LGBTQIA+ ( spinster)

The Community is growing 

From my well known LGBT we have added QIA+, terms Im just getting used to in the gentle backwater of  North Wales

So I’ve recruited Stonewall to help clarify any confusion ( with myself)

Queer

Queer is a term used by those wanting to reject specific labels of romantic orientation, sexual orientation and/or gender identity. It can also be a way of rejecting the perceived norms of the LGBT community (racism, sizeism, ableism etc). Although some LGBT people view the word as a slur, it was reclaimed in the late 80s by the queer community who have embraced it.

​Questioning

The process of exploring your own sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

Intersex

A term used to describe a person who may have the biological attributes of both sexes or whose biological attributes do not fit with societal assumptions about what constitutes male or female.

Intersex people may identify as male, female or non-binary.

Stonewall works with intersex groups to provide its partners and stakeholders information and evidence about areas of disadvantage experienced by intersex people but does not, after discussions with members of the intersex community, include intersex issues as part of its current remit at this stage.

Asexual

A person who does not experience sexual attraction. Some asexual people experience romantic attraction, while others do not. Asexual people who experience romantic attraction might also use terms such as gay, bi, lesbian, straight and queer in conjunction with asexual to describe the direction of their romantic attraction.

I hope that makes everything clear. ( I added spinster as my own term of reference.

Anyway, it’s Monday now and I’ve two nights out and lots of assignment to do with my other non work days. Grayson Perry ( an evening with) is on Saturday and Giselle on Tuesday

Plans

 

I wish I had seen the Royal De Luxe Giant puppets when they came to Liverpool back in 2018. 

It is unclear on their website, that there will be another “ performance” anywhere…..which is sad.

The puppets are on my list to see, wherever and whenever they appear again.

I also want to experience a sleeper train. The British one from London to Cornwall is all booked up on line so I will have to looked further afield  unless there’s an easier way to book. 

It’s another ongoing plan  

New York is booked and on this visit I want to include The Museum of the Moving Image, the free tour of The New York Public Library and The International Centre of Photography.

2024 is going to be some new, and different experiences 

I’ve decided that today on this bleak, rather wet Sunday .

I’m on nights tonight, and have been day dreaming the morning away , whether it be on my morning walk or coffee time at the kitchen table. 

Plans are afoot. 

The dogs are steaming gently in their reading chair

As I daydream of puppets striding through streets and the gentle lull of a train journey though the night

 

Make Your Own Kind of Music (1972) - Julie Andrews, Cass Elliot

Saturday

 I drove to Hooton then caught the train into Liverpool Central.

Within minutes I walked up a busy Bold Street and met Nu in the Vietnamese restaurant  Pho 

She’s meeting old friends up the coast later so it was lovely to see her 

Two hours shot by, like the wind 

The dogs were all still asleep when I got home

I so lucky living where I do, 20 odd minutes from Chester and under an hour to Liverpool

Best of both worlds 

Answers On A PostCard

 I’m on the way to Bangor which is a Godforsaken place.

I’m attending a study day of six hours but add the travelling and the time spent will be over 8 .

It’s a pretty drive all told.

And One I can treat myself to a MacDonald’s coffee with.

It’s a last blog today all told but what is your treat of the day?

When things are a bit tough, when life is just that bit too real

What do you treat yourself to? 

I’d be interested to know

Catch Up

Chic Eleanor nodded and sipped her gin 

I told her I had stalked my ex husbands’s wedding on social media last weekend 

And she smiled 

I think we all would have done that she said kindly 

And I think she was right 

So how did it feel ? She asked carefully

And do you know that it felt ok I told her

I saw an in law family I once loved posing the same poses they did at my own wedding

And I saw my ex husband looking older and heavier and balder  and happy as he danced with his husband 

And in that very moment I let him go

After a long five years, I let him go …….

Eleanor listened to my words and smiled her benign smile again 

And she reached forward and held my hands firmly on the table top

As we sat silently in the chatter of the pub, 

Holding hands 

And the tears that followed were the relief

At The Ballet

 

Confessional: The Scotch Egg Incident of 2011

 I first told this story to my group in University and on a roll repeated it to my table at the Village Casino night.

They say confession is good for the soul.

So my soul should be squeaky clean.

By now….

Picture this…..Trelawnyd 2011….It’s summer August 13th ….Sylvia Evan’s blood pressure is through the roof as she and us, her Flower Show minions, set up for another record breaking show. 

Domestic class entries are through the roof, this year and as usual I’m helping with the organised madness that is Judging Day.

It’s 11.55 am and setting up closes at midday.

Sylvia is very strict with her timings 

Mona Davies arrives breathless, with seconds to spare . Her entry, a scotch egg, the only one in its class , wrapped in clingfilm on a saucer in her hand .

The scotch egg, is huge, the size of German grenade.

It is a thing of pure beauty 

I almost heard heavenly music when I first set eyes on it 

Now I liked Mona. She was a spinster school teacher and elder sister of farmer Basil , one of the most highly respected countrymen of Trelawnyd . They shared the beautiful Ochr y Gop farm, a slightly dilapidated Georgian farmhouse at the top of high street, and I was lucky enough to interview them both for my history blog , oral histories which have now been archived by the National Welsh Library in Aberystwyth. http://trelawnydhistory.blogspot.com/2011/05/mr-basil-davies-miss-mona-davies.html

Mona was strict and fair. She didn’t suffer fools either and was an amazing cook.

I fell in love with that scotch egg the second I saw it

Look closely the egg can be seen centre table to left

Now of course Mona won first prize for her glorious egg. 

The elderly judge, who was not know for flights of fancy , even commented how magnificent it was and gave it a comment of merit which was a rarity 

Now fast forward to the Flower Show final moments which have always remained a complete bunfight

The hall is packed with winners collecting their winnings (coins placed  in tiny brown envelopes) and exhibitors grabbing their certificates, exhibits and extra cakes bought from the tea table manned by Irene Murray .

And in just a few minutes the hall can be stripped, like a carcass surrounded by hyenas .

I noticed that the scotch egg had been abandoned at the end of the day

Mona had left it ! 

I was joyful 

Excited 

And devious.

If it had been abandoned I was having it.

So I pocketed it as deftly as if I was jewel thief and

I hid it in my Flower Show bits and bats box as the show folded and the doors closed. 

I had swept the floor, put away the rubbish and said goodbye to most of the committee, before there was a small knock on the Hall door. 

It was Mona and she was late collecting her scotch egg.

Sylvia found the saucer and Mona’s first place certificate but was thin lipped in anger at the thought someone had taken the egg home. 

We shook our heads at the awful thought someone had stolen it 

And Mona took her certificate home with a slightly heavy heart

Am I ashamed ? 

Of course I am

But do you know what? 

It was the best bloody scotch egg I have ever tasted

EVER!!!!

The delightful Mona Davies

Shortly before her death in 2021

The egg in close up