Zohran Mamdani

 

Pause

 

The Incident Of The Dog Cardigan In the Dark

 

Being an old bitch, Mary has bald patches on her back and flanks.

Subsequently Trendy Carol being Trendy Carol has bought her a succession of knitted coats this autumn.

Her latest is an armless cardigan of many colours

And Mary is warm but overdressed  in a village full of sheepdogs and hearth mutts.

Last night on our last walk Mary wouldn’t amble along.

She staggered

And stopped still, with her head down and tail droopy

I cajoled her and petted her but she stood in the rain 

Stock still and miserable 

So I lifted her up and with her head under my chin, me and Roger worriedly ran for home.

I suspected a stroke

Or epilepsy 

Or sudden illness 

And in the light of the fire

I tearfully gave the unhappy girl the once over.

After a couple of minutes I finally sussed it.

Somehow she the old gal had got her back leg jammed in her front leg cardigan arm hole.

Ffs these animals will be the death of me …….

The Show

 Another Spanish Choir , but I need to request from my followers , what’s it all about? 

Please someone tell me …..

I adored the elderly choral lead 

And the power of the choir’s first few notes, it’s bloody amazing 

Anyway, Last night we had another robust meeting about the village show, and things are moving forward with rather a rush.

Shit…..I’m out of my depth with this sort of thing …but I’m trying very hard.

Gulp…..

Now Voyager Through Chic Eleanor’s Eyes…..

 For  those that don’t know this classic movie , it’s a voyage around the story of an awful critical mother (Gladys Cooper) who has brow beaten and psychotically abused an unwanted and unloved daughter Charlotte (Bette Davis). An unexpected intervention from a kindly psychiatrist (Claude Rains) allows the ugly duckling to embark on a cruise to South America where she meets the redeeming unhappily married Gerry ( Paul Henreid) and where she blossoms into a chic society dame.

Camp, and melodramic ,it’s a right romp , and Chic Eleanor adored it from start to finish., celebrating the psychological bent of the narrative with some gusto, multiple pashmina throws and lots of emotion .

It was a true delight seeing the film through a friend’s fresh eyes. 

And she loved it 

When Charlotte finally admitted “I’m not afraid mother” Eleanor threw her arms in the air and threw out a robust “ At bloody Last!” Which I loved….

We analysed the film in the car all the way home xxx

The Village within a Village

 

I live in the South Western Part of Trelawnyd, on a lane which is called Cwm Road . Cwm is the Welsh word for a valley, but also is the name of a couple of villages located near to us here. So the lane not only moves down the valley but to a place called Cwm . 

It’s all bloody confusing.

My cottage is one of six dwellings , which lie next to the Church, and it is ( with next door) the oldest home in the row.

I always think that this part of Trelawnyd as a village within a village.

The lane drops down the valley bottom to where village Leaders Ian and Helen live in the old mill house, then rises up to the farmhouses at Pen y Cefn Isa, and Y Ffyddion 

At night, the lights in the windows of each house are comforting and show me that Lywena and Arfon are home.

This morning the view across the valley is glorious, and this is what I can see if I stand in front of my cottage looking south west.

The livery stables own the fields beyond the Church field, and the ponies that frequent them noisily shoot stem from their noses this morning as the frost lingered. The crows in their murder by the village well are loud and raucous, and lines of gulls call too as they shift sidewards and move down towards the coast. 

It feels as though there’s a lot going on in such a still place. 

Bun follows our walk, and stands guard from the graveyard wall, as Monika and her French bulldog steam by

The autumn colours in the trees and hedgerows are exaggerated by the sun , and everything feels golden and warmed, even though it’s chilly 

I take a deep breath in by the field gate, as Mary raises her head to the sun 

I am home

Espresso Macchiato-Grupo Talía

It’s 9.17 pm and I’ve been out of the cottage at work since 6 am only getting back 45 minutes ago, 

By the time I’ve walked and fed the dogs, and cats, lit the fire and had a shower, I’m ready to collapse in an untidy heap on the couch. 

Weaver has been fighting with the neighbourhood’s  feral Tom , a cat three times her size. He used to bully  Albert rather relentlessly so was christened with the fairly uncharitable nickname of  The Cu*t, a name that rather suited him, but Weaver has already given him a run for his money

It’s all drama …..Jesus! It’s all drama!

The lisping choir paying homage their favourite beverage was a chuckle tonight

Tomorrow Chic Eleanor and I are off to see Now Voyager at the Storyhouse 

A 1940s weepie is just what we both need me thinks. 

Fall

 When I went to London recently I fell getting onto a tube on the Northern Line going south .

I blame my dyspraxia, of course, as well as the fact that I was hurrying, as the tube train was about to leave, but one minute I looked like any other commuter.

The next I was sprawled inside the tube with a dozen people looking concerned if not shocked around me.

Suffice to say I got to my feet immediately and as I sat down on the disabled seat, an Italian woman kindly called out “ are you alright?” 

I motioned that I was , but I had sprained my thumb pretty badly and embarrassment dictated that I showed no pain or discomfort. 

I blushed like a school boy 

Falling in public is an intensely humiliating experience. 

It shows your under belly to the world 

And underlines clumsiness, age and size and helplessness

Why do you think I’ve not told you about it until now? 

I’m imploding with shame….

What was funny about all this, was a genuine premonition, 

For when I was walking to the train in Prestatyn , that morning

I suddenly felt as though I was going to fall over that day…..

And later on , I did just that …….

My thumb is still sore btw