Moments Of Pure Drama

The Prof's guilty pleasure on a weekend is breakfast in bed with Netflix
This morning he's been watching The Crown and although this romp-through-the -Palace drama is probably as historically correct as Mel Gibson's BRAVEHEART , I did notice some fine set pieces, noticeably the wonderfully bravura moment where the grieving Queen Mary ( Eileen Atkins) glides into Sandringham in full mourning attire like a spectre at the feast, to curtsy ever so slowly in front of the the new Queen Elizabeth (Claire Foy) 
It's a fantastic piece of television

So, on this fairly drab Sunday I'm asking for your Biggest Moments of a drama ! This seems a sensible request from an ageing drama queen! But you'll get my gist.....
I can think of one moment in my life when after my paternal grandmother died in our home after a short illness, my father, in a Moment of what could only be described as grief fuelled hysteria actually accused my mother of killing her!
Now this scene was a scene worthy of Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to baby Jane?and although as a teen , even though I understood, where the screaming fit actually came from, the drama of the event is still hard and fast in my memory.

Share one of your most dramatic Of moments.
I'd be interested to hear them

Mrs Trellis

Mrs Trellis doing the raffle at one of my allotment open days

I caught up with Mrs Trellis this morning in both meanings of the word as Mary and I came across her on the Marian road trying to pull her Greyhound, Blue off a dead rabbit.
She's had new kitchen tops, and has been to the Cotswolds with Voel coaches.
Blue went for Mary as he thought she was after his rabbit, but Mary wasn't bothered. She's too quick for even a greyhound to catch.
Mrs Trellis was bounced around the lane in her effort to keep him under control.
Her long white hair was blowing untidily in the wind.
I told her we were off to New York soon, but she didn't seem very interested and seemed more preoccupied with a long story about Church business than the Oyster bar under Grand Central.
We walked past the footpath on the side of Gop Hill and talked some more about this and that

" It's very hard being on your own" she mused " People think that they can take advantage"
I didn't explore it any further , I didn't have the time.

Audit

" What have you done today darling?" 
So asked The Prof over a very passable low fat lasagne
" Not much" I told him
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Fucking kitchen tiles! That's what I've been sorting out today....fucking kitchen tiles

Project managing!
I've made an audit of" tile-gate" that's how Effin sad I am
65 minutes on line, (the line has been discontinued after I bought half the tiles!
14 phone calls ( yes 14!) - approx 1 hour 20 minutes of my time
One 20 minute visit and quote from the lovely old tiler who fell in love with Winnie and who promised her ( and not me) that she could watch him lay every tile!
Oh and  one 40 minute journey to B&Q to buy that last box which some fucker had removed three tiles!
All for 5 square metres of ceramic

It was bloody less stressful looking after a ventilated patient on ITU

" Dangerous Jonney"

I've never had a car accident...caused hundreds.....never had one!
So goes the old joke.
I'm not one of the most confident of drivers it must be said
This drives the Prof to apoplectic distraction .
Surprise surprise he is a very confident motorist.
He calls me " Dangerous Jonney"
I passed my driving test first time and my driving instructor eyebrows left his forehead when I told him.
"I'm a better teacher than I thought" he quipped as we shook hands before I drove off in my Austin 1300.
I was too happy to notice the irony .

Date Night

The Prof and I went to Liverpool tonight to see the Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra perform Mendelssohn's Fingal's Cave.
The music was lovely! The audience was geriatric, the ginger ice cream at the interval was refreshing, my haphazard negotiation of the traffic including the Wallasey tunnel afterwards was questionable
And the subsequent argument on the journey home-was......... inevitable 

Coming Out- Yorkshire Style

Many years ago I asked my best male friend, Mike for a pint in Sheffield.
He jumped at the chance to have a Thursday night out at The Dog And Partridge. 
The pub was always warm and welcoming and full of amateur folk singers and our nights out together were always full of chatter and banter about film, current affairs, news and gossip.
That night, however, I had an agenda.
For that night I had decided to come out to him.
I knew Mike very well, and thought deep down that everything would be alright, but as he was straight and a typical no nonsense working class married Yorkshireman I was surprised to suddenly find myself very nervous and fearful of a reaction I didn't want and more importantly couldn't cope with if everything went tits up.
I told him after a spirited group rendition of The Irish Rover
And afterwards he sat silently for a moment looking at his pint glass.
After what seemed like an age ( but wasn't) he nodded and said in his broad Sheffield brogue
" Does that mean I have to occasionally go a gay bar with you ?"
" Perhaps!" I replied and he nodded again
" ok!" He said brightly " it's your round!"

Time

It's 15.25!
Mary and I have walked to town to collect the car. I bought peas and mangetout and some eye drops for William.
I've cleared the garden of the downed ceanothus, did washing and spent three quarters of an hour looking over some legal papers for an elderly neighbour.
I've bought some dolls house furniture from eBay for my mother in law ( who has just renovated her childhood dolls house), cleaned up and collected firewood and stocked up on fuel ovoids
The afternoon is almost over and I still have things to do

Your Thoughts

The School Run

The Prof usually leaves the cottage well before 7 am and as he leaves I get up to walk the dogs.
Uncharacteristically this morning he left at 8 am and so the village was busy with school run traffic and people commuting to work as we stopped for wees and poos!
The older of the village children lined up with their smart phones at 1-3 London Road waiting for the school buses to arrive and I was suddenly reminded of dark depressing winter mornings when  I walked to school with my heavy briefcase and chilblains.
Breakfast time at home before school were not Betty Crocker times when I was a boy. My father generally would get up after we had left for school and my mother often had a hangover or was still asleep    So there was no cooked breakfasts made, no cheery words of goodbye and no smell of coffee brewing.
I do remember making jam on toast whilst listening to the ever cheerful Terry Wogan on radio 2
He was a friendly soul .
Mornings felt a lot colder then than they do today.

The Walking Dead

I'm easily pleased!
For over seven years now ,I have followed the exploits of a group of apocalypse survivors in a savage world of zombies in the rural southern states of the United States and although I don't dress up as the crossbow welding redneck  Daryl Dixon , like so many Walking Dead Geeks do, I am told I am just as obsessed with the show as a spotty teenager, with no mates could be.
Season 8 sees war break out between Negan and three of the new order communities, and in a complete contrast to the start of season 7, there is a wiff of hope in the air as Rick et al prepare to kick some ass.
There is some speech making, group hugs and plenty of action but it is the following small points that I found " interesting"

• The messaging between alter egos Daryl and Dwight provide an interesting mirroring between essentially the same character. I like the " softer" Daryl who is now more able to hug his friends 
• Tara and her plastic specs amuse me, she and Jerry are the only characters that seem to own a sense of humour
• Carol on the overpass looks sadly at a graffiti flower ( ? Cherokee Rose!).....forshadowing?
• I noted Some nice moments between the minor characters before the action starts
• Why didnt anyone shoot negan when he appeared on the gantry?duh ?
• Negan's wisecracking is really getting on my tits

Generally I enjoyed the start of the new series but it has its's flaws
.but like all old friends, who sometimes disappoint you, its lovely to see them all back
I kinda liked  it

The Dead Return

The Walking Dead is back tonight

I've got a low calorie scotch egg to eat when I'm watching it.

Mary is not impressed

Your Tiny Hand Is Frozen

I've been sorting out the itinerary for  New York trip this afternoon and after a bit of juggling I was ticked pink to buy us tickets to see La Boheme at the New York Met.
The Prof has never seen Puccini's tale of love amid the poor artists of the Paris of 1840 and although it has been criticised by some as a lightweight opera , it does have the power to bring a tear to your eye and a lump to your throat!

Now even though I have filled most days of our visit with nice activities ( and before you ask I've been 8 times before so we've pretty much done the tourist stuff) I ask the Going Gently readers if they know of anything alternative that they have done in New York which is worth a visit. We are open to anything new, a lovely restaurant, exhibition,.....anything different......you could recommend
I'm all ears!

Still Life

I am sat at the kitchen table drinking a bucket of coffee
Im waiting for the plumber to arrive
I've just realised that I like yellow

Brian is a bit of a c*#t

Storm Brian seems rather more ferocious than Ophelia

We were caught in it when we went to Conwy to buy mussels

And by the time we got home the wind had already toppled the ceanothus in the front garden

Clinton

ok ...I wasnt going to post anything else but I have just watched Hilary Clinton being interviewed on the UK chat show Graham Norton's show
Now Last year I heard her interviewed on radio 4,- and she came over as a rather bland character
But tonight with Norton's relaxed interview style She came across exceedingly well.....the President the US should have had

Georgy Girl

My former post depressed me greatly, well more precisely , the comments did , so I have plucked this entry from BBC 4 's programme Easy Listening Hits at the BBC ( which is presently showing)
To lighten the mood!

Enjoy

Patience

The nearest I've gotten to my new kitchen

I'm not a very patient person. 

Red tape,lack of information not doing things when I was told things were going to happen are things that drive me bananas .

...and I am a very assertive customer. 

The new kitchen is planned and I am awaiting final costings as the original plans forgot to take into account some heating pipes. 

Last week the plumber gave me just one hour notice of a no show ( without an explaination) and blocked me totally on social media after I told him it was inconvenient . His offer for another appointment has so far not been forthcoming.

The new local plumber is coming out on Sunday to give me a quote for some work and I'm hoping the kitchen fitter can sort out our " slot" very soon.

Project managing is bloody stressful

If You Can't Say Something Nice ...don't say anything at all

Stans garden in spring

My mother used to use this statement a lot when I was a child. She' was referring to gossip in the main and how some people always remarked about someone else's negative points rather than their positives.
This was rich as my mother could be waspish as they come, but you sort of get the gist of where she was coming from.
One of the trophies in the flower show is in need of replacing . It's a cheap looking cup and so the committee were unanimous in the decision to change it and it seemed fitting that the cup was renamed as a dedication to someone who has supported the flower show so well over the years.
The name of Stan H was mentioned and agreed upon, as he always produced the most beautifully kept pensioner garden in the entire village and yesterday,, I had the opportunity of asking him if it was alright if we did so.
Typically Stan, who is in his nineties , was gardening when I asked him and at first, he slightly misunderstood what I was saying, thinking that I wanted him to purchase the cup for us.
When I explained that the committee was buying it and wanted to rename it as a mark of respect of what he had contributed to the show over the years, he grew silent and seemed greatly moved by the gesture.
He offered me his hand still in its gardening glove and we shook firmly.
" Thank You" he said quietly.

A Ghost Story

With Halloween approaching today Village Elder enjoyed sharing a tale of how , years ago, a troubled local stalked the dark lane outside our cottage with a loaded shotgun.
He enjoys telling a good story and should be employed as a teller of tales, as he'd make a fortune
scaring  the  bejesus out of any small child with a healthy imagination.
Years ago, on a cold and very dark autumn evening , I am sure the dogs saw a ghost in the garden of a bungalow next to the church. We had three dogs then. A five year old Welsh terrier called Finlay, Maddie a Scottish terrier and Meg a Welsh terrier puppy and I remember clearly that when we passed the Church gates all three dogs stopped short and refused to move forward along the lane.
They did not appear frightened but looked more curious and a little perplexed and all three seemed to be looking at the same spot several feet from the ground in the centre of a lawned part of the garden.
It was the oddest thing to witness as there was nothing for me to see, but the dogs, in their stillness had seen something and their quiet vigil was the most unnerving of experiences I can tell you.

That walk was cut very short I can tell you!

As we slowly approach Halloween......please share your own ghost story!
I'd be interested to hear them

Underpants

Walking Back from the Flower Show Review meeting tonight the committee members all stopped to admire our new kitchen window on the lane  which no longer sports it's usual antique French lace curtain.
" You'll need to sort that out " said Pat the  animal helper
" I saw you in your underpants the other morning" she remarked dryly

Ps this photo is NOT ME