Airbnb

 

I have a week off in March and have just explored the possibility of taking the girls with me on a mini break.

Ive decided to return to Sheffield again, but instead of a city centre hotel I’ve trolled the accommodation available over a few days midweek and have booked a small cottage not far from my old house in Hillsborough.

Taking the girls with me takes away the need to rush home after seeing friends in the city. It also opens up different activities, such as a walk in the peaks and that return trip to Chatsworth House which was so sadly cancelled just before Christmas. 

No rushing home means more old mates can be caught up with .

I’ve not used Airbnb before and on the surface it looks excellent value for money as long as you are careful and spend your time homing your searches…..

I almost booked one place which looked quaint only to read in the reviews that a whole forest of pubic hairs had been found in the bedding ……

And Just Like That Episode 9

The 9th of the 10 episodes of And Just Like That was a cracker, and a cracker for one vignette featuring Charlotte’s dinner party with Anthony and his new boyfriend 

Just as the guests arrived Charlotte had to run off and teach daughter Lily how to insert a tampon and the new boyfriend , realising he was in a Jewish household proclaimed loudly that the Holocaust was a falsehood. Anthony’s subsequent shriek of “ Get Out “ had me crying with laughter.

I have to say that Carrie’s new beau has lovely hair btw and the trajectory that the series has now taken is quite wonderfully fresh turn.

I told my friends Mike and Jane all this on zoom this evening , but it was somewhat lost as they don’t watch the new series xx

 

Men Friends

Yesterday my friend Colin collected me from the cottage and we went to lunch 

We had a lovely long chat over celeriac soup which was drizzled over goats cheese and walnuts and put the world to rights over steak pie and poached haddock and poached egg

Now in my late fifties I’ve cultivated more male friends than I ever used to possess.

And more male  gay friends which may be a surprising fact for some. 

For years my only gay friend was Nigel, who is still my go to when I want an objective, occasionally waspish and totally honest opinion about something. 

Now I am single, I have a few more.

Chaps that understand more of the nuances of the gay world later in life.

My straight male friends have increased in number too, a fact I love too. 

Over the past decade sexuality seems to mean less in male friendships than it ever used to be

I applaud  that fact so very much.

I’m planning a visit to Sheffield soon and one completely necessary friend catch up will be with Mike, a friend of thirty three years.

Now Mike is a true Yorkshireman 

He’s a Straighter than straight, blokey, butch, football fan Yorkshireman .

and sounds like an extra from the film Kes

And in the 1990s I came out to him while we were drinking pints at the Dog And Partridge on Trippit Lane . 

When I nervously told him I was gay , he took a measured sip of his bitter

smiled lugubriously and said carefully

“Does this mean that I have to go to gay bars occasionally ?” 

“Only occasionally “ I told him 

He nodded and replied quietly  “ I can do that” 

Grace Davies - roots

I heard this for the first time today as I walking the dogs at dusk and it caught me by surprise 

Enjoy 

Am I Too Old For Snoopy?

 On my days off Dorothy gets me up around 8 am for a wee.

We then race each other back to bed for a lie in, where I know she will eventually wake me again around 10 30 or earlier depending on her pent up excitement pre proper walk.

This morning the Church bell woke us both.

At first I thought that there must be a funeral being called in but being Wednesday morning I then realised that is was a Church service in progress.

Someone inexperienced was pulling the bell, the bell that was rejuvenated by the Community Association and last rung by Hattie and myself during the clap for carers evenings….

Anyhow the bell rang around a dozen times setting off the lonely hound that lives in a kennel on London Road.

He howled like a banshee for ages 

I walked the dogs and was stood drinking a bucket of coffee on the patio when Church service was over 

And Mrs Trellis appeared sans bobble hat. 

She wore her best church coat.

The red one.

She looked at my T shirt and told me I looked cold and when I moved my arms added brightly 

“ Aren’t you a little old for snoopy?”

I suddenly had a Carrie Bradshaw moment when I looked down an realised I was wearing my snoopy T shirt.

“ I don’t know , am I too old to wear snoopy? I asked and she thought for a moment 

“A little” she replied seriously .

I’ve kept the T shirt on.

I know, I’m a real rebel bitch

I’m meeting my friend Colin for lunch at Porth Eirias too

But I may wear a jacket 

Over snoopy of course.

Belfast

 

“Autobiographical” movies of childhoods seen through the eyes of a child are fairly common in film history .I Remember Mama, Kes, Little Women, The Yearling ……The list is a long one and so I was interested just how Kenneth Branagh would share his Protestant childhood in a divided 1969 Belfast.

Like all childhood memories Belfast is an seemingly endless series of vignettes. A scene dominated by a remembered and much loved one liner, or a fleeting memory of childhood humour such as a drunk auntie singing Danny Boy. Cinematic moments such as a much loved trip to the theatre with his granny ( a nicely underplaying Judi Dench) or a hospital trip to see his dying grandfather (a twinkling eyed Ciarán Hinds) have all been added to by the luvvie that is Kenneth Branagh , so the narrative is just a little drawn out and is overly sentimental, a detail you can forgive somewhat as it obviously a story of a boy loved so completely it almost hurt. 

Catriona Balfe ..many of the shots of the film were taken through open windows, an obvious childhood memory 

Jude Hill plays the eight year old Branagh with wide eyed appeal. Jamie Dornan is suitably buff as his heroic father but the main acting honours go to Catriona Balfe as Branagh’s young and long suffering mother who tries to keep the household going throughout everything.

Kenneth Branagh is just a year and a half older than me, so his childhood memories , even though they were experienced during the troubles had a certain resonance with me. 

His relationship with his grandparents, his love of cinema, his sense of feeling loved, his memories of humorous  events could have been directly snipped from my childhood and those parts of the movie I loved.

But for me, the whole thing was a little overly sentimental, and a tad overlong

Cold

 

It’s cold this morning, very cold.

Overnight even Albert tiptoed on my bed in order to secrete himself next to a warm Mary, a move the elicited a jealous growl from Dorothy which was loud enough to wake me up.

A sharp tap on the Bonce was all that she needed to be silenced and peace was restored.

All three were still in bed when I woke, cuddled up in a knot of paws and legs and tails.

And all three didn’t want to move when I called them 

I needed to get up earlier today, as it’s Bluebell’s service.

I’m just grabbing a quick coffee now , in order to think about my day. 

Apart from Bluebell I’ve nothing sorted until 5 pm when I’m meeting a friend to see Belfast.

Im not a huge fan of Ken Branagh ever since he did the dirty on Emma Thompson ( who is a goddess in my eyes ) 

I still love her feisty Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing who replies to Don Pedro’s comment that she has a merry heart

“ Yea, my lord, I thank it, poor fool as it keeps on the windy side of care “

A great line in a so so film

I caught up with Nu on the phone and laughed a lot 

Anyhow the field gate is open. I wonder if there is a funeral today. It’s not mine anymore so I’m not privy with such news.

It’s a cold day to be standing in the graveyard

Jug

 I’ve now got four days off before nights

I’ve booked Bluebell in for a service and tyre sort out 

Cinema with one friend 

Lunch with another 

Bought this jug on a whim 

I’m feeling a bit down despite my friends