Damp

 My 6.30 am coffee needs buying from the McDonald’s drive through.

I’m leaving for work shortly

It’s a grey, wet and depressing early morning and even the cheerful plants on the kitchen window sill are looking down.

Flaming June soon

from Going Gently https://ift.tt/3f7d0Sj

"Nomadland"

One of the things I love most about this life is that there's no final goodbye. You 

know, I've met hundreds of people out here and I don't ever say a final goodbye. 

I always just say, "I'll see you down the road". And I do. And whether it's a month, 

or a year, or sometimes years, I see them again. -  BOB WELLS in "Nomadland"

Finally, I got to see "Nomadland" yesterday afternoon at The Showroom Cinema in the centre of Sheffield. The last film I saw in a cinema was "Parasite" and that was back in February of  2020.

I watched "Nomadland" in silence with my friend Mike. As we shuffled out of the darkness during the final credits, I agreed with him that it had been a great film - captivating and beautifully constructed. We were not disappointed - quite the opposite in fact. It was quietly joyous - a celebration of life in spite of the central theme of poverty and displacement - modern American "nomads" living on the fringes of  normal society.

The central character is Fern played by Frances McDormand. When her husband died, she remained in the remote Nevada mining town where they had spent all of their married life. However, finally she ended up in a small camper van seeking seasonal work and solace in the great American wilderness. 

Brilliantly directed and edited by Chloé Zhao, "Nomadland" is not laced with the anger and resentment one might have anticipated. People get by and get along. They do not really blame anybody else for the situations they have found themselves in. Two other things I loved about this film were the beautiful imagery of the west and the fact that the cast included a number of travellers that the filmmakers encountered along the way - true life American nomads  like Swankie, Linda and Bob. They added to the film's aura of authenticity.

There was no killing. No drunkenness or cop cars or wily detectives. It was a quiet and lovely film about outsiders and Frances McDormand was superb. It is easy to see why "Nomadland" has  achieved so many awards - including "Best Picture". Richly deserved in my view.

from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/3v9t4Ze

Desire

 Let me 

Lay my pride

Down at your feet

My desire

This day

That brings

Sunshine

And unlimited blessings

from R's rue https://ift.tt/3yupdYV

Village Shenanigans

 

A flyer came through the door today which underlines a conflict between the new Community Association and the Community Council over the Village Hall.  I can’t pretend to understand all the nuances in play but , be sure I will get to the bottom of things. 

Social media has been buzzing on this most miserable of days with the news.

I’ve treated myself to low fat turkey burgers for lunch and as promised I took some photos of the garden for Lizzy D even though the rain was lashing down 

from Going Gently https://ift.tt/3uh88hX

Judgmentalism

I guess it is part of being human - to weigh things up, to make our own judgements. However, some people take this too far. They sit all high and mighty making judgements about others and what they say or do often without actually putting themselves out there. They seem to think that they have full licence to do this. In fact it is their "go to" position.

Take blogging for example. The comments one receives may be supportive, funny or just engaged but some respondents habitually put on their proverbial wigs to pass judgement. Making judgement calls is fine when you have "money in the bank"- a reservoir of goodwill accumulated over time but when every comment you have ever made is laced with judgmentalism then you become a pain in the arse. Perhaps you would be best to keep your judgements to yourself.

A few years ago, one of my commenters shocked me. Not only was she leaving judgemental comments every time she came here, she was  also visiting other blogs to assess my comments from elsewhere - weighing them up and trying to identify contradictions or inconsistencies. Quite flabbergasting really.

Currently I still have "comment moderation" switched on. I don't really like it but at least it allows me to weed out comments by two currently active Judge Judies and one Judge Rinder. They have a long history of making niggling, undermining or  plain nasty remarks and I just don't want that stuff in my life or on this blog which has become an extension of my life.

Whenever their names appear in the Yorkshire Pudding comments section pre-moderation, I simply delete what they have said without ever reading it. Click and it has gone. It feels kind of nice to do that. A bit like deleting spam.

from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/3hVBiRd