Yesterday we spent the day in Liverpool.
I wanted to see the Titanic exhibition at the Maritime museum
Chris wanted to breath in the calm, ordered and classy air of John Lewis'
The journey along the North Wales coast was reminiscent of something from the sub continent, and we arrived at James Street, knackered and fraught, right in the middle of a torrential rainstorm and the rather noisy start of Liverpool's gay pride march.
Chris " enjoying " Albert dock
Art Deco panel from the liner Mauritania in the maritime museum
And so.......did we don our fairy wings and join in with the pride march with a joint sashay
I will keep topping up the blog with photos as they come in!
If only the entries for the Flower Show were as forthcoming
( see yesterday's blog for the wonderfully inventive first batch)
Els over in the Netherlands ( don't ask me it's Dutch) has suggested a Going Gently " Trelawnyd Flower Show" competition on the back of the fact that " The Great British Bake Off" is back on tv next week.
She suggested that bloggers photograph a baking creation of their own , which they could send me
( jgsheffield@hotmail.com)..the best entry would be judged by myself ( of course)
Well this got me thinking
And so, I propose a slightly altered version of this idea
And so
Bloggers, readers and hangers on...please send me a photo of your own " NOVELTY VEGETABLE"
The veg creation has to be all your own work, and not just a nicked photo from google!
To give you an example of the standard I am looking for, please look at the winning entry from last year's show
I will print out all the entries and will ask the veg judge at the Flower Show to mark them for a bit of fun
Any entries will be displayed at the show itself for all the whole village to view
A prize will be given for first and second place!
So dig out your imagination and your cucumbers and get to work......
I will show all entries on Going Gently as and when they come in
Good luck............
All entries have to be submitted by Wednesday 6th Aug
Today, I had a conversation with someone in the village.
On the surface it was a chat about the aches and pains and hospital appointments that go hand in hand with old age
But essentially it was an honest declaration of grief.
Grief for a life which is now very different to what it once was.
I heard about a clinic visit.
A blood test.
About " one thing after another"
The strangulation of an active life by physical infirmity and deterioration of the senses
There was just a little of justifiable self pity in the conversation.
But the overwhelming sense I got, was a sense of sadness.
Grief often rears it's head before you lose something dear to you. We have all experienced it in one way or another. A elderly grandmother with cognitive problems, a brother with motor neurone disease, a dead relationship months before a divorce, a job redundancy.........whatever the reason, grief can strike at anytime and it's not at all about a death......
it's just more common in the old..
Auntie Glad is the lucky one ..... She always says " My health is my wealth"
She's oh so right...
Hey ho...I'll leave you on a lighter note
Old people as they should be