When All Is Said And Done

 

3000 ABBA fans in one purpose built, eco friendly stadium all intent on a good time.

What’s not to love.

We had a late lunch/ Early supper at Dishoom, then caught the central line to Stafford then the DLR to the Olympic park. 

We had a bottle of wine before the concert.

And it was a concert. A large band, backing singers and light show par excellence supported the ABBA holograms just as they would have done to four “real” artists, so from the get go the audience was transported to the ABBA of yesteryear.

It was all rather magical and at times strangely moving, especially as each of the band in close up hologram form addressed the crowds with an aside or anecdote in their 70 something older voices.and when they cranked up a gear, complimented by some very expensive and lovely light effects,  the whole area erupted into one big best friend meeting hug.

My favourite part, well apart from watching Janet becoming her 11 year old self again, was listening to Anni-fred sing the most melancholy of ABBA songs When All Is Said And Done proving even a hologram can be emotional 

ABBA

 

Train cancelled but everything on track

Just Keep Swimming

 I have several nice pieces of art now

Eclectic pieces. 

Some Welsh from Welsh artists.

Others from all around the world.

This is the one I would save first.

It’s not my Josiah Clinton Jones watercolour

Nor is it my lovely Sea Pinks by Fiona Carver or Irene Goodier” Off the beaten track” the study of an autumn wood in acrylics. 

It is a simple homemade card from a blogger , of a goldfish

Hand painted and personalised 

With the words 

John, Just Keep Swimming 

This simple little painting has got me through many dark days indeed

Transference

 In view of Albert’s psycho melt down last night I took Roger to today’s Trelawnyd Community Association meeting in the Hall. 

He was good as gold and watched all the proceedings carefully from my lap, his front feet wrapped around my thumb, like a baby.

Having said that, I’ve just watched an interesting case of physical transference as, after Albert had stalked through the house like The LionKing’s Mustafa, Roger, in a fit of teenage temper broke the cat flap window

I have nothing else planned today. 

Chic Eleanor messaged me about the tulips, 

I’m on night’s tonight doing the shift for a friend

Angst

Just before nine Albert caught Roger standing on the kitchen table eating his dinner out of his bowl 

The resulting fight has gone down in Trelawnyd History

Suffice to say that  Albert is now sat in front of the fire licking his banjo and

Roger is somewhere under the bed in the spare room 

 

Tulips and beards and nurses

 I went out to lunch with my sister in law today. Tonight I’d planned to meet Chic Eleanor for supper. 

Lots of foody things today. 

Eleanor messaged me that she couldn’t come as her mother was poorly…very poorly as it turned out and I’ve just dropped some cheerful tulips off at her house on the other side of the village.

Her house was deserted, it’s going to be a tough 24 hours for her.

I’m scruffy as I’ve grown a full beard, a friend in the village who I haven’t seen in a long time commented on it today.

He called me a hipster.

I told him I’m too old 

I will have to make a decision to temper it soon 

I’ve had a beard most of my adult life, but never one as unruly 

In the supermarket I overheard two women complaining about the nurses’ strike.

They said nurses were putting people at risk now, and that they shouldn’t complain 

Now it starts , I said to myself.

And I wish everyone would watch this American medical soap’s nurse speech 

It sort of captures some of the essence that I think a lot of nurses feel

And My Dick’s a kipper

 I went to see Enys Men this morning. Apparently Enys is the old Cornish word for Island which is interesting as the Welsh word for Island is Ynys. 

Anyhow Enys Men was advertised as a horror film set on a1973 Cornish Island. 

I see that the word horror was used somewhat loosely.

It’s an experimental, abstract film where the mundane daily routine of a wildlife volunteer almost morphs into the history, tragedy and nature of an old Cornish mining island. Set in 1973 we follow the naturalist’s daily routine until no one really knows their arses from their elbows, so atmospheric as it was , I lost the will to live by minute 45, so walked out even though I was sure that the leading lady’s red anorak had something to do with the killer dwarf in Dont Look Now ( filmed in 1973)

Subsequently I found out that Mark Kamode gave it 5 stars .

Fuck me that must have been a slow day for him.

One of the Storyhouse volunteers fussed around me with hand twitching when he saw me walk out.

“ Everything all right?” he twittered

“It’s not very good “ I told him 

He made the mistake of arguing.

“ As a horror film it’s got a lot excellent reviews” he countered 

“if this was a horror film, then my Dick’s a kipper” I told him.

It’s a favourite saying of mine, and did what it was meant to do 

It underlined a point. 

It was still lunchtime when I left the cinema so I went to the Thai and Thai food stall in Chester Market and ordered their chicken pad Thai , which is glorious. 

I like the new dining area in the market as it consists of long tables  which have to be shared.

Sirikorn Jones who runs Thai On Thai

I picked up my food as a take out and literally bumped into Faisal from book club who was waiting for some Bangladeshi food from Guroma.

He shook my hand formally as he did when we met at book club and we had a drink together before and after our beepers went off, signalling that our food was ready .

He’s a nice chap, very chatty.

On The Nature Of Daylight

 Roger found a packet of panini in the footwell of the car. It had fallen out of the shopping bag unnoticed and the resulting hysteria from Dorothy who shouldered her way out of her cage in the back seat like a fat faced drug raiding policeman in order to grab one out of Mary’s mouth would have  caused a car wreck if we weren’t stuck in the workman’s traffic lights just outside the village.

The bickering over the crumbs lasted at least 25 minutes so I had a headache brewing when I finally got to the dentists in Llandudno.

After my appointment we all had a walk along the Promenade to blow away the cobwebs and I turned listening to Spotify on my phone as the waves flung spray horizontally into our faces. 

We sat down in a beach shelter as Max Richter’s On The Nature Of Daylight was playing. 

It’s a deeply melancholy and rather beautiful piece of music 

And as I listened the dogs crammed in closer, on either side of me in an effort to keep warm.

The pressure of each body just noticeable in three places

And the moment just broke my heart a little……