Going Gently

Jason And The Zombies

Some friends, you can just pick up where you last left off
affable despot Jason is one of those characters.
Now in winter, he tends to go to ground and is not really seen until Spring, so in some ways I must of felt grateful he ventured out of Tŷ Wynne as Storm Jorge steam rollered in
" Jorge" Jason said " Sounded rather more like a Brazilian toyboy than an Atlantic Storm
I agreed.
Jason is naturally funny and knows it
Admittedly his humour can be somewhat schoolboy in nature but he has a good brain in his head which is a bonus when he is your theatre companion .
Night of the living Dead-Remix is an interesting theatrical experiment.
It takes the original film which it more or less runs in its original form on one screen and with seven actors with handheld cameras on an innovative set reinacting the whole film scene for scene.
It's a clever concept which is implemented almost flawlessly by the cast who must have been rehursed until they dropped but with the use of miniature models standing in for the exterior shots, I wasn't quite sure if we should have been amused or just impressed with the results.

Jason and I can talk for Wales
We can also laugh all night too.
He's a good person to know and I like him

The cottage was warm when I returned home......in a fit of testosterone I had refitted a new cat flap this afternoon

Zombies to look forward to.....

I hate Saturday mornings
They shriek of couple time and wherever you go , you seem to be surrounded by couples catching up on the mundane and the routine things in life.
I tried to divert myself from coupledom by reading the latest twitter feeds
But it would seem all the gay twitter feeds I follow have hirsute men selfies on them proclaiming goddam awful hangovers and showing a beautiful range of bed linen.
I bought some nice bed linen this morning on the back of it ( special offer in Sainsburys )
It was either that or a cat flap, and I couldn't face the pet store this morning
Not with all those doggy couples about!
The bed linen looks crisp and inviting so bedtime should be a smallish treat tonight
Having said that the wind whistling through the catflap is a pisser .
I've had to fashion a curtain of kitchen tissue in the meantime, which has thrown Albert into a dicky fit.
Later I'm catching up with Jason the affable despot.
We are going to theatre Clwyd to see Night of the Living Dead remix, which is a " remaking" of a famous original zombie movie on stage!
Frothy and rubbish , I suspect, but frothy and rubbish is ideal if you are in the company of some who laughs easily.

A sudden sleet/ snow shower has whistled through the catflap like a rat up a drainpipe, sending the dogs scuttling back into the warmth of the living room.
I now friggin regret not buying one....
Hey ho

Yes, but is it art?

I took some annual leave and went back to bed this morning.
I walked the dogs ,
Brushed my teeth ( yes I have all of my own) and pulled up my bra straps
I also collected my latest creations from pottery class
The bowls are from an artwork instillation I have been recently working on called " fish"
As you can see I am inspired by nature .....
Lol , and before of you get carried away, yes I am taking the piss out of myself.
The bowls are rustic to say the least

Thank You Dorothy

Thursday was a surprisingly down day
I had contacted my husband by email re the final death throe paperwork of my marriage first thing in the morning and the down feeling never left me until I got home after the cinema

Dorothy had a mad half hour of glee when I let the dogs out for a wee walk and she suddenly decided to leap around like a fat antelope and in a fit of showing off like a toddler who is just feeling their mortality often does, she galloped around the garden and bit the heads off nine daffodils just because she could.
So proud she was at her her work!!!!... I just couldn't tell her off....as she finally stood gasping for breath at my feet with shredded petals in her mouth ...and with a grin the size of a split water melon .
I bent down to hug her like she was my own personal star.
And her stubby tail span around like with bulldog pride as if it was a 1970s foodmixer
So happy she was.........at making me feel so happy

In The Mood

I have been intrigued to see the much discussed Korean movie Parasite since it pissed off Trump by winning best film at the Oscars.
So I popped over to Chester , had soup and a pretentious tap at my iPad in the Jaunty Goat
before walking around the corner to the Storyhouse for the 3pm seniors (!!!) showing

I didn't get it.
I mean I understood its message about the haves and have nots in South Korean society
But I just didn't get it!
Sometimes you just have to be in the mood for a certain movie
And I think today I needed something rather different

The dogs shared a pizza tea with me
Happily crunching the crusts noisily in front of the fire
I was glad to get home

I had a hot Bath
A weep
And watched Double Indemnity in bed
Cracking!!!

Barbara and Fred never liked Aldi

76 Years

As you all know I work in a hospice
I am used to watching people closely
And today I was privileged to watch one old friend say goodbye to their lifelong friend.
I noticed the moment when no one else did.
I noticed it because I was looking for it
Unless you are Scarlett O'Hara saying her goodbyes to the saintly Melanie
I think friends can be slightly overlooked in the access to their chums in the dying process as family members often take centre stage and today I watched the briefest of a hand hold and a brave kiss on a forehead before the family took things over
I followed the visitor outside and asked if they were alright
" Seventy six years" they said quietly with tears in their eyes " we've been friends for over seventy six years,"
And I nodded an acknowledgement
" Seventy years is special " I said lamely
" That it is !" The visitor said and we shook hands carefully before they walked head down across the car park

Oh Lord

Sometimes you are just glad that you made the effort with something unknown.
The Royal Ballet's Dances at a Gathering proved to be a pared down and joyous Jerome Robbins journey into Chopin, with a bare stage allowing the dancers to show their skill and their personalities
Stars Marianela Nuñez, Francesca Hayward and Alexander Campbell were real standouts and after an hour of watching them literally open mouthed We then had the fortune to sit through a brand new ballet, Cathy Marston's The Cellist.
Being " back" at the Royal Opera House was always going to be a moving experience for me but I am so glad I was able to see something of so much depth and quality
The ballet centres around the aclaimed Cellist Jacqueline Du Prè and through a series of set pieces we see how Jacqueline fell in love with the instrument which catapulted her to stardom.
The cello is played with sublime skill by Marcelino Sambè who initially and magically becomes the instrument she obviously bonded with as a girl.
The two have a love affair on stage which is incredibly moving to watch and the humans in her life, her parents, sister and husband Daniel Barenboim sort of play a supporting role as multiple sclerosis starts to limit her abilities to perform.
I have never been so moved at the end of a ballet as I was at the end of The Cellist
Unable to move on her own, we see the dying DuPré positioned around the stage by a series of grey figures as she says her goodbyes to her loved ones and as she melts into inactivity into an armchair her cello spins , almost out of control across the stage, playing frantically.
Lauren Cuthbertson literally broke my heart in the lead role.