Tuesday 30 June 2020

Climate Change In Wales. How It's Not Gone Away


Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Because of the Corona virus a lot of issues have been put on the back burner for the moment has been climate change. But it's worth coming back to it because it's not gone away.

Here in Wales the weather has had some various odd parts to it recently and all are worth discussing. If we take the last two weeks in June there has been torrential rain which has caused flooding in the South Wales Valleys (though part of that might be down to more man-made causes which I'll chat about once the situation becomes more clearer).

There has also been a couple of blistering hot days and now in South Wales at least the weather has been cold, grey and windy. Now when I say cold, grey  and windy I'm not talking as if I'm comparing it with January. But we're in June, in the summer, this should just not be happening.

This picture was taken yesterday.....in June


This is what people would have been talking about if it wasn't for the pandemic. The way the weather has turned. The climate change deniers (the people I'm sure who voted for Brexit and who believe that the Corona virus threat is just overblown or basically that the cautious Welsh approach to Covid should be abandoned and replaced by the reckless Westminster one (And yes Welsh Conservatives I'm talking about you).

Wales has a large agricultural economy. Already threatened by Brexit it could be equally damaged by a changes in the climate. Crops could be damaged and yet again those scenes in the supermarkets of hoards of people clearing out the stock could reappear.

And if the food chain is depleted there would be higher prices and social disorder. Coupled with the pandemic and Brexit Britain will be an even more disunited place than it currently is.

The Welsh Labour government, rightly cautious regarding the pandemic needs to be more rigourous in attacking climate change. Agriculture and the environment are devolved issues so plans need to be drawn up for it to be more proactive.

And of course independence is the only ultimate way that Wales can take the issue of climate change head on. So that it can have more installations built to harness wave and wind power without having to rely on Westminister's approval (which in the current insane right wing administration it will not get).

So the consequences of climate change have not gone away. Even in the summer.

Until the next time.

Monday 29 June 2020

Women Know Your Place.......By Another Woman


Hello there. Hope you're feeling well.

When I downloaded to my Kindle Catherine Beecher's 1841 book  for free A Treatise On Domestic Economy For Use Of Young Ladies At Home And At School I thought I was going to poke gentle fun at the sort of book which taught women which knives to put at what angle at dinner time whilst cooking a three course meal and darning twelve pairs of socks. 

Ladies after all, as my wife never ceases to tell me, can multitask.

What surprised me was how polemical this book (popular in it's time) turns out to be. By the end of chapter one I learnt that Ms Beecher she was one of those insane right wing American Conservatives and consequently she would have definitely voted for Trump.

For example no woman should be forced to obey a husband other than the one she chose and therefore with whom she accepts to be her superior. I must remember in our next wedding anniversary to thank my wife for picking me as her superior. I'm sure it will be appreciated.

Similarly people should pick their employer and then becomes subordinate to them. Yet really most people don't choose their employer more just accept when a job is offered to them.

And of course being 1841 America the group of people not mentioned by Ms Beecher are slaves. They of course having no choice in the matter of their employer. Ms Beecher in a later chapter actually describes them as "shiftless". And a lot of them probably were, given the fear of being caught should they try to escape their oppressors and of course the last time many of them did move it was unwillingly from their home country before being shipped to the United States.

America whilst not without it's problems is in Ms Beecher's eyes the best country to live in with the best society. This is of course Conservative cobblers, which history shows up simply by there being the civil war a couple of decades later.

Women, even if they think and act like men must look pretty. But it gets even worse. On the matter of conjugal rites (sex) according to Ms Beccher they need to acquiesce to what the husband demands. Essentially then at best she's basically telling women to lie back and think of America and at worst there's the acceptance of rape.

Now I know what some of you are thinking here. That I'm putting my year 2020 vision with the past when attitudes were different. This is akin to the right wing argument on the question of statues. However let's compare  a near contemporary to Ms Beecher. the writer Louisa M Alcott. No radical feminist she and yet the writer of Little Women comes across as Rosa Luxemburg in comparison.

Ms Beecher states that in Europe a man submits to "the despotic sway of women". Just where in Europe in such volume was this the case? And indeed how exactly did women at that time hold such power when they didn't have the vote?

No matter. Foreigners are ignorant. America is the best.

American women according to Ms Beecher take no interest in politics, says the woman who has spent the first chapter taking an insane Conservative position.

But at least America in 1841 is a place where a woman could travel alone without fear. When I read that two words entered my head. "Yeah right"

Where American women (and let's just mark down here that for American women in this book read White women born in America) do fail apparently is that they age and are frailer quicker than their ignorant foreign counterparts. Part of the problem might just be that a lot of them live in the sort of wild terrain that makes life tough. Maybe but wouldn't that affect men as well?

Part of the solution to this in the author's eyes is that despite saying American women more educational than other nations (really?) they should be taught more on matters to do with their domestic duties. Those other subjects are to be left to men.

And wait for it....excessive learning makes you ill. And we're not talking about cramming for exams here 

An interesting sidetrack to me was that this was the second book I've read in two years which suggests that tea is bad for you. That it would cause  "suffering" to the health of women. The first was William Cobbett book on farming. Two guidebooks (on different subjects) coming to this conclusion without any evidence to back it up.

(Ms Beecher also says this about coffee but I'll let Lavazza/Starbucks defend the bean)

To go back to the Trump analogy Mexicans have bad teeth because they drink hot drinks. That is Trump there and then. Make a derogatory statement and then make a laughable one trying to prove it.

If you don't want to drink a hot drink? Simple. Eat a cracker. For me that would have made me turn the kettle on immediately to make a cup of tea. Oh yes I'm a rebel in the eyes of Ms Beecher I'm sure.

Amazingly given what we've already chatted about the author praises boys who know domestic skills and does seem to suggest that surgeons should be paid a living wage but that's no mitigation for what's been said previously.

Eventually this book does turn into what I thought it would be when downloading. However I'd gone beyond caring by then.

If you want a book on Housekeeping written by a Conservative fool then this is the book for you. Otherwise best avoided.

Until the next time.









Wednesday 24 June 2020

How I, The Man Of Mystery In Our Street, Doesn't Strike Twice.....Again


Hello there. Hope you're feeling well.

As I've explained previously I have according to the wife gained a reputation as the man of mystery in the street where I live. Simply because of my shift work when the street has been applauding kids who have had birthdays during lockdown, clapping for key workers or even listening to the impromptu concert from the opera singers living a few houses along I've been absent.The

And even during the week I had off. I was ready to do the key workers clap on the Thursday only to be told by the wife that it had stopped.

However as I've also explained I enjoy this reputation if only because it's better than the real thing.

Anyway we come to Saturday afternoon. It's about three and I'm returning from work having done an eight hour shift. Wife is doing work in what we mockingly call the front garden. I go inside quickly. I need to go to the toilet.

"Dad" shouts daughter. "Go outside now and join mum chatting to the neighbours opposite"

I'm touched by daughter's concern. The wish she feels that I should mingle in. She is however to be disappointed. As I've said I need to go to the loo. And when you've got to go you've got to go.

Second event occurs Monday morning. I'm joining my wife doing some work on the front garden. Suddenly she shouts:

"Hello J...!"

This shout is to a woman living opposite from our house and two houses along on the right. So this means not only does she talk to actual neighbours (whose first names I've forgotten) but she knows

If I didn't know any better it was as if the wife had sucked all the sociable parts of me to herself thus making herself even more at one with the street. But I'm not bothered.

When during wife/near neighbour conversation I emerged from behind the hedge. Near neighbour was surprised.

"I didn't realise you were there"

That's me folks. A 56 year old man with an occasional back problem but who can still move like a ninja when it comes to being anti-social.

But as I said I'm really not bothered with what the neighbours think of me. Indeed whether they think of me at all. Except perhaps in one respect.

I hope they don't think that one day after a murder they have go in front of the TV cameras and say "He kept himself to himself"

Mind you if they think that perhaps it only perpetuates my utterly underserved man of mystery reputation.

Until the next time.

Tuesday 23 June 2020

Penarth: From Comfort To Discomfort


Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Sometime last year, around autumn/winter time the BBC Wales main 6:30 news did a piece on Penarth. Basically it was lauding the fact that the town centre had adapted rather well to the times we lived in then.

Sure it had the brand name retail outlets , it also had the butchers and bakers, but also the coffee bars and restaurants, a sweet shop and a bookshop (the sweetshop owner was the one they did a live interview with). Penarth it appeared could survive the new internet world order well. And I didn't disagree with that point of view, describing the town in this blog as the urban equivalent of a comfy pair of slippers.

That was however in the time of BC (Before Corona). The time when for my generation when you heard the word Corona you either associated it ith the Mexican bear or a range of soft drinks in the seventies or eighties.

The town centre of Penarth has, like everywhere else, suffered because of the virus and th subsequent lockdown. The thing though that makes Penarth different is that the things that made it successful beforehand are the exact same factors which it has to battle against now.

What makes it important is that as of yesterday as long as they adhere to social distancing and other Corona controlling methods all non-essential shops are now open in Wales. i say @non essential@ but it still does not include pubs, restaurants and (for me the crucial one so far) hairdressers.
And let's start there. Penarth has a number of pubs but great deal more bars, restaurants and coffee houses serving trendy coffee trendily. Again that trade is for the moment still not allowed. But once opened the questions that would need to be asked is whether people would go in their numbers again for a coffee? Or buy a book? Or by a gift?

Also a lot of these shops are relatively small. So very difficult to do the dance of social distancing. And part of the pleasure in shopping in these sort of shop is the browsing. Something not easy to do under lockdown.

People might have queued outside some of the shops for all I know. But whether they will go in on impulse is another matter. I live roughly a twenty minute walk away from the town centre but I have been since March only been to the town centre a couple of times partly because shift work makes it difficult but also because lockdown has meant that I would only go to get a few groceries. And even then that lessened because of the opening of the convenience store near where I live.

Neither wife or daughter are considering going to Cardiff town centre let alone Penarth's in the near future. I work in the Bridgend area but there's no reason yet for me to go into the town centre. And there's a place that as I've explained before has been damaged before Corona, is definitely suffering because of Corona and has to be braced with the economic knock on effects in the future of the closure of the Ford motor company's engine plant in September.

And so there's the problem. Corona has killed for now the urge to impulse buy. Whether that urge can rise again from the dead is debatable. But for now when what seemed to be a relatively secure town like Penarth is venerable then unless the situation is resolved soon things will be very,very,very bad wherever you live.

Until the next time. 

Wednesday 17 June 2020

A Corona Virus Update From Wales. Including Education, Dreams and The Fifty Shades Of Grey That Is My Hair


Hello there. Hope you're feeling well.

Well the good news is that apparently there's a cheap new drug that cuts the death rate for the Corona virus. However whilst the cutting of the death rate is something (obviously) to be welcomed it still means that the virus is still there. All the hype of the news seems to cover that one fact. And that's worrying. For you know that some people are going to act as if the old normal had returned and that will presumably result in a second spike in the disease. So the new normal is still with us folks. For a while at least.

Which leads us to education here in Wales.

As previously mentioned in the blog Welsh schools (uniquely in this Disunited Kingdom) are set to reopen on the 29 June for a month. Daughter's school wants a response by today (Wednesday) as to whether she is coming despite only giving us a guidance on their plans late yesterday. However in way I'm not particularly bothered. Because I and the wife were inclined to say no beforehand and nothing has changed our mind.

Why? Well various reasons but ultimately (baring in mind that the online schoolwork will continue for this period) it bore down to this following:

1) Daughter was only set to go in for one day a week for this one month period (one day per week for each year period apparently) and then there would be the summer break anyway.

2) At least one of her current teachers (and possibly more) would be unable to attend for various reasons such as being at home looking after a more venerable family member.

3) Whilst the risk to daughter's health is considerably less than the wife's or a 56 year old man with an occasional back problem that are her parents it's still there.

As I've said before in this blog assuming things progress satisfactorily  far more reasonable for schools to be allowed the time and the preparation (even the practice time) for a September opening than at the end of June for a month.

And now back to my hair.



As you can see the fifty shades of grey have gone wilder now. Prompting the wife with the support of daughter to resume their nagging that it should be cut. I've resisted. knowing full well that surrender would mean that my hairstyle would turn into American marine. 

Perhaps though American marine is an unfair remark Perhaps the fairer comparison would be the sort of Brexit loving voter adorning himself with union jack clothing whilst demonstrating to "protect public monuments" whilst attacking the police in the process.

Anyway. Point is. Not my style.

However the wacky professor look is not my style either and if hairdressers are not going to be opened for a while then the forces of nature and female nagging might mean that I have to give in.

I've seen films of hairdressers reopening in other countries and I must admit I'm surprised. They might be wearing facemasks and gloves but there cannot be any social distancing between customer and the hairdresser. They're very close. Indeed if you're waiting in a queue to get your hair done does that mean you're going to be outside the high street where these (normally small) shops are?

And it's going to be difficult to have any chitchat with someone with a mask on their face.

Of course that's just about me who wants nothing more than his hair cut (not slaughtered) presumably these problems are magnified if you want to go beyond that.  

And yes I've tried to be amusing about this. But it doesn't hide the fact that even on what was a normal monthly event in my life has now changed because of Corona to a new normal event that requires decisions beyond what I old normally needed.

A quick word on dreams. Just two days back into work and the deep sleeps with the weird dreams return. This time I'm walking into the kitchen of our house and I notice that one cupboard door is missing. Not only that but the contents of that cupboard (tinned food) is missing as well).

It was the only cupboard to be touched.

So in my dreams so far I've had an affair with a woman I don't know, happily killed a man I don't know and now am the victim of a tinned food thief.

More livelier than my actual life I can tell you.

Until the next time.

Sunday 14 June 2020

Let's Talk About Statues (Including An Old Friend From Bridgend)


Hello there. Hope you're feeling well.

I suspect that for most people (including me) this has been the moment where statues have been ne of the most dominant issues that have ever entered our lives. Whilst we are living in the time of Corona it was definitely the week of the statue in this Disunited Kingdom.

Personally whilst on a general level I feel it should be done in an orderly manner you cannot really argue with the Black Lives Matter movement toppling the statue of Edward Colston. After all statues of real human beings are put up as a celebration of a life so that when subsequent generations question that life (like....let's see.....the guy was a slave trader) then really what is the justification of keeping it up?

Well the justification you hear amongst the right wing is that history is being destroyed. This is of course rubbish. By that logic Germany should be full of statues of Hitler, Iraq of Sadaam Hussein and Eastern Europe of Stalin.

So my view is that when the issues are clear cut just topple the statue. Who with a conscience really cares?

Of course the conversation comes into focus when things are not so clear. Here in Wales there is a debate around a statue of former Prime Minister Gladstone. Gladstone is indeed an interesting case of a man who supported slavery in the beginning but later regretted what he did. Is acknowledging his error good enough to keep the statue up? The power of redemption and all that? Or do you think, rather like a pardon given to people executed for murders they are later found innocent of, that a fat lot of good does Gladstone's regrets do to those people from Africa sent as slaves.

Personally I'm inclined towards the latter. What's interesting is that until last week I wasn't aware of Gladstone's initial views towards slavery. I certainly was never taught it at school and films/TV shows that I've ever seen about him emphasise the "liberal" part of him and never his most illiberal of acts.

Which I suspect is the same for Churchill. The one great and shining moment that he did have as wartime Prime Minister does appear to have glossed over aspects of his life which I don't remember being mentioned until now and certainly something I wasn't taught at school either. You wonder as a fifty six year old man with an occasional back problem whether a lot of (let's face it white) people's issues stem from being taught propaganda as children.

The next film/TV series about Churchill's life outside of the second world war will I suspect be worth watching.

Let's lighten the mood now. Because whilst not to my knowledge based on a real person let's chat again about my favourite statue which is in Bridgend Town.


This photo (taken I should stress a few years back) emphasises exactly why it's technically the worst statue I've ever seen. After all who outside of The Exorcist is capable of turning his head as far as our friend here? Or indeed bend their legs?

But like a particular type of movie it's so bad it's riveting. It's presence makes you smile. You don't want it to go.

Is it under threat? Not to my knowledge. Then again the building behind our friend were the public toilets until  closed down by the Labour council. So nothing is impossible.

I think if it was threatened though the events of the past week would make me want to know from the council whether there are statues in the borough of lives that make them more deserving to be toppled before our friend here.

Until the next time.

Saturday 13 June 2020

In The Midst Of A World In Crisis It was Time For A Coffee Break


Hello there. Hope you're feeling well.

I mentioned in a previous post that one of the things I wanted to do in this week of leave I'm having is to use the cafetiere for the first time. Something I've never done before and in view of my Italian background embarrassed me.

I say "embarrassed" but let's be clear. The reason for this was quite simple. Coffee for me comes into that group along with Indian food and rugby as things I didn't dislike but given the choice I'd go for something else.

And let's be clearer. The choice instead of coffee would be tea.

But still a packet of ground Lavazza coffee had been bought months ago, the cafetiere years ago, and I did wonder when hard Brexit (remember that?) becomes a reality when would I actually use them again.

Cometh the pandemic economic dystopia moment cometh the time for coffee continental style.

So you start with the necessities.


The package is classic Lavazza which according to the blurb gives an aroma of chocolate. There are various other aromas available including "Wood and tobacco" to which I say "What?"

But no matter. The cafetiere was made warm as per the instructions and I put a couple of dessert spoons in. I poured the water (hot, not boiling) and waited as per the instructions for a few minutes.


Then I poured the coffee into the cups. For the wife coffee is with milk. For me no question it's black. Which is odd given that I prefer a lot of milk with my tea. but there you are.



And the result? Well the wife liked her coffee and I liked mine. It was the best cup of coffee we've ever had at home. We could have imagined that we were in a perfectly sunny day in Pisa if it wasn't for the fact that it was an unusually pouring down with rain afternoon in Penarth.

But if you think that's a complete victory for Lavazza and I've been 
sponsored by them nothing could be more further from the truth. 

Let's put it this way. 

For the rest of the day I drank only tea.

Until the next time.


Wednesday 10 June 2020

The Welsh Government's Education Misstep Now Evolving Into A Full Banana Skin


Hello there. Hope you're feeling well.

I spoke in a recent post about the Welsh government's policy for schools to reopen with staggered classes from June 29th. I explained why personally I opposed it due to health issues and to my belief that children's education would not suffer if schools closed until September (allowing them an adequate time to plan) given that even under this policy the kids will only be there for a month anyway before summer holiday break.

Well never in my lifetime has a policy been so quickly undermined and that's because of the insane rightwing led Westminster government who had already commenced a policy of schools reopening in England yet has found that on a practical and logistical level it just proved impossible to implement before September and even the possibility existing that they might have to delay it further than that.

So if the gung-ho Westminster administration has been forced by the weight of logic to temporarily abandon the school's reopening policy surely the more (rightly) Corona cautious Welsh government should do the same?

At time of writing the answer is no. But clearly they should. Not just for the list of reasons I gave above. But also because the Westminster government has (this time unwittingly) undermined it. After all if you are parent with doubts before you are definitely not going to let your child go to school now. 
Therefore the children who would return to Welsh schools would be pitifully small.

The reopening plan is therefore dead before it has even started.

So why waste time and effort on a flawed policy anyway? The sensible course would be to abandon the June policy and aim for a September reopening thus allowing schools to properly plan for the new educational normal.

The Welsh government is paying the price for acting like the insane English right-wing haste on this. The sooner it's abandoned the better. 

Until the next time.

Tuesday 9 June 2020

I've Seven Days Leave. What Will I Do?


Hello there. Hope you're feeling well.

As I'm writing this it's around five o'clock on this Tuesday morning. I'm on leave for seven whole days. Days which basically have become almost  a virtual staycation for the first time in this lockdown period, given that I've had the day release by key workering.

What's funny about this leave is that I booked this before the Corona thing started when nagged to by my manager because I was the only one who hadn't booked time off. She I think regrets it now. Be careful what you wish for.

But for me personally whilst I booked it as it was one of the few weeks not being taken by my co-workers I'm glad I did. I've mentioned before how tired I've ben getting these past few months because I think of the pressure Corona has added to my working life in everything I do given that I'm not like the wife working from home. For the first time ever I feel as if I physically need a break.

Of course though given that trips to the shops (actually mainly the convenience store) there is no place I can really go out to. So while wife is working from home and daughter is (hopefully) doing her homework I am in a way by myself for a large part of this period.

So what to do?

I have said to the wife that one day I'm going to spend doing absolutely nothing but slob out watching football matches in empty stadia from around Europe I've recorded and constant cups of tea. I may not get away with it for the complete seven days but there will be one where this will be the priority.
That day though was not yesterday. Wife focused on work in the garden mainly because the refuse workers will be collecting the green waste today. More of such work will be scattered like falling leaves across the week.

Don't think there will be much work I'll be doing inside the house this week. But the blinds have broken on one particular window and the headboard to our bed seems to be loose (which as I recall was the most difficult thing to deal with those nine months previously when I put it together in the first place so I'm not looking forward to dealing with that).

There will be paperwork and e-paperwork to deal with which includes the electricity bill. The wife thought it was high (it might be) until I reminded her that she and daughter have used more electricity since March given they've spent more time physically in the house. It is I think literally one of the prices of lockdown.

And then there comes the more stupid things. I realised the other day that I've never tried one of those cafetiere things in making coffee. Indeed I've never used ground coffee at all which I must admit I'm partially ashamed of given my Italian background (only partially mind you given as regular readers will know I prefer a simple cup of tea). Well I'm going to give it a go in this period.

I'm also going to sort out my Filofax. Rather like my Kindle/paper book relationship nowadays I want to straddle my planning between my tablet and the organiser (chosen because it looks like an old Victorian hardback book).

And I have the opportunity to put full shifts in learning Welsh. Which is something I do want to do.

Of course other than paying the electric bill whether I actually do the above things time will tell. Life of course is good at interfering. Still I'm going to have that day of absolute slobbishness come what may.

Until the next time.

Monday 8 June 2020

Three Awkward Social Conversations In The Time Of Corona


Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Corona has changed many things in all of our lives as we fear becoming a statistic in an ever increasing death toll. One of the unexpected ways it has happened is in the ways we deal with each other. There examples of which happened to me in the last week. the

Lockdown has been gradually eased even in Wales so more people are returning to work. Some of those people when you ask them how it was smile and tell you that life in lockdown was great as they did some DIY, tackled the garden learnt Norwegian (OK perhaps not the last one but you get the drift).

So these people not only enjoyed lockdown they were perfectly happy to tell you what a great time they had. Meanwhile you, who did not have the time that they had to do the things they did because you were key workering at the time find yourself too tired to do anything with the normal spare time that you still have!!

You mention to these people that you've been at work during this period. Either they smile and say nothing or change the subject. For the best excuse of doing nothing during lockdown was that you were otherwise occupied at the time.

The next social Corona conversation is a bit more personal. There is someone I know at work who I would best describe being friendly with rather than being friends. The sort of person for example that you would wish a Merry Christmas to without sending a Christmas card for example.

A few days back I'd seen this guy for the first time since before lockdown. And after saying hello I asked how the lady was. This is my own personal euphemism when I've forgotten the actual name of the person but wish to be polite.

The answer I got was unexpected. They had split up.I

They had been together as a couple for at least five years to my knowledge so this was a shock.  Needless to say I tried to go away from the subject as gracefully as possible. He seemed to have taken it well but how did I know? Unexpectedly I had trampled onto an emotional issue and I did not want to go further on it as it was none of my business.

Thing was though even that old line given to (especially) men in this instance did not apply here. After all saying that there was "plenty of fish in the sea" is no comfort if they are 2 metres away from you. This is not the time to be single and ready to mingle.

To misquote Jackie Collins I suspect the world is full of married men who find themselves suddenly relieved that they are actually with someone.

So I said nothing but pleasantries and privately but genuinely hope he finds someone once this Corona tragedy is resolved. There was nothing I really could say to him without appearing to pry.

One final story. I was walking along the street yesterday when a guy on the other side of the street coughed. As you do nowadays I looked. He looked back.

"Don't worry" he said smiling "It'sa smoker's cough"

The irony that by reassuring me he didn't have one illness when he could have been slowly breeding another for himself seemed to have been lost on him .

Such is the world in the time of Corona.

Until the next time.

Sunday 7 June 2020

The Welsh Government's Education Mis-Step


Hello there.Hope you're feeling well.

As regular readers know for the most part I've supported the Welsh Labour government's lockdown strategy. The more cautious approach to an England controlled by the insane right wing can only be commended.

Indeed you could say (and I'm going to) that Mark Drakeford's unwitting legacy as First Minister is that more people are realising that an independent Wales not only can make decisions outside of Westminster but actually do them better.

But last week there came a notable mis-step. And the issue was education.
Education minister Kirsty Williams announced that from the 29th June schools in Wales would reopen. The lessons would be staggered across the school day and that the school period would be extended by an extra week.

Let's deal with that last point first. As I mentioned when discussing the opening of schools in England (but even more so here) I don't accept for one second that a child's education is going to be affected either way by returning to school in September and not June given that they will close a month later anyway?

Surely making September the opening date will allow schools to plan properly instead of the feeling that they are being rushed?

How for example should children get to school in this time of corona? By school bus? Well they would have to be doubled to take account of social distancing. It would also effect welsh language schools more given that they have a larger catchment area.

Young people are affected less by corona but they still they get it. So when you hear reports that the chief medical officer for Wales was against it as well as schools in the North West of England delaying the opening of schools there because of an increase in Corona virus cases there you think that this was a decision that did not need to be taken now.

I received an email from the daughter's local school about this. And for clarity it would have got a FAIL in my book. But once you got used to the wading in the educational mud the inference was clear. They were planning on how to reopen and would come back to us. To my mind they were as surprised by the Welsh Labour government's decision ( though to be clear Ms Williams is a Libdem) as the rest of us

Parents will not be forced to have their children return to school for this period. Nor should they be. Speaking for myself as things stand the risk is too great. It's not a cast iron decision but unless anything changes she can wait for September.

This move by the Welsh Labour government was a mistake. They should take a step back from following the insane English right wing as quickly as possible.

Until the next time.

Tuesday 2 June 2020

Of Tiredness, Sleep and A Dream Of Murder In The Time Of Corona


Hello there. Hope you're feeling well.

I have mentioned before that one of the biggest surprises for me personally of life in this time of Corona has been the effects on my sleeping habits. For far from being unable to sleep, or at the very least being uncomfortable trying to sleep whilst the effects of the pandemic ravage the world I have instead had the most deepest of times in the land of nod. This from a man who suffered from bouts of insomnia you might have felt would have been, at least for me a pleasant side effect. But no. Whilst I'm not on the narcolepsy other end of the spectrum there have been moments when I've not been that far off.

Indeed when I'm awake there have been large parts of th day when I still feel tired. Sometimes, like today, I give myself an extra half hour nap at nine thirty after waking up at seven. And I do, almost instantly, nod off.
It's not that I lack the energy so much as I lack the inclination.

So why is this? The only explanation I've had that makes any degree of sense is that because I'm not working from home but key workering in my normal workplace I have to deal with not only my normal tasks whilst having to be conscious and aware of every step I take in this time of Corona. That I have to wear gloves and a face mask (which as I side effect means that you don't have to shave as frequently). That you have to keep a distance from your colleagues. That basically you have to be careful about everything.

The point is the pressure all around you. Working from home you have the relative comfort of being confident about the surroundings you're in.
Though booked before all of this I have next week off. I've told the wife that whilst every other day I'll help around the house as much as i can, Monday I will just completely and utterly rest. Whether it's sleeping or watching Polish (and Danish, and Portuguese they're all coming in now) football I'm just going to relax.

Which leads me to the murder I committed in my dream.

And let me tell you the murder was vivid. I pushed somebody into a drain filled with liquid. I'm assuming it was water but given I was busily killing there was no time to check.

Here's the weird thing. Rather like the other dream I've chatted about
in this blog when I had an affair not only have I never killed anyone (law authorities please note) but I don't even know the other central character in real life. In this case the victim. All I can say is that it was a young male with dark hair.

And yet here I was....killing him.

In dreamworld I must have really hated him because just to make sure he didn't escape from drowning I suffocated this guy with the actual pillows I was sleeping on that night.

Oh and the really worrying thing.....I  it.

Best to return to insomnia methinks.

Until the next time.