Goodbye To Porthcawl Library

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I know this is premature. I know that the move might fall through. But today (Monday) I went to Porthcawl library for what is probably the last time.

Why? Well three reasons. Firstly once the process of moving house goes into full swing giving back library books would be put in the back burner, and then forgotten.

Secondly, and conversely, dealing with the library is simple. Return the books. That's it.

Thirdly though, and most importantly, unlike some things I was going to do but will put off until the move is complete (going through an Elizabeth David book and volunteering for a food bank will have to wait) this was to be the first thing I was stopping that I was doing. It was also the first thing that would affect me. As the libraries in Bridgend (bar one) I consider a friend.

Porthcawl library is not the best library in the Bridgend area (in my opinion that's Pyle) as it is slightly small. In all other respects I have always enjoyed and looked forward to my visits there. It has a staff that knows what they're doing and, as I've explained previously, tolerate my bad jokes (On having to pay a fine "I thought you were going to throw the book at me").

As in all good bookshops what made this library (like the others in Bridgend..bar one) good was it's ability to surprise you by borrowing a book that you had not expected to want. I'm not saying that they would all be good (ie a biography of Aneurin Bevan) but you'd be prepared to give it a go.

I walked in. Gave the books and walked out. What I was not going to do was linger.

Goodbye

To Marion Keyes and Mark Chapman my apologies. Once the situation is sorted will make a beeline for your books. I promise.

Purchasing Penguin paperbacks though hasn't stopped. As I was in Porthcawl I went to the PAWS charity shop where for £2 I got this.

H E Bates - Country and Other Matters

This is a collection of five of his books, Fair Stood the Wind for France,The Wild Cherry Tree,Dulcima,The Four Beauties and Seven by Five (there were actually six but The Triple Echo is missing).

Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm not currently an H E Bates fan. My view of A Little Bit Of What You Fancy, the last of the Larkin books was that it was a UKIP wet dream of an England (not you would note Britain) that probably never really existed.

However as I hope Michael Palin showed my views on one book does not necessarily mean that they will be my views on another so we live in hope.

So goodbye Porthcawl,Pyle,Aberkenfig, Maesteg and the old Bridgend Town Centre library. It was fun.

As for the new Bridgend Town Centre not in the town centre abomination library which the Labour Council got EU money to action. I hope you (but not the books inside) rot.

Until the next time.

In Which French Women, Mark Harmon And Sherlock Help Me With My Wardrobe And Other New Year Resolutions

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

First housekeeping. I've finished How To Build A Girl by Caitlin Moran. The book that kept me company at work on Christmas, I loved it then and nothing changed on completion. And given that I'm a fifty two (nearly fifty three year) old man to have enjoyed this novel shows exactly how good it was.

Now, coming soon to a place near you. a new year. And with it.......resolutions. Normally I've never really gone for resolutions but this time I'm going for them in a big way.

These come in two main categories: The first being to up my game on things I've started this year.

Learning languages: As much as I can possibly do I shall be listening to French, Italian, Polish and Welsh depending on the day. If I can practice speaking it to people, whether online or face to face, so much the better.

Within reason be more continental in habit: Particularly in front of those right wing fascist people who have emerged from the slime and think that a hard Brexit is beating up Polish immigrants.

(Already I'm toying with buying those pod coffee machines that get advertised on the TV. The only thing holding me back there is that I didn't realise that the choice is like VHS/Betamax. A family necessity or a throw it away on the tip blunder. Wife's not enthusiastic. Mind you she wants one of those George grill things).

Work For Plaid Cymru: Particularly around April/May. Imagine a man that just spends most of his time sleeping so neglecting his duties and when he does wake up bosses people around but acts incompetently . That is Bridgend Labour Council. Local elections are in May. They have to go .

Go through the Elizabeth David Cookbook: You thought I forgot didn't you? But no. Just opportunity didn't knock. Will work through it.

Similarly:

Fill up the Panini Euro 2016 sticker album: As above.

Then there is the second category of resolutions. Those new for 2017.

Do voluntary work in a foodbank: Says everything you need to know about present day Britain that I can contemplate doing this. Not sure exactly when though. Daughter's knee problem means that for the moment during my days off I'll be the bus taking her the half hour journey to/from school (allowing her to stretch her leg) so there won't be a lot of spare time.

Sort out my wardrobe: Yesterday I was working in the evening but wife, mother and daughter went out to see brother-in-law and his family. On their return they showed me the Christmas present for me.....a £30 voucher for a clothes store (I wasn't offended. We got him exactly the same thing from exactly the same clothes store).

Been contemplating a new look for a while now when I realised that the tenplate  I should follow was the Mark Harmon character from NCIS. It was a look that said, "I'm in my fifties. I've dressed casually, but I'm not pretending to be thirty years younger or about to go to the golf course".

Not completely that look though. I've seen the large coat Benedict Cumberbatch wears in the Sherlock TV series....and I want it.

And as for French women? I read somewhere that they have a small wardrobe but of good quality rather than my strategic clothes manoeuvre of buy them cheap and pile them high, For 2017 I'm going to follow that pattern and see where that leads me.

We'll see how well I do.

Until the next time.

.

Man vs Beast,When Biographies Should Be Recategorised,Cookery Books And When You're Out Of Step

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Hunting for pleasure can in my view never be justified. However yesterday I felt a visceral primeval gratification when I killed an animal.

That animal being a house fly.

Not just any house fly. A house fly that has been taunting me with its presence for days.A house fly that buzzed me in the face whilst I was asleep in front of the football. A house fly that mocked me a few days ago when I thought I'd killed it only to hover around a few hours afterwards.

It was it or me. It was war.

And so high noon. Or rather grey morning around ten came on Thursday. I walked into the kitchen and there it was.....on the window.

With a move my caveman ancestors would have been proud of I grabbed a tea towel and flicked it at the beast. Next time it was seen it was on the ledge. Legs up. Dead.

I gave it a watery send off down the sink.

I am man...hear me domestically roar.

Well I've finished Higher than Hope. The authorised biography of Nelson Mandela by Fatima Meer. As a biography it's flawed simply because of it's out of date almost from it's publication. The edition I read was first published in 1988 but this print was published in 1990. So since the book was published he was released from jail, divorces Winnie Mandela ,remarries and becomes President of his country.

So as a biography then it has it's problems. However don't forget that it was an authorised piece of work (authorised don't forget whilst Mandela was still in prison). Also as a chronicle of the political process in the fight against apartheid I haven't read a better book. It also details the pressures from the white security services that his family especially Winnie Mandela was put under. Something that needs to be borne in mind when people feel like judging her from the comfort of their living rooms.

It also prints extracts from Nelson Mandela's letters from prison. It hints at the generosity of spirit that we all learnt he had when he was released. Speaking personally if I was incarerated for decades whilst fighting for the freedom of an oppressed majority I doubt I would have this. Which is probably why he is such a great figure for us all.

Perhaps then this book should be recategorised. Perhaps then as it's not a cut and paste job it should be considered as a history book with a central character. Because it's a book that deserves to be read.

So then it's time to pick out a book from the great unread. This was the first that came up.

Elizabeth David - Italian Food

Now I must be honest and say that there are a number of cookery books in the house where the only thing that touches them once it's put on the bookshelf is dust. I will also admit that if this book did not have a white coloured spine it would not have been bought famous writer though  Elizabeth David is. Still it's here and I have it so I'll need to do something.

Well...you probably have guessed this by now...I'm going to go through every recipe. It's not going to be quick (won't be able to start this till at least two weeks for various reasons and it will be haphazard in its frequency). Also as this is Bridgend and not Bologna I'm quite happy to compromise where necessary. So if a recipe demands a mushroom that can only be obtained on a remote mountain in Tuscany well forget that. It's the supermarket mushrooms I'll go to instead. And you know what, as much as is possible that supermarket is going to be Aldi or Lidl. Just to see whether without going through specialist shops you could reproduce something close to the recipe (not saying exactly mind, but as long as it's tasty that's success enough for me).

Of course what this means is that I need another Penguin book to read. From the great unread comes this.

F Scott Fitzgerald - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Six Other Stories

You know there are some writers where as a reader you're out of step with most other people judged on the books you have read knowing that you haven't read everything. So if we take D H Lawrence for example based on the books I have read I'm firmly of the view that if it wasn't for the notoriety of Lady Chatterly's Lover he wouldn't be remembered today. The last book I read of his. Kangaroo, was just aimless tosh.

With F Scott Fitzgerald I've read two books and with both I feel I'm in a position which is more out of step than just dislike. It's neutrality. He just doesn't do it for me either way. Cannot explain why. Let's see if this makes any difference.

Until the next time.