Open all hours

Islwyn Thomas ( left) worked in the village shop for many many years

He still lives in the village. This photo was taken in the 1950s

My rose tinted view of everyday Trelawnyd is let down just a little by the absence of a village shop. Now the garage which lies a quarter mile East of Trelawnyd has a busy " Spar " shop which sells everything from coal to tinned custard but it is what it is...fairly grotty shop which is also a busy petrol station.
It is not an " open all hours" shop in which you can stand and have a chinwag. The shop of our childhood, you know the sort, the one which had an old wooden chair by the till, so older customers could sit and rest.
Every morning, a steady stream of hat and scarf wrapped figures can be seen walking along the open road out of the village to the shop. They always remind me of wartime refugees for some reason., wrapped up tightly against the cold with their newspapers tucked under their arms.
The walk is just too far and too cold for many of the village elderly to complete safely.
The garage shop is always busy, I went up there this morning for bread and saw Animal helper Pat, the white haired chap from Well Street, and one of the village counsellors, so it does, indeed cater for a local need, but I do mourn my fantasy shop in the centre of the village where an apron wearing grocer slips Mrs Trellis an extra sausage in some blown paper packaging with a knowing wink

Sewing Bee Is Back

With Chris away, I agreed to do an extra shift at SAMS 

I didn't get back home until 10.30

So when I got home, me and the dogs sneaked off to bed

and shared a bacon sandwich whilst watching

THE GREAT BRITISH SEWING BEE

Which is great reality tv.

I find it amusing that I love this programme so much seeing that I have all the fashion flair of the average black bin bag

Lovely Patrick Grant has shaved off his beard! Shame

It's also good to see that the four blokes taking part ( two straight , two gay)

Are four of the best tailors

For those that don't know this is the competition judge

And the programme sets sewing challenges to 10 amateur sewers

Curo

My only worry about getting married at a registry office is the potential experience of bumping into the back of a late running wedding.
This happened to a couple of friends of mine in Sheffield where the bride  ( who looked incredibly classy and beautiful) had to rub shoulders with a tattooed monstrosity of a bride in a lurid red dress and nicotined stained fingers.
A diminuative, very cheerful and very Welsh registrar I saw today reassured me that this could not possibly happen in Llandudno. " we have an hour between each wedding" he told me proudly in his sing song voice " there are no overrunning problems here!"
After discussing the service in detail , the registrar asked about Trelawnyd and he let slip that he too had a small holding with sheep, and ducks and chickens.
" you don't want a bantam cockerel do you?" I asked, quickly thinking I could possibly rehome the big girl's blouse  Cecil and sort out the wedding running order in one fell swoop.
So, I showed him a photo of the little fella taken only this morning

Cecil and the ever faithful Phyllis Diller

"yesi Mawr!" The registrar exclaimed " that's not a cockerel.....its a sparrow.my hens would give him
Curo!"
" I'll take that as a no then" I said.
( I only found out when I got home that Curo means a beating in Welsh)

Rainbow's End

The cottage smells of paint, winnie still has yelliw stains on her face and I've missed a bit under the radiator!, but most of the paining is finished, which is great for tomorrow I have an appointment with the wedding registrar to go over the wedding...........
Chris told me to " be neat" when I go......
"You don't want to think that we are riff raff" he said raising one Roger Moore eyebrow!
We are having one piece of music during the service......which is  " our tune"......
It had to be a film theme..did it not?
This is it

Who else has an "our song" 

And what is it?

Telepathy

One of Nu's traveling photos

At least once a week, perhaps twice, it is normal for me to touch base with my best friend Nuala. Our phones calls sometimes send Chris slightly bananas , because we often talk in shorthand.
Shorthand is a normal mode of communication between best friends is it not ?
I have really missed our chats over the last month, for Nuala and her husband Jim are in the progress of a " round the world" trip of a lifetime, and so  today,  as I was trying to scrub a load of " Juniper Blush" emulsion from the side of Winnie's face, I found myself thinking of her with just a hint of melancholy.
Then the phone went.
I just knew it was her, I just knew it
And sitting by her hotel pool in deepest Cambodia , it was indeed Nuala on the other end of the phone
Sounding as bright and as clear as she normally flies when ringing from West London.
I am of an age that international phone calls still hold a bit of thrill, and I still find it slightly bizarre that Nu and I had a lovely phone call catch up as I was in a freezing Welsh kitchen splashed with Juniper Bush paint and she was knee deep in Cambodian hospitality sipping cocktails

The Juniper bush kitchen

Ps thanks to Libby for your pressie

Bagels and Rubber Chickens

William tucking into his bagel as Winnie looks forward "innocently" after eating hers

With Chris working away all week again

I've have an exciting day or so painting the kitchen walls a seductive tint of 

what B&Q proudly calls " Juniper Blush"

I called down to the store for some more supplies this morning and called into 

the pet superstore next door in order to let Winifred look at their selection of rubber chickens.

( it's a small thing but she does love it)

I bought coffee and bagels , walked the dogs on the beach

and when I stopped at the garage to buy petrol
George broke into the bagel bag and rather thoughtfully shared its contents around the car
before I returned.
I then backtracked to the bakery, bought more bagels ( which I locked in the boot)
Then have driven home, to continue painting
Half the day gone on bleeding nothing!

The Walking Dead Episode 9 ( spoilers)

Time for a laugh? 

 It's back, and true to Walking Dead form, the tv series is still playing with the audience like a zombie cat with a mouse. Right on the heels of the two groups joining up again just after Beth's death, we see "team Rick" splitting yet again ( nice to see Carol in charge of group  B) and after that happens we are suddenly witnessed to another of the long term characters ending up as the Dead's breakfast.
This time it's the bumbling nice bear Tyreece who gets the chop, which is hardly a real surprise given that this character has never really been developed since he arrived in series 3.
Siblings never seem to do well on TWD do they? Andrea lost Amy, Daryl lost Merle, Maggie lost Beth and now Sasha lost Tyreece.....
If I was Judith, I'd watch myself very closely indeed..either that or invest in a zombie proof baby grow !
Episode 9 was a cracking, dreamlike and visceral start to the final 8 set pieces of season 5...it was wonderfully evocative of Danny Boyles' "28 Days Later" and finally it's great to see thatThe Walking Dead has really reclaimed it's mojo
Hey ho

Chad Coleman as the unfortunate Tyreese

Oooouch

I couldn't get the Marks' Cummerbund around my guts .
Chris had opened the box, expecting us to buy the bloody thing straight off
But it didn't fit.
The bloody thing didn't fit.
It was too small.
Even " extended" to it's fullest extension.
It was too small
This was in the centre of the shop, with men in pork pie hats giving me pitying looks as they walked past with their easy crease pants in their hands.
I felt like Julia Roberts down Rodeo Drive in Pretty Woman
( but without the teeth and the big hair)

I don't deal with embarrassment well.
I tend to experience it as its big sister ..the slightly more powerful emotion of humiliation .
And no one does humiliation well.

We can all remember humiliating experiences as if they occurred only yesterday. A fall in public, toilet paper down the leg of your pants, a drunken wrong word, a Mega fart over a vegetable freezer in Aldi ( one of my best btw) all of them take me back to childhood, when I was picked last for games, embarrassed by unenlightened teachers or shown up by parents who should have known better.
Embarrassment can be coped with by having a good sense of humour ( which I have)
Humiliation just has to be endured .

..... Well I survived the cummerbund experience...just..........
And by the way...the suit fits mighty fine