Going Gently

Succession Planning

Yesterday afternoon, just after the Church service finished I noted that the lady from the old police house had taken Auntie Glad's arm and was walking her home. Auntie Glad should be using her new foldable white cane but doesn't fetch it out on the Church walk.
It's a walk she can probably complete in her sleep.
" Police House Lady" is fairly new to the village and she reminds me of one of the characters of the wartime tv show Home Fires .in the fact that she looks a capable and pragmatic sort who wouldn't flap under pressure. She has two adult sons living with her, both with their own specific needs, one of whom I met yesterday when she came around for eggs. I gave her an extra goose egg as she had a great deal of baking to do.
"I think I may ask her to join the Flower Show Committee " I told The Prof over his lamb tagine , "I've never liked the fact we have only 13 official members"

I'm One Crazy Bitch

Instead of our usual roast dinner, I've made the Prof Moroccan Lamb a la terrine accompanied by minted couscous.
I know , I know it's a drastic move away from the traditional but once he got over the initial shock that there was no Yorkshire pudding, stuffing balls and over cooked veg, he quite got into the swing of it all.
What swung things, I think, were the left over dates , which I incorporated into an emergency date and walnut loaf but only after an unforeseen dash to the garage shop for self raising flour.
It was there I met up with Mrs Trellis but she wasn't really impressed with my terrine story which was a little disappointing....., I think her gums may be still playing up.

A Victoria Wood Moment

With the Prof shopping in England , I took myself off to Marks & Spencer for lunch
No I didn't have a scotch egg ( they don' do them in the cafe) so I had mulligatawny soup and tea!
Behind me were sat a couple in late middle age, he obviously had bored his wife silly

This is how their conversation panned out after a somewhat fraught ( on his part) run around to choose the best table

Him: " Have you seen the state of that waitress' hat?"
Her: " no, what's wrong with it?"
Him: " It's not very flattering , what with all the netty stuff over her hair"
Her: Sighing ..." It's health and safety- they have to keep their hair covered"
Him: " Well , you would have thought that the uniforms and hats would be a bit brighter, wouldn't you given that they are ambassadors for Marks? ' "
Her: " Ive never really thought about it, as long as they smile and are polite, I don't give a stuff what they wear"
Him: " But black......it's black.........it doesn't look nice does it? I would like them to wear something more lively"
Her: "hummmmmmm"
Him:"I mean.....black.....it's depressing and not very stylish"
Her: " Audrey Hepburn always looked lovely in black"
Him: She didn't wear a Marks and Spencer waitress outfit did she?

( At this point I almost turned around to say that she even looked good in a black and white habit aka The Nun's Story)

Her: loud sigh.............

Long pause, as he was cutting into a baked potato

Him: " a lighter colour would have been more jolly"

Her: " ........I wish I felt jolly"
( i could have kissed her)

Compromise

I am sat at the kitchen table with my trusty American coffee cup feeling rather tired. I note that George has strategically positioned himself directly in my line of vision.
He is waiting for his walk.
My thoughts today, dear children , centre on relationships.
Compromise, is the word of the day.
I am getting better at compromising .....I think.
Today is a case in point.
Today we had planned to go shopping at a large popular retail " Mall" just over the English border.
but last night the Prof's mate ( a rather chic fellow Prof) asked him if he wanted to go with her.
I knew damm well that he would prefer her as a shopping companion ( what do I know about fashionistas? ) but he gallantly told her that he was busy.
" If you want to go with Jo that's fine with me ?" I told him " but instead tonight you can treat us to a theatre trip" (Theatre Clwyd's Cyrano De Bergerac has received rave reviews just recently)
Quid Pro Quo!
So it's a win win situation..........we do something nice together ; he has time with chic best friend and George gets his unhurried walk this morning .
Result!

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes!

A recent newspaper photo of the village schoolchildren

Complaining about speeding on the main road

( Animal helper Pat is centre)

Well it's 44 years since I stepped into a Primary school, so I was half expecting to smell those awful nostalgic smells of warm milk in small bottles, thin custard and cheep disinfectant in cold toilets when I was shown into the junior class of 8 year olds to talk about blogging
The village school , as it turned out, was a colourful inviting, vibrant place with a firm but jolly teacher in charge of twenty or so impeccably behaved youngsters.
I sat on a tiny chair before starting and looked Miranda Hart in that episode when she got her bum stuck in the school chair.
The kids were polite and asked questions and I tried to cover the dos and don'ts about blogging as constructively as I could, especially as the class plans to start their own blog under the supervision of the teacher. I showed them photos of the international novelty veg competition entries to illustrate just how many silly sausages are around in this world to join in to your world and tried to underline things like privacy and good practice without sounding too boring.
One girl wanted to tell me that my nickname was " The Chicken Man" whilst another young lad asked if writing blogs everyday was boring.
I did have one sticky moment when another boy put his hand up to say that his mum often laughed at my blog...but I got away with A noncommittal " thats good!"
I asked the teacher to read this entry out in way of some sort of explaination.......at least the kids laughed when I told them the story of my giving a lecture on blogging to the Llanasa Women's Institute....four decrepit old ladiesin the middle row fell asleep during that one!
One even started to snore like a pig as I recall.

Today was an eyeopener for me. I witnessed a teacher in control of a class of polite children that were a credit to her, her helpers and to the school. It was a lovely experience

And I didn't swear once!
Hey ho.