A Short Trip Round Porthcawl Leading To A Chat On Brian Aldiss,Thomas Mann and Hilary Clinton....As You Do

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It was Thursday morning. I'd been to the dentist (surprisingly better than expected) and had about two hours (including lunch) to fill before going to work. I'd been to Bridgend Town before Christmas but hadn't visited Porthcawl for a while and was curious to see what it was like. So Porthcawl it was.

Now let's start with the obvious. It was a nice day. Hence a good picture looking at the sea is required.

I did my best

In my short time round the town the best thing is that nothing much has changed. I've mentioned before of the maritime centre being built and though there were two shops closing down I suspect they will be replaced very soon given that I didn't see any empty shops. Only one place has closed down since my last visit and I'll return to that in a moment.

It's looking good

So after a good sausage sandwich lunch in a café (where the waitress revealed that when she gets angry she's liable to smash things) I went to my favourite charity shop in the area with it's wide display on the first floor of books. But before that let's chat about the one building in the area that has closed down since my last visit. A closure that indeed made the national news.

The public toilets

Now from the outside it's a nice looking building that blends into it's surroundings. Built in the days when councils cared about such things.

From the inside it was clean and (if you excuse the expression) did it's job.

Now for the moment at least it's closed. And it's a disgrace. As I've said before many people come here for the beach over the summer months and this facility is needed.

Bridgend Labour Council in action folks.

Before I chat about the books I bought in the Porthcawl Animal Welfare (PAWS) charity shop a word about the latest book I've read the complete short stories written in the 1950's by (mainly) Sci-fi writer Brian Aldiss.

Regular readers will know that I am a fan. But to be honest less so here. At best OK at worst (and this seemed to focus on the longer tales) a draft for a novel. What I will say is that I've read some of his short stories written in the sixties and seventies and they were (if you excuse the expression again) out of this world.

Anyway to the two books I actually bought. Firstly one had to be a Penguin in a classic coloured spine cover. It turned out to be.

Thomas Mann - Buddenbrookes

Whilst I have some Thomas Mann books in my great unread and e-unread pile I've never actually got round to reading him. Simply because of so many books so little time. Let's hope I read it relatively soon.

You may remember when I started the insomniac meanderings posts I said I was going to get Hilary Clinton's autobiography? Well I might plead guilty to being late on acting out on my promises but I do try to keep them...

Promise kept....at last

I wonder how many people look at Hilary Clinton now since we've had over two years of the Trump presidency and think...."If Only......"

Of course now I have to get round to reading it.

Until the next time.