The Mist

Last night I did something for the very first time.......I actually watched an entire film on YOUTUBE. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I was very much looking forward to see the film The Mist (2007),on paper the story of how a group of small town characters fight to stay alive from a mist shrouded hoard of monsters, ticks every box in my disaster film loving obsessional personality and although I was watching it on a screen a few inches square, I absolutely loved it.

Frank Darabont has taken the novella from Steven King and given it a darker, heavier twist, he has also learnt lessons from the classic but rather bland The Fog (1980) and has fashioned a tense motion picture that's ultimately more about paranoia, religious fanaticism, and the price of hopelessness than it is about monsters and gore.

America cinema abounds with stories of small town hysteria.The battle between good and evil, right and wrong, self and foreign is ingrained into the US Psyche, and parallels between how America views anything "external" from self are obvious in the way the survivors react to the monster threat on film.

I wont go down the spoiler route here, suffice to say that I loved how the film celebrated the unlikely hero. Lumpy Store manager Ollie ( the excellent Toby Jones) and feisty old bespectacled gal schoolteacher (Frances Sternhagen) are two ordinary characters that make good in the crisis, and I suspect they will have the typical movie audience cheering and clapping in their seats.(Well that is until the rather bleak and surprising ending)

I need to see this film on the big screen when it does eventually gets released in the UK, but I was satisfied with my mini view last night.

Pic Jeffrey DeMunn, Laurie Holden as Amanda Dumfries, Frances Sternhagen as Irene, Thomas Jane as David Drayton and Nathan Gamble as Billy

Dead Can Dance - The Host of Seraphim

A haunting and rather scary piece of music

Selling on

12 kilos of spuds,radish,cabbage,French parsley,eggs and broad beans have all been harvested,weighed and bagged up in preparation for selling on at work tomorrow. The day has been showery, so I have been soaked to the skin several times and look pretty much like an old tramp at the moment. (By the way a woman at work said that she thought I couldn't be gay because I was too scruffy!!)
Tomorrow we have a chance to dress up a bit, as we are going to Ann's big 60th birthday dinner in Llandudno. I have got something planned which may raise a laugh, but can't post just what it is, just yet.......
ps the application form for the Conwy Bee keeping course came through yesterday, Chris will be enrolling with me!

Petula Clark - Downtown

I was 2 years old when Pet Clark was belting out this classic........

The "Bug"

Hazel (left) and Marie have been bitten by the hen keeping bug after seeing my girls running riot in Trelawnyd. Hazel has 5 hybrids and will soon have one of my Buff Chicks, and Marie as you can see has three girls.Both have been growing their own vegetables and Hazel is actively looking for an allotment to rent, so we feel as though we are members of an exclusive club.
I have not managed to do much in the allotment today as it has literally pissed it down all day. Unfortunately the ducklings still have to be shut in as their feathers are not quite formed, so cleaning the hut out was a particularly fraught and dirty job this afternoon.The rest of the day has been filled with jobs indoors. At least Chris' Canadian cowboy hat has come in handy, as it may look ridiculous but it sure keeps you dry in the rain.
Last night I went to a friend's house for a supportive chat,( Chris terms it an emotional romp) Ended up drinking a large glug of her Bombay Sapphire......hey ho

Friends

If I can fit it in with Chris and the animals I hope to slip over to Sheffield next week for a quick friend fix. Out of everything we left in Sheffield ( three years ago now) it is the friendships I made over the 16 years there, that I miss the most. Having said that, I have always had the discipline to keep in touch with friends:- Nuala in London is a case in point ( and to be honest I am long overdue for a visit down there too), so "popping" the hundred or so miles over to Yorkshire, to me feels perfectly normal.

I was talking about my planned visit with a colleague at work today, and I was surprised somewhat by a question she asked me. She asked if I was lonely?

I thought about this on the drive home, and I can honestly say that I am not lonely here, but I DO miss having a fairly large set of like minded and interesting friends "on tap" as it were.

Historically Chris has always worked incredibly hard during the week, in Sheffield he commuted long distances and therefore didn't get home until late; here he gets home earlier but tends to go to bed at a reasonable hour as he has an early start every morning. In Sheffield that time to myself was filled with friends, here in Wales it is filled with family and animals, and although that is wonderful I do miss the spoilt indulgence that close friendships give you.

I guess that sounds a little shallow and just a tad needy, perhaps it is just a little, who knows.

pic) Elizabeth Spriggs is number 5 hen to get the broody bug.........

The Mist Trailer

Now forgive me, if this blog is repeated, having some problems with youtube.
Readers may know that I am a disaster film fanatic, so you all won't be surprised that I am looking forward excitedly to the release of THE MIST....I know it is not the typical disaster film, but it does have all the required ingredients: cardboard characters thrown together in the face of disaster,old lady character (my fav Francis Sternhagan---from Outland, ER and Sex and the city)--she's bound to get the chop and lots of tension....

can't wait

Temper

I hate loosing my temper, and I am lucky it does not happen that often, but when upset I can give "as good as I get", when the need arises.

Today and one day last week are two cases in point. I had been working with a terribly negative senior nurse, who expends great effort being negative with every member of junior staff that works in her team. As a former manager of a fairly happy and successful ward team,I found this type of negativity is at best tiring and at worst totally demoralizing to junior staff, and I just knew she was going to try and pick me up on something or other. I won't go into details but the criticism came just at the end of a busy shift and on the shop floor, and I was having non of it. Loudly ( a little too loudly but I must say effectively) I disagreed with the criticism offered and turned the whole comment around assertively and with an irritating touch of patronising edge.It was her fault that the whole thing was overheard and enjoyed by several other junior staff . A small but satisfying victory .

Today I "had words" with the guy working on my field boundary. It was a product of both our frustrations. His at trying to complete a job single handed and mine at having large farm machinery thundering back and forth next to the nervous ducklings. I would not have lost my temper save for the fact that he talked over my argument, and like an old queen I did have a small dickey fit in order to get my own point of view listened to.

Anyhow, finally we both backed off a little and offered each other an olive. branch like real adults.........he went back to his fence and I stalked back to my ducklings

pic is of the single blackbird chick sat on his nest by the front door