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The Dove Cott at Gop Farm above the village

With Chris away, I was up extra early with the dogs- we had a cold walk up the Gop which was lovely in the dawn.It is too early to sort the hens out yet ( I try and let them out at 8am to try and miss the last hunting times of nocturnal foxes), so I am enjoying my birthday coffee with my blog. In addition to the usual coop cleaning,latrine emptying,feeding and watering,I have loads to do this week:-

All the vegetable plots need weeding and clearing

The borders of the allotment need strimming Geoff and I am going to construct an extra broody box/hen house for the extra 3 broody buffs

I need to design an informative poster for the flower show regarding the show's history

The back garden has to be thinned of weeds and the borders shaped.

French beans,broad beans and the remainder of the corn need planting.

I need to construct another wire run for the group of teenage hens in the shed too,( they are going to take over from Blanche and Haleh in their big coop )

and I want to fit in the cinema at least once!

I mentioned previously that I have three broody buffs! With Blanche and now Blanche's sister Beatrice hit with the broody bug too that makes 5 birds!

I have only one nesting box in the buff coop and it is pretty comical to see three fluffy bums crammed into the one box. It reminds me of a game of musical chairs, with three fat old ladies trying to sit on one tiny chair! This morning I have made up another nesting box and set two of the girls ,Lily and Violet on their own nests with just three eggs apiece

Underwear embarrassment

Chris got up early this morning as he is working in London this week and will be spending quality time with his family in Broadstairs until Sunday. So there was much hurried packing and huffing and puffing before I had to take him to the station, so whist still half asleep I dressed, fed and watered the field then drove to the feed wholesalers to buy corn and chick crumbs.
On the way back I stopped at the spar garage to buy some cheap cat food (to build Blanche up) and as I was standing in line I could feel a single unnoticed sock slipping slowly down the inside of my leg!
I don't know if this happens to other blog readers, but sometimes after dressing in a hurry, I occasionally find a previously worn sock hidden away in a pant leg, generally you notice it straight away and can have a delve and drag the smelly article out.....this morning I must have been so sleepy that I did not notice anything, so I was mildly surprised when I felt a sock "plop" gently down my leg and onto the floor of the spar shop!
How wrong I was .....for it wasn't a sock that I saw lying on the floor.....it was in fact a screwed up pair of grungy work underpants!

Before I could pick them up I heard a woman's voice behind me say "I think you've dropped something".........and for a few seconds I wanted the earth to swallow me up whole!
At least the woman behind me was the only person in line. and without gazing at her directly and looking like a beetroot, I pick up my underpants explaining lamely " I have just got up!"
She snorted as did the woman behind the till and I had to stand there, pants rolled up in hand , for an age until I could make a run for it....
message to self.....throw old pants in the laundry basket as soon as you remove them!

Dawn French' funny girls

It was late this evening when I caught a documentary by Dawn French which centred about what makes female comics....well funny.
Perhaps 50 comics were interviewed and the one that made we laugh until I cried was the all too brief interview with Helen Lederer.
Helen recalled a story when she and a group of her 10 year old schoolgirl friends decided to "hate" the golfers who used the golf course behind her house. (why?)
To register their displeasure at the sporting activity, the girls would stand together and sing aggressively "Nellie the elephant packed her trunk and said goodbye to the circus!!"
It does not sound funny as I write it, but I literally howled till I cried at her delivery!!!

Aching for quiet

The scream of the fukuda monitors during a 12 hour shift literally do my head in now. The constant banal chatter of colleagues detailing who did what to who also makes my head spin, so I couldn't wait to finish work and walk down the lane in the dusk, VERY, VERY, QUIETLY!!! with all four dogs padding behind me.

Albert has done Chris' head in today, as one after another he has deposited a steady stream of bird and mouse bodies on the back patio.

"The place resembles a morgue" he complained when I walked in.

Chris is a bit squeamish when it comes to bodies so it was up to me to remove the carnage

Låt den rätte komma in (2008)

Let the right one in (2008) literally turns the general Hollywood vampire flick onto its head as it combines brief flashes of horror with a most melancholy and delicate story of pre adolescent love.
Oscar (a wan little Kåre Hedebrant) is a lonely and bullied schoolboy with a busy divorced mother and an amiable alcoholic( but absent) father.He meets Eli, a strange,older-than-her-years 12 year old girl (an amazingly poignant Lina Leandersson) and over time the two become involved in a mutually dependent friendship which is complicated only by the fact that she is indeed a vampire.
Director Tomas Alfredson concentrates heavily on the atmosphere and sadness of John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel and lends a depth and slowness of pace to the film, with its unhurried and beautifully shot scenes of an Winter in a 1981 Ikea filled Sweden.
The two child leads are wonderful. especially the doe eyed Leandersson, and the shocks when they come would have had Hitchcock standing up and applauding!....One scene in particular involving a pack of frightened cats is terrifyingly effective.
Over all I liked it, but I must say the film would have benefited by being 30 minutes shorter.
An impressive 8/10

Weather turns

Well at least the Scotties are photogenic after their recent grooming!

The weather closed in today and with blustery wind and rain lashing the cottage, the day has felt almost wintry. I am not too bothered as the field was desperate for water, and at least it has given us the chance to do non-allotment related chores!

We braved the wind to have a walk on the beach,then had a great lunch at the Scala cafe (we are going back tonight to see Let the right one in (Låt den rätte komma in )- I cannot quite believe Chris is actually going to a Swedish subtitled vampire film!!!! He is such a "traditionalist" when it comes to cinema. Margaret Rutherford and Murder at the Gallop or Carry on Dick is more to his taste.

Haleh and the stick thin Blanche are still doing fine, Blanche is still a bit dazed and broody and had to be shaken up a little to be able to react to some tempting spaghetti! Manfully the duckling joined her and tried to swallow a 5 inch piece before they scooted back inside their run out of the rain. (above) Gloria braving the driving rain

Torch Song Trilogy Part 1

Nige reminded me that this IS one of my favourite films..........Harvey is the most unlikely of heros!
Love the "taxi" comment at the end.

Just Panties (What Else Do I Need?) POSEIDON!

Now sometimes you can too much hen information......I found this clip on youtube this morning before I started farm work.....
Readers will know that I am a disaster film fan....and this "song" from the musical version of the Poseidon Adventure has to be seen to be believed......