Good, Bad .......Ugly

 People are just as good and just as bad as they always been

That’s what I think, for what it’s worth

Do they complain more? 

No, I don’t think they do, they just complain differently.

The subject matters of the complaints change with priority changes 

Social media amplifies our perceptions of the complaints 

We see more

We think there is more 

We therefore feel we need to comment more.

It’s a cycle and one that is not always constructive.

This need to comment is a double edged sword.

I love comments on Going Gently but I don’t need criticism 

When I say I don’t need it...I mean it literally....I just don’t need it.

I know myself warts and all. 

Thank you very much, ta muchly....

I don’t need someone to tell me an alternative view of my psychological make up

I know the alternative view

But some  do love to be experts on absolutely everything

Even on me!

Today, no matter who you are, you have a bigger voice than people once had. 

You can say your piece to an audience of potential millions

How fantastic is that?

A bit jumbled but it’s 6.18 am, so I’m allowed…

My last night Shift is almost over . Back on day shifts on Wednesday 

My thoughts are with Weaver of Grass

I hope someone can tell us how she is doing today

Hey ho

BST

 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

Click on https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/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

Ps

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

Love This

My hero, and so true