Ten Years On

Sue

After seven years Sue at " Our New Life In The Country" has written her last blog post. She says she wants her privacy back, and that is understandable given the fact she has a huge following who enjoy reading of her life in the Welsh hills, some twenty miles west of Trelawnyd.

She will be missed.

I have been writing Going Gently for a decade now. Almost every day, over a coffee, I have written down this diary of events ( or non events) the way I see them , and for a decade, with perhaps an occasional exception. I have enjoyed the ritual. 

That's why I do it. 

There is also another valid reason why I blog and that is vanity. 

Going Gently , to me , is like a painting in a museum or a book on a shelf or indeed a film locked away in a film can, for it's now " here" for good! An indelible tribute to colourful characters, loved animals who spend all-too-short lives rubbing along with you and to a small life with all of it's mundane highs and lows .

Sue, left her mark in the blogosphere and has touched others in the process. So have I .

You have to be a real sociopath not to enjoy the fact that others enjoy you. 

Vanity, validation whatever it is....

Write a blog, and for the length of time you write.....you are immortalised ...

Well as long as the World Wide Web survives in the ether

Sully

The Prof says it's bright and clear and sunny in Norway.
It's rather dull and drab here.
I took myself off to the cinema this afternoon to see Clint Eastwood's latest movie SULLY .
Sully is the nickname of Chesley Sullenberger, the pilot who landed his airliner on a freezing Hudson River after it was struck by a flock of birds soon after leaving LaGuardia airport  in 2009 and the film tells the story of the forced landing ( albeit in flashback) and the subsequent National Transportation Safety Board's investigation who sought to prove that Sullenberger could have landed his aircraft safely at the airport.
I suspect Eastwood is very much like Sullenberger, as the film, like the pilot, is a calm, unpretentious and unshowy piece that reeks of professional storytelling and unsentimentally.
Played with a quiet dignity by Tom Hanks, Sullenberger is portrayed as a calm, systematic thinker and obvious hero of the piece. However we do not find much else about him during this 96 minute film.His personality or his personal life are somewhat played down -though we are able to witness  brief snippets of phone conversations he has with his dutiful wife ( an underused Laura Linney) but I suppose that is a minor complaint as the interactions of Sullenberger with his co pilot Jeff Silkes ( Aaron Eckhart) during the emergency literally blows your mind by it's calm control.
Strong silent type heros.........Mr Eastwood would approve of and would, in his day, would loved to have played
7.5/10

Bring It On

We are spending Christmas with the Prof's family down in Kent, so I wanted us to have tasteful  Christmas jumpers for the event.

I did want this Walking Dead jumper but it proved to be too expensive, so I bought this monstrosity at Sainsbury's today
Waddu think?

Is it me or does the bear have a noticeable and actual double chin! 

Winnie And The Professor

Yesterday I was witness to a rare little Christmas scene.
No it wasn't local villager , Dave Smith driving around Trelawnyd dressed as santa as he did on Saturday for the Christmas Fayre.

It was a little moment between Professor and Elderly bulldog......
We were all sat in the living room watching David Attenborough, when I noticed Winnie lift herself heavily from the hearth rug. She ambled over to me and offered her head up to be kissed.
It's a regular demand in a demanding household.
She then made her way to the couch to say a hello to the Prof, and instead of his usual perfunctory one pat of acknowledgement, he moved his legs and surprisingly offered her a place on the couch next to him.
Her eyes widened in shock!
Even though that she had always wanted this moment  this offer had never ever happened in her three years at Bwthyn y Llan and she hesitated, unsure of exactly what to do. She looked at me, then back at the Prof who have her a Roger Moore eyebrow look, and waited to be asked again.
Surprisingly he didn't only ask her again, he stood up and gestured for her to jump up onto the couch, then, when she hesitated again, he half lifted her up onto the cushions.
I had to giggle at her expression when the Prof propped his legs up next to her and covered them both with his warm woollen throw
Within seconds, a contented look upon her face, she rested her big fat head onto the Prof's knees and  promptly fell asleep as we watched tv in front of the fire.
I sat quietly in the armchair as surprised as Winnie had been
I had never seen The Prof act so affectionately towards her !!

Cariad Bach

The nurse in charge of intensive care told me that we had had  a lady from the village admitted.
It was a villager I know fairly well.
Before we were allocated to our respective patients, I popped over to her bed space to check on how she was doing.
Intensive care disguises patients well.
It covers patients with tubes and lines and drains and cables.
It masks faces with endotracheal tubes and oxygen masks and through necessity removes personalised clothing for gowns and clean sheets.
From the centre of such a collection came a weak sing song voice
" Hello Cariad Bach " it trilled
" Cariad Bach " is a rather old fashioned term in Welsh.
It literally means " little sweetheart" or " little loved one" 

The nurse in charge, reads Going Gently , I think, for when I got back in line for the allocation , she asked me, in a somewhat theatrical stage whisper " is she one of your old ladies? " 



  

Christmas Fayre

The Cameron family, who worked incredibly hard preparing the Fayre made a real success of the afternoon. I with seven stalwarts from the Flower Show committee manned the refreshment table and kitchen, (which was a job in itself!) aided by Eirlys, and Mrs Trellis

Karen  who knitted a hat for me a few years ago with my own sheeps wool was one of many stall holders!

 Mrs Trellis ( in the bobble hat ) selling hotdogs!

Santa ( Dave Smith from Bryon Street) turned up on his moter bike! 

A slightly obscured view of the village school children singing on the stage

( I don't think I ever want to hear " little Donkey" ever again

Off to bed now, on night shift later

Fayre

I'm just about to go to the hall to help out with Sandra Cameron's Christmas Fayre.
I'll post some photos of it later before going to work.
The Prof has harrumphed a bit and has been sent shopping
Apparently the PA system has a pink microphone
Sandra asked if I minded! 

Help?

Every year our small collection of Christmas decorations seem to grow just a little more.
Some, items have been with us an absolute age.
These vintage  2 inch crackers have been knocking around for years and years.
I was told that they came from America in the 1940s
Does anyone out there know if that's true
I'd be interested to know