Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie a man after midnight...

I was calculating this morning of how many work Christmas nights out I have been to over the years? Well at least 28 of them I think, and they have all been pretty dire affairs; bad food, noisy, drunken and expensive- yep last night's Abba night (complete with tribute band- and I use the word band rather loosely), was no exception. Half of the ITU lot dressed up in an assortment of pseudo-original Abba garb,and got very drunk very quickly. The other half, just got drunk very quickly! Thank god I found Hazel, who is a tall willowy snob; she stated loudly from the start that she "didn't do fancy dress", and certainly "didn't do party hats." So we sat together and watched the fun. To be fair the lamb was lovely (even if the camp aged and grossly harassed
waiter was lisping at the top of his voice "LAMB!!!, who else has ordered the LAMB!? Darlins? LAMB!!!LAMB?..." The service was crap, the drinks were flat but the music was OK (you can't go far wrong with Abba, even if the lead singer had a welsh accent!)

My favourite Christmas night out memory was the Spinal Injury Night out in an awfull Chinese bar down the Moor in Sheffield. During the "disco" after the meal tempers frayed between British Steel and British telicom on the dance floor, and several fists were flying. The spinal nurses were caught in the crossfire, and I will always remember my friend Ruth yelling "Save Lewis!! Save Lewis", as our weedy Social worker got sandwiched between two battling thugs crying out like Charles Hawtrey "stop it! stop it this is all rather silly!!"

This morning, true to form very slightly muzzy, even though Chris picked me up at 11.30pm. Now off to the beach for a blow, and later we are off to LLandudno to a Mozart by candlelight concert....what a difference 24 hours makes?

How many points in a magnum?

The time has come..... Yes next week I start weight watchers! Long walks on the beach and lots of gardening has not helped my bulging waistline and middle aged spread and I am now 15 stone 6! with a BMI of 30! Yes Shelley Winters eat your heart out. I miss years of Badminton with Mike Kilner ( and so does my size 34 pants!) and I do miss being able to tie my own shoelaces without puffing!, so I have bitten the bullet and sorted my first meeting. I hope to feel the benefit, especially as my creaking back still occasionally gives me gyp! Nu has given me some insentive as she goes to "fat club" regulary.and looks fab!......off now to have a diet coke.

gud news

Nu rang this evening from South Africa....! good news she is engaged! Jim Proposed after absailing down table mountain (pic)..made up for her! but it did make me smile as our holidays centre around New York shops and the beach at Sitges rather than hurtling down an Africa mountain.

Hopefully I can catch up with her next weekend and celebrate, when she is up in Liverpool.

December nights out organised as we build up for Christmas. Off on an Abba nite at work this Friday which will be awful but fun no doubt. Saturday we are off to a Candlelit Mozart concert at Llandudno, ( I am sorry that Nige can't make his visit this weekend to join in! ) A friend at work has got me a ticket to the "Vagina Monologues" next week , Janet and I are going to a reading of a "Christmas Carol" at Theatre Clwyd, Chris and I are off to see a carol service on the 18th at St Asaph Cathedral ! And I hope to get over to see Micky in Sheffield on the 14th, so socially December looks very good. We have even booked the dogs into Ewloe kennels so we can catch up with Mike and Bev on the 28th for our usual Christmas meal!

Ding dong merrily on high.....

Little Britain lives......

Janet and Ann have taken part in the Christmas Tree festival (and I use the term loosely),in Prestatyn's parish church. Basically you pay £2.50 to look at an array of decorated trees and then vote for your favourite. The winning entry gets 250 quid! which is a pretty fair prize, so dutifully I went today to cast my vote. I was glad to have bumped into Judy who I dragged along with me, as I would have felt like a pervert wandering around by myself. An odd group of little Britain greyhairs showed us around while 10 little Bonnie Langfords " performed folk songs, to their showbiz moms and 20 drooling OAPs. The whole thing was surreal beyond anything Matt Lucas could dream up. By tree 20 we were giggling like school girls and made a sudden exit before we were kicked out.




Glorious morning on the beach. The dogs ran for miles, with 2 red setters they met. Poor Maddie with her 3 inch legs was always last, but I gave her 9/10 for effort.

Baked bread and mince pies this morning ( enjoyed that too!) and was reminded of that 1970's Yorkshire tv series Farmhouse Kitchen! ( with Anne Sugden look-a-like Dorothy Sleightholme).Does anyone else remember that?

The Hindenburg, Santa Baby and bread

Idle Thoughts

Like the Great transatlantic Liners such as the deco RMS Queen Mary, the grand age of the Zeppelin died out after the 1930's. I was thinking today of how beautiful such airships like LZ 129 Hindenburg actually were. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to experience a flight (albeit without the Swastika), although the famous Germany to New Jersey disastrous 1937 flight would have been one I could have lived without. Interestingly two thirds of the passengers actually survived the terrible explosion!

The new Debenhams Christmas advert is excellent! the dancing Santa is very dishy ( Can't believe I actually said that). Is it my imagination but are all the Christmas adverts starting later this year? We have only 3 weeks or so until the Yuletide celebrations!

Made several loaves today and they looked lovely ....all very biblical!

Death with Dignity, & bee keeping

Very Tired as just finished two 12 hour shifts. Today did a good job ! A withdrawl of treatment of a elderly man with a vunerable , aging family, who were terrified and overfaced with the complexities of a modern ITU. It is the part of nursing I know I am good at. The family (a very Welsh brother and sister in their 80's) were dignified and grateful for a more mature and patient nurse to be their advocate and I spent all day preparing them for the inevitable, and supporting them afterwards.

Heard from the Conway Bee Keepers today too and start the bee keepers course tomorrow night!......

Is she or isnt she?

Well took Meg to the vets to find out if she is pregnant and the verdict is........( long, long pause as in the style of Strictly come dancing) , is that she may be! The elderly vet in Caerwys Mr Sargent had a good "feel" and said yes then ultrsounded her and said "hummmmmmmmm perhaps not". Anyhow the upshot is that she will be re scanned in 2 weeks. It was a pleasure to find such an old fashioned practice; no computers, no appointments only,no cheque card required....a real bast from the past- all very James Herriot!.


Lovely afternoon. Chris took me to Chester from a bit of Christmas shopping! Had a lovely meal at Duttons (pic) , and a couple bottles of vino blanc. and home by 7.30. Working over the weekend so no blogs till monday....watch this space...

James Bond and a very weird experience

Bond is back - back to the beginning, with a new adaptation of Ian Fleming's first novel. Bond, now hard-edged and slightly less sophisticated in the capable hands of grim-jawed, azure-eyed Daniel Craig , only wins his spurs as a double-0 agent with his first two kills at the start of the movie (although its events are now set in 2006). Casino Royale (2006) pays homage to a Bond we have never seen before, a "realistic" and "damaged" individual, who doesn't always has a silly quip or gaget to get him out of trouble. We now have a talented "physical", more vital professional killer, who dominates the screen in a very different and exciting way than Moore, Dalton and the more campy Brosnan ever did. Craig ( Born in nearby Chester by the way). captures the right mixture of charm,toughness and ego, and I was quite bowled over by him! Chris was less impressed, giving the whole film 5/10, while Janet gave him and the film a definite thumbs up. Judi Dench, was excellent also as M, but the bond girls , Eva Green ( as the wonderful sounding Vesper Lynd) and Caterina Murino ( as Solange) were so-so! I gave the whole thing 9/10!

Yesterday had a dream about leaving my footprints in wet cement then being aware of a murder that actually did occur at Prestatyn's duck pond in 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1944329.stm
I gave the dream no thought until I walked the dogs down the beach.
We walked in an area of the Promenade that I have never gone, and suddenly there in the cement of a recently repaired part of the defenses were large men's footprints! Weird eh? anyhow the view broke my dream, and my surprise was increased later in the day when I bought the Daily Post and the story of the "Duckpond murderer" escaping his hostel in Wrexham was splashed over the front page! isnt that weird?
hummmm.........