I've got your number.

Today I received my Samaritan number. It's an identifying number that all Samaritans get when they successfully finish their six month probationary period.
The number means that you are deemed to be an objective listener. A person with no axe to grind when answering a phone to a distressed, overwhelmed , mentally ill and possibly suicidal caller who needs contact with another human being.
Most of us are lucky enough to have our own objective ears when we are going through a hard time.
A friend who will know how much sympathy to furnish, how much plain speaking is required to help and how much clarification is needed for the murky clouds of upset  to be shifted away.
To us, the majority, it is almost unfeasible to think that some people have no one to turn to when their black dog surfaces.
Yet, for whatever reason, so many people don't have that friend to lean on when things go to shit
And that is a huge crime in my book.

No news day

Just

Albert on sentry duty over the Ukrainian Village this evening

Run and Jump

Chris was working today , and so  I took myself off to see a small little Irish movie called
Run & Jump.
It was a good choice of a movie
At the start of the story Vanetia ( Maxine Peake) is seen picking up her husband Conor ( Edward Mc Liam) from hospital. She is overly bright and bubbly as she listens to music in the car -he is solemn and uncommunicative in the passenger seat. It is soon evident when they return to the family home that Conor is in recovery after a disastrous head injury.

Forte & Peake , nice performances all around

Videotaping Conor's every move is American psychology research doctor Ted ( Will Forte) who's grant for studying  Conor post injury is a source of finance for the family,
As Conor inhabits his own isolated  little world, Vanetia's high spirits and optimism starts to crumble and she and her children start to lean on the sterile Ted , who gradually becomes a reluctant head of the household.
It's an interesting story, as from very early on, it is made clear that the story is not about Conor's rehabilitation  post injury but is a study of  venetia's  grief for a husband she has effectively lost and an exploration of Ted's rehabilitation from emotionally stunted academic to middle aged man in love for the first time.

It's a warm and satisfying movie that is enhanced by a powerhouse performance by Peake and  a sweet and restrained turn by a delightful Forte.
I can recommend it.
8/10

Yorkshire Love

Yellow jersey decoration in Leeds

I was born and bred in North Wales, only a couple of miles north of the village we now live in, but I have spent most of my adult life over in God's own country, in the counties of North and South Yorkshire.

Firstly I lived in the beautiful and slightly claustrophobic city of York before choosing to spend a good chunk of my salad days in the grubbier but much more down to earth steel city of Sheffield.

I love Yorkshire. I like the Northern humour, the broad accents and the eclectic mix of the place.

I shall always consider Yorkshire as " home" , in the most affectionate and nostalgic senses of the word.

I love the way Yorkshire has embraced the Tour de France. Ok the whole bloody spectacle of skinny  men in Lycra slogging their guts out over a gusset wrenching leather seat leaves me somewhat cold in the excitement stakes, but in their thousands ordinary Yorkshire folk have gone out of their way to support the event, and by  lining the routes and decorating houses, gardens and public areas with tens of thousands of yellow flags, jerseys and the odd yellow bike., they have taken the cycle race to their hearts

They seem to be

' appy as pigs in muck

And " good on ya"

Big Sigh

It's been a week since we returned from Sweden

And in that week

I have had no casualties to the badger

Three new girls arrived this week to boost the egg numbers

And the new ex battery hens are due to arrive next week..so

I have made a decision

I am going to learn to use a shotgun

( ok I can't kill badgers but I can kill the odd fox)

I am going to have a word with the RFWF 's son

I am sure he'll teach me

Don't hate me readers

" I am BIG ...It's the flower Show that got small"

I think I would have made a rather good PA
As all morning I have sorted out Flower Show Business.
I have sold £40 worth of raffle tickets,  delivered Show Schedules, conscripted three gardens into the " best garden class" , drank two cups of coffee at kitchen tables , accepted a plant pot full of leek seedlings and  spoke to a reporter from the Flintshire Leader about interviewing Auntie Gladys in her role as longest serving member of the Flower Show Committee.
The reporter was very nice, but I could tell he was slightly on edge  when he spied six bags of smelly dog poo standing proudly by the back door wall.
" I sprinkle them around the field borders to keep the badgers away" I explained as he laughed nervously and his eyes went just a little rounder when Winnie trotted past , showing him a cherry tomato that she had triumphantly  retrieved from underneath the fridge freezer.
Anyhow, Gladys is an old pro when it cones to reporters and photographers, so I have left her to it
" alright Mr DeMille ......she's ready for her close up"

Caryl

Never mind the crew member in the  bandana

Daryl ( Norman Reedus) and Carol ( Melissa mcBride)

Are together again in the filming of series 5 The Walking Dead

Be still my beating , sad heart

Jesus Loves me ( This I Know...for the Bible tells me so)

Some animals suddenly become extraordinary tame. It's an odd phenomenon, for it doesn't always come down to the fact that they are hand reared or cared for when ill.
Some animals just take to you, whether you like it or not.
Jesus , the only chick on the field this year has had a checkered little life since he was hatched on Easter Sunday.
Raised by the last crackhead whore who rejected him  as soon as he feathered up, the little hen has suffered the last of the badger attacks ( his coop had it's nesting box ripped away in the night but he was small enough to keep out of the way of hungry teeth) then found himself bullied by the larger hens in a succession of robust hen houses before being set up in his own raised coop out of the way of  predators.
His adventures has made him strangely confident, and over the past week or so, he has actively sought me out every time I appear,forcing himself in my hand time and time again to be petted.
Perhaps it's a case of not biting the hand that feeds him

I think the photo captures his personality quite well

I have a feeling he's quietly bananas 

beneath the feathers