Supportive Post

A friend of mine is having big problems in work, so I am sending them all my positive vibes this evening.....

I told them that they should be a bulldog
For after the switch on of the fairy lights in the cottage window
Winnie has spent most of the evening watching them twinkle through sleepy half lidded eyes

The Prof came home early tonight, I was expecting him back after nine. He was tired as it was Graduation day at the University. He ate the leftover turkey lasagne, 5 homemade mince pies and fell asleep. Thanks to animal helper Pat, who gave me the mincemeat....we've missed her in the village..she's been cruising around Barbados for the past few weeks

Who said Trelawnyd is parochial

Shit I've just lost 5 followers! 

Christmas 1985

Christmas week 1985 I was  shadowing a community psychiatric nursing sister with her caseload in the deprived and depressing northern town of Runcorn.
Through a succession of faceless maisonettes, we sat on grubby sofas and listened to  sad stories of loneliness, mental illness and substance abuse and I watched as my mentor tried her best to keep heads above water and bums out of the local psychiatric unit.
The last visit of the day was to a woman called Jean.
Jean lived alone in the top flat of a ten story complex. She had suffered from severe mental health problems for forty years and had recently been placed in her flat from long term psychiatric care only a few months before.
I remember her flat very well. There was no carpet in the hall and the living room but there was a tiny tinsel Christmas tree standing on top of a large black and white tv.  A homemade fabric stocking was hung on the fire surround and just two Christmas cards  were perched on the mantle.
( one of those cards having been sent by my colleague) The flat was sparse but incredibly clean and it was evident that Jean had been waiting for our visit all day.
In mismatching cups we were offered coffee with powdered milk and a single mince pie served on a paper plate and I remember sharing a sad glance with the nurse when Jean presented us both with gifts hastily wrapped in cheap Christmas paper. My gift was two placemats with photos of cats on them. The nurse received a small yellow vase, and I remember Jean beaming with delight when we both thanked her effusively for her kindness.
When we washed up our own cups, the nurse quietly checked the fridge, noting that most of the shelves were empty . There was a calender on the wall with the note " NURSE COMES TODAY" written on that day's date. Nothing else was written on it until the week of new year's eve, where the same sentence was written.
It was the very first time that I had experienced someone who was so totally isolated in a community setting and it shocked and saddened me.
I listened as the nurse talked about medication, and as  I waited patiently when she took Jean into the bedroom to administer a regular injection I noticed a carrier bag which the nurse had tucked away by the side of the arm chair shortly after we arrived. In it was a package of cold meat, and what looked like chocolates and a cake.
Before we left, we let Jean monopolize her only conversation of the week and as she retrieved our coats, I watched and grew a few years older as the nurse silently slipped a ten pound note behind one of the cards on the mantle.

Christmas E Card

thanks to Francine who sent me an e Christmas card from Ohio
It's my most decorative one to date

In The Mood

It feels rather Christmasy this morning.

Bright and sunny with the sun low in the sky.

I dropped a natty Prof off at a local conferenc centre

He looked mighty fine in his best suit.

I was wearing my pyjama bottoms under my trousers.

On the way home, I stopped at the drive through to buy an egg muffin and coffee

The girl on the intercom was being playful

" what's your Christmas wish?" She asked

" World peace " I told her

It got me in the Christmas mood
Driving back I sang

" These three kings of orient are
Selling knickers a pound a pair
How fantastic!
No elastic!
Selling a pound a pair!"

That hug

Just watched it again! 

Sigh

Ochr Y Gop

This morning I've hand delivered most of the village Christmas cards.
By the time I reached Ochr y Gop farm which overlooks Trelawnyd on the side of Gop Hill, I was wheezing a bit, my chest infection still hasnt quite cleared it would seem.

Ochr y Gop 

After that deliveries literally went down hill.
I stopped briefly outside Mrs Trellis' house. The windows were open and I could hear her singing as she practiced the piano.

Ps and a big thank you to The Weaver Of Grass The bobble hat is lovely! Xxxxx

Hearts Still Beating : The Walking Dead

Daryl's hugging everyone now! 

The Walking Dead now has a break until February, and after a much discussed ( and criticized) seventh season half where five storylines have all been explored separately, the fans have finally  been rewarded with what they wanted, namely Spencer getting fish gutted and " Team Rick" finally getting together after what seemed like an age apart.
One of the strengths of The Walking Dead is that the writers have developed a strong ensemble core of characters, that you care about. This is a hard one given the multiple layers of antisocial and apocalyptic  behaviours we have seen over the last five years ...so it was with genuine happiness when we witnessed Rick et al meet up with Maggie, and then Daryl ( with big girly hugs no less!) as the family reunited after the murders of Abraham, Glen and the unfortunate Olivia

The stage is now set for the " tribes" to band together against Negan and his band of cut throats. I hope Carol is returned to some normality to join in with the battle, which is set to rival anything seen in The Game Of Thrones .
I'll miss it.....roll on February 

Share One Memory

A rather jaunty Winnie this morning

What's your most vivid Christmas memory?

It may be sad........hopefully it isn't
It may be happy ( I hope it is!)
It may be just powerful, arbitrary, goofy, bizarre or just plain banal.
Whatever it is, I'd be interested in hearing it..........today, all warm in my shit Christmas jumper, I shall be shopping ( on line), Christmas card writing, gift wrapping and , if I have time sorting out miniature hampers for Greta and sister Janet who will be baby sitting Winnie and George respectively over the Yuletide.....after another early night, I am beginning to feel a tiny bit more human.

In bed this morning, when I was dragging myself out of that paralyzing moment between waking and actual movement I mused about a whole collection of Christmas memories

- a dreadful, lonely Christmas day in Sheffield when my car broke down leaving me home with a pork pie for lunch!
- a wonderfully funny post Christmas dinner family variety show, with everyone performing an act
- unintentionally getting a group of psychiatric patients rather drunk after plying them with Sherry that I was told was non alcoholic ( and getting bollocked by a stern nursing officer in the process)

My final choice was a fleeting moment of just a few seconds, experienced on a Christmas morning many moons ago.
The Prof ( who had hair then) and I ( who had a waist) had swapped gifts in front of the fire. In that post gift frenzy we retired onto the couch under the dining room window and had a hug where we were immediately joined by our first Welsh terrier Finlay, Scottie Maddie and an old cat called Joan.
It was a strange moment, for without anything needed to be said, it suddenly felt like " home"
- an all encompassing  feeling of being " home"
A pile of dogs, homos and cat on a couch!

That is my Christmas memory!
What's  yours?