3\4 Rainbow

Three quarter the way through night shifts

And Dorothy has now mastered sleeping with me and Mary during the day in bed without losing control of her bladder.

As you can imagine, it makes for a more peaceful day all round.

She still has to get as close as is bulldog-ly possible in order to watch me sleep and more importantly breath, but after the first half hour of anxiety filled dread, she finally relaxes enough to sleep herself, that is,  after she hears me snore like a pig a sound that presumably reassures her that I haven’t slipped away in my sleep. 

The village wardens have all reported in to our leader the Velvet Voiced Linda yesterday evening before I set off for Llandudno which was nice

There was much light hearted discussion about reinstating village stocks after one rather grumpy member of the warden group complained about lights being left on in the village hall but no one had any real news, given the lockdown.

We were all hoping for some sort of social gathering before Christmas....hummm that looks unlikely unless the 30 people outdoor rule changes

My sister Janet visited yesterday afternoon too, but didn’t disturb me as she left a gift in the box by the front door.

A gay rainbow for my window, which was nice.

I’ve been reading about the history of the rainbow flag.

It’s not only the adopted flag of the LGBTQ community ( circa 1970) but also the International peace flag 

It’s brightened the cottage on a very blustery and wet weekend.

dysgu Cymraeg

The Welsh language is a sing song language

It’s musical and very complicated to learn.

I’m beginning to understand more than I ever thought possible

This is a product of working with more Welsh speakers both as colleagues and as patients 

The secret with Welsh is that the Spoken sentences are often constructed back to front 

Let me give you an example 

When you want to say something like 

“Good morning , sorry I am late”

The Welsh will say 

“Bore da, mae’n ddrwg gen i fy mōd Yn hwyr”

Which Literally translates as 

“Morning Good , it’s bad for me, the time late“

Yes complicated but it kinda makes sense after a while

I will leave you with one of the most lyrical and beautiful of Welsh Hymns

Calon Lân which means a Pure Heart

Nos da

Night good!

Films & Books

I think I’m going to lay low this month

It’s not out of choice, believe me.

The lockdown over the North Wales coast coupled with a month filled with night shifts have effectively pushed me into a cul-de-sac of antisocial activity. 

The night money will come in handy. 

The invoice from Mary’s vet came today 😳

At least her infected ear seems better

It fucking well should be for £180 !!

I have decided that I will have to fill the void with some old fashioned winter pursuits, namely reading and video watching. The reading of good books has been put on the back burner since Chris left so over the last two days I’ve done some research and have ordered a load of second hand books on Amazon

Giovanni Room by James Baldovir, Tales of the City by Amistead Maupin, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and You Know Me Well by David Levithan and Nina LaCour

All gay themed and interesting sounding.

I’ve also bought a whole plethora of esoteric dvds  Such as  some Korean Horror movies  like The Wailing and Flu as well as a selection of classics that I feel I know but have never watched 

George Cukor’s The Women, John Ford’s Stagecoach, Fellini’s La Dolce Vita are just a few films on order 

I’m almost impressing myself 

Let’s hope the reality is as impressive

The Walking Dead season 10 finale ( spoilers)

 

Old friends Carol and Daryl

I found the finale on YouTube last night

This happens sometimes if you are lucky 

So I watched it before it could be deleted.

It airs in the US on Sunday

Only read on if you want to know what happened

I guess with Covid rules applying to filmmakers, it is understandable that the finale lacked some of the epic feel of those past. Beta for example gets killed in a somewhat underwhelming way that if you sort of blink and you’ll miss it. The same can be said for Maggie’s return, which seemed totally filled with serene smiles and as for the collective populations of Oceanside, Kingdom, Hilltop and Alexandria all climbing Unseen down a lift shaft to safety, well you have to use your imagination for that.

No the finale was somewhat of an anticlimax  but it had its strengths 

The scenes between Daryl and Carol were movingly observed as were those between Carol and Lydia perhaps finally Carol can mother the daughter she needs so much.....we have only one more series to go to see.

It’s time for The Walking Dead to finish now

Of the entire franchise it’s had the best characters and the best plot lines but it has also suffered from some  Mistakes in storytelling which disappoint and spoil the whole.

But I was still moved with what I saw last night

Gran Fry

I was reading The Lost Language Of Cranes By David Leavitt with my feet in the sun which created a rectangle of gold on the new carpet framed by the little square living room window

The cottage faces south and by 1pm the stone front has become quite warm after the autumn chill of last night.

I must of fallen asleep, just for a moment 

But as my eyes opened and head jerked back slightly the room was suddenly filled with the scent of cold cream and talcum powder.

It was intense and almost overwhelming 

and it was as if my grandmother has just bustled past,

Her big arms filled with laundry 

Her face wide from smiling 

A broad plain blue dress with short sleeves and a short apron

She’s been gone some thirty seven years now

And just occasionally 

I do miss her so 

Comfort Food

 

Chadwick Boseman a sad loss recently

It was a good job that I didn’t understand the new lockdown rules in Flintshire last night when I had that run in with the two “ ladies” last night 

If I had I would have said a little more than just cheap shoes!

The new lockdown in Flintshire has been a terrible disappointment 

Organised cinema trips To Chester are now cancelled , meet ups with Liverpool friends postponed and even our 1940 s moustached choir master is now isolated along the coast, unable to meet us outside our choir venue.

These little luxuries of social contact have been a life saver 

Now many are on hold.

Anyhow I’m luckier than most , so I’ll shut the fuck up...I thought this , at lunch with a friend today when I learned he was about to lose his job thanks to the virus 

All I could do was to treat him to the meal and to listen 

Not much in the great scheme of things

It’s wet and miserable tonight

Sod the diet...comfort food and a real fire is the ticket tonight

A dvd Black Panther and Homemade cottage pie 

I haven’t got much to complain about 

Cheap Shoes

 

I don’t pretend to be nice all of the time.

Certain trolls will bust their pantyhose at the chance to remind you all of this fact.

I won’t disagree 

I can be a real bitch when I’m in the mood.

More about this later, firstly, I must big up Y Shed cafe again. I met my friend Ruth and after a nice walk with the dogs we chatted for hours over a very passable corned beef hash and coffee

Quite lovely in fact

That was this afternoon

Later on, I was indulging in a loud debate with a fellow customer at the checkout in Tesco 

I wasn’t happy.

I wasn’t happy at all. 

I noticed the woman and daughter were not wearing masks as they were yelling at each other about the cost of some luxury ice cream . The younger woman had a baby looped over her arm. 

I gave them a wide birth, out of range of any droplet splatter

Later on, of course, they came up behind me at the checkout .

Loud and brazen 

It’s called sod’s Law

I caught the older woman’s eye and asked her “why no face mask ?”

I had to repeat myself as she couldn’t hear me

“ what’s it to you ?” She snapped back 

“ I’m a nurse and I wear one to protect you as well as myself “ I told her

“ Oh Fuck off “ the younger woman raised her voice “ mind your business “

The cashier looked at me pleading for the argument not to go any further

So I shook my head in a patronising way and looked down 

Both women were wearing plastic sandals below Stretch leggings 

and I resorted to the old tried and tested

“ Cheap Shoes !” I said and the younger woman countered with a “ yer what? “ 

“C h e a p  s h o e s “ I said clearly and rather too loudly 

And I could see the cashier half smile as I walked away 

Ps..local lockdowns in Flintshire and Denbighshire start on Thursday

Pps thank fuck I was wearing my blue brogues rather than my Aldi crocs lol 

A Stream Of Thoughts

 Only 48 hours or so after I publicly announced that I am happy being single 

I have been propositioned by two men. One, I haven’t heard from in a long time ,texted me hoping for a quick roll around in the sheets 

The other had more obscure needs and wanted a Sort of date. 

I’ve politely refused both.

Being asexual is en trend so they say.

So does this mean that I am finally grown up ? or is it as Rachel Philips perfectly explained that us singleton’s  living main benefit is

“.....being answerable only to myself is doing what I like, when I like, how I like and at whatever time of the day I like.”

Yesterday around 4 pm I found that I couldn’t sleep and so I got up, donned my fourth favourite Walking Dead T shirt And pants ! and took Winnie and Albert for a short walk into the churchyard.( I had gotten up a few hours earlier and had dropped off the younger girls at Trendy Carol’s )

Winnie is incredibly slow now and Albert seemed to chivvy her along with morale boosting slides under her chin with his entire body but it still took a good seven minutes to walk up the lane and through the lytchgate .

It was warm and sunny and from our bench we lazily  watched the lane as Mrs Trellis tottered down with Blue she left a carrier bag on the kitchen wall which later I found out contained a home made egg custard , three rustic napkins and somewhat strangely a set of pencils tied together with a piece of wool.

The day before my elder sister left bags containing jigsaws, a homemade cake, snowdrop bulbs and a book

That kitchen garden wall seems to possess great magical properties I thought.

A place for gifts!

It has been for years now.

As Mrs Trellis tottered down the lane I was listening to this piece of music. 

It’s Exsultate Justi from Empire of the Sun 

Somewhat oddly her steps fell in time with the beat of the music and it has sudden become her anthem. Music and Trellis as one as it were.

It seems to capture her nervous vitality quite wonderfully, especially as her Bobble hat “ bobbed “ Smartly as the sopranos trilled 

Days off ! four full days off 

What to do?....got tickets to see the indi coming of age movie Rocks. An “ in bubble” friend is coming for dinner and am meeting another friend for lunch 

I’m going to rebook a pottery class too

I will leave you with two beautiful  women