Eirlys My Hero and a collective Thank You

Trelawnyd in Winter...dont worry its not snowing yet!

Now I know most wedding plans have the occasional fly in the ointment so to speak as I am sure some of the followers of Going Gently can testify to.
So far, ( touch wood) things are going ok ( ish) . Thanks to my nephew the Berlingo will be back on the road within the hour, which will allow me to drive to Llandudno to sort out a few last minute payments for things on the day. Unfortunately the dog sitter let me down a few minutes ago so I was left with the prospect of finding someone to jump into the breach . Luckily my friend Eirlys ( she of the poultry farm and same taste in gravy fronted jumpers as I) gallantly said she would take the pack for the duration so that's another tick off the list.
I bumped into one lady who enters the flower show yesterday who told me that she was looking forward in coming to Church on Friday with her confetti and that she was surprised that the Rector was marrying us seeing that she didn't think that the Church of Wales " didn't do the gay thing as of yet!" Apparently she'd heard all this from someone at the Friendship Group over a cup of tea and a custard cream !
I put her straight ( so to speak)
and got home just in time to take a delivery of a VERY nice Marks' food hamper from Jimbo And Ron over at Ocean Breezes......I was cock-a-hoop when I opened it..... Thank you so much guys for the kind thought

The postman has been working overtime as every day we are receiving cards from all over the blogging world addressed to " John & Chris, Cottage near the Church , Trelawnyd , Wales"
"You seem to get a lot of fan mail from all over the world" he chuckled " why is that?"
" i'm an internet sensation" I told him

I don't think he was impressed.

Ps
I've just got back after jobs and found more cards through the letter box and two apple trees wrapped in red ribbons by the front door! More Wedding pressies!
Thank you to friends Wendy & Alan xxxxxx and thank you too for my Daryl Dixon fridge magnet!
Not many bridegrooms would have got one of these!

Apple trees

And Daryl Dixon

Oh and to really finish

A big thank you to K McLoughlin

Who sent us these delightful and beautiful items of Welsh pottery

Hey ho

The Walking Dead Episode 12 Remember

For the fourth time in five series, the battle hardened "team Rick" have suddenly found themselves in an unfamiliar community. This time Alexandria ,( which is a suburb of Washington) seems to be a safe, democratic but slightly sanitised " safe zone" presided over , not by a demon autocrat , but an intelligent, former politician who needs the survivalist skills of Rick's group in order to keep her much weaker community safe in a dangerous new world.
Of course team Rick are a mistrusting lot, and for the first time in the series' history, it is him and his group and not the new community who possess the potential for being a threat to living a peaceful life. The question sits like the elephant in the room.....is Rick and co too far gone to live in the new order? Or will the group fragment as it adjusts to civilisation?

As Daryl sulked at the clean order of Alexandria and its Matriarch Deanna ( Tovah Feldshue) tried to get the measure of everyone, it was nice to see the survivors try to acclimatize to their new surroundings. Rick cried having his first haircut ,Carl got all shy with the new kids, Michonne brushed her teeth for 20 minutes straight and Carol, well Carol grabbed all the best scenes as she cleverly wrong footed the Alexandrian folk by pretending she was a ditzy bubblehead and not the badass we all know and love.....
I'm sure that will come in handy later on
Anyhow the new direction the series is following will be an interesting one, I'm sure.

Man/Woman Crush

I know Im a sad fucker but I do enjoy the cleverness of tv adverts. Adverts that can sell a 30 second story. Tick an aspiring lifestyle choice and sell a mobile app all in one go!
Genius and clever manipulation.
I have a big man crush in the bloke from the beef stew advert......
If I was playing his character
There would be gravy down my apron
( the apron wouldnt have fitted so snugly)
And I would be alone in the kitchen watched only by a salivating bulldog
Who is your tv crush?
Come on! Own up,!

The Cadbury man

God Bless

Yesterday Auntie Glad left us a bag of scones on the cottage doorknob

This afternoon I returned the favour with a dish of homemade lemon meringue pie.

It was raining and cold when I called and I had the dogs with me

So our interaction was brief and on the doorstep

" good luck for Friday" 

She called out in her sing song welsh voice.

I reminded her that we will have a party in the village hall in the summer
which she and the other villagers will be invited to.

And she held my hand for a brief moment and added with feeling and with a smile

" God BLESS You both" 

I could have cried at her sincerity 

A woman of 95 who has never left her village all her life!

Just Shamed the likes of UKIP 

without flexing a bleeding muscle

A Tart's Boudoir

HAPPY ST DAVID'S DAY
I don't know how serious shoppers do it, but after a day in Chester I was fit for nothing. I think I must be slightly allergic to the whole retail thing because when we got home, I had a low grade temperature. Thankfully affable despot Jason had kindly  delivered some coal ( remember the Berlingo is " resting" at a garage in St Asaph) so after getting the cottage all warm, I fed the dogs and then went to bed at 8 pm which is unheard of in these parts.
( btw Chris' new wedding haircut IS very impressive!)
Today I feel miles better, so as the dogs and Albert have their lie in, I thought I would share some wedding details with the blog.
Did I tell anyone that I was getting married?

Anyhow, we get married in the registry office in Llandudno.
For those that dont know Llandudno is the only Victorian seaside town in North Wales which has survived the modern day lust for foreign holiday breaks and still remains a popular destination for Brits seeking a bit of " bracing sea air"
The town boasts a pier, a wide and pretty Promenade and Victorian tram which takes visitors up the great Orme, which is a huge peninsular of Limestone which dominates the town.

It's all very........well........nice!
We have twenty eight guests. Chris ' entire family (Mum, Dad, brother, sister in law, nephew, Uncle, Aunt and Cousin ) are coming up from Kent and my family  ( sisters and sister in law, bros in law, nephews & partners, great niece and matriarch Aunt Judy) will be coming over from the most part from just down the coast. In addition we have a nice selection of friends " jetting in" from such  cosmopolitan places as Sheffield, Manchester, Snowdonia and just to be that extra Showbiz, ....from JAPAN!
( Hello magazine take note!)
Chris' witness is his brother Jon. My witness will be my best friend Nuala . Our dear friend and fashionista John H (Bel Ami ) will be " performing " the reading at the wedding........he is wonderfully suited to this sort of thing as he has the stage delivery and cheekbones of Marlene Dietrich
( in her latter years)
After the deed is done, we shall all pop off for a meal at our favourite restaurant at Osborne
House....which does somewhat resemble a " tarts boudoir"
My sisters have been busy beavering away behind the scenes with flowers, favours and other such titivating bits...which is a real treat......its those kind of attention to detail that makes the day a special one

Everything has been organised, so the only thing now to do is to prepare my speech, sort out dog babysitters and make a collection of umbrellas as it looks as though its going to be a wet day!

is there anything else we've forgotten?

I'm sure one of you will prompt me!

Hey ho

William At The Vets

Last night I took William to the vets .

It wasn't George Clooney that was on duty, nor was it the young Russell Crowe look-a-like vet
 ( which was a shame)...it was the pretty Irish vet who gave William his steroid injection and stuck her finger up his arse!....and typical of William , he smiled his big smile as she did just that!
On the way home, right at a set of traffic lights  on a dual carriageway,and just as William was tucking into his post vet visit treat ( a small individual pork pie from Tesco) , the gear stick on the berlingo broke off leaving me stranded in the fast lane in the dark!
Now, with my "Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm" outlook.....I would have liked to have blogged that a succession of cars stopped to help me.....but do you know what? No fucker stopped......I tried to push the heavy berlingo across the carriageway.....no one stopped......I tried to wave gaily at some builder types in a van for assistance.......still nothing.....I wonder why?
And all this was in the pitch black!
If I was some leggy blonde with big tits everyone would have stopped!
But I am an over -the-hill fat bastard with gravy splashed down my top ....so no bugger did
Bastards!

For half an hour William and I waited by the side of the road as the busy traffic shot by and not one fucker stopped.....so we left the car to walk to Rhuddlan the nearest village.....to be fair..it wasnt far but as I  didn't have a phone on me, and as the public phone by the KFC  was vandalised I had to go into the local travelodge to use their phone......
The girl behind the desk wasn't too sure of me at first, but I won her over by telling her that William was on the way home from the vets......" He's an unstable diabetic" I lied.....and she handed me the phone saying that I could use it for as long as I liked.....bless her

My brother in law, Tim came to my rescue, as he has done many many times over the years, and after half an hour he had towed me to my nephew's garage in the next town
Bless him!
All's well that ends well

Anyhow today we are off to Chester,.....Chris is going to have his pre wedding haircut in a posh saloon.....
I'm looking for new , wedding outfit underpants!
Hey ho!

A Low Level Mugging

Its been a kind of bad news sort of day today

In addition to yesteday's news, Chris had a near miss accident in the Berlingo early this morning andI've just heard that two other villagers have been 

poorly in hospital.

Best wishes to Yola and to Bob D...

Who live on opposite parts of the village but have been admitted to the same ward!

It was all a bit doom and gloom.

Things brightened up somewhat on the beach this afternoon

when I took the dogs along the Promenade.

As usual Winnie and George walked a long way behind me and the Welsh 

but as there was only a middle aged picnicking couple sitting on the concrete steps down to the beach 

I left them to it.

When I got back to the car, Winnie and George had still not caught up

so I walked back to the beach only to see both dogs standing behind 

the couple. I called them and both ambled over guiltily

Winnie had what looked like a golf ball in her mouth

Immediately I knew just what had happened

and prepared myself to give a swift and heartfelt apology

For a low level mugging had just taken place

Winnie wasn't holding a discarded tennis ball

For firmly clamped in her mouth

Was a large bread roll- ham and tomato sandwich

( complete with lettuce, mayo and onion)

BTW

ONLY A WEEK UNTIL THE WEDDING!

Thank you Libby, Cro and Deloras for your gifts and cards
Xxxxxx

Bereavement Etiquette

Some people think that giving flowers to the bereaved is not the done thing.
I think that it to do with the fact that in many people's eyes, flowers around a death are only seen on a coffin.
I tend to disagree.
To me a few flowers say a tiny bit more than a mere card can and anyway
I hate most of the sympathy cards on sale in the shops.
They always seem like the paper equivalent of the colour beige.

A neighbour lost her mother suddenly today, so I went around with a card and some blue hyacinths in a bowl. If it was summer I would have cut flowers from the garden.. Its a bit more personal, and it gives people something to concentrate on.
I do like the tradition of feeding the bereaved too..its more practical......but I think this is more of an American thing.

Anyhow what IS the flower etiquette after a family death occurs?
Is there a right and a wrong way to support others?
Perhaps someone can tell me!

Village elder, Islwyn called in this afternoon to inform me of this news and to the fact that old Mrs Spiller had also passed away. Mrs Spiller was famous for her big hair, erratic driving and her overuse of a loud policeman's whistle when calling in her bad tempered labrador on a night.
Affable Despot Jason and his wife always commented that Chapel Street sounded like Victorian London during the Jack The Ripper times- all they missed was the pea soup.