Coming Down

 Note Bene's account of how he participated in the Opening Ceremony of The Olympic games makes for an interesting read.With all of the build up, the camaraderie,the excitement, and the adulation of  most of the watching UK population, I am now wondering just how Mr Bene is coping with getting back to some normality now that inflatable chimneys have been  packed away and Mr Brannah has returned to filming his award winning Wallender?
It must be hard......very hard!
We all enjoy having a challenge.
We all enjoy producing something that we are proud of
and to some small extent, I am sure that there is a bit of a showman in all of us.


Yesterday I stopped to have a chat with Basil, a local farmer
He asked me if I was holding my Allotment Open Day this year. He is a the sixth or seventh person to ask me this over the past week or so and I think he was slightly disappointed when I told him that for this year only I have given the open day a miss.
In some ways I regret my decision now. The build up to the day, the jaunty sense of community that I think it generated and the sense of achievement we all had when nearly fifteen hundred quid had been raised for the church and for motor neurone Disease,  are all very addictive positive strokes that elicit purpose and a sense of pride.
Despite, everything, I know, I have missed the challenge of it all this year.

The 2011 Open Day

ménage à trois

It has been noisy on the field for the last 24 hours.
Last night Alf and Hughie could be seen galloping anxiously to and fro by the hawthorn hedge, with their necks held high, They were looking for little Ivy, who was no where to be seen and were calling their "machine gun calls" time and time again in an effort to locate their lost "flock" member.
Far in the distance I thought I could hear a distinctive guinea fowl reply, but by dusk, the hen had not returned and the males had reluctantly made their way to their roosting tree where they sat chatting quietly to themselves like unhappy old men on a park bench.

Alf and Hughie (foreground) Ivy is behind

Guinea fowl do not mate for life, but they do forge incredibly strong bonds with each other.so it is with a very heavy heart that I watched Hughie and Alf's moving efforts to find Ivy.
Little scraps of birds they may be, but the anxiety and emotion they exhibit when separated is very real indeed...there is no need for anthropomorphism here...
I suspect Ivy has made herself a nest and has "gone to ground" so to speak. It was not long ago since Rachel over at the nearby riding stables found a guinea nest with 15 eggs inside it. and not wanting Ivy to sit, I told Rachel to destroy it....perhaps nature has taken over once again.


Ebb and Flow....Ebb and Flow...... this is the way of free range animals..........today Felicity Shagwell and the mini-me's have just been let out of their run to join in with the field population and next week Carol and Polenta may be hardy enough to start their adventures in the long grass with the remaining runner ducks
The circle continues.


Postscript ( written 5 hours later)
I have just spent a fruitless 2 hours helping elderly villager, Mr Ellis to sort out his Broadband connection (and made a friend out of a delightful BT call centre employee from the Indian subcontinent as I did so) and so I was fairly late taking the dogs out for a walk.... we went down Gypsy Lane which was the direction in which I thought I heard Ivy last night, and on the way back, I noticed the little guinea fowl slowly  making her way  homeward across the far fields.
Apologies for this now rather pointless post......as all the guineas are happily filling their fat faces with an extra portion of corn...........

I Wish I could Bottle it !

The following is an abject lesson to anyone who is feeling rather apathetic, middle aged and lacking in energy and motivation.....
Phone Message left on our answer phone today:"Aunty Gladys here....can you call round?" 
I duly called around at 6pm to collect some scones, all neatly tied up in a little bag
"I have been out today knocking on doors!" she said as I left her spotlessly clean kitchen
"In all I have now sold 300 raffle tickets for the flower show"
She is now just 93 years old

ps/ for those new to the blog...Auntie Glad is not my real aunt.. it's just a nickname she is known by!

Smile And The Whole World Smiles With You!

Yesterday I spent a rather chilly few hours at the Prestatyn Flower Show in a desperate proactive attempt to drum up some new blood for our Show which takes place on the 18th of Aug.

Like any sharp publicity guru, I took a secret weapon with me to "pull the punters in" so to speak, and yesterday I took secret weapon William.
Having a dog sat on your knee allows people to feel as though they can come and chat. They are an ice breaker, they are a bit of a draw...
without him, all I would have presented to the good people of Prestatyn is my podgy, slightly scruffy , and  grumpy self ( I was cold!)....hardly a picture of welcoming Welsh "good humour"

After 4 hours I gave away just 5 of my programmes.... A score of people stopped, but most just wanted to make a fuss of William, who enjoyed all of the "he's so adorable!" plaudits until, even his good nature got a little fed up with slobberly old ladies kissing him on the top of the head without asking, and eventually he tried to hide under the red checked tablecloth

Phew

A hundred Mary Poppins' floating down to drive away the nightmares of scores of hospitalized children
Kenneth Brannah as Isambard Kingdom Brunel over seeing the rise of the Industrial revolution with his Bradly Wiggins' sideburns
and Pogo-ing punks with giant heads dance around a normal British detached house during a family party.


Danny Boyle has produced an original, visually stunning and sentimental free Olympic Ceremony.
Some parts I absolutely loved ( the rise of the great factory chimneys, the tribute to the nhs,the celebration of Childrens' literacy  and the lighting of the flower like petals of the Olympic cauldron by seven teenagers) and some parts such as Paul Mc Cartney, James Bond and Mr Bean, I was not too sure about.
But in retrospect, I think Boyle's quirky, intensely personal, and up to date alternative to the excesses of the Chinese production was a wise choice, as it gave the world a chance to see  British sensibilities that are a million miles away from Jane Austen, Shakespeare and Judy Dench.
To me it managed the impossible. It summed up today's Britain... which is patriotic, parochial, wry. self effacing and f*cking bonkers


I would be interested to hear how  others thought of it all?.

Airborne QUEEN

I have seen EVERYTHING now!

Ann's Flower Show 2012

Well , whereas today's first blog entry concentrated upon the more emotional, cry baby things of life, this "follow up" is just a brief sharing of a day spent at the Prestatyn Flower Show 
My Sister's Flower Show is as usual, a somewhat impressive and professionally staged affair
(especially when it is compared to our more amateur bun fight)

Here's hoping that the entries in our show are half as good as the ones I saw today


Anyhow, I spent several hours sitting in the Vicarage Gardens handing out our Flower Show schedules to anyone that may be interested in entering our show.
I shared too many ham rolls and chicken crisps with Meg and George and I met the rather sweet "Going Gently" blog reader Hannah and her boyfriend ( not to be confused with Hannah and Her Sisters) who live in Trelawnyd 's posh neighbour village of Llanasa
It was nice to meet you both!

 

The Flower Exhibits

 

My 2nd Placed single rose!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never won any floral award at the Prestatyn Show!

 

The Winning Veg Trug

 Some of the Floral Art

How Often Do You Cry?

I post that question to the lot of you out there and I will be interested in the answers!

Tonight I know I WILL shed a tear or two at the Olympic Opening 

The infectious excitement, a sense of self worth and pride in the competitors and volunteers and a theatrical show of some note, all will get me blubbing like a baby from the get go 

I know what I am like!

Sad films, Rolf Harris biting his lip over a seriously sick dog in Animal Hospital, even the sight of a choir at full pelt could start an unexpected "well up" 

and when I am in the mood and alone, a piece of much such as 

will often reduce me to the consistency of an average blancmange

And so at 9pm, we will be sitting down with a fat bastard pizza

a large cup of tea

and a massive box of tissues