To the person who invented the concept of British summer time
You have never worked night shift
Snapshots
Life has a habit of side swiping you when you are least expecting it.
I thought this when two large envelopes were delivered to the cottage by post yesterday.
They contained a hundred or so photographs
Photographs from my twenties.
The photographs had been found a while ago by the owner of my old home in Sheffield, which was a large warm natured Victorian terrace on Wynyard Road in Hillsborough.
They had been tucked under a built in seat, probably in the mid 90s, and then presumed lost in the subsequent move.
Recently I had wondered if my ex husband had taken them by accident when we separated but zi had been wrong. The photographs were handed over to my former neighbour who is luckily still one of my best friends.
Yesterday he had posted them back to me.
Images of nursing friends and bank clerk mates, of family parties and CB “ eyeballs”
Proof of the parachute jump I did in my brother’s rally suit at the age of 22. Old girlfriends toasting happy days with Pernod , years before I even thought I was gay.
Amid the snapshots there were around 20 professional looking black and white prints 10 x 6 inches in size and all showboating family and fiends . These were all taken before 1989 by Ian Parry
Ian was a dear friend and a talented newspaper photographer who was killed smuggling his wartime photos out of Ceausescu’s Romania on a Russian Cargo plane
I sorted through the photographs and picked several out which I decided I will frame and give out as Christmas gifts. A lovely portrait of my brother in law and his mother in Evening wear. A family drinks party with my brother laughing.
Photographs that need to be seen and not hidden away under a seat in an old Victorian house
My thoughts are with Pat, The Weaver Of Grass who is in hospital at the moment.
Wishing her a speedy recovery
I’m back on night shifts ....
Bad Person
I was in Tesco’s in Llandudno junction the other night
I was buying cakes for the day staff.
I recognised the man as soon as our eyes met but couldn’t quite place him until after he had unexpectedly hugged me.
He was the husband of a patient I nursed several months ago now, well before lockdown.
The last time I had seen him, we had hugged
We exchanged platitudes, in greetings, in how he was, about Covid.
Then he said, after I had repeated How are you coping?
“ Grief has turned me into a bad person.”
I inclined my head why and he explained, The words tumbling out of his mouth in a waterfall
“ I hate it when I now see intimate little moments between couples” he said “ when they share a private joke, or they hold hands or they Play argue by the checkout “ he waved his hand behind him at the tills........“is that normal ?...
.............I resent people so much”
”It’s normal “ I told him suddenly recognising his “pang” of painful feelings from my own perspective of divorce grief .and I gave him my best brave smile and squeezed his forearm with my hand
He nodded sadly and we stood for a moment, connected
I noticed he had a block of parmigiano reggiano in his basket
Retail & Art Therapy
My friend Ruth needed some “ Yes You have to buy it, buy it now “ kind of therapy today,
So we met up at The Mostyn Gallery and I suggested several rather expensive paintings which she instantly fell in love with!
I had fishfinger sandwiches at the oriel cafe while Ruth had falafels,
Our final pre lockdown bit of culture
and we had a mooch around the Athena Papadopoulos instillation , before more shopping where
I bought my fair share of frippery
My gay, bearded plant pot
A pottery whale
A doggy stand for hot saucepans with doggy spatulas!
Stir Crazy
I’ve been watching tiktok videos
Sharing the couch with Dorothy and Albert
Mary has gone to Trendy Carol’s for a cuddle
Winnie is on the reading Chair in the kitchen
An eclectic watch
Enjoy
She’s from South Yorkshire
A Buttered Placemat
My favourite cafe is busy with pre lockdown customers. I ordered a sausage butty and a very large americano and planned to read my book but with what's app messages coming in thick and fast, it feels as though I'm having real conversations. It’s not as good as the real thing but it will do.
Gorgeous Dave wondered if he had upset me,as I'd gone quiet since my night shifts and dr polly giggled at my gifs sent to her as she was in the middle of telephone consultations
What's app has been a life saver these past few months.
I’ve bought a small slow cooker from Aldi this morning for 9 quid and will make a casserole later it’s pouring with rain and quite miserable
An elderly lady is laughing loudly across the cafe and everyone is smiling
Shes just announced that she tried to butter a small round place mat
Hey ho
Velvet Voiced Linda
The Trelawnyd Street Wardens have been given notice of the impending lockdown by the ever gracious Velvet Voiced Linda . You can just make her out far left on the front row, her fashionable pant leg sidewards at a jaunty angle.
Even though, the initiative wasn’t only her idea, VVL made the whole thing work and she did it with diplomacy and a voice like chocolate.
These things seldom work without good leadership and at the original meeting there was many ideas thrown about, several of them not always constructive. But Linda ran with the good ones, commanded warmth and respect and got things done.
Not an easy job I can tell you.
In any forum
Not everyone in the village gets on.
Of course that’s a given, what with petty jealousies, power struggles and a previous middle aged patriarchy , and to be honest there is at least one person who I know hates my guts with blind testosterone and Mucho gusto!
I don’t care, as I know I am a person who speaks his mind,
It sometimes goes with the territory of being gobby and gay
But.....if I am being honest the feeling is bloody mutual...and is one stoked by petty behaviours witnessed when I was more at the front line of village activities....
Not quite the chocolate box village I often portray eh
But a very normal one, truth be told.
The decision making for Trelawnyd by Trelawnyd people is now much more diverse and eclectic
And that can only be a good thing. The community Council and the village association now run side by side which is healthy and with these and Linda’s wardens flexing their muscles, ready for a second wave we have good people prepared to fight the good fight
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