The Note

In the right top corner of the little arts and crafts writing bureau in the living room, is a folded up envelope.
In the envelope is a hand written note and a house key.
The note is set of instructions with the title
" what to do in the event of my death"
It's not an exhaustive list.
There's contact numbers for a solicitor and a far flung, seldom seen relative.
There are some house keeping instructions, requests for " last time" jobs to completed and some final wishes of things that need to be set into order.
We have been asked to complete the job of a " next of kin" for someone who lives nearby and who lives alone.
It's not a big ask....but it is a vital one

The Prof and I have talked about who we would rely on when things slow down for us in future years. We have organised our wills, that bit is easy, but who will  we rely on , when things go tits up?
Who will know the location of the family papers? And more importantly who will care about them?
My grandmother's wedding ring is hidden within our marriage certificate? Contacts for much loved peers lie hidden within locked up emails and phones and hopefully there will still be a pile of dogs on the hearth rug that will need a friend to care for them.

One day one or both of us will need to complete our own hand written note.
I just hope to God that we will find some serious minded old soul that will keep it safe and sound for us
Hey ho

Autumn

You can tell it's suddenly gone all autumn

For I've picked the last of the flowers from the garden 

There was just enough to half fill the smallest of glass jugs.

Not much to report today, except that when I was making a fish pie at the same time as  feeding the dogs, I got the spoons mixed up 

and coped a load of dog food down the old gullet.

I wonder if I have to add it to my fat club sins?

The Best Woman - Bake Off's Nadiya !

Charming, naturally funny, Nadiya have proved herself a worthy champion over 

the delightfully sweet Tamal and the now quietly humble Ian 

The champion, the show, the judges and the format

Is truly the Best Of British

Nadiya Cried, Ian cried, Tamal Cried, Mary even cried

I cried friggin buckets too

Wonderful tv

Make Your Own Kind Of Music

A woman with probable mental health issues was singing this song

Outside Home Bargains in Prestatyn this afternoon.

She was wearing a green kagool.

It rather moved me

Bake Off Final Later! 

Happy Birthday Jayne

Sister in law's Birthday today! 

Happy Birthday Jayne xxxxx

5 days to go! 

Nipple Talk

The Prof was poorly yesterday with a nasty tooth abscess.
It must have been very painful and he looked dreadful when he got home but after a bit of ' hands on' care he managed to weakly consume half a turkey lasagna, a tub of Marks and Spencer custard and a small bit of carrot cake.
So much for " starve a fever"
Yesterday afternoon I left him sleeping on the couch and took the dogs to the beach, where Winnie met up with a small girl on the promenade.
" Look Mum....big.....titties!" The girl chirped up pointing excitingly to Winnie's line of teats
and I suddenly felt somewhat deflated when the girl added " ewwwwwww they look disgusting ..she needs a bra"
I couldn't disagree

Anyhow, my favourite " nipple" story hails from 1986.
I was a very new Registered Psychiatric staff nurse on a " mother and baby" unit in York and was attending my very first staff meeting in the day room which led off the main entrance . The ward sister was a phenomenally calm and obese woman  who never raised her voice even in the most fraught of situations and I remember that right in the middle of discussing a particularly knotty nursing problem , she stopped and raised her hand.

" now I don't want anyone to turn around, or to react in any way" she murmured quietly
" but some unfortunate lady is trying to push her nipples under the sash window"

Now that's professionalism !

Over The Garden Wall

Typical facebook fodder...a dog made up as Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz

I used to lambast Facebook.
I think the plethora of cute cat photos and banal statements of " what I am having to dinner" gave the place a bad name .
Rightly or wrongly.
Last night I witnessed just how the immediate nature of the phenomenon worked for support and good.
I have a couple of friends that moved recently out of the village. Before that I would see them almost everyday " over the garden wall" so to speak. Most often or not the contact would be a cheerful wave and a hello, but it was contact.
I was sad when they left Trelawnyd.
Last night on facebook, I received a generic message from one partner detailing how the other had been admitted to hospital.
Within minutes, a half dozen Trelawnyd-ites had sent their best wishes and voiced their concern on line.
I liked that.
Perhaps years ago, in a village , gossip would have moved faster than Facebook and there would have been knocks on the door within an hour.
Now, virtual support can be there in seconds.
A sign of the time......yes...
But the sentiment and care behind the action remains the same
Thank Goodness.