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

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Day After A Warm Day With More Evidence How Bridgend Town is neglected by Labour. Also Library Update

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well today (Monday) was a great deal different to yesterday. Breezier,cooler,greyer. Unfortunately for me it was also wetter. Which of course meant that my latest chance of cutting the grass was missed. Perhaps there is a weather god because he (or she) is really mocking me now.

I've finished the Christopher Hitchens book, Not sure if "enjoyed" is the right word but enjoy it I did. It's a big doorstop of a read but I would recommend it.

Anyway what that means is that I've read the three library books I've had on the go and so it was time to go back to the Porthcawl and Pyle libraries to bring them back and get a new one. And I mean one book this time from Porthcawl. So now I've reduced the number being read to four. Yes that's right I'm slacking.

So looking for a football book to pick there was a title that just stood out.

Jerzy Dudek - A Big Pole In Our Goal

Jerzy Dudek was a goalkeeper who played for a number of clubs but most notably from a British perspective Liverpool where he won a Champions League medal. This intrigued me. After all it's an autobiography of a Polish player,albeit one well known in Britain, translated from its original language (though the publisher did tweet to me that it's updated and adapted for UK fans). It made me wonder whether it would be different to the average football biography of a British star. We shall see.

Before we leave Porthcawl here is a picture of the shore at around 11am.

A Moody Monday View

I suspect that the May Bank Holidays / good weekend weather are but training for places like Porthcawl as they prepare for the influx in a few months' time of holidaymakers. Because as I explained before in good weather you can confuse its beaches with places in France or Italy

You might remember a post I did a while back about the state of Bridgend Town which argued was compounded by the neglect of the Labour party and why I felt as a consequence was an argument to vote for Plaid Cymru. Well let me give you some more examples.

A Stationary Shop

This was a stationery shop, Now it appears to have just been allowed to rot and die. Do you think anybody is going to be attracted to open something new there given the sad state it has been allowed to become?

One more example.

Offices To Let

So this modern building has a sign on it stating that there are "Offices To Let". I'm certain that the previous occupiers of this building were.......Bridgend Council. The Labour controlled council allowing it would appear for another empty property to damage the town.

Until the next time.

In Which Votes Are Cast,Books Are Read Paul Theroux Is Writer As Hitman and Possibly Discovering Another Reader

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well as I'm writing this blog it's Saturday morning at 7:14am. Not only am I awake but astonishingly so is my daughter.

A couple of days back I cast my votes in the National Assembly elections for Plaid Cymru. Now we know that that Labour are the largest party. Plaid have progressed,albeit slowly. Still it is progression not regression and that is important.

Speaking personally I regret being unable (in a small way) to help Plaid,the party I'm now a member of during the election due to ill health. Hopefully I'll do better in the local council election and see whether the party can dent the incompetance that Labour currently rules Bridgend with.

The rise of UKIP in Wales is a disappointment. Suppose though that the politics of fear is powerful anywhere.

Well a number of books have been finished. The first one was the library book Spanish Swans by Pablo Gomez about the those Iberian players who helped in the rise of Swansea City. As the book went on like a mountain descent it started from a peak and went downhill into dullness from then on. Mainly because as the book progressed it did not tell me anything I didn't know already.

But then the realisation dawned on me that it wasn't the writer's fault or mine. This book was a translation from Spanish. So for the majority of the readers it was originally intended for it was all new. The mistake was publishing it in Britain.

Now the only other library book of the three I borrowed by Christopher Hitchens is wider than a brick so it was impossible to take to work. Visiting the library is impossible for me until Monday so another non Penguin book was needed to be plucked from the great unread.

This is the book I picked.

Andy Miller - Tilting at Windmills

This book is an account of the writer's attempt to shed a lifelong dislike of sport by taking up miniature golf. So far so good.

The Paul Theroux travel book The Pillars of Hercules is also finished.When I started it I'd described the author as a "professional" writer. This was I realise now wrong. The correct description of him is writer as hitman. Indeed if you look at early adult pictures of him he looks like an archetypal seventies assassin. Ready to kill some democratically elected politician before being foiled by Roger Moore and Tony Curtis.

For on the one hand he's cool,sophisticated and well researched. However he's equally cold,unemotional and self centred. Like a hitman you dislike the writer and what he produces. All my younger self prejudices against him came back as I was reading this.

So I need a new Penguin Paperback to read. This was picked from the great unread.

Kim Edwards -The Memory Keeper's Daughter 

When I mentioned on this Twitter I got a response from someone saying that it was one of the best novels she'd ever read. So all very encouraging then.

I'd bought this Penguin Paperback, which has the orange/white spine of their books published in America in a charity shop in Maesteg, Inside it though there was a calling card from a Kenneth Henry,Assistant Manager - Technical Training from New York. Well that card has an email address and I've emailed him. We'll see if he's a fellow reader. Hopefully he's still with us.

Until the next time.

In Which I Have A Coffee In The Morning But Not A Bore Coffi. Why To Me It's Like Rugby and How Alex Salmond Was The Diplomatic Choice

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Health wise nothing has changed for me since I last posted. Been to work and back powered by coughing and spluttering. Returning home my body seems to say  "Work's done so everything's going downhill now". Not downhill enough though that my first call today (a day off) would be to the doctor.

So coughing, a sore throat and a bit of a head cold. My chest feels as if someone has opened it to let the draught in.Body feels uneasy but still in control.

It's affected my sleep. Between Friday night and Saturday morning apart from a 15 min session around 1am when I needed to make a cup of tea and waking up at 6am to make breakfast only to go to sleep half an hour later I was between 8pm until 10am. This morning a sudden coughing fit got me awake at 3am.

Worst thing so far is being unable to do things that I'd wanted to do. The dental appointment I'd mentioned in my previous post has been postponed until the middle of next month. Not felt able to volunteer to deliver leaflets for Plaid Cymru and the grass outside hasn't been cut for the same reason (In a suburbia sense - It's a jungle out there).

And today specifically the thing I'm most disappointed about was that I felt unable to go to a coffee morning, or Bore Coffi  in Porthcawl organised by the local Welsh language society where you can practise your Cymraeg with a similar group of learners. That will have to wait for another morning.

I did go out to Bridgend Town today though as I needed to put some money into our bank account to pay a credit card bill. The plan had been simple. To go in, pay the money go home. But once out of the bank my throat suddenly felt raw. A hot drink down my gullet was needed,

And so I went to a coffee house. Costa to be precise.

I should perhaps explain hear that view of coffee is exactly the same as my view of rugby in that although I don't dislike it, given the choice nine times out of ten I'd go for football (my view of rugby being incidentally one of the few "Welsh" things that I haven't changed my view of since I moved here). Similarly I don't dislike coffee, but given the choice I would normally go for tea.

Dislike those coffee chains though. Always felt you needed a bank loan and a degree in beverages before entering. Needs must though so went inside and as I've a dislike of the tea served by these establishments I ordered a small cappucchino.

This is apparently what Costa considers a "small" cappuchino

Now those of you who have followed my posts know that at this moment I have five books on the go.Today is a "library book" day. I often take a book out with me as I like to read wherever the opportunity takes me.

The book I should have taken out was Christopher Hitchens' informative read. But it's bigger than a brick and so would have been awkward to take around. The book about Swansea City would have been awkward for a different reason. Those fans of the round ball in South Wales follow their team with a passion. Of course there are those who support Manchester United and Liverpool and when I first moved up here in the late nineties Aston Villa had their fair share of support. I'd assumed it was because Dean Saunders, a Welsh striker of that time was playing for them, only to have it patiently explained to me that the Villa was the closest Premiership team from South Wales.

Haven't times changed.

But of course the bulk of support is now between Cardiff and Swansea City. Bridgend, being a place which is roughly halfway between the two, is a sort of twilight zone where supporters of both live (If you go to the next main town along the M4, Port Talbot, then the footballing support turns distinctly Swansea).

Now fans of these teams can hate each other to a level that is best described as Glaswegian without the religion. Being English and supporting West Ham I'm seen by those supporters I know as neutral. So was just not in the mood to explain why I was reading a "Swansea City" book. "I like both teams" being particularly wimpish. So as I could not be bothered to argue I took the surprisingly entertaining Alex Salmond biography by David Torrence instead to pass the time in Costa.

For the record the cappucchio (which was probably as Italian as frozen pizza) could be best described as drinkable and nothing more. My prejudices about coffee chains have not been broken.

One thing I did notice that opposite the Costa was another place in Bridgend Town that had closed down for I think between two and three years.

The Welsh Labour Party/Labour Leader Carwyn Jones' Office (once)

Now the point here is not that Labour moved their Bridgend office from the town (Bridgend is a wide area) but they didn't feel able to sustain the office in the town. Something the local council (Labour) or the National Assembly (Labour) could not help them with.

Until the next time

Of Coughs,Chips and Book Updates

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

You know health wise there is no more irritating (as opposed to worse) thing than feeling as if you've been dragged through a hedge backwards and forwards again but not feeling unwell enough to head for the bed/couch and recuperate with a saline drip of tea.

I have been at work for the past 4 days and gradually a cough/sore throat/cold/ache that has developed to such an extent that when I returned home I'd enough energy to ping a microwave meal and a hot drink and that was that for me for the rest of the evening.

As I write this a day later nothing has changed. Except that my voice has gone down to such a level that it's almost subterranean.

So it goes without saying that not much has been done today. In fact tomorrow worries me more given that I've a dental appointment. One thing I had to do was to go to a couple of libraries to return some books and that was about the most energetic thing I've done today.

Of the books I've been chatting about previously I've finished Matt Dickinson's autobiography of Bobby Moore and I'll tell you that it was stunning. It confirmed things that I'd suspected and brought in a few surprises, the biggest being that his relationship with former West Ham manager Ron Greenwood was not as close as I had assumed as a child. What it did not do was to diminish his stature.

So a new football book was needed and when I went to Porthcawl library this was my choice.

Spanish Swans - Pablo Gomez

This is the story of how a group of Spanish players helped Swansea City moved from a position of near bankruptcy to its Premiership status today. It should make interesting reading. Personally Swansea City,Cardiff City and even Newport County are for me not unlike being very friendly with a woman but not having an affair as you're faithful to your wife, I genuinely wish them well and follow them, but if they face West Ham I want them beaten.


And that was supposed to be that. But as I was about to get this book stamped this book caught my eye.

Salmond Against The Odds - David Torrence

As you can guess this is an autobiography of the man who came this close to making Scotland an independent nation. Given how I feel about Wales now I just couldn't resist getting this book to borrow as well.

After Porthcawl I needed to go to Pyle library a few miles away to bring back a book I'd borrowed. Having done that I couldn't resist looking around the place which I consider to be the best library in the borough. Needless to say another book was picked. It was this.

Arguably - Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens was, arguably the foremost political essayist of his generation. Although I'm not saying that I'll agree with everything this collection of essays and reviews will say,I doubt I'll be bored.

Before I returned home I needed to get something warm down my gullet in a "feed yourself and starve the fever" sort of way. So instead of a normal sandwich this was my lunch today.

Hot Chip Action

Sometimes in life you need too indulge yourself. This was my indulgence for today.

In case you're interested the football stickers challenge I mentioned in my last post is still going OK. So far no doubles.

I'm now off to brush my teeth and have a cup of tea.

Until the next time.