Every attention to detail…

Never one for impulse, Guy informed me after we’d waved both our boys off on the school French trip, that he had taken some days off work & booked a hotel for us so let’s get home quick & pack the bags!

Just in case…

So here we are at The Langdale Hotel in The Lake District. Guy knows I’m a stickler for attention to detail & it was great to arrive in a hotel room to find the toilet rolls folded to a point & a golf umbrella available in case we need to pop across to the swimming pool in a rain shower.  There were even bath robes on the bed wrapped in beautiful silver bags.

Pillow talk & a bath robe

Guy walking towards Great Langdale

A warming glass of mulled wine

Today we walked in bright February sunshine from Great Langdale to Little Langdale Valley via The Three Shires Inn.  It was a lowland ramble with breathtaking views of snow-capped hills.  It’s been so long since Guy & I took some time out together, just the two of us.  I even found that I wasn’t thinking about Simon, I was just enjoying Guy’s attention & not even a humongous period to spoil it.

Perhaps it was the two pints of landlord’s finest  that Guy had just enjoyed in The Three Shires or my glass of  spice-laden mulled wine but we skipped back to the hotel hand in hand at a quickening pace, fumbling with excitement to open the door to our room with one of those key card things.

When, eventually, we got in, Guy thought we should avail ourselves of the comfortable bed & bath robes.  Honestly, he couldn’t even wait until after we’d been for our meal.  Guy did look  handsome with his hairy chest poking out the top of the robe and it hid his expanding girth very nicely too – although I do draw the line at a medallion.  He was pretty complimentary about me too – it’s been quite some time since we both grabbed some afternoon delight!

Whilst love is in the air, I am pleased to tell you that the winning entries of  The Celia Romantic Short Competition have been recorded by actor Penny Lamport & uploaded to listenupnorth.com for everyone to hear.

You can click onto the links from the newsletter listenupvalentine

My snowy house

Brrr! I hope you are managing to stay cosy.  I’m keeping warm with lashings of hot steamy cocoa, even managed to burn my tongue yesterday so there’ll be no French kissing from me for a while. I do wish the boys would take their snowy boots off before they come into the house; they make such a mess – even had to tell Guy off about it yesterday.

The weather has meant that this week’s meeting of the Upper Welford Greenhouse & Garden’s Society was cancelled.  The committee decided it was too hazardous for our elderly members to make their way along the icy pavements on a dark evening plus the boiler in the village hall was playing up.

Winter Aconites

It means of course that not only shall I have to wait until another time to hear speaker Mr Gordon Balmer on  Prune Your Exotics but also that I’ll miss my fortnightly dose of gorgeous committee member Simon & the remaining strands of his hair silhouetted in the slide projector.

Conversely, there’s been signs of new growth in my garden as the winter aconites have started to peep through the receding snowline.  Soon will follow the snowdrops & the hope that Spring and all its brightness will soon be with us.

Shirley

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At ‘Team Celia’ we are also waiting for our lovely camera & editing expert Shirley, who anytime now is due to give birth.  Lots of hugs & best wishes & I’ll keep you posted on that.  Just below is Shirley & the rest of Team Celia in a short video put together from various clips by Rachel’s daughter Rosie.

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Following a sleepless night, the day arrived for filming  Celia episode 2.  Fortunately Guy has been very understanding about moving out of our bedroom and having it on show globally because he knows how much making these films means to me.  My OCD went into overdrive & after wiping the downstairs loo for the umpteenth time, listenupnorth arrived with lots of reassurance for my ragged nerves and we started to prepare the set.

Through The Looking Glass

Then camera & all-round expert Shirley Anne Wood arrived.  Shirley is now with ‘bump’ and after a big hug was immediately forbidden to lift anything heavier than a teaspoon.  Time to put the kettle on & arrange a tray of fruit & Mars Bar Mini rolls placed out of camera shot to ensure we all keep our sugar levels during the strenuous task of filming.  Whilst Shirley set up the lights & camera , listenupnorth and I watched  episode 1 in freeze frame so we could place all the toiletry bits & pieces on the dressing table  just as I had left them as I walked out at the end of the last episode  to answer the door to Simon.

Following on, this episode takes place in the evening & I’m recounting what went on (or off!) when I found Simon on the doorstep.  As before, the idea was that delivering the monologue, actor Penny Lamport would express her internal thoughts to the camera placed behind her dressing table mirror (with glass removed).  She would also address the audience directly into a second camera at the side of the dressing table.

Penny & Sue arrived to more hugs to complete ‘Team Celia’.  After putting the kettle on again & a quick catch up on everyone’s gossip, we had a final call for the loo as we would be unable to leave the room for several hours once the cameras were in place.   Part of the driving force to complete our series of 6 short films was Shirley’s worry that, as she expands with baby, she would soon be unable to fit into the tight space between the camera & the door!  In addition, actor Penny has expressed concern that she might not look 49ish for much longer.  But I would take that with a pinch of salt as that woman has drunk the elixir of eternal youth.

‘Team Celia’ in action

It seemed to take an age of faffing around with lighting to ensure the correct night time ambience  plus checking sound levels & positioning cameras before we were finally ready to call ‘Action!’.  However, all the preparation paid off and the actual filming progressed very quickly & smoothly.  It was ‘in the can’ by late lunch and we were able to sit down to our baked potatoes followed by celebratory chocolate eclairs.  Now more hard work as Shirley takes it all away to edit & prepare Celia – episode 2.  So watch this space!

Click below to watch Celia – episode 1

‘Team Celia’ Executive Management Meeting
listenupnorth, Penny, Sue & Shirley

After an executive committee meeting in Starbucks round hot chocs & cafe lattes, I am delighted to introduce a new member to ‘Team Celia’.  In addition to Penny the actor who plays yours truly, Shirley on camera & editing plus listenupnorth  who created me & puts the words in my mouth, we now have Sue who comes with lots of experience at the BBC & is going to help with producing & publicity, developing a sound business model & giving listenupnorth an occasional reality check. That way we can all make more in the series of short films about me ‘Celia, Housewife 49ish’ to delight you – our audience.

listenupnorth was absolutely chuffed that everyone wants to continue.   In fact she was so excited that she became very bold & interrupted a gentleman in the corner  reading ’50 Shades of Grey’ over his Expresso Grande and asked him to take a team photo.

Enjoy ‘Celia – the Film’ episode 1: