Movie Night

I was seventeen when Manhattan, Woody Allen's homage to New York, was released and I had forgotten just how beautiful the city was captured by the movie's black and white cinematography.
The story of neurotic, naturally funny Midtown academics, remains, clever and amusing and certainly iconic but it was not quite as funny as I liked to remember so I was tickled pink when I got home to see a homemade film trailer in my email inbox from the affable despots!
It is a film trailer from the up and coming Trelawnyd based film Chapel Street! 
Enjoy! 

Chapel Street is the oldest street in the village

Ps what I love about manhattan  was the way many of the scenes were set up with the major actors in the foreground just to the side of extras in the background...the extras' stories were just as important as the main actors....watch it and you will agree 

A Little Of What You Fancy!

We all need a treat from time to time.
For the dogs it is a cheap frankfurter sausage that gets the blood pumping!
And this morning they had two each to be getting on with.
I was in two minds whether or not to get myself a scotch egg but I was virtuous and bought myself a melon instead!
My treat today will be a trip to the cinema this evening. The Prof is away so it's a lone trip to Theatre Clwyd to see Woody Allen's classic Manhattan
What's your treat to yourself?

One Up

A bit of lightness is needed.....thought I 'd share one of those moments when the stars align with the moon!

A woman I know is a bit of a show off!
Designer shoes, flash car, expensive holidays,
She loves to underline just how great her life is!
Anyhow I saw her yesterday coming out of  Sainsbury's supermarket recycling area.
She stopped her very large car and dropped her posh sunglasses to say hi
Noting that she makes a big deal of always going to Waitrose I chirped up with a
" We don't usually see you here! " kind of comment
" I've just been to the clothes bank" she explained, trying to sound all pious
" Did you find anything nice?" I purred with a smile! 

A Story From York Minster

Recently the Prof and I were caught up in a mega traffic jam on the way back from the beach. The A55 (the main duel carriageway serving North Wales) was closed both ways as the police dealt with a suicidal woman who was threatening to jump from a bridge, and in soaring temperatures we, like a few thousand others sat in our cars waiting for the roads to clear.
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/see-a55-drivers-passing-time-13133667
Twitter abounded with pithy and then just plain rude complaints about just how selfish the woman involved was, and frustrated in our hot car, I remembered a time when I was on the other side of such an incident!
Then, I worked in York as a junior staff nurse in the city's flagship psychiatric hospital, Bootham Park and on one sunny afternoon, I remember being asked to help a colleague after the patient she had been admitting unexpectedly ran from our ward seconds after being brought in as a voluntary patient.
We had no idea of what could be going on in the guy's mind, all we knew that he was said to be suffering from anxiety, but as he raced down the long drive towards the city centre the female nurse and I both felt that cold dread of something not quite right.
Generally, nurses were expected to retrieve absconding patients only within the hospital grounds, leaving the police to find any in the community, but then without hesitation we both chased the man as he turned left out of the hospital gates and down Petergate where we lost him in the tourist crowds.

What seemed like an age later, we were joined by a policeman who had just heard that a colleague of his had approached a " suspicious" man in York Minster who had suddenly bolted up onto the South Transept roof, where he, without the slightest of hesitations, had thrown himself off.

Now ,if you are ever "inconvenienced" by such events like the one The Prof and I found ourselves in a couple of weeks ago and find yourself less than sympathetic to the person sat on that motorway bridge -spare a thought for the emergency personnel  who are trying their best to deal with the situation.
Even though that nurse and I had not got any real notion of what was going on with that patient, the cold, paralysing fear that he had taken his life whilst under our " care" was a feeling, we will never ever forget and I know that the policeman we met up with felt exactly the same.


As it turned out, the patient actually survived his fall but sustained life changing spinal injuries as a result of it and I was part of the team that went to assess him again as he was being rehabilitated in his wheelchair. Strange as it may seem, he had absolutely no idea why he had jumped from the roof in the first place!

Widening The Field

Another entry to the novelty veg comp! Apologies for not posting it earlier, I ' ve just found it!

Just a thought but the Flower Show has a general photo competition class which this year has two categories, they are usually very popular!
One class, this year  is " My Pet" the other is entitled " Seaside" .....if any of going gently's readers would like to enter these classes rather than the novelty veg class ( which seems to overface many) you are all welcome to send me your photos....
I need to have the original photo ( which can be returned) no larger than 7 x5
So if you have a particularly good photo of a pet or a seaside scene and want to share it
Just email me if you fancy a chance to take part!    

Jelly Fish!

I have nothing interesting to say today. Two more long night shifts under my belt with only four more to go, I am still tired and washed out with just enough chutzpah left to give Mary a bubble bath, Winnie a scrub with her fanny flannel and a curry cooked from scratch on the cooker hob.

I will leave you with Carol Caudwell's entry for the novelty veg/fruit competition 

Keep em comming to jgsheffield@hotmail.com

Albert The Cat's Blog Entry

Yawn!
I'm writing this as I wait for food
I'm always waiting to be fed.....bastards!
The effin' dogs always come first!, especally that bastard pug ugly bulldog!
I don't know why I friggin bother staying!

If Dogs Wrote Blogs

one blog that I follow discussed Cats writing blogs...I just wondered what a blog could read like if Winnie penned it?
So here goes ......

Fat daddy woke me up at an ungodly hour this morning to go out for a pee.

I keep glaring at him every day but he doesnt get the message

I CAN SLEEP 14 HOURS WITHOUT NEEDING A PISS! 

The other dogs bounce around like bloody lunatics, I just can't wait to get back to bed.

Grumpy Dad was already making his morning food when we got back in , so we left him quick sticks and climbed into bed with fat dad. 

Fat dad is like me, he hates mornings!

It's late in the day when fat dad calls me. I pretend to be asleep, but he knows me too well and so I get up and fart. He farts too and often blames me. 

Today I hear him talking to someone.

THERE IS WORKMEN IN THE HOUSE!!!!!

I run down stairs and get all unnecessary as two gorgeous men in OVERALLS are in the garden.

They have come just to see me! 

I kiss them both on the lips! Then have to have an immediate botty rub on the garden steps

Fat dad shakes his head!  He hates me botty rubbing

Funny, Grumpy Dad always laughs when I rub my botty on his slippers! 

I love his slippers! 

We then go for a walk around the village. George gets on my tits as he is too slow. William keeps walking into things and Mary gets excited if she sees a bleeding pigeon  flying past. 

I'm surrounded by idiots!

I wish I could walk with Albert, he has a few brain cells about him and he loves me.

Fat Dad keeps stopping to talking to people. 

It's so boring.

He thinks he's popular!

Finally we get home and IT's FOOD TIME!" 

Thank god! 

A tin of horse with bacon flavoured biscuits! Bloody lovely

I rub my botty on the back door for a bit as William has a poo against the fridge

He's getting old and is such a let down! 

Anyhow Fat dad, gets all hot and sweaty and looks very ill as he plays with a lot of stones in the garden, so I have a small nap in the sun. 

It's been a busy day all told.

A Ton Of Gravel

Going Gently is going all Homes & Gardens today.
Who says I can't do a " lifestyle blog"?
I've just shifted a ton of soddin gravel ! A huge bag of which was unloaded by small grabber thing on the back of a lorry early this morning. The lorry got stuck for a while in the lane blocking the school rat run traffic which was fun and the two workmen were delayed for several minutes longer by Winnie's need for on-the-lip kisses. Fair dos both obliged her with a snog and she is now lying in a sunny spot in the garden , basking in the afterglow.
I was on my last legs, filling a bucket with the last few ounces of gravel when a neighbour skipped past commenting " That looks like a big job for you " 
I noted the " for you"bit and shot back a quick " fuck off!" Then promptly broke wind loudly as I heaved the load onto the new path!
The results as you will agree are impressive! ( the paths not the fart)

This afternoon I have filled the cottage with flowers from the garden
I think I'm frigging Jane Asher

The Women Of Trelawnyd comment on the Election

God Help Us

I have voted
I took the dogs with me and William peed on the leg of the voting booth
Perhaps he put it better than I ever could.

Firelight

The cottage is lit by firelight and it's raining heavily outside.
I am listening to radio 4 watching Mary Cuddling up to Winnie in the darkness
The Prof is away

Albert is playing with my toes

Pebble-dash

I have been painting the render on the outside of the cottage for much of the day.
It's an odious job.
Twice ramblers have stopped for eggs ( remembering I sold them from previous hikes) and twice they have been somewhat startled by the sight of a masturbating bulldog rubbing her fanny on the garden steps when they leaned over the lane wall.
I'm so used to it, I don't bother to even acknowledge her behaviour any more.
" Oh dear" one woman exclaimed when she spied Winnie whipping herself into an absolute frenzy this time against the outhouse wall " a woman has needs, don't you baby?! " she cooed. Her husband was more practical and certainly nonplussed
" She'll have all your pebble-dash  off with an arse that size " he warned 

A Jar By The Door

I spoke to someone recently who spent their birthday alone.
Without a hint of self pity they mentioned that they had received just one Facebook Birthday greeting and shared that their birthday treat to themselves was a coffee in a city cafe where the waiter was kind.
Loneliness seemed to seep out of them like sweat

I'm fifty five years old and I have never really experienced loneliness. I am lucky...so very lucky
Today, in the churchyard a man sat quietly on a bench in the blustery weather. He was visiting the grave of his wife. I waved at him as I fed the bachelors and he waved back.
He once told me that loneliness was " worse than cancer". 
His wife died of cancer.

Ah look at all the lonely people
Ah look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice
In the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face
That she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Father McKenzie, writing the words
Of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working, darning his socks
In the night when there's nobody there
What does he care

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Ah look at all the lonely people
Ah look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby, died in the church
And was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt
From his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

More Entries!

Two more entries have been received

For the novelty veg competition  

From Carol Caudwell 

From Notesfromabroad

Please send yours to me at 

jgsheffield@hotmail.com

Stormy Weather

Torrential rain seems to have moved in and the cottage looked dark and slightly depressing after the sun of yesterday.
I have switched on the gay pink flamingos in the kitchen and everything looks slightly more cheerful.
I am making bolognese
We have only had one bit of excitement this morning as Mary careered around the house yelping like a puppy.

She had trapped her head inside a plastic coat hanger!

Three Words

Theresa May spoke for all of us today when she said calmly and with obvious resolve

" Enough Is Enough"

Jump Start

Jason the affable despot told me that the village hall has a new vending machine.
It turns out that a community defibrillator has been fitted!
Now I am somewhat surprised that no information has been given out by the community council as an initiative like this needs publicity, especially as it could be instrumental in saving someone's life.

Trelawnyd People take note...it is situated by the side door!

The International Novelty Veg Photo

I can't say that I have not been  just a little disappointed with the number of entries for the International Novelty Veg/fruit photo competition so far.... But  the ones that have arrived so far have been lovely and rather  innovative!
Today Sue Williams sent this " Flower Fairies " photo! Followed by Sondra's " Onion Breath" 
Please keep em coming please!
Send your photos to me at jgsheffield@hotmail.com

Fat Feet

After a night shift comprising of multiple  code browns , and without any sleep I have helped the Prof  set the tent up at Porth Eirias Beach.
We looked like a couple of Victorian safari porters as we treked over from the car park with two folding deck chairs, a wind break, a beach bag stuffed nose to nipple with everything any self respecting boy scout may need in a crisis, a cool bag with salads, melon and fruit , ipads and toilet roll, and after the obligatory row we set up base camp on the golden sands of the North Wales coast.
It's been more stressful than organising the friggin Olympics!