Thursday Morning

 

Night shifts have come around awfully quickly this week. 

Back tonight.

I finish Saturday morning which will mean I can watch Eurovision in the Hall Saturday night.

Bluebell needs more work this morning, but that’s the only big job of the day to sort.

I’ve already given the dogs their big walk and mown the lawn. 

My sister is due to do the garden but is snowed under by bookings

The garden will be transformed in a week or so when the alliums bloom. At the moment the aquilegia and forget me nots are. Filling the borders with their gentle colour

And the cheerful Welsh poppies are poking their yellow heads in the few gaps left

Sushi

 I am consistently amazed that such in innocuous blog such as Going Gently can rile some readers into such apoplexy and anger. 

It baffles me, as does a comment from last night which admitted that my blog is bad for a certain reader’s mental health. 

Gawd help us, if that’s the case, I hope that reader contacts MIND immediately before never reading Going Gently again.

There’s a lot to be said for self help.

Anyhow I went shopping today.

I’m not a big shopper, but I heard that a new sushi bar had opened up in the town of Mold which is located around 17 miles east of Trelawnyd, so I thought I’d treat myself.

Mold’s Welsh name is Yr Wyddgrug ( Mound in English) and it is a pretty market town overlooked by Theatre Clwyd which situated a mile or so out of town.

I was impressed with the bespoke shops as well as the sushi and as well as buying myself some Japanese tea, I bought some French bacon twists from a bone fide French baker, some books at in independent bookshop and some bespoke birthday cards from an art shop

Looking At Yourself

 

It’s not a pretty sight. 

I’m writing my last assignment for Uni and I am in the process of analysing my own counselling skills on film. 

I’m finding it all rather harrowing .

Seeing yourself on the screen , warts and all isn’t nice.

No wonder I’m single.

I look a mess

So I have been trying to concentrate more on my non verbals, my ability to paraphrase, recap and challenge. My use of Egan’s three stage model, my use of  advanced empathy, my voice,  my phrasing and my abilities to make the interaction flow. 

Now that feels a bit better. 

I see past looking at a fat old man and now , at least,  I see a friendly fat old man

With crinkling eyes and a gentle voice

Hey ho

Mary

B

She rolled in the body of a dead badger on our last walk of the day 

After nights I am in despair 

It’s ok I have gin in 

 

Tea and Cake

I was in bed for most of the day yesterday. We’d had an incredibly hard and busy shift Saturday night and so I slept heavily and long, despite being woken by the dogs baying at someone at the door in the afternoon. My visitor was Nick from the TCA who dropped off some of the Coronation cake made by bouncy Bridget . I missed his knock but soon spied a parcel of cake wrapped in silver paper plonked on top of my wall basket.

It was bloody lovely too with a hot cup of tea.

But I was soon snoring away the rest of the afternoon so missed any post-mortem from the Coronation afternoon tea which looked impressive on line and which probably  tasted even better in the flesh

The Eurovision night next Saturday will be a much bawdier affair me thinks.

Me hopes so.

So, Trelawnyd life plods along at its own pace. King Charles has his crown and I suspect he shouts and  laughs with Camilla loudly and long.

Eurovision is the next altar to pray at. Then it’s summer 

 

Goats At Work

These two were sat by our back door when I got to work yesterday evening. 

It’s strange to think that a small seaside town in Wales has a thriving and popular population of Kashmir Goats but here they still are, the descendants  of a few individuals who were a coronation gift from the Shah of Persia to the young Queen Victoria in 1837

During lockdown they received much worldwide publicity after running amok around town like hoards of StTrinian schoolgirls  and here on West Shore at the base of The Great Orme , they often visit the hospice daily with their benign faces and exotic hornes….

 

The C Word

 

I won’t bang on about it

I’m not a huge fan of Charles

But I was rather moved by his expression when he walked into the Abby

Finally centre stage 

A hint of a smile on his face.

Bryn Terfels Kyrie Eleison sung in Welsh was incredibly beautiful 

Loved this bit too, see Kate beaming at them at the end 

The king sighed with a smile as his army, navy and airforce personnel cheered him from the gardens of Buckingham palace.

I’ve been incredibly moved by today’s coverage.

Seeing the king kneeling in the Abby in just a simple shirt reenforced his sense of duty, and the professionalism of the armed forces pitched things just right

Well done

Well done

Worth

 Tonight Gorgeous Dave and I went to see the darkly comic play Worth at the Storyhouse in Chester .

It turned out to be a rather brutal and harsh essay on a Uk/ Chinese family dynamic at a matriarch’s funeral and although not faultless it sparked a robust conversation about grief and families  on our way home