Hamlet....

Message to self.......don't go to see a long, Shakespearean tragedy when over tired and hungry (Chris) and when not really in the mood for the complicated old world language of the Bard (me)....we sneaked off in the interval after 2 hours of angst, madness, grief and anger, and even though I would happily admit that many of the scenes either confused me or lost me completely (I studied Catcher in the Rye in my English o levels)....I generally kept up with the story thanks primarily to the sheer brilliance of leading man Rory Kinnear (son of the late comic Roy) whose bright, intelligent and intensely captivating performance kept a Shakespearean dunce like me, watching ...well at least to the interval that is.  

Rory Kinnear.........

I doubt I will ever appreciate Shakespeare properly.....it is just not my cup of tea... Oh sure I loved Emma Thompson's warm turn as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, but that's' about it for me......hey ho...I am just a lightweight radio 4 listener I guess.......

My name IS Tippi, , Bulldog psychology and"Fly my pretties fly...fly"



Hundreds of Starlings wait for their breakfast



I have been blaming the alarming lack of bird feed on the increased need of the domestic animals on the field due to the freezing weather! But yesterday one of the villagers pointed out that what seems like the whole population of village wild birds have now set up residence in the trees surrounding the hen houses on the field.

Now, every morning, hundreds of starlings wait patiently for an opportunity to stuff their fat beaks with anything edible along side the resident  population of collared doves and the troupe of 60 or so field sparrows.

I cannot do much about all of this. When I am pottering around the field, the wild birds of course keep their distance, but when I am in the cottage, down they sweep as though in the Hitchcock movie to gorge themselves like common people do on an all exclusive holiday.....When I finally notice the flocks descending then out I run,waving my arms hysterically like a somewhat fat and old Tippi Hendren, to drive the little buggers off; albeit for only a ten minute respite



Constance sulking post eye ointment administration!



When I am not frightening starlings, I have been working hard in encouraging Constance to start acting more like a "normal" dog. Bulldogs by nature are lazy characters, they prefer a warm bed rather than the great cold outdoors and this trait in Constance has been exaggerated by a long term "fear" of  traffic and unfamiliar surroundings.

Animals cannot be pushed into anything stressful. They need to be "encouraged" gently and with much patience.  so every day I have spent some time sitting next to the main road through the village with Constance sitting on my feet ( she needing physical contact with me as reassurance from the noisy traffic)..This daily dose of noise seems to be working.......when I was a psychiatric nurse, we used to work with agoraphobic patients in a similar vein

As for the dogs' usual four walks a day, I have left it up to her if she wants to join in.

After two weeks, I think the terriers' natural exuberance has had it's effect on her somewhat laissez-faire personality and when I call them all for their first and last walk of the day, Constance has now joined in the excitement and has lined up with the others by the door before we all go out.

Last night I took Constance to the vets for a check up and some eye ointment ( 35 quid for a 2 inch tube!!!!) and realised that car journeys have become a bit of a passion for her. With her little piggy eyes wide open and interested in the scenery, she seems to love the whole car experience ( especially if the car heater is on full blast) and I will use a daily trip out to build up her somewhat fragile confidence out in the community! 



Dan's new runners  see http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/2983

And finally.....I read with interest how Dan is coping with his new runners......My "mad as a box of frog" warning , I can see has not gone unheeded......he writes a good blog and I am flattered that he thought that I was a "good egg".........it's nice to see that some of my babies have now "flown" the coop and are happy in pastures new

Off to see a live production showing of the National Theatre's Hamlet tonight at the scala, which is a bit of a treat! I am not a lover of Shakespeare, but hey.....you grab culture when you can get it here in North Wales! 

Why do people hate to write Christmas Cards?



Christmas Cards....a necessary evil? All written listening to old episodes of the ARCHERS

 I know it is becoming unfashionable to write "Christmas" cards........what with the infamous nature of political correctness (GONE MAD!!!)  forcing people to "save paper" and the please all society refusing us Brits NOT to wish people "Happy Christmas" but to concentrate our card writing to wish everyone a non religious a more general  "happy Holidays"...perhaps sent in an e mail....

But, I must say, I have always enjoyed writing Christmas Cards!
It a ritual that takes time, discipline and effort.
True..it can get just a little boring when you have to pen a little "original"ditty to great Auntie Betty, but for the most part I quite treasure is the whole experience of putting pen to cardboard! In this day and age when no bugger I know can actually write a proper letter, a brief sentence on a Christmas card is perhaps the nearest we all now get to actual hand written correspondence!

 A Hand written card, to me, means effort and thought.( which I guess panders to my ego)......that's why I like receiving cards.....they make me feel.....well. liked and remembered! and more importantly...worth more than a just a quick typed email or God Forbid a bleeding text!!!!!! 

ps Nige...your pressie is in the big brown envelope

Love In

Molested by a bulldog

Blog Reality

Dan at (http://allthatcomeswithit.com/)

This afternoon fellow blogger Dan drove over from West Yorkshire to collect a handful of the runner ducks as a present for his kids. He is the first person from the strange world of blogland that I have actually met, and I must admit it felt just a little weird actually meeting someone whose words you have read over months and months of perusing the more interesting of online diaries.

Blogging has all of the benefits of reading a good book. Your imagination takes flight and all of those connecting "holes" in the narrative are filled with your own creativity and invention, so the reality of meeting a blog character, could well be a bit of a challenge to one's mental image of that person and indeed to the reality of the place they choose to show you through blog photographs and imagery.

I have mental images of.most of the  blog writers I have chosen to follow, even though I already know what some of them look like.
Maura,Kim and Dia in my mind, all have a look and the warmth of someone like actress Emma Thompson; whereas someone like  Tom leaves me with an impression that he is a kind of impish Nigel Havers......Jim, I am sure resembles everyones' favourite uncle and Tracey MUST have a bit of a young Joan Rivers about her......sigh, I could go on and on ........suffice to say that Dan, well just was  like I thought he would be, affable and down to earth.

Anyhow the rest of the short and cold day, I have been catching up with coop cleaning and field tidying. The fox is back as the the remains of the young cockerel that survived the snow last week was dotted near to the turkey enclosure. He must have been late back to roost on Saturday when I was away! I couldn't find him on Sunday when I returned!...turn your back for one minute and ALWAYS something happens eh?....I told you that he was on borrowed time

Albert watching the quail VERY closely as William looks on

Silent Monks Singing Halleluia

I just HAD to steal this video from fellow blogger Dave at
http://anothermilemarker.blogspot.com/ it is absolutely wonderful!
Another big up for being a University Student!
Enjoy!!!

Matt Cardle sings She's Always A Woman - The X Factor Live Semi-Final - ...

You'd thought I'd forgotten my Matt hadn't you?
Oh no...I just couldn't overlook the sexy Essex warbler!
Under par..... and full of man flu.....he's still in the game and I wouldn't mind mopping his fevered brow with a hankie!
No other news today......Chris is battling nicotine withdrawal....I am battling kitchen dirt.......and Constance, fed up with the cold weather pissed herself in her dog bed!!!
Yeap a normal day in paradise

A Winter Wedding in Sheffield



One of Sheffield's newer city centre Buildings

  Sometimes you just know that the warmth of catching up with old friends is well worth the effort,time and expense of a winter's journey.
Yesterday in a surprisingly easy trans Pennine rail trip, I descended into a somewhat snowbound Sheffield, to catch up with old bud Mike and to attend "Bel-Ami's" daughter's wedding "do".


The Christmas Tree in front of the Town Hall

  Despite my country wellies and woolly hat, it was  delightful to be back in my "home" city...and even nicer to have the briefest of vacations from animal husbandry and village claustrophobia!
I got to Sheffield at 3pm, checked into my hotel ( a treat from Chris), then had a mooch around the city centre as thousands of Sheffielders now free from the week's blizzard conditions, literally did the same.

The Christmas lights at Tudor Square

 I absolutely loved being "one in the crowd" and ambled around the Winter Gardens and the  Peace Gardens before stopping for a coffee in the  Millennium Galleries. I perused the books at Waterstones in Orchard Square, did a circuit of John Lewis and then, fully re urbanised went to meet up with Mike in All Bar One for wine, gossip and much chuckling

 At 8.30pm we caught a taxi to the Kenwood Hotel in Netheredge and arrived fashionably late for the wedding reception!
Weddings by definition are highly good natured affairs, and last night's "do" didn't disappoint . I caught up with more old friends , drank too much gin and woke up this morning bright eyed and bushy tailed and very happy after a rejuvenating "touching of bases"
It was lovely to see Mike, John (aka Bel), Bev and of course the bride...the gamine Elizabeth

Mike, Bel Ami,Filo, and fat bastard me

Part of the city centre this morning

The weather West of the Pennines was glorious this morning and the early rail journey home  was enhanced by a group of nine university students who embarked on a lively, intelligent and interesting debate on the merits of drone warfare in the seats behind me.
Polite, informed, opinionated and bright these young things  gave me an abject lesson in the positivism and optimism of youth......it was a welcomed change to listen to them talk----especially as the conversation was free of the usual vulgarities, celebrities and sex....subjects usually discussed by your average teen!
Who says a university education doesn't pay eh?

Anyhow now its back to normality.....to farting bulldogs, messy footprints in the kitchen and a field full of chattering beaks to feed............sigh!