Gladys ….Auntie Glad

 

How strange it was that yesterday , I found myself thinking of Auntie Gladys

I posted a blog about her , months and months after I had done so before 

She crept into my head like she often did when she lived in the village,

Vital, and with purpose

Her milky blue eyes, smiling, unless you vexed her.

Aunty Glad’s daughter messaged me this morning. To tell me that Gladys had died yesterday just a couple of months short of 103. She commented on the timing of my post. 

How strange it was.

I took a moment to take the news in.

How strange that a woman in her 80s and 90s could have such an effect on a middle aged gay man who was new to her village .

She was my friend from the day I met her and she accepted me and my husband without falseness so common in many long term churchgoers.

I remember her walking to the cottage to give me a wedding gift when she was 95 and added to it a bag of scones , fresh from the oven. Her head to one side,, looking smart in her winter coat she made her way back to her home after refusing a lift home .

“ I like to get my face to the sun” she explained “ God bless You Both”

I need to go to the village Hall now, it’s the soup and roll lunchtime

But I sat at the kitchen table for a short time 

And had a small weep.

Gladys opening the flower show six years ago

Something Beautiful

Auntie Gladys was famous for her homespun quotes about doing the right things

Many were bible-esque type quotes

Economical and not too flowery 

Having said that I remember her walking around the last  Flower Show, the one that she herself opened as guest of honour , 

She was looking at the baking section with bright , critical blue eyes, 

Her gaze running across, loaves of bread,and tarts and plates of biscuits and mounds of her own scones

And she smiled and waved her arms like a school girl

“ Always look for the beautiful every day “ 

She said excitedly 

 

Nice things

 

My Matsumoto Hogi Frog print arrived yesterday it’s huge and benign and will look lovely in my hallway

I loved this video of a thoughtful gay man sharing a thought about his very straight best friend 

Roger watching The Bourne Identity tonight 

A recent impulse purchase a Japanese tea bowl ( not arrived as yet) 

Raquel Welsh actor and celebrity died aged 82 three days ago 

Never one to take herself too seriously she was a talented actress and comedian 

She was offered the Faye Dunaway part in Towering Inferno 

Day Shifts Again

 I haven’t done day shifts for ages

Up before 6 am, 

Five pairs of blurry eyes blinking in the light.

LBC radio on the alarm

Dogs walked,

Avocado on toast with egg

Proper coffee( no time for bucket)

Shower very hot.

Clinique happy on uniform

Put Roger in his crate with an egg to play with, Trendy Carol won’t be long

Storm Otto is outside

Albert is up late for breakfast

Noodles and left overs for lunch, with fruit and Diet Coke

Radio is silenced

I want to go back to bed

A Quiet Day

 Coffee time at the kitchen sink 

David Sidaris then Lesley Manville on Desert Island Discs

Both nice people .

I’ve put a bacon joint in the slow cooker and covered it with butter beans 

That will do for supper.

Lunch will be noodles, with walnuts and some boiled rice 

Apart from dog walking, I’m not leaving the house today

The weather is blustery 

Book Club

 Book Club was an interesting meet tonight

Smaller in numbers than meeting one , I missed the presence of the cheerful Faisal but the group was certainly buoyed up by two new members, a bright, chatty lesbian couple from Savannah, Georgia .

Our book was Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton which is an exploration into white supremacy radicalisation within a private English School and the subsequent armed attack on teachers and pupils one snowy morning.

I enjoyed the book , unlike most of the group , but the conversation grew rather intense when one of the facilitators asked the American couple their take on it, given the fact they had only just arrived in the country and that school shootings were very. Much a product of the US

The women looked at each other carefully and the dark haired girl told her story of when she experienced a school shooting as a child where many children , her friends,  were killed.

It was a sobering, moving and total unexpected moment that shocked us all.

And in the silence that followed ,the blonde partner , smiled a big smile and said simply

“ why do you think we have come to the UK to live?”

These two women, bright democrats both  then told us stories of their experiences of guns, gun crime and gun mentality .

They were neither exaggerating or angry, just resigned and tired of it all

And when they had finished 

Discussing a novel didn’t quite seem the most pressing thing to do

People Watching

 After dog walking, I treated myself to breakfast in Sainsbury’s cafe.

I also bought two large coffees and read my book in a comfortable booth.

When I was eating breakfast I people watched .

Next to me two middle aged friends met up for tea and sympathy.

They hadn’t seen each other since December and hugged a greeting

Their conversations were animated and warm and loud and as I looked around I noticed a frail slightly older lady with a crutch leaning against her table watching them.

Her expression looked sad but there was more to it and I know I read it correctly 

It was envy.

Trelawnyd

This tiktok video has been made by recent Trelawnyd resident Kelda as she climbed up Gop Hill which stands guard over the village 

Sweet