Going Gently

Mystery Road & The Walking Dead Episode 11 The Distance

Aaron Pedersen ( quietly charismatic )

Before my usual WALKING DEAD review, I need to big up a film , I caught on the BBC IPLAYER the other night, which is well worth two hours of anyone's time.
MYSTERY ROAD is a movie that walks in the footsteps of the likes of THEY CALL ME MR TIBBS and IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, Set in the Australian bush instead of the American Deep South , we follow Aboriginal cop Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) in his investigations into the death of a native teenage girl. Swan walks a difficult path , as he is mistrusted by the dirt poor locals who see him as a token ethnic face In a police force which is as welcoming and quietly racist as they are, but like Virgil Tibbs, Swan possesses a dogged dignity which allows him to push through the walls of silence to te truth.
Prdersen quite simply has the charisma that the role requires and he dominates each scene with a brooding and powerful show of strength. The film would be a very average thriller if he was not in it.

The Walking Dead has reached episode 11 and it finally looks as though team Rick is finally almost " out of the woods" in both the literal and figurative sense of the phrase.
Rick ( Andrew Lincoln) has undertaken one of the most dramatic character changes out of all of the surviving Southern Folk from series 1, so he can be forgiven to have a few trust issues when faced with the neat, tidy and wholesomely gay Aaron ( another Aaron) who seems to be offering Judith Delicious apple sauce and the group a chance of a normal life in the Alexandria Safe zone....
The Walking Dead has not allowed it's cast some " downtime" since the original cast first settled at
the Greene Farm way back in series 2, and so it would be nice to see Michonne painting a little or Carol to have a gossip with Maggie and Tara over cookies........fat chance me thinks....the women in TWD seldom have quality conversations together..........having said this.....it was nice to see Michonne in charge for a change....and it was also nice to see everyone talking together........a good episode to see Team Rick so gay friendly!
I loved this episode

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