Bridget Jones

The luminous and talented Zellweger

Much has been made of Renee Zellweger's " new look" over the past year or so.
I couldn't care less about it all, I really couldn't as in Bridget Jones' Baby with her rosy faced scrubbed clear of make up she looks fabulous, mature and sweet as a nut.
Shame the same cannot be said for the film.

It's a right old dog's dinner.
Now in her mid forties, Bridget remains a London singleton. She has split up,from long term partner Darcy ( Colin Firth- who now looks incredibly old and rather odd after a whole new set of teeth), Is slightly isolated from her three ""best mates" who now all have partners and children and finds herself battling hipster new blood at work, all things that the average middle aged Bridget Jones fan could identify with and would enjoy on film. But the writers have thrown into the mix a who-is-the -daddy mystery farce between Bridget, Darcy and an " attractive" American ( Patrick Dempsey) as well as shoe-horning in minor subplots featuring Bridget's harridan of a mother, exasperated father and an ill advised and un funny cameo from Emma Thompson playing a bad tempered  obstetrician

Apart from two slightly amusing set pieces there is only one laugh out loud moment when the three leads get stuck in a revolving door of a hospital accident and emergency department ( a wonderfully funny bit of slapstick)  But the rest of the film is a let down which is a shame as Zellweger is an actress of some charm and talent.
6/10

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I've got a run of night shifts now, so shall be a bit thin on the ground. We've got a workman coming round too, to re roof our outside toilet! Happy days for Winnie.......difficult sleep days for me no doubt.....hey ho especially as the new mattress is somwhat " springy" the Prof and I seem to rolling about on top of it like two fat toddlers in a ball pool! 

Mike

The Hall this morning

The centre of Trelawnyd is dominated by the Memorial Hall, which is a community centre rather than a church or indeed large chapel which it is often mistaken for.
It was built around 110 years ago and was the brain child of one of the most unlikely patrons a Welsh village could ever ask for.
Michael Antonio Ralli ( or Mike as he was referred to) was a Greek living in Odessa in the 1800s . He made a fortune importing cotton from Russia when the USA could not during their Civil war and after a spell working as the Greek consul to Liverpool, he and his wife Polymnia came to live in was to become Mia Hall, a grand red brick house situated west of the village.

Ralli was a bit of a dish

Ralli built the Memorial hall not only as a gift for the village, but as a way of giving the local unemployed a job. It's referred to as the Memorial Hall as it was build in memory of his wife who died in 1896
He, like a former founder of Trelawnyd , John Wynne in the 1600s , wanted to see the village flourish as a market town.

The Hall around 1910 with it's cupola 

The Walking Dead Season 7

Not long now! 

The Challenge

Even though she can't now comment, I am sure this blog entry will get Petra's " untouched-by-a-man's-hand" knickers in a twist as I am going all saccharine about something.
Go stew Petra! For what you are about to read is all true!
Hey ho.

Anyhow whilst the Prof is marking a PhD thesis up in his study, I am presently on mattress watch. For the first time in 16 years we havebought a new mattress and it's being delivered today. For a small fee, the company will collect the old one but only if it is " sealed" in a plastic bag which they thoughtfully have provided.
What are we a bio hazard? Answers on a post card.

Grid watch

Mary is on " heightened alert" at the moment and is not sleeping. She cornered a mouse down the patio grid yesterday and spend the entire day watching it. After many hours she eventually caught and partially ate it causing the Prof to swoon somewhat theatrically in disgust when he side stepped the corpse when he got home.
She has been hyperactive ever since.
The Prof on the other hand keeps repeating the shrill phrase of " don't let her lick your face" when she comes near.
He worries so.

Ann & Terry

Anyhow , as usual I am digressing.
Because of PhD marking, mattress delivery and a row about cleaning the fluff from under the old bed, I took Mary on her powerwalk early .
And we bumped into Ann and Terry.
Now Ann and Terry are the most sweet natured of couples for they spend most of their waking day laughing at and seeing the good in most things. They are a blessed asset to the flower show committee as they seldom complain, they work hard and are able to turn most negatives into a positive.
For years now I have gone head-to-head with Terry in tbe baking classes and have soundly thrashed him for several years in our own " bake off" but next year, as Terry explained after we met this morning, would be a very different event.

" Next year we are both entering the art section !" He challenged cheerfully
"A  Hand made item out of wood! , a cross stitch or embroidery and a painting ! That's the contest"

Bloody hell embroidery? Woodwork? PAINTING,! I'm fucking crap at anything like that!

I'm scuppered!

Ps
Ifyou want a laugh read this
https://roadtokazakhstan.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/for-one-day-only.html

How Others See You

There is often a chasm between self perception and how others " see " you. 

That is a fact of life. 

Once I was " recovering" a patient who had been through an incredibly long and difficult liver transplant. He opened his eyes briefly then again and groaned " Fuck me it's Jeremy Speight" he croaked

At the time Jeremy Speight was a camp, fat Half Russian minor celebrity flight supervisor on the tv documentary Airport .

I wasn't best pleased

Yesterday, I got a facebook message from a colleague, she had been watching The Great British Bake Off 

This was the message

 Today

• • 

    17:08

    Sandra G

    Whilst watching bake off it occurred to me Rav could be your love child. He looks like you only a Sikh

    
    

    

    
    

    Who do you look like in reality?

    Who would you like to look like

Dragon

Compare this pixar dragon with the previous photo! 

A Long Time Coming!

Yesterday was incredibly humid. It was  also rather sunny , not good for black furred animals like George and Albert.
Fuses are cut rather short when it's sticky and oppressive
For months now, Mary has taken every opportunity to goad Albert.
A cold nose up the arsehole at every opportunity
A sharp bark when  the boy is sitting peacefully on the bedroom window ledge
It is the challenge adolescent dogs delight in when the victim is smaller and different.

Yesterday, as Albert sauntered into the cottage in order to find a cool corner he stopped briefly to rub heads with his best mate Winnie. (Head rubbing, for those that don't know, is a feline gesture of welcome.)
The ever alert Mary, grabbed her chance.
She shot out of her hiding place from under the kitchen table and in one long " sweep" gave Albert's bumhole a massive and rather over saturated lick.
It was the lick that broke the camel's back.
Albert lost it.
He growled like a tiger and lifted himself onto his tiptoes with his back arched like a bow and when finally Mary bolted for the safety of the staircase he shot after her like Bagheera from The Jungle Book. 
Albert caught Mary in our bedroom and by the sound of the howls he must have given her a sound and long overdue thrashing.
I left him to it.

The tail swishing and dark mood lasted all day , I am afraid, and even this morning ( nearly 24 hours since the final bumhole lick was administered)  Albert is still looked rather wide eyed and bad tempered when Mary is in his vicinity.
I snapped the above photo just  a few minutes ago as Mary prudently sat under my armpit, on the arm of the chair.
Albert in full growl!
Hell hath no fury like a goggle-eyed black cat scorned

The Worst Emotion And Trendy Carol's fashion faux Pas

I got home around 2 am this morning only to find my reading glasses destroyed on the living room floor.
Mary had struck again .
I was irritated and somewhat annoyed but an eager face and a cold nose warmed me up enough to allow a cuddle up after I had done the creeping " limbo" like dance , in order to sneak into bed without waking a slumbering Professor who was sleeping a happy Professor sleep.
Animals, even when they are naughty, can irritate you terribly..but they never disappoint you like people can .

Disappointment, I thought minutes after moving William's slightly shitty smelling bum from my pillow, is definitely and exclusively a human based emotion.
Disappointing someone is the pits.
Being disappointed by someone is somehow worse.
There are elements of hurt and shame wrapped up in disappointment .
It's such a sad emotion.

I've only been thinking of this after reading the twitter furore post The Great British Bake Off   Sell off. Twitterers seem to be overwhelmingly disappointed in the show and it's fall from grace, it's almost as if they had  caught their best friend stealing from them, so strong is the feeling.

How many times have we heard the phrases " You fucking well piss me off" " stop it, you've really upset me!" Or my very favourite " you are getting on my tits!" 

But I think we all would detest a loved one 's comment of " You've really disappointed me" so much more.
Disappointment is all wrapped up with shame and true hurt
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Oh and talking of tits, just spied Trendy carol thundering through the village with her two terriers.
She was wearing grey trousers, up to date laceless sneakers and a very floaty grey blouse, cut low and very loose fitting..
Her dogs were bouncing her around somewhat
So much so, that I had to shout over a small call of advice
" Carol! Your babs are hanging out!"
She disappeared quicky to get changed!
Hey ho