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.

The Essex Exile Epilogue....Hopefully

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well after a period of about three months I've left my mother back in Essex and have returned to Wales alone. Whilst she is not one hundred percent better, she is well enough to look after herself now allowing me to come home with a clear conscience.

What have I learnt in all of this? Well I now know that Harlow is a far better place than it's reputation and that the TV series Bones has become a surprising favourite with me, creeping up as if unawares.

And of course I've missed seeing my wife and daughter during this period. And yes, I've missed Wales as well. For as I think I've mentioned before whilst I would certainly defend Essex to all comers it's not home.

But of course the most important thing is my mother's health. And although she is better a line has been crossed that all children no matter how old have to face. For when you have seen a parent in hospital for a length of time then there comes a moment when you realise that you're the parent now.

I have mentioned to her that she should move to Wales and live if not near then with us. For the first time she has not argued.

That is how much the events of the past few months have hit her.

Until the next time.

On Reading In A Hospital Outpatients And A Little Bit More Hooray For Harlow

Hello there. Hope you're feeling today.

Whilst there is always the unexpected. Basically the only things that would apparently stop me from returning to Wales by the end of the month are two particular outpatient appointments for my mother.

Today was appointment number one.

I won't go into full details. But everything was fine. However it did involve waiting for about three hours in the hospital. Three hours which I spent reading. And since three seems to be the number of the day then three was the amount of books completed today, most of the time in that three hour period.

So let's start with Scarlet Thomas' 2001 novel Bright Young Things. Which is about a group of jaded but brilliant twentysomethings that find themselves in an island. Won't go further as I don't wish to spoil it for anybody else.

The best thing about the book are the opening chapters before they reach the island. They are interesting. They paint a picture of the "Bright Young Things" of the title.

Unfortunately for me that was yesterday. The bits I read today were dull. It is the sort of book where you wonder whether all of a sudden the author just forgot the plot. There was a feeling of drift.

And speaking of drift....I nodded off in the outpatients as I was reading,almost dropping the kindle as I did so. Think I mentally nodded off long before that. As for the ending. Some people might be angry about it. To be honest I was too disinterested to care.

James Whistler was an artist. He was also the author of The Gentle of Making Enemies. A book which details some of the run-ins he had with the art establishment. Particularly a libel case he had with John Ruskin. The same Ruskin who wrote Harbours of England that I chatted about (albeit very briefly) in my last post.

I couldn't work out reading this whether Whistler just enjoyed being a stirrer or was just a pain in the backside. If I was a betting man I'd say the latter. An interesting book but really for curiosity value only.

Lady Susan (which I finished after going leaving outpatients) was Jane Austen's shortest novel though apparently written before (though published after) the others. It's basically a comedy of manners although in the form of various correspondence.

Of the three (there's that number again) Austen books I've read this was the one I liked the least. It just seemed not so much Lady Susan or Lazy Susan but a Lazy Jane. Just didn't seem that exceptional. Still, if this her earliest book perhaps it's forgivable.

The current book I'm reading is Romance Of Roman Villas (The Renaissance) by Elizabeth Champney

Yesterday went to Harlow to buy a pair of jeans. I noticed another statue.

Upright Motive.....Certainly Upright

This was done by Henry Moore. One of the few sculptors (for what it's worth) I've ever heard of. Can't say I like it personally, but it's worth mentioning.

Aside from the jeans I bought something else

I Shopped Polish

Until the next time.

Listening To Football With My Mother : Newport County Edition

Hello there. hope you're feeling well today.

So for the moment I'm looking after my mother now thankfully discharged from hospital in this Essex exile for I hope two more weeks before being able to take her back to Wales to complete her recovery and for my wife and daughter to know what husband/dad looks like (my daughter, thankfully in jest - I think - calls me "The Abandoner".

The days seem to be exactly like my mother's days whilst in hospital. Periods of boredom broken in with the hectic. Looking after an unwell relative, even for a hopefully short period makes you appreciate and understand what true carers have to face day in day out.

Yesterday when my mother was settled back in her house I was able to watch Swansea City on free to air TV thrash Notts County 8-1. My mother was discharged from hospital, Swansea City was the giant that killed in the FA cup and I ate a rather good microwave meal from the Co-op. It was a good evening.

This evening however the FA cup replay was not on free to air.Instead the only way I could follow it was on the wireless. Tottenham Hotspur (boo hiss. Even if they are the team of Harlow) and Newport County who, like their West Walian equivalent of yesterday, are for me in that group of teams I wish well unless they face West Ham.

And they are also the underdogs. And when I say underdogs Newport County the lowest positioned side left in the competition.

So the programme on BBC Radio 5 Live begins. I miss the preview. Partly because we were waiting for my mother's carer to the evening. She didn't come. She was running late. NHS might have looked after my mother but the aftercare has been transferred to the private sector. And they are late.

Once that has been sorted out then I need to get to the local chippy for dinner. Pie and chips for me. Sausage and chips for my mother. Her taste buds seem to have radically changed since she's left the hospital. She has eaten today Porridge,bacon sandwiches,grapes,cherries,whole nut chocolate and crunchie chocolate bar. Also tea, coffee and lemonade

The most amazing thing though was the one I'd refused to get. A chicken Mcnuggett meal. Before she would have turned her nose at it. Now she wants it. The only reason why I refused was that it was just that too far away to get given it was the first full day since she was discharged from the hospital.

And so we eat. And we listen to Newport County battling against their Premier league rivals.

"Tottenham" asks my mother "Are they the rough team?"

I think she's confusing Spurs with Millwall.

Was about to answer when Spurs score. An own goal by Butler. Very unfortunate. About ten minutes later Lamela scores a second. The possibility of this going all Notts County begins to be a worrying thought in the head.

The way it's described Newport seem to have been deflated in the end of the first half. Personally my view was they might as well throw everything including the South Walian kitchen sink at Tottenham.

"Who are Spurs playing?" My mother is awake again.

"Newport"

"Newport in Wales?"

I was tempted to say "No Newport in the Isle of Wight".

During the half time break. Where the BBC Winter Olympics people were moaning about the cold weather (yes I know!) she asks more questions.

"Is the game over?"

"No it's half time"

My mother was asleep for most of the second half. And from the sounds so was the game. Tottenham had many chances. Newport had just the one.However The scoreline stayed at 2-0.

But let's just say this. Newport County were beaten but not humiliated.

Until the next time.

Hooray for Harlow (Part Two)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The more I'm in Essex exile whilst my mother is in hospital the more I'm conscious of this attitude to the "new" town of Harlow.

Today I'm walking along the street near where my mother's home is. I'm stopped by a man asking how she is. I say she's recovering and indeed in an hour's time I'd be visiting her after doing a few things in Harlow (the hospital is nearby to the town centre) which, I add is a place I rather like.

"Have you " he asked "been there at night?"

Aside from when I leave the hospital in the evening the answer's no. But I don't consider it an issue. After all I'm fifty four. Not of an age where you look forward go out regularly in any town centre in the night.

"Well" he says "there are good and bad spots in every town".

This is of course true. Yet you could tell from the sound of his voice that he figured that there were more minuses in the Harlow list than pluses.

I went to the town centre again this afternoon. And my view hasn't changed. Not Paris or Milan but not worthy of the mockery or snobbery of others ether. I noticed a few shops that were closed down but the vast majority were open and seemingly doing good business. People seemed happy and chatty and just leading their lives.

Mentioned in the original tweet that there was a statue of large books which I couldn't take last Sunday cause kids were playing on it. As presumably they were being educated today however ....

The thought did occur to me on Sunday that the kids were of the generation that aside from school they would be unlikely to want to read a paper book again. Which is sad.

I also noticed this statue.

This is Meat Porters by Ralph White. Two things. Firstly I'm not sure whether they would pass Health and Safety. Secondly though I didn't look too closely, I'm not sure the men had any clothes on.

And along the main thoroughfare there's this.

This monument is there to symbolise Harlow  as a new town. Personally it seems rather sad it just seems rather forgotten. I like the statues myself. They're unusual, slightly quirky but in a good eccentric way. Rather like Harlow itself.

And as for Harlow at night I give you....

Moon Over A Car Park

 Until the next time.

Hooray For Harlow

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Before I visited my mother in hospital this afternoon. I needed to go into Harlow town Centre (which is nearby) to get a few pairs of fluffy pyjamas from Primark. The first time indeed I have ever bought women's clothing....he says quickly.

In the morning I'd mentioned this to a cousin who was enquiring about my mother's condition. I said that I'd only ever been once before and I liked it.

"Well I don't" came the response.

Harlow seems to have suffered from NewTownitis a symptom of which is to get decidedly sniffy when it's mentioned. "New" for the sufferers means not old, lacking a sense of tradition, a sense of style. Even though of course some of these buildings were built in the sixties or seventies

Of course there is an "Old" Harlow but nobody thinks about them anymore. The big buildings that announce themselves as you drive along is what most people think of Harlow. The Study Centre, The Leisure Centre (that describes itself as a leisure "zone") and the shopping complex filled with restaurants and superstores called The Water Garden.

Having driven through the area for the past week, and have wandered through it today my view hasn't changed. I'm not going to say that should you have the choice of Paris,Rome or New York the only way is Harlow. But I liked the town. There are far worse places to live in Britain and it does not deserve the snooty disdain that those who hardly know the town seem to give it.

You can always judge a town centre by the shops. So let's start with this:

That is a Polish shop. I noticed another nearby. Harlow: Quietly cosmopolitan.

The shopping centre is called The Harvey Centre. This is the statue in front of it.

To be honest it's an odd statue. Given that the unnamed lady concerned seems to turning her back on the very place she guards. There is incidentally a more interesting sculpture of large books nearby However kids were playing on it and so I couldn't take a picture in case people put two and two together and made five. Still it's worth a look if you're there.

The centre itself is a friendly place to wander round with a good mixture of shops. Must admit I liked it....except for this.

What the......

How did Spurs take control of Harlow so much that they have their own shop here? somehow I get the feeling that the West Ham board missed a trick again.

The shopping centre includes a cinema.Nearby there are more shops as well as a playhouse and a library. Clearly boxes are being ticked. But to me they seem to have slotted in well.

Of course when you think of Harlow you think of something like this.

But there is nothing wrong with this if it works. And from the relatively brief time I was there today it did seem to work. Sure there are more traditional houses nearby. Less glossy. But it does not matter. What matters is that Harlow seems to be place where new really does appear to mean better.

Until the next time.