Another Shoe Story

Sometimes you just have to accept a kindness in the way it is offered and not get all wrapped up in embarrassment, pride, or indignation .
Last night I worked alongside another Filipino nurse who is my age and who is  a widower with two university age children. He noticed my old , field and poultry battered old trainers stinking in a corner of the changing room and made a joke that he almost threw them in the bin.
They and the fact that I often wear my welling tons to work, have become , somewhat of a running joke at the hospital !
I explained that my old shoes often get a real battering during their everyday life, and without a word more, last night,  he presented me with several three pairs of shoes. Robust walking boots and clean and worn once pairs of trainers.
Apparently my colleague was a bit of a shoe collector
" I thought they may be useful for your field work" he explained, without a hint of an edge and I suddenly had the choice to take his offer as a slightly patronising charity act to a "poor" yokel or as an ordinary and thoughtful act of kindness.
I choice the latter.......
After the wedding , I will take in a load of eggs for him and his family.
Like I said , sometimes, a gift should just be accepted and not questioned
( hummm perhaps I should have accepted those plastic antlers with a bit more alacrity )

I shouldn't be let out

I usually get into work early...well a few minutes earlier than anyone else that is.
I have a coffee.
Check up on my off duty ( to see if I need to swap anything)
And catch up with the notice board in the nurses sitting room
It's my one way of " looking " professional
Last night , before handover, I embarked on what I thought was an intelligent conversation about medication with one of the medics, caught up with some in house training dates and chatted to the senior sister about this and that.
I listened and nodded at every nugget of info she had to share and joked with my colleagues before we readied ourselves for work.
Only then did one of the Filipino nurses called Dennis, broke this professional sheen somewhat
As he took me to oneside and hissed somewhat theatrically
" you're wearing my shoes!"

Nite nite

You Silly Boy

Off to work

Heard this song today

And it's so sweet

Thought I would post it

We sorted a special " thing" for the wedding today

I know ( yawn)
But it IS rather special

Suo Gan

Steven Spielberg made a film in 1987 called " Empire of the Sun" 

For those few that perhaps don't know, the film was set in Shanghi during the war and centred upon the survival of a British Schoolboy( a very young Christian Bale) in a

Japanese prisoner of war camp.

The musical theme weaving throughout the film is, I always thought, somewhat of a strange one

as it is an old Welsh Lullaby, " Suo Gan"

Suo Gan quite literally means lullaby in Welsh.

I know it's lazy blogging but as I'm working tonight and tomorrow night

I thought I would post a video of the great Bryn Terfyl 

singing it!

A rough translation of the first verse is below

Sleep my darling,

Harm will never come to you,

Mother's arms enfold you safely

Mothers heart is ever true

As you sleep, there's naught to scare you

Naught to wake you

Close your eyes

Winnie's First Battle

Winnie had her first fight this afternoon.
and despite everything, she was magnificent.
Contrary to most people's belief, Bulldogs are generally not aggressive in any shape or form. They are well known in possessing a unique kind of dignity when it comes to confrontation, and I have read that they will often stand calmly in the face of an attack.
Today , for the first time since Constance , Mabel and Winnie have been with us, I witnessed first hand this behaviour.
I was getting the other dogs into the car at the railway walkway at Dyserth when a black and white collie cross trotted purposefully around the back of the berlingo. Luckily the terriers were already inside, leaving Winnie waiting for her usual " leg up" into the back, and within a fraction of a second the collie had bitten Winnie hard on the rump. The collie skittered away growling as I turned to slam the car door shut to prevent the hysterical terriers from piling out , and Winnie followed it with her head held very high and her eyes fixed and staring.
As the collie danced around barking and snapping , Winnie stood totally immobile with her eyes hard as flint and when contact was finally made the fight was almost over as quickly as it had started as Winnie clamped her massive mouth around the collie's neck , and flung it onto its back.
She then literally lay on top of it as it kicked and struggled helplessly.
The dog's owner ran up with his wailing wife in tow
" He's killing him!" He shouted
" SHE  hasn't  got any fucking teeth!" I shouted back , but I was a little concerned that Winnie may collapse the dog's ribcage if she was left much longer, so between the three of us we separated the dogs.
The collie continued to bark and snap and twisted like a mad thing with his two owners hanging onto his harness.
Winnie just stood  and snorted quietly to herself like a bull.
She looked magnificent

Later the woman owner was good enough to apologise, and we all left things on fairly good terms

On the way home, I treated Winnie to a whole scotch egg all to herself

A Week Or Two To Go

I wanted to document the Graveyard snowdrops

We see them every morning when we look out of the cottage window

Next come the daffodils 

just had a panic attack 

Thought it was only a week before the wedding

I nearly wet myself

It's two weeks!

Yikes

I'm not nervous ...just excited!

Getting On With Things ( and thanks to Arvon)

Affable Despot a Jason always jokes that he hibernates during the winter months
" See you in spring" he'll sing out if you bump into him on one of his few outdoor jaunts when it is dark and cold and wet, so I wasn't surprised that he stopped by the field gate the other afternoon when it was warm and sunny , and when the daffodils had started to bud on the field borders.
I call Jason an affable despot , because he is always upbeat, and strangely enough when we caught up the other afternoon we chatted about the subject of optimism and coping a subject that was particulary relevant given the fact that Jason's family have had to deal with a recent life challenge of sorts.
" You've just got to get on with things" Jason said brightly
Simple to say, and for some, very difficult to do.
Personally, I think effectively " getting on with things" depends on three factors
1. Not overthinking problems
2. Having a sense of humour
3. Having a plan
Factors 1 and 2 depend on your personality, so just cannot be accessed by everyone........factor three can be used by all so is always useful......so always have a plan......plans give structure, order and security to any unstable situation.
Ok, ...end of the lecture....

Ps Thank You
It's a wet and crappy looking day today and I'm spending some of it decorating again
. I also need to walk up to pen-y-Cefn Isa this morning with a gift of some eggs. It got back to me that Arvon from the farm found Camilla alone down the lane last Sunday and took his time to walk her all the way back home to the safely of the Ukranian village.
I am very grateful
Below is Arvon pronouncing the word Trelawnyd for a previous blog

 

For the other Trelawnyd villagers saying Trelawnyd

See

http://disasterfilm.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/tre-lawn-yd.html

Visitors From The Orient

Nearly a decade ago, I had to act as the dutiful partner to a University academic and play the hospitable "hostess with the mostest" with a couple of non English speaking Chinese students on their very first visit to rural Wales.
" what will they want to eat?" I asked Chris, not sure if I had to cater for a vegetarian palate
" Give them something Welsh" he suggested helpfully, " I'll bring them over in an hour or so"
An hour later I spied two small shapes through the kitchen door, and when I opened it two tiny and very scared looking Chinese girls stood before me, both with cameras in their hands.
Four photographs were taken before I had a chance to usher them into the cottage.
I don't think they had seen a gay house husband before!
Now back then we had two dogs. An overly friendly Welsh terrier called Finlay and a  grumpy old Scottish terrier called Maddie who had a particular dislike for strangers in the house. Of course it was Maddie who walked into the kitchen to see what all the camera flashing was all about and after taking one look at the girls, she let rip with a deep and piercing Scotty bark.
Now to be fair to Chris, no one had told him that both girls were pathologically terrified of dogs ( I guess it's not something that the student liaison officer would ask in passing) so you can imagine that both Roger Moore eyebrows were considerably raised at the hysteria that followed.
It's amazing just how loud two Chinese girls can be when they are clambering all over your couch in an effort to get away from a Scottish terrier with an attitude.
Anyhow they calmed down after two large orange squashes and a promise of something to eat
" have you made them something Welsh?" Chris asked
" Spaghetti Bolognase" I told him
" Near enough" Chris replied and in an effort to calm the soothed nerves he found them Chinese channel on the satellite box.
It worked like magic.
Immediately the girls sat down on he floor in front of the tv and watched their " local" news as if their lives depended upon it.
I served them the Spag Bol on their knees which they bolted down within a few seconds.....I hardly had time to offer them some Parmesan before they had cleared  their plates.
" I don't think they've eaten much since coming to Wales " Chris ventured
" how long have they been here?" I asked
" Four days!" , Chris replied " they've already demolished two cream teas and a large plate of Bara brith on the way here"
I gave the girls our portions of Spaghetti , two more large glasses of squash and  a massive slice of cake each, and as we all sat in silence in front of Chinese tv as they enjoyed their tea.
It was my first AND LAST venture into " foreign" hospitality and as I watched the last bit of carrot cake disappearing I couldn't help thinking how hard it must be , being the Queen.
Hey ho

Maddie & Me