The Insomniac Meanderings Post : Wet And Windy Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well out there it's wet but not windy. Yesterday was windy and wet. Tomorrow will be weather warning windy and wet. As was Thursday. And that wasn't a fun journey from work.

I left work on Thursday around ten pm in Bridgend to near Sully. It takes about forty minutes along the A48 and is a pleasant enough drive on a normal day especially as there's little traffic around that time. Thursday night was not normal however. It was wet, remnants of hurricane windy and dark. Dark is crucial to this. For there were moments where it was difficult to see the large pools of surface water or the dead fox  lying on the middle of the road which I avoided hitting at the last minute.

And being windy the mighty Kia Picanto was buffeted but unbowed. Taking the pressures and dealing with them. I think I've said before that this was the best car I've ever driven and that night only emphasised it.

I'd picked BBC Radio Wales to listen to in case there was anything I should be aware of on the journey. The DJ for that time was Chris Needs, a larger than life character whose persona is of the slightly loud camp friend you could gossip with through various types of music (a lot of which you could boogie on down to).

That night however I understood that his flamboyance hid an exceptional broadcaster. He knew the right mood for that night. Not screaming warnings of impending disaster but as a concerned friend. Entertaining you along with the music but not distracting you with the task ahead. He was the man for that moment.

As I said normally the journey takes about forty minutes. That night it took me an hour as I was deliberately slow frightened about the consequences of skidding.

When I reached home and mentioned the journey I had all I seemed to get in response was a shrug  of the shoulders from wife and daughter. That was actually understandable. Daughter seems to have got a near flu bug which seems to be permeating around. You have all the symptoms of flu (cold, cough achy all over) but not enough to go over the edge that you cannot do things. I know people at work who have exactly the same thing (and no I'm not the carrier. Apparently kids in her class have this too).

The weather will apparently die down tomorrow evening when I'm working. Hope so. Sequels are normally more louder and brasher than the original.

Here's an interesting thing. Apparently none of the top ten names of children born in Wales last year are Welsh. So names like Gareth, Dafydd and Lowri have fallen out of favour.The worry is that it's seen as the consequence of Westminster's attempts to destroy Wales by merging it with England.

Thing though is that based on my one experience choosing a name for a child isn't easy. As it happened the wife and I quickly came to a decision on what the name would have been if the baby had been a boy but we hadn't settled on a girl's name before the birth. And given that it turned out to be a girl things came (almost literally) to a head.

Eventually we settled on a name. We settled on a middle name as well, which is Welsh. And it would be interesting to know the percentage of parents who've done that. So perhaps the issue is not as worrying as some people think.

Culture is always reflective in children's names. After all in years to come there will be people in care homes named Kylie and Jason. I'm sure they will be singing her hits swinging the zimmer frames as they do (Jason? That I doubt).

Ah well. Wife's awake now. She might have the bug daughter's got. Soon coming my way then.

Until the next time.