And Just Like That

 The first episode of the second season of And Just Like That aired last night and it was a bit messy if truth be told. Messy as the original series was all about four white women and now it is about seven diverse race and sexuality women.

There’s a lot to cram in so to speak.

I’m still a fan, and like season 1 all will settle down again after a running start with too many breasts on show.

I popped my elder sister’s Birthday gift. She is away for her birthday on the 28th. We chatted for a while and I was pleased that she said that recently I had been looking more relaxed, more centred more myself than I had for a long time, and I have to say that I agree with her. 

It’s taken me almost five years to the day to resolve myself to the ending of my marriage. 

Some people would say that’s too long, but covid and lockdown coupled with the fact that my ex never told me why the marriage ended for him all were factors that prolonged the healing process.

Couple that too, with the mistake I , like many hurt people make, and that is I looked to the person that hurt me the most to make me feel better.

And that never really happens , 

Not in real life

My sister picked up on an inner lightness 

Something insidious and gradual 

Shit, I’ve just noticed that the RNT have issued more strikes in July. One day clashes with me going to London to take Nu to see La Traviata at the Royal Opera House…

Smile and glide

Smile and glide…there will be ways around this…..hey ho

It’s raining ever so gently and Roger is sitting by the back door watching everything.

Dorothy is asleep in her reading chair and Mary is curled up on a kitchen chair with one ear pricked.

The patio plants make the kitchen bright and cheerful, and the sweet peas mirror that mood as the climb next to the blue, firework agapanthus 

I’m meeting my sister in law for lunch , then will have a sleep before night duty

And just like that it will be tomorrow

All is pretty well with the world today

 

Kitchen Table

 

I’ve been sorting my finances out today. 

That means changing my phone providers, sorting a better deal with broadband and getting rid of my landline. I’ve streamlined some accounts and cancelled unwanted frivolous items such as Disney + ( which was a total indulgence as it kept me up to date with the Walking Dead) 

With interest rates going up yet again it seemed like a prudent thing to do today.

I had a row with a Nazi Cyclist today too who rang his bell so insistently on the Dyserth Walkway for me and another woman and a dog to get out of his way that we barely had time to gather our thoughts. Dorothy got flummoxed and walked directly in front of him which caused more shouting on his part and he was most upset when I reminded him it was a walkway and not an official cycle track

https://seearoundbritain.com/venues/prestatyn-dyserth-way

“fucking dog owners!” he yelled

“Nazi Lycra wearer” was my robust reply

A good shout sometimes clears the tubes

Hey ho

And Old Faces 2

 

This afternoon, I loaded Bluebell up with cold drinks, flower show programmes and a watering can full of water and set off to publicise the Show.

It was hot but with the windows open, bearable. and only a few seconds drive East of Trelawnyd I stopped at Marion to take my first programme to Irene Murray.

Now Irene is a force to be reckoned with. With the late Sylvia and Gladys Jones  , she was the third matriarch that co ran the original show, and did so with a keen eye and no messing,and I wanted her to know that the show was returning soon and she was tickled pink and rather moved that it was. 

I left her to drive to our neighbouring village of Trelogan to catch up with Graham, my first potential vegetable entrant. He’s a delightfully friendly chap who sings in the village choir but he is also a magnificent grower of vegetables which I was privileged to see in his crammed polytunnel this afternoon.

Getting his veg into any show is a real boon for any Flower and Produce Show and I was excited to have him aboard, especially as his carrot tops were in a word, MAGNIFICENT !!!

Onwards and upwards! 

Next stop was Terry, my old Quiche nemesis from my early days in the village. 

We had gone head to head in the baking classes for years with the plaudits swinging both ways each time entered. 

With some old testosterone reignited he’s agreed to enter the Quiche, Boiled Fruitcake and Scone classes in a misjudged attempt to topple me

We both couldn’t help grinning at each other

“old Times “ he said with a chirp.

My next stop was the beautifully rustic Still House , just off Well Street and I was glad that Ma Manley was at home, for I wanted to encourage her into our arts classes as she will be running the new arts and crafts club in the autumn , a club I’ve already asked to join .

Ma Manley is a lovely woman with a long flowing white hair and a style that shrieks local hero/ Whiskey Galore/ Earth Mother

I hope I’ve won her over.

Tomorrow I have more characters to catch up with, so I just had time to water the new planters at the Church gate, the ones donated to the TCA by Jackson’s, before getting home for tea,

It’s been a good day

A photo of some of the original Flower Show Committee 

Irene is third from left

Terry is fifth .

Old Friend 1

 

Another old friend returns,

The Trelawnyd Flower Show is reborn on August 5th.

And the schedules are out.

I’ve got much to do today. 

Jackson’s Nurseries ( which lies a stone’s throw from the village) donated several planters to the TCA and I’ve picked three up this morning and have placed two either side of the Church gate and put the last one by the noticeboard.

I will personally deliver flower show schedules to the old flower show committee and to people who have already requested them. 

I love the fact that inside the programme the TCA has honoured Auntie Glad

The Moment I Fell In Love With Venice

The view of the Grand Canal from the Museum

 Ok this will be my last Venice post for a while.

I wanted to write this yesterday but the post deserved time, emotion and thought and effort 

To me it’s an important post for an important day 

all I can tell you is that I have been captivated by Venice from the get-go, captivated , entranced, impressed from the first time I saw it properly the moment we approached it from the North East causeway but I truly fell in love with the city when we had a break inside the subtle Guggenheim museum and walked on an almost deserted museum terrace which over looked the Grand Canal at midday.

From the calm, beauty of the deserted museum on Sunday morning , we left the mutedly lit  Pollock’s and Picasso’s for the bright, blue beauty of a thoroughfare packed with boats and people and movement. 

And It was joyous 

My friend Colin giggled as I waved without any embarrassment to anyone in the boats on the canal  who would wave back, and I guessed understood just why I did it.

And wave they did, almost as if they could feel my excitement and pleasure of that one moment pure moment .

A big black guy , showing off to his girlfriend in a motorboat, a group of schoolgirls on a vaparetto and a family of women in hijabs in a water taxi they all waved to me as I waved to them from one of the most impressive and beautiful museums in the world, on a sunny hot day , when the water looked duck egg blue and Sun shone so happily .

It was a glorious wonderful moment that I will never forget

The terrace at the museum

Home Today

As you all can probably tell, I have totally fallen for Italy

Just as Tom Stephenson probably did over a busty Sophia Loren when he was a teenager.

Always late to the party, this quick jaunt has seriously healed a little hole in my psychi, one I never knew was still there and even after a few days I feel lighter and brighter and eager to move on to Barcelona next month and Rome in the autumn.

A four star hotel, lovely service,plush surroundings, cracking food and long easy conversations over sunny views all help to lift the spirits.

Last night we had to laugh, as a young couple who had sat silently next to me on the plane in to Venice despite my welcome saw me sat in our favourite cafe/bar.

Both smiled broadly and waved just as I had waved so energetically at the passengers in the water taxies and Vaparettos on the Grand Canal from the veranda of the Guggenheim .

Caught under the Venice spell, too, I thought…

Just like me

 

Ciao Bella

 We went to the Guggenheim which was small and quiet and rather chic and I fell in love with 

Jackson Pollock’s Eyes In The Heat

I couldn’t work out what was better the Pollock or the view 

Of the Grand Canal

They had a few items displayed on the museum veranda which overlooked the Grand Canal 

And we sat there for an age waving at the boats

It’s now heading for dusk on my final night

And I don’t want to come home 

CIÁO XXX

Last Full Day

 

I’ve not been away with my friend Colin before and so needed to suss out his way of holidaying.

It will surprise no one to learn that I’m a wash face and go person

Colin is a gently gently face the day person, so I get up wash my face and take a short early walk.

He’s great company when he surfaces, yesterday we spent four and a half hours in a delightful cafe wedged by a canal,  drinking Apirol Spritz and talking and watching the world amble buy

Venice is truly magical. 

I’m quite captivated by it.

Blending in with the tourist places, the cafes and the church’s, almost faceless, ancient building brood and blend just as they did in the scenes of Don’t Look Now and the canal water glows a blue of the sky and looks clean and smells fresh.

I will come again ,I am sure.

I’m presently eating breakfast on the hotel terrace 

It’s still early 

I’m the only Brit in the restaurant, as far as I can tell the others, with an exception of a chic Greek family and one German lady are all Americans who banter between tables like old jolly friends. 

In my experience, they have little knowledge of the difference between an Englishman and being from the UK, so I’ve told everyone who asked that I’m Welsh.

Without realising, I even sound more Welsh as I told them

The iPad is now protecting me from further questions.

I need to be a little still in the early mornings

We are off to the Guggenheim a little later this morning

The weather is the same her as it is in the Uk

All of the Italians I have met, have been charming and friendly, quite unlike what I was told to expect.