The Remainder Holiday jaunts

 Tomorrow , me and my friend Colin are off to the philharmonic Hall in Liverpool to see Simon Amstell 

He’s  is a very sharp witted comedian and writer and presenter.

I shall enjoy his view on life.

Thursday night Affable Despot Jason and I will go and see a play at Theatr Clwyd,….I haven’t seen him in ages, the play is cheap so may be crap but he’s already messaged me “ it will be a larf” 

Friday it’s Shang chi and the legend of the ten rings at the cinema 

Saturday I’m meeting old friend Cheryl for brunch and sea walks at  Bryn Williams at Porth Eirias in Colwyn Bay …we both say we need a hug xxx

And Monday it’s a Bodnant Gardens visit with my friend Neil and our respective dogs, luckily his bulldog loves Dorothy .

So the final chapter of my holiday is almost sorted save a few open windows say SUNDAY ? Any takers?

I’m having a lovely time….

But it’s taken bloody organising 

Mixed Bag

The cottage is filled with the heady smell of banana loaves baking.

I’m preparing a few cakes for the village bingo night which is raising funds for the Church.

I will leave them on the kitchen wall to be collected tomorrow.

Banana loaves take at least an hour to cook.

So as I’m waiting, I’m catching up on jobs and am pottering

I filled a cheap planter with delicate violas, and filled the hanging basket by the front door with the remainder.

I’m having another coffee and have checked the news,

The local news is full of the fact that several of the Llandudno goats have got themselves stranded on a Rocky outcrop by the town. 

I will watch this story with interest.

The weather is so so today and I’m contemplating what I’m going to do with the rest of my day.

Apart from my ABBA gift I will leave you with this photo

I took it on my way back from London

I’d love to know his story

Lovely weather this afternoon , so we all went to Colwyn Bay Promenade and shared a panini .

Long walk included a visit to the=newly completed 130 foot truncated pier.

Co-Pilot

 

Asli ( Canan Kir) is a Turkish/ German Muslim living in 1990s Hamburg. She leads a relaxed Westernised life as a medical student, a life which changes over a five year period after she meets a slightly more orthodox Arab Muslim Saeed (Roger Azar) who is Lebanese. 

She drinks and smokes and has non Muslim friends which he starts to disapprove of  but the couple embark on a sexual relationship which finally leads to marriage. 

Only then does Asli start to realise that Saeed is more fundamental in his beliefs than she once realised.

Co-Pilot , a film by German film maker Anne Zohra Berrached , feels a little flawed halfway through as Saeed’s path towards piloting one of the planes during the 9/11 attacks is clearly defined for the audience to see, even though his erratic yet loving relationship with his wife remains steadfast.

Would such a fundamental Muslim terrorist actually see his wife as his co pilot in life? especially one who smoked and drank without even a hint of  a hijab ? 

Unfortunately we see the drama unfold purely from Asli’s point of view. We understand nothing of Saeed’s motivations or his history ( save for one sequence when Asli strangely visits his rich, very liberal, matriarch led Lebanese family) and so I felt somewhat let down by the time the horrible truth is revealed to all. 

I must add that one particular scene did Berrached proud as a filmmaker .

On a wintery German street when the couple are courting, a love struck Asli pretends to be a plane with Saeed playfully piloting her…they run down the street then very slowly are raised into the night sky with the street falling gently away behind them . 

Ok a heavy metaphor for the co-pilot title, a reference to their marriage and a foreshadow to his terrorist future but a beautiful scene.

Office

I’ve had quiet morning doing paperwork and catching up with bills and life organising.

I love working at my desk as it’s a comfortable sit…thank god for John Lewis’s rather expensive but bloody comfortable desk chair

The girls, as usual are asleep on the bed behind me . 

Both are snoring after their walk

It’s stopped raining , so Albert is out hunting rabbits, I’ve seen him walk up the lane …he knows there are a few in the Churchyard and he is too old to climb the six foot wall.

He prefers now to walk through the gates.

I’ve booked tickets for Ode To Joy at the Philharmonic to compensate for the ones I missed yesterday

I’ve never heard it live .

The bills are all paid, (another satisfying job in itself) and I’ve booked to go to the cinema this afternoon in Chester.

What Pleases Me

 

I bought this ceramic cheese board today.

It cost 8£ from Sainsbury’s 

It’s cool to the touch and you can feel the leaves when you run your fingers over it.

I was so pleased by it.

I love being pleased by simple things

The joy of a gift given, a sweet view of the sea on the way to work last night 

And the cold touch sweetness of a cheeseboard 

Bought as a self gift 

No one else would buy you 

Hey ho

Best Laid Plans

 I never made the bloody concert

It was a case of best made plans.

It was Sod’s law for me to have volunteered for what turned out to be one of my busiest shifts this year during which I felt my old nemesis of a urine infection hitting home. 

I drank buckets of bland fluids but that was a difficult balancing act given the workload .

Subsequently I was exhausted and feeling rather under par when I got home.

I slept heavily until 3 pm .

In one way I was glad to have gone in for the extra shift. 

For one of my “ favourite” patients was approaching the end of his life.

Clinically I know I am an unflappable nurse. This comes from my psychiatric roots where I was always taught that good nursing was 50% Confidence , 45% Knowledge and 5% bullshit 

The secret of reducing anxiety in patients and their family is to take control and have a plan.

I took control and had a plan 

I felt vindicated in doing the shift when my patient’s mother whispered into his ear

“It’s alright , John’s here!” 

Luckily this sort of thing happens with many of the clinical staff at the hospice.

The night team left work late this morning and I emailed the concert tickets to my friend in Liverpool before going to bed. 

I needed a heavy sleep and felt better for it.

I was sorry to have missed the concert though

This afternoon I walked the dogs and went to Sainsbury’s where I bought chicken and salad , dog food and of all things, a ceramic cheese board.

On the way home I popped by Hattie’s neat new home to drop off a Welsh terrier toy for her new baby , which is due in a couple of weeks.

It was nice to see her.

Puffin

Cro reminded me too that it is the anniversary of 9/11 

I remember that lunchtime very well.

As I was watching the news, through my lounge window I caught sight of a stranger rummaging through the skip I had hired . He ran off with a plastic human head. 

The sort you used to see in men’s wear shops advertising hats.

I’m having a quiet day today. 

Last week, I promised work I would cover sickness by working an extra shift tonight .

It will pay for my new painting which is pragmatic of me, if not very practical, for tomorrow lunchtime I’m off to Liverpool to see the City’s Philharmonic with a friend

Waltzes by Strauss, and works by Dvorák, Prokofiev, and Márquez…the full orchestra is back on stage! 

Sounds great , and lunch at Mowgli beforehand ..what a treat

Big thank you to Sue at https://paw862.blogspot.com/

Who sent me her painting of a puffin

She had underplayed it on a recent post and I told her then that I thought it was lovely

It is….

Simple and elegant 

And she sent it to me as a gift! 

Thank you.

The dogs have just had a long walk and I think I shall scrub the doggy smells from Bluebell’s interior before we all have a siesta .

But I will finish my bucket of coffee first

And listen to the tick of the kitchen clock

Sushi In Russell Square Gardens

Holiday day 5

Well.

I’ve known Alex since 2008. 

I didn’t know he fancied me until I met him two years ago, when I was newly single

Yesterday we had a lovely flirty time 

It’s a pity he lives in Poland. 

When you are in a long term relationship that has been ended unexpectedly, your self esteem takes a real bashing…

Well smashing or crushing would be the words I would personally use.

The thought that anyone else could actually fancy you never really enters your head again.

Not until it is spelt out to you

The South Bank was vibrant and buzzing again last night. 

The play was complicated but worth concentrating on. Written by Winsome Pinnock , it’s a weaved web of stories centred about the theme of slavery and black identify in Britain . From the 18th century we follow the fortunes of a Black seafaring family mixed in with the painter Turner’s famous anti slavery work The Slave Ship , as seen from Turner’s perspective and from the group of actors playing him and his contemporaries on a modern day film set. Add into the mix a contemporary  black actress, a second generation Windrush woman, and a black teacher and her pupils visiting the painting insitu and you will get the flavour of the production .

It was so refreshing picking my thoughts out with Alex after the production . 

He’s a professional film critic so post mortems come easy.

Walking back across Waterloo Bridge is a free joy at night, what with the lights of the city and the warm breeze off the Thames.

It was quite…magical.

This morning I went to the beautiful Somerset House for the massive PhotoLondon Exhibition . 

The ticket cost a few pounds more than the Banksy ticket did but you literally had two thousand more exhibits to review…an impossible task.

I concentrated my efforts on works by the vintage American photographer George Rodger and  on Robert Capa and enjoyed more contemporary works by the likes of Poulomi Basu and other documentary war photographers. 

It was like going to a huge antiques fair as it was so easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the exhibition but I didn’t want to get over faced by the amount on show so stuck to my themes 

In addition to my favourite rooms I particularly liked this work by the Norwegian photographer Simeon Johan 

Only 25,000£ of photo

And these rather moving “ portraits” by Diana Matar

I walked up from The Strand to Tobiko on Garrick Street and bought some expensive homemade sashimi takeaway before ambling through Bloomsbury to sit in the peace of Russell Square Gardens where I ate my sushi by the fountains in peace.

Russell Square Gardens 

Sunflowers in Bloomsbury’s window boxes

London is always a pleasure , the National Theatre and Somerset House and the night view from Waterloo Bridge were just icing on the cake. 

But to be found interesting and attractive by an interesting and attractive man has done me the world of good.

It really has…….

Hey ho