On Temporary Weaning Myself Off Alexa

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Today I made a few calls regarding the new home we're hopefully going to moving into at around six months time. They were in order of call the council, the electricity company, the gas company and British Telecom (BT).

Of those calls it was the final one that had the biggest shock. I didn't actually want to do anything at that moment barring wanting to know how long it would take to install the internet and possibly a phone line into the house.

Currently I'd noticed that the supplier was Virgin. I say "supplier" because I could see the Virgin box. I say "was" because the vendor (his parents lived there) had cut off the phone lines. I didn't want Virgin anyway because of their forthcoming closure of the Swansea call centre which I documented at the time.

But we go back to the response from BT which, whilst I won't go into the details as to why so not to bore you was basically 2- 4 weeks.

In a world where things are supposed to be done two weeks before you actually ring this came as a shock. After all what am I supposed to do in the meantime? Talk to the wife?

As it happens on checking with my mobile when the wind is drifting off to the east and Thor has roused the Norse Gods against Loki there is actually a faint BT signal. So things like this blog can actually continue.

But when it comes to those things which require a bit more internet strength well forget it, Which brings us to Alexa. Amazon's go to help you do everything where you had to rely on your memory before. Whatever of course a memory actually was.

Will have to resort to the internal hard drive for a calendar including notes to remind me to do those things I forget to do anyway. No polite voice to do that for me. I have to set am alarm to get me out of slumber and a second alarm to remind me that I'm still in slumber.

All my unread books will have to downloaded to my paperweight Kindle. This will total around 800 which of course I'll read during this period.

Most of all though I will have to get outdated machinery to see me through. That's right. A radio. No chance of France Musique or RTE Lyric FM though oh no. Just a taste of Brexit Britain radio to come.

Eventually I'm sure I'll look back on this with amusement. Not now though. After all the lack of reliable internet is making me need to think.

Until the next time.

Pets Aren't Us

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I'm afraid I don't have much time today. So please forgive the briefness but I needed to have a quick word.

One of the things now we are preparing to move once the workmen (and women?) have done their work on the house is that old questions start to resurface. Questions like "Do I have to do gardening?" (Me).

From daughter though comes this question.

"Can we have a pet?"

I know she's doing this partly to wind me up. For when she says "pet" she means "a dog" but as regular readers will know I'm a domestic-wolf-a-phobic.

But in truth there will be no pets in the house. I don't like dogs. The wife is not partial to cats and any other options are mainly small, furry and difficult to control.

But we have tried. When daughter was about four we bought goldfish. They were called Elio and Julianne. Named after winners of that year's Dancing With The Stars, the American version of Strictly Come Dancing. The tank was the most basic (ie small and cheap) and filled with goldfish friendly statues from the well known Latina adventuress Dora The Explorer.

But there comes the moment when the tank needed to be cleaned. We had a receptacle ready for the fish. The water though was required to be of a particular temperature. Not too hot. Not too cold. Had to be Goldilocks just right.

The wife had a kettle in her hand. Impatient with my caution.

"Come on" she said proceeding to pour "It's not rocket science".

Well apparently it is. For she boiled the fish to death. She had killed Elio and Julianne. My wife the goldfish murderer (oh OK it would be manslaughter in the fish court).

I would be an accessory as I proceeded to give them the closest thing to a burial at sea that I could by flushing them down the toilet. Thankfully we have more than one toilet as the wife refused to use that one for a while for fear that Elio and Julianne would miraculously survive and seek revenge through the loo.

(She's seen too many horror films)

Wife queried whether we should secretly replace them. I said no. Instead I said we'll wait and see how long Daughter noticed their absence before deciding whether to buy some more.

Daughter noticed after a month. Not only that but she didn't seem particularly upset either.

And so ends our family pet history.

Until the next time.

On Nero Wolfeing It Down...And Getting Indigestion Afterwards

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

You may remember a few weeks remarking a few weeks back that I mentioned in passing on a train journey to Cardiff that I had started to read Might As Well Be Dead. A novel in the Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout.

Well I've finished it now. You might ask why a book I described at the time as being as like fast food fiction has taken me so long to complete? The answer is that I've succumbed to the addiction of the reader and have more than book on the go. In my case five...

Now you also may remember that I said I'd read one Nero Wolfe book before decades ago and whilst I didn't like it not being able to recall why. Well now I've read this I think I've got some idea.

Let's start with the character of Nero Wolfe himself. He's a gruff, fat agoraphobic private detective who does others to the running around for him (notably Archie Goodwin the narrator). No matter how puzzling the case he can solve them with the walls of his house. Not just that but people (including the police) come to him and he cannot haul his presumably fat backside occasionally out to see what New York looks like now.

Aside from solving puzzles Wolfe likes orchids and fine food (cooked for him by his own butler). Presumably if these books were written today the final novels in the series would have him suffering with diabetes and dying through a massive heart attack.

Must also say that I did wonder whether Wolfe was also gay. After all he lives with other men in the house (Archie Goodwin has a separate bedroom), doesn't employee any women and wears silk pyjamas. Of course this is all supposition (if you want my guess his partner is the butler) but a quick skim on the internet reveals that I'm not the only one who has that thought.

Of course it doesn't matter today. The novel though was published in 1957. So if Wolfe really is homosexual then it's perfectly understandable why Rex Stout would not have made it clear. What isn't forgivable though is the treatment of women. If this story is a guide the most sympathetic female is the "damsel in distress". But hey "Damsel in distress" don't worry your pretty little head about finding evidence to get your boyfriend out of Death Row. We, "the men", are dealing with it.

At worst? Well let's put it this way there were many examples to pick. I'll go with this one though. One female character was described as being good enough to take up the "theatrical aisle" (I'm assuming it wasn't a euphemism but who knows?) as long as she "shut up".

If we compare Nero Wolfe with Perry Mason women are ogled at but respected. Don't forget that Della Street is Mason's number 2 so whilst beautiful is still depicted as intelligent.

Rather like Perry Mason there is not really a puzzle for the reader to solve. He/she is along for the ride. But even here there's a moment where Wolfe goes for a course of action through a hunch and nothing else. It works of course but it's not really impressive. Consequently the big reveal receives an inconsequential shrug from me.

In the interest of fairness I will say there was one unexpected shock in this book which I won't spoil though but really taken as a whole this isn't any good. At the end of reading Nero Wolfe I felt like howling in despair at the waste of it all.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meaderings Post : Grumpy Old Man Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yesterday I had an argument with my daughter. The background to it was personal and like the weather outside blown over anyway. But it was just another reminder that she was getting older and I was just old. And a grumpy old man at that.

I've shown before that I can be a grumpy old man on many issues such as Christmas. But there are others.

Let's start with this.

I don't know whether this is throughout the Disunited Kingdom. But there is a tendency where I live here in South Wales to say "See you later".

When I was young when people would say "See you later" later meant some time that very same day. Now however it means any unspecific time in the far off future when our spirits meet again to discuss the weather before drifting off after five minutes.

"See you later" has become like the use of the word literally. Where it's original meaning has been overwhelmed by misuse.

Yesterday a woman said to me to "Have a nice week".

This seemed odd. Has "Have a nice day" been forced to be increased by inflation?  Also yesterday remember was Friday. So has the concept of what constitutes the start of the week been changed because of the shift in people's working patterns? All very odd.

I don't know why this thought occurred to me this week but here we go. When you go to secondary school there are two subjects where you know instantly whether you're good at it or not. One is Physical Education. I was lucky that way. Because amazingly I wasn't the best but neither was I the worst. It was mid table respectability. PE was the subject where the academically inclined are liable to be mocked by those unable to tie up their own shoelaces.

The other subject, and the one which truly applied to me was art. I was hopeless at it. I truly did not have the gift. I remember once being upset for having detention because my art homework was so bad. I mean come on!

To be fair my parents didn't have a go at me. They understood (unlike the art teacher - a thin weedy man - yes it still hurts!) that I did my best. But at the time no one (even parents) argued with a teacher so I had to take the detention.

Anyway if you're bad at art after the first year the first year at secondary school you should have the automatic option to leave it. You're never going to be an artist so why prolong the agony?

I've noticed on Twitter people saying "[Insert name here] Has  Just Joined The LibDems. Why Don't You?"

Well let's be clear. In Wales the only certain thing in politics is that the LibDems are an irrelevance. I don't know who their leader in Wales is and I can't be bothered to find out either. The middle way has served no one well except the wealthy. If you join the Libdems in Wales clearly you've no interest in politics.

Let me praise an English Labour idea. They are proposing free bus travel for the under 25s. Seems good to me. Good for the environment as well. Which leads to the question Cardiff Labour council who runs Cardiff Bus why don't you do it?

The London Marathon is tomorrow. I've explained before how I stopped merely jogging decades ago because I realised I was meals on legs to untethered dogs. So it's not my thing. Got to be honest though as a TV view ignoring the start and the finish it's actually quite dull. I'm sure you could put many years of marathon running into one programme, pretending it's the same race (start/finish aside) and few would actually know it's been spliced together.

Wandering around the countryside. Not really my thing. Funny though as I've shown in the blog am quite happy to wander round towns. You don't really know what you will see when you turn into a street or an avenue. A town can sometimes surprise with the unexpected.

Until the next time.

In Which I Announce A New Medical Condition :Shiftworker's Delayed Sympathetic Reaction Syndrome (SDSRS)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As regular reader's will know I do shift work. Occasionally the early morning one but normally the afternoon - evening part of the timetable.

I've also mentioned before briefly of the body clock effect of the early morning shift, essentially jet lag without the glamour. But now I need to bring to the world's attention a new medical condition. Shiftworker's Delayed Sympathetic Reaction System (hereby known as SDSRS).

Now subconsciously I now realise that I've had this condition all along. But I can formally confirm my obvious affliction today. For you see even when I am doing the afternoon evening shift I'll be returning to the apartment at about 10:40pm give or take.

On arrival my routine is as follows. Ring my mother, change, have dinner, watch a bit of TV and somewhere along the line chat with wife/daughter about the day about to end. My brain, indeed my body is on slow gradual shutdown barring emergency services at this point.

So it's last night. Wife is kindly cooking for me (don't be so sympathetic mind you given that she's stocked the fridge/freezer so tightly there's no room to put a microwave meal there!) I'm starting to watch the TV.

All of a sudden she says to me that she's had a tooth taken out.

Now I knew she was going to the dentist. A normal sort of check-up thing. I also knew that she was complaining about a particular back tooth. But that the tooth had to be taken out was a surprise. However my brain being on gradual shutdown mode the surprise was not what you would expect.

"But you've got another appointment for May"

(We have a joint email account which is where I noticed it)

Apparently that's just for a general polish. The sort I thought she was going to have yesterday.

She then explained to me the problems of that tooth and why it's  which I completely failed to register as I sat down waiting for my food.

Fast forward to this morning. This early morning as it happens (still have the insomnia folks. Five am I got up). And suddenly I realise.

She's had a tooth taken out.

The point is that if my brain wasn't slowly winding down I'd have been more sympathetic. As it happened all I wanted was food. This morning she has to down salted water to placate the inflammation.

So if a loved one on shift work doesn't immediately show understanding at a problem. Show more understanding yourself for your partner is suffering from SDSRS.

Until the next time.

Let's Put Catalan Poilitcs Into Pizza

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well we've bought a house at last. I know it's taken such a long time but it's now done.

Now we can't exactly move in for about six weeks as there is work to be done. Also given that daughter has exams shortly the upheaval would have been unfair anyway.

The point though is that as a sort of minor celebration we decided to order a Dominos pizza. And as it was a Tuesday they had a buy one get one free deal (and as an aside Dominos instead of doing that why don't you give any profits for a second pizza on a Tuesday to the staff instead - After all if you can afford to offer a free pizza then presumably the margin is relatively large).

Daughter had her choice (Pepperoni) and then it came to me. My eyes suddenly focused on one choice. Catalan Chicken and Chorizo.

And let me tell you now it was gorgeous.

Now I wish I'd thought of this at the time. But it's only occurred to me now that as admittedly as a symbolic gesture should people buy these pizzas (not especially buy you understand. You would had intended to buy a pizza anyway) they should send a picture in social media with a hashtag say, Catalonia on it.

I know that it's a gesture, that it's symbolic and that Mr Domino will be very happy. But sometimes symbols can be effective.

A quiet protest through pizza. Supporting Catalonia through Chicken and Chorizo

Until the next time.

So Will Welsh Labour Give Bridgend Town Ghost Town Status?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have in this blog only as recently as last week chatted about the urban tragedy that is Bridgend Town caused I would argue by the arrogant incompetence of the Welsh Labour council.

Well something in the local paper has resuscitated my interest. And interestingly it's something outside of the town.

Work is being started in Leonitd , an open cast mine between Bridgend and Llantrisant (which was a quaint village in the beginning of the Rhonndda Cynon Taff borough). Now of course all of what I'm going to say is Property Developer speak but the proposal is for 5,000 houses with health and leisure facilities plus a railway station.

So let's go hypothetical. Let's assume that everything the Property Developer says is true. And remember that this development is between Bridgend and Llantrisant. For this is a good example of how if you live outside it, Bridgend Town has, with very few exceptions, has become a ghost town for your thoughts (and remember I'm talking about the town and not the overall area).

Where would they go for shopping? Nearby there is a retail park including a massive Tesco as well as an Aldi. Along the nearby M4 there is the Macarthur Glen outlet store.

No reason to visit Bridgend Town.

As I've advised previously how can Bridgend Town compete with the lack of public toilets, the market with it's Christmas decorations in April and empty stalls, the many empty shops, the look of sheer despair?

If you want to go to the beach there's Porthcawl.

No reason to make a detour to go to Bridgend Town.

As far as I see it the only reasons to visit the town are seeing family/friends, watching Bridgend Rugby club and if you have to go to a bank.

Otherwise where is the incentive to visit unless you have to? 

Bridgend Town is the urban equivalent of the effect of Brexit on Britain's image abroad. A place with a proud history now observed as a place for mockery and pity. And that's if people give it any thought at all.

It has become a ghost town because of Labour.

Until the next time.

The Near Midnight MLS Meanderings Over A Microwave Meal Part 2: Columbus Crew vs Atlanta United

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

We come to a match where Atlanta come with a winning streak well they must be well managed then I thought. So imagine my surprise to find that Frank De Boer is their manager. A man whose managerial career moved from Ajax to Inter Milan to Crystal Palace for all of what it appeared to be a few minutes to now Atalanta.

And I'm not going to be mocking about Frank (barring one joke that I cannot honestly resist) but let's be clear, no one will believe that Atlanta is where he thought he'd be in his life. But also all of us have faced shocks and disappointments in our lives. It's just that most of us though are lucky enough that the world doesn't look at us.

In the first minute, yes the first minute the Crew score. The men in mustard yellow, specifically Santos score a goal following a deflection in the box. I assume (and this is the joke here) the manager was not Frank De Boer but rather Frank De Wild Boer....I'll get my coat.

The match then chugged along and as always I get distracted. The American commentator mentioned in an commentary ad break stated that the pizza chain Papa John's gave a 50% discount to large Pizzas the day after a Columbus victory in their area.

It made me think. What is the profit margin to a Large Pizza in Papa John's? Is it so large that with 50% off the normal price they will still make money? Perhaps a more interesting offer would be that 50% of the profits for a large Pizza would be given to their Pepperoni placing workers for the day after a Columbus victory as a bonus. Perhaps then John will become a true Papa to his employees.

The weather starts to rain. I'll come back to that later.

A player, I think Francis, is Costa Rican who has played recently for the national team which is described as a "Cinderella squad". What does that mean? There are few rats in the team? Are pumpkins required? Will nothing fit properly without a Prince Charming? Makes no sense.

And the rain continues.

There is also a comment that says he's happy to come back to Ohio after one year in Seattle? What's wrong with Seattle? Too much coffee? I know everything about Seattle even though I've never been there. I've seen Fraiser.

And the rain continues...and continues so much the players have to go off the pitch.

I fast forward the recording (it was live when I did it) eventually the match resumes. But I don't. Because the recording has finished.

And so consider it The Mystery Of Edwin Drood of this occasional series. Of course I could find out the final score but I prefer to leave it unfinished for my imagination.

Until the next time.

Here's The Question Of The Day. Can A Restaurant Be Too Good?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

What I'm going to say actually happened on Sunday. But the question only occurred to me today. Hence the delayed reaction.

So then Easter Sunday. Me and the women in my life (mother,wife,daughter) go to a local restaurant in the village of Sully called The Boat House. We'd been there before on Mother's Day and when my mother suggested a return visit none of us minded.

And the food was, let's say it, magnificent. If we focused on the main course I and daughter had the beef, wife had the chicken and mother had the lamb. We all loved it as well as the Yorkshires, the cauliflower cheese and all the other [insert ingredients here] that you would expect from a pub lunch.

I remember once reading jazz criticism by Philip Larkin focusing particularly on a piece about Louis Armstrong. And roughly what he said was that Armstrong was not an innovator. He did exactly what a thousand and one other jazz musicians were doing at that time. Just that he was a thousand and one times better. The Boat House was exactly the same. Nothing experimental. Just miles better.

But the thing you see is this. When we finished we all were full to bursting on moving towards the car park. Michelin man and his family wobbling to the vehicle.

For the rest of that Sunday we were hardly able to raise a laugh we were so bloated.

So, as the question of the title puts it, can a restaurant be too good?

You might blame us for eating to much. But it wasn't as if we'd asked for second helpings. We'd eaten what was literally on the plate. Indeed we were so full none of us had the courage to go for dessert. So we weren't really gluttonous. The restaurant did their side of the bargain as well. For a reasonable charge they gave us (really) good food.

And yet we were all bloated and unable to do anything beyond watching TV and making the occasional cup of tea until nature in it's own way eventually processed what we ate (I'll spare you the details).

Is becoming bloated billys the price for enjoying the food at a restaurant? Or should you just downgrade your tastebuds to a lesser establishment?

All I know is. Whoever can square the circle between good food and a comfortable belly will never need to work again.

Until the next time.

Why Science Is A Tool For Welsh Enslavement

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

We have chatted before about the arrogant incompetence of Welsh Labour government in this blog and how an important example is education. Labour, it cannot be stressed enough, having been so disastrous in this subject the current minister is now a Liberal Democrat.

Incompetent management of the available opportunities will damage not just Welsh children but also Wales as a whole possibly for generations unless this failure is addressed.For the moment let's focus on science.

Now I'm not a scientist. I can look like one easily. I wear glasses and talk about anything as if I know what I'm talking about. All I really need is that white coat they all wear. Presumably white so that whoever does their laundry doesn't have them to split them up.

But I do know that if there are less people that will take up science because of the incompetent way Welsh Labour has managed education then Wales will be damaged. Furthermore assuming it does happen if it turns out to be a long dark Brexit of the soul then many jobs will be lost in the few laboratories Wales has as the facilities are moved within the EU.

Thus the possibility Wales will become a science wasteland cannot be overlooked.

But let's take it further. Do you think Westminster will allow scientific investment in Wales? Of course not. For science means knowledge and the lack of knowledge will mean a people venerable to exploitation.

Teachers in science subjects will have difficulty teaching because kids will ask what is the point of learning a subject that there will be few opportunities of moving forward. Investment in science will need to be a fundamental tenet of  Plaid Cymru policy.

So let's be clear. Not everyone is a scientist. I'm certainly not one. But everyone should have the chance to be should they wish it. Investment in science will need her to be.

Until the next time.

A Bank Holiday. Starring Serie A, Tidying Up, Sunday Supplements and Bubble and Squeak

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Easter Monday then. And surprisingly it was a bright day. No surprises though for regular readers then that whilst wife spent the morning visiting a friend and daughter did some more exam revision I was staying in watching football. Though to be fair was doing some paperwork/tidying up as well.

After all was it not my wife who only the day before was moaning about the amount of programmes on the DVR hard drive? Since I wasn't working that day perhaps electronic spring cleaning was in order.

Tidying up and watching football. Who says men can't multitask?

I also made the decision just to watch Serie A games today. The oldest dated 31 March. So it did seem reasonable given opportunity had knocked.

So the first game was Bologna Sassuolo . Important for Bologna given their fight against relegation.

Meanwhile I needed to clear my bulging wallet.

Don't be fooled, More receipts than money!

It was seemingly a dull match until a penalty was awarded to the home team. Their normal penalty taker Eric Polgar was on the subs bench. What happens? He gets brought on! Thankfully for him he scores. Goodness only knows how he would've walked the streets of Bologna if the ball hadn't gone into the back of the net.

In injury time Sassuolo equalise. 1-1 you might think it will remain but no. Another sub equalises with a header from a corner. 2-1 Bologna is how it finished. And for the neutral like me it was a good game.

Second match then Inter Milan vs Lazio. Now trust me on this. Italians know instinctively what constitutes style and what doesn't. But there are moments where the people who make the decisions fall ill and go mad. This is the only logical explanation for why the match officials were dressed in a colour best described as motorway maintenance. With their luminous tops and black shorts they looked like marker pens on legs

Meanwhile I'm also going through the weekend paper supplements I've been keeping for months. Including one for the Mail on Sunday! It was offered to me by someone from work? Why did I accept? Was it Caroline Flack telling us that she's proud to be a cougar? No.

Is it to read something Piers Morgan has written  (and I use the term loosely) ? No.

It's their Slimming World supplement. I'm thinking I need to slim and it'll help me. Of course being from the Mail group it doesn't. After all here's the thing. Why is it ingredients for recipes to help you slim always include things that are not easily obtainable from your local store. Baby spinach. Butternut squash. I mean come on!

Lazio score the only goal of the game with a header from a man who goes under the name of Malkovitch-Savage....as you do. It was the only goal of the game and the first Lazio victory away to Inter for many years. Their man of the match was their goalkeeper Handovic who kept it that way.

I find the bookmark ruler daughter gave me for my birthday. No 1 Dad it says. Reminds me when many years ago she asked me for a ruler. "Queen Elizabeth the first" was my reply.

She wasn't impressed. I thought it was funny.

There's a Spring catalogue for Debenhams. Boy that's hard to read now.

Sampdoria A C Milan and the officials here are wearing the other colour in the luminous canon. Bright pink. The other notable colour was the red face of the  A C Milan goalkeeper who passed the ball straight to the rushing Sampdoria player De Frel who scored. That was the only goal of the game.

A C Milan are back for the final game as is the wife. She wants to cook Bubble and Squeak. I've no problem with that. We have a visitor. A wasp. Both wife and daughter are frightened. There seems to be a genetic thing of the stronger the woman the more scared she is of small animals.

Wife grabs a insect thing in the shape of a tennis racket to electrocute them to death. I've got a Sunday supplement with a Jason Issacs interview. Jason kills him. When another wasp enters I just get on with it and with Mr Issacs' help kill that one as well.

Milan's opponents are Udinese and all seems well. They score and are in control of the game even when their goalkeeper is substituted due to injury. The food arrives. It's lovely and filling. Decide to watch the first half, have a siesta and then go for the second

Lunch

I wake up. Still match seems to be going Milan's way. That is until from a cross Lasagna , a player of many layers, equalises for Udinese. He actually had the chance to win subsequently but didn't have the beef to see it through.

Relaxing - Excuse the hairy leg!

Four Serie A matches in one day. Now that's the way to spend a bank holiday (with added tidying up of course).

Until the next time.

Why Football Support Is Not A Welsh Nationalist Issue

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

At a club level Welsh football occupies a particularly freakish position. After all there is a local pyramid structure and we've chatted about these games in the past. But we have a small number of clubs who play in the English league structure primarily Cardiff City, Newport County, Swansea City and Wrexham.

But on Twitter recently I've seen a relatively common complaint. That people could slag off England at country level and yet support at club level a team playing in the English leagues. In other words if you support an English team you're not truly Welsh.

To me football support is not a Welsh Nationalist issue and it needs to be addressed.

Now I can see this argument if you were born say in Cardiff or Swansea for example. I've always felt that you should support the closest team from where you were born wherever life takes you otherwise. That's why my first love will always be West Ham United.

But despite being born in the East End I've known members of my family who pick, excuse me whilst I hold my nose, the North London Arsenal as their team. So this "glory seeking" is not necessarily a Welsh issue.

Furthermore you could argue why should you support Cardiff if Aston Villa say is the closest team from where you were born?

There is actually a simple solution. As regular readers of this blog will know whilst West Ham is first amongst equals I've always believed that watching other leagues are more interesting when you support a particular team. Thus I follow in no particular order Barcelona, Celtic, Fiorentina, Paris St Germain, Ton Pentre and Werder Bremen.

There is no reason therefore that the Welsh football fan could not pick the closest team from the Welsh football pyramid from where he/she was born as well as a team from the English league and support them both. By doing that if you don't live near Cardiff, Newport Swansea or Wrexham you will have the chance of actually going to watch a game (which will of course be cheaper). You are not betraying either team as they play in different leagues.

And by supporting a Welsh team Welsh league club football will improve. I'm not saying you'll be watching Barcelona. But different leagues are not unlike food. I like bacon, eggs and chips. But I also like Spaghetti. There is a different taste to different leagues. It's still football though.

Of course at an international level the Welsh football fan should always support Wales.

Whilst I of course (for reasons I've explained last year) will always root for England first.

Until the next time.

How Plaid Cymru Can Win Most Welsh Seats In The European Election

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I get it. The European elections in May are probably the most pointless in the history of Britain. Certainly it'll be the case if Brexit happens. Vote for an elected body that the United Kingdom will (let's assume this for now) leave in October. What's the point of that? Why bother?

So a lot of people will probably not bother to vote. And this is dangerous for democracy.

In Wales of the four available seats opinion polls suggest that Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, formed when UKIP moved to the right of Ghengis Khan will win two of them, Plaid Cymru one and Labour one. You can see why this will happen. Most people will react in the way I suggested earlier and not bother to vote. But Brexiteers, those people who belive in it to the point of fundamentalism will. And so whoever they will vote in a general election they'll vote for Farage for this one.

If the poll results are shown to be correct those who want Brexit will see as a vindication of their cause and will go on to the mainstream media to be bang on about just leaving the EU in October in whatever the form it will be. No matter what the economic damage to families across this disunited kingdom turns out to be.

So in Wales it is important that Plaid Cymru battles against Farage and the more polished face of right wing politics. I do believe that Welsh politics is slowly moving into a war between these two forces and that the two main Unionist parties are slowly losing their grip here. This really is just a small battle in the greater fight for independence. But it's still a battle.

Therefore this is what I believe Plaid Cymru should do:

1) Make the case that whatever happens in the Brexit negotiations Plaid Cymru is the party best served to represent the interests  of Wales in Europe: 

We were after all supposed to have left the EU and discovered the joys of living in pre democratic Albania in March, then June and now the end of October. All of this because of the fundamental flaw in the entire referendum that people were voting for the destination when the route to get there was not clearly explained.

So no one can be sure whether we will be leaving in October (or indeed whether there will be a second referendum - though this is unlikely at time of writing). But whether we do or not Plaid Cymru needs to say that neither the Brexit Party, Labour and certainly not the Tories will work for Wales during this period. No one elected as a Plaid Cymru MEP will treat it as a long continental break before the break-up. 

The other parties will follow their London HQ views whatever it's effects on Wales. Plaid Cymru will work for the Welsh interest only. It's important that this difference is highlighted.

2) Make the campaign not just about the EU:

I have seen an article via Twitter that suggests The Brexit Party will replace the NHS with private health insurance. Now whilst that may be more honest with regard to the Health Service after Brexit than that infamous bus it's still a relatively quiet position in relation to everything else.

Plaid should make the Brexit Party's position on other policies clear. Make it not the people's party as it would like to make out. Highlight the unpopular aspects behind the smiling mask of Farage's face.

And Plaid should not be afraid to speak about independence in these elections. That it is Plaid and only Plaid that offers the true and viable alternative to the fundamentalist right wing or the tired mainstream unionist parties.

3) Personalities are important too:

I've made it clear in this blog that I voted for Leanne Wood to be leader of Plaid Cymru and was disappointed (still am) that she lost. I wish she was leader now.

That having been said Adam Price is not only the leader of Plaid Cymru and also the leader as well. After all what's the alternative for Wales? Farage? Mark "Jeremy's disciple" Drakeford? Chucky Cairns? The Leader of UKIP Mr Creepy and the unknown inconsequential shadow moving slowly across the country that is the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats?

So it is the case that The Price Is Right for Wales. When he speaks there is a man who is leader of his party and not beholden to another across a bridge. He will need (as I'm sure he will) to campaign across Wales to emphasise the point.

4) Have a separate campaign targeting the youth vote:

Anecdotally the policy of independence is gaining traction amongst the young people in Wales. Plaid Cymru should use the election as a try out for general elections in having a separate campaign amongst them. It is they who do not as a rule follow the Tories but will be less influenced by the history of Welsh Labour than their incompetent present. 

Their votes are important. Not just  in May but also for future elections and a referendum on independence.

As I said it's a small battle in the fight for independence. There will be greater confrontations to come. But it's still a battle to be fought.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac's Meanderings Post : We Might As Well Call It Easter Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well it's 5:06am as I'm writing this and it's Easter Sunday. As an atheist the day means nothing to me. Indeed I don't even worship the god chocolate. But I have the day off work. And I'm awake this early. If I'm inclined to believe any god exists at all it's whoever is the god of sleep. For I know too well he (or she) is messing with me.

Mind you whatever I think of Christianity the bombings in Sri Lanka are an outrage. Whatever my opinions of Christianity people indulging in non violent worship should be subjected to the threat of death. The world is polarising itself. If allowed to continue it will not end well.

Going out to a pub dinner today. Otherwise there are no settled plans for the next couple of days. Certainly not going to the Barry Island for the beach which regular readers know isn't my thing and let's face it will be packed anyway given it has been hot this weekend.

Throughout Wales there has been "Cofiwch Dryweryn" signs in solidarity when the original sign remembering the village flooded in North Wales to provide Liverpool with water had been vandalised. It's another sign that the forces of Welsh independence are on the rise, as is the extreme right as well. Wouldn't be surprised if the vandalism towards the sign was linked to the graffiti daubed outside a Plaid Cymru office recently.

Have just bought (in the past half hour) Moab Is My Washpot. The first part of Stephen Fry's autobiography. E readers can make you do that. Even on a Sunday morning. And let's be clear here, it was 99p.

It's daylight now. Weird waking up so early. Waking up to a day where barring one thing you really don't have any plans but can't make them as the other people in your family are asleep. Perhaps it's a waste of a day. But I reckon more the fact I'm awake means the waste of sleep.

It's 6:46am now. I feel that Sri Lanka will dominate my thoughts now. I really don't know what to say..

Until the next time.

So In This Holy Weekend Here's A Question. Does Atheism Fuel My Welsh Nationalism?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So it's Good Friday and instead of going to Damascus I'm instead driving along the sunny A48 road to Bridgend for work. I'm listening to a BBC Radio 4 documentary I've downloaded on the writer Christopher Hitchens. An essayist and journalist who I chatted about almost at the very beginning of this blog oh those many years (three) ago.

In it Hitchens defends the rights of homosexuals to live their lives without any pressure from the Catholic church. That part alone was worth a listen to in an enthralling programme about a man who you might disagree with but would always feel stimulated by.

However just before that attack against church anti-gay behaviour there was a speaker who said that atheists (that Hitchens became) live their lives fuelled with a purpose that drives them. Or else family and loved ones asides life becomes pointless if you believe (as I do) that when you die nothing is going to happen other than you're going to be dumped into a glorified biological scrapheap that is a cemetery.

And that got me thinking to the title of this post. Does Atheism fuel my Welsh nationalism?

So let's say straight away that I'm not saying that those who believe in a particular religion cannot be nationalists. That would be stupid. It is just whether in the relatively short time I have on this planet (and as I'm fifty five even shorter) there is something subconscious in me to try and make the area around me better than it is now. Better indeed than it will probably be in the near future because of Brexit.

After all Welsh nationalism believes that a country should be free to make it's own decisions and yes make it's own mistakes as well, But since Brexit has shown the supposed mother of all parliaments and it's government at Westminster have been so inept they've made Laurel and Hardy seem like skilled operators in comparison then why not?

Now that this question has been lodged in my brain since yesterday I think that being an atheist has fuelled my Welsh nationalism. Outside of family it has given me a purpose. A goal. Whether people will remember me when I've gone who knows? But I will know that in my tiny, tiny way I have tried to make Wales a better place.

And I realise now that atheism has given me the push to do that.

Bridgend Town. The Urban Tragedy Is Getting Worse

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It has been a while since I've been able to wander round Bridgend Town, a subject that I've chatted about since this blog began. Explaining how a proud place is being brought to it's knees by the arrogant incompetence of the Welsh Labour council.

Well on as always an admittedly unscientific wander round on Wednesday I can only say that things are actually getting worse.

Even the good news isn't really that good. What was the Co-op bank has now been replaced by a Vape shop. Now I've nothing against the Vape shop personally, though I don't smoke. but you know when something is wrong with a town when the opening of such a shop is good news.

Similarly the Phones 4 U shop which has been untouched since the chain when into administration in 2014? Well the hoardings were being taken down. However the TO LET signs were still there. Which suggests that it's the latest in the line of unoccupied stores still seeking a retailer. Plenty of those in the town. But as I've said before it's literally glossing over the cracks. It's like giving a homeless guy a smart suit.

So again it makes this decision odd.

The Old McDonald's Store

Build flats for social housing. Great. But over shops when there are plenty of already empty ones in the town? Makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

(Though on the issue of homeless people it's the first time I've seen them in Bridgend aside from selling The Big Issue - Only a couple. But the fact they were there in a small place like Bridgend Town should give you an idea of how bad British society has become)

So as I've said the urban tragedy is getting worse. Let's start with this.

Empty Again

This store was closed down. Opened again last year and has now closed again. To be honest I thought it was in trouble when I last did a similar post in January but didn't mention it as I didn't want to be seen wishing it's decline. I'd noticed that whilst it was the Sales season they seemed to be discounting everything. Not a good sign. Unfortunately some times my instinct is right.

You may remember that one of the few rays of hope was the Bridgend Indoor Market (run by the council) where investment had resulted in a slight increase in stalls. Well nothing seemed to have changed from my last visit. Which is not good.

There still vast swathes of empty stalls and it still has this to deal with.

Christmas....in April

Christmas decorations in April does not help the image of the market or the town. I've contacted the council to see if anything can be done (after all they've been up there for a year and a quarter now). But in all honesty I don't see much hope.

And speaking of things left up for about a year.

That bunting's been up for about a year

I mean there's really no excuse for the council just to get someone to just go and get it down now is there? Ah no perhaps there is. Just like last year the council have organised a World War II event for June. Why? Who knows? Perhaps it's to show everyone Britain after Brexit?

The organisers will say people will come into the town for the event. And perhaps they will. But as last year's events show they will not return if there's nothing different to return to. They really are a waste of money.

Let's talk about a couple of stores together:

A Store My Mother Liked

and

This really was unexpected

Now I know what some of you and the Welsh Labour council will say. Evans and Oxfam have been closing stores throughout Britain. This is not a Bridgend problem.

But you see it is. For if you create a situation, which Labour have done and which I've discussed many times previously, where less people want to come to the town unless necessary, then retail profits will go down. If you're a national chain in difficulties and need to close down stores therefore Bridgend makes itself venerable. Their closure means less people will go to the town which will make ( ouside of Aldi, Asda and Tesco) the situation of remaining shops even more perilous.

It's a vicious circle. Created by Welsh Labour.

In the Rhiw Shopping Centre (which I wonder whether it would have a future without W H Smith) there has been this closure since my last visit.

They were Insurance brokers

They were insurance brokers and have moved to Swansea.

Finally I'll leave you with this.

And this time I'm not going to talk about the statue

Behind the statue are the public toilets, or rather were the public toilets. They were closed down in January. I've written before if you are desperate now you have to go to the nearby ASDA go up an escalator and cross the first floor before reaching the loos there.

Difficult enough if you're able bodied. But to my shame it hadn't occurred to me until Wednesday that Disabled toilets have also been closed (the door on the left of the picture). That trip would obviously be even more difficult. Hence another reason for people to avoid Bridgend Town.

As it's Good Friday I was toying about whether or not to end the post this way but I will.

Truly the Welsh Labour Council have crucified the town.

Until the next time.

In Which I Visit A Hospital Over The Heath

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I was asked by someone we know to travel with that person to the University College Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. Also known to locals as the Heath. It was really so that person didn't travel alone. Had no problems with it so I said yes. Goes without saying that the person's condition and the result of the appointment is a private matter, so I won't chat about it further.

The first thing to say about the hospital is judged purely on it's appearance it's the worst hospital I've ever seen. It seems to be modelled on Nineteen sixties/seventies council tower blocks just seemingly even more soulless. I wish I could've taken pictures to illustrate my point but to be honest I'd have been too conspicuous. It is big and it is busy.

No matter. As they say it's what's inside that counts and as we went in there was a small array of shops. A Boots, a gift shop, two coffee outlets, a Christian bookshop and of course a W H Smith which I went into to get a magazine and a bite to eat.

This is what I got.

The Most First World Thing I've Bought For A Long While

So obviously there are two things to say here. Firstly yes we're so close to buying the house I could almost lick the paint off the front door.

But secondly perhaps W H Smith should reconsider it's magazine stock policy. After all imagine you're stuck in a hospital for a while. Do you want visitors to give home magazines like this one along with the grapes and flowers? Or the gardening mags, or worse of all the food ones? It's as if you've been taunted in print. "Look what others can do whilst you're stuck in bed"

Really W H Smith don't think many people are going to get better reading them do you?

Anyway whilst I had my sandwich it was time to go with my companion for the appointment. As we were walking though I noticed this picture of Welsh hero and founder of the NHS Aneurin Bevan.

As paintings go - Not great

Anyway whilst the patient went in for the consultation I was left alone to my devices. Ironically the BBC soap opera Doctors was on the TV in the waiting room. Timing is everything.

I read the novel You by Carolyn Kepnes for a bit. Tried to listen to a downloaded documentary on Dusty Springfield for a little bit. But it didn't work. I was sleepy. Why is it that going to the hospital as a sort of prop for the actual patient makes me want to sleep nowadays? Or is it that the insomnia is just playing games on a Monday afternoon?

But after about an hour of tests and chats with the consultant the actual patient is out of the consultant's office. More tests are needed later month, but things actually seem promising. Relief all round.

So we leave the hospital designed by committee happier than when we came in. For whatever it's grim exterior, the point about the NHS is that you know there are human beings trying to look after your welfare within.

Until the next time.

So Here's A Question. What Do You Call A Twitter Coward?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Here's the thing. I've dealt with Marcus Stead at @MarcusStead before. He holds some pretty obnoxious views on the Welsh language and I went for him on it. I didn't let me stress tweet abuse but I made it perfectly clear that both he and his views were idiotic.

So having made these forceful views how did he respond? He blocked me.

But now I learn from other Twitter accounts that Mr Stead has moved on from the Welsh language to the issue of Period poverty. He has stated (from a screen dump from other Twitter accounts) that people should stop "this nonsense" about people not being able to afford to give their daughters breakfast or sanitary towels as their price (for three packs) was exactly the same as a bag of porridge (£1). Both prices being taken from shopping at Home Bargains.

Now I'm not going to go into detail discussing this argument given that I'm a man so I really don't feel qualified. I will though say in passing that even if his tweet was 100% accurate (and that's a debate) not everybody lives near a Home Bargains store.

But really unless you're in the medical profession or a widower looking after daughters any man who shows any form of interest in Ladies sanitary products is not just unqualified to discuss them but also weird. And if you think that's sexist I suspect most women would feel the same way.

If past behaviour is any judge I'll suspect that Mr Stead has received many tweets attacking his provocative comment and I will also guess that he will proceed to block them.

Now as I've stressed there is a difference between attacking someone's comments and abuse. But if you've been prepared to make tweets that would incite anger in response then you should really just accept it. Blocking people in these circumstances is just cowardly.

So in such circumstances then what do call a Twitter coward?

Well given that it has to be something yellow and avian there really is only one answer.

A Twitter coward is a canary.

Until the next time.

In Marriage/Partnerships Women Follow The Cold Feet Rule

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today,

As a husband of nearly twenty one years let me tell you a secret I've learned.

Women follow the Cold Feet rule.

In the ITV comedy drama Cold Feet (the first five series - some of the best things I've seen on TV ever - not the rebooted ones which are just not the same) there is a scene where the blonde sophisticated Karen rebukes Rachael for taking in her estranged husband causing Adam (her partner) to move out.

Basically she tells her friend that as a rule women do not like being told what to do by their partners and normally leads them to do the exact opposite.

To my experience women instinctively follow this view. And normally (let's be clear here) it puts them in good stead.

However what they forget is that in that scene Karen went on to say that in the particular circumstance her friend Rachael and Adam found themselves in she was 100% behind her friend's partner.

In other words that, occasionally, men can be right.

I'm reminded of all of this by what happened yesterday afternoon. Wife wanted to check the oil in her car and asked for my help. I was happy to give it. Checking what's under the bonnet of any car, including the mighty Kia Picanto which I drive, is not something I'm expert at as regular readers will know. But I did know about the two groove thing on the dipstick and so was happy to do it.

We checked the oil. It was between the grooves. It was groovy.

But almost by magic she produced a bottle of water and having put some in the correct part of the container she put some more in another part of the bonnet thinking that it was the washer for the back windscreen. Even in my ignorance of car under the bonnet magic I knew she was wrong and told her not to do it.

Following the Cold Feet Rule she did it anyway. However she only bit a little bit in. For something I expect within told her that I might actually be right.

And on checking the manual it showed I was right. For she had added water to the brake fluid.

We drove to the nearby Halfords. Amazingly still open and the mechanic was helpful. He told us that the wife had put too little water in for there to have been damage to the brakes. Things were fine. We were relieved.

Mind you I wish I could say I wasn't smug for the rest of the day.....but I can't...regular readers would know me too well.

Until the next time.

The Near Midnight Meanderings On A Movie With A Microwave Meal Part 18: The Greatest Show On Earth (1952)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

If it wasn't for this mad exercise in going through every film in the Radio Times Film Guide (2013) I probably would have never seen Cecil B De Mille's The Greatest Show On Earth. And that would have been a pity. For though it's not the best film of those I've seen so far for this task, nor indeed is it the best film of that year (I'll come to that later) I did like it.

Charlton Heston plays the manager of a touring Circus. Now whilst I might not have agreed with some of his political views he was an actor I've always liked. A sort of intellectual John Wayne. Capable of dealing with villains but having characters that were more complex than "the Duke's". In this he is stock character in a movie number one. The man's man. Capable of railroading business men to agreeing to his demands and having women whimper to him.

Stock character in a movie number two is Heston's loving but frustrated girlfriend played by Betty Hutton.

Stock character in a movie number three is the loud, flamboyant womanising French star of the circus Sebastian. Or rather "The Great Sebastian". Played by Cornel Wilde.

Stock character in a movie number four is the main female character's sassy friend. Played here by Gloria Grahame. I always liked her. You could tell from the screen what she was in real life which was an unique individual.

There are other characters of course James Stewart plays "Bubbles". The clown with a secret. Probably the only real cliché main character. He's noticeable here by only wearing clown make-up for the entire movie. An effect which can only be described as creepy. There's also a criminally wasted Dorothy Lamour. There for a bit of singing and dancing but not really for much else.

So rather in the fashion of Airport you have separate stories that slowly merge together. As I think you already know it's a type of film I like.

The thing though is this. I called the four main characters "stock" that you would see in many other movies. And it is true. But this film was capable of moving them into directions that you didn't expect. Making them believable as human beings.

(A quick note about the screenplay. It was co written by Barre Lyndon. A name which I just knew was a pseudonym. Turns out Barre was English (though he became an American citizen). If it wasn't for the name being obviously false I'd have never guessed the writer was born in England)

Cecil B De Mille was a director known for spending a lot of money on movies. Whilst not cheap you can see here that corners were cut in this film. So presumably he knew how to follow a budget as well.

One thing that needs to be mentioned here is that rather like the recent Fighting With My Family there is acknowledgement of the assistance of the Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey Circus in this film. Some of the businessmen are credited including a "Director Of Performance" (whatever he did).

So it explains a portion of the film that shows actual performers in action. At the time it was probably one long ad for the circus. Now I suspect it's one of the few records of their craft.

It needs to be remembered that as it was made in the nineteen fifties it gives a picture of circus life as it was then. Whilst the circus still exist (one in the Vale Of Glamorgan this week) certainly in Britain it's changed since when I was a child (most noticeably the ban on animals) and I suspect in America as well. So it's showing a way of life which in that form no longer exists.

What I didn't know until afterwards was that the film won an Academy award for best picture. Controversial even now because some of the other films in this category included High Noon, The Quiet Man and Singing In The Rain. Those films I have seen, and let's be clear here. They are better.

But that doesn't mean The Greatest Show On Earth is a bad film. As I said at the beginning I liked it. And of the films I've seen so far in this mad idea of mine it's the one that's most exceeded expectations.

Until the next time.

Judged On Choice Probably The Most Stupidest Library Book I've Ever Borrowed

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Regular readers will know that as I'm a domestic wolf a phobic my only real interest in dogs is how to avoid them because I was chased by an Alsatian (I'll never call then German shepherds) as a child. So when I looked at the library for the next choice to borrow in my daft ambition to read as many books as possible there I thought long and hard before picking it up being next on the shelf.

But I did.

Yes I Know....

So let's start with the bad news. This is a readable book (published in 2016)about the "partnership between humans and dogs". Ms Humble not only obviously loves her subject matter (she has three of the wolves), she can write about it interestingly as well. Furthermore living in Wales (well certainly at the time of the book's publication) she shows credible respect for the history and the Welsh language.

It was odd reading this how other books that I've chatted about in this blog come back into play. Ms Humble trains as a shepherdess, one of the reasons being to teach her border collie to be a sheep dog. I remembered Emma Grey's amiable book (with the all too glamorous cover) of doing the same thing in Northumbria. Similarly when discussing how dogs can help some people with addition (along with the chapter regarding guide dogs a point I really cannot argue with) I recalled the artist's John Dolan's  John & George.

But let's be clear about sheepdogs they are also guard dogs confining the sheep from escaping the farm. Ms Humble recounts how a group of sheep escaped and became feral. And when I mean I mean feral I mean getting as far away from humans as possible given that you don't have any money for a bus ticket and quietly just eating grass. Of course feral when applied to dogs would mean them reverting to wolves.

A plan was drawn up to capture these dangerous sheep. You know what it was called? Operation mint sauce. No wonder they wanted to escape.

Reading this chapter did make me wonder whether there is a parallel world where the sheep have taken over and dogs plead their innocence by saying "I was only following orders".

I should mention in passing that this book did emphasise my ignorance of the animal world. Apparently there's a Wolf Science Centre in Vienna. Good. Keep it there.

But ultimately for those of us who are afraid of dogs one thing above all comes into play.

They bite.

So if you love dogs read it. You will like it.

If you don't love dogs you'll pass it anyway.

If you don't love dogs but have this mad wish to read every book in your local library (whilst they still exist) then don't bother. I've done that job for you.

Until the next time.

Plaid Cymru's Foothold With Ex Labour Voters

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The byelection last week notwithstanding you are getting a sense of momentum towards Plaid Cymru at the moment in Wales. Local government by elections have resulted in the party gaining seats where they have never gotten them before.

Yesterday (Thursday) it was the turn of the Court Ward in Barry. Plaid won the seat (for the first time) with 47% of the vote. Easily beating Labour with just 34%.

Now no one, least of all me will say that there wouldn't be obstacles and setbacks along the way. But what these by election results show is that Labour's biggest fear in Wales, that Plaid will eat into it's core vote, is beginning to happen.

What is happening, I would argue is a combination of things, but primarily no longer do Welsh voters accept the Labour core argument of looking at their past performance and not their current one of the arrogant incompetence of the establishment. They are looking for an acceptable alternative and that is what Plaid represents.

It is why Labour attack Plaid Cymru often. They know this.

Labour in Wales have lived off the mindset of the past for years. The fact that, albeit slowly, it's being chipped away is good for Wales let alone Plaid Cymru.

And if you add Plaid Cymru's local council by election successes across Wales with the attack on their Caenarfon office yesterday what you're getting is a sense that no longer are people looking at them as an irrelevance. They are taken seriously.

This might be the moment where people will look back and mark the date as when the march towards independence truly gathered momentum.

Until the next time.

"Mindless Violence" To A Plaid Cymru Office? I Don't Think So

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The North Wales Chronicle yesterday ran an article on the defacement of the Plaid Cymru office in Caernarfon where "Scum" was spray painted onto the door.

The Plaid Cymru Arfon MP Hywel Williams stated that it was an act of "mindless violence". Well everything I'm going to write about is pure conjecture. But I disagree with him.

"Mindless violence" suggests an action random in both intent and action. But the buildings around the office were not targeted. Just the Plaid office. Also by spray painting the word "Scum" onto the office it expressed an opinion as to Plaid Cymru and the people who worked there.

So it might have been a spur of the moment thing. But let's be clear. The office was targeted.

Therefore the question that needs to be asked is why?

Well I'm going to guess that the actions were done by a person/group on the extreme right wing of insanity. Let's assume a group.

They will feel that as the major Unionist parties are rocking at post Brexit fallout people will come to them as an alternative. However within Wales Plaid Cymru is also an alternative. Independence is an alternative strategy to mindless violence and blaming all the ills befalling Wales on the residual continent across the seas.

They are frightened.

And so you could argue (and I am) that if it wasn't for the effect on the workers in that office as well as their family and friends that the attack on the office is a good thing. For it means that the cause of independence in Wales is rising and taking effect. Even those who (even now) still believe in a disunited kingdom are noticing it.

And yes that is a good thing.

Until the next time.

On Taking a Wolfe On A Train And Other Meanderings Of Penarth To Cardiff Return

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It has been a long while since I've used the train. In fact I can't actually remember when that was. However this Tuesday afternoon daughter and I took a journey from Penarth to Cardiff Central and back.

Daughter was having an interview with the local college with regard to the next stage of her education once she knows the results of the exams she'll be having soon. I mention it just to explain the purpose of the trip. I won't say anything further on it as that's her business.

Penarth station then. Surprisingly small for a place popular with suburbanites. Just one platform. Must be packed at morning rush hour. Luckily for us it was early afternoon where there are few more peaceful things than a station at this time.

Surprisingly Peaceful

But eventually of course a train did come in. A small few carriages suburban job.

Of  Interest To Anoraks Only

I mentioned in the title that I brought a Wolfe onto the train. I didn't lie.



Now I'll chat about this properly when I've finished reading it but Nero Wolfe was a fat agrophobic private detective who got others to do the legwork but then was able to work out whodunnit.

He's not unlike Perry Mason in that he's literary fast food. Though I must be honest that whilst I can't remember why I do recall not liking the two books I read decades ago. Let's hope now I've aged my views have changed.

Also a quick word about the actor on the cover playing Nero in a subsequent TV series (which I never saw). He is William Conrad. As a child in the seventies I watched  him play fat private detective Frank Cannon which was shown on BBC1 on a Friday night ("A Quinn Martin production"). .From the late eighties for five years he also was cast as a Private investigator in Jake And The Fat man. I'll leave it to you to work out who he played.

So you see typecasting...

Back to the train. No idea how old it was but if the general wheezing was a guide it should cut down the fags quickly.  Eventually though after much huffing, puffing and general gasping for air (so much so it stopped for a few minutes) we eventually reached Cardiff Central.

Geography now. If you leave Cardiff Central by the front you're in the city centre. If you leave it by the back however you're in Grangetown. A place that does not really have a good reputation but I don't know it well enough to properly comment on it. Our walk around the college seemed to suggest a place with a curious mixture of Industrial units and Care homes (to be accurate Care apartment books).

But every place has hidden gems that make you stop and stare. I give this example of urban art.

Grangetown Style

And this. Small I'd grant you but I liked it.

A little bit of Italy in Cardiff

There's not much to say about the return trip. The train still wheezed along. Perhaps like cigarette packets it should be ordered to be painted black until it sounds better.

Until the next time.

The Near Midnight MLS Meanderings Over A Microwave Meal Part 1: Toronto Football Club vs New York City Football Club

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I like Major League Soccer from North America. It has things that irritates. I don't like the lack of promotion and relegation. Neither do I like the television coverage can be just too American sometimes.

(One example I was watching this game when suddenly the commentator said "This corner is brought to you by Visa". No No No No and NO!!!! The corner was brought to you by the guy who kicked it. No one else!)

But, especially in a year where there's no World Cups or Euros, it does give you competitive games during the summer months. So I do appreciate it. That was until a few years back when it suddenly went to what was the Rupert Murdoch's SKY and that was that.

It's now back though and on the free to air Freesports channel as well. So like the movies I watch after coming home late at night and expertly pinging a microwave meal I'm going to include MLS matches in this as well. And when I chat about them they'll be weeks after the event as well. Mad? Well yes. But I hope a bit of meandering fun in an uncertain world.

The first match then. Toronto FC vs New York City Football Club. The latter part of the Kuwaiti financed Manchester City football empire. I would have thought that they would have been the favourites for this game but apparently not. Especially as the commentator said that they'd lost their previous three matches. Something was not right with the colony then.

Apparently the idea is to develop the younger players through a competitive league before bringing them back to "Mother Manchester". Or something like that anyway. But not sure how you can develop a team through regular defeats.

Throughout the game the commentators (the analyst was Scottish - I think Steve Nicholl) kept on talking about the teams in acronyms. Why? Why can't you say "Toronto" often or "New York City"? People aren't fools they know what you mean. Even in America I don't hear people describing the Boston Red Sox as "BRS" or the New York Giants as "NYG" so why do it here?

And another thing. The (I assume) English commentator called Chile (pronounced in England as in "Chilly") "Chilay". What? It's as if he was ordering at some Latin American themed restaurant and was trying to impress a girl. I'd leave the North American pronunciation to North Americans if I was him.

Most of the first half seemed a quiet affair. I was, I won't lie tempted to fast forward the action (I resisted, honest) but it was clear that Toronto was the better team. Twice they'd put the ball in the back of the net only for it to have been deemed offside.

Always amazes me that when drinks ads are banned from Football shirts and hoardings for any influence on children Americans don't seem to have any problems in doing so. Hence I now know what Toronto's number one selling vodka is. However there was also a hoarding which was saying "Budweiser. This Bud's for you". Now surely that means that Budweiser are giving that bud for the customer free? That's how I read it anyway

Then towards the end of the first half at last a goal. Alejandro Pozuelo, Toronto's "designated player" dances along the left wing avoiding lame New York City defending and crosses to Jozy Altidore in the box who, after discovering that he has so much space he could start a farm slots it into the box.

1-0 Toronto then. Indeed in the first half I could only one New York City chance. A shot so wide satellites would be sent to track it down. Still as the half finished 1-0 was still the score and New York knew they had a chance to get back come the second half.

The second half though was more of the same. First there was a penalty when Altidore's shirt was pulled in the box. Pozuelo chipped it over the keeper. 2-0.

But Pozuelo had more chips than a cheating poker player when on open play he chipped the keeper again. 3-0.

And to add insult to injury when Pozuelo was substituted to a standing ovation in the last minutes of the game Toronto still added another goal to the tally. 4-0.

In the second half New York City had one chance that hit the post. That really was it. They really don't have the aura Mother Manchester has. And I bet she wasn't pleased at the final score.

Wonder what the empire will do to sort it out.

Until the next time.

I Wonder If There's A German Word For It?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

One of the few German words non speakers know is schadenfreude which means the joy in the misery of others. Something close, but not quite, happened to me in the past couple of days.

So I come to work and the person I'm replacing for the afternoon/evening is looking good. There's a particular task that has to be done but that person couldn't do it at the time. So I instead had to do it.

The thing was that if I eventually did this task it would look good on me. Even if I couldn't finish it no blame would fall on me. And for those particular days whilst I still had my main job to do other peripheral tasks were to be ignored.

So in other words win, win and win.

And it did make me wonder whether there was a German for those very rare days where work just becomes unexpectedly easy and all of it's problems go away.

But before you consider me too smug. As I was doing this task I raised my head and promptly hit my head over a metal shelf. Thankfully my head wasn't split but as I write this there is a bump on my head almost cartoon like.

I think that's what they call Karma.

Until the next time.