Wrote a post
Posted it
And now its gone!
Cannot be bothered re writing it
So will post mine and the Prof's song
Enjoy
Posted it
And now its gone!
Cannot be bothered re writing it
So will post mine and the Prof's song
Enjoy
I'm Just One Crazy Bitch!
To illustrate yesterday's post I put the words Prestatyn High School 1970s, or something similar into google images. Not finding what I wanted, I scrolled down the pages until I spied this old newspaper photo image tucked away in the internet photobook.
It's a publicity shot of the North Wales rock band Resistance which was published in The News Of The World newspaper circa 1974 and yes the band were " playing" their motley set of instruments in the nude. My brother Andrew is sat rather coyly behind his drum kit and little did he know that the fallout from this silly stunt would have drastic ramifications for his ultra " respectable " father who was high up in Prestatyn council life at the time.
The shame was palpable .
Looking back on it all, in these days of celebrity bad behaviour, the whole thing now looks rather lightweight, but it kind of illustrates the fact that my brother was a bit of a wild child in beige covered life of 1970s Wales.
For a few years in his late teens/ early twenties my brother sowed his wild oats. He drank and dabbled with drugs. He toured Germany in a music van and he shared a flat in a rough part of Rhyl. He wore his hair long and " used home as a hotel" as we, his younger siblings by a decade wore our school uniforms straight and went to bed early after Coronation Street.
I never sowed any wild oats in my late teens and twenties, I just wasn't the sort.
You need to be reckless and excited and free and confident to be a wild Child
I was gauche, and shy and awkward and boring
I was Saffie out of Absolutely Fabulous. My brother was more like Patsy .
So ...I am long overdue for a wild period me thinks! . Perhaps one day, I will get a tattoo and dress too young. Perhaps one day I'll trash a hotel room and shag a rent boy in a rubber suit or smoke a joint from start to finish in a stolen car whist being chased by a police helicoptor.
Don't hold your breath eh?
The shame was palpable .
Looking back on it all, in these days of celebrity bad behaviour, the whole thing now looks rather lightweight, but it kind of illustrates the fact that my brother was a bit of a wild child in beige covered life of 1970s Wales.
For a few years in his late teens/ early twenties my brother sowed his wild oats. He drank and dabbled with drugs. He toured Germany in a music van and he shared a flat in a rough part of Rhyl. He wore his hair long and " used home as a hotel" as we, his younger siblings by a decade wore our school uniforms straight and went to bed early after Coronation Street.
I never sowed any wild oats in my late teens and twenties, I just wasn't the sort.
You need to be reckless and excited and free and confident to be a wild Child
I was gauche, and shy and awkward and boring
I was Saffie out of Absolutely Fabulous. My brother was more like Patsy .
So ...I am long overdue for a wild period me thinks! . Perhaps one day, I will get a tattoo and dress too young. Perhaps one day I'll trash a hotel room and shag a rent boy in a rubber suit or smoke a joint from start to finish in a stolen car whist being chased by a police helicoptor.
Don't hold your breath eh?
Lets hear your " wild child " stories Everyone
Miss Betts
Never underestimate the power of praise..
I was perhaps fourteen or fifteen and was sat at my desk in an English lesson reading a chapter of The Catcher In The Rye"
The teacher, Miss Betts, was marking essays at her own desk in the corner by the window. She was a kind of a hippy-type character. long hair, long floaty skirts. Flat Chest, ethnic jewelry.
She was a serious teacher. Earnest and never, as I recall, happy looking.
Anyhow, after a long period of silence , she sighed and spoke out to the class
"John Gray, I am impressed with a simile you have just used in your essay!
" The summer sun flowed through the dining room windows and warmed the house like a hand shake on a cold day"
She didn't look up from her marking and the rest of the class didn't react that much to her comment, but for me, that snippet of public praise made me feel ten foot tall!
That was 40 years ago. And I still remember it as if it was yesterday.
I was perhaps fourteen or fifteen and was sat at my desk in an English lesson reading a chapter of The Catcher In The Rye"
The teacher, Miss Betts, was marking essays at her own desk in the corner by the window. She was a kind of a hippy-type character. long hair, long floaty skirts. Flat Chest, ethnic jewelry.
She was a serious teacher. Earnest and never, as I recall, happy looking.
Anyhow, after a long period of silence , she sighed and spoke out to the class
"John Gray, I am impressed with a simile you have just used in your essay!
" The summer sun flowed through the dining room windows and warmed the house like a hand shake on a cold day"
She didn't look up from her marking and the rest of the class didn't react that much to her comment, but for me, that snippet of public praise made me feel ten foot tall!
That was 40 years ago. And I still remember it as if it was yesterday.
Old " Friends"
Everyday I visit old friends
I say hello after checking the only non grassed grave in the graveyard
The grave Albert has visited in the middle of the night.
Sylvia who ran the Flower Show with such a hypertensive strength lies with her husband a dozen rows from the Red Faced Welsh Farmer who has fresh geraniums by his headstone. Gwyneth from Pen-y-cefn Isa Farm ( the 80 year old who used to stand proudly on the back of Ralph the gentleman farmer's tractor ) is a little to the left, her headstone is all in Welsh.
I say hello to them all.
I also say hello to the ones I feel I know but never met.
Miss B A Jones ( Bessie Bryn Teg) the schoolmistress who used to rule the village school children with an iron fist lies with her sister Ginny Bryn Teg ( who used to own the cow!) Old Norman Roberts who did so much for village affairs. and 16 year old Edwina , Auntie Glad's daughter who died after a car accident up in Lloc.
Further back there are the Hannah Jones' , Parrys and Williams' ........Teddy, beloved young son of Ann and William, and Elias Jones who was killed in the mining accident in Gronant in 1890...2000 people came to his funeral .....2000!
In a odd way they all feel a little like friends...
Am I strange?
Mandatory Training
I'm sitting at the kitchen table early this morning drinking coffee.....the Prof is away and I have to go into work to complete mandatory training. In my day, mandatory training was always done in work time.
Not anymore!
Hey ho....Trendy Carol has just passed the window ( Laura Ashley Coat, frilly blouse, skinny jeans and pumps) and Terry from the flower show passed earlier. He gave me his best " I see you" eye poke thing......the rivalry in the Great Trelawnyd Bake Off continues.
I will leave you with a video to watch today.
I took it last night as I rested my croc feet.
Watch carefully....it's a play fight between baby Hippo and little dog.
The baby hippo pulls her punches so well
Not anymore!
Hey ho....Trendy Carol has just passed the window ( Laura Ashley Coat, frilly blouse, skinny jeans and pumps) and Terry from the flower show passed earlier. He gave me his best " I see you" eye poke thing......the rivalry in the Great Trelawnyd Bake Off continues.
I will leave you with a video to watch today.
I took it last night as I rested my croc feet.
Watch carefully....it's a play fight between baby Hippo and little dog.
The baby hippo pulls her punches so well
The Great British Sewing Bee
The latest series of The Great British Sewing Bee has been ever so slightly lacklustre only because most of the characters involved have not been that interesting tv fodder.
The winner , Charlotte made a late spurt in the interest stakes by making her final model the step mom of her kids......how so very Hollywood!
Bring back the Bake Off
Regret
The " Big Bundle of fun" that is Vanessa Feltz has turned out to be a rather insightful interviewer.
I listened to her this afternoon interviewing a 30 year old woman who demanded a sterilization on the nhs because she knew she didn't want children ever!
The woman was articulate and unwavering in her beliefs, yet I thought it interesting that the woman's own mother had requested a sterilization which she had requested a reversal so that she could bare children from a second marriage.
Feltz explored the fact that the interviewee's upbringing was poorly parented . The woman's father had also comitted suicide and it was incredibly sad to hear the woman admit that her own mother regretted having any children.
I wonder if the regret of having children is ever real? Ok if your son turned out to be Jeffrey Dahmer the seriel killer then you may furnish some disappointment in the decision , but then , it is widely thought that seriel killers are bred and not just happen.........
Oh dear I've opened a can of worms in my head.
How many people out there planned their kids?
How many are brave enough to say that they regretted that decision?
I listened to her this afternoon interviewing a 30 year old woman who demanded a sterilization on the nhs because she knew she didn't want children ever!
The woman was articulate and unwavering in her beliefs, yet I thought it interesting that the woman's own mother had requested a sterilization which she had requested a reversal so that she could bare children from a second marriage.
Feltz explored the fact that the interviewee's upbringing was poorly parented . The woman's father had also comitted suicide and it was incredibly sad to hear the woman admit that her own mother regretted having any children.
I wonder if the regret of having children is ever real? Ok if your son turned out to be Jeffrey Dahmer the seriel killer then you may furnish some disappointment in the decision , but then , it is widely thought that seriel killers are bred and not just happen.........
Oh dear I've opened a can of worms in my head.
How many people out there planned their kids?
How many are brave enough to say that they regretted that decision?
I'm In Trouble
I fell asleep at the kitchen table this morning with my head resting on that flamingo and woke up over an hour later with an orange shaped pressure sore on my forehead which was colour pink. The prof likes this fruit cover, he says it stops Albert farting on the oranges.I was woken by Mandy my neighbour, who wanted to know if the chickens would eat an old christmas pudding.
The Flower Show Committee
Terry , my nemisis is second from left
Anyhow a day ago, I recieved a facebook message from Ann fronm the flowershow committee. It
on behalf of husband Terry who is currently 2:0 down in our yearly needle match.
And I am in trouble.........for Terrence , the wily old bastard, has chosen a range of cakes for our bake off as well as a plate of Welsh cakes, which are Terry's speciality.
So if anyone has a fullproof chocolate cake recipe , please let me know!
I'll leave you with some novelty veg photos...please keep em coming
From sue
From anonymous
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