A Short Trip Round Porthcawl Leading To A Chat On Brian Aldiss,Thomas Mann and Hilary Clinton....As You Do

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It was Thursday morning. I'd been to the dentist (surprisingly better than expected) and had about two hours (including lunch) to fill before going to work. I'd been to Bridgend Town before Christmas but hadn't visited Porthcawl for a while and was curious to see what it was like. So Porthcawl it was.

Now let's start with the obvious. It was a nice day. Hence a good picture looking at the sea is required.

I did my best

In my short time round the town the best thing is that nothing much has changed. I've mentioned before of the maritime centre being built and though there were two shops closing down I suspect they will be replaced very soon given that I didn't see any empty shops. Only one place has closed down since my last visit and I'll return to that in a moment.

It's looking good

So after a good sausage sandwich lunch in a café (where the waitress revealed that when she gets angry she's liable to smash things) I went to my favourite charity shop in the area with it's wide display on the first floor of books. But before that let's chat about the one building in the area that has closed down since my last visit. A closure that indeed made the national news.

The public toilets

Now from the outside it's a nice looking building that blends into it's surroundings. Built in the days when councils cared about such things.

From the inside it was clean and (if you excuse the expression) did it's job.

Now for the moment at least it's closed. And it's a disgrace. As I've said before many people come here for the beach over the summer months and this facility is needed.

Bridgend Labour Council in action folks.

Before I chat about the books I bought in the Porthcawl Animal Welfare (PAWS) charity shop a word about the latest book I've read the complete short stories written in the 1950's by (mainly) Sci-fi writer Brian Aldiss.

Regular readers will know that I am a fan. But to be honest less so here. At best OK at worst (and this seemed to focus on the longer tales) a draft for a novel. What I will say is that I've read some of his short stories written in the sixties and seventies and they were (if you excuse the expression again) out of this world.

Anyway to the two books I actually bought. Firstly one had to be a Penguin in a classic coloured spine cover. It turned out to be.

Thomas Mann - Buddenbrookes

Whilst I have some Thomas Mann books in my great unread and e-unread pile I've never actually got round to reading him. Simply because of so many books so little time. Let's hope I read it relatively soon.

You may remember when I started the insomniac meanderings posts I said I was going to get Hilary Clinton's autobiography? Well I might plead guilty to being late on acting out on my promises but I do try to keep them...

Promise kept....at last

I wonder how many people look at Hilary Clinton now since we've had over two years of the Trump presidency and think...."If Only......"

Of course now I have to get round to reading it.

Until the next time.

In Which Insomnia Leads Me To That Fight,Hilary Clinton,Alistair Cooke and Leanne Wood....but Not West Ham

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It's 3:45am on a Sunday morning....and I still have insomnia.

Wife's asleep. She'll be asleep for hours yet. Lucky her. I'm awake....and I don't know what to do.

You might ask why don't I watch that Flemish show Professor T that I mentioned last week when I had the same problem. Trouble is, I watched it yesterday (for the record though I am officially a fan) when I woke up at 4:15am.

Perhaps I should watch Match Of The Day which I recorded as was on the afternoon/evening shift at work yesterday? All depends what the West Ham result was. Check my tablet for the score...

Not watching Match Of The Day.

So armed with a cup of tea...so want that cup of tea......find myself on Twitter. In the beginning it seems to be dominated by that fight between Floyd Mayweather and Conor Mcgregor. Had no intention of watching it even if it wasn't being shown on Rupert Murdoch's SKY (which I don't have). I've never understood pay per view for boxing anyway. Doesn't matter that they'll show all the fights on the card if the main bout ends very early you feel cheated.

The fight ended with the professional boxer winning the boxing match against the non professional boxer. Big deal.

So after that scrolled down my Twitter timeline until I stopped at an article where Shirley Williams was explaining how Hilary Clinton helped her out during a edition of BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour. In my zombie like state I make two actions.

1) Note to see whether I can get a copy of her autobiography Hard Choices from the library.

2) Have a listen to this Woman's Hour programme (broadcast in 2014 when she was promoting said book).

Because it occurred to me that nothing has boosted the likelihood of a female president of the United States in my lifetime more than the consequences of not voting her in last year. Perhaps as the US,North Korea and possibly the UK if Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister shows, the gender that should be discriminated against in politics are fat men with dodgy hairstyles.

But I don't get to Woman's Hour. Having typed her name in the BBC Iplayer Radio app. I'm distracted by a Letter From America programme about her and listen to that instead.

Now for those too young to be aware of it Letter From America was a 15 minute radio programme where Alistair Cooke amiably chats about the issues of the day, whether personal to him or relevant to the entire world from, surprise, surprise, America. It ran from 1936 to 2004.

In this particular programme, broadcast in 1996, when Bill Clinton was about to seek reelection as President, was about the attacks on her not fulfilling the position of First Lady by opposition Republicans who considered the role to be that of dutiful female behind the President rather than a person with opinions that should be spoken of Interestingly Cooke explains how the first Lady sought a loan to keep the United States afloat with a foreign power without her husband's knowledge.

That lady, Cooke then points out with a knowledge of American history greater it appears than right wing Republicans, was Abigail Adams, wife of the second president of the United States (and who incidentally was against slavery). He also discussed Eleanor Roosevelt as well with passing references to Rosalyn Carter and Nancy Reagan. All ladies with opinions and husbands who were man enough to listen to them.

(Two points as an aside. Firstly listening to your wife doesn't mean you're a weak man. Secondly my wife always says I don't listen, though to be fair to me it's either when I've returned from the afternoon/evening shift at work....or when I'm watching sports)

The point is that it reminded me that throughout her career Hilary Clinton has been subjected to one attack or another throughout her career. Whether it was Whitewater or Benghazi or whatever the only thing that ever stuck was her use of emails and that was it. Yet the relentless attacks meant that the qualified candidate was beaten by a tangerine nightmare.

It also made me wonder whether in a smaller way Leanne Wood the leader of Plaid Cymru, the party I support is experiencing something similar. Whether it's a party colleague saying he would like to be leader should she step down (the caveat not being mentioned in the headlines) or a manic reaction from right wingers over a tweet. This all seems to be a similar reaction to when a woman threatens the establishment "status quo".

Amazing where passing the time because of insomnia leads you to.

I'd rather have a full night's sleep though.

Until the next time.