A Tiny Moment

Tonight Mary sat for an age just inches away from the log burner
Watching the flames through sleepy eyes
It moved me.

Village Bound

We are effectively snowed in.
The lane clogs up easily with ice and snow at the drop of a hat so this does happen a lot in bad weather, but we have food, fuel and thanks to the new thermal store wonderful wood fired central heating, so all is toasty in Bwthyn y llan.
I've done my neighbourly jobs this morning and after feeding up Irenevand the batchelors with corn I have salted and cleared the pavements in old Trevor's bungalow which lies behind us. Trendy Carol ( in  multicoloured ski jacket and matching accessories)  tottered past and informed me that the village carol service was cancelled due to the bad weather.
This is a shame as Cameron the teenage boffin, was to solo a big moment in the proceedings on his harp!
I was never good at anything, apart from sulking and keeping tropical fish when I was a teen.

Mary and I this morning

Snow

*photo by villager Jean Smith ....it's the awful Trelawnyd village sign

Gifts At Christmas

I've just wrapped a few Christmas gifts to be sent in the post
My " decorations" gifts were posted a while ago now , I've had a tradition for many years now of sending certain friends a large padded envelope full of assorted Christmas decorations.
It's just something I like doing.

The Prof knows one of the gifts I bought him as I have had to ensure that he booked the time off from work. It's a ticket to see Giselle at the Royal Opera House and unlike so many places now that insist that you print your ticket conformation on line, the official  tickets look plush, decorative and reassuringly expensive.
Having said thus..... one year I made him a desk tidy out of a decorated kitty Kat tin!

I always joke with the Prof by saying every gift I buy him is very very expensive, even when it isn't !

Years ago, I realised that a relationship that I was in wasn't going anywhere when I received a microwave oven as a Christmas gift. It was the equivalent of being given a petrol station bunch of carnations .
An ill thought out gift is worse than no gift at all in my book.
I bet that sounds ungrateful to some.
But I don't care.
It's the truth.

Plugs

Although it has been blizzard conditions at times, the main roads have remained clear though difficult  to negotiate. The village school closed at lunchtime and I only left Trelawnyd once to buy parsnips to make soup.
When I was at Sainsbury's I bought  this

Bugger alone knows why, but it amused me !
I referred to it as a buttplug instead of a pugplug at the checkout.
Thank goodness the cashier didn't appear to hear me

Dawn

I was due to meet an old friend in Chester today but the weather has closed in and he has been forced to cancel as British Railways will probably be sent into whirling confusion.

I'm disappointed as I was looking forward to the catch up.

The Prof is still working away and with the snow on the ground Winnie gave me one of those " you've got to be fucking kidding!" looks when I opened the back door for our dawn walk.

Only I wanted to go out today. 

It looks like I'll light the fire early and download some old black and white movies from iTunes Store 

The cottage always looks at it's best when it's snowing.

Sad Sack

I am such a sad sack.
The Prof is working away so I was going to the cinema tonight.
The weather is closing in, so Mary and I went around the village at 8pm to judge the Christmas lights instead.
The old police house on a London Road won

Little Things

" You're easily pleased"
This is one of The Prof's regular phrases
I was wrapping a gift for his mother when he last said it.
The gift was a tiny milk crate complete with milk bottles.
My mother in law has resurrected her childhood dolls house and I've been helping her find furniture for it. It's a simple little pleasure for both of us.
Yesterday I watched Mandy from the village down at the field gate. Daily she calls down to feed Irene a crust of bread, and daily after " tut tut tutting" her presence, Irene gallops down bleating loudly her own hello.
This simple little moment of gift giving providing Ewe and woman with a daily sweetness.

I think most of us are easily pleased if we think about it , whether we are happy, or sad, or depressed or busy.
Many of us just don't stop to realise it
The Prof has an advent calendar of a cathedral is year and enjoys opening each stained glass window every morning to see what lies underneath.
A nameless neighbour sneaks out of their house for a crafty cigarette in the pull in to the stables field.
Mrs Trellis practicing her piano in the window of her neat bungalow.
Trendy Carol switching on her new Christmas lights

Perhaps is the time of year that helps us realise the importance of these little things.
When I helped out at the village Christmas fair, I had to talk to one character who I fell out with a while ago. The spat then seemed all rather silly and yesterday I wrote them a Christmas card which I will deliver this weekend.....it felt the right thing to do.

What's your little thing?

Titivating

Now I have a sense that Going Gently has been veering towards a lifestyle blog recently, what with my shiny almost complete new kitchen bursting with pride and stories of sage green tiles and newly painted ivory walls filling my blogworld.
I won't apologise for this...the whole project has been almost a full time job, but the end is almost in sight now, so I shall be returning to Village gossip, bulldog self pollution and other such rubbish very soon.
This morning I finished painting and have been doing what any self respecting middle aged gay man loves to do...and that is titivating with crockery!
Out from under the bed came a large cardboard box which had been filled with my old collection of 1930s Burleighware and in the first time in over a decade it was washed and polished and set out to be looked at.
It's now looking more like home.

Cack Handed

While I was painting, I stepped into the dogs' water bowl yesterday afternoon and fell over onto the laundry clothes dryer, which was festooned with underpants.
I flung water across the kitchen then as the dryer collapsed under my weight I fell onto the twisted metal and wire scattering dogs and scaring the tiler half to death.
" are you alright?" He asked with a worried look on his face
" Don't worry, I do this all the time!" I chirped
He looked at me as if I was a loon.
I was still holding the paintbrush in my hand

Albert's Life

this photo underlines Albert's life in a dog filled cottage

Getting There

The tiler came at 8.30 and left Winnie bereft at 1pm .
She is beside herself with tradesmen  after workman +++ have been visiting the cottage over the past 3 weeks!.
She watched his every move and even followed him to the toilet at one point.
He made a good job of it
( the tiling not the toilet visit)
The kitchen is now almost finished, save for some painting and titivating .

Chasing cars

"If I lay here.....
If I just lay here......
Would you lay. with me,
And just forget the world....."

This is a verse, not from a poem but  from a song,
And when I hear it, especially when I am alone, usually in the car listening to the radio, I invairably start to cry.

This happened last night, when I was driving back with our takeaway from the local Indonesian restaurant .
It was the song that was played incessantly on the radio when I took my first dog Finlay back and forth from the vets and animal hospital when he was terminally ill.

He used to lie with me all of the time
And we both used to forget the world together.

It's been ten years.
And I still cry when I hear it.....

What song does it for you?

Christmas Fair

Sandra C from the village now organises the annual Christmas bash, which is a lot of work for one lady and her family.

There was music from a local band, the village schoolchildren and from the village choir.

 We ( the members of the Flower Show Committee- Terry, John , myself, animal helper Pat, Ann and dapnae ) didn't see much of the fair as we were in charge of the catering tables and kitchen.
Terry doesn't like Christmas so we put him front of house  serving teas and next to the PA system speaker , he almost went bananas  with the constant Christmas theme of the songs .

 Members of the village a Male Voice choir sang traditional ditties

 Santa ( Head of the community council Dave Smith) arrived on his moter  bike with his Elf in the sidecar

Dozy

Apart from raising a Roger Moore eyebrow, the Prof nearly said " dozy" when I told him about the floor.

" It could be a lot worse!" He then muttered 

Just behind him George walked across the living room with cream paint all up his arse where he had sat against the skirting board

Hey ho...

( helping out at the village Christmas do later...I will post photos this afternoon)

Oh Dorothy!!!!

I'm such a friggin' fucking, twatting, bollocking, arseholing dick brain!
Guess Who gave the fitters the WRONG measurements for the floor? 

Almost There- Reality TV

In the darkness of Chapel Street this evening Jean and Dave Smith stopped to say they were looking forward to see what the kitchen looks like when it is finally finished on Tuesday!
Sandra Cameron popped up behind with her Yorkshire terrier and said the same thing!
I thought it was kind seeing that her kitchen looks like the set of Housewives of Orange County
Animal helper Pat popped in to see the progress today and through the uncovered lane window a whole collection of villagers have sneaked sideward glances when passing with their dogs and shopping bags .
It's getting all a bit addictive this reality kitchen construction thing...like a local Reality Tv Show
Roll on a Tuesday.........I've booked Jane Asher to officially open it.....she needs the work

Best Friends

It's cold here and the cottage smells of fresh paint.
The log burner has been on since Sunday night, and Albert has burrowed under the bedroom duvet to warm himself after a night's hunting.
I've just touched base with best friend Nu who is suffering from a heavy seasonal cold.
I catch up with her in two weeks time on  a winter's London trip
Phone calls with friends often fall into shorthand speak where conversations take on, almost a language all of it's own! This drives the Prof mad and he often refers to my interactions as being emotionally masturbating in nature!
Hey ho
I read an article recently that stated a research paper claimed that people with more than one or two best friends lived longer, happier lives than those that didn't!
Go figure !
So my question of today is.....
Who is your best friend? ( first name only) and in five words or less describe just why that is the case! ( spouses can't be classed as best friends I am afraid)
I'd be interested to hear

On the Toilet

Yesterday sailor John from next door came around to put up the new kitchen lights.
I cannot be trusted with anything electric owing to DIY incompetence and the fact that I am colour blind.
John wouldn't accept any payment for the work so I had to resort to gift buying. I hope he liked the two steaks and bottle of port I left for him.....it was a job well done.
I am presently typing this on the loo. I need to start painting the kitchen ceiling and I know I am putting off the job.
I hate painting.....and sitting on the loo seems much more fun......having said that, I've sat here too long now and have a large pressure  red ring circling my buttocks..
Too much info, I hear you all say
The kitchen floor arrives on Friday and the new tiles will be coming with the tiler on Monday so it hands to the pumps me hearties!
The kitchen should be finished totally by Tuesday!
Now I had to smile on Sunday when I passed the Church door whilst on a walk with the dogs. Church service had just finished and the vicar was sat on the stone seat in the porch surrounded by the village ladies who were all eagerly looking at photos of his new kitchen on his mobile phone , oohing and arrrghing as if they had seen a baby.
Mind you having a new kitchen is just like having your first baby
You are totally scared that you'll break something when it arrives

Madness

I've lost followers when I questioned the sanity of gun ownership in the US
I've lost followers when I've slagged off Donald Trump
And I think I've lost at least one follower when I waxed too lyrically about Chris Pratt's biceps once
But today is the first time Ive lost a follower because I shared the fact that the Prof once tapped Winnie's Vulva with a hand knitted slipper
I'm surrounded by madness!

" WHATEVER!!!!!!"