Cheers

 I may know a single man in the village who would benefit from meeting Chic Eleanor .

We talked about him today and laughed about it. 

She’s a delight for she’s not adverse at meeting someone new.

We talked about it today in McDonald’s car park 

She asked me who I would like to meet, the kind of guy she could look for

I laughed 

“ A man with an easy smile , who wears a jumper with a hole in it” I told her seriously

She understood where I was coming from 

And we raised our coffee cups in our respective cars......

Cheers 

We toasted 

And she smiled her warm Lee Remick smile

Training Dorothy and Coffee with Eleanor

 

For over a year I have been walking Dorothy along the site of the Prestatyn / Dyserth railway 

https://www.denbighshirecountryside.org.uk/prestatyn---dyserth-way/

Yesterday we passed a couple who I have nicknamed The Uber Couple, they are a couple I bump into regularly .

Now The Uber Couple are always together and always dressed in some sort of Lycra. In their late fifties they have hips and cheek bones to die for and always walk with a sheepdog collie who is trained to behave within an inch of his life.

Their buttocks glint with the flash of polished steel.

The sheepdog is never leashed, but to be fair he doesn’t have to be because with one click of their fit fingers his owners have him under more control than Trump had over Melania. 

The Uber Couple know about dogs and about dog training and their superiority is palpable 

I always feel like the poor relation when we pass....

Poor relation because when  William and George were alive they used to behave ,as terriers so often do when confronted with farm dogs, they behaved badly .

I did explain to The Uber Couple that the boys had been once attacked by a collie dog at the farm above the village , so they smiled their thin smiles of understanding as their dog trotted by with his nose in the air and  William and George yapped with the zeal of two chihuahuas fighting over a gravy stain.

Winnie of course added to their slightly patronising eyebrow raising as she would deliberately walk in between all of them with a sanguine dry smile and a look which never wavered from the road ahead.

Her amble gave all three of them a massive “ fuck you” message

Anyway Mary has long since followed the William And George school of terrier behaviour and she growls   rather magnificently when we pass but Dorothy with all of her neuroses has tottered forward on her lead with her frightened expression turned away from any strangers.

Now over the past six months I have been letting Dorothy off her lead for short periods whilst down the walkway and when another walker with a dog would come into view I would call her gently to return to be leashed, an order she would always comply to. This habit, we have adhered to until recently, when I felt that Dorothy’s confidence was at its highest. 

Yesterday Uber Couple approached us with all muscles flexed ( they even had on matching bobble hats! ) and as Mary stiffened for some bad behaviour I clicked my fingers and asked Dorothy who was trotting ten feet ahead to return to my side where she walked with what I hoped would be the precision of a police dog.

And she  did so, without a murmur and after we passed the Ubers the lady Uber turned around and commented 

“ You’ve done a great job training that dog .... well done ”

I preened at the praise , so much more than I should of done. 

I almost shed a tear too as Dorothy tottered forward and

With Mary still growling at the end of her lead.

This morning I drove up to McDonald’s to meet Chic Eleanor in the carpark for coffee.

The weather was atrocious but she looked fresh faced and as smiley as ever

“ Darling John..it’s almost like a tryst “ she admitted almost guiltily, pulling a green cashmere scarf tighter around her neck. “ Chin chin “ 

We raised our coffee cups from our respective driver’s seats, our breaths steaming in the cold air

She reminds me of the actress Lee Remick.

12.31

 

I try to write something everyday.

I seldom plan what goes down in print for ideas and words just seem to there, ready to be written, but I must admit with lockdown and covid and the isolation that accompanies the pandemic still in its final clutches, having something of any note to say is proving more and more difficult.

This morning is a case in point. 

I’ve shampooed the spare bedroom carpet in the east wing and have cleaned the washer afterwards. 

I’ve walked the dogs and was proud when Dorothy received praise from a regular dog walker for behaving well off her lead . 

The dog walker was one of those country type ladies who ooze brusque efficiency  

I’m working later on a late shift which is pointless and most hated one as you come into work cold and have to hit the work running.

But that’s later.

Now I’m drinking from my bucket of coffee sat at the kitchen table.

It’s cold, the kitchen that is not the coffee.

I’m irritated by the loud workmen who are constructing a small house behind the cottage. 

They have harsh local accents and play their music overly loud but luckily I cannot seem most of the new build because my buddliea bush screens things nicely. 

The new owners live on the far side of the village and own a large pack of yappy dogs.I am concerned that our peaceful days down on this part of Trelawnyd  may be numbered , but I will keep an open mind for now.

I’ve been making a list of things that need doing in between writing sentences and gulps of coffee

Albert is sat by my right shoulder , untidily eating his cat food which is placed on the window sill. The window is flecked with dried on meat and splashes of gravy 

I add clean windows to my list, just below the cancel Winnie’s insurance reminder and chase up rubber chicken picture.

I gave away some furniture yesterday.

I could have sold it , but gifting it doomed the right thing to do.

Antiques you never own, you just look after them for a while  is a favourite saying of mine. 

Hattie had my old grandmother clock  from out of the study and another friend had an old school clock and some occasional tables and a sewing box on legs. 

More de cluttering my office

And decluttering my head.

Oh lord it’s 12.31pm 

I need to leave for work by 1.15pm

And as Terry Wogan used to say on the radio when I was a boy

“ and there’s not a child in the house washed “

An All About Eve Night

I’ve always been a “ looker afterer” 

That’s the nearest I can find for an accurate description of myself 

I’ve never been happier than when I cook, feed  and nurture someone.

By doing so

I nurture myself .

Yesterday I caught up with my covid bubble friend Ruth

She has had a bloody awful time recently and so I thought quick sticks that a night in together was the order of the day.

It was a simple evening to organise for her..... 

A massive cottage pie with thick gravy flavoured with garlic and cranberry jelly

2 glasses of red

Mary cuddles all night 

And a darkened living room watching All About Eve...a classic she had never seen before.

It was a lovely night.

I say this from my own perspective .

For I knew Ruth felt recharged and enjoyed herself as she said as much taking her leave at 11 pm to sleep in the cottage’s west wing  with Mary tucked firmly under her arm.

Her climbing of the stairs reminded me of when the Prof went to bed with George galloping behind him

That used to please me more than anything .

Cooking for someone who is hurting is a joy. 

Cooking for someone is a joy....I have so missed it.

Tucking someone up on my new couch as if they lived here made me feel good, and their  laughs at Eve’s many one liners reenforced my enjoyment of Bette on her best form.

We are never truly altruistic 

We do things that make ourselves feel good

All about Eve is not just a witty and incisive look at theatre life 

It has a lot to say about long term friendships, friendships I was reminded of as we watched.

Yesterday I video chatted with my friend John from Sheffield 

It was a warm and sweet and loving interaction 

Chic Eleanor texted to sort out a coffee at McDonald’s car park next week 

She sat in her car ......, me sat in mine.a conversation between two open windows 

Darling john it’s been too long she typed 

I so agreed.

If you haven’t watched All About Eve , please do so

Love the one liners, the acting, the clever manipulation of plot and gayness 

But don’t forget the thrust of the story

It’s a really a message of friendships , of recognising and nurturing those friendships and the power of being kind

The Gay Men’s Pub Quiz

 

I think that I am a Welsh 58 year old gay Bridget Jones..

I don’t quite know what I was expecting but The Gay Men’s Pub Quiz last night proved to be a rather good natured and strangely hilarious affair.

Some 80 Middle aged gay men from all over the UK were marshalled onto zoom by a professionally adept quiz master called Kenneth  , who presumably was well versed in herding cats and sounded as though he had performed centre stage at the Old Vic. 

Like with the RAF yesterday , there was no messing with Kenneth!

With a headteacher’s authority , Kenneth split us into groups quite quickly , so I just had time to check myself in the mirrored oven cover before the get go.

Face washed ( tick)

Hair brushed ( tick) 

Clean shirt checked for food stains ( check) - there was only one small splash of pot noodle..no one would notice ...tee hee

Background looking interesting behind me ( double check ) 

I was ready.

I squirted myself with a blast of Clinique Happy as a gay moral booster, as if it mattered

My group was a nice bunch. Gerry and David, a couple from the Sheffield/ Derbyshire border in their late sixties were a riot. They bantered and bickered gently and told bad jokes throughout the evening so much so that at one stage I had a complete attack of the giggles and corpsed dreadfully throughout one session of questions . Alistair was a gently spoken and smiley  fellow nurse from Chester and Richard was a well spoken but very deaf elderly man from The Isle Of Man. I spied a Zimmer frame in the background of his spare room! which intrigued me. 

Fifty questions were set between a 7.30 start and a 10.30pm finish , but booked into the quiz was the nice opportunity to chat with a luckily nice group of men . 

We came around  6th out of 15 groups which wasn’t bad at all 

I’m not really a gay guy who has to seek the ghetto of a group of gay men , but I really did enjoy the good natured banter of some nice guys with a ribald ( and stereotypically gay)  senses of humour 

Mooching

It’s colder today

I had some lilies delivered. 

They were left on the kitchen wall wrapped in brown paper.

No note.

I’ve put them in the shrimp vase in the kitchen window.

They smell lovely

I feel flu-like today and my arm aches , both normal reactions to the covid jab. So I’ve done little but read and eat pot noodles in bed with my fleece pyjamas on . Subsequently  the cottage became very cold by mid afternoon.

I lit the fire late

And went out to see old Trevor as he passed on his daily constitutional . I promised to take him for his covid jab when he finally gets an appointment .

He’s 95

Tonight I’m taking part in a Gay Mans online Pub Quiz on zoom for the first time which will prove interesting.

The dogs are dozing together on the couch 

The Rainbow Hospital

 

The hospice rang me at home this afternoon with the offer of a first Covid Vaccine.

I jumped at the chance and managed to get the 590 th slot at the newly converted Rainbow ( Enfys in Welsh) Hospital in Llandudno .

From the get-go I was impressed. 

I was ushered to a parking space at Venue Cymru and a huge man in RAF uniform made it clear in no uncertain terms when the queuing “patients” could go in.

The Airforce had taken control of the whole kaboodle and boy did it show.

Within seconds I was ushered through the theatre foyer and was given an information sheet to fill in, seconds later uniformed airmen moved us through to the former conference centre which is the hospital proper where we waited, supported by volunteers, until the vaccinators were ready.

I have not seen inside a Rainbow Hospital before but I was totally blown away by it. 

I could have walked into any district hospital of note rather than what was essentially a field hospital , knocked up by the army in just a few months.

Behind me was a Nigerian Doctor and in front was a community care worker, both caught my eye with the same impressed expression. 

And as we waited the doctor admitted graciously that he felt rather “ humbled and emotional “ by the whole experience and I agreed.

We were seeing the Best of British organisation , military style.

I was shown into a bed space were a clerk completed my paperwork and a nurse gave me the jab and moments later I was led for a sit down before being let out for home

The whole thing from start to finish lasted 30 minutes.

An attractive and cheerful airman bid me goodbye and as I walked to my car, I suddenly felt rather emotional just as the Nigerian doctor admitted to feeling when he and I realised the enormity of the project in front of us

Mobile

 

Ever since my phone fell in the loo ( after I had just enjoyed a robust number two) it has not worked, very well. 

I bit the bullet and rang Tesco Mobile on Monday and the delightful Leanne organised me a new phone with various bells and whistles on it and a monthly tariff much lower than the one I had been enjoying.

She giggled when I told her to treat me as an idiot during her sales pitch 

And did exactly what I asked her.

I have been navigating my new phone today and I must say that

I’d rather be setting the parameters on an ITU ventilator for after four hours, my brain is totally fried and

I’ve had to recover my having a bubble hot bath with my face covered by a wet flannel.

I spoke to Nu today, she’s working on the covid wards now in London  

How do you do long days ? She asked

With difficulty I told her

We swapped laughs and reviews on tv programmes 

She looked tired.

I do miss her.

I saw Pippa from the Rectory earlier today, she was being dragged down the lane by her long legged Mongrel, Meg.She only just managed a controlled stop in order to chat.

Her husband is probably enjoying the most cerebral covid pastimes she told me after the village gossip was over

“ he’s reading the Bible in Greek “ she said proudly 

I opened my mouth but said nothing

How can you follow that !