A Little Bit of Miriam

I, like a few people that I know, will often throw a " grenade" of a comment into a conversation in order to witness the fallout it creates. A few bloggers that I " know" will employ the same tactic, in order to provoke a response.....sometimes the effect can be useful......as grenades can stimulate thought and debate.........other times the effect can rebound, especially when the comment is construed as being upsetting or offensive.
Actress Miriam Margolyes, is a master at grenade lobbing
She adores shocking her audience into mirth and has perfected the wide eyed, innocent but not so innocent,  wham bam one liner......
She is a treasure
I have posted several of her interviews on Going Gently, they lift the mood on a grey winter's day
Enjoy this one........


STM

Today's Surreal Trelawnyd Moment ( STM)
" Gay " Gordon on a mobility Scooter
" shoots" past me on high Street

A large Vacuum Cleaner perched on the front
" Hello Gang!"
He bellowed
" can't stop..I'm spring cleaning"


Hinterland no 2

Me?

On the back of the wonderful Sherlock ....the welsh detective series Hinterland went from strength to strength tonight..I suspect the reason I like the lead Tom Mathias so much is the fact that with his Woolly hat on actor Richard Harrington looks like a fitter, younger and better looking version of me
And we all like to look at ourselves

Nia ( my old friend from Oz) have a look...you'll enjoy x

Winifred: a Gop Virgin

This morning there was a brief sunny window in the dismal winter weather and I wanted to take full
advantage of it, so I decided to take Winifred and the other dogs for a walk up the Gop.
Before she came to us, Winifred had never really been taken out for long walks
So I have been building her up for " the big one" so to speak
We started from the Memorial Hall, where the Welsh Flag was flying
The dogs waited until I took some village photos for the Community Council webside 
we then slogged through the mud to the summit




The view was worth the slog

Sherlock- the finale

Sherlock's new long armed, fireplace pissing nemesis 
The finale? The f@*#ing finale?
It's  only the THIRD FUCKING EPISODE!
How can it be the finale already?
Anyhow...it was..... And unfortunately Sherlock has become all a bit too clever for itself
I still loved it
But............
And there just HAD to be a but..........
Hey ho

The Object Of My Affection

Me, using  meg as a book rest 

Now I don't "do"new year resolutions but if I did, I would make a resolution to read more books.
I used to be an avid reader, especially when I was a boy and a teenager.
I read every animal based " autobiography" type piece going . (Gerald Durrell, James Herriot, Willard Price.) I loved Steinbeck, Gallico,  light Capote, Harper Lee's Mockingbird and the Epic Watership Down and devoured " real life"  accounts of disaster and Mayhem with some gusto before I was obsessed with the zombie apocalypse and Daryl Dixon's biceps.
As an older man, I enjoyed true crime non fiction, Patricia Cornwell before she went all weird  and the odd autobiography  when I can get hold of it ( I am reading the hilarious life story of comedienne Jennifer Saunders at the moment) .but I am generally ashamed to say that my reading habits have waned to a sudden spurt of almost 24 hour a day marathon of solid reading when I am sat on a beach in the sun on holiday.
Of course the internet has something to blame with all this.
Facts, Wikipedia , film reviews, disaster tales.....everything is available at the click of a button....everything that is but the discipline and anticipation of sitting down with some words and a story that moves you.


In the late 1980s I read a book called The Object of My Affection by Stephen McCauley . The story of the trails and tribulations of two friends George & Nina ( one gay one not) had a resonance with me and to this day I remember a quote from the story which is as clear to me now as Shakespeare is to Judi Dench

"Often, what's most attractive about a person is that part they're trying hardest to conceal, that part they think is least likable. You find out about it and it becomes a secret bond between you, something you never talk about but hold close to your heart and are continually touched by"

Yes I should read more books.

My Stalker

I am full of cold today. 
So much so , that I have had to ring in sick for work ( it doesn't look good when an intensive care nurse has an over abundance of snot flying about) ...
It's been a flat sort of day, with the highlight being a nice long, hot steamy bath which was an effort to " clear the old tubes"........
Like the mother of a toddler 
I am never left alone, even when I am soaking in the bath


I am always followed
Stalked by a worried looking Bulldog


Be Afraid...be very afraid

Ok always leave your readers wanting more eh.?
I did a shift last night at Samaritans and didn't get home until 11.30
By the time I had fed and walked the dogs it was midnight
So I was in bed a few minutes after the witching hour
I had almost fallen asleep 
When I heard it
coming out of the dark.....
The hesitant plink plonk of a musical box coming from Chris' office
The music started, stopped, started again  and stopped again
And William, who was lying next to me started to growl.
I put my head under the duvet and all was quiet again
But
A few seconds later it started again
Plink......plonk......plink
This went on for a few minutes more
Then it stopped

Chris rang this morning
Apparently it happens occasionally
since he tinkered with the mechanism 
NOW HE TELLS ME