Eleanor

Chic Eleanor was standing at the bar brandishing two goldfish bowls of gin when I walked through the doors of The Crown at 6.30pm
" Darling John ! Early doors ! Who would have guessed it!?" 
The pub is always nicely busy on a Friday teatime and it was nice to say hi to a few familiar faces before we found a table not far from the fire
I adore Eleanor, for she is comfortable in any setting she finds herself in
She smiles, she is gracious and she is genuine
I told her that the mysterious P ( one of my blog followers) is interested in meeting her.
" How delightful, is he a dish?!" She cooed
We gossiped for an hour before wanting chips in a bowl
Unfortunately the chef had left early!
The youth club in the village hall finished around 8pm and the supervisors must of galloped over to the pub for a much needed large wine and I hugged Bridget ( the main supervisor) when we got up to go
" We don't see much of you around the village " another drinker said from his barstool perch next to her  and I thought how lovely it was catching up with people at teatime rather than later in the day
I could see that Eleanor agreed
" Darling this early doors thing is quite the fun thing, we must do it again!" She mused swirling her pashmina like batman's cape before we left

Serendipity

I was chatting about serendipity only yesterday over dinner
I've benefitted from this strange and seemingly fickle phenomenon over the past 18 months and one day I shall share some of the stories of its golden touch here on Going Gently but for now I shall share a little moment of more recent serendipity joy.

The day before my wedding my sister's gave me my grandmother's wedding ring. It was wrapped in a blue ribbon and was the something old in that old fashioned  wedding gift tradition way.
I was incredibly touched by the gift and kept the ring safe with my wedding certificate .

Over the divorce , I had to send  my wedding documentation off to my solicitors and without thinking the ring ended up with some office clerk who kindly researched where it may of come from and returned it to me.
The ring was placed in my wallet for safekeeping but like things do when life is fraught it suddenly went missing from its second safe place around a year ago.
I've scoured the cottage for it over the past months, without success.
I was mortified

Anyhow a few days ago I cleared out a load of old books from under my bed. I bagged them up into carrier bags and took them to the local charity shop but not before I noticed a small Christmas cracker lying amongst the flotsam of one bag
The Christmas cracker I recognised . It was a tiny one from a box of ten 1940s Christmas decorations I had bought from an antique fair decades ago, so I pocketed it inside my hoodie with the thought of returning it safely.

I found the cracker today. I'm doing washing and like a good housewife was emptying my pockets of snotty tissues and dog poo bags and there it was like a small toffee wrapper.

I remembered where I had placed the box of crackers and located it in the small arts and crafts writing bureau in the living room.
Inside the box were nine another crackers and almost hidden underneath them was my grandmother's wedding ring which had been carefully attached to a  wooden tag of a Welsh terrierby me and then forgotten
It had finally been sent back to me

Friends

Some bloggers turn out to be exactly what you expect in real life
Tonight I met David from Travel Penguin (https://travelpenguin.blogspot.com/) and his husband Jay
In a whistle stop visit from Washington, via Ireland and London we all met up for a wonderful meal at The Castle in Conwy
A lovely chatty evening.

I'm off today and tomorrow before another run of nights and was only thinking of what to do tomorrow when Chic Eleanor drove past in her sporty red sports number
" Darling John " she crooned out of the window " Gin and tonics Friday teatime , over a bowl of chips ..how about it?" And with a fling of a pashmina corner she was gone!
What fun

" Cutchiface"

Dorothy is becoming a powerful and rather energetic little dog
The more confident she has become the more I have to lead her in public, so rambunctious and bouncy and excited she is when out of the house!
Her main problem is her amazing ability to jump and jumping she loves to do directly at you in a wide mouthed google eyed way.
With no thought of the ramifications of dirty paws and muscular legs.
I am training her slowly
She is always put on the lead and under control if another dog or walker approaches and when she does get too bouncy, an outstretched hand and a sharp turn sidewards often stops her in her tracks
It's a work in progress.
Today she had been left to run on a totally deserted walkway in the weak spring morning sun when out of the blue a middle aged woman suddenly appeared in view climbing through brambles out of a field.
Dorothy was perhaps forty feet from the woman and a good sixty feet in front of me and she stopped dead still looking worried.
Then I heard the woman say to Dorothy " Hello cutchiface!"  in an overly friendly way.

Now I must stop here for a moment to add a bit of colour to the proceedings
" Cutchi face" is a a sort of hybrid Liverpudlian/ Welsh greeting of long ago.
Cutchi is an English version of the word Cwtch which means hug or cuddle in Welsh
Hence Cutchi face  literally means huggable face

Hearing such a friendly greeting coupled with an open arm welcome, Dorothy literally jumped at the chance for some affection and so ran forward and effectively dropped kicked the woman mid chest at ten feet away.
Both disappeared through the brambles with a cry before I could even open my mouth.

The first thing I saw when I ran up was a single half Wellington boot lying poignantly amid the brambles
Dotty had literally knocked the woman out of her shoes!
Luckily there was no injuries apart from a very muddy coat and a very dirty sock and after a bit of struggling I had the woman back on her feet in a matter of minutes
" She moves quite quickly for a bulldog" the woman observed wryly as Dorothy smiled desperately at everyone involved

" I'm so sorry" I gushed , hoping not to be sued " These dogs will be the death of me !" 
" Almost the death of me " the woman corrected

Old Brown Eyes

I got home late
On the back door step,
A red rugby hoodie and two boxes of cat food.
On the front door step another letter from my solicitor and a rice pudding under foil
Enjoy Miss Gayle
This is a lovely version of the a Tom Waits classic 

Tits Up!!!

Some days are just shite

My mobile phone magically decided to shut down at breakfast time just as I was what's apping a friend about meeting up for lunch.
The little cunt ( and Im talking about the phone and not the friend) demanded a security password totally unknown to me and so for at least four hours, I searched the Internet for ways of bypassing the problem .
Finally I now have a functioning phone, no internet banking and have lost numerous contacts and so much information it actually hurts.
I hate the I've actually become one of those new age people who literally can't function without a friggin phone!!!!

My friend cancelled lunch

Mary nipped the fingers of the new postman who forgot that he was supposed to use the box by the front door to deposit letters into and I had to apologise profusely to be given aletter from my fucking solicitors who demanded another ( and arbitrary) £216.00!!!!!! Payable RIGHT NOW!!!!!!

I went to the bank for help with my app
( no luck) then dropped and smashed a jar of mayonnaise in Aldi
Before coming home and flopping on to the bed for a moment of peace.

I woke up groggy and disorientated and in the dark.
I have now fucking missed choir practice

Late Post

I told a story today.
I told a story like my mother told her stories
I told a story which amused me
I think I remembered it right

Back in the late 1980s my eldest sister and her husband went to see a movie
They weren't big film goers.
Middle class and well spoken they sat through Bruce Willis Die Hard
An interesting choice given its language and violence.
In those days the ice cream lady still came around with her tubs

And my sister turned to my brother in law and in her well spoken brogue said loudly
" Do you want a fucking ice cream motherfucker or don't you?" 

Mighty Fine Coffee

Jorge blew himself out overnight and Sunday blossomed into spring this morning.
I had fixed the broken cat flap yesterday in a fit of testosterone and so the kitchen was warmed nicely by the weak sun by the time I got up at 8.30 am.

Mary,Dotty and I walked through the scores of dog walkers and kids on scooters that lined the Dyserth Walkway and went for breakfast at Y Shed ( English translation The Shed duh!) 
The cafe does lovely illy Coffee and the best bacon sandwich this side of Offa's Dyke

.

I saw an old friend with his daughter at one of the tables
Our friendship had kind of come to an end a few years ago after he had left his wife for another woman. I regret not being able to have been impartial at the time.
But sometimes you just have to act the way you do.
We shook hands and chatted briefly and politely.

The Coffee was indeed a delight as was my sandwich, which I shared with the dogs.
The walkway was sunny and somewhat crowded with walkers and I was reminded Gently of walks past around Central Park. So Jaunty and animated the atmosphere was.

Sunday jobs are on the agenda today
Car cleaning
Soup making,
Friend calling
More proper coffee and perhaps a doze in the chair by the window