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My Sister Ann Williams BEM ( British Empire Medal)

I have known my sisters for 56 years.
56!
It's the longest relationships I've ( or they've ) ever had.
I'm sure that Ann won't mind me stating that she is 70 this year, actually her birthday is next week and she has arranged an open house celebration at a shabby chic hotel in Sitges to mark the event.
Circumstances meant that we were unable to go, but finally after a bit of wrangling and some   Herculean easyJet Internet work I've managed to sort a flight and have organised a whistlestop jaunt to Spain .
My entire family will be there the day I go and it is right I am there to raise a glass to a family matriarch who has stood in my corner for over half a century. 

Never Enough

EveryONE has a story

The other week I saw teenage boffin out walking with a young lady, they were ambling down the lane chugging beers as they did so.
I waved from the car!
Last night when messaging the boffin about prospective dog sitting I asked him about her
"I KNEW you'd be itching to ask me 😂😂😂."
Came the reply!
I'm such a transparent nosey old git!

Everyone has a story to tell.
Everyone.
And we often forget that, so obsessed we are with our own lives, and the lives of celebrities and the famous.
Mrs A stopped by the kitchen wall yesterday. She marvelled at a deep purple clematis flower that was growing over our back shed.
" Many years ago I once went to a dance in Mayfair with an officer of the Coldstream guards and wore a flower like that in my hair" she remarked rather wistfully
" The Guards'  motto rather suited him" she added with a sly smile " it translates from the Latin as second to none "

Like I said....everyone has a story to tell
You only have to ask.....
I cut her a flower and presented it to her over the wall.....

Everything Has A Story

I started full time paid employment in the September of 1980 when I was just 18
I was a junior bank clerk at the National Westminster Bank in Rhyl.
I was a terrible employee, but I was popular enough with the junior staff, a big bunch of youngsters who worked behind the scenes in the machine room.
In October 1980 I received my first pay cheque
And what did I buy?
A CB radio? A new grandad shirt?. Brand new furry seat covers for my Austin 1300? The latest Yazoo LP?
Naw
I bought a Carlton ware 1930s lobster fruit bowl

And I was pleased as punch with it

Postscript 
On Friday I received a fuel delivery from our local coal merchants. As the delivery guy stopped to present me with the invoice he noticed the bowl on the kitchen counter top and said pointed to it saying " I like that!" It was only then I realised I had owned it for 38 years

Fathers

My father in 1945

It's Father's Day here in the U.K.
So I thought I would let the readers do the leg work, seeing that if is often the case that they have the more interesting stories than I do.
My father died back in 1989, so time has kind of dulled my memory of him now. But he was a strong character within the family even though he wasn't a hands on dad like the sensitive  and 'present' ones we see today.
I have always had an aversion to men wearing jewellery. This slightly irrational dislike stems from childhood bathroom moments when my father would occasional encourage  me to wash my hands and face. His supervision would always take on a slightly exasperated air and when my fat little hands didn't move as quickly as he would like he would rub the soap over them brusquely, often catching his wedding and signet rings on my skin as he did so.
A small memory perhaps but one, on reflection , that left its mark.

So what are your small, or significant , painful or joyous memory of your father on this Father's Day?

Thank You

Several hours of good food,conversation,  wine, and two chatty girls competing with each other to tell the best ghost story. Thank you to the affable despot family for an evening of sweetness.

Film Fest

The tv is broken , which can only be a good thing.
So last night was a bit of a marathon of film waiting via laptop.
I sobbed at Fernanda Montenegro's performance in Central Station...thought that My Best Friend's Wedding looked ever so slightly dated and lost myself in How to train a dragon 

Today I am off to Chester with my sister in law then it's a barbecue with the affable despots .
No film watching today

Fernanda

Julia 

Watching

Winnie has been watching me from her corner of the couch.
Her piggy eyes look curious and a tad concerned....I've been watching the sob fest My Best Friend's Wedding
After an age she dragged herself up with a sigh and after hitting the floor heavily she ambled over to my arm chair and lifted her giant fat paws on my footstool in order to present her face to mine.
You can kiss me she indicated
And I hugged and kissed her giant gintrap mouth like a sad child would kiss his grandmother