A Chatty Post

I'll start with another video sent to me by a choir relative who loves carpets
This time it's us singing Tebe Poem which is  Russian Slavonic hymn which I think we in the bass section actually performed exceptionally well given our small numbers..
After hearing it again, I was rather moved
Enjoy

I had an appointment with the bank today but that got rained Off because of work flu so instead we delivered the outlying village Christmas Cards and gifts  then the dogs and I went for a walk down the old railway line.
With William gone George has been elevated in the pecking order and now has teamed up with Winnie, with whom he now sleeps with on the blue arm chair in the living room every night.
Both potter along nicely together when out which is odd as for the past 5 years they have allbut ignored each other.....pack dynamics eh? Who would have thought it .

Old Scottie and Old Bulldog side by side

I've treated myself to a return ticket to London for Saturday . I know it will be busy and I know I shall be tired after working a night shift tomorrow night but I'm going down to spend the day with Nu. She and her hubby Jimbo had very kindly invited me for Christmas with the dogs but I think it best if I go down for the day on Saturday which will be absolutely lovely.....tiring but lovely ......thank goodness I'm not in work until the 29th after that.

Pat the animal helper called round with my usual Christmas Barabrith which was wrapped in silver foil crowned by a red bow and yesterday I had lunch with an old ITU friend Naomi who bought me some chalet Christmas lights which are incredibly sweet...I've had several gifts of decorations this year.......

I'll leave you with a final carpet based video of the Choir's version of soul Wind from Tuesday night..followed by a fallorn looking Father Christmas on a bench

A dapper middle aged guy watched me photograph him with mild interest
" he looks like I feel" he said with feeling
 " I hate Fucking Christmas"

My Christmas Card To You

Our first song of the evening
A bit ropey but we got there in the end
I'm hidden at the back
My love and best wishes to you all.....enjoy

The Concert

Heulwen and Hattie in the front row 

I'm hidden away back left 

We sang 11 songs to a packed pub and novices Heulwen, Hattie and I could have given at least four more encores as fame went to our heads somewhat.
Singing for an audience has a charm all of its own and even if we slightly bollocked up the Maori hymn Jamie our choirmaster ( now sporting a new 1940's RAF moustache ) looked suitably proud of us as we finished with a rousing multi layered version of Auld Lang Syne
I was stood next to one of the Altos ( a chic looking tall lesbian who had indulged in too many gin and tonics during the meal) and she kept trying to grab my hand and sway with me to the African songs which I found a little disconcerting but I had drunk three pints of beer and one gin and tonic by that stage so swayed like a schoolgirl in a Take That concert with the best of them.
Halfway through the concert a concerned Soprano tiptoed into the bass section to see if our. 92 year old Albert needed a chair and was shooed off by the men who informed her that Albert was doing very well thank you.....the old guy buoyed up with masculine good nature and bright humour lasted the course with only a minor sweat on

I'll post some videos of the concert tomorrow when I get them.
It's been a genuinely sweet .......sweet night.

14 lbs

I've lost my first stone at fat club
I was given lots of praise this morning and a star sticker to go home with !
As I left one woman asked me how I've lost the weight in just five weeks
" Geing petitioned in a divorce" I told her

A Wedding Ring and What WOULD Josh Groban do?

The Christmas Wreath on the front of the cottage

The day before my wedding my sisters gave me a series of gifts
Something old , something new
Something borrowed 
Something Blue.......
The something old was my grandmother's wedding ring, one of the very few bits of jewellery she ever possessed.
I found out this morning that I had mislaid it.
And I was distraught.
Click here to see original blog

After turning the cottage upside down without success and feeling somewhat jaded, depressed and still full of cold
I left the mess to it's own affair and went out to deliver the Village Christmas Cards thinking this mundane job would blow away the cobwebs.
Our choir concert takes place tomorrow night and I am in no way prepared for it. I doubt I shall be able to sing properly given the nature of my man flu but I am determined to give it a go,so I picked one song that I have not been able to practice yet, downloaded the bass section of it onto my phone , put in my earphones and marched around Trelawnyd trying to sing the harmony of You raise me up! as I went....
I almost nailed the first verse when Trendy Carol ( in a very nice cream ski jacket) caught me for a chat. I'd sung it twice more when David from Well Street stopped his van to ,tell me I looked " hip" with my earphones in and one look at Jo's three legged whippet in a pair of hot pants on at the old policehouse made me totally forget the difficult bit where the basses have to La La as the Tenors belt out " on your shoulders!" 
( the hot pants, I was informed , were an effort to stop mini accidents around the house)
A car stopped on London Road just after I dropped Hattie's card at her tiny cottage and two sopranos from the choir waved excitedly, they live in the next village along
" Are you ready for tomorrow?" Soprano 1 asked
I told them both I was heavy with cold
Soprano 2 looked worried after I asked if they could suggest anything would help, and she turned to her friend saying " What would Josh Grobin do at times like this?"
" Mime " answered Soprano 1
It's an option, I thought as I walked for home

In all it took me almost 90 minutes to deliver all 50 cards and when I got back home I was Cold but certainly feeling less stir crazy than I was even though I was faced with the depressing mayhem of untidy drawers and hastily searched boxes and files.
I'd just started to clear up my ring searching mess when the phone went.
It was my sweet natured Welsh solicitor in her best sing song voice.
" I've rung you several times John " she explained and my heart sank thinking what else can go wrong in one day
" I opened some documents you sent me the other week and found a small gold wedding ring tied with a blue ribbon tucked away amongst things " 
She had found my grandmother's wedding ring!!!!

Poor Baby Baby

There is a famous photo of the writer Dorothy Parker that shows her haunted depressive nature. It may of been just a fleeting moment, caught by luck by a journalist's camera but the deadness behind the eyes is unmistakable .
I defy anyone to see any hope in it whatsoever.

I have a patient with such an expression.
She is dementing and at night spends long periods awake in the darkness, her gaze as fixed as Miss Parker's as she waits and longs to go back to a home she has most certainly has forgotten .
She refuses the comfort of a bedroom light, asking for the  one I set hastily set up to be " put out"
The darkness shrouds the reality of a care home bedroom that's not home.

A couple of weeks ago, I called into work to complete some paperwork and took Mary with me.We sought the patient that looked like Dorothy Parker out and carefully I sat  a wounded post op Mary onto her lap.
Mary sniffed a whiskered  chin with good nature as she was patted with a flat palm
And the deadness behind the eyes lifted
" Baby Baby Baby" the patient whispered " poor baby , baby baby"
It's a cruel disease 

Santa's Sack

Ten days to go and I think Ive bought all the gifts I need to. The craze for buying your pets Christmas gifts has thankfully passed me by as I find the whole phenomenon of doggie stockings a pointless and somewhat perplexing activity
So ive saved some money there

Its our choir concert on Tuesday night and as instructed by Jamie our choir master , I invested in a cheapo Christmas Jumper for the night...its my
last major Christmas indulgence..working tonight again do Im off to bed after rubbing the soles of my feet with vicks

Clingy

Strangely, out of all of the cottage animals, it is Winnifred that has been most affected by William's death. Although she remains her usual lugubrious self, the old girl has become more clingy as of late and now will follow me upstairs when I go to the loo or when I go up to make the bed .
Just now, she is sitting my my side as I splutter my way through a lem sip and a packet of tissues, and will no doubt follow me to bed when I go up in an effort to shake this cold I am suffering from.
She's a giant emotional sponge is Winnie.
That's one of her strengths.
And one of her weaknesses.

I'm feeling sorry for myself today as my cold is making me headachey and muzzy.
Being alone with man flu.....made me envious of a gay couple I followed as they were doing their good natured shop around Sainsbury's this morning.
My basket of cold meds, tissues, small bottle of milk and cat food made me feel like a right sad sack.
I miss a cool hand on a hot forehead and a gift of a cup of hot lemon

I have to go into work tonight and tomorrow too..
No work
No pay.

Hey ho