Simon Pegg on kissing men and the first broody hen of Spring

This brief and somewhat too broad editorial was highlighted on the BBC news website a day or so ago

Straight men should kiss each other more to understand homosexuality, Simon Pegg says.
The married actor said that homophobia comes from a fear of the unknown.
He told Glamour: “I’ve never been homophobic and I like flirting with gay guys; they’re easier to flirt with than women. I flirt with my gay friends quite happily, even in front of my wife. They like it if you are a bit cheeky and touchy-feely; it’s fun and more slapstick.
“Once I had to kiss three guys; real full-on snogs. I think every man should snog another man. A kiss is so much more than physical touching; we laughed about it at the time, but there was no passion.
“It would help them understand. Homophobia’s all about fear of the unknown, like it’s something you could catch. But it’s not a choice, it’s biological.”


I found this piece interesting not because of straight Pegg's comments on kissing gay men...no, it got me to thinking about how the behaviour of "men kissing men" has actually changed over the last decade or so.
Now I grew up in the 1970s  where the North Wales coast was (and is) a million miles away from the Mediterranean lands where demonstrative papas kissed the foreheads of their sons at the dinner table. I actually remember kissing my father just the once when I was an adolescent, and that was a peck on the cheek after he had bought me and my sister an austin 1300! ( GDM 744K)

It was just not done.

Today, things ARE different, and it is refreashing to see men, that are secure in themselves, greeting other men with an unconcious peck or two. Of course all this has been always present in  artistic circles (I have a lurvie darling mate that will pucker up at the drop of a hat), but I do see it creeping in within the blokey hetero world!

Mind you, I do find this man kissing thing all a bit difficult, I think my 1970 Welsh roots still govern this intimate show of affection in a rather negative kind of way...however....I do hug my male friends , but it is always in that casual lumberjack-ish way that you often see in American sit coms ( lots of back slapping and laughing!)

Recently I saw my  brother-in-law kiss my brother on the forehead. It was one of those brief almost unnoticed acts of affection that said so much more than a wave or a hand shake.....and I remember cursing the difficulties I sometimes have kissing the people closest to me......

lesson to self......pucker up and get on with it!......mind you I may not start my journey into kissing men in greeting at the next Trelawnyd Community Council meeting.......There are farmers with guns on the committee!



Spring is almost here...you can almost smell it. The first of this year's broody hens have started to sit, and this sweet natured Light Sussex called Cora has walled herself up into the spare rabbit hutch on the field.
Broody hens can be a pain. Often they dont eat and drink for the three weeks of sitting, so need to be removed from their eggs twice a day and " encouraged" to feed and poo (Broody hens save up their poo for one HUGE dump a day).
Whenever possible it is important to break broodies by sin binning them ( a day or so in a crate where they cannot sit on eggs can help) but Cora was so gently insistent that she have her own eggs , I have relented , and left her well alone.
Chicks in three weeks perhaps?......more mouths to feed....my animal hoarding continues!

Exultate Justi.


Although it sounds rather like a Christmas piece of music, this is one of my favourite pieces of FILM music.
John Williams won a BAFTA for his soundtrack of the War film Empire of the Sun, this is the "liberation" track entitled Exultate Justi

Foxes, The Trelawnyd Flower Show and Unseen Turkeys

Snowdrops next to Harriet Ellis' 1900 grave
This morning was damp and fairly miserable but not cold, so I have spent an hour or so putting up chicken wire fences against the Churchyard wall. Two hens have taken advantage of the wind damaged barriers between field and graveyard and have been seen wandering around the Church in the afternoons, so not wanting any complaints, I have repaired the damage.
From my vantage point above the field, I had an ideal view of the day's miniature drama which unfolded around 8.30.To start with the guinea fowl started their warning chattering , but there was something more desperate in their cries that made me lift my head from my work to see what was afoot. The three guinea with their heads craned skywards stood screaming from the centre of the field. Immediately the hens , ducks , geese and even the turkeys stopped their feeding and raised their heads, then the birds seemed to galvanise themselves into a collective action. The more nervous hens glided quickly away from the edges of the field to stand next to the safety of the church wall at the same time as the old hens congregated silently behind their hen house.. The cockerels Stanley and little Pirrie took up positions next to the guineas and the geese, with their heads extended low to the ground joined in with the invisible line of defensive positions, honking sharply.
It was fascinating to watch the different species act as one unit and I just knew that there was a fox around.

As I reached the field border, the guineas followed me almost into the hawthorn hedge, and following the gaze of the turkeys, gobbling away angrily a few feet to my left , I saw the "flash" of red/brown as the fox tottered away through the riding school field, scattering the horses as he did so.
I stayed on the field for an hour to watch over the flock, which settled down with minutes of the fox's departure
The hens starting to run in from the field edges
Last night I received the new printed schedules for this year's Flower Show. Without our Post Office, we no longer have a village distribution centre so to speak, so I suspect that if we have enough copies, I will need to hand deliver them to the village houses directly. We moved our show to August 13th so it would not clash with a neighbouring Village of Llanasa's open day.....I learnt recently that they had also moved their day, but thankfully not to the same weekend

For those interested an "on line" schedule can be seen at http://trelawnydflowershow.blogspot.com/

Finally I have posted a video of our "unseen" turkeys ( usually Boris gets centre stage) hope you like it Mrs Fickle!

My Afternoons With Marguerite

Sentimental films seem to be a thing of the past, which is a dreadful shame in our busy, sometimes depressing modern world; Having said this it was with  much sniffing and heavy lump swallowing,that  I enjoyed a real humdinger of a sentimental romp at Theatre Clwyd tonight as Hazel and I sat through the whimsy that was My Afternoons with Margueritte ( French Title La tête en friche)
Germain Chazes (Gérard Depardieu ) is a hulking, middle aged  odd job man, under achiever who lives in a quiet little French town with his unloving mother , By chance he meets 95 year old Margueritte (Gisèle Casadesus)  a genteel ex civil servant with a love of books, who encourages him to develop an interest in words .As their mother/son  relationship grows, so does Chazes fragile self esteem , much to the interest of his eclectic group of friends down in the pub.
Yes it all sounds rather sweet, and thanks to the two leads ( the incredibly sensitive Depardieu and the elegantly frail Casadesus) the gentle relationship between two nice souls does bring a tear to the eye ( I had to hide my upset as Hazel NEVER cries at movies!)
The movie was a little too pacy given the subject matter, but if you want to see a nice movie about nice people being .......well......very nice........go and see it.....its quite charming. 8/10

It was lovely to catch up with Hazel, she's on countdown for moving to Manchester and on countdown with her pregnancy, I shall miss her when she goes.

Dogs



This morning I received an email from a lady with the cracking name of Beatrice Fickle.
She asked me to post a few photos of the dogs ( she noted wryly that the blog was slightly Bulldog biased)
So find "enclosed" a quick video of the dogs this morning. As usual Constance commanded centre stage

Caligula in Hot Pants

A ballet that evokes the "complex and troubling "personality of the Roman Emperor Caligula does not sound like a bag of laughs does it? (even though he seemed to be dressed in maroon Velvet hot pants)
And you'd be right
This short ballet, structured in five acts to the slightly incongruous music of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, did have some innovative male led pieces but the slightly pretentious and confusing "pantomimes" in between acts bored me rigid and at one moment Chris had to wake me up to stop me snoring.
hey ho
At least he enjoyed this live performance of Le Ballet de l'Opera de Paris........

Old Lady power


Does anyone here remember THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN?
I particularly refer to the sequence when the poor Mexicans are galvanised into protecting their village by the bravery of seven men!
This much seen video shows just how the bravery of one old lady galvanised a group of passers into action.....funny how it was only her that took on the 6 robbers initially

I love you, Mr coffee

I am such a hypocrite.
Yesterday, there was a me waxing lyrically about good matters and unacceptable bad temper,
and this morning I could quite easily strangle a moose with my bare hands.
The problem,, as always, is my post waking "fugue" state
Chris needing to get to the railway station before dawn,woke me up with his usual loud "Bonne amie" and even before my spinal cord and central nervous system had registered that it was indeed Tuesday let alone that it was freezing, I had driven him the two miles down a 1 in 4 hill to Prestatyn.
After a decade of uncommunicative early mornings, Chris STILL insists in trying to engage me in inane pre coffee conversations. Actually he still INSISTS on asking me a question that in his mind needs a verbal reply and cannot quite cope with a nod or at the best a  low grunt!
So the usual in car interaction is left with him demanding " AN ANSWER!!!!" and me plotting violent death and destruction.
I just don't do waking good humour!
And so this morning, after my vomit inducing "Rebecca of SunnyBrook Farm" post of last night, All I can think of killing "KILL" KILL KILL THEM ALL"!!!!"
Mind you.........my saving grace is my New York coffee cup full of lovely silent coffee
Sitting here, in a quiet peaceful and dark kitchen....we are having our moment together...
In twenty minutes I will be human again
x