Advent

Normally I sleep like a log - often for seven or eight unbroken hours - but this morning I came back to wakefulness just after four thirty. I had things on my mind and felt a strange sense of loss mingled with uncertainty, irritation and regret. Not a helpful recipe for getting back to sleep.

Consequently, I got up and crept downstairs for a mug of tea and two ginger biscuits. I have the television on but the sound is turned off. Game wardens in Africa are craning an elephant on to a flat bed truck. I wonder where they are taking her? It must be for her own good.

Now she is coming off the truck. She has been heavily sedated. Now she is waking up in a big steel truck. It's like a prison cell on wheels. Maybe I will never know where she was going because the wildlife programme has switched to a parallel story about penguins on the South African coast. Are there any black people in Africa? This programme suggests not.  All the humans in the camera's gaze are earnest whites.

We put up our Christmas tree yesterday and then Shirley decorated it as I absorbed the day's football results. My beloved Hull City lost at home to Shrewsbury Town and defeat always causes my mood to plunge . She remembered that I like green tinsel. As the tree stands almost eight feet off the hallway floor she had to ask me to plonk our fairy on the topmost branch. 

Soon after completing this challenging manly task I ordered a meal from our favourite Chinese takeaway - the "New Hing Lung" on Abbeydale Road. I have been going there for over twenty years.  During the pandemic their business has doubled in popularity and waiting times have grown. I drove over to collect at six thirty but found myself waiting an extra half hour. I won't be ordering at the weekend again. Still the order was as tasty and wholesome as it has always been. Chicken chow mein, chicken foo yung, sweet and sour chicken, chicken chop suey and egg fried rice - all for thirteen pounds.  Incredible value.

It's now six fifteen. I should climb the hairy mountain once more - back to bed to seek sleep's replenishing embrace. However, I am conscious I might disturb my wife of thirty nine years so perhaps I will wait a while longer. 

from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/2JYUzT4

A Rose , A Puffin, The Women’s Institute Concert and a 24 year old thank you!

 I’ve talked of serendipity a great deal on Going Gently over the past two years .

It’s a phenomenon that has swing into my life like the pendulum of a great clock

And like a good clock, it’s presence has been timely.

Last night’s shift was a busier one than normal. I was knackered afterwards , and when I had breakfast this morning, I ate left over coriander salad with chicken out of the side of my mouth as I leaned sleepily across the kitchen table still in my uniform

I looked down at Dorothy who was licking her lips from her position in Winifred’s arm chair and told her to bugger off 

“Its been an emotionally  tiring week!” I told her, but unlike Winnie she didn’t understand my words and just looked guilty.

Winnie would have nodded benignly and would have mew mewed me a kiss.

I was in bed only ten minutes before a rather gorgeous delivery driver knocked on the door

The box was large and contained a standard rose for the garden.

The roses depicted on the accompanying label were old fashioned yellow and scented and called “ Winnie” a gift from my friend Colin 

A wonderful gift , and one that couldn’t be more timely 

The girls and I went back to bed feeling happy and warm.

An hour or so later another delivery man knocked .

He left a small square package, a gift from another friend

The card accompanying it said simply a puffin for an old dear poof...add it to that bloody art wall of yours

I returned to bed and slept.

When I  did eventually woke I noticed a message on my phone from the Trelawnyd WI .

They have organised an on line Zoom concert for Monday and wondered if any of the villagers wanted to join in. The singer is Iona Fyfe https://ionafyfe.com/

So there is Monday evening sorted ....village elder Ian says he’s quaffing craft ales during the concert.

I think I may have some gin left over in the fridge.

Iona Fyfe

Tonight I feel much brighter because of the rose bush, and the puffin and the concert.

And of this short note which popped up tonight from Facebook messenger 

“Hi John, you probably can’t remember me but I was an inpatient at sheffield spinal injuries unit in 1996/7, at the same time that the then nikki Claxton of gladiators came was there. I was just chatting with another fellow inpatient of the time,  and he mentioned the sheffield SIU friends page and there you were! You were such a terrific charge nurse and helped me and my family through what was an incredibly difficult time so 24 years later, a big Thank you to you for really making a difference all those years ago.

I hope this finds you well.Best wishes, Amanda”

How lovely!!!! a thank you message 24 years “ late” but like the rose bush, and the puffin and the concert invitation...oh so timely.

Serendipity? Perhaps ?....it’s a funny old thing

from Going Gently https://ift.tt/2ILUX6Q

 

By Bryce Cameron Liston 

from Going Gently https://ift.tt/346C9Xd