don't look down.......

There is just one thing that terrifies me and that is height.
I am unable to climb a ladder beyond the sixth or seventh rung, I cannot lean out of a first story window and I once had to be led off  the observation platform of Seattle's Space Needle by a friendly Japanese tourist when I " froze" at the guard rail.
It has been a life long fear.
Having said this.....when I was 22 , I did jump out of a small Cessna airplane at 1500 feet for charity ( a fact that I am sure my sister in law Jayne will testify to here for she watched me do it!) and to this day I cannot quite believe that I actually did it!......perhaps it was just the foolishness of youth......perhaps it was just the borrowed Ativan tablet...who knows.........
Today, I still cannot cope with anything above seven feet!

And yet I am totally fascinated with height. I have made a point of going up as many skyscrapers as I am able.....I love flying ( although I am getting more and more nervous of turbulence the older I get).... And one of my favourite films has to be Towering Inferno.

Last night I watched a tv documentary about the free runner, James Kingston called rather unimaginatively Don't Look Down .The 22 year old has overcome his intensely felt fear of heights and spends much of his free time hanging from and climbing up cranes and towers across the UK.......

I see that the documentary has been slated this morning, for being irresponsible and dangerous... which is a shame... For despite depicting this young man's odd obsession, the documentary was able to capture Kingston as a thoughtful, measured, and spiritual young man.
Height literally has given him the ability to discipline himself and his life.
It was an interesting study  of self discovery.

Omen

Please
Someone follow me
I have always wanted 666 followers!
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A Mouse Behind The Freezer

Night shifts can feel incredibly short, especially when you have a busy patient to deal with. My patient was poorly, so the twelve and a half hour shift shot by as fast as  a spinster passing an Ann Summer's slumber party.
All I wanted when I got home was an eggy Bagel
But there was a typical drama when I got home
" There's a MOUSE  behind the freezer" Chris informed me as I walked through the door
( some of you may remember the " there's a rat under the sofa incident" here which was was a blog entry that started in a very similar fashion)

I wasn't surprised.
The four dogs and and cat where all lined up with their serious faces on , sniffing the gaps
" well, pull the freezer out and let them finish it off" I instructed
"Nooooooo" cried Chris
" yessssssssssss! " cried the dogs
" bring it on" muttered Albert.....
A mouse is to cats and terriers what Downton Abbey is to snowbound Americans
It makes for wonderful entertainment

Now
Is it me? But is removing a rodent from behind the freezer a big job?
No!
You just make a cat sized gap between freezer and wall.
Whip up some excitement amongst the troops by whispering " KILL, KILL KILL THEM ALL!"
in a few moments it's a job well done
Simples!
Seconds later I had hurled a flat and very dead mouse out of the back door
And peace returned to Bwthyn y llan
I had my eggy bagel
And went to bed for a couple of hours..... Chris's bell ringing ( no jokes Tom) woke me around 11.
Hey ho

Behind Closed Doors

No my mother wasn't Talulah Bankhead..she just thought  she was

My mother always had a saying
It was one of many
And it went a bit like this
" you will never know a person unless you follow them home"
It is, of course another slant of the " behind Closed  doors" saying and it perhaps eludes to the darker , sadder and private parts of all of our psychi.
What we present to the world is often very different from the lives we are in fact living.

I have been thinking about this today when I went past the burnt out cannabis den house on London Road. Outwardly the house was being renovated in order for a new family to enter a village community . In reality, two enterprising drug dealers were bypassing the electric supply in order to sell on " happy resin" to the no- copers of North Wales.
Outwardly a new purchased,hopefully happy, family home
Inside, the reality was just a hopeful " get rich quick " scheme .

The darker, hidden parts of ourselves , the problems, the worries, the  hopes and the flaws are the parts that ultimately makes us more interesting, after all wouldn't it be just awful to live a life of three score years and ten and have someone quote that immortal Tallulah Bankhead quote at your departing  coffin
" There was less to him that met the eye"

Bitch

In nearby Prestatyn, the seaside promenade is backed in part by a succession of small car parks. As I walked the dogs up to Barkby beach! I noticed a large staffy- type dog running like a mad Alec with a ball on a rope around a parked car. in the car was the dog's owner, who was on a mobile phone. the woman was also eating a large packet of crisps, and would only stop chomping when the dog brought the ball back to her to be thrown across the car park.
I wondered if the young woman was disabled, but after seeing her heaving herself out from behind the wheel to retrieve some more goodies from a carrier bag from her hatchback, I concluded that she was just lazy.
Throwing a ball around a car park, to me, is not really walking your dog.
To be fair, her dog was a friendly sort, who bounced over the car park wall and ran amongst the promenade walkers and cyclists is a jaunty manner. But , I must admit, the fact that she was happy to let a potentially aggressive dog run around unsupervised , did irk me somewhat..
And I am very easily irked.
Anyhow we walked along the promenade out of harms way then retraced our  steps back to the where I had parked the berlingo. As we passed the car park ! I noticed that the lazy dog owner was still sat eating in her car as her dog bounced all over the promenade.
I thought about  this for a moment then
I motioned to the woman and called out a friendly " your dog has just crapped down the promenade steps" as I pointed to a spot 50 yards away.
The woman sighed heavily and reaching for the poo bags started to get out of her car

The dog hadn't crapped by the way

I just wanted to see the  lazy cow  move her fat arse from behind the steering wheel
Hey ho

Stop Press

Not everything in  Trelawnyd is hen and scone related....sometimes the real world visits us in spades....Just got off the phone with an affable despot from down the road, who informed excitedly that a village house had been badly damaged by fire last night!
( click here to see the local Daily Post)
The twist in the story's tail....is that the house was apparently filled to the bleeding gunnels with cannabis plants.!!!.....and an elderly man living in the adjacent house was taken to hospital with what was referred to as " smoke inhalation"
I suspect the old guy has actually been " bonged out of his head" and is probably lying fifteen feet above his hospital bed as we speak.

George - the boy next door

George, the Scottish terrier is often seen as the " poor relation"  amongst the dog pack
It has to be said that he is the lowest in the pecking order
He IS the least demanding of all of the house pets
And he is the one that has never caused us any concern in the seven years he has been with us
He is the dog version of the boy next door.
Yesterday, I took the dogs for a walk on the railway line in Dyserth
And as usual I let George wander off on his own as I took the other dogs on their leads along the walkway.
After a short time we came across a group of a dozen or so elderly men with learning difficulties , who were out walking hand in hand with their carers, and after we passed them I looked back to check what George was up to
Amid a chorus of friendly chatter ( but no attempts at physical contact) the Scottish terrier was obviously enjoying himself, and from 25 yards in front , I watched as the group ambled forward with George trotting energetically in the middle of them, head up, tail wagging, and mouth smiling.
The men around him chatted away to him about nothing as they walked, and with typical good nature he bounced along , savouring the banter
It was a moment that would give you a small lump in the throat if you saw it.

It was almost as though George knew that he was amongst friends

Delores was right....

Well, I hate to say it, but Delores was right......

The owner of " The Bastards" returned today

He was clutching two bottles of wine

and a had on a slightly sheepish and hopeful expression

Apparently the pair had already attacked his diminutive wife and had knocked her to the floor

( never told me that when he dropped them off) and the couple didn't want them back

I was honest with the guy
I told him I would keep them short term but will be selling both birds on to a good home as soon as possible.
For cash!
Hey ho!
Go on people
Say it
We told you so!