R's rue

So shrieked Miranda to Che when she made a romantic gesture with a box of cookies in hand in the last episode of And Just Like That!  She was trying to be something they were not. If you understand my meaning. I’m not Meg Ryan .  And to be brutally honest I’m not Tom Hanks either. And life isn’t a Rom Com with linear lines of sight towards the final reel. Life is a bit messy and it shouldn’t be left to serendipity and the action of others. I’ve booked a short Airbnb holiday, and another film course on zoom. I’ve arranged to join another choir ( the LGBTQ Proud Mary’s in Chester and my Filofax with the birds on it is full of tickets for plays and films and comedy club nights and gigs all planned to be seen between now and the summer.  I’ve saved and sorted money for the new bathroom and cottage repairs and have let go of the field and I’ve made a score of new firm friends over the past year and even made earthward spoons which look like a caveman has des...

Saturday lunchtime. A perfect opportunity to mark Shirley's retirement with a special family meal out in the Ego restaurant at Dore Moor Inn - on the edge of the city. The food was excellent and so was the service. As a starter, I had chicken liver and rosemary pate on toast with chilli tomato marmalade. For the main, I had rump steak with peppercorn sauce, fries, plum tomato and rocket. This was followed by a mini chocolate brownie with cream and a latte.  All thoroughly scrumptious and Little Phoebe behaved herself so well. No crying or screaming. Nothing like that. It was a perfect meal in a nice environment and yet... At a right angle to us, in the bay window, there was another family that included an older teenage girl and a boy of about nine or ten. At first, we hardly noticed them but halfway through the meal period, one of them began playing a game on a smartphone. This game included music, voices and the sound of weaponry and it went on and on. And you know what - it ...