Village Business

 I have been a member of the Trelawnyd Community Association for a few years now, but my involvement has been limited due to the fact I have worked full time and worked shifts. 

Going part time, was originally designed for me to start  my counselling course, but just as nature abhors a vacuum a few village bases projects need a pair of hands and I’ve been conscripted back into the fold so to speak. 

This lunchtime I went to a TCA meeting and said my piece on a pressing matter. 

It’s a nice group all told , perhaps a good dozen and a half people with the community’s well being at heart. 

I’m working on a web page relating to the historic well that used to stand on Well Street ( duh) and have taken photographs today of the newly refurbished pond which lies next to its site. 

The velvet Voiced Linda and I are helping to organise an open evening for the pond so that the village can learn of its existence and and perhaps help contribute to its aquatic planting costs

Ma Manly was at the meeting, she has glorious long white hair which twirled around her head in the breeze like a demon as we talked in the street. She is another of the amateur village historians, much more talented than I in unearthing information of note about Trelawnyd . I asked if she would contribute to my history blog and offered her free rein to the website to do so. 

Her daughter , Kelda runs the folk nights in the Hall.

I photographed the pond and the well  then went to Linda & Nick’s cottage for coffee and scones ( with jam) with some of the others where we gossiped for a while.

This part of community life is nice . 

It’s not always so peaceful , as any minor village politician will tell you, 

But it’s home .

Roger Update

Roger is doing well 

Of course he is, he’s an affable fellow with no edge to him at all.

Within a day Albert and he had an understanding and apart from the occasional botty lick they have left each other alone. 

Mary as expected is his pal of sorts and has already “ taught” him to walk on a lead and feel relaxed in the car. They sleep together in the kitchen she on the reading chair, him in his crate.

I’ve had peaceful nights because of it.

Surprisingly, the Diva Dorothy has been patient so far. Lots of growls and moans when he comes too near but nothing followed through as Roger just doesn’t react to her warnings. 

He skips past her like a 50 s schoolgirl, gauche and a bit clumsy,

oblivious to any upset or slight he may of caused.

Think Joyce Grenfell in St Trinians 

NHS

 My relationship as a patient with the nhs has been, thankfully, a short one. 

In sixty years I have only used the hospital system a few times for more minor conditions and with the exception of some temperamental behaviour from one GP and an incredibly snide call handler my experiences have in the main been exemplary. 

The GP, I saw face to face , so I could handle his pomposity with some assertive “ Do you talk to all your patients this way?”

Working in a large Yorkshire Teaching hospital where nurses stood no shit from anyone, grounds you when you come across senior doctors who think they are mini Gods. 

Back in the 1980s nurses were more, hummmmm ….. gobby?

The call handler, I have subsequently pieced together was either fired or left his job. His supervisor blandly tried to smooth over the cracks of his behaviour by saying he doesn’t work for the department anymore.

I had rang his department to book an urology appointment which had been cancelled by the hospital due to unforeseen circumstances . While I was waiting for him to give me a new appointment , I could clearly hear the whole conversation his colleague was having with another patient. When he returned to the phone , I told him so , and said I was concerned about confidentiality. 

The chap, non verbally shrugged and said Well you won’t know the person and what they were talking about . 

That comment went down like a pork chop in a synagogue

What followed was an interesting debate between gobshite ( me) and bored phonehandler (him) and sensing I was not going to get anywhere with him I just asked him to sort out my phone interview with the urologist . 

He gave me an appointment eight weeks later

On that afternoon , no urologist rang.

No appointment had indeed been made or registered. 

I had been documented as a cancel 

My kidneys are bad today. 

I could have done with that appointment. My subsequent one is very soon

But it’s been an age waiting

Im seriously thinking of going against all my homegrown principles and simply going private

I am reminded of an odious neurologist who once visited my ward to assess a patient who was said to be in a persistent vegetative state. The , patient, a young boy seemed to be reacting to certain stimuli though we couldn’t be sure and the doctor was called to allay the fears of the staff who understandably were troubled by what they saw. 

The consultant was brusque, rude and imposing when he asked the boys nurse what she thought, and I remember the difficulty which the nervous and inarticulate nurse had when trying to explain her worries

We examined the patient and afterwards the consultant confirmed his original diagnoses referring to the request to review as stupid and emotional bordering on the histrionic!

He looked at me , the nurse in charge, for affirmation 

“ Well You’re  a bit of an arsehole” 

Was all I could manage

People Day

 It’s a kind of I’m fed up of people day today

Someone I like and respect has taken something I’ve said in such the wrong way I’ve been rendered practically speechless. 

Of course I’m not speechless and I’ve replied with candour and surprise and have apologised even though I am 100% sure it’s a case of over sensitivity and misinterpretation .

I remain vaguely insulted by the whole situation.

My ghoster eventually replied too, with the sentence I just feel there is nothing on my side. He also asked if we could keep in touch. I’ve told him no but I wished him well.

Both situations have left a bad taste in my mouth.

I’ve just been out walking Roger too and got shouted at by a man on a bike who felt I was in his way 

I was but Roger was too frightened to move 

Training Day

Roger needs a settling in day today. 

The household needs one.

He has no experience of cars and little of being walked on a lead , so that was our first job this morning after his restful night in his crate in the kitchen with Mary sleeping in the reading chair next to him

He hasn’t got a clue with the lead so I left it slack and let Dorothy gallop in front.

With her circulating back and running past him, he soon got the idea that walking forward was the plan  and although our progress was stilted, it was a start.

He hasn’t eaten much, but that doesn’t concern me as he happily ran off with a toast crust earlier and has spent the rest of his time copying the others when they have run out to the kitchen wall to greet Jo ( without her Great Dane) and Islwyn who had come to collect the old washing machine with his brother Eric

Trefor called too, but was too anxious to acknowledge the new guy, he’s got worries about British Telicom 

Which I managed to sort out.

When the Amazon delivery man came ,Roger  joined in with the barking more dutifully than not, and when Albert appeared from his feline slumbers at noon, he made a point of backing up five steps to allow the cat space to reach his food bowl on the windowsill 

He’s brighter than William but seems to have William’s gentlemanly  nature, politely ignoring Dorothy’s regular low growls of mild irritation when he ables too close 

He is presently sat at my feet, next to the kitchen table 

He smells  of his old  kennel so we will all be going into the shower together later.

He’s never walked up a house staircase before either, another skill he will learn shortly when the dogs follow me up in order to watch me make the bed.

I call him by his name frequently and cuddle him as soon as he comes to me 

In typical Welsh style he crossed his front paws around my arm to hold me firm.

I am so happy with him 

The guy I dated eleven days ago has ghosted me which is a shame. 

His loss. 

I’m an acquired taste,

I know that

I’m cleaning out drawers today. Gently pottering as Roger finds his feet 

Roger

 

Six months old and with the typical calm, watching nature of a Welsh Terrier. I picked Roger up today from Nottingham as if I’ve known him for years.

Not a silly puppy anymore , he is a careful old soul who has walked into a household complicated by a bulldog’s Diva baggage, Mary’s squeaky duck and his very first cat. 

So far so good . 

Albert received some half arsed woofs then faced him off on the bottom stair, forcing Roger to back off after looking at the other dogs for their "surprising" non reaction.

Now, only an hour later, they are passing each other in the kitchen doorway like regular commuters going to work.

Dorothy staked her claim immediately and lay on the couch with her head on my knee and growled half heartedly when Roger ambled by busy at sniffing the carpet. 

Mary ignored him after their initial interaction but is watching him at all times through the corner of her eye. 

I pretended not to watch

And let out a large held breath

It’s caught me a little by surprise 

But he looks the spitting image of Old William 

I wonder if he will gleefully chase bees around the garden?

Asleep at 20.30

I’m holding my breath again 

Roger now on my knee next to a sleeping Dorothy 

20.49 pm

Jesus! 

For Debby no!!!!! I mean Lizzy

 Sunday has been a productive day .

After a brief sleep, my brother-in-law came round to help me install my new washing machine. 

( not the easiest job in the world as it turned out) 

The humidity here is 65% , so we were dripping by the time it was up and running with my undercrackers leaping in soapy happy circles.

My brother in law has been a godsend to our entire family over the years as he’s one of those men who can turn his hand to anything practical and I’ve always been very grateful for his consistent smiling support over the years. 

This afternoon , the old washing machine my husband bought is now waiting for the village scrap iron man on the patio and the new all singing all dancing computer confusing washer is working perfectly 

I popped a gift of a litre of nice gin and some internet bought gin glasses to him at teatime 

The glasses were made in Spain which is apt.

I will leave you with some photos of my living room , especially for Debby

And as promised , I haven’t  tidied  up.

I’ve already bought and paid for new carpets for the cottage but these won’t be laid until late September. A few weeks to allow for Roger’s bladder to be  trained by the girls me thinks …..the same carpet will run into every room including the bedrooms

Then the cottage will be finally finished for the time being.

I’m picking him up at 11 am from Alfreton 

His purchase will signal a twenty year relationship with his breeder and from what I understand will probably be my last chance to buy a dog from her which is a poignant thought.

Roger will be my last terrier ….and one of a long line of lovely dogs …Finlay, Maddie, Meg, William, George, and Mary

I’ll Leave The Landing Light On…..

 

Someone I know, has had cancer recently diagnosed.

A mutual friend told me. 

It wasn’t a secret. 

I messaged them and simply said I had met my friend, nothing more

and the link was made

The ball was in their court and we messaged briefly about it

“ I’m here” I said

I know you are” came the reply. 

Sometimes too many words can be said at times like these. 

A Card, a cooked meal, the offer of a silent walk, a theatre ticket 

Can support someone who is hurting just as well.

The offer of taking Mary for a cuddle 

A book of poems with a bright orange cover, 

A crisp 10 dollar bill with the  instructions of buying an ice cream.

I remember bedtime as a seven year old 

Who was always frightened of the dark. 

A simple action,

A single promise always made things better

“ I’ll leave the landing light on “