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.

On Books: Including My Daughter's Hatred For Literature And The New 1984

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So I'm driving my daughter to school yesterday morning. She's fifteen and already taking exams as seems to be the way nowadays. The exam she took was for English literature. As I chatted about this exam to her she made this to me stunning statement.

"I hate literature".

It mentally stopped me in my tracks (not physically as I was driving). She doesn't like literature? Am I a bad parent? Am I the last in a generation to actually want to read a book? Will librarians and booksellers want to throw the book at me?

Further interrogation however suggested something more complex. She said she "enjoyed" Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. I wouldn't say it was a book to be "enjoyed" but she liked it so fair enough.

She also (like me) was a fan of An Inspector Calls by J B Priestley. Fine....

No it turned out that what she actually "hated" was poetry.....well that's alright then.

I have mentioned before in this blog that the biggest gap in my reading knowledge is poetry. Though there are exceptions taken as a whole I've no real interest. Caused mainly by the fact that as a teenager I didn't understand how the price of a slim volume of poetry was roughly the same as a novel so I went for the bigger book instead. Consequently, with exceptions, I feel as if I'm a bad reader of poetry because to me it doesn't seem worth the effort.

Like father like daughter it appears.

She went on to mention two poets specifically. The first was Dylan Thomas. I've mentioned previously from the bits I've heard (though not gone round to checking this) that I suspect he is the sort of poet better listened to than read.

Her real dislike though was towards Daniel Abse. Roughly her opinion of him was "a Cardiff guy who whinges about Wales".

Now my daughter has an advantage over me regarding Mr Abse, as I've never read any of his poems. I have however years ago read a book of essays and I certainly don't recall any whingery.

The relative unpopularity of poetry is interesting. Because if you think about the world of television I grew up in and the byte sized world of the internet that is daughter's domain, you would think that the instant do it quickly world we live in would be more suited to the poem. But apparently not.

Because of my mother being unwell my reading has been haphazard in the last few weeks. Indeed I've had to return the Annie Prolux book unread to the library (trust me that instantly borrowing back would be an admin nightmare for Sully library). I've also though been reading a book that my wife had bought me for Christmas when she asked me what I'd wanted to read. Thinking of the Backlisted podcast I went for this.

Derek Raymond - A State Of Denmark

Forget about the fact that it was published in the seventies (after all 1984 is still a powerful read even though 1984 has long gone). It's a book that has suddenly found it's moment. A novel that describes an England (note not Scotland or Wales) under a dictatorship.

The key to this story is this. The England that this book describes does not exist. But in the aftermath of the Brexit vote it's not impossible. Jackboot politics fuelled by jackboot media exists. I'm not going to spoil it by explaining the plot but after you read this you'll understand.

It may not be the greatest book you'll ever read. But since the Brexit referendum it becomes one of the most important as it conjures up a vision that we may find ourselves sleepwalking into.

Until the next time.

On Books Borrowed and Bought, Why Age Cymru Porthcawl Showed I Might Need New Glasses and no change from Tesco

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Today (Monday) was the first and probably only day I could borrow and buy books for the week until at least Saturday. So Porthcawl I went first to the library and then amongst other bits of shopping to buy Penguin/Pelican paperbacks with my £1 a week budget (which as nothing was bought last week meant that the princely sum of £2.10 was burning a hole in my pocket).

So let's start with the library. My first intention was to get Sam Allardyce's autobiography and chortle but for the first time since I started this reading challenge of going through all the footballing books in the Bridgend library area it wasn't there. Someone else it appears had the same idea.

The book I chose was this.

Oliver Kay - Forever Young

This is a book about Aiden Doherty. I'd never heard of him until today but it appears that he was a contemporary of Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville but with greater talent but for some reason he never achieved footballing success. This intrigued me which was the reason why I picked it.

Once that was done it was time to buy books. The plan was to spend £1 in the Porthcawl Animal Welfare Shop (PAWS) and the rest in other Charity places in the town. Therefore my paws went into PAWS first.

I bought three books for a pound there. This was the first:

John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath

I must admit that I've never read a John Steinbeck novel before (all part of the so many books so little time curse that affects every reader). But at least here is one ready to join the great unread.

In line with my occasional title of the slight hypocrite. ie someone who laughs in the face of people who buy scripts of plays etc....unless they are with a classic Penguin book spine on them the next book was:

Ibsen - Peer Gynt

Not just a play but a play in verse....can't wait.

I was pleased that I got some Pelican paperbacks. This was the one I got at PAWS.

J C Kincald - Poverty and Equality in Britain

The next group of books I got at the Tenovus Charity Shop. They were on offer at 4 for a £1. The Pelican in the mix was.

Europe Since 1870 - James Joll

What's interesting about these Pelicans was that they were both published in 1973 and yet it would appear both might be timely because of recent events. We shall see.

The next one was:

H E Bates - Love for Lydia

You may remember how I didn't like the last H E Bates book I read. The last of the Larkin quartet. We'll see if I feel any different about this. I do vaguely remember the TV series the cover refers to. But I didn't watch it.

Paul Gallico - Ludmilla & The Lonely

I've never read a Paul Gallico book although there are a number on the great unread to tackle. This joins it.

And finally...

Christopher Hibbert - Africa Explored

I was to be honest unsure whether I should buy this book in view of the sub title and its connotations. Eventually I've assumed that the title was being ironic given the attitudes of the Europeans at that time. Hope I'm right on that.

Well that means my budget until next Monday is reduced to 10p.

In between my trip to PAWS and Tenovus I went to the Age Cymru charity shop. Imagine my surprise to see no books there at all. Just a load of other stuff including old satellite TV digiboxes! I was annoyed by this and tweeted them asking why they were the first ordinary charity shop ever not to sell any books.

Their answer...and I think you know where this going...was that they did.

The Books in the Age Cymru Charity Shop Porthcawl

Now in mitigation your honour they had moved the books from where they were at the back of the shop just two weeks ago to by the shop window. Still I was guilty of shortsightedness and I have promised them that Penguin/Pelican or no Penguin/Pelican I will buy a book from the shop next time I'm in Porthcawl. It's only fair.

One last thing I won't bore you by repeating what I've written about England football figures being sold in Tesco Bridgend South WALES. Just to say it's still continuing.

Still here

Until the next time.