Serendipity

Tomorrow I shall share with you my thoughts of being the spouse of an academic 

at a Scandinavian research conference

( I wonder if there is a Swedish version of a scotch egg? Btw)
Anyhow

But tonight I will paint a brief picture of one of those silly serendipity moments that 

Tend to linger long in the mind.
Last night , as I were watching the field animals amble gently to their own shelters for the night,

this song  played on ipad re run of Desert Island Discs

And in the warm still evening air

I danced around the coops with a  cheerful middle aged Scottish terrier and a fat old bulldog with a wild grin gleefully in tow

Dancing with dogs

Life couldn't get any better

Swedes and Turnips

As Chris gives his presentation to the assembled hoards of international boffins

I intend to wander around the grounds of the Swedish spa hotel

looking all mysterious and Ingmar Bergman ish

With a book and a faraway look.

........

Or did I mean Ingrid Bergman?

Who knows

Anyhow I won't be sitting in the hotel bar...that's for sure

I don't earn enough

I am worried about my hens

FAB

This is my Sunday post

I am working all day tomorrow and doing a SAM shift from 10 to 1am

Must be mad

Virgil....and his serious eyebrows

I hear that the  Thunderbirds tv show is being remade

With live actors

Hummmmm. I am looking forward to see who plays Virgil

I always fancied Virgil 

Scott was too cocky

Alan was too young

John  was boring as hell

And Gordon was pug ugly

No....it was the slightly bearish Virgil for me every day

Is it wrong to fancy a puppet?

After all 

I did find Phoebus from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame

Vaguely attractive

Out To Lunch

We are off to a posh lunch with one of Chris' Professor colleagues today.

I will have to pass muster before we leave.

No crocs or Walking Dead T shirts will be tolerated or allowed today

That's for sure!

I told affable despot Jason all this when I bumped into him on chapel street when out with the dogs this morning

and he quipped

" I've heard they've bussed in Gok Wan for the makeover" 

I laughed

as he added under his breath

" he's got a big job on his hands"

Standing guard

You have to look close

But as we were on badger watch at dusk tonight

Winnie saw something strange in the distance

She ran forward, coughing out little woofs 

With George and Albert in support

Was it a badger sneaking forward past bosoms?

No, it wasn't 

It was two black plastic buckets 

Left out from watering time

Man On A Mission & A Little Kindness

Not many people can say that they have eaten a bacon sandwich in their own grave

Village Elder ,  grandson of the village gravedigger and general fix it man, Islwyn, is one person that can.

I won't go into the tale of why and when, for it is not for me to really do so

but the fact that he did, has always tickled me pink.

Islwyn is responsible for the beautiful state of the New Graveyard in Trelawnyd.

With minimal assistance he beavered away for hour after hour, year after year , 

in all kinds of dreadful weather, until proper paths were laid, walls rebuilt and borders set out.

It has been a true labour of love.

I saw him today as I was weeding bosoms. He had popped into the Churchyard to complete 

a small task, and stopped for a chat and to greet the dogs who all galloped over to

say hello.

He  is one of a small team of locals that is kindly looking after the animals when I am away in Stockholm .

Not a bad place to be buried 

Grass like a billiard table

-----------------------------

Finally , I need to thank Ivor & Carys Davies from nearby Abergele,

apparently they have followed Going Gently for a while now

They emailed me last night  offering me 6 ex battery hens

from their next batch

I emailed back asking them " how much?"

And was told 

They were a gift

Sweet!

Could Today Get Any Worse?

I knew it was going to be a bunfight

Getting the hens into their new collection of coops

Hens do NOT like having their houses changed

And will stubbornly move to where they were originally situated

But eventually I got the last girl in just as the stars started to twinkle

In the melee

I stepped on my glasses

Which now only have one arm

god help me!
I look retarded

At least I don't support The  England Football Team

Nite nite

Wish my chickens luck in the dark

Pulling oneself up By The Bra Straps

The badgers have been on the field longer than we have been in he cottage, and their " runs" criss cross the acre of land from Churchyard to stream.
They are there for the duration and it is increasingly worrying that their leader now has a taste for chicken
This morning,
I had a fleeting moment of " what's the point" and contemplated giving up on everything feathered for a while before picking myself up by my bra straps, buying an " emergency " scotch egg in way of support and setting to work.
With the help of neighbour John and affable despot Jason we moved the larger coops to a square of cleared land up by the gate nearest the cottage.
Jason was showing off with his best American accent and kept us amused with his tv commentator
" when Badgers go bad" impersonation as the Ukrainian village was dismantled and relocated.
The old and frail coops have now been destroyed and each of the remaining houses, have all been strengthened and fixed with new locks fitted and mesh grills erected over doors and poop holes.
With all of the coops in one position, a piece of land perhaps fifty feet square  can be surrounded  by two strands of electric wire much more easily.