Lock Up Your Chocolate

Well the household has been somewhat upset as George has been a little overactive ever  since we got home last night.

We can't pin point the reason for this sudden change in activity save for the fact that a single maverick ferrero rocher had disappeared from the kitchen work top.

Mind you, we had not worked that fact out until this morning, too late to do anything about it.

If it is a chocolate reaction, albeit it a small one, we will just wait until it gets out of his system

Unfortunately dogs and chocolate don't mix especially at Christmas as a forgotten chocolate gift under the tree can be eaten within seconds when you are not looking.

Our First Welsh terrier Finlay, once ate a small piece of Mars Bar he found when out for a walk and literally went off his bonce for nearly 24 hours.

Such can be the reaction !

I am working this evening, my last shift until the 28th. So in reality I won't really relax into  Chrimbo apathy until tomorrow.

Here's hoping for a peaceful shift

Post

I am typing this in Trelawnyd "dead time"
I have already walked the dogs but its way too early to let the birds out.
Such is the problem of winter
Too dark means foxes
Even at 8.15am
I am going to be busy today.
Last minute Christmas Shopping in Llandudno
Meeting Chris for Lunch
then back for dog walks, hen lock up and the Sainsbury's trip
I think I have remembered everyone.

The last gift was for our postie, which I managed to pas to him at 6pm last night when he delivered our cards.
We are the very last but one delivery for him, and at Christmas despite being on his feet since 6am he always remains resolutely cheerful and chipper!
He always reminds me of one of those stereotypical characters from an Ealing Comedy
A big Smile and a "Cor Blimey missus! it's cold today!" sort of mentality
He deserved a little Christmas Gift even though it was a pretty average bottle of white!
Mind you the poor sod has had to run the gauntlet of William's mischievous nature for a year or two now as the Welsh Terrier absolutely loves to snatch any letter from out of the postie's grasp as soon as the envelopes "peep" through the letterbox..
The "game" has gotten" so boisterous that I have had to resort to leaving a small note of caution on the front door which states more or less
" WARNING :don't poke body parts through the letterbox"
Now I have gone all "Carry On!".....
oh that reminds me does anyone remember camp 1970's comic Larry Grayson?
he had a friend who was a postie
he was called "Pop-it-in-Pete!"
Funny what you remember

And......................action!

Kath in yesterdays comments mentioned "Trelawnyd-The Movie"

I enjoyed the concept and

 have been casting for the main characters (in my head of course)

Mr Crowe has been tentatively approached to play my good self

With Mz Mirren co-starring as Pat, The animal helper

Albert Finey in the possible acadamy award winning role as The RFWF!

Dan Stevens smoulders as affable despot Jason

Francis Sternhagen as Auntie Glad

with

Sophia Loren as Trelawnyd Val

Toyah Wilcox as visiting best friend Nige

Judy Dench as Mrs Trellis

and starring

Hugh Bonneville as Dr Christopher!

 co Starring The flower Show Committee?

Rooster Cogburn?

and special guest star
George Clooney

as the pig vet

HUMM, waddu think?

I would be interested in who each bloggers would like to be played by?
eg

and starring

John Hurt as

Tom Stephenson

A Little Bit Of Colour

Ok.....we are back to miserable weather and torrential rain.
I am just about to start making Paul Hollywood's mince pies  (yes, he's that tv silver Fox and sexy sidekick of Mary Berry) and I am need of a little colour in today's grey and dismal day.

The colour, as it happened, arrived in the shape of some custard yellow steps over at the pensioner bungalows, and the story about just how they got there is an abject lesson in "jobs worth health and safety gone mad as well as being an illustration that Trelawnyd is not always populated by benign Welsh speaking saints who spend most of the day smiling, holding hands and singing "Kunbaya!"

A while ago I saw one of the pensioners who was busy painting a small, narrow white line on the top of his concrete step which is an old trick to highlight the location of the step especially when it is dark. The job was incredibly neat and professionally done, so it was with some  surprise when a few days later the painter told me that another villager had reported the work to the council stating that the painted line was indeed a health and safety issue.
Representatives from the council were summonsed
Heads were scratched
Battle lines were drawn and as there is a want with petty community issues, emotions ran high as the heavy handed council eventually wheeled their power
and this is the result of their deliberations

Custard Yellow steps!

As I passed the steps I pointed to the pensioners who were standing stock still looking incredulously at the neon glow  and called out  cheerfully "apparently you can see them from Space!"

The pensioner scowled

"It's like living on the ruddy set of The Wizard of Oz" he muttered

What's Going To Happen To Us All? eh?

I had just gotten stuck in to the mountain of papers that are Chris' expense forms, when the phone went.
It was a friend of a lady from the village who I had visited earlier in the day.
"Could I pop round and re set the boiler settings?"
"She's pressed the buttons and we're not sure if things are working properly" the friend explained
It wasn't a problem, I was happy to go around.
Now before the more sensitive of you start reaching for the "aren't you an angel!" buttons on your computer keyboard....DON'T...calling around to help this lady who has recently suffered a marked deterioration in her memory and abilities due to a stroke, is something quite a few of the villagers are doing at the moment.....so please don't mark me out to be some sort of Florence Nightingale.....it's just that the whole situation around Christmas and this lady that has gotten me thinking about Chris and I.
When we are frail and in need.
Who will be around to help us re set the boiler when our little grey cells have magically forgotten just how to do it?
The answer is a worrying one.....
As two ageing old Queens with no kids we are effectively and practically "on our own".

I couldn't help thinking about this especially when it has come to our attention that the lady in question will be on her own Christmas day. She has a family living away, but because of reasons unknown they will not be visiting until Boxing day. Or so goes the story.
Not to step onto any toes if this rather sad fact was not indeed true, I wrote down on a pad that Chris and I would call around on Christmas day with a drink and "Something nice from Marks to share!"
( for those that don't know "Marks" is indeed "Marks and Spencer" THE place that anyone of a certain age would go for superior Christmas Nibbles!!!!).
The note which I placed on the lady's "pottering around trolley" would be a reminder to her and to any family or visitors that we would do so. I also left our telephone number on the pad.
If family or other friends have arranged things for the day, fine and dandy.... that means more nibbles for us!, if not.....well it's only a couple of hours out of our day.

I pray we remain healthy and able well into our dotage.

I want to be like Auntie Glad ( without the shampoo and set)
Fiercely independent and "with it" .

.............I don't want to worry about who will come and re set the boiler.

Sound Charades

I

DO enjoy the radio quiz show I'm Sorry I haven't a clue. It has become a regular treat in our household, and is something I delight in when I am "washing the pots" after dinner.

Tonight's "double entendre" about Christopher Biggins ( a fat camp and openly gay personality here in the UK) enjoying a "Toad in the hole" during his acting run of Wind In the Willows had me spitting all over the kitchen tonight.... it's all delightfully British in it's muckiness!

Of course I couldn't find that particular one liner..so I will leave you with Humphrey Littleton delivering a similar witticism from a couple of years ago.....

Even if you are not au fait with the programme, I hope you will enjoy the joke

Treats

Carluccio's

Nutcracker

In between the Normal

We've had a nice weekend

Eggs Benedict at Carluccio's in Chester on Saturday

(Where the service from a beaming waitress offset perfectly (for me) the trauma  of Christmas Shopping.)

 And on Sunday we caught a filmed version of the Bolshoi's Nutcracker,

which as usual was a real delight.

No matter how many times we have seen this ballet, it never really fails to impress

I haven't any Christmas night's out planned this year so it was a lovely 

to have these two treats.

(even though during the Bolshoi's interval, when the great and the good sipped their mulled wine, I had to drive home and back from Prestatyn like Speedy Gonzales to lock up the hens!)

Fiction becomes a Reality & 76 for Winter

The animal population at Bwthyn-y-Llan has now plateaued at 76 souls.

The dreadfully wet year has seen off the ill, the old and the guinea fowl and the winter, I am sure will have it's effects on some of the more vulnerable of characters on the field.

But for now, things are static...

...for now.......

The six remaining Crackhead Whores (remember them?) have morphed quite nicely into the general population and have feathered up and put on weight .

I think I need to give them a different nickname now, as their sleek new plumage now belies their old somewhat unfortunate original title. Having said this the "useless little buggers" (Now referred to as the ULB'S) , will not have their name changed, as although they too have put on weight and stature, they remain useless little scraps of cheeping.that are no use or ornament to someone who needs to sell a few eggs to needy neighbours

The ULBs

Thank God the ULB's have their own protected run. Ten minutes alone on the field and these tiny little fellas would be mincemeat.

The geese will face the winter weather with alacrity as will the more robust ducks. Only the hysterical Runners will need a few extra rations to see them through. They have not got an ounce of body fat on them.

It's like having 5 Kate Moss look-a-likes tottering around the place.

Apart from the "sheltered poultry", such as the blind Cogburn which have to be housed 24/7 for their own safety, the rest of the hens will have to like the bad weather or lump it.

The Blind Cogburn in his wonderful winter colours

 I have organised a few bales of haylage for the sheep, if we are hit hard with snow, but I suspect being highland sheep, Sylvia and Irene will be the best prepared of all the animals for a harsh winter.

Let's see how many of the 76 make it to spring..

I am typing this whilst listening to Kirsty Young interviewing Sister

Wendy Beckett on Desert Island Discs....

I have not smiled as much for ages
In this bloody awful week where bad news has depressed us all...everyone should listen to this just the once

Sister Wendy or could it be Audrey Hepburn?

ps

This card tickled me today when it arrived. It was from Joyce ( the retired midwife from the village) who I always refer to as "Mrs Trellis from North Wales"

To those that don't know, Mrs Trellis is a silent "character" from the long standing radio quiz show

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

Wikipedia states:

"A regular feature on the programme, preceding the game Mornington Crescent, is a fictional letters section which begins with the chairman's comments ("I notice from the sheer weight of this week's postbag, we've received a little over no letters" and "I see from the number of letters raining down on us this week that the Scrabble factory has exploded again"). The invariably single letter each week is from "A Mrs Trellis of North Wales", whose incoherent letters usually mistake the chairman for another Radio 4 presenter or media personality. "Dear Libby" (she writes), "why oh why ... very nearly spells YOYO", or "Dear Mr Titchmarsh, never let them tell you that size isn't important. My aunt told me that, but then all my new wallpaper fell off."

Obviously Joyce knows that I refer to her as the famous "Mrs Trellis"

so much so, she is now signing her Christmas Cards accordingly!