How fabulous is this?
The village Male Voice Choir has had a documentary made about it
A film which has its debut in Sheffield’s documentary festival in June
The film can be seen online,
It looks melancholic and rather fun
Alium Heads & Other Stories
A whole bunch of flowering aliums have had their flowering heads cut off in the back garden. They were in a clump next to the lane wall and the heads have been scattered along the path.
How odd
Animal work or pure vandalism?
Who knows
The village food bank which is set up weekly in the phone box on well Street has been emptied for the second time . Again its shelving has been removed which would indicate that the culprits have a car.
It’s a sad state of affairs as there is a need for such an initiative.
Village leader Ian came around yesterday for coffee and told me about the food bank.
He was a little saddened by it all which in itself is sad given the great strides the new Community Association ,which he helped develop, have taken over the last year.
I took time reminding him of how much a force for good the association is and how much I admire their philosophy of making things fun, and I meant what I said .
I know what it’s like to galvanise people out of inaction
It can be rewarding but often it’s a thankless job
Positive feedback the Welsh are not always good at.
Bridget who runs the food bank is stocking up again today.
I will pop down with more donations later.
She’s another minor star in the village.
I want to support the other new initiatives that are springing up: the plans for wildlife conservation at the village pond; the coffee mornings are starting up again and the wonderful Folk at the Hall returns at some stage alongside positive plans no doubt suggested by the community Council post lockdown.
Time is difficult as I’m still working full time , but I will try a little harder to support these groups of ordinary people who are striving very hard to make the village a nicer place to live in.
It’s Monday today.
This is my last week as a community Hospice Nurse.
I’ve enjoyed the experience and would like to return one day
I bought a ceramic wind chime in the shape of a fish today
It pleased me,
After I hang it , and clear the kitchen . I will take the dogs up to Lywenna ( Gentleman Farmer Ralph’s widow) to say hello
It’s time I made some time for important things
A Human Voice
It’s a powerful performance in a powerful short movie, but I did find myself missing the director’s flourishes of humour and warmth in Spanish , for A Human Voice is his first movie in English .
The film left me a bit flat as did the atrocious weather
So I’ve come home and lit the fire .
Which is now roaring an optimistic roar
Seagulls Volià
In my experience, the more stressfulll the nursing environment
the more humour between staff has to be generated.
Staff without a sense of humour, I have always thought, have to employ other less effective mechanisms of coping, which invariably lead to increased sickness time and hangovers
I’ve only just got home after a busy day
A busy, sometimes stressful but a productive day, full of sadness but brimming with colleague’s laughter
Before I left I waved to a patient I nursed in the community but who has been admitted to the hospice.
They had complained that seagulls had been knocking at their window demanding food and the ward staff had worked hard at organising something to help
Found some Christmas gin in the cupboard now watching Eurovision
I adored this
Damp
My 6.30 am coffee needs buying from the McDonald’s drive through.
I’m leaving for work shortly
It’s a grey, wet and depressing early morning and even the cheerful plants on the kitchen window sill are looking down.
Flaming June soon
Village Shenanigans
Social media has been buzzing on this most miserable of days with the news.
I’ve treated myself to low fat turkey burgers for lunch and as promised I took some photos of the garden for Lizzy D even though the rain was lashing down
Alive Again
I work in a former Victorian Holiday seaside town, which hosts a sweeping bay lined promenade housed with scores of brightly coloured hotels and bed and breakfasts .
Last night, for the first time, and glowing in the evening sun, the hotels were suddenly alive again.
From their bay windows and ornate dining rooms elderly patrons looked out again onto the sea and on the Promenade walkers passed each other in obvious good humour.
Everywhere seemed open, front doors wide, public rooms in use.
I was so moved that I almost stopped Bluebell in order to soak up the atmosphere.
I didn’t
It had been a long day
The Montana
The Montana clematis is in bloom yet again. It visits yearly like an old friend and is always perky, and beautiful and welcoming before my birthday which is on the first of June.
The arch it has been asked to make of itself is low, as I had always planned , so to enter my garden from the back gate , one has to stoop very low in order to follow the winding path up to the back door..
The garden and therefore the cottage is afforded privacy, and the back garden, now professionally sculptured by my sister, has the feel of a walled garden despite being located next to the lane.
I photographed the clematis this morning, just before I went to work.
The small tree next to it is a laburnum, albeit a slow growing one, perhaps in another decade I shall start to see its golden handing flowers clear of the ground.
I’ve no real news today.
Fat Balls
I’ve only just realised that I’ve grown a full beard .
I’ve had it tucked away beneath my mask for so long, I’ve got out of the habit of looking at my face.
I FaceTimed a Sheffield friend last night and noticed it...
I look like a pirate
Dorothy ate several bird fat balls at Trendy Carol’s the day before yesterday so has been suffering from explosive shits for the last day or so which has been lovely.
In between bouts of mopping I’ve been reading The Fine Art of Invisible Detection by Robert Goddard in the bedroom window seat
The ash trees in the corner of the Church Yard are not doing well, I’ve noticed
Minari
I went to Chester today to see Minari at the Storyhouse
A quiet study of second generation Korean family in American was a lovely choice of my first cinema trip
A man sat alone in the row in front of me waved at the audience behind him as he got comfortable and cheerfully shouted out “ Hello all.......isn’t this BLOODY fabulous ? “
We all murmured our agreement from behind our masks
And then there was a small smattering of applause..........
An Old Greek Quote
Mrs Trellis repeated this apparent old Greek Quote only yesterday,
She was less serious than when we met last
“ Happiness is when old men plant trees the Shade of which they know they will never sit in “
I think the second lockdown has made me a little low.
Would I called it a bit depressed? I’m not sure . I always hate, with a vengeance when people bandy around self diagnosing here and using the very serious descriptions of depression where something like despondency would be more appropriate.
But I concede, I’ve felt low enough to be tearful almost daily and flat enough to react in an exaggerated manner when the church laburnum was felled.
I also found myself mulling over a recent contact by my ex husband who messaged me wanting a more friendly communication .Alas it’s very easy to be magnanimous when you have moved on and you are happy and perhaps all you want are things to be neat and tidy and filed neatly and away, guilt free.
I found myself wanting more communication from him, not the best thing when you are not happy, lonely and you’ve not moved on as far as you would like.
I’ve asked him not to contact me again.
Back to Mrs Trellis’ adapted quote
I bought a replacement laburnum tree to replace the felled beauty in the graveyard and village elder, Islwyn helped me plant it
I found the whole thing rather moving
Happiness is indeed when old men plant a tree , the shade of which we will never sit in
Anyway
Dorothy passed a small plastic fish in her poo on Friday
It was popped on top of her turd like a cherry on a tart
The fish was one you find in sushi boxes filled with soy
I haven’t eaten sushi for months
Time to smile again
6.03 am
It’s dawn over Trelawnyd.
The sky looks like one Turner would have painted with big clouds tinged with pink and blue.
I’ve just taken Dorothy outside for a walk.
Mary is like a teenager. She won’t wake for hours so refused to join in.
I’m having a break from blogging for a while
I will be back in a bit, no doubt,
There’s no show without punch, as they say.
But, just for now, it isn’t doing me any favours
Lockdown has chipped away at my reserve , towards this final push before normality,leaving me feel like a wall flower at a party
I have little to say but plenty to moan about.
Hey ho
Write soon xx
The Finger
Everyone in blogland seems to have gone seriously political or at least serious anyway.
I just can’t get going at all in any shape and form.
Yesterday I watched old dvds as it rained and rained
And only felt human after buying myself some Arctic Roll which I ate with cold custard from a massive serving spoon.
Today the girls and I went for breakfast at the Horizon cafe on Colwyn Bay Prom where I cut my finger rather badly after the barista dropped a milk jug onto the counter .
I hate fuss, but after I left a trail of blood worse than Tippi Hedren down that attic door so had to accept a botch first aid job from the proprietor with a roll of masking tape.
That’s all that’s happened today
The Laburnam
Over the years ( and each one of these photographs represent a year from 2007- 2020) I have enjoyed the laburnum tree in the churchyard .
Yesterday Animal Helper Pat , called around to let me know that it had been felled by the recent storms and bad weather..
I felt like crying
I’ve just emailed the vicar to see if I can replace it with a brand new sapling
If he says no
I will do it anyway
Fat Bastards
The weather may remain dry this afternoon
I will resume wall painting then.
In between showers the girls have been jostling for the sunny position on the trendy blue sofa.
I have been making fat rascals for most of the morning
Between 1986 and 1989 I lived in the city of York . Before my late nursing shift start at 1 pm, I would often go to Betty’s tea rooms which is situated in St Helen’s square, to have myself a small Golden carafe of coffee and a fat rascal. There was a single table upstairs which I loved to sit in, where I would pretentiously read my book and scoff my rascal
This morning I made Fat Rascals for the very first time.
Now for those that don’t know a Fat Rascal is a cross between a scone and a bun; in actual fact it is a Rock cake which is filled with fruit, orange zest, whole bleached almonds and glacè cherries.
The last three ingredients make the rascal taste so good
They should be eaten warm with butter and should be large, two handed buns.
I made mine a little smaller than I’d like but they tasted Right Good when I tried them
Years after I had left York for Sheffield , I returned to the city to see some friends. Feeling all nostalgic for a Rascal, I turned left into the shop rather than the cafe and ordered six.
The shop waitress looked surprised at my request
I had ordered Six fat Bastards instead of Six Fat Rascals!!
She got the gist!
I will leave you with this short film called Alex And Jay
It’s a wonderfully acted piece which turns out quite charmingly
I’ve enrolled in another film study course, this one centred around exploration of gay themes within cinema.. it will keep me busy on Thursday nights.
Chic Eleanor has just messaged me, she has booked a table for dinner for us and some friends next week
“ Darling” the message read “ We are embarking on a new beginning”
A Little Bit Of Sweetness
She was in inquisitive mode, and wasn’t wearing her usual overly erect bobble hat
She asked me what my long term plans were as she had heard through village gossip that I was about to leave Trelawnyd to live in Llandudno
This tickled me
I love village gossip.
I reassured Mrs T that I had no long term plans
And it’s true, I haven’t
I haven’t got any major plans at all.
Mrs Trellis frowned
She didn’t know that I have a mortgage to pay until I am 72, and why would she?
I told her, and joked, in true ostrich head in the sand tradition that I will face selling up and moving to a cheaper property when I have to and I will enjoy my home in the meantime .
I laughed but
Strangely she bit her lip and promptly burst into silent tears.
This took me completely by surprise
I leant over the kitchen wall but she stepped back a pace pulling Blue with her.
I was touched by her sudden show of emotion .
“Aren’t you worried about the future ?” She asked seriously
“ No , “ I told her honestly ,” I’m here now , I’m enjoying work, I can just about pay my bills, I will face change when it happens !”
Mrs Trellis still looked worried “ I don’t want you leave “ she said rubbing her hands together
“ I’m not leaving just yet” I told her kindly
And I laughed loudly , forcing her to do the same .
Painting
Best laid plans
I started to paint the back of the cottage today but had to stop/ start due to the weather .
I ended up watching The Bells Of St Mary’s
Ingrid Bergman always made a lovely nun.
Oh I voted too....
Cushion less
I did get unhealthily excited in the cushion section of Liverpool’s John Lewis but couldn’t quite decide on what I wanted to buy, so I galloped into kitchen ware like a gay water buffalo where I bought an expensive but rather impressive utensil holder decorated with a blue whale....what larks pip!
I also managed to find some cutlery I was missing and ended my spree with a massive gaggle of birthday cards, I had a hey ho time.
For along time I sat in the centre of the city listening to the buskers sing their songs.
I felt like a sponge soaking up all the noise and the movement.
I met up with Colin too, which was lovely. We walked and talked around Greenbank Park and felt more human
4 minute Post
My new cheap human head vase from Sainsbury’s , full of garden flowers
Dorothy had made such a good job of my psoriasis covered knees the other week, that I was able to wear shorts for our walk today.
I gave them an extra long walk today as I’m off to Liverpool shortly to see my friend Colin .
Colin was my pre first lockdown potential bf who has turned into a very good friend.
( and before any of you get your knickers all in a twist ..it was my decision)
I’m going to treat myself a visit to John Lewis, where I will get overly excited at their cushion department ( a thing only gays can do properly)
If I buy one I will post later........oh you,lucky people...
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