Getting Home

This story is not an exaggeration ….for sure…it’s all pretty true 

Honestly …..for sure 

The plane journey from Inverness to Manchester Airport  was a delight…..though our single steward was a moody bastard.

I was off the plane first and literally 7 minutes later was walking down to the train platforms where various  uninterested staff shouted over that all the trains into Manchester had been cancelled because of an “ incident” 

All passengers were directed onto a unknown quantity of a Manchester tram system.

It was chaos for only a handful of people knew what to do.

Hundreds of people crammed onto the handful of trams .

I knew I needed to be at Piccadilly so rang my friend Nigel in nearby Stockport for help .

He told me where to go which was completely different to what a very loud young mother with a baby in a pram was telling everyone . She wanted to go to Preston eventually and had a big following to keep on to Victoria because she was confident and loud….she went on to Said stop  , where as I, following  Nigel’s advice  jumped off at Market Street

It was like a disaster movie 

Me and a young, sturdy legged student physio from Helsby led the charge. An Asian chap from Chester who kept saying that he was taking Tuesday off sick followed with  , a retired professor from Bangor ( who had just been to Nice with her daughter ) they were then followed a couple of trendy tattooed girls who knew where they were going followed by an old rather bemused and a bit tipsy couple from Cheshire with too much baggage. 

And we galloped across central Manchester for Piccadilly

It was obvious that the old couple was slowing us up , so the trendy girls and Asian chap took control of their luggage and as a group we managed to get to Piccadilly with 12 minutes to spare.

Piccadilly was in chaos 

But eventually the unnamed physio,  Bangor Prof Caroline, The Asian chap ( who I found out was called Sidharth ) and Hilary and Howard from Frodsham who was still helped by one unknown trendy gal with tattoos all made it more or less home .

What fun lol

People come up trumps when needed

Don’t they ?

A Thought or Two

 

This morning Ruth went back to work in the greenhouses and I took myself down the coast towards the village of Findhorn. 

I go home this afternoon.

I wanted to see red squirrels in the pine trees skirting the sand dunes but only managed to see the pointed heads of a couple of seals well beyond the surf .

The Findhorn Foundation has been an interesting experience.

Like everything in the modern world  the community has had to evolve in covid times, with redundancies hitting the staff hard during lockdown and a change  from volunteer staff in key positions to salaried staff who have pensions, bills to pay and corporate ideals to juggle alongside the foundations’ community beliefs and shared objectives for personal growth and a healthy lifestyle. 

I can see the appeal.

There is a warmth and a camaraderie here, even though two of the main public meeting ( and community eating buildings )were set alight and destroyed last year by a disgruntled ex employee, there is still a sense of community very much evident. The new corporate, eco friendly and expensive private housing lies a stones throw from the huts and caravans where I slept last night and in one of a beautifully appointed rental house, I was invited into, I spied a 50 inch Tv alongside the homegrown plants and eco friendly decor .

Findhorn is like any community. You take from it what you want to but unlike every community there is a lot going on at the get go.

That is part of its strength and a little of its weakness, I think 

For its easy to forget the real world that lies beyond the Sandhills, and out of sight of the pine trees and the hobbit houses almost hidden away in the glades of wild flowers.

Beach Day

 It’s been a mostly beach day today.

After a fat bastard breakfast which included a slice of the most delicious haggis, we had a tootle around an art gallery at Logie Steading before settling down over looking the Moray Firth 

An Evening In The Community

 A strange , hypnotic shuffling Mexican dance troupe LostheUltramar took over the community this evening .

Drank beer and followed their odd Latino rhythms until it finally started to rain

Scandi Noir

As it turned out it was fortunate that we were delayed last night. 

Only twenty of us caught the shuttle up to Inverness so over a nice coffee and “ just one biscuit” we all found ourselves looking at the clouds in a strange , almost ethereal twilight where the clouds heaved up and down like a vast dark ocean above a sky of blue and pink and orange.

It was simply….stunning, 

I can’t describe just how beautiful it was, I really can’t. 

Anyhow, Ruth is part of the famous Findhorn Community (https://www.findhorn.org/) here

And is spending her time gardening in the allotments and poly tunnels as she heals after the death of her mother. She knows the foundation and many of the community well and lives a simple life in a 1970s Scandinavian-sequel caravan deep in the woods, not far from the sea.

I do feel that I’m on a TV set of the scandi thriller and am just waiting for “Helmi”to be walking past, donned in a beautifully knitted  top and platt to die for. 

The place is silent save for the roar of the wind.

We are going to some sort of dance festival this afternoon and soon I will help Ruth check the poly tunnels and greenhouses before we have breakfast in the cafe and a walk down to the sea.

 

Airport

 

A nice day to be off to the airport

I’ll add to the blog later

It's later...6pm to be exact

My flight has been delayed until just before 10pm. Terminal three is crowded but buzzing

and I'm finding it all more exciting than not

Ask me again in 4 hours time and I may of changed my mind

I'm people watching and listening and I'm spoilt for choice

Ps blogger help has been very useful re identity of recent troll activity 

Just saying

Date Night

I’ve just had a date.

It ended with a snog which was nice

A bloody good snog by my front door, underneath the blackbird nests.

When we parted he cupped my cheek with his hand for a moment 

The first time anyone had done that in a long long time 

A gentle but serious gesture 

And it moved me greatly.

Top Gun 2 Lumbago and flatulence

Miles Teller and his acting moustache 

Last night , I met up with my sisters, brother in law, nephew, great nephew and sister in law for a trip to the cinema.

Everyone is banging on about TopGun 2 so we all thought we’d go

I never wanted to see Top Gun way back in 1986, so I wasn’t bothered to sit through a 2 hour rehash of American Jingoism with veiled homoerotic moments and slow motioned long looks into middle distance.

But I went

Some of it was exciting enough, I must admit.

 I did like Goose’s son ( Miles Teller)’subplot with Maverick ( Ton Cruise at 60) he was nicknamed Rooster and their father and son bonding at the end was suitably moving.

Sad not to see Kelly McGillis not reprising her love interest role from the first movie…..unfortunately for Hollywood she looks every inch her 64 years ( how dare she?) and would never have been given screen time….

Anyhow it was Glossy rubbish and

It was nice to see the family . I joked with my sister in law, as we were leaving  that we all should have our own nicknames like the characters in the film….

“ What would they be “ she quipped “ Rheumatism, limper, Lumbago and flatulence “, 

Guess who was flatulence?

Bonnie ……

I’ve booked to fly to the Highlands of Scotland on Friday. 

I’ve got cheap ( and hopefully working ) tickets to Inverness 

I’m catching up with my hospice friend Ruth , who has gone to the Highlands in order to heal after the death of her mother. She has returned to a sort of commune community who share farming allotments and poly tunnel food and produce. 

I am welcome to join her in her lovely forest hidden caravan if I help out with work

A duck to water , I thought. 

Yesterday a rather lovely troll suggested that my itchy feet was infact a nail in my marriage’s coffin which seemed a bizarre suggestion for sure. 

I think my steadiness was a factor if the truth be known . 

Steadiness can be boring, I understand that 

Steady and strong for some…..boring for others

So when I get my itchy feet from now on

I intend to scratch them both .

And so it’s Scotland next week then Rome. In August it’s Ireland and London and in September it’s Barcelona and  London again  .I’ve also got Berlin to fit in with my friend Jane before winter too …..

Christmas I’m thinking of doing something different too……

Next week I have the interview for my counselling course and in three weeks I go part time….

I feel like a mole sat in front of an open fridge door…..At midnight 

I’m blinking hard 

Honeysuckle Around the Door.

 

Albert has sat in the front living room window with his head cocked to the right for most of the morning

From time to time his teeth chatter

It’s a cat’s way of expressing excitement 

Secreted inside the honeysuckle which has cascaded over the front door sit two female blackbirds. One on eggs the other on chicks. In another nest higher up is a sparrow mother and deeper in the cover lies another nest but I haven’t seen it’s occupants as yet although the path outside is covered in bird droppings.

Four avian families in one place .

I’m thrilled

Its like Rear Window with birds.

In the brief sun that caught the front of the cottage around nine, the air was filled with the sound of hundreds of honeybees visiting the scented flower heads, their buzzing, even louder than Albert’s purring as he splashed drool on the back of the Trendy blue sofa.

Today I’m going to decide if I’m going away for a few days .I’ll probably go on Thursday as my sister has invited me to see Top Gun tomorrow and it’s Choir today. I’m open to any experience as long as it’s away.

I need to be away , if that makes sense 

I need not to be here

Keyboard Warriors

 

The vagaries in blogger’s software has meant that I have generally always allowed anonymous comments to appear. This has become more evident in recent months where many genuine commentators have found it problematical to even log in let alone leave a message or comment and so under the initial label of anonymity they can join in the “ fun” with hopefully leaving a genuine label of who they are and where they are from. 

This isn’t always the case and it’s par for the course to have genuinely anonymous commentators  hiding snideness and tiresome negativity within comments  ….people who feel entitled to say exactly what they like and do so without the constraints of personal accountability.

Cowards, all of them.

Especially the ones that manage to log in under a pseudonym, buoyed up by a false name and a badge.

They are scum.

 

I guess this will always happen to a certain degree as I am a somewhat Marmite(ish) characteristics the truth be known. But snideness is tiresome, 

For everyone….

I know , for I grew up with a snide mother 

She was exhausting .

And so before I move on, I will repeat what I’ve repeated in the past. 

This is my playpen. 

If you have a comment please comment, but put a genuine name to your words. Be respectful of others and of me, and if they appear, personal insults, snideness or rudeness  will simply be deleted. 

By all means disagree with me, but do so respectfully but if I feel I am being trolled well then you will be deleted immediately and you have wasted your sad sack time….

Anyhow, I should be Sitges today. It’s 70 degrees and sunny .

And I had a balcony room at The Santa Maria overlooking the sea.

Never mind. I’ve got a full refund on the room and I’ve changed my flights for a Barcelona City break in September, so all is not lost. Gorgeous Dave’s new girlfriend got dumped by easyJet in the far Mediterranean, it’s cost her thousands to get flights home

Perhaps it’s good that I’m not returning to Sitges again, Barcelona looks like a fine city to get lost in.

I’m planning my week this morning. 

It’s cool and with the hint of more rain. But the garden is a lush green and the ponies in the field in front of the cottage have much to feed on in their allotted paddocks..

The bunting is still up in the village , and everywhere looks cheerful, 

As it should be 

Ps thanks to Tom , I found a load of comments tucked away in spam for some strange reason, all have been relocated to going gently

Best Laid Plans

 I chose to work my birthday so I could have this weekend off. 

My plan was to support the Jubilee Street Party but mainly I wanted today off, so I could pack.

I was due to fly to Spain tomorrow morning.

My flight now has been cancelled, cancelled by an early morning email

Like so many have been done over the last week or so.

Bugger.

I’ve lost my car parking fee which is a shame 

But I’ve managed to get a refund on the hotel.

The flights I’ve changed to a different airport so my summer Sitges trip is now an autumnal Barcelona city break, but that has cost me!

And so, I’ve got over a week in between now and my trip to Rome on the 17th to fill….

Answers on a postcard.

I shall start by the cinema on this a rather glum day

The Quiet Girl , the first Gallic feature film

Jubilee Concert

 I've cried through most of it 

Loved Diversity. And Rod Stewart and the rappers ...so pacy .....lovely to see George and Charlotte there.....the Royal Family has been reincarnated 

Loved the Queen's aside with Padington Bear 

She looked so genuine 

I loved her

And we've only got up.to Duran Duran.

Jubilee

 

The Community Association has done a grand job with the Jubilee Street Party on Chapel Street.

Despite no official “escape Routes” visible a good proportion of the village turned up on a sunny afternoon to have their photo taken with a life sized Queen Elizabeth before picking up a Union Jack sandwich box and gabbing a seat on one of the inside tables or seats outside where the brass band was playing. 

The whole afternoon was as sweet and as nostalgic as it looked. 

Everyone was there, Mr Poznan, the Manley’s from the Still House, Animal Helper Pat, Mrs Trellis of course, Affable despots Jason and Clare and the girls, Heulwen from choir 

Village leaders Ian,Nick ,Helen, Bridget and the velvet voiced Linda rushed around with teapots and proper cups and saucers. 

Eve took mary over ( Jason in background)

Village leader Ian (centre)

Bethan from a Byron street on tea duty

The velvet voiced Linda ( standing) talking to Mrs Trellis 

Everyone stood for the Welsh and English National anthym ( well almost )

Terry Wogan Reads Janet And John The Church Organ

Enjoy !!!!

Another Bank Holiday

 

The street party in the village takes place tomorrow and already the bunting is in place. One of streets near the memorial hall will be closed and already one curmudgeon has voiced concerns about safety on social media ….apparently there is no “ Escape Route “ for people in case of emergency .

I commended wryly that I hadn’t noticed that we were suffering from a zombie invasion apocalypse so questioned why an escape route was needed.

Affable Despot Jason thought it was funny.

I’ve just seen him, his bunting is out and is in LGBTQ colours rather than the traditional red, white and blue

I slept in until well. After midday 

And drove to Marks & Spencer’s to top up with nice food.

I had coffee with my sister and brother in law and then my sister in law

And will stay the rest of the day at home.

Janet n John

At five I looked like Prince Louis

Now I look a bit like Camilla 

 

Queenie

 Work is quieter today

It goes like that sometimes. 

I got a rerun of the Queen's  Flypast up.on YouTube for the nurses and housekeepers to watch.

Everyone mooned over the Queen and the great grandchildren lined up before her

She looked genuiningly happy

Andrew has covid …yeah right

 

The day I didn’t really need for it to be bloody busy 

It was bloody busy! 

Three admissions , not enough staff

You know the story , it’s boring …..

But the day was filled with lots of birthday gifts and good humour and scotch eggs were the order of the day.

I parked at Rhos On Sea’s promenade on the way home and just opened Bluebell’s windows wide 

And there I sat for an age letting the breeze edge away an awful busy shift headache 

Thank you everyone for your kind birthday wishes . 

I’m not answering you all…..but I’ve read each one , even the nasty ones

I’m off to bed shortly 

Nite xx

Northern Belle

 

I’ve opened my lovely cards and gifts over my usual bucket of coffee.

It’s 6.15 am

Lots of good wishes and some fab presents 

A luxury day out with Nu on the 1930’s Northern Belle train, some cracking dvds and worlds best uncle socks from Leo. Some beautiful gin glasses, gin, a lovely toucan print which is already been hung in the new bathroom, a vintage butter knife and salt , a grand fermenting jar for making my own kimchi , a cactus , a garden hose  and four Mars bars sellotaped intriguingly end to end and wrapped in a tea towel decorated with dog breeds of the British Isles from Mrs Trellis.

I’ve got a quick zoom meeting with friends Ruth in Scotland and Ben in Korea shortly and Nu has just rung

Then off to work….

I’m in my 61st year.

I promise no more birthday chatter