Most Original Christmas Card

Jamie, with his 1940's RAF moustache actually flew in from Helsinki this evening and was conducting choir practice only a half hour later than usual.
Now that's real dedication.

We are having a "sing off" with another local community choir on the 8th of December. It's a charity event and so it's all good natured
But we want to be the best choir on the night!
Choir practice has gone all a bit Sister Act 2 Back in the Habit

We nailed the Reindeer calling song tonight and battled with Unison in Harmony 

Apparantly the number of Christmas cards bought in the Uk has plummeted over the last couple of years and, to me, this fact is disappointing to say the least.
I love the tradition, especially as the ritual and the time spent in writing the card and posting it to a loved one, is an important part of Christmas to me, as is the ritual of opening the cards in the cottage and hanging them around the living room.
And so dear readers I'm setting you another mini competition
Send me an original Christmas card! The most bizarre and different the better
The most original will be picked on Christmas Eve and the winner will get an " original " prize which will be a special and robust donation by me to a charity in their name!
Christmas Eve is only day I have off over Christmas so let's make it fun !
Send you entries to me

John Gray,

          Bwthyn y Llan , Cwm Road,

          Trelawnyd

          Flintshire,

          North Wales

          LL 18 6EF  UK

Sharing A Bed

I was going to start by saying I miss sharing my bed.
I miss sharing my bed with another man
The alternative to many is a very attractive one.
Cool, crisp white linen sheets
A warm duvet
Pillows soft and easily moulded
Silence
The double bed all to yourself
The ability to do " snow angels " uninterrupted on the bottom sheet
Long, undisturbed slumber
Bliss

Without a naked man in my bed do I tick all of those wonderful singleton boxes?
Do I fucking hell as like?!

Yesterday I got into bed at 10.30 am  The sheets were fresh, the duvet wrinkle free and the pillows plumped
Then like the children out of The Sound Of Music did to Maria when the thunderstorm started , the dogs start to appear.
Dotty and Mary are always first
Each battling for the armpit position.
Mary tends to win because I allow her first dibs
With a mini flounce that would but Vivian Leigh to shame, Dorothy collapses next to her.
She snores loudly in protest of not being closest .
Then Winnie appears and we have the "wandering around on the wooden floor ten minutes" torture until she is ready to haul her great carcass onto the bed.
One on the bed she immediately collapses with a loud fart, snort, or groan
She too then stats to snore.
Albert is always last.
He chooses last as there is less chance of his receiving a rather unwelcomed and rather shocking arse lick.....
He curls up anywhere he can fit.
There isn't any space for bleeding Tatoo from Fantasy Island to squeeze a buttock next to mine, let alone the prospect of any hairy arsed potential boyfriend to manage to creep under my duvet with lascivious intent!
Perhaps Im destined to be single 

3 am

It's just after 3 am and I'm taking a short breath of fresh air on my break time
The sky is an inky black and I can smell the sea from the nearby West shore
I can smell the sea but cannot hear the waves on the beach
Which seems odd
Llandudno seems silent too
Another oddment given the number of  Christmas lights already up and sparkling
A patient had given me a French pastry earlier and I find it in my pocket and eat it
Five hours till end of shift

Saturday

I'm feeling a bit lonely this morning
Not desperately and overwhelmingly lonely
Just the slight lonely that has been bordered by a grey wet day and the prospect of two night shifts .
I was originally working two long days and had arranged to leave a few minutes early in order to get back to the village to see a concert by Blazin' Fiddles but there is sickness at work and I was the only nurse who could cover the nights at short notice.
And so.....Hey ho

Next week is better socially.
Affable despot Jason texted me last night wanting a meet up.
He sent me this video to enjoy
I will now pass it on to you

A Hand In Mine

It's my nephew Leo's birthday today

He's a late teen.

He is Chris's nephew and not my blood relative and our relationship is text based with a heavy biase towards adventure movies, superheroes, DVDs and tv.

I love the intermittent " conversations" we have

I'm incredibly fond of the boy who is now almost a man .

My nephew has Aspergers, and so the texts are concrete, " unemotional" and often factual in nature and as a person with no experience of the needs of someone with autism, I have made an effort over the years to learn about the challenges of the condition.

It's clear to me that most people have no clue of the nuances autism possesses. 

Three years ago now we took Leo to London on a shopping expedition after a booked trip to see the Star Wars exhibition at the O2. 

The trip went mighty fine. 

But I remember one moment when we crossed the road near Trafalgar Square  the noise of a nearby  group of protesters suddenly rose to a crescendo. 

I remember thinking that sudden loud noises may be a potential problem for Leo and I wondered , a bit helplessly, just what I could do to make things easier.

I need not have worried

Quietly Leo slipped his hand into mine as we crossed the road and held it firmly until we moved into a quieter part of central London.

I remember being terribly moved by this tiny but very human moment of the visit.
Writing about it today made me cry 

Giving you a finger

It's been a very busy day
The consultant came around and thanked each of the three nurses on duty personally for their work towards the end of the shift
Which was a nice touch I thought!
All three of us have been on our feet for 11 of our 12 hour shift

I have a deformed left hand index finger which a little boy, a patient's visitor,  has been somewhat intrigued with!
When I was drawing up an injection he asked me what indeed had happened to it
I told him that I was bitten by a bad tempered snake who refused to let go
He giggled when He saw I had trouble getting latex gloves on
And...... believed me

My finger is aching tonight.
It may be arthritis ! Who knows
Look carefully at the photo and you can Winnie staring up the staircase...
She'd been chasing Albert during their mad half hour after dinner
There's still life in the old gal

A First

I was hypnotised today

No I didn't cluck like a chicken 

Nor did I scream like a girl when hands were clapped.

I just sat on a comfortable sofa in Cheshire covered in a warm throw with my eyes closed and my hands in my lap

And I travelled a long, long way, to a time long ago

Callîng Finland's Reindeer

I was hoping that we were going to sing this song tonight
But unfortunately we will nôw be going over it next week!
We sang it last week, and it is a piece that gets under the skin and makes the hair on the back of your head prick....it's truly lovely when the individual pieces are staggered
I had tears in my eyes when we sang it
Apparantly it's a Scandinavian reindeer calling song!
Just right for our concert on the 8th of December!!!!
I love my choir but I would dearly love to sing it with 400 hairy vikings!!
Who wouldn't
Go figure !!!

The Trelawnyd contingent of the  Gwaenysgor Community Choir met in the village pub tonight
before rehearsal. Heulwen, Hattie and I had a good old laugh and a nice gossip.
There are decades between our ages and it matters not a jot!

Next time we go I may invite gentleman farmer and fellow bass, Peter!
He looks and sounds like Ian McKellen
And is dry as a nun's chuff