Before and After

A before and after picture of the garden! only 8 months apart!

Sheffield gets it bad!

Just been reading the news that Sheffield came to a standstill yesterday. I suspect the emergency protocol was put into effect at the Northern general hospital, which was effectively cut off by the flood water!. Hundreds of people seemed to be trapped all over the city, and I can't believe that two people were drowned! it sounds terrible.The Stories on Sheffield forum http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=100 , are sobering too!

mind you, reading some of the posts does reinforce that "spirit that won the war" mentality, which is the saving grace from all this misery.

(left,a very scary picture of central Hillsborough. Below, am I wrong but is this near Meersbrook?)

Friends seem ok, Nige is stranded at home,(but is ready for war as he has saved water and candles!!!!!!!) Jonney has no electricity in Hillsborough,Jane is fine and Sarah was trapped overnight at the Spinal Unit

When you have live in a place that suffers on this great scale, the reality of disaster hits home. Sometimes the problem with the media is that we all are desensitised to a certain degree from the horror and sadness of this sort of thing because we "see" it every day on the news. To me these pictures are truly shocking.

....I wasn't the weakest link.......hello!

Today has been rather surreal. Rain, rain and more rain. The chicken run seems awash with floodwater and mud and the girls all look like extras from The Poseidon Adventure. So I was happy to have a change and go for my "interview" for the weakest link at Bangor. My fellow "interviewees" were a mixed bunch and we all looked fairly sodden when waiting for things to kick off, in rather a scruffy hotel overlooking Bangor pier. My fellows included a middle aged woman originally from Kent (who had two plastic hips , 4 children and a scoliosis problem), a middle aged publican (and drinker), a painter and decorator (in his white overalls!), a pregnant professional 30 something with self image problems, an overweight bloke who played in a heavy rock band and a camp trainee school teacher who loved hospital radio and who obviously wanted to be on tele! Apart from myself and the painter all the others took the exercises that were set for us terribly seriously. We did the usual warm up introductions with Ben and Toby ( the 12 year old researchers! one tall,blond and "Mr Nasty", the other camp,pot-bellied and friendly), then were tested on our general knowledge. After coffee we then played The Weakest Link and then finally were interviewed in depth (yeah right!!!) on camera. It was all very funny and unreal, and I did enjoy when Toby slagged each one of us in turn (aka Ann), the middle aged woman was asked "How long have you been dressing far too young for your age?" which threw her slightly! Camp teen teacher, tried to be clever when asked if he dressed a bit gay! I was chuffed that all Toby could slag off was my "two tone" beard! which I said that Chris thought was distinguished!
It was all very silly and fun, and it would be nice to get chance to play the game for real in London! as it would be lovely to catch up with Nu!


Got home at one pm and took the dogs for their wettest walk of the year on the beach, it is now early evening and only just feel dry

Just checked on the girls, who are all still soaked and looking bedraggled, pity they don't drink hot tea....I would have made them all one!

Crops for tea

The music at the concert this afternoon was great, unfortunately the links between pieces by affable newscaster Jamie Owen and camp welsh weatherman Derek Brockway were all a bit pantomime! We couldn't get over the selfishness of one couple who brought two tiny children (one a baby of a year or so) into the theatre. The brat cried constantly throughout the first half and the parent didn't leave (or were even asked to leave) until the second half! I cannot believe that some people can be that stupid!

Janet and Ned came for tea and I was so happy to provide the potatoes and herbs from the allotment to accompany the lamb. I dug up a load of huge radish also and I must admit I was so impressed with my first real harvest! (see photo)

an awful shift and salsa comes to Wales

Yesterday's shift was truly awful. The family of a desperately sick woman I was looking after disintegrated into long term feuds and fallings out and we almost had a punch up at the bedside, which was incredibly sad. I find this sort of thing unpleasant but by no means impossible to deal with, and in the end had to be sharp and very directive with all individuals involved, very much like authoritative daddy. The Filipino nurses all disappeared as culturally they do not deal with confrontation well, preferring the more technical part of ITU work. I know I am a fairly average technician but am good with the more touchy feely part of the job. Mind you coping with anger,recriminations and tears as well as a desperately sick patient after 12 hours was all a bit much last night so I did let my hair down rather quickly at Denbigh town hall's SALSA night! The salsa band was excellent,the venue rather deco, the wine cheap and nasty and company (Hazel and her brother and sister in law) friendly and fun. I didn't dance but did enjoy watching Chris shaking his stuff, and got ladled into the car at 11pm for home!

Today went for a lovely blow on the beach and after The Archers Omnibus (now) we are off to an afternoon concert in Llandudno!

Duncan and Izzy sent us the photo of us all on Llandudno's Great Orme

Mathilde Runs

On www.sheffieldforum.co.uk, "Amilee" has been been voted one of the most favourite of foreign films. One of my favourites is of course "A very Long Engagement". This video clip is so clever as it captures the way Mathilde tries to persuade herself that things will be ok with a childish bargine albeit just one taken with herself.These bargins with fate are wonderfully "real and are incredibly moving

Just worked 12 hours and steeling myself for a repeat performance tomorrow!! bugger!

One man and his favourite hen & a moment in Church

Looking rather dirty but happy at working outside all day (finally no rain all for 24 hours!!!) I have strimmed the orchard behind the cottage, cleared all the grass from beneath the electric fencing and strimmed most of the field grass. It is a bloody awful job but very satisfying. At three I sat in the coop with a cup of tea and was joined by my favourite hen, Mildred Pierce. She now makes a point of coming over to sat hello, and today climbed onto my knee for a stroke, which I was terrible moved by. I have decided that if I don't get outside to work at least every other day I have a tendency to get rather low! and if not low rather crabby .

This afternoon I managed to get into the Church for the very first time in 18 months. Carole was arranging the flowers for the altar, so I sneaked in to "get a feel" for the place, and the tiny church is very sweet and not at all austere, as many country churches can be.

Am working all day tomorrow and Saturday which is a bummer, Saturday night Chris and I have been invited to a salsa bar in of all places Denbigh ( for those English readers, Denbigh is a tiny one horse town in the middle of the Welsh coun tryside). Well it will be interesting.

Playing with Chris' phone

took this with Chris' phone this evening! Maddie is farting peacefully on my lap! still chuckling about the previous pic!