London

True to form I am presently sitting at an Internet cafe at Heathrow's terminal five, way, way too early for my flight back to Manchester; I don't care a jot as I love the hustle and bustle of the airport and can spend hours people watching.
My trip down to London was wonderful, and as usual Nu made the effort worthwhile. The flight down was great and literally minutes after touchdown I was walking to her new house in West Ealing. Her and Jim's Victorian house is on Regina Road ( now nicknamed Vagina Road!!!- how school boy of me! ) and is absolutely lovely- a cracking find. We had a bit of champagne and lunch to celebrate her recent move, literally talked all afternoon and capped off the day by going to see The Nutcracker with the English National Ballet staged at the London Coliseum. After watching Mathew Bourne's camp as Christmas version of the ballet, it was refreshing to watch a more "traditional" performance.....it was wonderful.
We stopped off at the highly pretentious St Martin's Lane hotel for a cocktail before going home; tired and almost all talked out.
I love visiting Nu, she has been a constant in my life for the past 20 years, always there, always supportive and always loving. I could never imagine the day when we cannot visit each other.
She is as necessary to me as breathing.

Christmas list

Nigel made me laugh today. I texted him last night asking if he was surviving the pre Christmas preparations and this morning I received a message back stating that he was, ostensibly due to the fact that he wasn't reading my blog!!!

It is 10.10pm and I am feeling relaxed and calm after a radox bath, several cups of tea and a start on my Christmas mental check list.

I enjoy list making and have put off making the grand yultide check list for the plane journey tomorrow.

Bliss

F*"king Mud

I am flying down to London tomorrow to see Nu!........Chris bought me the air ticket as a Christmas Pressie....so for two days I will feel just that little more sophisticated and certainly will be chicken poo and mud free!!!!
Today turned out to be a bummer of a day......which was entirely my own fault, I stocked up with bird feed this afternoon and drove onto the field to fill the shed which was a massive mistake as the ground was way too boggy for the belingo to cope with. Even though I was literally thirty feet from the gate, I was stuck fast in the mud, and no amount of positioning of wood and carpets under the wheels could free me. By four pm, I resembled a reveller from Glastonbury and by five I was nearly pulling my mud splattered hair out. Thank god for Geoff's 4 x 4 ! He dragged me out of the allotment in the dark. and his help was very much appreciated
I am not sure what Nu has planned for tomorrow, it will be lovely just to catch up with her news. I love my country life, but like a new mother ,....I will enjoy a break from being "mummy" to 84 albeit for just 48 hours

- Carol of the Bells

I finally found this, (my favourite version) of this carol.....

Pre Christmas jobs

Most people have a pre Christmas hair cut....in our house it is Meg's turn to be transformed from teddy bear to fox terrier. I snapped her as we both were watching a re run of All About Eve this evening.

It's been a busy, non sort of Tuesday; you know the sort of day that is almost over before you realise. I have been herding the ducks into Stanley's enclosure every morning as their own little bit of field is becoming dreadfully bare. After three days of hysteria, the runners have just begun to understand that I mean them no harm when I open their pen fencing , but the operation of moving a hundred yards to unfamiliar surroundings fill the little chaps with complete horror and panic.........I have come to the conclusion that ducks, are ,thick as mince!.

After the usual chores, I dropped Christmas pressies off for Hazel in Prestatyn and to my Aunt Margaret who was widowed only a couple of months ago, then dropped small gifts to Glenys and Geoff our old neighbours in Meliden before completing the Christmas shopping in a small craft shop in Dyserth.Then I drove Meg to Rhyl for her haircut...and I must say that the town's Christmas lights actual make Rhyl look more cheap and depressing than I ever thought possible....it is truly an awfully run down place.

When we got home, I titivated the lounge with the final Christmas greenery and decorations, wrote a few e mails then realised that I was still wearing the theatre scrubs I wore at work Sunday night!!!!!!!!!! UNDER MY FIELD WORK CLOTHES!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am such a slut!.....time for a long bath me thinks

Christmas Tree

I was so tired after my night shift this morning that I felt literally nauseous when feeding and watering the birds at dawn. For 12 long hours I had been nursing a burns victim in a specifically heated side room on Intensive Care, and the atmosphere was so debilitating in there I had to change from my tunic uniform into theatre scrubs, just to survive the shift.The deep, deep frost on the field came as a somewhat unexpected but very welcomed change of temperature and humidity, but strangely the cold didn't wake me up too much as I ladled out the corn and swilled out the iced feeders.
I finished the field jobs around 9.15 and before walking the dogs I sat on the couch with a quick cup of tea..The next thing I knew the time was 10.45 and I awoke covered with all four patient dogs as well as Albert, who had nosedived amongst the bodies in an effort to keep warm
We have decided not to have a Christmas tree in the cottage this year, I think with eight adults present on Christmas day, as well as five dogs (yes Jess will be there as well) and one over active kitten , even the smallest of trees will be a spruce too far.
Janet, Ann (Right) and Leanne (left) designed their own Christmas tree recently in Prestatyn's Christmas tree festival....despite a great deal of hard work I think they came third......which probably pissed Ann off as secretly she remains terribly competitive ( a family trait)
True to form she will be decorating her Christmas gifts with some gusto ( and much style) in competition with Janet ( and to a lesser extent me) on the 25th,,,,,,all good clean fun

Christmas decs

Typical Sunday..........Chris made a passable roast chicken dinner whilst I dragged myself up the Gop to cut some spruce for the fireplace Christmas decs. I am working later tonight so It's difficult to get myself going......
I have shampooed the carpets upstairs as poor William is still having "accidents" after his surgery.

Little acts of kindness

This morning as I was waiting in line in the village post office I overheard an exchange between two customers which moved me greatly.
While Jenny the postmistress battled with my Christmas parcels, an elderly lady came in in a slightly agitated and flustered state. I know her to say hello to and I have always suspected that she is suffering from early Alzheimers and before I could turn around the only other customer struck up a conversation with her.
The other customer was a guy in his early sixties. He is Polish but has lived so long in the village that he can speak Welsh very well.I have met him several times when he has helped out at the Memorial Hall with the Conservation Group and The Flower Show and I have always found him to be a warm and delightfully friendly local character who always makes the effort to engage with you .
As the old lady worried away at this and that, I listened to him gently and sincerely reduce her anxiety by a calm,precise and incredibly moving few sentences that would have put to shame a trained counsellor or Psychiatric nurse.
Little acts of kindness between relative strangers are, I think, a rarity. British people with busy lives and routines are often embarrassed with potentially uncomfortable social situations and today I witnessed someone who went that extra mile when they didn't have to.
Being witness to this simple act of altruism was like finding a little nugget of gold in the allotment....

This afternoon we went to the beach (apologies for the gross tracksuit bottoms) then rushed home to check on the young buff hens who I had Incorporated into the adult hens' run. True to form there had been some skirmishes but no gross bullying had taken place.

Tonight we are settling down with the semi final of Strictly Come Dancing.....