Missing an old friend 20th June 2011

My school friend Sue Hollingshead died last year. Today 20th June would have been her 50th birthday but as I can't send her a card I thought I would share a memory from our school years.
My birthday is December and very close to Christmas, consequently it often got forgotten or I would get one present to cover my birthday and Christmas. Being the the kind person she was she declared I could celebrate my half birthday on her birthday so we'd both have something to celebrate. So here I am Sue celebrating my half birthday and hoping that somewhere you're raising a glass.......

Stop all the clocks......

Yesterday was the funeral of Jason's father. Jason was determined to read a particular poem as a tribute - you'll recognise it from 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'. I think he was brave to do it and I'm proud that he managed to get through it.

W.H. Auden: Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone

From "Twelve Songs"

IX.
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

St George and Shakespeare

The 23rd April is not only St George's Day but Shakespeare's birthday - two very 'English' icons even if St George was born in Turkey!

To celebrate I bought some St George's Day doughnuts from Greggs.

St George

St David's Day

St David's Day is celebrated in Wales on 1st March as he is the patron saint of Wales. It's customary to wear one of the Welsh national emblems - a leek or a daffodil so I've chosen a picture of daffodils taken from my garden a few years ago.

You can find more info on the National Museum of Wales website

Cats sleep anywhere

Jasper loves to sleep on the top cushion of the sofa - it's big, soft and comfy and next to the radiator. I wish I could get this comfortable.

Redbubble - trying to promote my art and photographs

Thought I would give Redbubble a go - I'm not David Bailey or Picasso but what the hell, I can take the odd good photo and paint something that catches the eye so here goes! As time goes on I'll alter my 'portfolio' and add more items.

Burns Night

Just a quick mention for Burns Night and the poem written by Robert Burns in 1786

Address to a Haggis

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the pudding-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm :
Weel are ye wordy o'a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o'need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut you up wi' ready sleight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin', rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
Bethankit! hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad make her spew
Wi' perfect sconner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash;
His nieve a nit;
Thro' bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll mak it whissle;
An' legs an' arms, an' heads will sned,
Like taps o' thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer
Gie her a haggis!

New Years Eve 2010

I don't know why but I find New Year depressing - it may be post Christmas Blues, it may be the fact that a new year means I'm getting older. This year has been tough, my other half lost his job twice and is now unemployed as well as having had to undergo major surgery, the NHS is being dismantled bit by bit which causes problems as my wages are now frozen for two years so there are no rises to cope with inflation and my old school friend died leaving a gap in many people's lives.

I'm hoping that 2011 will bring some better times although I can't see it yet.

Regardless of how I feel I wish everyone a happy 2011 and I've posted some random cat pictures just to cheer things up.

Nearly 50

It's my last day of being 49 - I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. I had a 'birthday' night out with the girls from work last week and decided my new drink would be Morgan's spiced rum and lemonade. I felt a bit rough on Friday but seeing as I developed flu by the Saturday I'll put it down to the virus. Having flu has somewhat thrown my birthday and Christmas plans - still need to write cards and do some Christmas shopping plus the usual washing, ironing etc.

Anyway, I got a bit nostalgic and ended up downloading lots of old songs from Amazon - plus the new X factor winners single - I'll talk about some of them a little bit more on my music blog.

1	"Have I The Right" The Honeycombs;
1	"No Regrets" Walker Brothers
1	"Tell Me When" The Applejacks
1	"I'm So Straight I'm a Weirdo" Rick Wakeman;
1	"Here Comes The Night" Them;
1	"Twighlight Time" The Platters
1	"Just A Dream" Jimmy Clanton
1	"Take These Chains From My Heart" Ray Charles
1	"My Boy Lollipop" Millie;
1	"I Remember You" Frank Ifield
1	"Let Me Go Lover" Teresa Brewer
1	"Lula Rock-A-Hula" Teresa Brewer;
1	"Lady With The Big Umbrella" Dean Martin;
1	"Go Now" The Moody Blues;
1	"Maria Elena" Los Indios Tabajaras
1	"Make It Easy On Yourself" Walker Brothers;
1	"Jackie" Scott Walker;
1	"The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" Walker Brothers;
1	"When We Collide" Matt Cardle; Fabulous By: Charlie Gracie Butterfly by: Charlie Gracie

29 Years

I started work in the NHS 29 years ago today - my department was called 'Community Health' and we dealt with childhood immunisations - no computers - everything was sent away for batch processing and ended up on microfiche.

29 years and various NHS departments later I'm back in child health working with same person I was working with on my very first day. Talk about things going full circle!