I almost missed choir " Zoom"
I fell asleep dribbling in my arm chair at 5pm
Choir was 6.30 pm and we sang a Welsh lullaby which was sweet, but I'm too tired to catch up with friends for a proper chat...I wouldn't give it justice
I will do all that tomorrow
Tonight I've had several gin and tonics and with Mary balanced in the crook of my arm have watched Gogglebox and I'll Get This Two brilliant tv shows Cro in his blog today talked about alcohol and the lockdown ......and boy did that bring out a bunfight out of nowhere
Bed soon, in clean, field scented sheets
Stretched taught like when you were a child
I needed to be home tonight
I washed my bedding when I got home after my last night shift and as usual hung it on the field gate to dry when I went to bed.
It tells people I am home
It's a lovely day, bright, warm and full of birdsong.
I took advantage of the fact that the council workmen have not cleared the grass in the Churchyard and cut myself a large bunch of the blue Pentaglossis which I have coupled up with Cow Parsley from the lane in a spare jug for the kitchen table.
It feels so good to be free of work for a few days
We would all like to to think that we grew up in a Town called Maycomb Alabama
Obviously the backdrop of the Great Depression and of racism are not subjects to be trivialised Here , but the thought of growing up with a parent with the stature of Atticus Finch is perhaps every child's ( and indeed Adult's dream) when they survey their childhood with rose tinted or tired eyes
My parents were too wrapped up in their own issues to really be bothered with the moral dilemmas in side their kids' heads. Having said this I do remember one Atticus moment amid a brown 1970s childhood. I had gone to bed , but had got up to listen to a family discussion from the safety of the top of the stairs. The discussion was centred around someone known to the family who had been caught in a gay clinch so to speak and it is important to remember here that in the 1970s, this sort of thing was deemed rather shocking to say the least. Amid the head shaking and the " shame" comments one voice proved to be the voice of reason and balance and that was the voice of my mother. Like Henry Fonda's juror number 8, in Twelve Angry Men , she calmly stuck up for the person involved, patiently giving a human face to the whole situation and pouring oil on a very stormy sea.
Even at twelve , I remember being rather proud of her individual stand against a tide of small mindedness...and even at twelve I knew that she was right and they were wrong.
How's everyone doing ?
I ask that because , after a bit of a straw poll at work, it seems commonplace for everyone to be more emotionally labile now than they were before the lockdown.
Does everyone feel this way?
Well I think they do
Yesterday evening was a case in point
I had just got out of my car at work when a huge wild Billy goat suddenly appeared next to me.
We looked at each other for the longest of times and he remained unmoving and unafraid when I reached into my pocket for my camera in order to photograph him.
I chatted to him and reached out a hand ( which he studiously ignored even though it was literally an inch from his face) but he still held my gaze (something wild creatures are so unable to do ) until it was me that was ready to go
The encounter moved me greatly
The ringing of the Church Beall on Thursday night brought out a plethora of emotional comments on the village what's app and Facebook groups. Many of the villagers who had probably never even stepped inside the Church were moved to tears by the tolling of its bell and I thought then, that significant weight had changed to the more simple of events, that would not have held any emotional importance when not in lockdown.
There is no real getting away from it
We all have been truly affected by the events of the past two months
And we have been affected so much more than we care or choose to admit
Am I right?
Or is this the rambling of a middle aged old drama Queen
Stuck on overtime night shifts
How I envision myself ringing the bell next week!!
The Royal Opera House House is tonight streaming for free their latest ballet Anastasia You can catch it on their Facebook and YouTube channels and kick off for the debut is 7 pm tonight.
I'm working later but I will be sure to watch the production some time next week. The Royal Ballet holds a special place in my heart, and it's been over a year since I last went
Oh to be sipping a gin and tonic in the conservatory bar again
It's been a nice 24 hours
Lockdown can be nice
If you're lucky.
The roses are a gift from my elder sister. Their fragrance is wonderful and already is filling the cottage like a warm hand. She and my brother in law chatted over the garden wall in the sun.
No real news, just checking in .....
Without the tv last night , I caught up with some Sheffield friends
I'll watch the Great British Sewing Bee tonight
I hope Mark and Claire were not booted out
There was a funeral here in the village this morning.
A lady from Bron Haul who had been poorly a long time.
She kept cats which surrounded her bungalow like confetti
One of her floral tributes was black cat.....I liked that.
Village Elder Islwyn had cut open the grave very neatly before the gravedigger arrived and we chatted for a while before I bumped into the vicar by the lytchgate.
I like the new vicar
He is bright and friendly and his smile is genuine
He said he was happy for me to ring the bell on a Thursday night once it is hopefully fixed
His white surplus glowed in the spring sunshine as he stood waiting for the funeral cars to turn up.
Hattie left me a couple of chocolate brownies on the kitchen wall this morning too and I ate them as I planted out animal Helper Pat's bedding plants into containers and baskets.
The concrete square behind the kitchen wall looks softer and greener than it did
I bought and fixed up a new tv, chatted to Blog Rachel on what's app and lit the fire before 6 pm
It's cold out of the sun
And finally! And most wonderfully
Thanks to tim and Ian
Bulldogs are like toddlers
They run against walls without braking
And have no off button!
I love them dearly , but they can drive a girl to total distraction!!!!
Yesterday afternoon the devil caught Winifred in youthfull mode .....
She and Dorothy became quite giddy with themselves after being given a handful of cocktail
sausages each as a treat and both decided to give Albert a run for his money as he ambled rather suavely through the cottage for a sleep after a morning slaughtering baby rabbits on the field .
The resulting chase had bulldogs bouncing off every wall and it was only after a deafening crash when things went incredibly quiet and I ran in with eyes like ping pong balls !!!
The bulldogs had smashed the tv and they both knew they were in trouble
I had ear marked my overtime of this week to play for Winnie's vet bills
And instantly I realised I now had to use it to pay for a new 15 inch tv.
So when I walked in both Dorothy and Winnie ran for the kitchen reading chair where they were banished to for the rest of the evening!!!
And there they stayed, grunting and groaning their apologies
I may forgive them fairly soon
But it won't hurt leaving absolution for a few more hours
