Word Of Mouth On Tonypandy,Treorchy......And Bridgend Town

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

What I'm going to say has absolutely no scientific basis on it whatsoever. Just word of mouth. But I would contend no less interesting because of that.

Yesterday friends from the Valleys came down for the evening. Given that it was the first opportunity for them to come down and give my daughter her birthday present. It was a pleasant time, and as these things go the conversation led to one thing and then another till suddenly for no obvious reason Tonypandy came into the conversation.

I have not been there for many years. Before indeed my daughter was born. I remember buying something from a greengrocer's (can't remember what) and the shop assistant's surprise that I was speaking with an English accent.

Well apparently that shop has closed down. Along with a number of others. The ASDA's nearby is blamed. Note to self. Have a look next time you're up there.

From then on the conversation moved onto Treorchy and how that town has relatively survived the effects of austerity. Daughter's and wife's eyes rolled upwards. For as I've said on this blog before if my wife dies before me that's where I want to move to.

"But..." said I moving it onwards "surely Tonypandy can't be as bad as Bridgend Town?"

And the answer?

"Umm Someone else has told me Bridgend Town's not that nice".

And that's the point Bridgend Labour Council. When a town's reputation spreads beyond the borders of the borough, then things are really serious.

It may be word of mouth Bridgend Labour Council but it spreads rapidly.

And Bridgend Labour Council you are to blame.

Until the next time.

On Cardiff City, American Football In Wales, and The South Wales Valleys....As You Do.

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As I'm writing this the biggest sporting news is that Cardiff City have won promotion to the Premier League after four years. This time they'll be managed by Neil Warnock (author of The Gaffer which I've discussed in this blog and is a good read)..

More than Swansea City it'll be very easy for me to go and watch them play West Ham. I've done it before. All I need to do is to pretend to be a Bluebird and look dejected when West ham win whilst keeping a monk-like silence so no one will suspect that inside I'll be happy as Larry...whoever he was.

Aside from that though I genuinely wish them well (along with Swansea City, Newport and Leyton Orient). I suspect for Cardiff City next season. A dull but stable season will suit most people fine.

But whilst they were getting promotion I was watching a different sport. American Football in fact from the British National Football League. The Welsh team, the South Wales Warriors were playing and I kid you not The Jurassic Coast Raptors from Dorset. Arguably the most stupid name in American Football history.

I like American football, with it's combination of violence and chess and as it was free to watch and wife/daughter didn't have anything better to counter it with I decided to go to Llanharan Rugby Club where the game was being held by myself (they don't like the sport).

As I took my spot the Welsh team were doing their pre match training. There was eventually a fair crowd for this game, given that the players were mainly doing this for the love of the sport and not for multi-million pound contracts. Still rules are rules. A bearded man with a clipboard asked a player whether he had a Warrior strip. Given that the player was wearing the strip he was not impressed.

Next the coach introduced the team to the team to wops and cheers from the team.

The Green Army

After that he told the players he expected a high score from them. He needn't have worried as it soon became clear that this game was going to get one sided as once the Warriors scored a touchdown they soon scored another one."They're not pushing" was a comment I heard one of the Warrior players make on their opponents. And it was true. I'd put more effort in opening a Jam jar than the Raptors did on the pitch.

After touchdown two

In all honesty the Raptors were an awful team. I could only recall one significant drive they had. And they didn't score from that.

After the third touchdown you knew it was going to be the sort of victory where the opposition had neither the energy, talent or resolve to beat the Warriors.

Half time. Time for food. A Hot Dog and a Pepsi. Wouldn't have been more American at that moment unless singing a Country and Western tune.

After I had the hot dog I was reading one of the two books I'd borrowed from the library. It was this:

Matthew Quick - The Good Luck Of Right Now

Regular readers will know I didn't like the last book of his I read. I won't chat about this properly until I've finished but so far so good.

The Warriors Half Time Warm-Up

Soon after the second half started the Welsh side scored again. I'd lost count by this time.

And then they scored again. and again. Come the last quarter I knew I was going to leave early. Why? Because you could tell that the Warriors Jurassic performance had like their Dinosaur namesake rolled over and died. There was a sort of surrender in their performance which meant it was pointless to stay on. And I left with about five minutes remaining.

"The game's not over" said the offensive coach to his men as I was walking passed them. Trust me it was over a long while before that.

I decided to drive around the South Wales Valleys before I went home. It was a spur of the moment thing. So I didn't stop until I reached somewhere near Treherbert. Still the views were stunning. Here they are.











And let me repeat. If my wife dies before me I'm moving to Treorchy. No matter what my wife or her Cardiff friends and family think. And this is the reason why. Let's face it. If I didn't tell you where I was you'd think France or Tuscany.

Until the next time.

A Trip To Treorchy

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Regular may remember that earlier this year I had mentioned that should my wife die before me I'd decided to move to Treorchy in the Rhondda Valley. A remark met with amusement,derision and snobbery by some (note the word some in that sentence) people in the Cardiff/Vale area.

Well today (Thursday) with exactly nothing to do (well there's paperwork but that can wait for Friday) for most of the day and by myself I decided to wander round the town given that such opportunities are rare nowadays.

Why do I want to move there. Well quite simply I'd use it as a base to wallow in sights that make the South Wales Valleys the Welsh Tuscany.

Imagine waking up to that

The town itself is rather interesting. For although it has a Boots an Iceland and a Superdrug for example the majority of shops are independent. Also many of them fly the Welsh flag, a gesture I took to show pride of their roots and have no political connotation at all.

Flying the Flag

And Again

The interesting shop in the above photo is one on the right. For though it's a Butcher's it's signage is completely in Welsh. Which is impressive.

People in the South Wales Valleys take this sort of view...



...or this...



...in their stride...including the lady in the local chippie where I had lunch which is called....

....A Fish Called Rhondda!!!

And time for another Treorchy view



Now of course nothing is perfect. Along the walk I found myself in the nearby village of Ynyswen. I saw this.

Note the sign for Courage beer

What makes this particularly sad (and it reminds me of a similar building I remember in Newport where I might have said the same thing) is that you realise it had a happy past.

And I'm not going to gloss over the economic problems the region faces. But what the Valleys has is community. Real community. Not the community of a newly built estate but that of people who appreciate everyone in their area .

I enjoyed my brief time in the Valleys today. Next time I visit it'll be for longer and will take in a wider area. What it taught me today though was that my intention to move up there to Treorchy remains strong.

Until the next time.

Treorchy Before I Die....Possibly

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

House news first. Six houses have been seen this weekend (it was meant to be seven but one, the one for me which I liked the most when I saw it online was sold before we were about to go out today) and none was liked by us all. So unless anything unexpected occurs a renting we will go.

Yesterday though we did nothing much except when friends, a couple from the legendary Rhondda Valley came round to visit. In the beginning it was to deliver some Easter eggs for my daughter but eventually it always develops into gossip as to how things are between us.

Normally the way things  turn the lady goes to chat with my wife whilst the gentleman and I watch some motorsport I've recorded for him. He is a fan, I'm more neutral. Today however all of us actually watched four episodes of the Welsh language channel's S4C programme Pobol Y Rhondda, Now it's second series it highlights the various interesting characters of that region, which as I've said before if you consider Wales as Italy with rain then this is the Welsh Tuscany.

To our friends it was a home movie full of people and places they recognised. I'd shown them the original series when that was on (they're not Welsh speakers) and they became fans. To my wife however it was a prompt to something I told her and indeed mentioned in this blog on Christmas day.

"My husband" she told them "has said that should I die before him he will move to Treorchy".

They turn and look a little surprised. You could tell from that comment that the wife was unimpressed when I told her this the first time. Suspect she thought it was rather ghoulish. Mind you in the scheme of things it's not as if I said that I was going to shack up with a woman half my age and we would perform sexual gymnastics to the limits that my heart and back would take me.

(Don't forget that this move to Penarth and the surrounding areas has been mainly been powered by the wife who gradually has been homesick for her homeland. As she was there for me (even when she didn't know it) when I suffered in silence from an agonising and paralysing depression on being unemployed I feel I owe her)

She had apparently also told this to some people in Cardiff/surrounding area who it appeared laughed at my plan. Wasn't bothered by this. There are some snobby people who consider a journey of over ten minutes from of the Welsh capital to be a trek outside of civilisation. And a journey to the Valleys? Why you need to hire Sherpas first.

The irony that they mocked my plan given that I'm a Londoner is not lost on me.

(And please note I said some snobby people. They are an extremely small minority. They do however exist)

The choice of Treorchy is simple. It's a town so in easy reach of shops. It also has a train station so if there came a time I was unable to drive would still would be able to travel. It is also, even from the town close to those Tuscan views that I treasure, but rarely in hot weather which I don't.

On reflection our friends were not surprised, They already knew how much I was a Valleys fan. What they did mention was that Treorchy is apparently considered the "posh" part of the Rhondda. Nearby Tonypandy has apparently experienced a marked decline. Last time I passed Tonypandy it was on a Bank holiday, shops were closed so couldn't really have an opinion.

Will it happen? Only the future will tell. Could be dead the moment I finish this post and just be marked as some deluded old romantic. The grass is always greener on the other side and in this case it's the green grass of the valley.

Until the next time.

The Post For Athiests,Henry James Doubters and Those Who Remember Alan Gilzein

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Let's start with some housekeeping, or rather housenotgetting news. The search continues. The reason why I haven't blogged for the past few days is that we were close to getting two houses, both which we had seen twice. Ultimately though the doubts that were niggling in our minds, one house for me, the other for the wife, stopped us from making an offer the buyer couldn't refuse.

In my case it was a house at the limits of our budget which still needed work on it and, more crucially, had the feel of needing work that we couldn't see. As for the wife she sees the next house as a final forever home and it was the steps on a tiered garden which was ultimately the dealbreaker. She could not see how it could be dealt with as we become more aged (remember should I outlive my wife this will not be my last house. Which is probably why this didn't enter my brain.Will move to the Rhondda Valley, particularly Treorchy and end my days in this classic example of Italy with rain).

This Easter weekend we are having a househunting binge in the Penarth and surrounding areas, four houses on Saturday, three on Monday. I say "we" because I'll be working on Saturday so a friend might accompany my wife and daughter then. If no house comes into play by the end of next weekend a renting we will go.

And as we're chatting about the Easter weekend (seamless or what?) I'm writing this post at 5:23am on Good Friday morning. I'm working two days on this holiday period, today and tomorrow. Other than not being able to view those four houses on Saturday I'm not bothered by this. I'm not religious, but it goes beyond that.....I'm an atheist.

From Catholicism to atheism in fifty three years, actually much earlier than that really, my forties. I just came to a point in my life when I saw the suffering in the world and thought " A God? Really?".

Do you know what the worst thing about being an atheist is? It's that if we're right and our literal lifetime guarantee expires, we can't gloat to those who believe and say "I told you so" as like an unfixable machine when you're gone you're gone.

Mind you should despite logic and science should those who believe in an afterlife are proved right they will have little time to gloat as given all the religions in the world there can only be one that's actually correct. For all we know people will enter an afterlife and find that all their beliefs have been an elaborate joke by Zeus.

On that basis it was probably a joke by Zeus that has me awake at this time on Good Friday when I'm working the afternoon/evening shift ............or led me to reading a collection of short stories by Henry James.

This was, let me stress again, the first book by Henry James I've ever read. Also,
if you're a regular reader of this blog you'll know that I can dislike one book by a writer and like the next. That said it was the most pointless book I've read this year so far and definitely the most disappointing.

Nothing much happens and I'm including any Katherine Mansfield style nuance in that as well. My one thought as I was reading this was "Is that all there is"?

The next book could not have been more different. In Search Of Alan Gilzean by James Morgan. Gilzean was a footballer who played for Dundee and (how I remember him through the nostalgic prism of childhood) Tottenham in the sixties and seventies. Now I'm West Ham till I die (with no afterlife remember) but I did enjoy watching Spurs in that period. They played with a sort of elan, an enthusiasm which reminded me of how you felt playing football at school....just with a bit more skilll.
Gilzein, along with the likes of Martin Chivers and Steve Perryman was synonymous with that period, and although they were not as successful as their North London rivals Arsenal they're probably (with the exception of Bob Wilson) remembered more fondly to the neutral.

The mystery with Alan Gilzein is what happened to him after he left football. No one apparently knew. He was, as the saying goes, "off the radar".

It's this that makes this book different because essentially it's two stories entwined into one. Firstly it's a football biography and a good one at that as it reveals a complex character that footballing history has seemed to have underrated. Secondly though it's a detective story as we follow the author as he seeks to find out what's happened to his subject. He mixes these strands well. It's a good read and I do recommend it.

So the book I'm now starting to read is Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes. It was chosen randomly though it seems to be a bit current now given the arguments re Spain/Gibraltar. I'm not sure where I stand on Gibraltar. Except to say that given the way Britain is becoming a cold and cruel country particularly post Brexit perhaps they should look again at Spain should the rise of jackboot politics/journalism continue.

Until the next time.

Wandering In Welsh Tuscany

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It started when I was in the bath. There was a phone call. After a few minutes my wife's voice was behind the bathroom door. The call was from her brother. He, his partner and others from her family side including some kids were going to Cosmeston and asked whether we wanted to come. She had said yes thinking of our daughter but then asked whether I wanted to go as well.

"What's in Cosmeston?" I asked.

"A lake" came the response

"Then no. But you two can go".

Now that might appear to have been a selfish response. And well it was. But in fairness to me I knew what was going to happen. I'd have just been the grumpy bored man by himself reading whilst everyone else had a nice time.

So what to do. It was a bank holiday in good weather and I was to be by myself. Everything I'd wanted to watch on TV was already set for record. There was no sports event I could have gone to.

Then I had an idea.

Since the weather was good the traffic was going to go the beaches. So what if I went the other way? To go further up the Rhondda Valley than I've been before and then to then turn round and stop off in some places along the way back. A sort of Valleys Pub Crawl without the alcohol, or indeed the pub.

As I think I've mentioned before there is a description of Wales as Italy with rain. Now if you believe that, and I do, then the South Wales Valleys are its Tuscany. That's the region where my Italian relatives live and so I'm conscious of their similarities. I am a fan of the Valleys for many reasons, not just the scenery that can take your breath away but its sense of community. The one and only thing that (all other things being equal) stops me from moving up there is the fear of being snowed in during the winter.

Probably an old fashioned romantic in my view of the Valleys (I'm definitely old) but there you are. That's just me,

It had been roughly an hour's drive from Bridgend and I'd driven through villages and towns towards Hirwaun in Cynon Valley. But having not reached Hirwaun after about ten minutes or so from Treherbert and with no clear sight of the village I'd decided to turn around. This was the view from the place I'd turned around in.

Had me in thrall for a long while

On the return route I'd stopped of in a car park called Hendre Mynydd which gave these sights to savour.

The World In Calm

Better than a beach

Here are a few more pictures of the journey before I reached Treherbert.

At Peace

This is not London...or Cardiff

Bear in mind before I go on that this was a spur of the moment thing. So because I'd gone on a Bank Holiday most of the shops (majority of which were credibly not of the big stores) in the villages I'd visited were closed. What was open were mainly the small convenience stores, the takeaways and the pubs. Next time I do this it'll be a day when you can go into the shops.

Treherbert had a library....not now.

Intellectual Vandalism

Which political party did this? Labour.... supporting the community.

Here is the view from Treherbert.

In weather like this I envy the people who live here

Imagine getting out of your house and seeing this every day.

Worthwhile going out and getting some milk everyday

At the village of Pen Yr Englyn there was a mural of Welsh and local life/history opposite the school on the wall. It was too big to show on one picture so I split it into three to show you.

One

Two

Three

In Treorchy I crossed off a Valleys bucket list by having a cappuccino in one of the legendary Italian cafes.

The place for "proper" coffee

I chatted to the proprietor. We spoke about how similar Wales and Italy are and his support for Parma football club (a club's decline truly in the "Fall Of The Roman Empire" mode).For the record he made the cup as it should be made not in the frothy mess of the coffee chains.

Wasn't looking for any places that had closed down especially given that as I said a lot of the shops were closed for the Bank Holiday. This however was striking.

Sad. Once upon a time it would have been a community focal point

Treorchy does however have the best name for a company that irons clothes.

Say I mentioned them online

Pentre is the name of a village. It's also the Welsh for Village. So the view of the village called village is,,,,

A view from the village

Do you want to know what's sad about the sign below? According to google the Primary school closed down last year. Again Labour...supporting the community.

So sad

I went to other places as well such as Tonypandy and Ton Pentre but the lack of things that were open meant that there wasn't anything to chat about today. Finally I went to Llwnypia to surprise our friends there by turning up and had a cup of tea and a few biscuits. Mind you I'd always promised them that I'd visit and I kept my word.

It was an enjoyable trip...but I will plan it better when trying this again. 

Until the next time.