Back To Work

 With all of the Eurovision hype I had the urge to have some sort of online friend meet up last night.

I wanted to laugh a bit.

It didn’t work out, which I was sort of thankful for as I’m working today and although Eurovision probably didn’t finish until midnight I did dip in briefly 

I watched the stupendously dreadful disaster movie Moonfall instead. 

That was two hours I would never get back .

It left me feeling fed up 

It’s been that sort of covid positive then negative shitty week.

I’ve revisited lockdown with all of those horrid isolated connotations 

I’m sat at the kitchen table with my bucket of coffee.

It’s 5.45 am 

My GP rang me on Friday and asked me to stop my long term antibiotics 

I refused as I’m still waiting review by my urologist but he insisted that he at least change them to a different type. Which he did

Subsequently I have the start of a urine infection this morning 

Eurovision

 

I popped in briefly 

Spain was very good ….very Jay lo, with legs like Cyd Charisse

Ukraine got a massive cheer and will probably win 

Azerbaijan was cute a button with his beard (above)

I loved Greece’s gentle covid ballad had me in tears,

Iceland’s sister act was sweet too.

Sweden was rated but I was bored a bit

Australia was a camp feast

I stayed until Sam Ryder with his big smile came on ….he’s was sooo sweet.

Sam Ryder

Then I went to bed 

Feeling like a wallflower at a Jane Austen ball

Flower Moon

 The present routine continues for another day

Up at 7.45 am walk the dogs briefly then put them in the car with the windows wide open.

Make CBM a coffee and have it ready for him as he walks through the door at 8.20 am

Take dogs for a long walk.

Park in the shade at Sainsbury’s and have breakfast with a large bucket of coffee.

Read the Daily Post from cover to cover 

Drive home and drop the girls off at Trendy Carol’s 

Mull over what to do.

With the bathroom and covid I’ve not planned for much and I’m feeling a bit lost today. 

It’s a glorious day and there’s a food festival in nearby Rhuddlan and a bee festival in pretty Llanasa but I can’t quite get going enough to go. 

I haven’t had a shower since Saturday so I think that has something to do with it.

And so I’ve clambered  over the workman’s tools and have holed up in the office surrounded by towels and toiletries and bathroom shite. 

Here I will catch up with paperwork, emails , banking and bills. 

I’m feeling on edge and unsettled . 

As if I’m waiting for something big to happen.

My online thought for the day tells me I’m upset because of the Flower Moon which is expected tomorrow evening. 

Flower Moon’s,  according to the Algonquin people, bring with them change and a fork in the road for many.

A change for the better…..

Americans In The Village

 The American was the descendent of Thomas Parry, the builder who rebuilt my cottage in the 1860s and the man responsible for the refurbishment of the old Church into its present state. Him and his wife had already photographed the Church and my cottage door over which is a inscription detailing the deed.

Islwyn had already met them in the graveyard and had pointed them in my direction, being the “ unofficial historian of Trelawnyd”

I suddenly remembered that I had a key to the Church.

Now I know that the Church officially closed a while ago, but I thought I’d see if the locks had been changed .

Surprisingly they hadn’t and I showed the American into the Church his ancestor built so long ago

It was much more moving a moment that I expected 

Unfortunately moments later, and out of nowhere the vicar turned up like Batman and gave us a brief lecture on health and safety and insurance and the like. He also told me the locks would be changed shortly.

Of course I apologised , and so did the Americans

And Of course I was in the wrong, 

But I was secretly happy that the great great great grandson of Thomas Parry had stood inside the Church he had built when Trelawnyd was known as Newmarket and when the village population was double its present size.

I emailed the vicar apologising again for entering the church without permission and voiced my concerns that several artefacts inside the church are of historic value and interest to the village and should be kept there. He’s kindly forwarded me onto someone else in the diocese who may be able to help.

I know for a fact  a few interested people in the village will join me as will my contact at the Daily Post 

Hey ho

Finishing Touches

 It’s still very dry here.

Too dry for the garden flowers which have had a much needed water in order to keep their blooms .

The alliums and aquilegia have filled the borders as usual and I’ve tried to use every container I have to showcase little bursts of colour about the cottage. An old cast iron piece of guttering is now a hanging basket or sorts with little yellow eschscholzia growing in it. 

The sea pinks (armeria martima) in an old French egg basket have bloomed again and the sweet peas have filled an old galvanised bucket by the garden arch ready to climb alongside the wisteria which had returned more robustly than it did last year.

Even the Rosemary I squeezed into a burnt 1930s saucepan last autumn has held its own

I’ve no real news today.

My second covid swab was clear so I will be covering a sick colleagues’ shift on Sunday.

The CBM is here today and tomorrow 

The finishing touches are taking an age! 

Siân Owen’s clock

 

There is one historic painting that is synonymous with Wales and the Welsh culture and that is the Edwardian watercolour Salem painted, strange as it may seem, by an Englishman Sydney Curnow Vosper. 

I first saw a copy of the painting when I was around 18 , where it was proudly displayed in the house of an old girlfriend of mine. Her father was a Welsh Minister and the subject matter, the arrival (late) of a welsh woman Siân Owen to chapel is iconic for it is a depiction of  Welsh religious piety as well as a beautiful rendition of Welsh traditional dress. 

It’s also more famous for it’s suggested depiction of the devil’s face, hidden in the folds of Siân’s rather luxurious shawl. This “ hidden” message was only one of three or so said to present in the painting . 

The clock on the wall hints that Siân’s entry to her family pew is  late and and it’s is said that her beautifully adorned entrance is a comment about pride and ostentatious dress.

If you look closely there is also a ghostly face at the chapel window too. 

I have seen the painting at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight a few years ago so I understood the reference to the artist and to Siân Owen when villager elder Gwyneth Jones once stood in my front room waiting for me to wrap her some duck eggs into a brown paper bag and I remember well that she pointed to my grandfather clock and said in her thin welsh voice

“ It’s the clock in the painting “ she explained “ The sister painting to Salem” 

The painting she was referring to is “ A Market Day in Old Wales” which shows Siân Owen unpacking eggs and provisions in her welsh country kitchen and in the corner is my Grandfather clock complete with scrolls and pillars 

The Clock’s  scrolls are hidden by the beams 

:

My cottage ceiling is somewhat higher but still shows the beams 

Accessories

 

A quiet day today, as CBM is off taking his missus to the airport.

No more Whitney Houston no more Pet Shop Boys belting out in a Geordie accent.

The sun is out but there is a cool breeze and the cottage windows are wide front and back making the honeysuckle curtains in the front room sway energetically.

I left the ignition on in Bluebell  yesterday so had a flat battery this morning. 

As usual Islwyn came to the  rescue and jump started her for me. 

I gave Bluebell a good run, and recharged nicely dropped in to the garden centre for a final smooch for bathroom accessories like any middle aged gay man worth his salt would do.

To add to the black and white theme, I bought  some houseplants and planters there, a penguin designed toothbrush and some “bespoke” soap were delivered from Amazon today

It’s all a bit much I know, but I don’t care, I’m having fun.

My elder sister popped around yesterday with sweet pea plants, hostas and tomato plants which I will put into the garden this afternoon. She also bought me A White Company scented candle for the new bathroom. 

Quite a few people are getting vicarious pleasures from this makeover…

Hey ho. 

Ps it’s my fifth day post positive swab today ….it’s negative I have to test again tomorrow 

Clint

This is my very favourite moment in the entire Dinnerladies series