The Insomniac Meanderings Post : Another Storm Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well today high winds and heavy rain are threatened for Wales. Not the snow that's hitting Scotland and the north of England thankfully. Still not pleasant. Guess who's going out to work in it....

Meanwhile later today Wales are playing Ireland in the final of the Six nations. A Welsh victory will mean they will get the championship and the grand slam. Wife is with "the girls" to watch the match later. Me? I'll probably be alone with Donald Trump (talking about a connection to things Stormy). But that's for another day.

Personally for many reasons I hope Wales win. One of them being another credence to my newly discovered Welsh mathematical theorem that the success of the Welsh national team is in equal and direct proportion to it's mess at club level.

West Ham incidentally are facing Huddersfield. They should win. But then again they should have beaten Cardiff City last week (still hurts).

Speaking of Cardiff the Labour council have ditched plans to create a congestion charge for cars entering the city centre. In terms of it's timing it's an arrogantly stupid idea typical of Welsh Labour. A few posts back I chatted about the cuts to the Cardiff council owned  bus service which incidentally would have probably put some people to use the car. There is also the oft criticised rail service.

Investment in public transport is the thing to do first. Then put the congestion charge in. Don't pretend to be greener than the next person by imposing a charge whilst hampering someone's chance of contributing to lowering fossil fuels.

Timing is everything. Welsh Labour in whatever guise never has it.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meanderings Post : Where I Owe More Tax Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

There is always a certain fear when the brown envelope hits the floor. You pick it up and find that it's from HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs - You don't think I want Wales to be a republic could make me ignore it? Ah well).

Well that envelope came again yesterday and unlike other occasions when it told me a change in the tax code or other admin stuff this time it said I owed them an extra amount of just over £107!!

I am annoyed for three reasons. Firstly I'm an employee which means the tax gets taken at source from my wages every month. In other words whatever has caused this alleged underpayment of tax is not my fault.

Secondly whatever has caused this alleged underpayment of tax is a factor as well. Because I don't know. It doesn't say on the document. I got the wife (who used to work at a pay department) to have a look and she can't see it either. That means on Wednesday (my next day off work) I'll have to ring these people up. The tax office enquiries service does not have a good reputation. And when I say it does not have a good reputation I mean I could be waiting on the end of an imaginary cordless phone line for hours.

Thirdly I'm not a wealthy man but I'm not on income support either. So it's made me realise the trauma families on income support face when similar letters drop into their homes. Even if this extra tax is justified the tax people have spent time and resources on getting just over a hundred pounds from me and other families where there are tax avoiders syphoning off much more laughing all the way to their next glass of champagne!

More on this to come.

To books then and the latest from the library I've read.

Edward Marston - Dance of Death

I've chatted about Edward Marston before in this blog on his Railway detective series so here's one on his Home Front detective Harvey Marmion also a series set in Britain of 1916 during the First world war.. Mr Marston seems to have tapped the entertainment historical detective market judging by the many books he's written. I can see why. Judged as an entertainment Dance of Death concerning the grisly murder of a professional dancer cannot be faulted. It has the detectives, the murder, the suspects and also the feel of historical accuracy.

It reminded me (though set a few decades earlier) of the Inspector Cribb novels of Peter Lovesey. And though not as good are certainly good value for your reading time.

A quick side issue here. I have a rough rule that if a book is part of a series then I read it in chronological order. The big exception to this though are detective series because to me the key is the particular murder and not the detective's family dynamic (there are things that happen here in that regard but I won't spoil by revealing). I'm not particularly bothered that the next Harvey Marmion novel I'll read might be earlier than this one in the series. To me it's funny how for the most part I'm fundamentalist on this issue but with detective fiction I couldn't give a damn.

Politics: And hidden away in the Welsh news was Plaid Cymru's stunning by election victory an increase in the percentage of 18% no less) in Cardiff's Ely ward for the council. It needs to be made clear here. Ely is a working class area which First Minister Mark Drakeford covers in the Senedd. It is the sort of place that Labour would describe as it's heartland. Not any more. The shift might be slow but previous Labour voters are seeing them in Wales for what they truly are. The arrogant incompetent arm of Welsh establishment.

Let this crumbling of the edifice continue. For at it's destruction will come independence.

And let's continue with the state of Cardiff shall we. the Cancer Research charity have opened a new superstore here (which I haven't been to yet). Now am I being heartless for saying that you can truly judge a nation's decline by the fact that a charity can open not just a shop but a superstore?

West Ham beat Fulham last night (I was at work). People say 40 points means safety which means they might get it when facing Cardiff City in two weeks time.....and I will be there!!!....albeit quietly in the home seats.

Until the next time.

Cardiff Bus: On The Road To Nowhere?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Regular readers may remember a while back I took an Assembly member and the leader of Cardiff Labour council Huw Thomas to task for querying the policy of free car parking in hospitals, specifically the University College Hospital in Cardiff.

Part of the argument Mr Thomas used was the bus service to that hospital. Suggesting that as it was so good people didn't need to use their cars.

I'll return to hospitals later. But Cardiff Bus co. That is the bus service that the council actually own are making cuts and alterations to the service across Cardiff and the neighbouring Vale of Glamorgan at the end of March. Cardiff Council's own special version of Brexit.

Now I won't be a hypocrite. I don't use the bus service as the journeys I need to take (mainly to where I work in Bridgend from the Vale) make it a non starter. Would I use it if I could? Probably not as things stand a journey from where I live to Cardiff would be difficult and involve more than one bus. if I lived in the centre of a town (say Penarth) then I'd consider it.....and would probably say no.

Why? Well cutting the bus services is not a good sell is it? What message does it give for future customers? And more importantly what if I needed to use the service? How can I use the service if it doesn't exist? Or drastically altered?

And when I say doesn't exist Penarth is a good example of this. The town will lose it's direct bus service to Leckwith ( a part of Cardiff) and Llandough hospital.

Losing the direct bus service to Leckwith would mean I presume that any Cardiff City fans (as their ground is in the area) would be more tempted to use the car. If anybody drives around the ground on match days will know, sometimes the cars are parked almost literally anywhere.

But it's the loss of the direct service to the hospital that's more important. Leaving aside Llandough itself it and Leckwith are the closest areas to the hospital. From Penarth the journey is basically straightforward (depending where you live in the town almost literally so). The logic of a direct bus service from a town close to the hospital is there.

Yet Welsh Labour want to cut it.

And don't forget the type of people who would use this service. the venerable and underprivileged in our society. Not forgetting of course the elderly. Groups that the Labour party shout out loudly that they're here to protect. Well not this time.

What should they do? Well act socialist would help. Cut fares and subsidise the service through taxes would help. Trouble is though would the service be attractive to any customer after the council's onslaught whatever the cost? That is the question I really don't know.

And why you ask should I be interested with the Brexit madness swirling around in buses? Well public transport is one of the cornerstones of a decent society for all. When a Labour council is scurrying about to work ways of chipping away at that, then you know it's betrayed it's voters.

So when the Mr Thomas boasts again of the Cardiff bus service. Perhaps the example of Penarth should be rammed down his throat.

Until the next time.

Welsh Labour : For The Few Not The Many? Let's Talk About Hospital Car Parking Charges

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Welsh Labour have for many years been the party of the establishment in Wales. An elite that has damaged the people living here for decades. Sometimes though the mask slips and people discover that deep down they're as bad as the Conservatives. Even worse really considering they give out the illusion of caring.

Huw Thomas, Labour leader of Cardiff Council and Lee Waters, Labour Assembly Member have both stated on Twitter that the Welsh Labour government's policy of free car parking in hospitals is "flawed".

Now this is an interesting policy because it's one of the few Welsh government policies that can be called "socialist" in that it benefits everyone no matter who you are. And these gentlemen (the word is used advisedly) consider it flawed. prompted it appears by the fact that Mr Waters could not get a space at Cardiff Heath hospital (aka University Hospital for Wales). Do you know why you couldn't get a space Mr Waters? Because it's popular.

Fees for car parking in hospitals is (depending on the circumstances) a tax on grief, concern, friendship and emotions for loved ones in there. Essentially it's blackmail on your emotional state.

As long term readers to this blog will remember I spent the first few months of this year in Essex exile looking after my unwell mother. For around three weeks she was in hospital in Harlow and I spent roughly £8 a day being there constantly during visiting hours. Now I could have spent just £10 for a seven day pass. But my focus was on her and not the cost. Also at the time it was unclear whether she would pull through or needed to be transferred to a different hospital anyway. So you see you cannot be financially savvy when you're not clear what's going to happen and you cannot think straight. It comes back to what I've said earlier. A car parking charge is a tax on your emotions.

Mr Waters view is that the staff in the hospital should use "sustainable transport" and that they and the  public should use "turn up and go" bus services which Mr Thomas apparently agrees with. Also that there should be "intelligent charging" (that is I'm sure straight out of the marketing consultant's handbook). Now leaving aside the "let the plebs use public transport" tone of the remarks it actually displays a great deal of ignorance (to be parochial for a moment) about Heath hospital.

It's not a hospital in the centre of town oh no it's at the edge. The key thing here is that Heath hospital is part of the Cardiff and Vale health board. Which means if you live in for example Barry Town or Cowbridge  the journey (especially late at night) under public transport will not be a simple one assuming it's possible at all.

So Mr Thomas and Mr Waters should be Socialists and embrace a policy that supports everyone. Not just the few.

Until the next time.

Could An M4 Relief Road Increase Anti- English Sentiment, Welsh Regional Differences And Alun Cairns' Master Plan?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The Welsh Government are planning to build an M4 relief road. This relief road would basically be to handle the heavy traffic around Newport.

Now let me say from the outset that I'm no expert on traffic (though if you think the M4 is busy try travelling along the M25 or the M11!) nor do I know about the environmental concerns that the proposed road would take. But two separate issues have made me wonder whether all the potential aspects to this road have been thought through.

Regular readers may remember some time back I chatted about the probability of a rise in anti English sentiment due to a combination of the abolition of the tolls on the Geraint Thomas bridge and the pitifully small number of social housing being built throughout Wales. What that would cause is that English people would buy houses along the M4 corridor up to Newport, which would be cheaper than those in the South West where they would commute to work crossing the toll-free bridge. Thus causing a anti-English resentment towards them which unless dealt with promptly might turn unpleasant.

Well surely this relief road, bringing potentially a better road network to this actual part of South Wales will only increase the likelihood of this happening? Predicting disturbances does not mean supporting them. But really Cardiff and Westminster need to sort out a way to resolve this or else it will happen mark my words.

But that's not all. I've read an article from a councillor in Bridgend worried that new business investment will basically stop west of Cardiff because of the improved links the M4 Relief Road would bring the M4 Corridor East of the capital. Essentially West Wales will become a backwater and East , from Cardiff,(including those commuters to England) will become a "Western Powerhouse".

And yes I used those words deliberately. Because whther through accident or design Alun Cairns will become a beneficiary of this road because it will help him in the vision of a regional economic base between South East Wales and South West England. Welsh Labour will have helped finance his ambition.

Possibly, just possibly, Welsh Labour have been played by Alun Cairns.

But I say again, this road might be needed, I don't know. What is needed though is more thought about it's social consequences. Or else it might be a catalyst for social unrest.

Until the next time.

Possibly.

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

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

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

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

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

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

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

Would Aneurin Bevan have approved?

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

What are the consequences if the science is wrong?

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

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

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

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

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

Until the next time.

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

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

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

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

So let's start with:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until the next time.

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

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

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

So let's go through what he has said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meanderings Post: Wife's Birthday Special Midweek Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well, though it's too early in the morning, is the wife's birthday. She's asleep. As is daughter. Nothing to do until either of them wake up (or if I did do anything it would be likely I'd wake that I might wake them up). So here I am tapping away.

We are, both of us, not of an age to go out in the evenings normally. So the plan is for us (plus daughter) to have lunch in one of the pleasant pubs in the Vale of Glamorgan countryside. It is dull I'd admit but it is a plan. And let's face it Tuesdays is not the best day for your birthday to fall on.

Yesterday I wrote about the oncoming possibility of a dark hard Brexit making me seriously consider stockpiling food. I mentioned that if there were food shortages there might be civil unrest. Well let's be clearer about it. I see three possible sources of civil unrest. From the hungry, from the far right and from those angered that Brexit has not turned out to be what the Leave campaign promised. To those high profile Brexiteers I say this. Hire security guards. Because trust me you will be hated. I'm not advocating violence. But when you see the possibility of something happening you should not avoid mentioning it either.

Mind you I have a plan for Boris Johnson. Perhaps he should have straight swap with Iran for Nazarin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the journalist imprisoned there whose case he bungled. Win win I'd say. He wouldn't be missed.

By the way with regard to Boris Johnson and David Cameron shouldn't Eton apologise for their education of them given how rubbish to the United Kingdom they've turned out to be?

And according to an article in the Daily Mirror the world's Most Wanted could slip into Britain in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Economic turmoil, food shortages and criminal gangs. Brexit seems to get better and better and better!

For Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales the option of independence is there. Something not available for England. Which is why if a hard Brexit occurs England will be the country at most risk of takeover from the far right.

Listening to France Musique at the moment. Make that what you will Brexiteers. Yesterday whilst of the nation was watching Love Island I was listening to (amongst others) a song called "Reggae Cymraeg" on  Radio Cymru. Make that what you will.

This is the week of the Royal Welsh Show. A few weeks time it'll be the Eisteddford in Cardiff (I'll be going to that). Aside from the Welsh element what's the connection? That they will have a lot of coverage on the Welsh language channel S4C. Now I'm not saying they shouldn't have this coverage but that it illustrates again the need for S4C to have another channel. If you're not interested in agricultural shows (two thumbs pointed at this guy) there is no Welsh language alternative on TV. You have to go on demand instead.

Remember the posts I wrote about the dumping of radioactive mud from the Hinckley Point nuclear power station to Cardiff Bay? Well apparently the Welsh Labour government has offered to take in any nuclear waste from anywhere in the disunited kingdom. Leaving aside the implications of yet again Welsh Labour has allowed bad things to happen to Wales the first real question is Where will this waste go to? We should be told. And I tell you what. I'll be in any demonstration against it (for what my presence is worth).

Well wife's awake now....here we go..."Happy Birthday to you....Happy.." Well you know the tune.

Until the next time.

Is Cardiff City Council Slightly Responsible For The Closure Of The House Of Fraser / Howells Branch In The City? Possibly

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It may be an odd way to start this post. But bare with me. It's always been my belief that most men do not buy clothes on impulse but on perceived need or, as in my case being nagged at by wife, teenage daughter and mother. What occurred to me on hearing the news of the widespread store closure programme being proposed by the House Of Fraser group is that in terms of both genders you can make that logic on visiting a city centre.

House Of Fraser currently have two stores in all of Wales. Both are scheduled for closure. The point about the Cardiff store (which from now on I'll call by it's name, Howell's)was that it is a massive Department store and one of the key retail landmarks of the city centre for 153 years. However if the store cutting proposals come to pass it will be 154 and out.

The thing though is this. House Of Fraser are still keeping a number of it's stores. So you ask why Cardiff was unable to be amongst them? Well of course their troubles have been well documented in the past twenty four hours. The internet, failure to modernise, out of town shopping, the decline in the "department store" concept generally (To think in a couple of years the Sit Com Are You Being Served might be used as a historical record) it's all been rammed down our throats.

But to focus specifically on the Howells store it struck me that if you don't actually work there how many people from South Wales visit Cardiff on a whim? The last time I visited it was going to Cardiff Castle during Easter because my daughter hadn't been before. The last time wife/daughter went was to see Disney On Ice (no idea why..both of them are old enough to know better). The time we visited before that was Christmas shopping, once during that period, looking for ideas and it was generally a wasted trip.

The point comes back though to the fact that we don't go the city centre on impulse. Car parking charges/getting a space is one reason. But the other, as I've explained before, is that the centre of the capital city of Wales (including St Mary Street) is becoming tired looking with closed down shops, homeless people wandering in more numbers than I've seen them before and despite whatever gloss the St David's Shopping Centres might seek to show a general look of quiet despair.

The closure of such a large store like Howells will make that situation worse. Especially if there is nobody able to replace it. As I've said before especially with regard to Bridgend Town few things blights a town more than an empty shop which will still show you memories of what it once was in happier times.

And it is here the council could have acted to attract more people to the city centre. Cut the carparking fees. Spruce up the area. Make people want to come to, let's not forget it, the capital city of Wales. More people would bring the centre more money and that would have included Howells. But no this didn't happen. And whilst I've no idea as to whether being more proactive in revitalising the City Centre would have saved Howells. It wouldn't have done any harm

Cardiff City Centre is not yet the urban tragedy that is Bridgend Town. But the decline of a community doesn't start dramatically. Only when a big shock emerges do people step back, see the bigger picture and realise the problem in front of them. You would like to think that for Cardiff Council this might be that shock that moves them into action.

Cardiff Council I've written before have been trying to lord it over their Vale Of Glmorgan counterpart. In particular the statement by Labour Councillor Russell Goodway that Barry Town was a town without a purpose. If the problems continue councillor Goodway might be receiving calls from Barry Town councillors asking whether aside from the tourist season and sports fixtures in the Principality Stadium the centre of Cardiff has a purpose.

Those would be conversations I'd like to listen to.

Until the next time.

Let's Chat About The Centre Of Cardiff (Without Pictures...I'm Blaming My Wife)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

You may remember a few posts back that I mentioned in passing that having been to centre of Cardiff during Easter I'd hope to return in a few weeks to chat about it with pictures as my phone was dead at the time.

Well that day was yesterday. Wife/daughter, both of whom are old enough to know better wanted to see Disney On Ice which was being held in the Motorpoint arena in the centre of the city. I, just old and wanting nothing to do with Disney other than apparently audition for the role of Grumpy was not going.

They had wanted to go by train to Cardiff Central and then I was to pick them up when the performance finished. That was the plan. However the best laid plans of mice and women were foiled when they were slow to get ready and so wife decided to drive there to save time. This meant that I couldn't do what I'd intended doing which was to provide a snapshot portrait with pictures of the capital city centre.

So what I'm going to say now is a brief portrait of what I saw. It is based on a trip we did in the Easter break on a Sunday to see Cardiff Castle. So in no way am I saying this is scientific. Just an impression.

Let's then begin by one fact. I did not go to the centre of Cardiff because I didn't need to. If you live outside of Cardiff you don't visit the centre  (obviously excluding working there) unless there's a reason to. Thing is the reasons are reducing.

When we were there a few weeks back we went to the Toys R Us in Queens Street that was going to close a few days after out of curiosity. But the bigger shock came when we left the store. For opposite the Burtons store had also closed down.

Now Burtons obviously has it's problems (as I've mentioned before the Barry Town branch has also closed). But it would appear that the concept of a "flagship store" in a city seems to have lost it's allure. Currently the only Burtons store in Cardiff I'm aware of is just in an out of town place occupying the first floor of a Tesco's supermarket.

We were walking along St Mary's Street as well. Looking around as we were had time to spare and we noticed a few things as well as shops closing down. There was a feeling that the centre of Cardiff had gone a bit shabby. Not the Chip Shop alley One Night Stand Shabby. No. Shabby in the sense of being tired, drained.

And there was also the homeless. The centre of Cardiff always had homeless people there. You get that, cities do provide them whether intended or not with shelter and the chance of more money from the coins of kind strangers. What I hadn't seen before (and remember that this was during the day) was the fact that there were definitely more of them. Some chatting away together. Some alone. And one man who just seemed to spontaneously chat to anybody nearby. I have to say I made sure we avoided that man. Not because he was homeless, but that I wasn't sure whether he was drunk.

So why am I going on about this then? Well as I've discussed before Cardiff Labour Council appears to have taken a snobby attitude with regard to neighbouring boroughs. If this snapshot is in anyway typical for the City Centre now then perhaps they should deal with the problems within the city than acting superior to those around them.

Until the next time.

Ramblings Before I Make A Call About A Car Accident....

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well as I'm writing this it's 7:02am on a Saturday morning. Wife/daughter are asleep and outside it looks as if it's the forecast last of the hot days we've been having recently.

There goes summer folks...

At around eight thirty I have to make a call to the motor insurance people. To possibly make a claim. I cannot really comment about it at the moment. All I will say is that it's remarkably like the last claim I made about six months ago, including the fact that (acknowledged again by the other driver) it was not my fault.

Also if appearances are of any judge the mighty Kia Picanto seems unaffected. But as I learnt last time appearances can be deceptive. It will need looking into. Hence the reason for the call.

We were as a family off to the Grand Theatre Swansea from the Vale Of Glamorgan to see a production of Of Mice And Men. A journey that should have taken one hour took about two. And the exchanging of numbers etc with the other driver was only part of the reason why it took so long. Apparently, as the saying goes we were caught up in the "sheer weight of traffic".

Lucky us.

For me as a reader I didn't want to go even though it was my suggestion as I knew it meant that I couldn't really read the novel by John Steinbeck. It would be like watching a recording of a sporting event on the TV whilst knowing the result. However it is on my daughter's literature syllabus at school. So it seemed like a good idea.

I'll say this. Judging by the short time I was there unlike the journey where you could see completed or soon to be completed along the road to the city. There seems to be a decline in Swansea City centre. This is purely judging by the drunks acting up in the Tesco car park, the teenagers doing exactly the same thing along the main shopping area, and the closed down shops which seem to be more than last time (This is about 6:45pm yesterday evening....in daylight)

Now as I said all of this is from a relatively brief impression. I didn't really have the time or opportunity to look around properly. But if this impression is right then something is very,very wrong. I say this because having been to Cardiff City Centre a few weeks back the very same feeling came to me there as I saw the shops that were closed down and an increase in homeless people wandering around the streets. I might have to go to Cardiff City Centre next Sunday. If I can I'm going to make the time and wander round.

It's 7:41 now....

Apparently today (Saturday) is going to be the last of the string (and here I mean three) of hot days we have recently had. Hope everyone enjoyed their summer.

Well 8:10am ....time to prepare for that call. Until the next time.

When Science Loses To Emotion : Hinckley Point Nuclear Plant Sediment Is Coming To Cardiff

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have always thought of myself as a man who accepts what science tells me. That science is there to provide the facts whatever your gut instinct tells you otherwise. Scientists have the qualifications, they have the knowledge that I do not. My interests was in books or watching sporting physical activity than Physics.

Yet when it comes to the sediment from the Hinckley Point Nuclear Plant in Somerset coming to Cardiff Bay science suddenly loses to emotion. I become the person who will scream in protest despite what science tells me otherwise. Whether it is right or wrong does not matter. It's what you think inside that wins.

Hinckley Point is the site of a new nuclear power plant. Replacing the old one that is being disused. The sediment and mud from the disused plant that it's replacing is going to be disposed of a mile outside Cardiff Bay.

Now Science in the form of Natural Resources Wales who have done tests tells us not to worry. Perfectly acceptable results they will say. Now move along please.

Of course they may be right, no they are probably right....but...

Emotion tells me....no nags into me...something different.

What (emotion will ask me) if science is wrong? Or, as has been suggested, the tests are inadequate?

Then you would have the situation that radioactive waste has been dumped on Wales in the same way that criminals are being dumped on Port Talbot if the proposed super prison is built. This is the impression that's being given. Rubbish that Westminster does not want England to handle? Toss it over the Severn Bridge?

If the science is wrong/inadequate then you will have this dumped mud endangering the coastline not just of Cardiff but also nearby Barry Island and Porthcawl.

And what if the science is really wrong? What if there's a possibility that it endangers not just the environment but the lives of people as well? This is being dumped not in an isolated spot where there lives one man, his dog and a flock of sheep but near the capital city of Wales, Along  the coastline there are places such as the aforementioned Barry Island and Porthcawl where people come for breaks or days out by the sea.

Emotion tells me that this isn't right.

And if you tell me that I should just accept the science and shut up. I'd ask you this. Would you take the sediment where you live?

Bet you'd get emotional then.

Until the next time.

The Continuing Rambling On An Early Sunday Morning British Summertime Post. Including Plaid Cymru,An Old Blog Villian And A New One

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It is as I'm starting to tap this 6:17 on a Sunday morning. Not too bad you might think. Until I realise that today is the first day of British Summertime (seeing Spring would be nice) and so the clocks have moved forward by one hour. So essentially my brain is on 5:17.

It seems that now I've settled back to living in Wales the insomnia has returned....yippee.

Wife wants to spend today going round IKEA getting a chair for our daughter. IKEA on a Sunday....I'd rather not.

You know given that the first few months of this year were spent looking after my mother in Essex I've lost the sense of sense of time. Only now am I beginning to sense that it's nearly April.

Plaid Cymru have had a Spring conference and the headlines is that it's "lurched to the left" to attract more voters. Of course words have their power "lurch" describes a sudden and violent movement whilst driving when you suddenly realise you've gone the wrong way.

Personally I feel that as long as the perception is that the party is not trying to out Corbyn Corbyn there is nothing wrong with this. Any policies though have to be catered for Wales and the people living there. There is nothing objectionable about "Socialism With A Welsh Face".

Old blog villain Bridgend Labour council have raised their heads from the Porthcawl sand and have suddenly apparently realised that there are empty houses and shops in the borough. Particularly in Bridgend Town and are setting up "a taskforce" to find out why and deal with it.

Regular readers of this blog would not be surprised that such a situation in Bridgend exist. Particularly with regard to the town. Perhaps the Labour council don't realise the problem because they have helped cause it with the rates, the pedestrianism, the car parking charges and I could really go on.

It seems that part of their social housing solution is for people to live over shops. That's fair enough but in Bridgend Town there is a good chance that those shops will be empty. You know Bridgend Town could be the first place in Britain where the town centre might have more accommodation than it does shops. Now there's a thought. Welsh Labour....supporting the community.

From time to time the National Assembly of Wales forgets that it's a Labour run administration and tries to act Conservative. Last week it's proposed a merger of local authorities throughout the country. Presumably to get "efficiency savings". How very Tory.

Now personally I'm against it. Particularly because it would be very administratively difficult to control the large swathes of area involved (for example Bridgend/Rhondda Cynon Taff). With regard to the proposal to merge Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan council though there would be a particular problem because of new blog villain Cardiff Labour council.

As I chatted about earlier this week. The attitude towards the Vale of Glamorgan by Cardiff Labour Council has been very Captial City. What is clear is that Cardiff Labour looks down on it's neighbour (Barry Town being "A town without purpose" according to one councillor which was not the only example) and this will only create antagonism. Let me make a prediction. Any Cardiff/Vale merger is not going to work because if this.

As I'm writing this the Australian Formula One Grand Prix is on. Have lost interest in this sport for a long while now. Probably the remaining bit will die next year when it goes pay TV. Trust me that I wasn't interested enough to pay money in TV subscriptions on it. I suspect that next year that there will be many people like me who hold the same view. Formula One will become like cricket. Slowly withering away.

Anyway that's enough rambling for today.

Until the next time.

Barry Town: It's Purpose Is That It's There

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Had to go to Barry Town this morning for a few pieces of shopping which I couldn't get in Penarth. Nothing major you understand. Went in. Did my business went out. Job done.

But I was caught out in a newsagent when I saw a headline in the local newspaper. Where Barry Town was described as "a town without purpose".

Now I didn't need to read on to know that the remark would have only been said by councillor from Cardiff City Council. It has (and I know this as a Londoner) a kind of arrogant capital city mentality that some (note the word some folks) people in any capital city possess.

The Labour councillor Russell Goodway (who amazingly lives in Barry and was born in the Vale of Glamorgan) was discussing the pan South Wales "Cardiff City Deal" which is designed to create jobs and investment throughout the region. He was asked about investment in smaller towns to which he said that Barry Town was " a town without purpose" because the "purpose it was created no longer exists".

I have said before and will repeat that I like Barry Town. Rather like Harlow it's a place that whilst I wouldn't compare to Paris or Milan is far better than it's reputation. It seems a friendly town with an adequate array of shops. It's not escaped austerity, but it seems to have made a better fist of adapting to it than Bridgend Town

By Mr Goodway's skewered logic. You can argue that if you exclude it's centre and the Bay (as that's where the National Assembly is) Cardiff is a city without a purpose. Of course it's a rubbish argument. All town and cities evolve when circumstances occur. Even if (as I'd argue with the case of Bridgend) these circumstances were (Welsh Labour Council) self inflicted.

The Cardiff Council Labour Leader (not Goodway) spoke of towns outside the capital needing "a reason to exist" beyond being a commuter town. Even that comment smacks of crumbs from an arrogant Welsh Labour man's table.

Barry Town has investment in housing, infrastructure, roads and new factories. Being outside of the capital city but being close to it will do the place no harm at all. And of course if local businesses need to do business overseas they could always use Cardiff Airport....which is in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Of course Barry Town's original purpose no longer exists. No one ships coal from the docks in Wales anymore. But to denigrate as merely a "dormitory town" and nothing more shows the contempt of Cardiff Welsh Labour and needs to be countered.

Until the next time.

Cardiff City Centre At Christmas

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well there I was on the Monday before the Monday that will be Christmas Day in the centre of Cardiff dragged by wife and daughter for last minute holiday shopping and to see the lights. I the man with no Xmas spirit at all experiencing the capital in action.

First stop for me was going to be W H Smith. Was going to come out with the Kindle and I'd read my library books so I needed something to read whilst wife/daughter were in the clothes shops. Unfortunately nothing screamed "Buy Me!" though the unauthorised biography of the Chinese ambassador to Britain was not selling well.

How To Fall From Grace And Be Richer At The Same Time

So had to be ready for boring moments of women buying clothes and asking for my opinion. I've said before that for a man this is possibly the hell on Earth that doesn't involve weapons. First was New Look. The fashion chain my daughter was interested in. The only thing I practised there was reverse psychology in making sure that she didn't buy clothes I didn't like by praising them to the hilt. She's fifteen now however and cottoned onto that quickly enough.

Then came "Bonne Marche" The clothes place, according to daughter "for old women". A long wait was had there as well.

Marks and Spencer, finally. Small items bought. On to something to eat.

Now a word needs said about the Christmas lights. Regular readers of this blog would know how there's no way I'd describe myself as Mr Christmas. Still even I was shocked by how relatively pathetic it was. This was Queens Street:

About as imaginative as a brick wall

All Queens Street was were these lights, some blue others white but that was it. The decorations in nearby streets and around Cardiff Castle were better but rarely did you shake off the feeling that the general idea was to go for the barest minimum they could get away with and that was it. Whether it was austerity, the consequences of Brexit, the march of online retailing or a mixture of the three I don't know.

But it wasn't impressive.

So to food. Though a Monday daughter wanted us to go to TGI Friday's. As it was Christmas we agreed. So a loan on was agreed over the phone and we had dinner there.

The bit about a loan was a joke. And wife/daughter loved the food (me less so) but I tell you it was definitely expensive. I'm sure I could have enjoyed food cheaper somewhere else.

Our bellies full we walked to our car. On the way we were passing St David's Hall and we saw a homeless man just looking at the cap of coinage in front of him. It was already a cold frosty night and it was going to get worse. He was a white man in a dreadlocked hairstyle but more importantly dressed in a T-Shirt and jeans.

I gave him all the coins I had in my pocket (about three pounds - I had no notes). He thanked me and I saw his face. Couldn't place an age on him though he looked considerably older than I'd expected. There are some homeless people whose faces are so ravaged by the elements that you just can't tell how old they are.

Hope he got through last night.

There are many things more important than Christmas. Homelessness is one of them.

Until the next time.

London/Epping Part One: In Which I Travel To Epping Via Cardiff,Newport,London And Two Sore Feet

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So the weekend with my mother begins. Brought on, I should explain now, by the fact that it's twenty five years since my father's death and I wanted to visit his grave to pay my respects.

Had a very early bath. Worked the afternoon/evening shift yesterday and had overslept. This meant that mentally and physically I was in a zombie mindset. Awake physically but my mind still in the land of nod.

Although I'd planned this visit as early as February the timing had proved to be unfortunate as a friend of my wife's was moving house today and would've been helping out otherwise. The wife was going to spend the day with her anyway. As it was Cardiff though was going to catch the London coach there.

My wife's friend is a perfect example of how life can throw you curveballs when you least expect. About two and a half years ago she was married and comfortable. Then she discovered her husband was having an affair. She is now divorced and moving outside of Cardiff. This is in no way putting myself on a patronising pedestal above her. For she has shown a resilience in the face of a personal crisis that I didn't show when made redundant.

I remember when she first told my wife when she first realised her now ex husband's infidelity. Assuming they were going to chat about things that wouldn't interest me I was in her living room reading (The Heart Of The Matter by Joseph Conrad as it happens. Didn't like it) whilst they were outside chatting. Goes to show that occasionally reading isn't important as the world immediately around you. It was also rather ironic as told my wife I'd suspected (though did not know) that he'd been having an affair months earlier.

Which is why just before 11am my wife took me to the Cardiff and not Bridgend coach stop in Sophia Gardens.

Bright in Cardiff

Coach Action

So off we go. A pre recorded message informs us that there are two "emergency exits" at "the front and the back". The one in the front being how I entered the coach and would leave it many hours later in Victoria. How then is that an "emergency exit"? 

We're also advised that there is a toilet at the back of the coach. What we're not advised was how the toilet door made an indiscreet noise horror film style to signal to everybody in the coach that it's being used.

Five minutes later we're in Cardiff castle for another pick-up point. Five minutes after that we're in the university section for another pickup point. I'd feel irritable but I was in the stage of being half asleep and half awake. There would I knew be a moment when I would nod off.

Not before stopping at Newport though

There was a woman on the coach who started to moan about the stiffness of the chairs and the length of time it took the good people from Newport. Was expecting her to moan about the crying baby as well but that didn't happen. Suspect she knew the limits.

No more stops now before London. Explains why soon after we left the stop I entered the land of nod. Half an hour later woke up.....in England.

Passed Membury services. There was still a long way to go. I tweeted that Memburies are made of this. Would've got my coat there and then for that remark if I wasn't on the coach.

The lady next to me is reading a book. I'm envious. If I tried it then the coach would resemble a scene from the exorcist with the carsick vomit that would spew from my mouth.She then starts eating. Which a) makes me hungry and b)reminds me that the first thing I'd need to do on arriving in London is to arrange for a payday loan to buy a sandwich.

Eventually we approach London. The traffic jams begin and the weather is so grey that the coach's lights are switched on.

All very neon

And to show how grey things were

London is very fast becoming Blade Runner Country

Eventually we get to Victoria coach station through the streets of Kensington and Chelsea. Some of which looked surprisingly shabby (though presumably expensively so). I would've taken a picture but my phone was running out of charge.

Got out. Wanted a sandwich but couldn't see anything. Bought a peanut Lion bar instead. Walked outside and eventually went into a shopping centre which sold all manor of things before revealing itself to be Victoria train station .

The underground journey was surprisingly easy. The two trains I needed to take came quickly, to the stops I needed and amazingly of all I had seats. From Victoria to Epping  started to read the Helene Hanff omnibus. Finished the first book, Underfoot In Show Business and now rereading 84 Charing Cross Road. Thankfully it's still as good as I remembered it to be the first time

(A quick digression. When I was a London Underground commuter if a train stopped a relevant station we were advised to "Mind the gap". Now the voice says "Mind the gap between the train and the station". What other gap could it be?)

My mother picked me up at Epping station. Wish I could say I did constructive things that evening but was nodding off most of the time. 

Besides my feet felt sore.

Until the next time.