Homeward

To die for

Hey Ho

Saddlers Wells Theatre didn't let the audience into the auditorium until 7.40, ten minutes after Mathew Bourne's production of his Cinderella ballet was due to start.
After we sat down we were told that because of a "power problem" the production had been cancelled .
I was disappointed for sure as was Nu, .....we had so looked forward to see the production !
However Mathew Bourne, after apologising on line did comment that his production was touring so could be seen at another venue ....I think he  forgot  that some people had saved for an age to see his wonderful ballet

I felt for the woman who complained on line tonight. She had booked her ticket in March. Paid for her train tickets from Scotland and a hotel and was hoping the ballet would be the highlight of her 50 th birthday!..she obviously didn't come down to London often!

....I paid 89£ to go to London.....
But I am lucky ...I'd pay that anyway to see Nu
Anytime!

Busted

Well my attempt at my " Guess what I'm doing?" Blog entry was as successful as serving a pork chop at a Jewish wedding...
I'm on the way to London to see Nu and to go to see Mathew Bourne's ballet Cinderella which will be great fun.
As I am catching up with other blogs , I was reminded just how unintentionally funny regional television could be and when answering a sort of meaning of life question on one blog I resorted to a punchline I heard a 100 year old lady gave on the Yorkshire calendar tv news programme many moons ago now.
Slumped in an arm chair in the obligatory nursing home day room was a slightly vague looking old crone surrounded by grinning careworkers all wearing party hats
The over made up anchor woman shoved a microphone into the old lady's face and asked the question non of us really wants to hear
" what advice would you give to the viewers to live a long a happy life Elsie?" 
Elsie Dead panned the camera for a moment , then said loudly and clearly
" NEVER STAND UP IN A CANOE!" 

Guess What?

What am I doing later?......

A clue

Talent

Irene

I bumped into Cameron , the  teenage boffin when out walking the dogs.
He was taking photos of the winter scenes out and about and sent me a few this evening
They are truly impressive

Minus Mary

Christmas Cards

Today I have posted the village Christmas Cards. It was cold and according to my Fitbit, I've covered 6.2 miles but now the job is done.

I am now looking at sending Going Gently readers a special Christmas card but cannot quite decide on how it will look like.

Should it be deadpan bulldog festive?

A Welsh terrier card?

A bit of a gay card?

New York snow globe card ?

A Turkey lurve card?

A Slightly rude insult card?

A Christmas video perhaps?

Take your pick....the message is exactly the same

To Everyone who takes the time and effort 

To pop in here to read this drivel 

I wish you all a very peaceful and HappyChristmas 

The Walking Dead mid season finale

oh dear,.........well lets start positively
Big Jerry, Carol, Diane and Judith and Michonne survived the episode.
Rosita almost smiled at Tara .
Dr Carson escaped Sanctuary with Gabriel whilst Dwight made good and joined the good guys as did Siddig
Carol led the Kingdom people to safety
And Daryl led the oh so few Alexandrian survivors out of town in a load of bin lorries as Nabila kicked some ass

Nabila 

Unfortunately the writers now are repeating the mistakes they made in Season four where they had Carol down as a serial killer....they've written a plot that doesn't quite make sense
And like Judge Judy says
"If it doesn't make sense it's not true"
So the saviours suddenly were able to counterattack on a sixpence
So Enid on a quest to get Oceanside on board shot their leader,
Maggie got herself trapped then was unexpectedly released
The dreadful Jadis ran off in the first reel
And because Chandler Riggs starts college this year ( and is still supposed to be 13 or so) Carl bloody well got bitten !
So it's just  The Atlanta Three for season 9.


I still love the programme ....a great final shot in the sewers.

The Christmas Elf

A small  face appeared at the lane window this morning. ,
I knew who it was immediately as the figure was wearing a pointed woolly hat with a large Pom Pom on the top of it.
Mrs Trellis was peeping through the window, she looked like a Christmas Elf and made it clear that she wanted to see the new kitchen.
I motioned for her to come in.
She made all of the right noises about the cabinets then pointed to a small square framed piece of embroidery which I had hung in the space between the window and the glass cupboard.
" That's sweet" she said reading the signature " GH 1988!" 

I had  almost forgotten the story behind the embroidery, it was so long ago now, but I think it's an interesting one and is one worth repeating some twenty nine years after it was made.
When I worked as a new staff nurse on an acute psychiatric ward in York it was usual for each trained nurse to be allocated as a named nurse for a small number of patients. Named nurses were responsible for planning , implementing and evaluating the care of up to three patients and was the go-to person for the patient to go to when a whole lot of crisis surfaced during their admissions.

One of my patients was a young man called Graham.
Graham heard voices and thought people in authority were stealing his thoughts. He became ill as he started University life, a stressful transitory stage in life which sometimes precipitates sudden mental illness.
He was also suicidal at times.and was placed on close observation by staff, which meant you had to be in the same room with him at all times.
These times of observation could be rather stressful and boring, for both patient and nurse so in an effort to forge some sort of relationship and to pass the time , I persuaded the occupational therapy department to give me two embroidery kits for Graham and I to practice with during the quieter times on the ward.
Now back in the eighties ,  the butch members of the nursing staff found it rather strange that a member of male staff and a young male patient were often found sitting in the window seat of the day room embroidering like characters from Pride and Prejudice but the  activity focused Graham's mind on a reality away from delusions and hallucinations and allowed him to trust me even though my needlepoint turned out to be a terrible mess.

When I think back now, I cannot remember what happened to Graham. I remember he improved enough to be discharged home. And I remember him coming back to see me as an outpatient for a few weeks before he went back to university.
He presented me with his embroidery as a gift on one of those return visits.
I wondered  if he did alright .....I never heard from him after that .