The Insomniac Meanderings Post: Midweek Migraine Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I got a migraine last night. Have not had one that hit me so hard in years but it hit me yesterday. Somehow I was able to finish work. Somehow I was able to drive home. Somehow I was just able to finish off a microwave meal. But once that was done my body demanded sleep just before midnight. I knew as a child that a good night's sleep would cure it this time.

I woke up at 4:49am.

And I still have the migraine.

Not as strong thankfully but it's still there. As if someone is slightly pressing against the sides of my head.

And it is of course my day off. I actually had planned it. Was going to give daughter a break (it's half term) from revising for her exams by seeing a film together. The one she picked was A Star Is Born the new Bradley Cooper/Lady Gaga vehicle. Not my cup of tea but no matter it wasn't for me.

But yesterday wife says she wants to see it. No real objections (other as I made it clear to her that she could have told me sooner) as she'd appreciate the movie more than I would but as they'd see it later in the week I'm not sure about what to do today. Looking at the guides there isn't a satisfactory alternative. According to daughter the Queen movie is rubbish.

So let's chat about the budget. Specifically that the money the chancellor is giving for Welsh infrastructure projects is for the M4 relief road that I've spoken about before. So this is interesting. After all Wales is not good enough for the Swansea Lagoon project or electrification of the trains beyond Cardiff but is perfectly suitable for a mega prison, nuclear mud and a road.

Now I'm no expert on traffic but combined with the forthcoming lifting of the tolls to the Geraint Thomas bridge this seems to be an extra argument that this is just to help Secretary of state for Wales' Alun "Chucky" Cairns' Western powerhouse idea linking South West England with South East Wales. After all this would apparently give lebensraum for English immigrants to move into cheap houses this side of the bridge and commute to England for work.

I will say again that there seems to have been no work done on the social consequences of this. If the housing stock reduces and is too expensive for the indigenous population then there will be social unrest and both the main Unionist parties will be responsible because they could have dealt with this situation and failed to do so.

And just think how angrier my words would have been if I didn't have a migraine.

Until the next time.

Carwyn Jones: He Should Resign As AM Soon

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Further to his legacy of quiet incompetence two issues have come to the surface recently which further undermines Carwyn Jones / Labour's tenure in governing Wales. Indeed the truly amazing thing is that you realise there are secret levels to the bottom of the barrel that you never knew existed.

Two issues have further come to the surface which needs discussion.

You may remember that that Bridgend council have stated that because of the cut in grants from the Welsh government social services will not be immune from decrease in monies the council will give. Well it appears from emails to the Welsh government (from Bridgend and other councils) that education would be affected as well.

Education? Wales is already amongst the lowest in international league tables. Labour have been so successful that the education minister is now a Libdem. And they are considering cuts?!

Then there is the issue of the Ford engine plant in Bridgend. Because the Jaguar plant is stopping production in Solihull for a fortnight the part in the factory that makes the engines will be shut down for five days with the workers for five days.

Carwyn Jones said that he wanted assurances from Ford that this was temporary. A Welsh government official said that "senior officials" have spoken to Ford to discuss the shutdown and the future of the plant. Why wasn't the senior of "senior officials" Mr Jones himself? After all he is the Assembly member for the area.

I've chatted before the about the monies the Welsh Governemnt are giving various firms (including Ford) to handle Brexit. Grants which I've criticised on the grounds that at time of writing (and still the case) that no one knows what Brexit is coming. This it appears has not to have stopped Ford acting in the way they have without consulting Carwyn.

He wants to continue as the local Assembly Member until the next elections but when is he is no longer Labour leader what is the point of him hanging around as local AM given that in the beginning at least he is hardly going to criticise policies created when he was First Minister even though they are crashing around him? Can anyone name a success under his leadership? Anyone?

Surely the best thing he should do is quietly exit stage left the moment his successor is announced. As I think it's dawning on Labour as it is for the rest of Wales that he will not be missed.

Until the next time

The Atheist Case Against Halloween

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well come Wednesday will be Halloween. And as is customary I think in this blog where the grumpy old man part of me (which has always been there even when I was a teenager) attacks "customs" which are a set part of people's lives (Christmas is coming folks) perhaps it's time to chat about my hatred of Halloween.

So why don't I like Halloween ? After all the "pagan ritual" argument against it is of no interest to me given that most adults/children probably don't know or care anyway Well.....

1) In Britain when I grew up nobody celebrated Halloween : British children these days seem to think that Halloween is a traditional part of the British calendar. Not so. In the seventies and eighties November 5th was the key date. You celebrated Guy Fawkes being caught before blowing up Parliament with bonfires by creating a "guy", peddling your wears in front of shops so that adults would give them money and then watch your effigy of a terrorist being burnt at a bonfire after which there were fireworks,

I imply there that I created a Guy as well. Well no. My parents cottoned on quickly to me preferring that the money for fireworks was spent on comic book annuals instead. Everyone was happy.

The point is that whilst Guy Fawkes night still exists (and it's odd for me that even though he was part of a gang, indeed the Elizabethan equivalent of the getaway driver he's the one remembered) Halloween has taken over as the "event" and you can only assume that this was a business thing and not anything cultural. Another "marketing opportunity".

2) Trick or Treat....aka Payment With Menaces : For me the worst part of Halloween is when you open the door to a group of kids with no parents shouting "Trick or Treat!". For the fact there were no adults there meant that that it wasn't just a traditional Halloween greeting but a promise. You just know these kids will do something to the house if you don't give in......and so you do.

So children find Halloween educational.....in that threats work.

3) The Outfits: I do I must admit accept "traditional" Halloween fare, when those on the other side of the door dress up as witches or ghosts for example. But when you see children dress up as a serial killer from a TV series or film such as Scream you think come on.

4) Pumpkins: As we were talking about marketing opportunities I bet you Pumpkin growers praised whatever idol they worshipped in the cultural insertion of Halloween into people's lives.

Some people love pumpkins. The wife is a fan of the traditional Pumpkin latte from Starbucks. For me the best thing you can say about them is that they are edible.

The worst thing however is that rotting pumpkins, even shelled out corpses of rotting pumpkins stink. I cannot think of a worse smell coming out of a foodstuff. So of course if you're unlucky with the date of the next refuse collection then you're really screwed.

5) As A Parent You Have To Accept It: I said earlier that I don't have a "pagan festival" objection against it so I didn't stop my daughter getting involved. Hypocritical? I'd argue not. Unless she started suggesting witchcraft as a career there was no good reason to stop her participating in it with her friends

So just like having to watch Hanna Montana when daughter was younger. Halloween is something you put up with but would rather do something else.

Until the next time.

A Book Written By A Ferrett

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As I wake up early this morning. Where the daylight has slowly begun to make an appearance and the clocks have gone backwards an hour, I listen to the headlines and continue to wonder whether the world has gone backwards as well as news comes out of the shooting in the synagogue in America, Trump, the constant mess that is Brexit as well as the tragedy of the helicopter crash in Leicester last night.

And I could go on.

But whilst we should not try and avoid the troubles around us, for that would allow evil to triumph, we should also not forget the quiet little pleasures that help us through life. For readers one of those pleasures is to randomly pick a book up from the your local library and enjoy it.

So let's introduce the book....written by a Ferrett.

The Uploaded - Ferrett Steinmetz

Now the world it produces is not a pleasant one, for the living anyway. For a digital heaven has been created for the dead to enjoy life. However to run this heaven life for the living is not so great, not helped by the plague that has been inflicted across the world. Some of the living fight against the dead, who watch events in through monitors.

This is barest essence of the plot that I could make without spoiling things. But in no way does it explain the plot nuances that occur throughout this brick of a novel. Yet despite the twists Mr Steinmetz still takes you along without feeling lost. You, the reader, feel involved.

I think the key is this. For once the blurb in a book was right in comparing Mr Steinmetz to Philip K Dick because both are capable of creating worlds seemingly fantastical at the time (in Mr Dick's case seemingly closer to being realistic now) but when you're actually reading it seems perfectly normal.

I'm not saying it's the best book I've read this year. But for the award of being pleasantly surprised with two months to go it certainly wins that so far.

Until the next time.

Will Welsh Labour Elect A Man Apparently Suffering From Amnesia As Leader And First Minister?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The contest to become Welsh Labour leader and next First Minister is an interesting one. If only because rather like the Brexiteers the candidates seem to be promising everything to make things better in Wales should they be elected (which, as I've chatted about before, is probably the biggest condemnation of the soon to be ex First Minister Carwyn Jones - indeed I'm currently in a discussion with a Labour supporter on Twitter asking for a specific success of his tenure. So far nothing) but not making clear how they would do it.

We have chatted mainly about favourite Mark Drakeford. But Vaughan Gething is who we will discuss here. After all he has apparently developed a worrying case of amnesia.

Last Saturday was the People's Vote march in London. Hundreds of thousands of people (or if you're a Brexiteer ten) marched through the centre seeking an extra referendum once the final "deal" (if there is one) is reached or whether we should crash out to a long dark Brexit of the soul.

Mr Gething sent various tweets supporting the march and the vote, in one case even invoking Nelson Mandela. But I don't recall Mr Mandela ever supporting something that he'd voted against previously. That is what Mr Gething did though in the National Assembly. Voting against a Plaid Cymru motion supporting a People's Vote.

Not the only evidence of his apparent amnesia though. He has announced an end of cash cuts towards local authorities (which I have focused on Bridgend in this blog) if he becomes leader which presumably is an attack on Drakeford as finance secretary. But Gething is health secretary, part of the Welsh Labour cabinet which runs on collective responsibility. He did not resign when the latest cuts were announced as a matter of principle. So either he supported them, or he forgot to do so.

Some might say that Mr Gething is an ambitious man doing anything and everything he can do get votes to reach the top political post within Wales. Not me of course. I'm going with amnesia.

One question though Mr Gething needs to answer. Assuming Mark "Red Cairns" Drakeford wins will he stay in the cabinet if these cuts to local services proceed or resign?

I hope other people ask him the same question as well. He might forget otherwise.

Until the next time.

Two Anecdotal Tales Of British Retail Today....And For The Future

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yesterday I was in Penarth Tesco. Yes again. For reasons I won't bore you with I find myself in a place which I would normally avoid for the local Lidl.

Anyway there was I looking at I think fruit when I heard an elderly lady ask a young female shop assistant where the Dettol was.

Her response?

"What is Dettol?"

Now this is not a criticism of the shop assistant. When advised it was a disinfectant she personally led the customer to where all such products were held. I assume that was where the Dettol was as I didn't hear any elderly rantings subsequently.

No the point is this. The customer was of a generation where "brand" was important. Hence Bisto or Heinz baked beans for example. I am probably the transitional generation where though some brands were stuck to rigidly as long as there was no difference in taste were prepared to switch to the cheaper own brand/Lidl/Aldi option.

The shop assistant however is from a generation unaware of the history of a particular product and probably not bothered by it if she knew anyway. This will be the dominant shopper as time passes by. Meaning that whilst "brands" will still be there their power will reduce with the years to a point when they'll be superseded by own brands (incl Aldi/Lidl). Probably indeed this decline will be even at a greater speed because of Brexit.

And speaking of Brexit.

You may remember I'd decided to gradually stock up on food/drink/medicines to be ready for Brexit. I had to put that to one side soon afterwards for various personal reasons but now am ready to begin properly.

And I started with this:

Lavazza Coffee

Now I picked it for three reasons. It was offered at half price. It has a long life (2020).

But mostly because it was Lavazza. When I was a child before Britain joined the then Common Market such products were offered at specialised delis and they were expensive. Now they are sold in supermarkets. Because of Brexit this expensive deli world is likely to come back. Unless anything dramatic happens Britain will go back to the future. That future being the seventies.

The future does look dark. Welsh Independence really is the first step out of it.

Until the next time.
.

The Aquaman Experiment

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

You may remember during the summer when I took daughter to watch Ant Man 2 I as a bit of fun bought a hardback comic (I refuse to call them "graphic novels". I'm old) for my daughter and one for myself. Much to the contempt of the wife. Well now I've got round to reading it.

It was Aquaman. Volume four (Death Of A King) of a series but that didn't matter. I learnt as a child that for most series you can get stuck into the story no matter where you are. And that is the case here.

Apparently this was reviving the Aquaman brand. A task given to Geoff Johns.

This was to be then the first comic I'd read in well....decades.

With hindsight, and allowing for the fact that it was bought at a general discount bookstore not a comic book place, it was a mistake picking the man from Atlantis. I wasn't really enamoured with him as a child. I suspect subconsciously because I couldn't swim (and all of these years later I still can't). But I did want to pick a character I knew and the choice with that criterion wasn't great.

Having read it my views on the watery one hasn't changed. Whilst I might be jealous being able to swim underwater without a wetsuit and oxygen tanks and talk to sea animals does not a hero make. He's not Spiderman. He's not even The Flash.

If he swims underwater why does Aquaman never come out as if doing an impersonation of a dripping tap? Also that short blond hairstyle. Really? (Interestingly the Aquaman hairstyle from the forthcoming film, long and straggly, seems more reasonable).

The storyline (which I won't spoil) is certainly readable. The biggest irritation I had with it all though was with the artwork and colouring. The artwork because a lot of it appeared to me as if the artist was hoping some of the stills would appear in a gallery to I would such detail it detracted from the story.

Also the colouring seemed to be in a darker shade of gloom. Why? They weren't like when I was a lad. Even for Batman. Is that an appeal to adults thing? I've no idea.

So at the end of the day what have I learnt?

I'm an old man.

And whilst I'm not saying I wouldn't read another one again there would have to be a good reason to do so.

Until the next time.

The Near Midnight Meanderings On A Movie With A Microwave Meal Part 10: Flight Of The Navigator (1986)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

When I realised that the next movie in this exercise was this one, did not feel things would go well.

There were three reasons for this:

1) When I decided to do this mad exercise in watching all the films in the Radio Times Film Guide 2013 (bought for £2.50 earlier this year in the Harlow branch of W H Smith) when I return late at night from work, it did not (as it should have done) occur to be that it meant that I would need to watch kids' films as well.

2) This was produced by Walt Disney pictures (amongst others). I can honestly say that of the films I've seen when I was a child aside from the Herbie pictures I've never liked a Walt Disney movie that didn't have at least a bit of animation in them. The non animated films were, to me, a bit naff.

3) When I was unemployed I spent part of my time doing voluntary work stacking up books (of course) and DVDs. And I do remember that this film seemed to be often in the boxes and bags people gave in.

Well now I've seen it I think I can understand why.

A twelve year old boy goes missing in 1978. Eight years later he reappears. Physically unchanged.

As a parent I think to myself how would I feel if my daughter was missing. The agonies I would feel wondering what had happened to her. This is a preface for family entertainment? No matter he returns. No matter he's physically unchanged. A child went missing.

As a child I would have felt frightened about being lost without my family.

And that all tarnished the entire movie for me. No matter it has an alien spacecraft that talk, cute aliens and in another ET rip off the "government" is after him. It did not matter. The idea of a missing child in a Disney movie is something I couldn't stand.

Until the next time.

In Which I Disagree With The World's Greatest Librarian (Respectfully....And Of Course Quietly)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Nancy Pearl is the world's greatest librarian. She is the librarian who has an action figure. She is the librarian who has appeared in the Backlisted podcast. If I wasn't an atheist I'd worship in the church of Nancy Pearl.

But she has made me think my view with regard to audiobooks. Ms Pearl mentioned on Twitter that it was a disappointment when a book she loved had a reader she didn't like. Particularly with regard to the way they pronounced particular words.

I queried why she would listen to a book she'd already read.

Ms Pearl responded by saying that she found it was an entirely different experience than reading in print.

Now regular readers to this blog know that I rarely reread books. Simply because there are so many books and so little time. I've also no problem with listening to audiobooks when in the bath or whilst driving (I'm kicking myself for not listening to Stephen Fry's reading A Tale Of Two Cities on my recent three and half hour journey to Essex).

But that being said and understood if you are, as they say, "hands free", then nothing beats those hands reading a book.

I have always believed that when you read a book there is not only a mental picture but a mental voice as well. That voice is your voice. So whilst it cannot do accents what it can do is set the tone and emotion that you feel as you're reading it. Unless the author advises otherwise then your voice is the truest voice the book has.

An actor/actress might have the training. But that's no guarantee that the book is being read correctly. Ms Pearl criticised an audio reader's pronunciation of the word library. What if though there are other undetectable ways through inflection, tone and even accent that the original writer would object to that might mean that you, the listener, are being led up the wrong path in appreciating what you are hearing?

So believe in your mental voice not a trained one.

Until the next time.

Why Welsh And Scottish Nationalism Is Good,,,,,Because It's Different

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

When spoken about in the British media "Nationalism" is a dirty word. For it's image is of thuggish extreme right wing men marching along the streets threatening violence with their presence. Or of rich men imposing powers to get richer whilst making the rest of us even more impoverished.

In Europe that image is there. But as their electoral success in some countries shows. It also presents a sophisticated but tough image as it acquires power in a number of countries.

But in a British context the images I just explained is essentially English nationalism. It's the "two world wars and one world cup" nationalism. It proclaims superiority over others. It's the reason why when you see someone carrying the Cross of Saint George other than to a sports event there is a feeling of restrained violence in the air (and sometimes not so restrained).

So let's be clear here. As I've explained before nationalism in Scotland and Wales is different. It does not say "My country is better than your country". It says that Scotland and Wales are different from other countries and the attempt to merge it into the Westminster model damages them because they are not Westminster.

And the key thing here is that Welsh and Scottish nationalism are inclusive. I have never felt the need to justify my support for independence even though I was born in London. Welcoming of others is not a nationalistic trait of other similar parties.

Unionist politicians, certainly those I notice here in Wales, seem to profess their nationalism as and when it suits them. The former leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies tried to attack those who questioned his commitment to Wales when praising their recent victory over Ireland in football. And yet I would argue that you cannot support the Welsh football team whilst also supporting the rebranding of Welsh food under the Union Jack. You cannot pick and mix your nationalism.

And before you call me a hypocrite I've made it clear in this blog that I support the England football team....because football is different.You should support the team where you were born (which is also why, glory seeker that I am, West Ham will always be my main club team) But Mr Davies was born in Wales. He allows nationalism to enter his thinking when it comes to sport but throws it out of the window regarding how Welsh food is marketed.

Welsh Labour is of course worse. Because they are the party that practises Westminster policies through an illusion of national identity. And yet you constantly heat Labour politicians berate independence but it's just a kneejerk response for fear that once the idea of freedom registers with the Welsh people their privileged lifestyle will disappear and they will end up as a rump on the political scene like their Scottish counterparts. All of the candidates to replace Carwyn Jones as First Minister are soundbite but no substance politicians

I've also heard unionist Brexiteer politicos argue that it's hypocritical for the Scottish and Welsh Nationalist parties to want to join the EU but also want independence. But there are two arguments against that. Firstly nations do not lose their independence in the EU. Each member state is a distinct country in it's own right and secondly the Brexiteers want Britain independent of the European Union but seek to keep the union of the disunited kingdom.

A Welsh and Scottish Nationalist is not a Brexiteer in that he or she will never say that there will be instant milk and honey following independence. But remember. Rome was not built in a day. But it was built.

The consequence is that the people living in Scotland and Wales will know that decisions will be made to try and benefit their lives and not those living hundreds of miles away.

And that is the point of Scottish and Welsh Nationalism.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meanderings Post: Nearly Halloween Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well it's 5:22am as I'm starting to write this. Though I actually was awake at 4:30. Tried to sleep but as it's a Saturday where I'm not working insomnia made sure I was up. It can be cruel like that.

Outside through the darkness it seems to be clear. It's also colder. I'm hearing rumours at work of the possibility of snow in the next few weeks. Hope not. March showed how much I hate the white stuff it settles.

Halloween soon. You can tell that by the decorations of the remaining shops left in the high street. Can't say I really care either way. Something to be tolerated I think.

Except that is a word about Pumpkins. One they really aren't that tasty. And Two when you put the leftovers in a food caddy it stinks.

I mean if it wasn't to gut out, put a creepy face on it and a candle within would people really eat pumpkins.....really?

I'm not going to bore you today about the contest to be the next Labour party leader in Wales and therefore the next First Minister except to say one thing. All three candidates have vision of running Wales different to the previous nine years. And whilst their visions are equally flawed and tied to Labour head office in London the fact that they all seem to move away from the way Carwyn Jones has led during that period is surely the ultimate confirmation that his leadership has been a failure.

Rather like Blair the power of the painting in the attic has long since gone.

Here's an interesting one. Have read about Kiera Knightley banning her daughter from watching Cinderella because it implies that for women to get out of a bad situation (and note in the case of Cinderella the villains are women) she needs the help of a man.

Thinking about it whilst it's a pipe dream that some day a royal prince would come (and think of the awful life of despair, drudgery and probable suicide if the story hadn't worked out the way it did) of course it was a woman, the fairy godmother, who started the process of freeing Cinderella from the life her stepmother and stepsisters had imprisoned her to.

And of course there's the Saturday Night question in these months. "Will I watch Match Of The Day tonight?" Of course it all depends on how West Ham do. Currently the season seems to be two steps forward and one step back. Hopefully West ham will beat Spurs today. It would be typical Hammers after losing to Brighton a few weeks back.

It's 7:22am....calling on shepherds....including Ms Grey from a few posts ago. It's a red sky out there.

Random thought. Have worn glasses since seven and will continue until my dying day. Don't like the idea of laser surgery in case it goes wrong and as for contact lenses, well it's like insering double glazing into your eyes.

Anyway time to say goodbye for today.

Until the next time.

Question Of The Day: Why Doesn't Bridgend Labour Council Call For The Resignation Of The Local AM......Carwyn Jones?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

For the purposes of this post I'm going to take things at face value today. When I've discussed the issue of the cuts Bridgend Labour Council will impose upon it's voters in the past I have made it plain that responsibility for the situation should be spread and that the council itself is not without blame. However for today let's focus on the headlines.

For they are grim.

The Labour council have said that in view of the cut in the monies it receives from the Welsh Labour government public spending cuts will be more deeper and more widespread than previously envisaged. For the first time there would be no lip service to "protecting the venerable" as social services will also be affected.

They will, in a groundhog day move I've blogged about twice before, be "consulting" with the voters about which services should be cut and how large the council tax should be. So as they've done the groundhog day move before I'll repeat my joke then. Their "consultation" will probably go along the following lines:

"How would you like to be tortured? By electricity or water?"

Whereas the option you would prefer "I'd rather not be tortured thankyou very much" won't be available.

But the key point is that the Welsh Labour council blames the Welsh Labour Government for the situation. Which leads us back to the question at the top of this post.

Why doesn't the council call for the resignation of the local AM Carwyn Jones?

Whilst Carwyn Jones is soon to resign as First Minister he will still be the local AM for the area until the next Assembly elections in 2021. And yet as First Minister what has he achieved for Bridgend? After all purely taken at face value if the council are blaming the government for the situation where the venerable in the Bridgend county are threatened with cuts then he as First Minister is presumably responsible for the situation.

That is where the council logic takes us.

So taking this logic further how can the people of Bridgend be represented by a man who has brought them to this?

And therefore shouldn't the Labour council be calling on Mr Jones to resign. He would have resigned anyway in 2021 so doesn't this prolong the agony?

So Bridgend Labour Council. If you're blaming the Welsh Labour government for your troubles surely the right thing to do would be to call for Carwyn Jones' resignation?

Until the next time.

The Western Powerhouse? EDF Energy Don't Apparently Believe In It

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I'm chatted before about the tweets from EDF Energy with regard to the building of the Hinckley Point Nuclear power station but another (advertised, trust me I don't follow them) led me to thinking about this further.

But another issue I've also been chatting about is "the Western Powerhouse" the area between the South West of England and the relatively prosperous South East of Wales that Secretary of State Alun "Chucky" Cairns apparently wants to annexe.

For if you look at these tweets again. One from a young South West person about the apprenticeships EDF offers and the other about the contracts they have given to South Western companies for the building of the plant

And the question you have to ask is....where is the Welsh element (other than taking in the mud which for this post we'll avoid chatting about)?

I looked at EDF's website of the contracts currently been given. Let me stress that it was cursory but there didn't seem to be any Welsh businesses involved.

Now I actually don't blame EDF in this. They know they are situated in the South West of England and every right to put as much business there as they feel they can. However it's confirming my belief that any benefits in the Western Powerhouse  for South East Wales is just an illusion. All the benefits seem to be in the English commuter traffic across the Geraint Thomas bridge to England from cheap Welsh homes. Which, as I've said in a previous post could cause anti English sentiment in the long term.

So whilst I'd never thought I'd say this look at what EDF Energy are doing. They understand reality unlike Chucky Cairns.

Until the next time.

On Books: Where We Chat About George Borrow,Hay-On-Wye And A Lady Shepherd....As You Do

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

You may remember Robert Macfarlane's book The Old Ways which was for me the best non-fiction book I'd read last year. in it, he praised the writer George Borrow, and as his books were free on Amazon I downloaded a load of them.

Well so far it's been a disappointment and this latest batch has not improved things. Letters To His Mother was well nothing to write home about. Neither was Signelid or The Talisman. Ballads (the second a translation from an original Pushkin work that did nothing for me.

But the worst was The Bible In Spain. A report of his travels in that country (and Portugal as well). Basically he was palming off Protestant bibles in a catholic country as if he was the bringer of truth. Also with the one exception of being a skilled linguist his attitude was that of the Englishman abroad.

It was noticeable too that when Spaniards made anti-Semitic remarks against Portuguese or Barbary Jews there was no attempt in the book to defend them. Which suggests to me that he had a low opinion of the Jewish people as well.

George Borrow being a skilled linguist could obviously bore people in many tongues.

Meanwhile the Welsh Borders is where we find Oliver Balch in his 2016 book Under The Trump where he chats about moving to there from Argentina.....as you do.

Hay-On-Wye being both Welsh and famous for it's book festival should be a place I'd want to visit, and I do. But so far circumstance has not been kind. This book however is the next best thing. As it chronicles not just the festival but pub drinkers, farmers,market holders all Hay On Wye  human life is here which is to it's credit.

What makes this book different and well worth a read is the sense of a community changing but unsure what will it evolve to. Whilst the old values have a powerful pull so have the new forces as well. It's caught a particular and possibly important moment in time.

And this was the library book I've just finished.

One Lady Shepherd

Now this cover doesn't help Ms Grey who in this 2012 book was a twenty three year old shepherd in Northumberland any favours. I look at the carefully placed wisps of hair and the clear complexion and think that it's been photoshopped. After all my knowledge of Northumberian Shepherding begins and ends with this book but I seriously don't believe she looks like that on an October morning.

(Mind you let me be clear that I personally would not be attracted to Ms Grey. As for this domestic wolf a phobic even in my teenaged testosteroned years the greatest passion killer was when a woman said she had a dog. In this book she has four of them!)

Also the lack of any pictures showing her at work is a pity. You see once you start this then you know what an amiable read it is. Rather like the new Doctor Who you soon don't think of her as a woman but as a shepherd who despite what nature throws is good at her job.

It would be interesting to see what she's doing now.

Me? I'm off to read the next book.

Until the next time.

Wales Needs To Make An Infrastructure Plan.....Even If It Can't Implement It Yet

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Normally when I chat about Twitter on this blog it's normally when I've gone into a full blown argument with someone. On this occasion though there was no such argument but it brought an interesting subject into the open which was worth chatting about.

It began when a Twitter follower remonstrated "hippy generation" from "urban Britain" coming to Wales and holding back the economy and job creation with their "eco rubbish".

When I queried what "eco rubbish" meant he said it was campaigning against new developments/infrastructure proposals.

Now forgetting the idea that people who object to such developments are hippies from urban Britain what he was saying was not without merit when you looked deeper into it. For whilst not all such projects are an improvement and there are genuine reasons to object to them, it is equally clear that infrastructure is another  reason why Wales is becoming the last colony for Westmnister as it's lack of investment throughout the country starves it of creativity and future economic growth.

After all apart there is no properly integrated road or rail network linking the nation. Depending on journey and the method of travel a journey within Wales might be easier if you took part of it in England!

I won't bore you by going into in depth detail. But the point is that Wales needs an in depth infrastructure plan looking into issues such as road and rail links. The lack of such a plan can be mainly blamed on the Welsh Labour Government who seem to be more concerned  with additions to what's already there (the M4 relief road) than planning for the future of the nation as a whole.

Of course we all know that the Welsh Labour government will blame the Westminster Conservative government for a lack of funding in Wales. And to an extent that's true. But that's no excuse for a lack of planning. Nor is it an excuse for where investment is taken it's on a crisis management basis. Whether it's because they are incompetent, managing decline or showing their unionist roots in putting Wales down I don't know.

But if the Labour government really cared about Wales then they would prepare an infrastructure plan that would stop making the country perceived as some sort of backwater now

So Independence is in reality the only way proper coordinated infrastructure for Wales can be actioned.

Rome was of course not built in a day....but it was built.

The Near Midnight Meanderings On A Movie With A Microwave Meal Part 9: The Man In The White Suit (1951)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The Man In The White Suit can be described in two sentences. Alec Guinness plays an inventor who invents a fabric that doesn't tear or get dirty. He has to deal with bosses and unions who know their livelihoods are threatened by it.

It's considered to be a satirical highpoint  of the Ealing Studios classic canon but does it really deserve it? It seems to me to be popular amongst right wing libertarian types. I read a review in the Daily Mail prior to it's broadcast last week lauding it. But it's not really deserved.

The movie casts Guinness' character as the noble individual fighting against powerful interests. But he is just as selfish as the forces against it. After all when given the consequences of any full manufacture of his product he just does not seem to care despite the number of people who would be made redundant because of it.

And who can truly blame the trade unions being against such a product?

I know also that this is an issue which would not register at the time but if you think about it environmentally the idea of indestructabble clothes is not a good one.

Production wise you cannot really argue with this film. The way that the forces against Guinness show ordinary people darken towards him is truly impressive. But let's make it clear here. He is destroying their lives.

This movie can be best described as The Fountainhead with jokes. But it shouldn't hide the fact that it's just as reactionary. And for people with a conscience it's best avoided.

Until the next time.

An Unexpected Peril Of Collecting

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Since we started living in rented accommodation I haven't been discussing my collections all that much. Given that my main ones, football shirts and Penguin paperbacks are currently in storage. One day we will discover a house that we both like and doesn't reveal itself to be a money pit of faults thankfully before we put pen to paper. But until that comes collecting is on the back burner for the foreseeable future.

However yesterday, in of all places Penarth Tesco, the world of collecting came back along with an unexpected peril.

A word of background first. Companies sell small cheap plastic figure in a particular series, such as footballers for example, in a packet, This small packet will tell you everything you need to know about the figure concerned...expect what the figure within actually is. So there is a good chance you will buy one you have already.

Back then to the action. There was I walking along the aisles of Penarth Tesco when on walking past their small toy section when I noticed a middle aged woman picking up such a packet and starting to feel it.

She saw me and clearly embarrassed explained that this particular set was of Harry Potter characters. Her sons collected it and so the lady admitted she was hooked herself. She had figured that to stop continually buying duplicates she would feel the packet thus would lessening the risk.

From a collecting standpoint it was actually genius. After all unlike say footballers Harry Potter characters presumably had very different shapes to them so it seemed a sensible thing to do.

From all other standpoints however watching a middle aged woman feeling toy packets makes you question her sanity.

And one other thought occurred to me. If her intention was to collect these things for monetary value as well as personal pleasure then presumably she would need two packets per figure. As presumably their value would reduce once they were open.

Until the next time.

Whilst I Was Away

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I've been away to see my mother in Essex for the past two days. And for reasons I won't bore you with I've neither had the time or the connection to make a post whilst I was there.

It's good to be back I  Wales. Though the journey took six hours to complete from it's usual three and a half. Mainly due to an accident between junctions 13 and 14 of the M4 where the resulting traffic was stopped and then moved slowly for about an hour. You know how bad an accident is when the electronic roadsigns mention an air ambulance.

When I eventually passed the scene of the accident on the other side of the motorway a van was mangled as if tossed away by a petulant child. And there was a truck. I don't remember much of the truck except that the windscreen was completely smashed.

I felt my jaw drop. Makes you think you know.

Whilst I was away two things happened in Wales that made me want to put finger to keyboard. The first was the vote in the Senedd upholding the Welsh government's decision to allow the dumping of nuclear mud from Hinckley Point to Cardiff Bay.

I've chatted about this issue many times before in this blog. So I won't go into great detail here. But what I will say is that this decision marks the last by Carwyn Jones and the latest by Welsh Labour. After all not taking into account the consequences if the science is wrong has made the people of Cardiff and the surrounding areas possibly subject to radioactive Russian roulette.

And even if the science is right that does not absolve Welsh Labour. They were prepared to let people be subjected to this risk and have shown they treat them with arrogance bordering on contempt. Politically I suspect this issue will not die as Welsh Labour will hope. Plaid Cymru will see to that.

Secondly near where I live there is a Vale of Glamorgan Council proposal to put a gypsy site. This seemingly has aroused local opposition as there was a meeting on Wednesday to discuss this and plan how to defeat it.

Now I will not make any insinuations about this meeting. Given that I wasn't there and I haven't seen any reports about this. But I'll say this. I'm not in principle against the site. But the gypsy community will need to make sure no incidents can be traced to anyone in the site.

For after all let's talk hypotheticals. Let's say the site is allowed. It will take only one incident, no matter how trivial involving someone in the Gypsy community and we all know that UKIP, with it's leader in Wales Mr Creepy, will try and exploit it.

And if history tells us anything a "Them and Us" scenario will not be good for anyone.

Until the next time.

Welsh Labour Party Leadership Elections. Let's Chat

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yesterday two of the main candidates for the Welsh Labour Leader (and therefore the next First Minister) started their campaigns. Mark "Red Cairns" Drakeford id the current favourite. The other being Vaughan "I haven't worked out a funny name for him yet" Gething. I found it surprisingly interesting to hear what they had to say as it reveals how flawed they both are.

Let's start with Mr Drakeford. For copyright reasons I can't show it here but have a look at a particular promotional picture for his campaign. His face is in the front but at the back there is a young woman. Her attention is not with him but with something else. She looks as if she'd rather be somewhere else.

He speaks like a career politician. Talking about a "social partnership model to provide "collective solutions to collective problems". Whatever that actually means.

Welsh Labour party tweets I've seen describe him as a radical leader and visionary. Yet he's imposed cuts to local government grants which councils have passed on as cuts to service which will impact on many people within Wales but especially (as we've discussed with Bridgend) the venerable.

Let's turn to Mr Gething. He has promised many things such as ending holiday hunger for children and removing tuition fees for Care Leavers. All very laudable. Except Labour have been in power for twenty years. He is the Health Secretary. He is the one who has coined the phrase "managing decline" seemingly acknowledging Labour's failure and yet how can he being part of Carwyn Jones' failure team now imply that he will make a difference to Labour's approach when he helped manage it?

He also spoke about his ambition to create a National Care Service for Wales. Thing is we all have ambitions. But ambition is not a policy.

He also says that Welsh Labour was the only party committed to tackle inequality and poverty. Really? Bet he had his fingers crossed when he said that given that Plaid Cymru is committed to exactly the same thing.

Both men have projected themselves as "the alternative" but both men are part of the establishment.

Both men are suitable leaders for Welsh Labour.

Neither are suitable leaders for Wales.

Until the next time

Intentionally Or Not EDF are rubbing South Walian noses in the Hinckley Point Mud

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I've chatted before about the building of the Hinckley Point nuclear plant a number of times before in this blog. But I felt drawn to chat about again after seeing a number of Twitter ads from the French company handling the project EDF about it.

In the first a young woman describes how she got an apprenticeship there. How it has made "a positive impact" on her life (Do young people really use the words "positive impact"? Really?).

But it was the second tweet I saw (Dated Sept 27 but I only first saw it yesterday) that really annoyed me. It goes as follows: "Hinckley Point C is creating a lasting, positive legacy for people, communities, jobs and skills across the South West".

Throw EDF a poisson .

So what does South Wales get then? Aside from expensive energy which would have been less and more ecologically friendly if the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project had been agreed to?

Well you might say. I'm just displaying regional jealousy. But honestly I'm not. What really annoys me about those tweets is what South Wales is getting from Hinckley. The radioactive mud.

And that's the point. If you're from South Wales or live there as I do the impression these ads give is that it's only good enough to have the waste product dumped there. There is no "positive legacy" for people, communities, jobs and skills there. Indeed in the worse case scenario (which remember Welsh Labour did not consider when agreeing to this) the legacy might be damaging for generations to come.

In ads image is everything. That's the image these Twitter ads give the people of South Wales.

The dumping of the mud in Cardiff Bay will be debated at the Senedd on Wednesday. Which is personally unfortunate for me as I have to go to Essex then to see my mother. On my return though I'll chat about the result including as I've suggested before boycotting EDF in Wales.

Until the next time.

The Near Midnight Meanderings On A Movie With A Microwave Meal Part 8: Cosh Boy (1953)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Cosh Boy is a 1953 British black and white movie about what it's preamble at the beginning called "juvenile delinquents". It was the sort of film in Britain (and probably the first) that probably describes what's coming next as a social commentary to excuse it for the violence (note that it's the fifties) that will follow.

Though a play this version  coscripted by Lewis Gilbert who later found fame directing James Bond.

The character of "Roy" is the Cosh Boy of the title. A guy who walks on the other side of life's tracks because he enjoys it. Commits crimes, treats his mother badly and yet is still able to seduce Joan Collins.

In the preamble I mentioned the excuse for Roy's behaviour is put on bad parenting. In fact in reality bad single parenting. As he's raised by a single mother as his father was killed in the second world war. So blame the single mother again time it appears.

But the best thing about the movie is the lead actor James Kenney. For contrary to what the film tries to preach his performance suggests that Roy's problems are far more psychological than just merely due to bad parenting. It's a hint that things are more complex than what the Daily Mail would have you believe.

His performance though, good as it is does not save this film. It's hampered by a cliched script full of cardboard characters and some actors giving performances so wooden they would be more appropriate in an Oak Furnitureland store.

Particular mention needs to made of Robert Ayres playing his mother's boyfriend. His performance is not great but more to the point here he's an American. Ever since I was a child I've always hated British films where an American character is shoehorned into a British storyline for no credible reason other than in the vain hope of improving it at the box office across the pond. He's clearly out of place in a story of British working class life. But there he is.

James Kenney's performance deserved a better movie. Unfortunately for him he was stuck with this one.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meanderings Post: Dark Early Mornings Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The thing about the long dark nights and the equivalent  mornings is twofold. On the one hand when the insomniac within you wakes up there is less chance of guessing the time that when it's British summertime. Because you could make a guess based on the faintest hint of dawn.

Today I couldn't. Which made it more of a shock to discover it was 3:47am in the morning.

Of course the longer darkness also means another year is almost approaching it's final corner. And whilst there are still ambitions in my life, it also means that another moment will soon be crossed off the length of time I've left to achieve them.

Have just realised that it's not only dark but it's also raining. Which I can tell from the sounds outside. Yes I think we can all agree summer is practically over.

Working the afternoon/evening shift means that sometimes you don't really catch the day's news until the next morning. I didn't realise West Ham played Friday night. From a disastrous start they have improved in the past couple of weeks. However last night they played Brighton and lost (echoes of last year). Two steps forward one step back.

I've learnt on Twitter that supermarket chain Iceland are promoting Christmas tree flavoured crisps. My first reaction is to say what?
My second is to repeat what I said last year. Whilst there are many things I don't like about Christmas as I get older, the biggest by far is the idea of Christmas before December.
I don't want to know about Christmas before then!!!

My daughter calls me a Grinch. I explain that the Grinch did not try to steal Christmas as until this season he was too busy managing Arsenal.

Plaid Cymru news. Adam Price has put Welsh independence on the news agenda to such a level that UK media has noticed it. This is a good thing and should be welcomed. Once independence is in people's thoughts, it would not be easy to shake it off . As Scotland has proved.

You may remember a few months back that I chatted about Simon Thomas. The Plaid Cymru AM who had to resign after being arrested by the police. Well I'll chat properly when he's sentenced. But he's pleaded guilty to making 600 indecent images and videos of children (150 apparently in the "highest category" of illegal images)

So I'll say this now. Making one indecent image/video is shocking/despicable enough. Now multiply how disgusted you'd feel by six hundred.

Personally the authorities should not throw the book at Mr Thomas as punishment.

They should go for the whole library.

Until the next time.

When A Book Lacks Drama

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As a reader I really don't mind fiction when nothing dramatic happens. In the hands of great writer it's still interesting and moving (Katherine Mansfield springs to mind).

But there are two exceptions to that. One is where nothing really happens until the final few chapters. Where everything including the kitchen sink appears to be thrown in. The other, and the example I'm going to chat about here, is where there is a big reveal and all you feel like doing is metaphorically shrugging you shoulders.

So the novel taken from the library is this one.

From A Distance - Raffaella Barker

The plot (remember I'm always as vague as possible on plots as to try not to spoil things for the reader) is at it's essence relationships in two periods. One from after the second world war and the other in the present day and how they are linked. Set in Cornwall and Norfolk. Both judging by this too boring to visit.

I think my essential problem with this novel is that when I started reading it I'd assumed, for want of a better phrase, that it was a "popular women's fiction" sort of book. Then as I went on I realised my original assumptions were wrong. It was trying to be more serious than that. Too me though it didn't succeed at either. I left it feeling bored.

In fact the only truly dramatic thing that happened to this novel was me turning the page just to get it over with as quickly as possible.

Judging by the reviews at the back of the cover I'm in the minority. A review called it "dreamy". That's almost true.

It almost cured me of my insomnia

Until the next time.

Are Bridgend Labour Council Indulging In Political Spin Over Buses?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Now Bridgend as a county is a place not just of towns but also rural villages. And the council, to be fair have subsidised some bus routes from these villages to the main towns specifically to allow easier access to GP surgeries, libraries and the like as well as letting the residents of these communities do other things not available where they live.

But now blog villain Bridgend Labour council have threatened that all such subsidies will be axed as part of wider cost cutting measures. Cheekily though councillors have actually stated that the local residents need to "use them or lose them". Now this is cheeky for various reasons. Firstly because the whole reason for the cuts as a whole is because the lack of direct funding from the Welsh Labour government. That is what the Welsh Labour council stated during the summer. That's why regarding Bridgend Welsh Labour is blaming Welsh Labour.

Consequently to apparently deflect attention/responsibility to the people of these communities is nothing short of Welsh Labour spin.

Also though I would guess Bridgend Labour Council know full well that these communities would not be able to use the routes to the extent that would make it commercially viable. Why? Because they've been subsidising it. You don't subsidise something that makes money.

So the question is why did they subsidise these routes in the first place when they knew that they would not make money in the private sector? Well presumably because the people who would use the services would be the elderly, the unemployed, people finding it difficult to make ends meet. In other words the venerable in these communities. The venerable who when Bridgend Council started publicising these cuts claimed would be protected.

Cut these bus routes and it might be more difficult for a pensioner to visit his or her GP, or an unemployed person to go in a library to be able to look for a job online. These are the sort of people that the state should be helping.

There is though one other factor that needs noting. If these cuts occur then less people will visit the towns in the area spending money on the local economy. Particularly in the case of the urban tragedy that is Bridgend Town that will not help business.

Perhaps Bridgend Labour council will have damaged Bridgend Town further if this goes ahead.

Until the next time.

The Near Midnight Meanderings On A Movie With A Microwave Meal Part 7: Pistol Whipped (2008)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It's funny how some of  the movies I'm getting to watch in this random choice for this occasional chat seem connected. After all we have had two James Stewart movies and now we're on our second Steven Seagal.

Here though his presence is dominates the screen as usual. For what we see is fat Steven Seagal. Steven Seagal with a double chin. Other actors in this film are lucky to be noticed for he puts a whole new meaning to the word widescreen.

Now you might accuse me of bring hypocritical. I've never hidden that I'm not exactly slim in the body department either. But I've never been an actor in an action movie. And, more crucially I've never been an fat actor in an action movie beating off bad guys a lot of whom are old enough to be my grandson.

In one fight scene an Asian bad guy attempts to use martial arts to beat Seagal. What does Michelin Man do? He pushes him off with his paunch

Fighting aside Seagal's character is not perfect. Drummed off the police for suspicion of being dirty, divorced, a drunk, a gambler. A bad gambler at that. He has debts. Those debts are taken by a shadowy government department. We know it's shadowy because for a lot of the movie the face of it's boss is in shadows.

To honour his debts Segal has to kill bad guys that justice somehow couldn't reach. There essentially you have the plot. He tails these bad guys. He tails these bad guys with a Range Rover and his stomach. Yet their security guys still don't notice him. Perhaps they should borrow my glasses.

This movie seems to shot through fifty shades of grim grey. I literally mean the colour. Perhaps they couldn't afford, I don't know, lighting.

Oh and one other thing about the so called plot. The big reveal is not a surprise. It was as obvious as the arrival of a carnival from around a corner.

It's such a bad film that I suspect it went straight to  DVD Bargain basement. I did wonder whether if Steven Seagal from Under Siege had played it I'd have liked it better. The answer is no. For whilst it would be still rubbish it just wouldn't be as funny.

Until the next time.

So Gridlock And Anti English Sentiment Around Newport Might Begin On 17 December

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have chatted about this a few times in this blog but as things appear to have come to head I feel I need to go back to the issue of the abolition of the tolls on the Geraint Thomas bridge and the potential social unrest that may result.

Well Alun Cairns has announced that the tolls will be lifted on 17th December, earlier than expected.

Of course it will help him with his partitioning of Wales to support his "Western Powerhouse" idea. And it also needs to be remembered that the charging of the tolls was resented in Wales.

And now is an argument that it would gridlock on the bridge. And it will. After all who dislikes anything that you don't have to pay directly for?

But what is already happening, and what will undoubtedly increase come the 17th of December, is that families from Bristol where property is expensive will buy cheaper property in Wales and use the bridge as a commuter route.

For the local communities up to Newport it will mean they will become priced out of the market. That, plus the stunning small proportion of social housing built by the Welsh Labour administration will mean resentment against these English families will rise.

To what extent this resentment will grow I do not know. And let my stress that whilst I do not approve of violent action of any kind I'd argue that it's equally a crime not to see the possibility of social unrest and not apparently doing anything to stop it. Whether through ideology (Cairns) or just couldn't seemingly be bothered (Carwyn Jones and [insert next Labour leader here].

So you see if I am right (and I hope I'm not) the Unionist parties may have just let in not just English commuters but social unrest in Wales.

Until the next time

Why Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep Lost To My Middling Cold And Flu

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I must be honest. I've not really read Raymond Chandler before. I say "not really" because do remember buying a collection of short stories in the eighties when ITV had made a series of them starring the late Powers Boothe. A man who certainly had the Philip Marlowe look about him. Don't remember reading them however.

Nonetheless Raymond Chandler's creation of the wise cracking Shamus in late thirties Hollywood is still a male icon whether you have read the books or not. Indeed off the top of my head apart from Sherlock Holmes and James Bond I can't think of a more enduring one.

It's also the case, whether you've read his books or not, that Chandler is almost as remembered for the style of writing as for Marlowe himself. Something I cannot think you can say for any other popular writer.

For two thirds of the book I loved it. Marlowe is hired to deal with a case of blackmail which of course leads to me. I was turning the page with excitement.

I was gripped.

Let us be clear here about Marlowe. He's a decent man doing a tough job in a tough world. Comparing him with James Bond is instructive, especially in his treatment of women. He slaps one woman for being hysterical. Not saying you should approve but I've seen hysterical men slapped in films as well. The only other time he hits a woman he was attacked first. Unlike James Bond you wouldn't have Marlowe on the prowl for the latest notch on the bedpost. Or get involved with a discussion about rape with a rapist in the same manner you would discuss the weather.

But anyway I was gripped.

However let's make a quick health diversion. There seems to be, worringly early in the season, a cold, cough and flu bug going around. Daughter has had it and has missed some school because of it. Ditto wife and work. Ditto friends. Ditto work colleagues. I however seemed immune...until Saturday.

Now I have a cold, a headcold and a sore throat. I have tablets and throat sweets shaking inside my belly and it's my turn to start snivelling. I'm in that position where I feel like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards, and then forwards again. But I'm not unwell enough that I can't go to work.

The only good thing about this is that there's been no jibes from wife/daughter about "man flu". Especially as they're the ones who probably gave it to me.

But the mistake I made with The Big Sleep was that I loved this book so much I wanted to continue reading it. Trouble is the mind was willing but the nose was runny and the eyes watering. In these conditions you might finish a book, as I did, but you don't appreciate it. The thing about this novel is that whilst it's far from being a snobby you do have to concentrate to get all it's nuances and one liners.

So you see you can love reading too much sometimes. There we go.

Until the next time.