Coffee With Bunty (and Other Stories)

Bunty...well as near as dammit

Chris is away until Saturday and in between work commitments will be meeting his mum in London for afternoon tea at the Ritz no less. I am on holiday from the hospital this week but have offered to do overtime if they need me. They dont which is a bummer as I need a bit extra cash before Christmas...so I have volunteered to cover a couple of 4-7am shifts at Samaritans= they are the shifts no one likes to do..so its an early night for me tonight.
I felt , I needed a day out today, and so I thought I would take myself off to a matinee after meeting Bunty, the lesbian smallholder, for coffee .
Bunty, as it happens, is a girl that really doesnt "do"coffee!
Bunty lives with her girlfriend on a tiny farm up in the hills towards the village of Llanfair Talhaiarn (The village goes by the shorter nickname of Lanfair T H btw) so we arranged to meet in a coffee shop in the little town of Abergele.
I got there early so was sipping a nice americano when Bunty hurtled in like the proverbial bull in a china shop dressed in her usual pair of mens jeans and checked shirt
.I ordered her a "normal" coffee and had to smile when after her coffee arrived she bellowed a question at me "and what the fuck is this?" pointing to the tiny square of wrapped chocolate in her saucer. Bunty likes to make a big performance about all things twee and proper and I now understand its all a bit of a act/
a bit like Brian Blessed's yelling all the time!
We chatted about all sorts and she reluctantly agreed to have a turkey and cranberry sandwich "("friggin panini's at 11.45!!!!!" she snorted) before I told her I had to go to catch the 12.35 early showing of The Imitation Game 
"GOING TO THE CINEMA ? ON YOUR OWN???? ITS PRACTICALLY  THE MORNING?!" she bellowed again
"youre FRIGGIN NUTS!"
I smiled at the people behind us who were looking a little wary
"why dont you come/" I asked her "Benedict Cumberbatch is supposed to be very good in it"
"He's that funny looking twat isnt he?" Bunty grunted,
straight to the point is our Bunty
 I took that as a no!
I cant say , I was too disappointed
I couldn't envisage Bunty being quiet for 2 minutes ...let alone 2 hours!

 

The Imitation Game as it turned out, is a worthy but ever so slightly dull stab at exploring the work of math genius Alan Turing at Bletchley Park during the war. It was his pioneering work that led to the cracking of the German Enigma Code, a service that went un noticed by the authorities who did nothing to help him in 1951 when he was arrested and charged with gross indecency for having sex with another man in his own home!

I couldn't quite believe my eyes and ears when the character chose to take the alternative punishment on offer to him  which was to agree to a chemical castration!( he didn't want to be be imprisoned because she couldn't leave his life work developing a working computer)

how bloody sad

I think Bunty was right, she would have hated it

For Rambler

Rambler left me a message asking what was the story behind the photo of "Red the miracle quail" on my sidebar
well its four years ago now but here is the link

http://disasterfilm.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/little-miracle.html

Baby Red

Adult Red

The Walking Dead, Episode 7 : Crossed

It's One more episode to the mid season finale when we all know someone will get finished off

So in tonight's episode we had a bit of infill

Eugene , the geek woke up,

, Rosita and Glen did some bonding while Tara found a yo yo,

Maggie got all bad ass with great Ginger Abe

      And Daryl chalked up the best use of a zombie skull in the whole 5                     

Oh and Beth used 5 % epinephrine in a very odd way

( and I am an ITU Nurse , so I should know)

Anyhow

Who will kark it next week?

Will it be Beth or Carol?

My nerves are shot to ribbons

If carol dies

I riot

When you thought it couldn't get any worse?

Welcome to my world

I took a video of a lovely sunrise this morning, when I got back after night shift

I put the IPad down and switched on the video by accident

and recorded 

this somewhat catarrh filled version of "let it go " as I did the washing up

It does go on somewhat, so I suggest you do some dusting if you switch it on

It sums up the day somewhat

It's a day for pottering

I'll have  proper news tomorrow 

Chris is away all week in London ( did you get that susie?)

X

Cast Of Characters

Trelawnyd Characters circa 1957

Last night there came a tap-tap-tapping on the cottage window.
Out of the darkness, we could just make out the familiar fluorescent yellow of a workman's jacket
It was village elder Islwyn waving a small packet of cough sweets.
Over the years if Chris and I come down with a cold, Islwyn has always taken it upon himself to drop off much needed cough sweets.
It's a little kindness that has become a kind of tradition.
Today, I thought I'd bring together some of the cast of Trelawyd characters that get mentioned in passing during an average week here on Going Gently 
The village has no more odd characters than anywhere else.....it's just that I probably look a little closer than most in order to find them

MRS TRELLIS (of North Wales)
A  diminutive but vital little widow who can be seen most days being dragged around the village like a minnow in a kingfisher's beak by her psycho sheepdog Satan.
She can be often seen practicing the piano in her living room window

GAY GORDON
( who is not gay but just incredibly upbeat all of the time/-hence the nickname) can be seen hurtling around Trelawnyd in his suped up invalid trolley. Incredibly loud he is well known for adding the " "FLOWER!"  when addressing anyone and everyone and is an exuberant baker responsibe for the " monster fruit cake" sold as refreshments at last year's flower show

PAT ( The Animal helper)
If you want anything done in Trelawnyd you ask Pat to be a part of it.
A villager from birth Pat is school governer, active member of the Women's Institute, Flower Show Committee member ( and winner of the craft and domestic cups on more than one occassion), conservation group member, and all around good egg.
In a crisis, she is the woman that would turn up, sleeves rolled up, to help.

AFFABLE DESPOT JASON
Is responsible for injecting humour into most  village based activities. Only yesterday he stopped his car in order to cheerfully berate the pea green colour of my very trendy trousers when I was out with
the dogs. Usually seen with his two daughters in tow ( who always remind me of the Mendoza sisters from Banana splits.) he is the village hall caretaker and is an avid fan, strangely enough, of Jack the
ripper!

Jason's daughters

VILLAGE ELDER ISLWYN
If there is a project in the village that needs sorting, Islwyn is the person that can be relied upon to sort it. Famous for eating a bacon sandwich in his own family grave ( he was extending it himself btw) he has single handedly extended and re landscaped the village graveyard.
Known as " Steve" by some of the non Welsh speaking villagers.

AUNTIE GLAD
Yes, rapidly approaching her century, she is still baking, still taking the bus down to Rhyl to do her shopping and still walking the length of London Road to be first at the Church door for Sunday
services. A legend in her own lifetime.

Dr  CHRIS
A somewhat shadowy character, who spends most of his time harrumphing at the state of the cottage kitchen after he arrives from a 14 hour day at the university only to find me cutting the shitty clingons from a dog's arse on the draining board.
As I type this, he is presently eating a bowl of porridge watching Thoroughly Modern Millie

Supporting Characters 

THE VICAR
Always cuts an impressive figure when he sweeps into church with his black " Dracula" Cape on.
He is a rector with rather a rakish sense of humour who  is usually accompanied by Gaynor -the - organist , a lady with twinkling eyes and a repartee of Joan River-esque one liners.

CHRISTINE
Another village elder who is responsible for one of my most genuine and affections memories of present day  Trelawnyd? On Christmas Eve , during the church service, the Vicar will complete the nativity scene at the front of the Church by grandly calling for the baby Jesus to be brought forward
" Mrs Davis..Bring on the Baby Jesus!" He calls , and Christine will walk down the aisle with Jesus in her hand.
It's a lovely moment and my very favourite one in the service.

SON OF THE RFWF
Long term readers of Going Gently will recall hopefully with some affection, the exploits of the RFWF ( Red Faced Welsh Farmer)  A larger than life farmer who sounded for when of a better word,
just like Robert Newton from Treasure Island as he sped past in his battered and old tweed hat and equally battered and old red landrover.
After his death a year or so ago, it is nice to see that his son Ed has taken over his father's role on the community council and in village initiatives. As it turns out, his landrover is blue!

And there are others too numerous to mention......Irene the flower show matriarch, Ralph the gentleman farmer.........Pippa with her bad tempered hound Meg........Hubert the old baker, Stan and Kit ( she makes our bespoke hand knitted slippers)
 ....Cameron the teenage boffin ......I could go on......and on.......and on........

Squeezing Rubber Chickens

Yesterday was a bit of a dogfest as I had booked George and Meg in for a full grooming. I use a well known pet store chain as they are convenient but when I took them in , I put the groomers all in a tizz by not having William with me as some new teenage receptionist had booked him in for a groom instead of George.
" we were hoping to use William as a training test for one of the new staff" the head groomer moaned. " he's our best model"
I understood exactly why they wanted William for the newbee to practice on.... for William is the Welsh terrier version of David Niven. He's a gentle, polite little soul who won't move a muscle when instructed to " do as he's told" by the groomer
The other dogs are good natured certainly, but all have their own edge. Meg is a feisty bitch at times who is quick to spark. George is a loud comic who has a dislike for collies and strangers and Winnie, well Winnie was last seen quietly trying to pull bags of doggie treats from the bottom shelves of the grooming parlor's front desk.
No out of them all William remains the most laid back and when we are out, the most popular with strangers, for he is a dog that smiles gently with his eyes.

William calm and mindful this morning

Ever mindful of a sudden discount, I agreed to let them use William as a model and went to collect him from the car, only stopping at the toy section so Winnie could give the rubber chickens an excited squeeze which bordered in the end, on quiet hysteria
Dogs...they are as diverse and as fickle as children

See what I mean?

Christmas Advert

I do enjoy Christmas tv adverts
Most are sickly pap, but usually John Lewis and Marks & Spencer can be relied upon to produce a satisfying little production, worthy of a tear or two, especially if you've been hitting the cooking sherry.
I enjoyed the John Lewis penguin story. Marks' fairy story is so-so. and Sainsbury's World War 1 football story is just a bit over the top in a rather unsavoury way.
So full marks and prize for the best advert in 2014
Must go to Boots with their heartwarming story of a knackered middle aged nurse coming home after a fucking awful night shift......
Watch and weep.....

Vagina Head

I'm in the middle of lots of jobs today

Week shop, coal run, vets for wormer, 

Home to unpack then off

To the dog groomers

I was daydreaming on the nipper bus to town this morning

When I noticed an odd looking girl getting on the bus

with an enormous woolly hat with the words

VAGINA emblazoned across the front of it

I was so taken aback I took a photo

Now where are my glasses?