Just Like My Dreams.....

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As I've mentioned before I am until Sunday in Essex helping out my mother in a few things. But having time to spare and knowing then I'd would be able to try my hand at seeing whether I could get a ticket for West Ham's game against Wolves on Saturday.

I took the Underground to Stratford and went through the Westfield shopping Centre on my way to the London Stadium.

As an aside I'll say this. I've come to the view that I don't like Westfield, because it's not so much a shopping and more of a town centre in itself. I did wonder wandering through the place how many businesses outside the centre have suffered because of it, as given the number of people there when I went my views are very much in the minority.

Anyway the West Ham shop that was in the area was closed. Which meant I had to walk to the London Stadium. Past views of the high rise and the being built high rise skyscrapers in nearby Docklands. This of course included their daddy Canary Wharf. As I'd a look at that building thought "I worked near there" many many years ago.

To think in a parallel universe I didn't move to Wales. You wonder how things turn out in your life if you made a different choice when a clear crossroads  comes along.

Anyway to the London stadium

The New Home

The gift shop was nearby. The first thing I did was to ask whether there were any tickets available.....the answer was no.

It says a lot for West Ham fans that despite being bottom of the Premier League table with three defeats in the first three days the (large) stadium is still full. I also knew that the chances of obtaining a ticket this late in the day were slim. Still it was disappointing in a "I'd expected it but still sad" kind of way.

I wandered round the shop. Was going to buy a few things but not in a stupid kind of way. I eventually left with these.

It's Hammer Time

The book was two pounds from an original price of ten. Everyone even now uses pens. And as for the exercise book no idea why I bought that.

And yes I felt like a ten year old boy.

Ah well I just have to wait for March 9 when they face Cardiff City in Wales. I'll be prepared then.

Until the next time.

If Brexit Is A Disaster Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales Would Be Independent. But Would London Survive?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Now as I've said before I don't believe that the worse case scenario with regard to Brexit will happen. Solely because it would be electoral suicide for the Conservatives should this occur (not that I believe our lives will be better because of Brexit. Far from it. Just a question of how worse). But at time of writing it's not beyond the bounds of possibility. So let's go all hypothetical. Because on a completely non scientific survey based on one and a half days in the South East, I'm getting a certain vibe regarding London.

We've all heard wherever we are about the current increased knife crime in London and the rising crime generally. What I didn't realise until yesterday is how this has gone into daily life even if a person has not experienced it themselves.

My mother, over a cup of tea with my aunt and me will mention in parting that she has a friend who in the last year has seen two scenes of crimes as a result of stabbings at the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford. Cousins after giving me a chicken roll will talk about gangs roaming the streets at night and how certain bus routes are banned after a certain time specifically because of violence in the area.

And whether these stories have a certain amount of exaggeration to them or not I don't know. But in a way that's not the point. The point is even exaggerated the perception is there and ingrained in the people living in London and the surrounding area. Crime or the fear of it seems to take part of people's conversations and in their thoughts to a level that I've never known before.

Now does it dawn on me that on the last time I was in Essex looking after my mother there was an item on the local TV news regarding vigilantes patrolling the streets of a particular London borough. That borough was Redbridge which I lived in from the mid seventies until the nineties. Such an idea would have never entered anyone's head then. Now however an unsurprising consequence of rising crime. (I've mentioned before in this blog about my shock regarding Ilford).

Before we go on about the hyptheticals of a worse case scenario Brexit let's not forget to mention the person responsible for all of this. Theresa May. As Home Secretary she presided over cuts of police patrolling the streets and, as I remember it, she was proud of doing so.

Really everything that woman touches turns into the brown stuff.

So into this mix of rising crime comes the worse case scenario Brexit. Already jobs in the financial sector from the City Of London are moving to the EU (even you will note in British banks as well). This would only increase That would have a ripple effect on the wider London economy causing greater job losses. If some people are able to find work it probably would be for much less money and on zero hour contracts.

London's drivers re the economy are basically the government being in Westminster, the media, the property market and the City of London. Worse case Brexit makes every one of those extremely fragile

That, added with possible shortages of food and medicine would make rising crime, and consequently riots probable. And how the authorities control the riots. If they control them would tell us all the shape of England to come. I say England because the other nations in the UK would have the get out option of independence, which though not without difficulties would still be preferable.

And again all of the above is a worse case scenario, which I don't believe will happen. But as it might happen then it's beholden to a UK government to plan for it now.

Until the next time.

Small Reflections On A London And Essex Trip

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As I'm writing this it's a wet Wednesday morning not in Wales but in Essex. I'm here for a few days doing a few things for my mother. Wife/daughter are back in Wales still enjoying the last embers of the summer holiday.

It marks a change from earlier in the year when I was in Essex exile for two nearly three months as my mother was so unwell in hospital she was, I'll say it now, on the brink of death. Of course looking after my mother once discharged takes time as well. So her recovery has been remarkable and heartwarming.

That all being said. This trip I view a bit differently from the previous times I've come back If only because when a loved one has been so severely unwell then you view the area where she lives, the people you know and the area where you were brought up differently.

You feel all of a sudden that whilst you will never move back (Wales is where I want to live and that is that) I should try to hoard whatever memories this trip provides as if there is one thing my mother's illness taught me is that nothing lasts forever.

If there is one thing I intend to do during this period (I'm returning on Monday) is to try and get a ticket to see West Ham play Wolves on Saturday. It won't be the last time I'm going to see them (March 9 vs Cardiff) but it's the first since their move from Upton Park. So that should be interesting.

I feel that in this trip  I'd be possibly saying goodbye to people and places of my past. So whilst it's mainly helping out my mother it's going to be important to me as well.

Until the next time.

The Alun Cairns Barry Town Test Has Finally Arrived

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As they say on TV shows:

Previously On This blog....

The Vale of Glamorgan council in 2015 proposed introducing car parking charges in the area. This was successfully resisted. The particular focus was on Barry Town. It was felt that car park charges would damage businesses in the area as people would either not come at all or would just go in, quickly do their business and get out again. Thus there would not be benefit from any passing trade.

As I mentioned previously for a town the size of Barry car parking charges do not work. Whilst there are other reasons for it's decline car parking charges is one factor in the urban tragedy that is Bridgend Town.

And as I previously explained on the blog one of the people who was against these charges was actually blog villain and Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns who was a Vale Assembly Member at the time and whose parliamentary constituency is in the borough.

The web page is here:

http://www.barryanddistrictnews.co.uk/news/10291008.Vale_of_Glamorgan_car_parking_
charges__tax_on_the_high_street____AM/

And let me be clear here (pause for dramatic effect) Alun Cairns was right.

I agree with Alun Cairns.

Now read on...

Vale of Glamorgan Council are trying again. They go the firm Capita to report on the issue and they basically proposed that the first hour was free but tiered charges from then on. This is going out to consultation now until next month.

Businesses in the town have demonstrated against it already. For the reasons to objecting to the charges in 2015 have not changed now.

And so Alun Cairns what is your position now on car parking in Barry Town now?

After all nothing has changed between 2015 and 2018.....except in Labour were the in power in 2015 and now Vale Of Glamorgan council is run by a Conservative led coalition.

The test Alun Cairns has finally arrived....and your answer is?

Until the next time.

Starting With Hinckley Point Nuclear Mud Coming To Cardiff Every Welsh Labour Policy Should Start With The Question Would Aneurin Bevan Have Approved?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Within the Welsh Labour Party there is no more totemic figure than Aneurin Bevan. For he of course was the man who as minister brought in the National Health Service. Free healthcare at delivery is something that people in Britain, despite the problems an underfunded service provides, cherish. And for the most part it's a view people hold whatever their political views are otherwise.

He is the man who has a statue in Cardiff City centre. Something you know that former UK leader Neil Kinnock, his son member of Parliament Stephen the Bald Eagle and definitely current but soon to be ex First Minister Carwyn Jones will not get.

He is the man who either personally and/or through the National Health Service current Labour politicians will constantly mention as an achievement of Socialism. And it is true. But as I've said before in this blog, Welsh Labour of today uses the past to hide it's current arrogant incompetence in leading Wales in the devolved administration.

Now I don't agree personally with every view of Aneurin Bevan. He did not for example believe in Welsh nationalism. But in the context of this post that's not the issue for we are talking about Welsh Labour party policy here.

So starting with the issue as I've discussed before of the decision by the Welsh Labour government to allow EDF to deposit radioactive mud from Hinckley Point nuclear power station in Cardiff Bay (and as an aside there will be a demonstration outside the National Assembly building today. If I wasn't working I'd have definitely have joined) every Welsh Labour policy that I chat about in this blog from now on will have this question in it:

Would Aneurin Bevan have approved?

Of course all of this is hypothetical. But is Welsh Labour seriously saying that this pivotal figure in the Socialist movement in Wales would have been so stupid not have asked the question I and others have asked with regard to this?

What are the consequences if the science is wrong?

Is Welsh Labour seriously saying that Aneurin Bevan would think to himself that it was OK to completely trust in Science and allow mud from a nuclear power station to be dumped by, and let's not forget this, the capital city of Wales? Is Welsh Labour saying that Aneurin Bevan would not have wondered of the consequences of the science being wrong on the enviornment and people of Cardiff and the surrounding area?

Of course he would not have agreed to it. And yet current day, arrogantly, patronising, incompetent Welsh Labour has. Welsh Labour don't forget everybody, the supposed party of the people.

That is how far the Labour party in Wales have travelled folks.

Incidentally on the specific issue of the Hinckley Point Nuclear Mud I'm going to tweet Labour leadership favourite to replace Mark "Red Cairns" Drakeford and Welsh minister for Health Vaughn Gething and  on whether they approve of the dumping.

Not as if I'm stirring things of course....

Until the next time.

Why Ospreys And Swans Should Cold Shoulder A Virgin

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Now what I'm going to say is just a thought but.....

You may recall that I've been advocating a boycott of Virgin Media since they announced the closure of their Swansea call centre for next year. A closure which will cost at least 800 jobs. Well I'm not going to repeat my arguments in this post (although I haven't backed away from that position) but a connected though different way to damage (albeit slightly) the company came into my head.

And the idea came into my head thanks to Virgin Media's Twitter account.

Now I don't follow them on Twitter (I wouldn't digitally soil my hands) but the company does advertise on the platform and I must admit to (I stress politely) trolling them. In the sense that when they advertise a summer of fun and entertainment for example I remind them that the workers in the Swansea call centre would not be feeling that sense of fun thanks to their announcement.

This time though I didn't. The tweet was about their sponsorship of Southampton Football Club (a team doing almost as disastrously in the Premier League as the team I support West Ham. Beaten yesterday by blog villain Arsenal. It's not going well at all). Now regular readers will know that sometimes my brain goes into tangents. And as I was reading this tweet a thought occurred to me.

The two biggest sporting clubs in the region are the Swansea City Football team and the Ospreys Pro 14 rugby side:

What if they issued a statement saying that following the proposed closure of the call centre and the loss of jobs affected they would not ever consider Virgin Media sponsoring them?

Now I'm not saying that either the Swans and/or the Ospreys would have considered them anyway. Or indeed vice versa.  Nor am I saying that as an action it's no more than a gesture. But as a gesture it will hurt Virgin Media in terms of bad publicity. And it would provide the teams with good publicity as it will show that they respond to issues affecting Swansea and the surrounding area by supporting the community.

Just a thought.

Until the next time.

On Books : Where All Roads Lead To Rome Apart From An Embarrassing Turn-Off To A Cathedral

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Been a while since I've read books from my Kindle. Well these are four I've read in a few days as it's seems reading has powered back into my interests. All of them are available free as they are well out of copyright. Most of them also have some connection with the Roman Empire despite the random way I pick books there.

I swear my Kindle has a mind of it's own.

So let's start with:

Hannibal Makers Of History by Jacob Abbott. Mr Abbott was a prolific American author and this biography of the Carthaginian general who almost conquered Rome was written in 1876.

It's a workmanlike tome. It won't excite you to pursue the subject further but it's not dull either. Of the books I'm going to chat about today this it has to be said was by far the best.

Roads From Rome is a collection of stories from Ancient Rome by Anne Allinson published in 1913. I liked this one the least of the four I'm chatting today. Boring and not livened by having characters from that time ("Oh look there's Ovid, and now Virgil is making a guest appearance!")

Truly the greatest pleasure I received from this book was finishing it.

Now when you discover that Amazon have many old books no longer in copyright for free your instant reaction is to download them first by the digital ton and then properly ask questions afterwards. So when I saw a book called Ely Cathedral it was just downloaded. Though I do remember thinking I can't remember Ely in Cardiff having a cathedral (the main church in Wales is in another area of Cardiff, Llandaff). But not being an expert on churches and not normally interested anyway I electronically put the book to one side for another day.

Well that day came. And I discovered that this anonymous 1857 guide was about Ely Cathedral in Ely Cambridgeshire.....whoops.

So we have a book about a subject I'm not interested in in a place I'm unlikely to visit unless the wheels of my life really radically change. You won't be surprised to know I found the book dull. Though to be fair that's more due to me than the guide. If you're interested in churches then it might be for you.

Now the question I know you're asking as I'm writing this on an early (5:09am!) Sunday morning is this. What would the Emperors of Rome have been had they been living in the present day?

Some would have been politicians, others military figures, others managing a branch of McDonald's with Caesarean authority. But Meditations by Marcus Aurelius shows that this Roman emperor would have been a self help guru for in a Romancised way that's essentially what the book is.

Now unless you're interested in Roman history, or intend to live your life in the Ancient Roman manner in the same way someone  would wonder "What would Captain Kirk do?" when faced with any life event what you get if you take off the Roman aspects is ponced up common sense. Just like most self-help books really.

The next book I'm reading is Behind the Line A Story of College Life and football by Ralph Barbour.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Manderings Post: Late Summer Nearly Bank Holiday Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

At time of writing it's 3:26am in this Saturday morning. It's dark. And it won't be light for a while. The weather has turned. Autumn is coming and unofficially seems to be already here.

It is weird this year. Seemingly that having spent the first two months of it looking after my mother in Essex when she was unwell that my timeclock feels that it's June not August. As if time in a way stood still for two months. I get it now how carers of loved ones for a much longer period must feel. As if time has passed them by.

A quick further word about my time in Essex exile. One of the small comforts I had there was the discovery of the TV series Bones on the Your TV channel where along with Castle it seemed to be on perpetual loop for months. Well not anymore. Not only has it finished but it's being replaced by The Mentalist. A show I remember from years back....and hated.

So another programme then to add to my "download or buy the DVD list". Actually I've two DVDs already. Series two and twelve....as you do.

And as we're talking TV it's not looking good for my pick of husband Hywel in the "who killed Sheryl?" storyline in Pobol Y Cwm as we as a family caught up with the Sunday omnibus yesterday. I say this given that the police arrested and charged him with the murder weapon ( a doorstop!) being found in his garden. Since he's the one whose focus is being put on now you know that it's likely to be one of the other suspects.

Unless the writers are playing a double bluff of course. Then I can start to gloat.

And since this has turned out to be the TV post let me put a word for The Big Bang Theory whose next season will be it's last. Unlike most TV shows nowadays (eg Bones) this is a programme that I've watched and been a fan of since the beginning. I'll be sad to see it's passing. Mind you I suspect it'll be shown on [insert channel here] until the end of time.

What do people do having woken up too early in the morning? Some have an hangover . Some turn and regret the person they've just had sex with. Well me I've just joined Myspace on a whim. Why did I do it and then proceeded to do absolutely nothing with it (which is probably one of the reasons other than being owned - since sold - by Rupert Murdoch- why it lost the battle with Facebook)? I blame the liqueur of the internet. Mind you perhaps I sobered up after I had a look at Reddit and I definitely didn't want to bother to join that!

5:17am. Still dark out there. Yes summer has nearly gone. Indeed yesterday there were torrential downpours. It was good to see the return of Welsh weather.

Today I'm going to have my hair cut. At long last after fifty four years on this planet I know exactly what to ask with confidence.

1 I want a trim
2 I want the sideburns and the hairs on my neck cut.
3 I definitely don't want US Marine.

Simple, straightforward and I wish it didn't take me this long to have worked it out.

Anyway sun's bright now at 6:35am. Going to have a quick nap and then time to move properly.

Until the next time.

Re The Hinckley Point Radioactive Mud Coming To Cardiff Bay : Will It Cause The First Plaid/Tory Coalition?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I've chatted about the various issues revolving around the radioactive mud coming to Cardiff Bay from the Hinckley Point Nuclear site in Somerset previously. My previous post being about how people within Wales should boycott EDF in protest. This post relates to the politics and future politics of this.

So far the prime mover politically in the fight against the dumping of the nuclear mud is former Plaid and now independent Assembly Member for part of the area Neil McEvoy (and as an aside I still really can't get my head around the background to him becoming an independent AM. Which is why I haven't chatted about it here). 

Mr McEvoy is the person who has kept this issue in the spotlight, he is the one who has organised a committee to oppose the dumping and it is probably fair to say without the work he's put into this EDF would have started to have dumped the stuff now and not postpone it until September. He really should be praised from the highest rooftops about this.

Incidentally he's organising a demonstration against the dumping outside Cardiff Bay this Bank holiday Monday. If I wasn't working that day I'd have definitely attended. 

What is also interesting about this issue though are the people who are against the dumping. Plaid Cymru have come out against it as have interestingly the Welsh Conservatives. At least one Conservative Assembly Member will attend the demonstration and the Conservative led Vale Of Glamorgan council have also raised concerns. Given how far the dumped mud might spread it could affect Conservative areas in the borough. And the local Tories and their voters are just as angered about this as what could be described as people you'd expect to protest about such an issue.

Indeed what is stunning about all of this is the attitude of Welsh Labour in agreeing to this in the first place. I've mentioned many times before that the way they govern Wales is one of arrogant incompetence. On this issue however they have acted with arrogant patronising incompetence.

"Look at the science" they say. The subtext being "Look at the science and go away whilst I make the important decisions."

And yet not one Welsh Labour government person apparently asked the simple question. "What are the consequences if the science is wrong?" That one question should have sent alarm bells in someone's head to refuse the dumping of nuclear mud by the capital city of Wales. And yet no. 

Which is why you have a rainbow coalition (led by Mr McEvoy) opposing this. And whilst despite Tory blandishments from time to time Plaid is right to refuse a general coalition with them on specific issues such as this it may be no bad thing. 

Of course there is an element of self interest involved. The Conservatives are protecting their core voters and Plaid is showing Labour voters in the area that it is they and not Welsh Labour who truly care about their interests.

But even sometimes in politics. Doing the right thing and acting for your party could be one and the same.

Until the next time.

Amy Heydenrych Can't Write About London......But She Can Write A Great Thriller

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well here's the book.

Amy Heydenrych

Let's start with the criticism.

This book is mainly set in London. But really it's a London so sketchy that you could have easily put [insert major city here] and [insert areas of major city here] and no one would've noticed any change in the plot at all. Ditto those few scenes set outside the capital.

But it does not matter.And let me make it clear how far it does not matter. This novel is the best thriller I've read in a long while.

Realism of locale in this type of thriller does not matter as long as what's written is not stupid. What's important is the combination of plot, character and the ability to make you the reader want to  turn the page.

The plot is essentially an assault on a woman by a man and the background/consequences from that. Seems to be same old,same old doesn't it? However the woman (Holly) is a successful wellness blogger (giving the story a contemporary twist) and the man (Tyler) is not serial killer of women of the month. Holly was targeted. It's that that forms part of the basis of the plot.

The book will hold your attention. Which is incredible given that Holly and Tyler are the two main characters and whilst there are a few others for the most part they're peripheral. Indeed you could argue that the third most important character in the book is actually social media.

For reasons I won't explain Ms Heydenrych is capable of playing with your loyalties as a reader until the climax. You're not sure where you stand. That she was capable of doing this through the book shows exactly how good a writer Ms Heydenrych is.

Probably too late for summer holiday reading. But if you need a book to while away the time during the boring parts of the Christmas break this will be for you.

Until the next time.

Is The Reason I'm Suddenly Into Watching Comic Book Shows The Fear Of A Hard Brexit?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yesterday. Whilst the wife was out for the evening helping a friend I and daughter spent the time watching comic book shows on the TV. And we had a good time. I'll chat about the shows we watched later on (though some of them I've chatted about before) but as we were viewing the thought entered my brain.

"Why after all these years am I into comic book heroes again?"

I had assumed as I've written about before simple nostalgia was the reason. The Flash seems to be like a comic book made flesh. Fantastic in effect and plot but done in a way that your belief as an adult is suspended.

Now though I'm wondering something completely different. I'm wondering whether in the face of Brexit, with the possibility looming of a hard Brexit (where even today the morning's headlines are of warnings from the NHS over a shortage of medicines) my subconscious is seeking some sort of rescue where impending disaster is averted at the last minute.

I've not hidden my desire that the UK should be broken up. But as I've also said no nationalist wants the UK to be broken up because of a hard Brexit (even if it turns out that it's the best thing to do and has to be done) because of the misery that the hard Brexit would have inflicted upon families across Britain (except of course for the rich Brexiteers who helped cause this and would have probably gone into foreign exile by then).

What the United Kingdom as a whole needs is a hero/heroine. What it's getting are villains and idiots.

And so to yesterday evening. Daughter and I watched:

The Flash: Having gone through series one daughter and I have moved to season two. And it works. We watched two episodes and daughter was quicker to understand the possibilities of parallel Earths than me. Episode three ended with the return of Tom Kavanagh as chief villain(?) ...we shall see.

(As a quick aside I must see if I can download Ed, a show Tom Kavanagh starred in. One of those quietly seemingly simple but effective shows not unlike the Gilmore Girls that America does produce well).

Krypton: This was the new show. Where the hero is apparently Superman's grandfather. Being in his twenties he doesn't know that yet. Instead he's doing what men in their twenties do. Drinking, fighting and having sex (thankfully not shown - my finger was hovering on the remote at that point).

Krypton is, interestingly run as a dictatorship at that time through a mysterious masked figure. It also has wealthy and poor areas. It is, essentially a futuristic Gotham city.

Everybody speaks in British or Irish accents, except an American from the future. He warns Superman's grandfather of the arrival of Brainiac (I remember him from the comic books) from the future intent of destroying Krypton and therefore destroying Superman before he's even born.

That is the clever part of the plot. The Batman prequel on TV, Gotham, suffers because whilst you may not know the route you know the destination. You know the child Bruce Wayne is going to be the Batman for example. No mystery there. So the idea that a villain from the future is coming back to change history at the very least creates some tension.

Worth moving onto episode two anyway.

Krypton: A divided society facing impending danger. That's a Brexit metaphor. As is...

Black Lightning : A society teetering just this side of social collapse. It is realism with a fantastical edge alright.

I've chatted before that Black Lightning is not just a superhero for the Afro American community but also for mature men with wife and kids everywhere. He's tired. In this episode he faints. He takes medication. He's determined but weary.

(As an aside wife came back during the middle of the episode and on a particular scene. I told her to look and see if she recognised the actor playing a newspaper editor.
"Is that Huggy Bear?" she said.
And yes it was. Huggy Bear from the seventies cop show Starsky and Hutch.
Daughter looked as if we had just had a conversation in Mandarin)

But although a prequel where the original was based on a comic book perhaps the closest metaphor to a hard Brexit is a programme I've been watching without my daughter.

Fear The Walking Dead. Where slowly but surely disaster strikes and society as we know it is gone forever.

And that is definitely a hard Brexit metaphor.

Until the next time.

The Dangers Of Emigration From Wales : Pobol Y Cwm Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Before I start I'm not talking about last week's episodes of the Welsh language soap opera Pobol Y Cwm. We will as a family be watching it hopefully today. No I'm chatting about the previous two week's (with a break for the Eisteddford) editions.

It is amazing to me writing a blog how sometimes a post can be prompted by something initially innocuous. It was an article that appeared on my timeline on Twitter by Niamh Towey about emigration from the Irish Republic from the perspective of someone who stayed in Ireland. It is worth a read (https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/i-m-sad-that-so-many-of-my-clever-talented-friends-had-to-leave-ireland-1.3592182)

Now as regular readers of the blog will know. My mind sometimes works in tangents. I've written on a purely anecdotal basis on the dangers of emigration from Wales post the EU referendum result before. But this time my mind wandered back to the previous episodes of Pobol.

In the previous two weeks editions Characters contemplated or actually left the village of Cwmderi five times. 

They were:

Sheryl: who was contemplating running away to Canada or Ireland.

Vicky: who moved to London to be with her father following his offer of a new job and accommodation.

Elfion: who wants to move to New Zealand. Partly for a new life following the loss of their farm and partly to run away from the past after a male lover reappears.

Cadno: Elfion's female partner who will move with her children to her brother's house on discovering Elfion is gay. And when I say discovering, I mean her partner and his male lover in bed together.

(And as a quick aside one of the most annoying scenes in film and TV is when a couple are in a bed after having sex. One of them gets out of the bed and they're wearing boxers/knickers! This happened here. Just get out wrapping yourself in a sheet. Equally unrealistic but less laughable)

Anyway...

If you take out the unfortunate Sheryl from that list who was going to kidnap her adoptive child and assume that Cadno's brother lives in Wales that will mean of the remaining three two of them did not consider staying in the village or even the country as an option. Two of them considered that their life would be better away from Wales.

Now of course I could be over analysing things, perhaps being overly dramatic about a soap opera. But perhaps this is a sense of things to come. People having the opportunity to leave Wales and deciding to live overseas. Of course this is not original (How Green Was My Valley) but perhaps post Brexit life gives it a push

So what can stop this? Well I don't know for certain. But I'd argue that independence could help. For whilst as in Ireland it will not stop emigration there would be that sense of purpose in building a nation which as part of the United Kingdom it currently lacks.

It is an issue anyway that Wales needs to be aware of.

Until the next time.

Another Argument In Favour Of A Boycott In Wales Of Virgin Media

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have argued in the past that people living in Wales should boycott Virgin Media following it's decision to close next year it's Swansea call centre which will make eight hundred people redundant.

It seemed another circumstance when companies seemed to be perfectly happy to cut off the Welsh option first when needed.

It was time to hit these companies where it hurt. With their profits and their reputation.

A Welsh boycott would affect very few residual jobs as they are people probably on agency work to deal with any tech issues. They could be employed with the other operators. So the (not unreasonable) argument that boycotts of companies would affect residual jobs in Wales does not really apply here.

In this sector there are other operators available so there would still be competition in the TV/Phone/Internet market.

And of course existing Virgin customers didn't have to do it immediately. They could wait until their existing contract expired before leaving.

Now though another reason has emerged. Virgin Media are reportedly in late Autumn going to be slapping an above inflation busting 4.5% on their bills.

So let's be clear. People in Wales would note that in one breath Virgin Media are happy to close down a Swansea call centre with the consequent loss of jobs and yet in another increase their charges to their customers.

Where is the morality in that?

So Wales should walk away from Virgin Media. After all in spirit it would appear Virgin Media walked away from Wales first
.
Until the next time.

If A Badge Is A Symbol Of A Nation Let's Talk Welsh National Rugby And Feathers

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I suspect a lot of non-Welsh people when talking about symbols of Wales will eventually talk about the national rugby team. It is one of those constants that represents the nation with pride. When they watch the six nations rugby they see men (and now women) battling for their country. There is no (unlike cricket) subsuming your identity within England.

But now I've noticed a debate, relatively small but growing, focusing on the badge on the Welsh rugby team. Specifically "the Prince of Wales Feathers".

The Prince of Wales feathers is the hearaldic badge of the Prince Of Wales. The Prince of Wales as a title was created by Edward I when he conquered Wales and when in those times it was used to all intents and purposes as a plaything by the heir to the monarchy. Hence a principality. Hence, the Welsh rugby team battling proudly for Wales is as is badge wearing a symbol of an occupying power.

So should it be changed? Well actually yes. The argument that it's been around for so long doesn't actually wash (chosen by the Welsh Rugby apparently to show allegiance to Britain according to Wikipedia). Poverty has been with us for centuries. Doesn't make it right.

Similarly the argument that most Welsh people don't know the history of the badge anyway so it doesn't matter is also rubbish. I suspect many people when told about it's history would change their mind and want a change.

And it's worth mentioning here that the badge of the Welsh national football team has as it's symbol a red dragon. As a symbol it does exactly what it shows on the cloth. Clearly, unambiguously,Welsh.

The Welsh Rugby Union, rather like the Principality Building Society (which I've discussed previously) are organisations that are important to Wales but seem to be surprisingly wimpish on certain issues. I've discussed in this blog for example why English Rugby Union coach Eddie Jones should be banned from attending the Wales - England Six nations game next year for calling Wales a "S****y little country". But it's unlikely to happen.

What the Welsh Rugby Union need to realise here is that it doesn't just represent Welsh rugby. There are also times when it represents Wales including those who are not interested in games with oddly shaped balls. but in this regard it appears lacking.

And as a replacement why not just copy the badge for the Welsh Football team? It would show, well, national unity.

It's an interesting issue and whilst I would suspect the changing of the badge would not be popular at the moment the tide is slowly beginning to turn.

A slow burner perhaps...but burning.

Until the next time.

Carwyn Jones' Hobson's Choice: Courtesy Of Bridgend Labour Council

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have mentioned before  with regard to blog villain Bridgend Labour Council that they are signalling massive cuts to public services (such as libraries,leisure centres and the Bridgend Town bus station because they say of the cut in monies they receive from the Welsh government. In the local paper the Bridgend Labour leader discussed this further calling for the Welsh Labour government to increase their allocation.

Now for the purposes of this post let's assume that this is no tactic of making noises about widespread cuts just to be able to make lesser cuts without any popular backlash. Let's assume they're not trying to shift blame away from themselves but to Welsh Labour government because those are the facts. Let's also assume they haven't managed taxpayer's money in the past with arrogant incompetence.

All a stretch I know but bare with me.

What is interesting about this is that despite the Welsh Labour government saying that they have to make the cuts in the monies given to councils because of the cut in their allocation from Westminster the Bridgend Welsh Labour council has completely ignored that. They say they should have more money than currently allocated from the Welsh Labour government and that's that or else the consequences will be disastrous.

They have put the blame on the Welsh Labour government.

Let's park that fact for a moment and focus on soon to be ex First Minister Carwyn Jones, or as he will be known in a few years time "Who?".

When he steps down from the post as First Minister he will still be the Member for the Bridgend area until the next Welsh Assembly area when he leaves office for good. So then as an Assembly Member what is his position about this Bridgend Council situation?

He will have one of two options:

1) He says that in the light of constraints by the UK government the Welsh government has to cut the allocation for Welsh councils including Bridgend. Thus if the council are to be believed supporting the cuts to essential services in the borough. A position which will make him hated within Bridgend.

2) He calls for a rise in the Welsh Government's allocation to Bridgend council. Thus undermining the policy of the administration under his leadership.

So in essence whether by accident or design his fellow socialists in Bridgend Labour council have given the current First Minister a political Hobson's choice.

Politicians love having a legacy when they leave office. Perhaps for Mr Jones though "Carwyn who?" might be the best route for him.

Until the next time.

Why In Britain Anyway Do Vets Bother To Write Autobiographies? Part Two : The Out Of Hours Vet

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Ok I know what you're thinking. After having read one failure to supplant the titan of the genre of veterinary autobiography that is James Herriot why have I read another in quick succession?

Well it's a fair question. The answer though admittedly slightly mad is simple enough. It was the next book on the shelf in the local library. As I've said before I intend to read every practical book in the library (when I mean practical for example if there's a book on tending goldfish, given that I don't have goldfish it will be avoided).

So anyway here was the book.

Marc Abraham - Vet On Call

Focusing on the vet being out of hours being the book's unique selling point I suppose. Well the thing is it isn't. Whether out of hours or not for the most part vet's have to deal with emergencies so it's not that different.

Wipe that away and you get tales of unwell [insert animals here] , life with others in the surgery, a bit of outside life and a touch of romance. Everything the Tolstoy of tortoises did before....and better.

It's not an awful book. It just doesn't topple Herriot.

You know if anybody ever writes a veterinary autobiography that does displace Zeus from his place in Mount Olympus, it will be a book(or a series) everybody should read. After all it would be a literary milestone. And in the unlikely event I find that book I'll tell you all about it.

Until the next time.

On Returning/New Fans For Pobol Y Cwm And A New Fan For Irish Sport

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Now before I start properly just so everyone's aware what I'm going to chat about re the Welsh language soap opera Pobol Y Cwm refers to the last two week's Sunday Omnibus versions and not this week's episodes already broadcast.

So having visited the studio set last week it was time to complete daughter's education and wife's reeducation into Pobol. Two omnibus editions to go through. The big connecting story was the death and subsequent murder of Sheryl as I've mentioned previously. I'm still of the belief that her estranged husband Hywel Llewelyn did it. But I would be lying if I said I was certain. Anita, the wife's choice, is starting to look a good each way bet.

There was no question that the best episode of the two omnibuses we watched was the first episode of the second omnibus. It went back to Sheryl's last day alive. What it did which was different was not only to set the scene for the suspects but also how her life emotionally (as well as physically) collapsed in that twenty four hours. It's probably the best individual soap opera episode I've seen in a long while (and, as an aside written by Sian Naomi, who if memory serves acted in Pobol).

Wife/daughter finished the session as confirmed fans (my work was done). They now can't wait for the next omnibus to find out who killed Sheryl.Daughter's favourite character is Dani Monk, wife of Gary Monk (who my wife remembered when he arrived in the soap over sixteen years ago with his sister Britt and brother Brandon - the Sunday omnibus episode where the wife first suspected she was pregnant).

Mind you, Daughter did query what was going to happen next in the square.

I put her right.

You know one of the best things about Twitter is it's ability to lead you into routes that you would not have not normally taken. Last Sunday evening whilst wife and daughter were out I had nothing to do and Twitter mentioned that a Ladies Gaelic Football match was on between Galway and Mayo on the Irish Gaelic language channel TG4. Out of curiosity I went and found that it could be viewed online.

So there was I, watching a sport I barely knew in a language I didn't understand....and it was fun.Not for one second implying that if I could've watched a football game in that time I wouldn't have turned over immediately. But as something interesting to watch it did work for me. The novelty of the new I suppose.

Galway won. Despite (because?) of having a cemetery next to the ground and having one member of the opposing team being called Grace Kelly (I bet she gets film references being hurled at her at least once a week - eg when she's in trouble "It's High Noon for you Grace" - Bet she hates that too. Almost as much as when she does something well someone is bound to remark "Well that was Amazing Grace" ).

With Galway's win I immediately decided that when it came to Irish sport I would support Mayo. No glory seeker me.

I'd time to spare yesterday so with curiosity went to TG4's catch -up service and watched the other "Irish" sport hurling. It was an under 21 final game between Kerry and Derry. Again it was an interesting, enjoyable and different watch. I learnt that there was a skill in grabbing the ball one moment and hitting it with the stick the next. Also as I watched players running with the ball on the stick I realised that they must be brilliant at egg and spoon races.

Kerry won. Despite scoring an allowed goal whilst having a man sent off during the same play. I did not understand at all how that was possible.

So I'm a fan of, for want of a better phrase "Irish sport". Even though for the moment I don't know my Kerry from my Derry (although savvy enough not to enter an argument on Twitter as whether Gaelic football or Hurling is the better). So far mind you, I've only dipped my little toe into this. When I'm able to go deep end who knows?

But for now....Come on Mayo!

Until the next time.

The Near Midnight Meanderings On A Movie With A Microwave Meal Part 4: The Mountain road (1960)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So you wait for one James Stewart movie to come along on the TV and then two come in relatively quick succession.

This time he plays an army engineer in China in World war 2, charged with his group with blowing things up to delay the advancing Japanese. Personally I didn't know that the Americans were in China at that time. Doesn't matter either way in relation to this movie. Neither I suppose is the fact that the Communists and anti-communist factions in China fought against Japan. For the most part nuance does not play a part here.

It's also in black and white. Which for me for that time is surprising given that James Stewart is a star. You would have thought that for a film with obviously a lot of explosions in it colour would have been better.

Co-opted into the group is the widow of a Chinese soldier. Presumably there to play "mysterious Chinese woman" which there always seems to be in American films. She is quiet one moment only to surprise the group by speaking English!

There are moments when I wonder whether this movie is quietly racist. It definitely tries to unfurl the star spangled banner. American roads apparently are better than Chinese roads because there are no natural disasters there. What? Ask that to people who's lives were destroyed by forest fires. James Stewart says not to worry as America will come back and build roads. Really?

There is also a scene where the American soldiers are shocked by the Chinese villagers acting feral when presented with stocks of food. Well what did they expect? When you live in a place racked by starvation and war civilisation has to take a back seat.

Commercial Break: There are a series of ads for a Vanquis Credit Card. It's set in a Game of Thrones sort of  medieval world (without dragons) where some people live in castles and others live in huts.

And yet in this world some kind of mysterious knight type figure producing a Vanquis Credit Card or a tablet to illustrate how to get one. Well how exactly in this medieval world was the infrastructure for a Wi-fi and credit card network built?

Also If you live in a hut it would be interesting to see whether Vanquis would accept your application.

Back to the movie.

The biggest problem with The Mountain Road is the lack of tension. In terms of the plot only once was I taken by surprise.

Also this is the second movie I've recently watched where James Stewart (described as "young" by a Chinese general probably about the same age as him) really was unimpressive. It made me wonder whether those films where I liked his performance in were linked by having famous directors. Something I'll be looking at in the next film of his I'd happen to see.

The other surprise was the penultimate scene which gets all reflective. But to be honest it was all too late given what happened before.

Not a movie I'd be seeing again.

Until the next time.

The Worst Sentence To Ask On Netflix

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yesterday (Monday) evening the wife uttered the worst sentence on Netflix to myself and daughter.

The sentence was....wait for it...

"Let's watch a film tonight on Netflix together.

I find with Netflix that it's great when you're alone. You've made your decision. That's it. When it's two then one side relents to keep the peace but when there is more than two people involved then a UN negotiator is required.

In the olden days there might have still been arguments. But your choice would have been limited to whatever was recorded and/or whatever unwatched VHS/DVD you have. But what Netflix (other streaming services are available) have done is to widen the choice, thus by widening the choice you widen the arguments and therefore widen the length of time before you all come to a decision.

We took ten to fifteen minutes before making a decision.

The process went like this:

Wife insisted on a film. No couple of episodes of a TV series was acceptable. I and daughter would have been OK with a TV show.

Wife didn't want any superhero movies. Me and daughter would have been happy with watching them though as I said before there's surprisingly not that many)

Wife didn't want subtitled films. I/daughter would have had no problems with subtitled.

Wife suggested Jaws. Now Jaws is a movie I've never seen. Had no problems with that. Daughter wasn't interested.

Daughter (and to a lesser extent wife) was interested in various movies which had some permutation on teenage girl and possibly a high school prom. I said no. I just knew I'd get bored and fall asleep and they'd have a go at me around my snoring figure (mind you on reflection perhaps it would have cured my insomnia).

Eventually after a lot of heated words we eventually settled on a film. Central Intelligence (2016) starring Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson. And once finished the family was united.

It was the worst film we'd seen in a long while.

To put it at it's most basic without spoiling what could be called a plot Hart and Johnson are an odd couple pairing caught together in stopping the bad guys.

The best scene in the movie is the first. Goes downhill from then on. Cast is accomplished and can only presume they agreed to appear as loved ones were being held in captivity.

I'll pick three things (trust me could have picked a load more) to illustrate this.

1) Johnson stays the night at Hart's house. The sofa bed is a mess in the morning. Hart is about to complain when the door rings. It's the CIA. When they go into the room where Johnson has been sleeping not only has he gone but has tidied up the room too.

2) Johnson gets hit by a motorbike. And yet not a mark is on him. He may be The Rock but come on.

3) I knew who the secret villain was going to be from the moment of introduction. So obvious the TV might as well have shown flashing lights to alert everyone.

So there you have it. Whatever your choice of film from Netflix there's at least one to avoid.

Until the next time.

UKIP In Wales. No Longer A Comedy. The Potential For Being Something A Lot More Dangerous

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well UKIP in Wales have selected a new leader. Normally I would not have cared. They are a declining force in Wales from the moment Neil Hamilton was elected leader after the last Welsh Assembly elections. Whilst there are no signs of a resurgence in their fortunes the fact that Gareth Bennett was elected leader makes you wonder and worry about what the residual rump of their members in Wales have become.

So let's go through what he has said.

Linking Immigrants To Rubbish In The Street and Poor Hygiene: This was in an article in Wales Online. It is let's face it, right wing cliché written all over it. I've said before regarding the EU Referendum that nothing fuels the right more than a perception of high immigration whatever the actual truth.

With regard to "poor hygiene" well if you look at a picture of Mr Bennett you will not get a feeling that here's a man who will adorn the latest cover of GQ. But could he provide proof of this assertion? Of course not.

Ditto blaming rubbish in the streets on immigrants. After all even if we assume that the assertion of a shabby look to Cardiff is correct (and I've written about the problems of it's city centre) the possibility that it's the fault of the council for not providing adequate services and indeed cutting them does not enter Mr Bennett's head. He sees rubbish in the streets and assumes immigrants put it there without providing any evidence.

He also described Cardiff 's City Road as a melting pot of races unable to get along. Asked to provide evidence he couldn't.

Perhaps I should follow Mr Bennett's style in describing UKIP's membership in Wales as a melting pot of dangerous lumpen Neanderthals and the deluded who believed in a "golden age" of Britain based on Ealing comedies? I can't provide evidence. But it doesn't seem to have done Mr Bennett any harm.

Describing Pontcanna As A "Welsh speaking colony": Mr Bennett believes that the Welsh Assembly should be shut down and the powers reverted back to Westminster (like they have been doing such a good job). But a good example of this distaste for things Welsh is that comment. It shows a contempt for the language of the country he was born in.

Comments On the Burka: In the light on the furore surrounding Boris Johnson's remarks Mr Bennett described the Burka as "apparitions of pre-medieval culture".

Now I'd argue that Mr Bennett's comments are worse than Boris Johnson because there can be no shred of doubt that he knew exactly the effect of his words.

Those of us (and I'm one of them) who are not comfortable with Moslem women wearing the Burka would never act in the way Mr Bennett has. Why? Because unless a Moslem woman does not feel coerced into wearing one then what has to do with anyone else? Freedom of expression as long as non violent is a democratic British right.

It also needs to be noted that in his comment Mr Bennett seemingly is deprived of the classic British quality of good manners.

But perhaps the most telling comment is on transgender people who he claimed were undermining society by their "deviation from the norm". So in the head of Mr Bennett there is "a norm" and if you're in any way outside of "the norm" you are presumably "different".

So in Mr Bennett's world, based on his own comments, I would therefore presume that you "deviate from the norm" if...

You're not British by birth. Or that your background is not British
You speak Welsh
You're not a Christian
You're not heterosexual
You're not happy with your gender.

Now if I'm wrong about what Mr Bennett's view of "the norm" is then it's up to him to clarify. As far as I can tell "the norm" as I've said before is based on a black and white Ealing comedies.

But if I'm right then I've broken "the norm" (if we include my unfluent Welsh) three times from the above. Which means I'm different. And I suspect very few people could comply with "the norm".

Which is why whilst I don't believe a Gareth Bennett UKIP party would never obtain power the fact that it's there should shake us not of "the norm" but from complacency.

Until the next time.

When Science Loses To Emotion Part Three: Let's Boycott EDF

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have before in this blog chatted about the plan for radioactive mud from the nuclear power plant at Hinckley Point Somerset to be transported from there to a point between Cardiff Bay and Penarth .

Whilst you should look at my previous posts on the subject essentially I argued that despite apparently science stating that it would be safe. The consequences of the Science being wrong would be too great as that would pause a risk not just to the people in Cardiff Bay but also depending on the movement of the sea to the Penarth and Barry Island, where families go for a day out enjoying the seaside.

Well from Thursday French power giant EDF were about to start doing exactly that. This though has been postponed until sometime in September (see https://penarthnews.wordpress.com/2018/08/12/now-nuclear-mud-dumping-off-penarth-is-postponed-until-september/ for a more detailed analysis on this. Worth a read. Won't chat about it here because as regular readers will know I won't knowingly copy another blogger's work).

It had the apparent approval first of Alun "Chucky" Cairns. (Who let's not forget is a Vale of Glamorgan MP though not of Barry Island I'm sure his constituents work/visit there as it's nearby). Secondly Carwyn Jones, soon to be ex First Minister and political man fat, who represents as a constituency AM Porthcawl which is also a day trip beach area for families and might also be affected re the tide if the science is wrong. Indeed Welsh Labour as a whole seems to have treated this entire issue with an arrogant smugness which typifies the way they run Wales.

Politically these people should be dealt with through the ballot box come election time. But for now the focus needs to be on EDF. I'm sure there are organisations planning protests against the disposal and for what it's worth they have my support. But let's just try something else as well. Let's punish EDF by boycotting them. Showing them that if they hurt the people living in Wales then the people can fight back using the greatest weapon against business....no business.

I have before suggested the same with regard to Virgin Media when they made all of the people in their Swansea Call Centre redundant and the pieces seem similar here. After all they appear to have not taken notice of the opinions of the people living in the area and are acting on something the consequences of which could be disastrous should the science be wrong.

Also a Welsh EDF boycott would damage them both financially and in terms of a company's all important image. There would be alternatives to move to (not saying any of the alternatives are great companies but at time of writing none of the others are dumping nuclear mud in Cardiff Bay) so the impact on families living in Wales would be minimal.

So a simple boycott may not stop the dumping of the radioactive mud, but it would damage EDF's consumer arm. Make them suffer for the way they might cause suffering to Wales.

Until the next time.

Eisteddford 2018: When Timing Is Everything

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well as I mentioned yesterday timing is everything. If we had gone to the Eisteddfod held in Cardiff  Bay any day of the week we would have been bathed in sunshine and heat. Instead it turned out to have been yesterday....

Yes it was yesterday....in August

Wife, daughter and I went. Two of us had the presence of mind to bring a coat. One of us said "I don't need a coat as long as I've an umbrella I'll be fine..."

Guilty.

What I hadn't taken into account was how windy it was going to be. That plus the rain which came earlier than forecast and was the sort of taunting variety which was heavy one moment, clear the next, but mainly light but persistent meant that even with an umbrella your first thought was shelter.

Though I didn't take it here

We were able to hide under large tents and listen to Welsh language music. I must say that I've no real knowledge of Welsh language music. Of those I do know about tends to be the middle of the road easy listening variety of Sian Cothi. Still it was good and. note to self, best I make more of an effort in this regard.

We also went here.

Yes a cinema in a tent

If we had gone yesterday we would have seen the world's premiere of Monday's episode of Pobol Y Cwm and have seen some of the actors (more on Pobol later). Today though was a collection of home movies set throughout Wales through the decades. All of them were interesting. But the one that probably sent an emotional tear in the wife's eye was on Cardiff in the seventies when she was a child.

You know when you're growing old when what you consider nostalgia your daughter views as history.

Daughter got a few things. Her particular favourite was a Harry Potter novel translated in Welsh. I too got a couple of books. This was the first.

Blas Yr Iaith Cwmderi - Robyn Lewis/Robyn Llyn

Now we were in a stall of a North Walian bookseller (whose name I didn't catch but I will try and find out) and we had a chat in full on no English parachute Welsh with this very kind man. At the end I felt having occupied a lot of his time I should buy a book and picked the above Pobol one.

The guy (and how kind is this) said I could have it for free!

It is the most different Pobol Y Cwm book (published in 1993) I'm aware of where from first perusal the regional dialects of various characters are analysed. So better put my A game in Welsh to action here.

The other book was:

Y Fawr A'r Fach - Sion Tomos Owen

These are stories for learners from the Rhondda Valley. The writer is the presenter of Pobol Y Rhondda, a programme I've mentioned before where he interviews people there. A programme so good I know of one non Welsh speaking couple who live up there who are ardent fans.

We actually enjoyed our visit. Though obviously it would have been better if the weather had held up for that day. Memo to self. Next time the Eisteddfod is in South Wales, go on the earliest day possible so that if the weather's bad you've got another chance to enjoy it more.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meanderings Post:I'm Going At Last To The Eisteddford Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As I write this it's 4:25am on a Saturday. Later than I've woken up in the past couple of days but still of course too early.

Today then, after unforeseen and unwelcome delays I'm going to the Eisteddford. On a day which will apparently worsen in the afternoon. Timing is everything. Still I am going which is the important point.

Anyway for the moment it's dark out there. Premiership football season is about to start. It's one of those signs that the high point of summer is beginning to turn. You know what? I think because I've spent the first two months of this year looking after my mother when she was unwell I think my brain is still in June mode.

I actually have, weather permitting a plan for tomorrow. To see the Welsh Rugby League Cup Final in Sardis Road Pontypridd. One of the teams competing will be the Valley Cougars who kindly offered to take round their ground but work issues eventually prevented me from doing so. What it does mean though is that there's a team I can support.

5:31am. Daylight peeking through. Electric light switched off.

6:02am. Breakfast. I'm in a porridge state of mind (with a dollop of jam of course). Meanwhile very sunny out there now. Not fooled though. The weather forecaster said this was going to be like this early on.

Just found out that McDonald's are opening their first "luxury restaurant" with knives and forks and a string quartet with the meal. Baring in mind I don't eat McDonald's anymore my first thoughts were:

1) Just like a Wimpey's used to do.

2) This will be every McDonald's if there is a hard Brexit

Friends is apparently the most popular streamed show in Britain this year (not Black Lightning? A disgrace).I've written about Literary Switzerland when you're neutral about a writer. Ditto Cinematic Switzerland re films. Now comes Televisual Switzerland with Friends. I don't dislike it. Just don't understand the passion for it. Wife/daughter love it. Must be me. Have the exact same view of The Simpsons.

Anyway time to get ready for the Maes.

Until the next time.

Why Comics, Particularly American Ones,Started My Love Of Reading

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Sometimes posts start by accident. This one is one of them. I was reading a Penguin paperback readers group where the question was posed "Which book started your love for reading?"

And this seems to be a common thing. This idea that a child despite all the distractions the outside world can provide will pick up a book that will change him/her.

But, especially now as it seems to be Superhero Summer let me suggest another route to a love of books. Comics.

We're talking the seventies here. No internet and just three TV channels. British comics also were taken as a whole dull and boring. The American comics were simply different. Not just better (though obviously they were that) but also every page was in colour. The stories were more exciting. It made you want to turn the page.

And, and this is the point regarding reading, these comics made you want to know what those letters inside those bubbles meant. So the plots and the characters and the colour and the writing made you want to read.

And they were capable in the seventies of going beyond the fantastic and even the Fantastic Four. One of my favourite comics of the time was The Defenders (a sort of alternative Avengers) which was mainly written by Steve Gerber (incidentally also creator of the legendary Howard The Duck). He could write for example about them facing the Sons Of The Serpent, an out and out racist organisation but in a way that comic book fans could relate to.

The point is that a love of comics nurtured a love of reading which led to novels etc.

So if people try to mock the love of reading that a comic could ignite. Don't bother to argue.

You know better.

Until the next time.

Geraint Thomas 0 Pobol Y Cwm 1

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well yesterday Tour De France winner Geraint Thomas was cheered by crowds along the streets of Cardiff celebrating his classic win. I, wife and daughter were not amongst them. Not because we're not really cycling people. It would have been an interesting experience to have been there. We just had a prior appointment.

(And as a quick aside whilst all this deserved attention is put on Mr Thomas spare a thought for Nicole Cooke. Welsh former Olympic and World Champion cyclist. She reached the peak in her sport and all this attention didn't come her way).

But I digress. We had a prior appointment. Tickets were obtained months in advance. Not my fault Geraint Thomas then won the Tour De France. Not my fault the Cardiffian celebrations occur on the date of the appointment. I mean he could have changed things, I couldn't last minute change the date of the appointment now could I?

I suspect you'd have guessed the appointment was to have a tour of the sets of the Welsh language soap opera Pobol Y Cwm. Something that BBC Wales arranges every year and just so you know is free. As regular readers know I'm a fan, wife flits in and out and daughter does what teenage daughters do. But all of us were at BBC Wales studios yesterday afternoon, along with other fans (rough count twenty - thirty).

After a quick introduction we were led to the studio sets for the interior scenes. I won't bore you with every one. But this was notably nostalgic.

The Farmhouse At Penrhewl Farm

I first watched Pobol with my wife when we courting. We took turns seeing each other for weekends between London and Cardiff. When I visited Cardiff we would watch the Sunday Omnibus edition before going to bed early as I needed to catch the first train back to London. At the time Eileen and Denzil were running the farm. Now it's Eileen and Jim (through a soap opera journey too complicated to explain here).

Apologies for the blurring but here's the local pub. The Deri Arms .

And yes even though I don't drink I pulled A Pretend Pint

This is the flat where Britt Monk lives with her partner Colin. I have mentioned before I think that I've a soft spot for that character because oh those many years ago when she gave birth to Chester that (based on the Sunday omnibus programmes) was when my wife suspected she was pregnant. The other character being Sheryl, who gave birth to her son when our daughter was born.

No TV in the flat though

We went to set of the high street afterwards. Britt works in the local Chippy.

Made me want to have a jumbo sausage and chips afterwards

Which of course allowed me (and you have permission) to pretend with theatrical battered fish etc.

As I said. Wanted to have the real thing afterwards

Now I mentioned the soft spot I had for Sheryl as well. Well this is the hairdressing salon where she worked.

Seemingly Quiet Unassuming Place But....

It's where she got murdered (How could that happen?) The current major storyline in the programme is who killed Sheryl? My money is on her husband Hywel Llywelyn who I reckon couldn't take it that she was had an affair (which of course is ironic given when I started watching Pobol he was the Cwmderi Casanova).

The scene of the crime

I had a great time. So though did wife and daughter (who now want to watch it). So sorry Geraint. Cycling's loss is soap opera's gain.

Thankyou Pobol Y Cwm.

It was fun

Until the next time.

That's It. We're Definitely A Townie Family

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yesterday we went tp the Vale of Glamorgan show near Fonmon Castle. I say near because though on the grounds the castle itself was apparently closed, or perhaps it's not open at all yo the public. No matter the point is that it kept itself well hidden whilst the show was on.

We'd been to the equivalent Bridgend show some years back and decided to go to see if there was anything different. The signs were good. It had been slightly raining which meant that though not cold by any means it was less oppressively hot than it had been for a few days.

After parking and walking through the small fairground I'd realised that the first bit of the show proper we entered was a mistake. For it was the dog grounds where it was just mini Crufts. For a persom afraid of those domesticated wolves it would have been hell for me if I wasn't an atheist. Indeed if I wasn't an atheist the massive pair of Irish wolfhounds which suddenly came to my side appeared to be hounds from hell entered by the Son of Satan as best in breed....or else.

Avoiding one dog made me step back to find another one nuzzling my ankles. The leads seemed unable to restrain the beasts from eyeing me up as their latest meal. Enter one tent. Full of dogs. Enter a craft tent and I notice a writer selling her books. All the covers had a dog on them.

Eventually we moved on. And I must admit the show of glossed up unmucked vintage tractors did have a nostalgic feel.

If You Like Your Tractors Glossy

Though This Seemed More Keeping It Real

So to the vegetable tent where grown people (I'm assuming mainly men judging by the winners) proudly display their award winning big veggies in a socially acceptable "mine are bigger than yours" manner.

Despite what they say. Size Is Everything

There many stalls in the show. Some I understood (Jodphurs R Us) but a number I didn't. In reverse order.

At number 3: All the stalls selling cars. Do people really buy cars from these sales?

At number 2: (And this was very close) a coffin maker. I mean I can see the conversation.

"What did you do in the show today?"

"I bought a coffin. Spur of the moment thing".

But at number 1:

And the question is....why?

We went to the main local food section. I knew Farmers Markets were more expensive than their supermarket versions but was stunned by the cost of a jar of jam being three times the cost in LIDL's. Did think though that I was looking at a vision for us all post hard Brexit of queueing up for a limited but dearer range of foods.

Finally we went to see the show jumping. But to be honest the more I watched it the more it reminded me how much I've grown to dislike the idea of a sport where horses have to risk themselves jumping over fences for fun. Almost gave the horse that dismounted it's rider (who was fine) a round of applause.

It was, we all agreed, time to go.

As we drove off noticed a fat guy riding in full hunting gear with hounds around him. If impressions are any judge I hated him.

Glad I visited the show. Glad to say I won't be going again.

Until the next time.