Sorrel's up and neighbours with pitchforks

Well Sorrel my mother-in-law is up visititng which is lovely. She is very easy, funny and young at heart so we always have a nice time when she's up. She and Chris have gone to Manchester for a " spot of shopping" in the car as rail links to Manchester are quite bizarre at the weekend. So I have the day to myself, which is great as I working all day tomorrow at the Hospital. So already I have done the house, chickens ( they have Feather Loss at the moment and are not laying) and organised my work and e mails for monday.

All I have to do now is get ready for dinner tonight , (Janet and Ned are comming to dinner), read the first chapter of my psychology text book ,and walk the dogs! Mind you Meg is now confined to the crate as she is now again in season (She is laying around in a listless way giving Finlay pathetic "come hither" looks--see pic)Just took the dogs around to Carol's big garden and let them run riot for an hour as Celt and Samson are getting their hair cut at the poodle parlour! all three fell in the pond!

Steve ( Very Welsh neighbour and Village self appointed leader), was very kind last night and cemented our damaged wall without even being asked!, ( a flour lorry had pulled down the wall) Lorries and cars are using their sat navs and bypassing roadworks on the North Wales Expressway by roaring past our cottage! Steve caught a spar articulated lorry trying to pass on Thursday and in true Brit style blocked the road and refused the lorry to try to pass ( they were trapped for 2 hours)! The other neighbours were brought out of their houses by the commotion ( he was filming the lorry at that time with his phone) and I had visions of pitchforks and mob rule!

"The villagers are revolting!!!!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gtlQS2bLFwww.youtube.com/watch?v=7gtlQS2bLFw

The great Unwashed and survival....

Well it's been a tough emotional romp of a week. I have had sleepless nights and swings of mood as the reality of University scared the shit of of me . Today introduction to the MacLab (Computer room) gave me some indication that some 250 fellow psychology students don't know everything there is to know about writing an essay! and that coupled with some loving and pragmatic support from Chris, thoughtful and measured support from Nige, Fluffy and funny support from Kim and a pithy text from John H all have helped me over that initial PANIC!!...and I am very grateful for that.

traveling on the coastal train always feels like some psychology experiment in itself. Apart from the regular commuters you find on any train network, I think the Welsh train is unique as large numbers of the Great Unwashed. Jobless, uniformed (see pic) young men with noticeable "shortness of bone", roam the network like black ghetto characters inhabiting brownstone house steps in New York crime films. This "underclass" I find threatening ,irritating and confusing . Is it just me?

Overfaced and feeling stupid

Well only 3 days into University and I am feeling like Julie Walters in Educating Rita. ie. Completely overfaced and thick. I am also feeling terribly tired ( and actually slept for an hour when I got home this afternoon), so bugger only knows how I am going to cope with 5 days in Uni ( I am in every day!!) and two full days at work on the weekend. It has been 6 years since I did any course at all and the IT changes seen here are really scary. Chris has been good , as he calms down my salad days fears. But I can't help worrying that I have bitten off more than I can chew.

off to bed

First day in School

Well how do 18 years old do it? Today was my first day at University and I certainly do not have the energy the above first year student seems to have, (mind you nor do I have a bikini like that one either!) Feel a bit jaded and tired, but glad that at least I have attended one University talk ( warning us students of the horror that is plagiarism) and found my way to various Psychology sites and offices. Mind you had a dicky lower colon ( Thanks to that Kentucky Friend Chicken eaten last night at Volver) so hopefully tomorrow I will be feeling more energetic

Seeing that today is a first, thought I would also turn over a new leaf and start to get a little healthier. so...
Making a list...

1. I want to eat more healthily
2. I want to drink more sensibly ( and not have a regular nightly chardonnay)
3. I want to get physically fitter!!

There simple!.........

job done..........

Volver

Volver, is a typical Pedro Almodóvar piece. Hollywood (aka Mildred Pierce ) meets a story of rural Spain's ,death,motherhood, sexual abuse and female solidarity. I am not a fan of Penélope Cruz, but she hoists up those breasts like Sophia Loren and gives her role of single mother, murderess and grieving daughter some gusto.

Mother of invention,Bangor and a good heart

How did I fit things in when working full time, bugger only knows? (Right) see the newly patented "Chicken claw scraper". Chickens being dirty little buggers need cleaning out daily, and having a fat arse does mean that I cannot crawl into the deepest and dirtiest corners of the coop. So after hours of blueprints and action groups , I have come up with a fusion of copper coal shovel, yards of tape and two bamboo poles!.......hey presto!
yes a real natural in the smallest of small holdings!!

Yesterday went to Bangor for a self orientation day!. Went on the train and the trip west of Rhyl was beautiful. Bangor City itself is a bit of a strange affair, all University and no City. The place itself seems crammed over and inbetween two valleys, and according to Wikipedia the population is 14 Thousand ( 8 thou being students)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangor,_Gwynedd

Very excited as I found , a huge Marks and Spencers,Theatre Gwynedd ( and the arthouse cinema) AND I found a proper coffee shop!!! oh..... I guess I did find the school of Psychology, main library buildings too! My student "Peer" support is a guy called Stuart, my age, a previous Steel Worker, and pragmatic and down to earth, at least I have not got a spotty youth as support!

Busy today, as the weather is lovely. Purchased all the bark chipping for the garden and laid them down, put in a load of wall flowers and white tulip bulbs and used the magnificent "Chicken claw scraper" so the girls are now squeaky clean. The dogs have had two walks around the countryside in Llanasa, and the young pheasants seem to be flocking in their hundreds around the fields! Bathed the dogs and then settled down to listen to the BBC website and "The News Quiz"

Laughed out loud at Phil Jupitus as he discussed his hypertension problems! .he stated that his blood pressure is 400 lbs per square inch and when the nurse took it, she ran down the hospital corridor screaming "He's going to blow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Actually wrote a couple of letters today too, and was inspired to do so, after getting a letter from an old friend and colleague Alexa Ridge. Her letter was just a reflection of her personality, warm, friendly and funny, and she is one of the people I most liked working with in Sheffield as she has a big heart. I worked with many big hearted people in nursing, Joy Hutton, Andrea Day, Ruth Smith and Andrea Whitworth all have that special something that put them ahead of others in the profession. Genuine warmth and sympathetic care is a surprisingly rare thing to get in nursing, and you would get it in bucket loads with these women.

Chris is back from Norway, so tomorrow we may be off to the cinema to see Clive Owen in Children of Men (also the Spanish Volver is showing so I can feel a double bill comming on)

arhhhhh!

Thats the best I could do!

action shot of the dogs at 7 am ( yes AM!!!) this morning on the beach,they just kept moving.

must be mad

Scala troubles and Whispering in the night

Read this in the Daily Post today
Town given two months to prove cinema can work
Sep 20 2006
By Roland Hughes, Daily Post

A COMMUNITY was yesterday told it has two months to prove a major cinema project can work - or risk losing it forever.A report which went before Denbighshire county council yesterday recommended the multi-million pound Scala plan for Prestatyn should be scrapped.But campaigners handed over a 5,000-name petition, collected in just one week, opposing the recommendation.They have now been given until November to prove their case to the council, a decision welcomed in Prestatyn last night.One campaigner said the decision would give objectors the impetus to keep on fighting for the Scala.The cinema on the town's High Street closed in December 2000 after the building was found to be unsafe.Plans were submitted in 2002 for a new cinema and arts centre on the same site, and finally approved by Denbigh-shire.But Denbighshire has since sought funding for the project, with £1.5m coming from an Assembly grant.However, a task group set up earlier this year concluded Denbighshire should drop the Scala project for funds to be used elsewhere.The report was considered behind closed doors yesterday, with councillors voting unanimously to give Prestatyn Town Council and residents until November to prove the project can work.Councillors also agreed the Ruthin Craft Centre redevelopment should go ahead as planned as long as it remained within budget.Objectors were made aware of the proposals to scrap the cinema after yesterday's report was leaked to the press earlier in the month.The 5,000-name petition was handed to Denbighshire chief executive Ian Miller just before yesterday's meeting.Sandra Pitt, chairman of Friends of the Scala, said: "People were queuing right down the pavement in Prestatyn to sign our petition."It gives us time to work on the campaign. We have a battle to fight and now we have a few months to fight it."We have got to up our campaign and keep at them to provide Prestatyn with a cinema. It's what the people of Prestatyn want."The meeting was overshadowed by claims by the task group's chairman, Councillor Paul Marfleet, that he was dismissed for recommending the Scala should be scrapped.Councillor Marfleet's claims of a potential funding "black hole" for the county were also dismissed by chief executive Ian Miller yesterday.I have a feeling money will not be made available for this projext which is a shame. The plans for the "new" Scala, make it more a conference and community centre rather than Just a small town cinema, so I do hope the Scala is reborn. As a teenager it provided me with many nights of escapism, (I first saw Towering Inferno there in 1975!), and I would love to see an arthouse/mainstream mix up of a local cinema.

Went to the beach for a long dog run (couldn't take a picture of them all as they were all running around like mad alecs),as I was comming back home over Gwaenysgor hill, saw "sad lady from Bishop's wood ( see previous blog), she had a Labrador with her and looked so much happier!, then did gardening jobs, hung the supports for the clematis by the back door and finally sorted out my wireless connection for the computer. Chris is still in Norway, so off to the pics now with Carol from Nextdoor to see The Night Whisperer!

Just back from seening the Night Whisperer,and was intrigued to find that it was based loosely on an experience of writer Armistead Maupin, who whilst splitting up with his boyfriend struck up a telephone friendship with a 14 year old fan, and precocious writer. It transpired that this boy potentially never realy existed and that his mother, who had suffered years of abuse was in fact impersonating him for deep psychological needs. Toni Collette was excellent as the boy's mother, and surprise surprise Bobby Cannavale turned up as Robin Williams' (Maupin) boyfriend ( doesnt he play alot of gay characters?) (The Station agent (well sort of), Will and Grace, Shall we dance? )