Circle of life

This morning the "Ebay eggs" in the incubator started piping away to themselves quite merrily and tonight there are tiny holes already appearing in three eggs as the second batch of ducklings start their struggle for life in the kitchen rather than under a friendly hen in the hen house.

I have left Chris on duckling watch for most of the day, as I have nipped over to Sheffield to attend Mike's mum's funeral at Grenoside Crematorium. (Right)

I didn't really know Mrs Kilner that well, but I felt it important that I showed my support to Mike and Bev. I know only too well how welcome a friendly face can be at a family funeral.Someone that you know is standing in your corner when things are ropey and a bit bleak. At my mother's funeral I will always remember a beaming Nuala, sending me telepathic messages of affection,support and nervous hysteria from her seat next to Chris. It helped me greatly even though I almost had an attack of the giggles every time I Iooked at her.

The minister that took the service had the thickest Sheffield accent I have ever heard. And the funeral tea (held at the crem itself) felt traditionally Yorkshire in nature, albeit a Yorkshire from the 1960s.I had a chance for a brief chat and a hug with Mike before driving home in the sunshine.

Walked the dogs,watered the crops and am just about to set up William's crate as a makeshift nursery for my hopeful ebay ducklings....

Birth and death eh???

4 Months 3 weeks and 2 days.

Some of the best films I have seen have the ability to communicate multiple ideas and narratives within the telling of one tale or story. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a case in point. Set in 1987 Romania the film follows the bleak experiences of student Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) as she helps her best friend Găbiţa (Laura Vasiliu) procure and suffer an illegal abortion,but the strength of this film lies not in the termination itself (though this is a terribily cold and effective sequence), but in how it captures the decay and oppression in President Ceauşescu's dying regime.
I loved the way that this film had incredibly long takes in pivotal scenes throughout the story. Subsequently the tension wrought by these made the whole thing very difficult but incredibly riveting to watch.
The best thing I have seen at Theatre Clwyd for quite some time.
(The title refers to the length of Gabita's pregnancy)

Benidorm

"Benidorm" (2007) is a typically "English" sitcom. It follows a score of flawed stereotypes from bluecollar 2008 Britain, as they dovetail together in a cheap Spanish holiday resort . I am reminded of the classic characterisations of Captain Mannering in Dad's Army and Margot in The good life, when essentially "real" and vulnerable individuals live their lives in a half hour snapshot of a series of ten or twelve.

The second series of Benidorm hopefully will become a classic, after all it has all the benefits of a great sitcom. Sharp characters, good ensemble performances and a witty script take a side swipe at working class Britain, but where as the first series indulged the audience to judge the essentially vile commonness of the characters, the second series gives the viewer a subtle glimpse of some depth and warmth within the characters without detracting from a sense of car crash tv aka Jeremy Kyle.

So we have the predatory and unattractive middle aged sexual swingers Donald and Jaqueline (the excellent Janine Duvitski and Kenny Ireland pic) that have genuine affection for each other and for the people that they meet. Janice Garvey (Siobhan Finneran) is a harried mother who for the first time in years has a chance to flirt with a toyboy and escape the pressures of life. And camp as Christmas gays Troy and Gavin ARE the butt of many homosexual jokes but are seen as a couple that have to cope with the same life problems as everyone else.

Good comedy has that balance between stereotyping,pathos and joke telling, and I think that Benidorm has judged it just right in this second series. Of course it always has the potential to over play its hand, and I hope that does not happen too much with this little gem of a tv programme.

Not being Sniffy

I'm looking forward to the Sex and The City-movie, sure it may be frothy rubbish loved by millions of wannabe "Carrie Bradshaws" and their thirty (now forty something ) gay best friends, but I do hope that Michael Patrick King's swansong to the fab four is a fitting ending to a programme that truly celebrated New York City.
I will gloss over Jessica-Parker's hat to praise the wonderfully glam lipstick lesbo Cynthia Nixson's kamikaze cleavage.......... wow

Blanche....a hen scorned

The problem with working nights when the weather is lovely is that you often forgo sleep for outside chores. Today I have finished planting the rest of the sweetcorn, beetroot,yellow and red peppers and butternut squash.So apart from the more delicate French beans,tomatoes and salad crops I have a ton of vegetables winging their way into the fields vegetable plots.
So far there are early,second early and main crop potatoes,broad beans,peas,sugar snap peas,runner beans,parsnips,peppers,marrow,pumpkin,beetroot,cabbage,broccoli,purple sprouting broccoli,cabbage,red cabbage,sprouts,raspberries,gooseberries,rhubarb,spinach,onions,shallots,garlic,celery,salad

leaves,lettuce,sweetcorn,a selection of herbs and lavender, the gladioli bed and a sweet pea "wall"

Tried to get a close up of the ducklings for the blog this afternoon too, but Blanche was having non of it and re-acted magnificently to my efforts to grab one of her little ones. In actual fact she "attacked" me twice quite effectively pecking my fingers sharply and positioning herself between me and her hysterical babies.
The ducklings are now 9 days old and seem a great deal taller and more robust. The dogs spent a sunny day in the spare poultry enclosure, much to the confusion of graveyard visitors, who are used to seeing the ducks flapping around.

sunshine day

A brief blog today as the weather is so glorious and I am on night shift later. Took the dogs into the woods to keep them cool, and the ducklings have been playing outside in their run for most of the day.
Planted sweetcorn in a block this afternoon

A New Hobby and duckling watch

A mixed day today, as due to unit sickness I have had to work my requested annual leave time, and have had to go into ITU for 5 hours this afternoon. So I was up and out at 7am this morning, catching up with field work and walking the dogs up the Gop. The old Gop farm is now up for sale ( at something like 2 million pounds) and the villagers are bursting for news of who will buy it. The farm is one of the largest, well known land marks in the locality, and seems to hold a great deal of nostalgia for the older members of the community. The dovecote (above) which overlooks the village, is in a state of disrepair, but is a listed building and remains the best known structure for miles.
Anyhow I took the dogs on the path behind Gop farm ( where George caught and killed his first baby rabbit! yerch)
and spend a lovely hour or so naming local wild flowers, with my trusty pocket idiots guide to British country flowers as reference.
Early purple orchids cover the hillside (above) and in one square mile of so I counted cowslips,charlock,shepherd's purse,the tiny dog violet, red campion, and wood Sorrel (below). and strange as it may seem I have enjoyed learning about what actually is what.

For those who want news of the ducklings, they are as hysterical as ever and putting on weight and height at a phenomenal rate. Below is a pic of five of them watching my other hand sliding their "swimming pool" into view.

Wind Farms

This is The Svanen,a huge 260 foot floating crane way out in the bay beyond Rhyl, which is sinking the 25 supports for the new wind farm turbines which will compliment Prestatyn's huge and in my view quite scenic "sea windmills".
I do think that these deceptively large structures are quite beautiful in their own way, but I suspect that I am in the minority