La Passion de Dodin Bouffant

 It does annoy me that many foreign language films get their titles changed to suit an English speaking world market. Les Passion De Dodin Bouffant is the perfect example for this afternoon I went to see the somewhat bland sounding The Taste Of Things which sounds to me like a 1980s British tv sitcom ! 

As it turned out The Taste Of Things was anything but bland. 

It is a gloriously elegant and beautiful film, exquisitely photographed and carefully acted, with every scene set in a French Country house in the summer of 1889, painted with the skill of a grand master.

The film’s opening sets the pace and style of the whole piece as we watch food lover Dodin Bouffant ( Benoît Magimel) and his cook and lover Eugénie( Juliette Binoche) prepare an exquisite meal for the couples 5 best friends. The pair share a deep love of cooking and each other and it shows as they silently work around each other in country kitchen to die for with all the grace and skill of a couple of ballet dancers. The ticket of admission pays for that extended scene alone. 

Magimel shines as the love struck, passionate and likeable Dodin with Binoche matching his every move . A stone’s throw from sixty she is at her most beautiful , and gives her character a haunting grace which is wonderfully moving . 

I loved every bit of this movie. 

It’s a beautiful story of an autumnal love affair

And a joyous celebration of cookery at its best

How Do You Cope?

 I slept properly last night.

Deeply and long.

So did Dorothy.

She woke me briefly wanting the loo around 6 am and disappeared out into the garden before we returned to bed to sleep. 

I could tell that she felt better as she lay still against my leg as she normally does.

Proper sleep, with REM dreaming is vital for processing stress. Stimulating rapid eye movements in patients with PTSD has been shown to be beneficial.

There’s a lot to be said for shutting the doors of your psychi too and tuning out of the world. 

I cope with things unevenly. 

The large glass of gin after a busy shift is a thorny reward, as is the takeaway or fridge raid, but balance in things certainly does help more . Cinema , theatre, lunch out, a company moment planned off sets the sad and the stress times but doesn’t always fill the gaps when a live body next to you listens to the shit of the day.

But they help

Nurses see transference regularly. They are also are on the receiving end of stress when their patients and their relatives are facing stressors that not easily resolved and coped with. 

If you feel impotent with an issue, a problem or an event, anger and resentment are often your to go emotions. 

Anger especially is  most easily accessed of all of them, a vent through a crack

Mind you ai can give a great deal of relief from pressure , especially in no win situations .

Humour helps me , more than anything too, but can be overshadowed by others’ drama . 

Drama is addictive, but uneven 

Humour brings with it some warmth and balance and laughter, it has been proven, physically removes stress for the body.

This morning, I  treated myself to the go to oral treat. 

Breakfast of potato waffles, egg and of all things scampi 

Bloody lovely it was too

Netflix, dozing in front of the fire, of and cleaning the toilet until you can see yourself in the bowl

Needy

I left the cottage at twenty past six and returned just before nine pm. Dorothy was asleep in the crook of my right arm by half past nine after her meal of rice and chicken and painkillers. 

trendy Carol’s Hubby had looked after her beautifully 

Thank you for all the best wishes for her

She knows something is afoot and is more clingy than Donald Trumps underpants

Off to bed 

 

 Sleepless night after 4 am Dorothy restless and odd despite painkillers

Just going to work 

Boy do I need myMcDonald’s coffee this morning

St Davids Day

 I was ten minutes early for my interview

And wore a plain Bluebell blue jumper, black pants and work shoes.

It was cold so I wore my new woollen coat and a multicoloured scarf , which I thought made me look vaguely “counselling”

I felt it went ok, I will hear on Monday if I have a place. The centre seems well resourced and run from what I can see and there is a noticeable energy in the staff I met , which I liked.

From there, I did some shopping in Tesco and bumped into an old friend, a sister from ITU. I told her where I’d been and she laughed saying I should have done it years ago. 

I was a crap ITU nurse she was in fact saying…the technology often baffled me , 

I met my friend Polly at Bryn Williams which was packed with St David’s Day diners. Each table had miniature daffodils in vases, so the place smelled slightly of piss , something even our waitress agreed upon. 

There was smoked mackerel scotch eggs on the menu! Oh be still my beating heart!!!! They were bloody lovely too

Lunch and gossip was lovely. I miss working with Polly, a true all round, old fashioned GP, hey ho.

Anyway came home, walked the dogs then went to Prestatyn to see Dune II  where my sister Janet met me inside the cinema just before the film started. We are twins but she does not hold with being early for anything ( as I painfully do) 

It was beautiful to look at as is Zandaya in the second lead, but the film, as sequels often are , is a bit lumpy and long. Timothy Chalamet still has a certain something, I must say, not my type at all, but he holds the camera and audience in the palm of his hand. 

I’ve not long got home, and have lit the fire ,and marshalled the dogs onto the sofa for warmth. I’m working tomorrow 

Fuck

 Fuck, just checked my interview for MIND is at 11am not midday

Fuckity fuck fuck…..

Mess

 

The cottage looks like something from the blitz

Why does that happen with only one human in the house?

Fuck knows.

Yesterday’s shift was full on, more like a busy A&E than a hospice 

I said to a new family that when I first came I expected lots of nuns looking like Audrey Hepburn floating about.

They expected it too 😞

So, this morning we went for a walk and picked up a McDonalds coffee, and I will be shortly standing in the kitchen and will hike up those bra straps in order to get the place in order.

That’s my only job for the day.

Tomorrow I have an interview with MIND regarding a counselling placement and I’m meeting my friend Polly for lunch. Polly used to be a doctor at the hospice but has now left for pastures new. It’s lovely we keep in touch.

Tomorrow night my sister and are  going to see Dune 2 at the cinema

I’ve just cleaned underneath the kitchen reading chair

One hard dog stool, one rubber chicken, one croc ( chewed) a small cactus(?) 54 p in coins and one pair of underpants

I bought too many cream eggs at the supermarket and stopped down the lane to give Helen and Ian, sailor John and Mrs Trellis one each 

This Is the Moment from Jekyll and Hyde

Lovely rendition , god I’m buggered