Duelling Banjos

Not everyone in the village is a smiling, happy character right out of The Darling Buds of May. In fact some are just downright mean.
Last night was a case in point.
I was selling raffle tickets door to door when found myself at the door of a somewhat prickly woman I had tried to conscript into entering the flower section of last year's show soon after she had arrived in Trelawnyd from a village further along the coast..
I should have known better, for as soon as she had bought her raffle ticket, she launched into what only could be called a bad mouthing tirade against her neighbours.
I tried to change the subject by complimenting her hanging baskets and planters but this seemed to infuriate her even more and she spat out that she would never enter anything into the show as one neighbour "always won everything" 
I should have walked away, but as she went on an on about how awful people that I actually know, where, I became so irritated that I dropped a grenade into the mix by smiling sweetly and adding " Have you ever thought It could be you?" 
She hit the roof
" Derek! Billy!" She called behind her " This man has just insulted me!" 
It felt as though we were in some strange movie as slowly two large stern rough looking men lumbered to the door behind her and I suddenly realised that the woman wasn't playing cards with a full deck.
Suddenly I had visions of being thumped out of my second best Walking Dead T shirt, so rabbited on a bit about how friendly I HAD found the villagers until the elder man slowly got bored and ambled back inside.
It was the oddest of confrontations .

Gop Hill and The Village

A recent video of the neolithic burial mount on Gop Hill below which the village nestles.
There is a lovely shot of the village at the end!
Relax and enjoy
Ps..tomorrow's post tells the tale of how I was nearly beaten up selling raffle tickets today! 

You need bigger balls!

I'm  now sat at the kitchen table with a large coffee. According to radio 2 research has " proven" that drinking three cups of coffee in a 24 hour period is good for you. I drink one massive cup of coffee in the morning, so I'm doing something right!
One of cockerel bachelors has been attacking a couple of the more timid  neighbours. Nothing serious given his size but it was slightly upsetting for the slightly built Mandy who was actually sharing a few crusts of bread with them at the time.
"Stand you ground, stamp your foot at him, face him and flap your arms like wings" I told her as she gave me a rather dubious look. " He has to know you are a tough bitch with balls bigger than his" 
It seems to have worked as Mandy has been " flapping her arms" like a good un everytime she passes the group as they sunbathe by the field gate.
Back to my coffee.
The sun is shining today too which is lovely. I can catch up with jobs after the torrential rain of yesterday.
My job list is growing as my 500 ml coffee cup empties

Bath dogs,
Order coal and logs, book car service, more phone calls....Flower Show jobs
Paint old Trevor's side fence ( he's paying me!)
Finalise garden entries for Flower Show
Deliver remaining schedules, and sell raffle tickets to the East side of village,
Make turkey meatballs and a tomato sauce from scratch for supper
Write a letter to the village conservation group
But for now......before I start.......I shall sit quietly at the kitchen table with the sun streaming through the window.
And I will drink my coffee

Beetroot rat

The latest novelty veg photos

Zombie celeriac  

Tired & Emotional

I finished SAMS shift at 1am and was happily driving through the village of Dyserth home when a figure in black staggered into the road in front of me , tottered in front of the Spar shop and bounced over the litter bin which looked like R2D2 before landing legs akimbo outside Morgan's Pharmacy.
I stopped and half got out of the car before the figure waved me away
" I'm alright I'm just PISHED !" He called out and in way of an explanation he added " It's my birthday!"
" How old are you? " I asked as he rolled on the floor
" 66! " He slurred
There's no fool like an old fool! 

Catch Ups

I have known this woman for thirty six years!
She looks great...I look like the wreck of the Hesperus
Hey ho

Where does the time go?

Visitors

Wet dog

The cottage smells of wet dog.
I have old friends from Sunny, fragrant Australia popping in and the place reeks of animal!
I've ran around with the fabreeze and in a moment of madness squirted each dog with a few blasts of my clinque Happy...so now the cottage smells of fabreeze, clinique Happy AND wet dog...it's not a nice combination!
It's an awfully wet and dismal day to be visiting Wales a fact made worse by Albert who has utilized the time it took me to drag the dogs around a very wet Trelawnyd in order to remove the prawn filling from some newly made sandwiches left out on the sideboard. ( I say handmade.....handmade by marks and Spencer!!!!)

When we visited our friends in their mansion just outside Sydney the sun was shining and the Kookaburras laughed in the shade of the trees!
Here a bedraggled cockerel is crowing into the rain as damp Mrs Trellis runs past in her kagool

Being Nice

People are suddenly being nicer to me,
At work someone brought me a cake and two scotch eggs were put in the nurses' fridge for my break!
and I received hugs from members of staff that won't see me next weekend when I finally complete my last shift.
"I won't see you again!!!!" one menopausal colleague wailed
" I am retiring NOT dying of cancer!" I reminded her.
It just so happens that four of my favourite nurses are leaving roughly when I do. One is going into nurse education, one into Student support and the other is moving to an ophthalmic ward where the hours and the physicality of nursing is better for her back.
We shall have a joint leaving do, which means more people there but increases the chances that someone who does not like you but likes someone else turns up......
What larks Pip!
Even Ursula or Petra might say something nice to me this week! 

So my question to you all this sunny Sunday afternoon is this?

What was the best compliment someone has ever given you?

 I am reminded  of my grandmother here, who was the Queen of the backhanded compliment.....on seeing that I had made an effort to get my unruly hair neat and tidy for a family do, she commented " oh your hair looks lovely.....from the back!" 

Answers on postcards please!

Queen Lumley

The other night I watched a documentary that was so warm and fuzzy and sweet that I totally forgot the ills of the world for an hour or so
Joanna Lumley's India saw the actress revisit the country of her birth and with a whispering, schoolgirl charm we saw her flit through the Calcutta slums, the Himalaya mountains and Elephant jungles like a smiling and very gracious cocktail party host.
Lumley is a delighterful woman for everything she experiences is either " extraordinary" or " magnificent" and with this slightly naive 1950s way of looking at the world she draws in people of all cultures to delight in her charm and politeness.
At one point as she was driving in an open topped sports car, she greeted a passing street woman standing by the side of the road with a beeming smile and a breathless " hello sweetie"
I was totally beguiled by her