Crates

Housekeeping day 

I popped down to the pet wholesalers and bought dog food ( there is a shortage in the supermarkets ) 

While there I also bought two dog crates for the Airbnb jaunt, petrol and fire logs.

Any longer journey will need the energetic Dorothy safely confined in the back of Bluebell.( hence the crate)

I called in to Aldi too and purchased lots of cheap spring flowers to cheer up the day and the patio 

It’s been a miserable and very wet day all told made better by the presence of two pre teenage girls outside  the supermarket who were holding a homemade Ukrainian flag as they filmed their supportive waves on their phones. 

I’m having breakfast out tomorrow, then have booked a film course before choir .

Pottery later

The Duke ( Yawn)

 

The Duke bored me

I didn’t like any of the characters 

I didn’t get them 

The bumbling Broadbent, I found irritating , rather than his usual endearing self and Mathew Goode looked rather odd when he faced the screen in bifocals which gave him the look of the terrible Japanese horror that was Micky Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s 

I feel odd today 

Flee

I’m sat in the Storyhouse cafe feeling something thoughtful 

The film I’ve just seen was called Flee and it’s a powerful, heartwarming animated piece which tells the story of Amid , who is a successful academic living in Denmark who is about to get married to his boyfriend Kasper. As the wedding approaches Amid retells the story of his journey to the West. An illegal immigrant trafficked from Afghanistan , his story  is a complicated and at times a dramatically harrowing one and his suspenseful tale of liberation is not only from political oppression, and depredation but is one of sexual liberation and freedom.

It’s beautifully told and at times incredibly moving , so much so that when I got up to leave I caught the gaze of a man sitting behind me who mouthed the word “ Wow” as he stood up

“ That was incredible “ I said as we fell into line on the way out and started to chat as people do.

The man was perhaps in his late forties and wore an old fashioned duffle coat with toggles.

He had a very kind face.

We chatted more and stopped in the foyer to continue our conversation on just how good the movie was. He told me he “blubed “ several times. 

I told him I hadn’t heard him.

We laughed hands in pockets

I told him I missed giving a good film a post Mortem and he agreed.

“ Over coffee and cake is the best way! ” he said cheerfully and I suddenly almost thought it was a kind of invitation.

There was a slight pause , then he added awkwardly

“ Well I have to go……I’m meeting my husband…..he hates dubbed films” 

“ Mine did too” I replied and we both did that little hand up smiling wave thing men do when they say goodbye somewhat shyly.

Im having a coffee with a slice of cake, now

And I’m writing this  

Missing Your Rubber Chicken

The dogs were hyper when I collected then this evening from Trendy Carol’s 

She had family visiting including children all day  and my girls had delighted themselves playing and socialising for hours

Dorothy fell asleep immediately she was lying next to me

Albert sneaked next to her carefully and dozed carefully.

But Mary had missed her chicken so very much  and has woofed playfully at him solidly  for the past hour We’ve  all been home

Where’s the gin bottle  

I’m on holiday for 10 days !!!

 

No News

Im Working today

It's mild and the goats have filled the nurses car park with a thick smattering of little black pellets before climbing the Orme in order to graze.

It looks as though a group of kids have been playing a boring game of marbles before dissapearing to bed.

There's not much more to share

Giselle -

Ghosts

 

I didn’t tell Nu until our third glass of white that our trip to see Romeo and Juliet was a sort of red letter day for me. 

It was my first physical visit there for over three years and the Opera House in all its shimmering red and gold upholstery and sky blue ceiling had been a very special place that my husband and I shared over the years. 

She listened with watery eyes of concern and we chinked glasses and laughed slightly sadly together

Acknowledging the past but not dwelling on it.

It remains a special place 

And always will be.

The Opera House Conservatory 

It’s Friday morning and already I’m on the 9.10 Glasgow train home 

After hours of talk yesterday, it’s nice to be reflective and quiet.

London feels back to normal now post covid. 

The tube was packed as was the very trendy No Mad Hotel bar on Bow Street which we sneaked into  for post ballet cocktails .

I’m back in London to see Nu in nine days time

We are off to see Cabaret

Hey ho

Making The Most

I’m looking through my Filofax ( I know I’m a dinosaur) at the next ten days and apart from one long shift on Saturday , my days off and annual leave is filled with things to do.

I think that over the last two years I have pushed myself to be busy. And what I mean by that , is that I wanted to be productively busy….enjoyable busy……appropriately busy.

The world and his wife doesn’t come to you, when you’re on the wrong side of fifty, single and not blessed with Russell Crowe ( circa 2001) good looks.

You simply have to make the effort.

Today I’m off to London, (a flying visit to touch base with Nu ) as well as a real post covid treat- tickets to The Royal Ballet and I’m mindful that. I’m back in London early March to see Cabaret also with Nu ( her Christmas gift to me). Im planning to catch up with my friend Alex in the big smoke in April too, and no doubt we will get some cheap theatre tickets for something stimulating 

The capital has been well and truly rubber stamped as it were.

Next week I’m on holiday. Sunday I’ve got two cinema trips booked Flee ( an animated gay themed film from Afghanistan) and The Duke ( the comedy heist movie with Jim Broadbent ) Monday it’s pottery with my sisters and lunch out with a friend. Tuesday it’s choir and the start of a five week film course on zoom.

Wednesday the dogs and I are off to Sheffield for four days and all of us are stating in a dog friendly Airbnb, a cottage in Loxley which overlooks Hillsborough, my old home town.

I’m a little tired of visiting Sheffield in a rushed manner. Dog sitters and time off work often means that I have to grab just an overnight visit, necessitating a triage of who to catch up with first. 

This time as well as meeting up with stalwarts Mike, Jane and Jonney H , I’ve arranged dinner out and in  with my old friend Sarah, and with Meggie and Mick who I haven’t seen together since their wedding back in the day when I had a waist and brown hair.

I’ve arrange walks with Jane and Bev and Maisie ( who was a baby when I left Sheffield ) and coffee and cake with Kathryn and Vince and everything is slotted in without rush and without drama. 

For a fee my host will dog sit the girls if needed 

Meggie and Mick’s wedding

I say all this, not to boast… look at me what a good friend I am! Perhaps I'm actually underlining what a poor friend I’ve been. Friendships are like tomato plants, they need regular feeding, and with relationships and work and the pace of life in general it’s easy to let things slide, concentrating on the few rather than the all. 

It’s also easy not to be a good friend to yourself.

I think we all can act the martyr at times, the slouch, the couldn’t be bothered whilst sometimes the best thing to do is to hike up those bra straps and get on with doing

I’m trying to live that mantra, but it can be hard 

Very hard

Gorgeous Dave messaged me the other night.

“Found dirt cheap tickets to Rome in June , fancy coming for a weekend?” it went

My reply was within minutes 

“ let’s go for it!”

The train is just motoring through the midlands,

I get into London at 1pm. 

A walk through Bloomsbury and I’ll be at Dishoom well before 2.