and ended up catching myself unawares from behind

Today, has been a similar day and I won be home until after 9 pm

tomorrow I'm working in the community in the Hospice @ Home team

Real Life gets in Blogging way just occasionally

I’ve seen it all before

Ok we had a fight at a glamorous party set in Venice at night

Lots of CGI face recognition shots at an airport

Facial masks that shouldn’t work as everyone knows they’re being used.

A vertical orient express coach reinacting the trailer-over- cliff sequence in Jurassic Park 2

The obligatory car chase through the Rome back streets

An over complicated but slick plot

A feature stiff Cruise doing his own stunts

A movie Nearly three hours long

It’s not a bad movie, it’s just a movie that we’ve all seen before and that fucking bored me.

Ok the set pieces were fun ( Venice looked as lovely as I remembered it ) and the obligatory Asian villain turned good ( Pom Klementieff) was great fun but the film lacked drama as the tight knit family IMF was alluded to rather than really shown .

And it’s the people that matter.

Ilsa ( the impressive Rebecca Ferguson ) was underused and clearly killed off to make way for new love interest and Cruise foil character Grace ( Hayley Atwell ) which is a shame.

Ferguson is a class act and has a warmth Mission Impossible so obviously needed.

I always liked what the franchise did with her….

Adding to this, Simon Pegg who used to show so much boyish charm and warmth in previous Missions is now a haggard old guy who is just irritating to watch in this update.

The franchise has run its course.

Of course if you like big scenes, on a big screen, with big music, big sounds and big rollercoaster feel, you will love this movie……but that’s a rollercoaster ride and NOT a proper movie experience

In the end

All this noise reminded me that apart from being good to look at, this movie is sadly rather vacuous

Baddie Esai Morales was a real dish btw

Moving On

klea

Several of the hospice staff are moving on to other things this week. Today we are all meeting for a beach party on West Shore. I will post some of the photos after I go later as I am writing this from last night's night shift.

Confused?

You will be.

I shall miss all three of the clinical staff that are leaving. Beth and Klea (who is Greek) are excellent nurses and will blossom as they move forward in their careers. Mandy, a previous spinal injury Physio is retiring

I have a soft spot for all of them.

when I was a ward manager, I could spy a good nurse from fifty yards and over they years became very adept at headhunting nurses with potential for my own ward.

After the beach party Im meeting Gorgeous Dave for Mission Impossible

Roger sirt of behaved himself

Funny Feeling Day

Each one of us should have something beautiful to experience everyday.

The older I get, the more I believe this.

Today it was this bit of mindfullness initiated by Jacob Collier

Humbling, extraordinary and profound.

I watched the video a few times, caught by the shared joy it captures

I feel a little lonely today.

Just a little

I’m not complaining, just observing

The weather is atrocious and at the last minute I said I’d cover night shift sickness tonight.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been spoilt with good weather and company

The video underlines company , and unity , and something shared

How great is that.

And it’s ok to miss that a little.

I’m not beating myself up with it.

As I type this I’ve seen a mark on the kitchen table, I’ve cleaned it now I have to scrub the whole thing,

I can see Albert marks on the wall near his window shelf, so I’ve bought paint on line to freshen things

The patio is sodden but the flowers look vibrant

I’ve photographed them in the rain

I had an argument with a friend too. I don’t like the fact the argument took place but I needed to stand up for myself too.

It’s a funny feeling day

Pamper Day

I’m coming down with a little bump today. Yesterday I was busy coming home, and when I got home, I was busy washing clothes, washing throws and shopping at the supermarket, where not only did I buy provisions and dog food for the week but filled the hamper ready for Flower Show in two weeks time. I have photographed it to publicise the show and to galvanise the TCA volunteers into helping then will put it safely in the hall

It’s the first day of the school holidays and The Storyhouse is nose to nipple with effing kids activities , films and plays. theatre Clwyd only has a comedy on Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet in 40 minutes which sounds dreadful, so I’ve not been tempted to go out.

Now this is good.

I’ve lived off being busy for a month now, so a day for me alone at home, is the order of the day.

So saying that, the dogs and I went to Dyserth for a walk.

It was pissing down and I loved it.

There is nothing better than getting that refreshing wet first thing in the morning.

My third best Walking Dead T shirt was steaming nicely when we got home and by 8 am I was planning my “Pamper Day” with the Mokka pot bubbling away on the stove.

Tidy cottage so that I have set the scene

Hot shower and shave after Roger and Mary showers

Moisturise and facepack ( an unused gift from Chic Eleanor from five years ago when my ex left) “ John you must attend to those little indulgences to keep your head above water!”

Fresh clothes

Catch up And Just Like That and The Great British Sewing Bee

Cry at The Repair Shop

Phone Call Catch up with Nige

Scrambled eggs on hot buttered toast

Bird box Barcelona and Brazilian Zombie Reality Z on Netflix

Hummus and low-fat nachos

Light fire if rain continues

Read another beautifully written few chapters of A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe a drama set around the Aberfan disaster.

Beans on toast for supper

Bliss

Keep Going

Such fun, Colin

The National Portrait Gallery

I’ve missed The National Portrait Gallery. For the last few years it’s been closed for renovations so my go too place for a quick mooch, coffee and think disappeared for what seemed like an age.

The gallery is open now.

Slicker.

Brighter and more airy.

I liked it

Marlene Dumas’ Amy Blue was a standout version of Amy Winehouse as was Colin Davidson’s Ed Sheeran.

I also slightly fell in love with Lady Colin Campbell by Giovanni Boldini who was the La Traviata of her day and in my minds eye the perfect Violetta.

We had a nice meal at Côte in St Martins Lane then ambled to the Duke of York’s to see the revival of The Pillowman with Lily Allen.

The Pillowman proved to be a dire, badly acted , gloomy affair which has a lot to say about Child abuse and man’s inhumanity to man .

Too much so.

Nu and I walked out, which was a shame

The train system is messy this morning.

I hope to be home lunchtime

Im going to take the dogs to be the beach

Shopping

It was joyful being back at the Royal Opera House, and La Traviata with its lavish first and second act sets, full of colour was a treat, especially as the Russian Kristina Mkhitaryan totally stole the show as Violetta. The audience went wild for her.

And quite rightly so.

She was stunning

Today is sunny and warm. Nu has things to do, and I want to shop, so after breakfast I walked up to Ealing Broadway and got the impressive Elizabeth Line straight into Bond Street and John Lewis.

I found a small cafe off Harewood Place to write the blog before indulging in a shop.

Im not a big shopper so IT IS an indulgence.

I’ve arranged to meet Nu at three for the National Portrait Gallery then an early supper in Covent Garden and theatre again to see The Pilllowman at the Duke of York’s

I’m looking over at the green of Hannover Square

And there are parakeets in the trees

La Traviata

La Traviata is like a fine Spanish Cathedral

If you haven’t seen it before, it kind of takes your breath away.

I’m approaching London

And although there’s no strikes today , the drivers are working to rule.

I left early.

And now am having a cool drink in Camden,under the shade of Maple trees and next to an inner city waterfall fountain

Meeting Nu shortly at Kimchee

Hey ho

I’m not one for souvenirs, but this delicate folding paper sculpture of the Sagrada Familia sort of grabbed my eye in Barcelona.

I’m looking at it now, as I sip a McCafe in the cool and quiet of the kitchen.

It’s 15 degrees and pleasant

And there’s no radio or bustle.

Which is what I want after Spain and a mad work day yesterday.

Today will be serene in comparison .

Tourists can spoil holidays, even if you dare to realise that you are a tourist too!

But despite my fellow travellers , I adored Barcelona. With its wide tree lined avenues contrasting so much with the gothic alleyways, and it’s history and grandness…I enjoyed the city so much.

Of course the Sagrada Familia was the highlight for me as when Jane and I walked though the door blinking away the harsh sunlight , we were literally overwhelmed by a brilliant cave of colour and a blast of fanfare from the huge cathedral organ.

I had a lump in my throat

And could literally only mutter “ wow!” as soaring pillars fashioned into the trunks of giant trees took my breath away.

Gaudi ‘s house Casa Batilò had the same effect on me as I was overwhelmed in tears by listening to the words of one of the Batilò’s daughters as she recalled her idyllic childhood in a home, so delicately designed, it almost hurt to experience it.

I’m feeling happy

Happier than I’ve probably felt in a few years and like a child may wish for when at a friend’s wonderful birthday party, I don’t want that feeling to end

Hey ho

Two Old Queens

Dog walking early and back to work today

Oh lord I’m totally buggered but happy …it was worth it.

Jane gave me a gift when I met her in Sheffield and it’s been with us to Manchester Airport then back to wales where she’s sat in my window seat enjoying the view over Trelawnyd’s fields

Two old Queens live in the village

Homeward

It’s almost time to leave for home.

Barcelona has proved to be a bit of gem and it is a city that I would quite happily return to on my own if the need arose.

I’m sat with my third leisurely coffee. Jane is off walking the streets, and it’s still incredibly hot.

I feel very fortunate that that I finally got here given the flight cock ups of last year, but also lucky that in a few days time I’m off to London to see Nu and the National Opera.

Strike that, I’m not lucky, but I am fortunate

I’m fortunate that I’ve saved my overtime money and am able to do these nice things in Life.

Life feels so much better when you make the effort……

A House Of Colour and Light

Gaudi’s house , Casa Batllò was a beautiful and humbling experience. At times through the audio guide I felt father emotional listening to the thoughts of the home by the Batllò’s daughter.

“ A house of colour and light “ she described it.