Cuddle Time

Most evenings the trendy blue sofa is full of dogs, cat and me. 

It’s the nice part of animal ownership , where the pack quietly comes together for a bonding sleep, usually at the very end of the day when bellies are full and everyone is in need of a physical and psychological cuddle. 

Dogs remember their litter feelings , as much as we miss being cuddled as children 

Last night , I spent the evening FaceTiming friends as the pack dozed. 

I thank covid for this “new” phenomenon

Chatting when you can see the person you are talking to 

Is a great bonus when you live alone 

They are in the room with you! 

Always! 

On Saturday I’m taking part in an interactive zoom discussion / lecture on gay cinema. We had to share what films we would like to discuss and my suggestion of The Object of my affection has been accepted.

I’ve always loved the novel as well as the movie and how they views love 

This quote from the novel, I’ve always remembered and been touched by

"Often, what's most attractive about a person is that part they're trying hardest to conceal, that part they think is least likable. You find out about it and it becomes a secret bond between you, something you never talk about but hold close to your heart and are continually touched by"

My trip to Barcelona Is booked and sorted. I’m going with an old girlfriend which I know will be easy and fun and I hope I can book a cooking lesson on a Spanish cooking day I found through another friend. 

Like the dog’s cuddles, the break will be total therapy and will be totally embraced. 

I FaceTimed my friend and we giggled like schoolgirls about the holiday today.

It’s doing me good ….already

 

 

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Stuff

©PaulThompson 2022

Weatherwise, it has been an unsettled week here in South Yorkshire. Yesterday was a good example - blustery showers interspersed with blue skies and sunshine. You didn't know whether you were coming or going. And it has been quite cold too.

That's how it is when you live on the western edge of Europe at a latitude of 53.3811° N, beside the temperamental Atlantic Ocean. This week's weather has been governed by an airflow from the Arctic but at the weekend a high pressure system from the south west will bring warmer and more settled weather.

To get more walking and photography done in what I call virgin territory, I have booked a room in a cheap guesthouse in the Lincolnshire market town of Louth. That's on Monday night. I plan to get two long walks in - one on the Monday and one next Tuesday before I head home.

Louth is under two hours from this keyboard. I have had a hankering to go there since before COVID and now I am off. It sits on the eastern side of the rolling Lincolnshire Wolds which is a beautiful area to explore. Strangely, it doesn't attract hordes of visitors. Co-incidentally, Frances, Stew and Phoebe's new house is on Louth Road here in Sheffield.

They were round here yesterday evening and I treated them to one of my famous spaghetti bolognese meals. The sauce had been simmering for three hours with just an occasional stir - softening the texture of the minced beef and nicely blending the various ingredients together. My sauce has evolved significantly from the one I was patiently taught to make by my Italian flatmate Paulo Palompo when I was at university. He has lived in The Shetland Isles for many years now.

Last evening I saw a film recording of the London grandbabe's current life. Scanned in his/her mother's womb, he/she is wriggling and growing and thankfully all appears very normal. The same is true of the new Sheffield grandbabe though I haven't seen moving images of that particular bundle of joy. It remains an exciting time.

Not too long ago we thought we would never become grandparents and now it looks like we will be blessed with at least three grandchildren. I hope the two unborn cousins will bring as much delight into our lives as Little Phoebe has done. Last night, as she was heading home, she pushed me back over the the threshold saying, "Back in Grandpa!" Cheeky little monkey!

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Spring

 Spring days

Overcast skies

The wind is still

And maybe 

My mind

Will be too

How are you doing today?

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Pride and Prejudice

 

Pride and Prejudice *sort Of  was a bit of a romp last night.

A comedy version of Austin’s novel played from the perspective of five maids who Reinact the the lives of the Bennett family and their romantic connections with Wickham, Bingley and Darcy.

It’s clever and incredibly well acted and has comic timing to die for as the five leads play four of the Bennett sisters, and all the other main characters sans Mr Bennett who we only “see” silently sitting behind his newspaper.

The maid thing, is a loose connection as the novel is deftly covered from start to finish without much input from them. Mrs Bennett (Dannie Harris) is now detected as a potty mouthed, drunk with an east end accent where as Lizzie( Emmy Stonelake) is a buxom Welsh Nessa with hefty calves and who bursts into Carly Simons’ You’re so Vain when she meets Darcy for the first time.

So you get the idea

It’s all very silly, and well done.

But as the audience clapped away at the cast belting out  Bonnie Tyler’s Holding Out For A Hero, I couldn’t help thinking it was the froth that many audiences want right at this moment and although I laughed , I’d seen enough by the end of the first half.

So what today?

A bit of shopping, booking flights to Barcelona too…..it’s cold so I’m making soup  too.

Hey ho

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