A little Bit About Me…
…some people would say I’m eccentric… you can judge for yourselves
I turned 50 in 2017. I don’t know how the hell that happened! When I look in the mirror I’m always surprised it’s not the 18 year old me looking back…. time just rages on. It was about then I decided I wanted to be an Independent Celebrant.
My life was very ordinary, until I realised it wasn’t. Until I realised no-one is ordinary, no-one’s life is ordinary and we can all and do all experience the extraordinary in our everyday lives. We simply don’t always notice.
Life is far from ordinary and far from extraordinary. My blog finds the extraordinary within the ordinary. It is a celebration of all things everyday that make each of us unique and ordinarily extraordinary human beings. …..
Come and Stay…
Way back in 2005 we upped sticks and moved our lives to the beautiful town (village) of Llanwrtyd Wells in Mid Wales. No planning, just a spontaneous move born out of desperation; We run a B&B from it (Cerdyn Villa, LD5 4RS, come and visit us 🙂 ). We could not be happier.
We’re in Wales because Hubby and I quit our middle management office jobs after a two-day holiday to a place chosen by sticking a pin in a map. We visited Llanwrtyd Wells, Mid Wales and returned home to sell our house, hand in our notices and pull our 7yr old son out of school. We moved ourselves here lock stock and car transporter within 3 months of the initial visit. Without a care in the world, much of a plan or a backward glance.
Unique Stained Glass and Acrylic Artwork…
I always felt I had “an artist in me” so started community art and stained glass classes and now that’s what I do. These days I also use our home as a studio for my art and glass business.
As well as the B&B and the arty stuff, I do gardening work, the odd bit of bar work and the odd bit of waitressing and anything else that might present itself. For a while I ran a craft shop called In the Pink…. and these days I’m also an Independant Celebrant, working hard to ensure others celebrate their own extraordinariness in a way that best reflects their personalities.
I love people who ‘don’t fit into a box’ , eccentrics, rebels, free-thinkers. Anyone who’s a bit ‘alternative’.
My Alter-Ego…
Which is probably why I joined the Monster Raving Loony Party as my alter ego, Lady Lily the Pink, soon after moving here and discovering my home is in the town where Screaming Lord Sutch played his last ever gig and also the place where the party has its Brecknockshire H/Q. I’ve even stood for parliament….
I own a 1968 Hillman Husky, it’s now magnificently sprayed in a stunning magenta pink, and called Ffloyd. Ffloyd after the band and the double “eff” in honour of my Welsh home. Sometimes she/he (my car is gender fluid) and I do charitable things together, like the annual Pink Car Rally. Predominantly, I enjoy the fact that driving around in Ffloyd brings a smile to pretty much everyone’s face and leads me into random conversations with complete strangers.
I consider myself a bit of an activist, possibly an antagonist. I like to stand up and be counted when I feel people are wronged. I like to ‘advocate’ for those who feel they don’t have a voice. As such I often find myself in ‘hot water’ or in the local press for making a noise about local issues when, perhaps, the public servants would prefer everyone to keep quiet! Anyway, I’m sure my blogs will cover some of these antics…
I do, of course, happen to live in the most eccentric town in the UK; also the smallest. A happy coincidence (some would say ‘fated’). Llanwrtyd Wells invented Bog Snorkelling; Man v Horse Marathon; Mountain Bike Chariot Racing; to name but a few. It also created the World Alternative Games… gathering eccentric pastimes from around the world together bi-annually to the benefit of the community, the amusement of the world and the interest of the press. I take my hat of to the great characters and the wonderful personalities you will no doubt read about here
…some people would say I’m eccentric… I think of myself as ordinarily
extraordinary, just like you xx
Bernie, this page is full of amazing content, I love it. Story telling is always the way to get peoples interest and attention, and we have a complete history of you, and what ‘Bernie’ is about. Congratulations, it’s brilliant. Looking forward to hearing more. Kim.
thank you so much xxxx
Love it xxxxxxxxx
thanks Sue xxx
WOW
Wow Content
[…] at A Bad Witch’s Blog, Rose Tinted Ramblings, Mabh […]
[…] at A Bad Witch’s Blog, Rose Tinted Ramblings, Mabh […]
Hugs and kisses.xx
good to see you… looking forward to seeing you again soon
Looking forward to reading more! Thank you for the inspiration!
Hi Lady Lily, just wanted to pop by and say hi and… And… Gulp…. A Hillman Huskey. My parents first car in 1960. I was four and sat in the back while dad swore and mum worked the crank shaft to start it on a Cold morning because he couldn’t and the dog slobbered down my neck and… I have to follow for that and having voted Looney in 1987 when despairing of everyone else. What other connections will we find. PS you are not middle aged btw. I’m middle aged and only just at 59 – I have plans to embarrass my children for decades yet. You are in your middle youth. Just saying….
lovely to chat – you know, pretty much everyone who sees me in Ffloyd talks to me, which is one of the reasons i love having him/her. Most people seem at some point to have owned or been in an Imp… very few a Husky – they’re pretty rare …only about 60 left. That chunk of life …middle youth (i like that) through middle age is pretty exciting i’d say… more confidence , more time, less self consdciousness …and kids , even grandkids to embarrass … i do it with flare… i have to say i’m quite an exceptional mother if success is based on the embarrassment factor.
Brilliant – we can share tips. My daughter knows the more expensive her wedding plans (if she ever decides to wed) the greater the embarrassment that will ensure – currently the threat is the 50 plus (in age) naked glee club (with me in the lead) singing Love is all around us as she walks down the aisle..
PWAHAHA! That I would love to be a fly on the wall for… although with that hanging over her i suspect she is unlikely to marry.
Offv to the Senedd in Cardiff on Saturday with a bus full of Loons to film more for our Party Political Broadcast….. there’s a blog update there ….watch this space
Can’t wait. Good to know the loons are still with us but then again if Boris replaces Cameron and Corbyn remains in place for 2020 I think one has to admit satire is finally dead.
you’ve nicked my punchline – my whole point as a Loon is to reveal that we already have it!!!
Oops. Soz…
lol… glad others see it too x
Loved reading your blog, We have a pink day in Witney on the 4th of October, all the shops go pink and lots of the streets are decorated with pink ballooons, we also have a pink car parade, but nowhere near as many cars as you had in yours. If by any chance you have friends from your parade who live near by could you ask them if they’d like to get involved in our parade, it’s only a couple of hours and is for Against Breast cancer. cheers Anya witneyinthepink@gmail.com
Hi, I looked at your Rapido some time ago, nice. Anyway recently got the smaller version and looking to find the long sofa covers in the fabric you have/had and as I read you were recovering them I wondered if you still had the original covers? I got the van off an Imp Club member actually, how can I email/contact you to follow this up?
i still have most of them – i actually just popped half of them in the bin – but will go and rescue them now – are you going to Imp National in Huntington next week? if so my partner can bring them – you can email us at enquiries@cerdynvilla.co.uk
will email you shortly
emailed okay
hey, just dropped by to say hello
Hi – thanks for dropping by x
And thanks for following, reading and sharing your thoughts.
Look forward to seeing you more frequently