Why Books Are Your Constant Friends,Tesco Appears Pro English In Wales And Some More Bridgend Town And Garden Updates

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I was an only child and the thing about this is that you don't feel lonely because you're used to the situation but you do feel more bored as there is no brother/sister to battle with, Must admit as well that when I was younger when friends did come an awkwardness settled upon me as I didn't know what to do when they played with my toys.

But books have always been there for me. Taken me to places and worlds that nothing, not even television could do. I think also it kept me whole.

I say all of this because this evening I was outside a local church waiting for my daughter to come out of her Guides group. When I arrived there were a few parents there already.  Some were chatting amongst themselves, some were chatting on their phones, others were playing with theirs.

I however was reading a book. The Kim Edwards one as it happens.

And so whilst physically I was outside a Church  in a bright and slightly breezy Bridgend evening mentally I was in America in the late sixties and early seventies. Whatever the problems in my life (and we all have worries) there was a moment where I could forget them for a while.

Books can do that.

In Bridgend Town there are two specific shops selling Polish food and drink for the growing community in the area. A local petrol station is selling a Polish weekly paper and even the supermarkets have Polski products. And I get it. What I didn't understand was what I saw in a local Tesco today.

Why?

The red box contains figures from the English football team presumably to cash in on the European Championship. Now full disclosure here I do collect these figures (for reasons I won't bore you with today) but my collection is only (with one exception)  current and former players of West Ham.

But. This is not England this is Wales. Does Tesco think so little about Wales that it's happy to sell these figures to a nation that has also qualified to the Euros? 

Now Welsh figures are available in the store (though I didn't notice them) according to the website of the company that sells them (http://www.soccerstarz.com/national-teams/wales/) but Tesco wouldn't sell a similar display for French or Italian national players so why is this being done for England? It would after all surprise me immensely if Tesco did a similar thing in Scotland, or Northern Ireland or the Republic.

The point is not an anti English one (after all that's what I am) rather a pro Welsh one, I remember other examples. There was a poster some English stars in a World Cup that the local W H Smith tried to sell. It gathered dust for years.

Wales is a proud nation. What it should not be considered is as an extra opportunity to flog official products of a sporting rival. A rival I should point out who will be playing them in the same group in the forthcoming Championship

More Bridgend Town news here are some more closures. Now when they were closed I'm not sure.

Example One

Now the shop on the right has relocated to somewhere else in the town. Unlike the next example.

There are relocations and there are relocations

This shop has relocated to Cardiff Bay. So the local area has lost out again.

This next example has been closed for a while. But just look how everything is almost literally crumbling.

Closure breeds decay

And finally the fact that the garden has been finally cut has brought back the birds looking for food now that the jungle has disappeared. Including this one.

Big

It was as big as a kitten. Trust it's not an omen.

Until the next time.