On Books: Particularly The Best Non Fiction Book I've Read This Year Despite One Disappointment

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well Absolute Friends by John Le Carre is finished. I did enjoy it, but on reflection it's not Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Mind you reading it for the most part whilst you're fighting dozing off in a hospital reception whilst your mother is having a cataract operation is probably not the best circumstance to give a book proper attention. But there you are.

The next ebook on the Kindle was (and I'm doing the Literary eqvilant of taking a deep breath here) The Lock And Key Library. Classic Mystery And Detective Stories. Old Time English. This Public Domain ebook (and so free) was basically a collection of horror stories by well known writers. These stories ranged from the surprisingly uninteresting (Lawrence Sterne, William Thackeray) to the downright bonkers (Bulwer-Lytton, Thomas De Quincey).

But it also had The Signalman by Charles Dickens. I'd been meaning to read this for a while. It was for the most part the calmest story in the whole collection but also the most chilling. For that alone I was happy to have read this book.

Which is more than I could say for The Great Cycle Adventure by James Plumley. A free ebook about a cycle ride he and his friends had in France,Spain and Morocco.

This is a slight book (took about fourteen minutes) and is basically his diary of the trips in print form. Really that's it. A few paragraphs here and there with no detail,explanation nothing. Really a waste of time.

The next ebook to read turns out to be You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe. I'm looking forward to reading this I must admit. We'll see how it turns out.

Went to the library yesterday. The book I took out was:

Voices From D-Day - Jon E Lewis

Seems like the right book to read at the right time.

When I borrow a book from the Library I share it on Twitter. The literary version of instagramming the meal you're about to have. Normally there's no reaction. Occasionally a few people comment and that's it.

When I tweeted out that the next book from the library I was reading was The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane I was inundated with likes and people saying how much they enjoyed it. I realised then that this was a book that men and women have taken to their hearts and loved.

Having read it now I can see why. Colour me converted.

It's a book about particular rambles the author takes on foot. Sometimes alone, other times with friends and or acquaintances. He can picture the scene and make you think you were there and definitely makes you wish you were there. The poet's language is evocative and moving.

But it's not all lyricism. He can go off in a tangent and discuss books and writers and paintings for example which have a connection to his journey and effortlessly go back to his trek. That takes talent. Once you read it for the first time you'll want to dip into it for the rest of your life. It can be described, in more ways than one but only as a term of praise, as a rambling book.

He can make the distant sounds of the M11 part of the countryside. Whereas the Essex part of the M11 I know (turn off from the M25 depart at Epping turn-off) is anything but.

This book for me is unique in that there are certain writers Mr Macfarlane mentions who I've already downloaded to read in due course. I've never done that before. Also it makes me seriously consider undertaking such routes through South Wales (as regular readers of this blog will know I've said previously I don't mind long walks as long as there was a purpose at the end of it).

And there's the disappointment.

For there is no walk undertaken in Wales in this book. There are walks undertaken in England (including Wiltshire in the west), Scotland and the all encompassing "abroad". But not in Wales. Which is a pity.

Now I'm sure you will say that I'm obsessed with Wales and/or you'll say that with regard to Robert Macfarlane it's his book and so his rules. You would be quite right. Which is why it's a disappointment and not a criticism. It does not hide the fact that it's a truly wonderful work which I heartily recommend and is unquestionably the best non fiction book I've read this year.

Until the next time.

The Barry Island Wheel Of Fortune?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

When I was in Essex early this week two Welsh news stories caught my eye. (It's odd now to see Welsh stories relatively far away). One was of course the death of Carl Sargeant which I discussed on my previous post. The other though, got via Twitter concerned the Barry Island funfair.

Now a couple of quick asides before I go on about the funfair. Firstly with regard to Carl Sargeant my wife was in Bridgend yesterday and told me that she drove past the house of the first minister Carwyn Jones and saw a police car stationed there. As I recall there has never been such an obvious police presence, and you can only presume that's as a consequence of what happened.

The second is that I remember when my daughter was about two watching a programme with her on Ceebeebies  called Doodle Do presented by the Welsh Comedian Chris Corcoran. He was telling a story to a couple of puppet figures about a man called Barry who was shipwrecked to a Desert Island. Once he got himself sorted out, one of the first things he did was to name the place "Barry Island".

Well I laughed. But I remember my daughter turning round giving me a look of puzzlement as she didn't understand why Dad was suddenly laughing in a programme meant for her.

And one final quick aside. Of all the pantomimes I saw with my daughter when she was younger. the two with Chris Corcoran in Porthcawl were by far the best (and I include in that much more expensive and star studded affairs in Cardiff and Swansea).

But back to the funfair. Now for those who don't know the area it's important to separate Barry Town with Barry Island. Barry Island is the place with the beach, the arcades and the funfair. It's the place where many people in South Wales go for the day. It is for the most part happy and welcoming.

It is Barrybados.

However it has been in relative decline since it's heyday and clearly needs investment to attract more people. The fairground is a good metaphor for the island as a whole.

Now according to the BBC Wales website the owner of the fairground has said that the new Ferris Wheel has been ordered to be dismantled by the Vale of Glamorgan council because it doesn't comply with planning regulations as it's too high. The council said in response that it hadn't asked him not to remove the wheel but to follow the regulations and seek planning permission. The Wales Online website suggested that a multi-million investment may be at risk.

Now whoever is correct here (and I've no idea) what is clear is that the relationship between the owner of the fairground and the council is not great. But for the future of Barry Island it needs to be sorted out. The fairground is an iconic landmark of the Island and this sort of animosity is not doing it any good.

In early October we took a day trip there on a Sunday (when the weather was surprisingly good). I tweeted some pictures at the time but didn't blog about it afterwards as I was feeling unwell. By the time I was better a few days later the moment had gone. This however means that the moment has come back. So let me give you a picture first of the fairground from the outside.



Now appearances can be deceptive. The building on the right was a pub/restaurant that we went too a few years ago to a wedding party.....closed down.

If looks were any guide the Ferris Wheel seemed far and away the newest thing there. Certainly the most impressive. We were told as we went in as we were stunned by what was around the wheel (which I'll talk about in a moment) that it cost two million pounds and was the first stage in a scheme to revitalise the fairground.

But otherwise, baring in mind that this was October so the summer season being over, the fairground seemed tired looking. As if struggling to be happy, trying to be happy, but finding it a burden.







To my untrained eye. Any objection to the Ferris wheel on the grounds of height seems odd. Leaving aside issues of Health and Safety there seems no reason why there should be planning permission at all. After all we're talking about putting a fairground attraction where a fairground already exists.

So the council (who must surely realise that a revitalised Barry Island will mean increased revenue for them) and the owner need to sort out their differences quickly. For whilst the Island is more than a fairground it's success following the owner's investment will help in an overall revival.

Of course Barry Island will always have the Beach.



Until the next time.

Why Carwyn Jones' Future Is Uncertain

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So even in Essex, where I've been for the past few days,the death of  Welsh Assembly Member and former minister Carl Sargeant has made the UK news. It is worth reflecting that in the beginning of last week the man was a minister. In this short space of time he was sacked from the post because of allegations of inappropriate behaviour (which he denied), suspended from the Labour party pending an investigation and subsequently in such apparent mental turmoil that he took his own life.

I happen to know two women who knew Mr Sargeant. Both are distraught at his death. They had nothing but praise for him. One of them saying that if it wasn't for the distance involved she would have attended his funeral.

Of course that means nothing with regard to allegations against him. Let's be clear here the First Minister was right to sack him as minister and the Labour party was right to suspend him pending this investigation. Any action less than that would have smacked of a cover up.

And if he left it at that then fine. He could have just swatted off media questions by saying that an enquiry is underway, murmuring "due process" in a sentence and that was that.

But he didn't.

Instead he gave a series of interviews on Monday commenting on the allegations. And one of the biggest questions with regard to this whole affair is why did he do that? This is the question that the First Minister will have to answer one day.

These interviews are given Monday night.

Tuesday Mr Sargeant is found dead.

And what I believe this means for Carwyn Jones is that unless the allegations against Mr Sargeant are found to be unequivocally true, then the first minister will have to resign. If the result of the enquiry is that Mr Sargent was innocent, that the allegations were unproven or even if it was a case of actions being misconstrued (eg a hug on the shoulder) then Mr Jones will have to do the honourable thing.

As if that wasn't damaging enough for the Labour Party Leighton Andrews, a former AM has alleged  bullying in the Welsh Labour government and that Mr Sargeant was a target.

Carwyn Jones' position as head of Welsh Labour seemed rock solid a week ago.

Not anymore.

Until the next time.

The Cataract Chronicles Part Two.

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

My mother is awake earlier than I am. She still has her cyborg like patch on. But once I'm awake and dressed she wants to take it out and then put her eye drops in. For seven days she has to relax and practically do nothing except watching television. I think my mother has learnt that when all you can do is watch TV then for the most part it's boring .

After breakfast have to go to Epping for my mother. Partly to get her some microwave meals but also to walk into Boots the opticians to ask for a lense  in her glasses to be taken out because of the need to accommodate the situation.

I mention this to the optician and he does it without any query given that it's me not my mother, the wife having wondered whether he would.

Hands it back to me and says that my mother should return in four weeks time to get new specs. I say not until about ten/twelve weeks time after the operation on her left eye.

She also wants a crossword magazine. Makes me feel confident she's feeling OK. Never was good at crosswords that was something which never carried over with the genes to me then.

Am going home tomorrow. If need be will return if necessary next weeks. Otherwise it's going to be eight to ten weeks for the sequel.

Until the next time.

The Cataract Chronicles Part One (Featuring John Le Carre)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So it's four am and I'm awake. But I'm not going on the morning shift today. I'm not in South Wales either, I'm in Essex. Precisely in my mother's house. Because two hours later we will be leaving to go a hospital for her cataract operation.

When we get out of the house it's dark. Not thankfully frosty though. The journey took about twenty minutes but as it was not a route I was used to it seemed longer than that.  Eventually however we get there and park.

The treatment is on the NHS. But I found out yesterday that it's a private hospital. Apparently NHS England does that, financing the private sector with public money. If you ask me it's the thin end of the wedge. We're there before seven am. Apparently my mother will be part of a group of people who are being treated at this time. I'm assuming it's all NHS before their "proper customers" arrive.

It's a place of beige and white blandness. There's the air of a hotel to the decor.

I go with my mother from the reception to the waiting room.

"Are you her husband?" One of the nurses ask me. How to deflate your ego in four words.

It's my moment to walk back to the reception. This will take about two hours. I've prepared. Brought my Kindle with me. First though cappuccino. £1 a cup. They should have paid me to drink it. It's mush.

So time to read the Kindle. It's Absolute Friends by John Le Carre. A good read reminding me of Graham Greene. As I continue reading it makes me wonder whether when Communism in Eastern European states is no longer a living memory his novels will suffer. He shouldn't be.

Trouble was,  waking up at such an early hour hit me, I felt like nodding off. But I can't in case I'm needed. Find myself struggling to continue.Eyes droop. But I continue.

90% of the Kindle done. My mother returns with an eye patch making her look less of a pirate and more of a cyborg.

We're at home now. Her sight is gradually returning. Will make sure she's OK  before leaving for Wales on Thursday. Tomorrow mainly reading I think.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Wanderings On The internet Guy Fawkes Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It's Sunday then. And unusually for me I have things to do. For tomorrow I'm off to Essex for four days as my mother is about to have a cataract operation. It is something routine,done on the day and apparently takes about a couple of hours and she can get home. Still she needs someone to be there for her for at least a couple of days given that she has to get used to the results so off I go .

It means bag packed, oil and tyres checked  and to get petrol for the journey. But not yet. Too early. Have to wait for later in the morning when wife/daughter are awake.

So wanderings on the internet I go.

Have been watching a recording of Remington Steele starring Pierce Brosnan. I remember when that show first came out. Late eighties as I recall. I remember it with affection as it provided me with some comfort when my grandfather was dying. Not saying it was the greatest thing ever on TV. But it was there when I needed something to make me smile.

I am pro EU. Will always be. Doesn't mean though I find it's attitude on Spain and Catalonia astonishing and disappointing. If a people want to vote to be an independent nation why shouldn't they be? We have found out in the past month that in a supposedly new Spain an old blackshirted Spain was hiding. If I was Catalonian and on the fence on this issue, I would become pro independent immediately as I wouldn't want to succumb to the bully that was Madrid.

Is Spain trying to make a last ditch attempt to take from Britain the title of worst European government in 2017? Has a long way to go. Still it wins the prize as the most sinister.

Twitter tells me that the rumours are that Slaven Bilic is going to be sacked and replaced by David Moyes. David Moyes then. The man who helped put Sunderland to where they are today.

"Extreme porn" was allegedly found on the computer of the cabinet minister minister Daimian Green. Bet people are scouring the internet to find  out what "extreme porn" actually means here.

Today is Guy Fawkes day. When fireworks are supposed to be across the land. As it happens lot of them were set off yesterday. Funny thing that the person in the gang who was set to blow up parliament who's actually remembered was the equivalent of the getaway driver.

Ah well wife's awake.

Until the next time.

Hideaway by Dean Koontz: An Awful Book Well Written

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

My views I must admit on how women are depicted in the media have changed through the decades. Take for example the Carry On movies. My teenage self would have no worries about scantily clad women wandering around the screen. My current fifty something self is more nuanced however. For while I'm happy to defend the films of the fifties and most of the sixties as saucy seaside postcard fun (my favourite being Carry On Cleo) I can't really defend them from the late sixties onwards. Given that they were crude, sexist and in some cases racist and misogynistic.

However whether as a testontroned teenager or a man of fifty whose shades of grey is in his hair the one thing I've always disliked with regard to the way women are shown in fiction is as victims to a male serial killer. My view is that the people (and let's face it we're talking men here) who are entertained by such fare should be examined not entertained.

Which brings us then to Hideaway by Dean Koontz.

The villain in this novel is a serial killer. He kills men but prefers to kill women. No that's not quite right young women. Not only that he collects the bodies of some of the women he's killed. He enjoys it.

Now let's make this clear here. Although there is a psychic element to this book the actions of the villain are realistic. There is no biting of necks here. There is instead mutilation. The enjoyment of it and the anticipation of doing it to other women (and indeed a teenage girl). The description of some of the victims only indulges it's audience ( eg a woman is wearing a sweater that is "tight").There is a wallowing of evil in the villain's actions and thoughts which led for me to a nasty taste in the imagination.

And the cover of the book with it's blurb gave no indication of this either. It also gives out quotes of praise from The Times and The New York Times though I realise now these quotes are of the author and not this specific novel. I wonder why.

But you know the worst thing about this book and it's subject matter? Dean Koontz can write. Although this was the first book of his I've ever read you can see that here is a guy who has got the formula for bestsellerdom and knows how to use it. In terms of how the plot was paced he knew exactly what to do. It was not unfortunately a boring book. If you're the sort of person who is into this kind of thing you would have enjoyed this book as a classic of it's genre. For the rest of us we would have been mentally vomiting in a bucket.

I have said before that this is the first book of his I've ever read and as previously mentioned in this blog I've always held the view that as a reader I subscribe to the Mastermind principle of  I've started so I'll finish. I really don't want to be surprised to finding myself reading something similar by him in the future. So I won't read another novel of his again.

Until the next time.

Maesteg Town Hall Renovation Update: So What Bridgend Council Is Plan D?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

For over a year I have written about the proposed renovation of Maesteg Town Hall. To recap for new readers it was used as a theatre with the basement being an indoor market (the market being around for one hundred and thirty five years).

However apparently urgent repairs were needed to this iconic building in the town. And Bridgend Labour Council decided that they wanted not to simply renovate the building but to create a grandiose "cultural hub" (the phrase alone makes me sick) with fancy glass everywhere.

This new "Cultural hub" is to include a library...in the basement. What that meant was that Bridgend Labour Council wanted the indoor market, the market remember that served the town for one hundred and thirty five years, to close.

Despite protests from the stallholders which I discussed in the previous posts Bridgend Council basically got it's way with regard to the market. Indeed my last post on this was about sadly walking around the place last month where I could only see one stall opened, and that was going to be relocated.

So it appeared the council had got their way. But there was a problem for them. That was to start creating the "cultural hub" they needed EU money (in a system administered by the Welsh office). It begged the questions if the EU money was not forthcoming did the Labour council have a Plan B? And why did no one know what the Plan B was? Indeed whether Plan B existed at all?

Now read on...as according to rumours published by the local newspaper the results are in.

Plan A: It's nil points for the EU money. According to the report the council asked for four million ponds. Four million pounds?! Just think of all the immediate things that could be done in the Bridgend area with four million pounds. Anyway that thought is academic as it was rejected.

And then we at last discover what Plan B was if Plan A was rejected.

Plan B: Apply to the Heritage Lottery Fund with basically the same application but at a cheaper cost (presumably less fancy glass). So to repeat Bridgend Council's Plan B was to apply for money from a different organisation for a cheaper version of Plan A.

Genius.....if it wasn't for the fact (according to the report) that it was rejected.

But wait for it, Bridgend Council have the foresight for a.....

Plan C: Which is according to reports a resubmission to the Heritage Lottery Fund. We don't know what the differences to Plan B are but I suspect a tinkering of the edges.

But if Plan C doesn't work then we have to talk about...

Plan D: It appears that Bridgend Labour council's alternate plans were basically that people would be wowed by the greatness of Plan A subject to minor changes. But the questions that were asked of Plan B needs to be asked here. If everybody is blind to the sheer loveliness of Plan A,B and C does the council have an alternative to the "cultural hub"? And if not why not? After all people's businesses and lives of those who worked in the market have been ruthlessly changed by the council in this entire process. If there is no alternative plan for the town hall then that is sheer arrogant incompetence at the very least.

Let me make a suggestion. Throw out the idea of a cultural hub and instead just renovate a fine building and use it for performances with the basement being a multifaceted retail facility that would protect customers and stallholders from the elements.

In other words an indoor market.

I suspect the cost would be a lot less as well.

Until the next time.

The Trick On S4C By It's Enemies

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

What I'm going to say I've said this before in this blog. But it's worth again chatting again about the Welsh language TV channel S4C. At this moment the UK government is conducting a review of the channel, which should be completed by next month.

But the channel (now thirty five years old) has had some bad publicity for a while now. Facing as it does falling ratings and increased repeats. It will also be moving it's head office from Cardiff to Carmarthen next year. A move that strikes me as reasonable from a Welsh language perspective nonetheless has caused personal problems for people who for example have children taking exams.

But let's chat about the falling ratings. Here is the argument used by S4C's enemies:

S4C is a Welsh language channel.

S4C's ratings are falling.

Therefore the Welsh language is no longer popular

Therefore S4C is a waste of broadcasting space and should be filled by another channel filled with American imports that have been previously been shown years earlier.

Thus the enemies of S4C use the trick that the right wing used against those who claimed unemployment benefit use:

Here are people who abuse the benefit system.

Therefore everybody on benefits abuses the system

Let's punish people on benefits by making the system tougher.

But what the enemies of S4C do not tell you is that unlike every other TV channel in Britain aside from the Gaelic speaking BBC Alba S4C has to cater for a wide variety of users in just one channel. What other channel has to produce output in just one stream which is like BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, BBC News Channel, BBC Parliament, Cbeebies and CBBC?

Therefore you might be happy to watch a sports programme but not the young person's music show after that. It's not a question of language. It's a question of your personal likes and dislikes.

However S4C, unlike any other major free to air provider cannot generally offer you an alternative without you needing to look at their on demand service.

What S4C actually needs is an S4C2. The programmes on the channel may not be necessarily new. But it will provide the alternative that the channel needs from making viewers channel surf or internet wander. Even if it's only broadcasting between say six pm and midnight it is offering a Welsh language alternative.

And the point to say here is that we're only talking about one extra channel stream as opposed to the many other broadcasters have on offer.

Without a second channel S4C will be as it is at present.Venerable to it's enemies.

Until the next time.

In Which We Take The Knap

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So it's half term. I'm not working Wednesday. The wife's off as well and we face the perennial parent question.

"What are we going to do today?"

This was the last day until Sunday we'd be together as a family. And for me Sunday will be partly spent preparing for the trip I'll be making to Essex on Monday (I'll explain about that at the time) so really today's the day for "family time".

Wife: "Why don't we go to Porthcawl?"

Me: "Are you kidding?!" After all we've lived in that area for seventeen years and she wants to go back for a wander? Unless there's a specific reason I've no intention of visiting Porthcawl, much as I must stress I like the place.

So then says the wife how about Cold Knap where you could just gaze at the sea in pleasant weather conditions? It's just outside Barry Town/Island. Apparently she went there as a child a number of times. I've never heard of the place but didn't mind giving it a go, especially as there was no better idea in my head.

Wife, daughter and myself went to have a pub lunch first nearby. It was edible with  very nice chips but the main meal seemed to be a case of honey I shrunk the full English breakfast. Once our meals were consumed we made the short trip to The Knap car park to begin the wander. And yes, the Cold has apparently gone from the wife's remembrances . Here it was just the Knap.

Before being a case of The sea, the sea. It seemed a wander through The Knap gardens seemed appropriate. Starting with the sort of tree you see in horror movies signifying a fiendish accident is going to happen.




And the thing you begin to notice are the Swans. First you notice there's just the one



From which you're then distracted by the ducks.



And then you realise there's loads of them.



These Swans were impressive looking.



You suddenly realise that you haven't seen as many Swans since they were beaten by West Ham on Match of The Day.



And they seemed to move in near formation as well.



And did I mention they were rather big?



And of course invading.



Then time for a Classic Swan pose which I couldn't resist taking a picture of.



And here they are planning world domination whilst eating grass.



But eventually you walked up some steps and saw The Knap.

First time a picture of wife and daughter have ever been in this blog

And it's a place with great views.



And let's continue on this theme.



Indeed it was a place so surprisingly calm a seagull could contemplate the world as the sun starts to set.

Told you

And you know what? I can see why people like this place. As long as the weather's reasonable it really is somewhere you can just pause and reflect. I'd recommend it. We all liked it.

A rare thing then a day out which had the approval of us all.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac's Random Wanderings On The Internet Mainly Down Under Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

And so it's 4:18am and I'm awake. I'm on the internet again.

As it happens I'm listening to the complete library of the Australian Politics Live podcast from Guardian Australia. Why? Well I'm a fan of Guardian podcasts and so am intending to follow most of them.

Regular readers will know I collect things so why not podcasts?

Australian politics from this long, long distance away always seemed to me to be performed from the medium of an MMA cage. No longer though will I act with that arrogance given that we are governed in Britain by a school of baby clowns.

The Australian Prime Minister is Malcolm Turnbull. I remember him as a lawyer decades ago when the British government tried (and failed) in the Australian courts to stop the publication of Spycatcher by Peter Wright. The British government suggested that it was a danger to British security. Having read the book eventually the only real danger to the nation was being bored to death.

It's interesting to me how big the Green Party is there. Also listening to the podcast you find a politician being interviewed when suddenly he (and it is seems to always be a man here) suddenly announces that he has a farm. There seems to be more farmer politicians in Australia than anywhere else.

Just to say as well the presenters Katherine Murphy and Gabrelle Chan are polite with their interviewees but independent which is refreshing to hear.

Twitter tells me that Spanish unionists attack the statue of a Catalonian poet, that's right a poet. A nation afraid of a poet is apparently what Spain has become.

Welcome to the new Spain

North Pole Axed By Photos

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Before I concentrate on the main book I'm dealing with in this post let's quickly chat about the other books in my immediate reading universe first.

Finished Somebody's Luggage by Charles Dickens. Never heard of it before won't hear from it again. Really dull. The next ebook on the electronic pile in the moment is Absolute Friends by John Le Carre. Haven't read a Le Carre novel in a long, long while. So far so good.

Now the main book. Tom Avery's 2009 account of his expedition to the North Pole To The End Of The Earth.

When I was taught at school decades ago about the race to be the first person to either the North/South pole if there was a league table of importance the teachers gave it then this would be it.

1: Scott
2: Shackleton
3: Amudsson
4: (Way,way behind) Peary

The thing being of course that Scott and Shackleton were British and that though no one should deny their courage they failed.

(As a quick aside Beryl Bainbridge's short novel The Birthday Boys about the Scott expedition is a brilliant and poignant read. I'd highly recommend it)

Robert Peary was the leader of the first team to reach the North Pole. But, as I learnt in this book he was accused of cheating. The argument at it's most basic was that he was just too quick. What the author was doing was to lead an expedition basically following the route and equipment Peary and his team used to see whether he could be just as quick.

Now as a rule expeditions to either Pole have no interest to me, given that they've been reached what's the point? But this was different because it was more of an experiment than an expedition.

The first half of the book was interesting enough. Avery was a bit schoolgirl gushing over his sponsor Barclays Capital but otherwise it was OK. The expedition was just in it's early stages by the time the photos came.

Oh the photos......

Did Avery and his team complete their objective? I won't tell you. But the photos did. And reading the rest of the book was exactly like watching a football match you recorded and finding out what the final score was halfway through. This might be the greatest book about polar expeditions ever written but the photos blinded my mind to it. Rather like Brexit though I didn't know the route taken I knew what the basic destination of this book was going to be.

So if you read this tome take my advice and ignore the photos until the end.

The next book in time for Halloween is:

Dean Koontz - Hideaway

We'll see how scared I am at the end.

Until the next time.

The Man Who Wore The Spanish Football Shirt In Bridgend

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So I'm working just outside Bridgend town on Monday. I shouldn't be here but someone had to drop out and so was asked if I'd step in. Of course it meant more money so needs must.

Anyway was working when suddenly I saw the man wearing the Spanish football shirt. Seemed an odd thing to wear in Bridgend given that the weather was slowly morphing into winter mode. So lack of a coat, or even a jumper made you worry for the man's health. But to be honest that wasn't the first thing in my mind.

The first thing in my mind was that he was wearing a Spanish football shirt.

I asked him whether in view of what he was wearing people mentioned Catalonia to him. He replied (in a Welsh accent) "More than I thought" and walked away.

So here was a man who wore a shirt as a fashion statement finding himself being constantly engaged in the Catalonian situation. And no wonder. In my lifetime I can't remember a Spanish/Catalonian news item that has lasted so long in the British media. A referendum for independence by Catalonia resulted in Madrid sending in the blackshirted police. "Only 43% of the eligible voters voted" says the BBC. Well if the Spanish police try to close polling booths perhaps the correct sentence is "Only 43% were able to vote.

Now the Catalan leader is possibly seeking political asylum and Madrid are in the process of taking over the region. An old Spain is coming back.

I too in a storage unit have Spanish football shirts. But when we eventually move to a house I will get those shirts and throw them away.

A gesture I know but sometimes gestures no matter how small are important.

Until the next time.

Watching Barry Town United Without Pictures

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Unusually for a Sunday I had a plan for the day....football. Barry Town United were playing Connah's Quay Nomads in the afternoon. The ladies in my life were planning something for themselves. But I, in my capacity as husband/Dad was off on his own.

(But before you have a go they were getting shoes. So I take it I'm let off?)

Anyway as I was approaching Jenner Park I'd realised that I'd left my mobile phone in the apartment (charging as it happens) so there are no pictures of the match I'm afraid. Nor indeed could I provide photographic evidence that I was the first person to take a book about the North pole to a Welsh football match ( To the end of the Earth - Tom Avery) but there we go.

It was a sunny day. Indeed so bright that those of us on the East stand spent a good portion of the first half with a hand covering ourselves from the Barry Town brightness. We all were looking forward to the black cloud to move quickly enough to cover it.f I did consider going to the West Stand, until I realised I'd be on the same area as those supporters playing the Barry Town bell, the Barry Town drum and of course the Barry Town horn (of course not to be confused with the pinnacle of Welsh football musical entertainment the Barry Horne's).

Not knowing how the league's result yesterday changed things basically Barry was hovering above the relegation zone whilst their opponents were about third. So it was going to be a difficult game for the home team.

So the match began with half the people on the stand we were on and hiding ourselves from the Barry Town brightness. Everything just seemed equal in terms of ability until about the twelfth minute when,from  a corner the Connahs number five rushed into the box Ashley Williams style and headed the ball into the net.

One nil then to the away team. It has to be said that though they were the Nomads it was Barry Town who let their concentration wander for the goal.

And for the most part that was basically that except for two things. Firstly the referee seemed to lenient to the Connahs. They tackled with such abandon I wondered whether Jackie Chan was on the coaching staff.

Also the Connah's goalkeeper, a man in orange, tended to be allowed so much time in taking a goal kick he could have arranged a date with his girlfriend and the restaurant reservation. He was never booked for this (though astonishingly a Connahs player was booked later for taking a long time to walk off the pitch when he was substituted. It appeared for the goalie Orange was the new slack.

No time in the half were Barry able to unlock the Connah's Quay Connah's goal. However the half ended with just one goal between the teams. Barry had hope.

The crowd tried to buoy the team up. One Afro Caribbean gentleman shouted "Come on Barry Town". No that's incorrect it was:

" Cooomme ooonnn Barrryyy Tooowwn"

There was a roar of approval from the stand opposite. The gentleman stood up, took the baseball cap he brought with the foresight of the Barry Town brightness I didn't have, and gave his audience a theatrical bow.

Early in the second half Barry had their best chance the (I think) number three ran from one end of the field to the other slipping through all opponents and took a shot which hit the post. It deserved a goal. The resulting kick from the rebound by another Barry player which was so high it would have only been applauded by rugby fans

But it was not until the last few minutes that chances occurred either end. It was though all in vain for Barry Town with the final score remaining at one nil for the Connahs.

The season is going to he tough for the yellow and blues of Barry. I'm sure they'll pull through.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac's Random Wanderings Online Continues: The GMT Post

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well my body clock says I've woken up at three o'clock in the morning. Bad enough you might think. Except the clocks went back whilst I was sleeping, which means it's actually two twenty nine as I'm writing this. Another group then who should campaign that "British Summer Time" (pause here to reflect how laughable those words sounds) are insomniacs.

So the internet wanderings begin

What do I do first? I update my nectar card to put my rental address in. What does it say? It closed the card over a month ago!!! What madness is this? Seemed to have added points from the petrol station on a regular basis without it suddenly saying "Sorry old chap I'm dead".

You might remember that I attacked not so Great Western Railway over their attitude to bilingual signs on their trains. Well I had a comment from Mr or Ms Anonymous asking why was I so concerned now and what about CrossCountry trains and National Express coaches.

My answer to Mr/Ms Anonymous was that as I mentioned in the post I've not taken a Great Western train for a long time, and felt compelled to put fingers to keyboard now by their attitude to such requests. Suggesting let's not forget that a service from London to Swansea is not a dedicated South Wales line.

I've never been on a CrossCountry train, but the point re National Express was a fair one. So I've tweeted National Express asking for their recorded announcements (when the coach is in Wales) to be bilingual. As they say on the TV watch this space.

The station I'm listening to is RTE Lyric FM. For the record taken as a whole my favourite classical radio station as it's the most relaxed and less snobby one that I know.

Here's a random three thirty two in the morning thought. Will golf lose whatever popularity it has because no one wants to be associated with something Donald Trump likes to do?

Four seventeen am:Outside there is the extremely loud noise of a helicopter. Normally at this time it means that the police are after someone. More people in Sully/Barry Town will be woken up now.

Five Twenty Seven am:Apparently a Tory MP, Mark Garnier has admitted making his secretary buy sex toys and that he will have to take it all "on the chin". Kinky sex toys then.

Five Thirty Three am: Time for breakfast. Run out of croissants so cereal will have to do.

Six Seventeen am: My eyes are feeling droopy. Time to give sleep another go.

Until the next time.

Why Historical Fiction Writers Need To Cut The Crap, Sinclair Lewis And Other Books

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Now that I'm in my fifties I've found that I've grown rather sanguine about historical fiction. As long as any liberties the writer takes are so obvious that it can't be ignored ("Not tonight Josephine" said Napoleon as he was too busy on his laptop) then I really don't care. It is after all fiction.

The Great King by Christian Cameron has taught me however that the language used by a historical fiction writer can be equally important to a reader.

He had already annoyed me by staring with a glossary at the beginning of the book (OK OK I get it. You did your research). Then he had a "General Notes On Names And Personages"  (What is this a historical novel or a memory test?).

However what threw me was the beginning of episode two when suddenly the word "crap" was used. I'd always thought it was a Victorian word following from the legendary Thomas Crapper. But on checking the internet (yes I was checking the internet for the origins of the word crap. How sad am I?) I found that it originates in medieval times.

The point is that for the times of the war between Persia against Greece (and others) it was a word modern enough to jolt me away from the historical setting of the novel. There were other words as well (the F word and "barrack room lawyer" comes to mind) and given how proud he was over his historical research the way the author seemed free and easy over the language was surprising.

It occurs mainly in the first half of the book and it's a pity...because...

...although the quote on the cover is going too far ("Christian Cameron is one of the finest writers of historical fiction in the world" - Ben Kane) judged as an entertainment I found myself once my brain was back into ancient Greek gear enjoying the novel immensely. I hadn't expected to have liked this book as I did. You are swept along by the breath of the story he's telling and, and I think this is a good test, when I stopped reading for a while didn't realise how much of the work I'd gone through. Arguably in a good way it was the most surprising book I've read this year.

Finished on my Kindle Sinclair Lewis' 1920 novel Main Street. It's about a woman from the city who marries and moves with her husband to his home town and finds her life constricted by some of the people and surroundings around her.

As a story this worked when you assumed it was just going to be cliche. I thought as a reader that this was going one direction only to find it moving another. You really don't know how things will turn out until the end. Obviously female readers will identify with the main character. But for a man I can also read this as the struggles of a person to adapt to surroundings and attitudes that you are not comfortable with. The pressures when it appears you're battling against the odds. The pressures to conform to a perceived norm of how you should live your life and behave. I've got a few more Sinclair Lewis books to read and after Main Street am looking forward to doing so.

The next ebook turned out to be the 1916 tome My Book Of Indoor Games by Clarence Squareman. I thought this was going to be useful. Half term and all that. But the first group turned out to be games requiring a lot of people, the next bit were things like noughts and crosses which for my daughter's internet generation was just a non starter and only now have we come up to card games. Trouble is the pack of cards is in a box in the storage unit so I'll need to get another pack. This book then is being put on the back boiler. When I get a pack and test these games out I'll come back to you.

So the next ebook turns out to be Somebody's Luggage by Charles Dickens. I mean you don't read Dickens for years and then two come along relatively close to each other.

Ah well.

Until the next time

Great Western Railways: When It Comes To The Welsh Language Not So Great Or Western

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

When I need to travel from South Wales to London to see my mother, I mainly use the car, or a coach. The train being completely out of the question due to the need to take a multifaceted loan beforehand.

But the train company that operates the service from South Wales to London, Great Western has caught my attention by it's abject refusal to provide signage or on board announcements in Welsh.

Their logic is this. It's a service that includes stations in England and Wales. It isn't (I'm quoting from the GWR helpline Twitter feed here) " a dedicated South Wales fleet".

Now there are a few things that need to be said here. Firstly if a train that goes from London to Swansea is not a dedicated train to South Wales then what is it dedicated to? The Moon?

Secondly Not so Great Western don't seem to be bothered by just compromising and introducing signage and on board announcements in Welsh when the train is in Wales. Arriva trains in South Wales operate like this. And amazingly the Earth still revolves around the sun and no plague of locusts have ever appeared.

Their other logic is apparently that it's never been done before. Well many things have never been done before, doesn't mean that it won't be a good idea doing it.

And let's be clear. It wouldn't be something that would cost a lot of money to do. Certainly less than new "super" trains that have to put out of service because they're leaking.

If Great Western Railways would care to look around Wales they would notice many bilingual signs (including those for train stations) and other services in the Welsh language should it be required. There is no reason for them not to join the businesses who know that leaving aside the respect for the country they're conducting their business in it's also good customer service. Something it seems that GWR have left at lost luggage.

Until the next time.

So This is How Feuds Start. From The Parking Spot

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Apartment living then. I like it on the whole. Certainly to rent anyway. You can enjoy that modern feel it gives without being too attached. If we had rented a house I feel that in the long term that attachment might have been a problem.

However there are certain compromises that need to be made. We are allocated car parking spots. Spots that we have to use no matter what. We cannot use any other spot for fear that the management company might do something to the car as punishment, like for example clamping.

Well last Saturday the unthinkable happened. Somebody parked in the spot. My spot. So I had to park on a different space and inform the concierge. Whilst it did have the feel of telling the teacher, and what was done was cheeky the main reason I had to do it was to tell them I had to park in a different unallocated space so that no action was taken on my car.

That seemed to have had the effect. The car was moved from my spot and we all moved on.

Fast forward then to today (Wednesday) and I'm returning to the apartment complex. Whose car seemed to be in front of me than the one that the one that tried to take my spot. He parked first and then I did the same. So when I was walking to the block he was a fair distance in from me me.

So he's in front of me as we're walking  and I recognise him. He's slightly taller than me, slightly wider and slightly younger. He also has a dog and is living in the same floor as us.It was I thought a vision of me in a parallel universe.

Then a for a quick moment he turns. The look I should stress was neither violent or hostile. But at the same time we're not going to be friends either. Clearly asking him in the future for some milk is going to be out of the question.

The look I gave him was one of no reaction at all. As if he wasn't there. Which I suspect will infuriate him more.

And in an instant he was through the doors and gone.

So that's life at work.

Until the next time

Bridgend Town: The Decline Continues

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today,

As regular readers will know, before I moved away from the area a lot of the posts on this blog were about Bridgend Town and it's decline due I would argue for the most part by the arrogant incompetence of the local Labour council.

Well yesterday (Tuesday) for reasons will not bore you with I had to leave the apartment we're renting early and decided (as I was working in the area later on that day) to visit the town, mainly to honour (belatedly) a promise I'd made in a recent post.

First then let's say hello again to a couple of Bridgend Town friends, the town centre statues that I love for different reasons. Firstly The Reader.

Come Rain Or Shine He's Reading

And statue number two. A statue so bad it's riveting and I wouldn't it to be taken away.



Why is it so bad? Because if you look closely it's physically impossible to have your legs in the position they're in here or be able to turn your head as our friend can.

Anyway to the town properly. Apparently there is an organisation called CF31 Bridgend Bid which is trying to revitalise the area. Good luck with that. However it does seem tactless to say the least to put up posters on a shop that has closed down for a number of months now.



And now to that (belated) promise. I'd mentioned in an earlier post that the McDonald's in the town. The one that has been closed down and left to rot for seventeen years has been demolished. Well here it is.

The end of an era

I've been told by two sources that it's going to be replaced by flats where retail units will be at the bottom. Are the council mad? It's no spoiler alert to say that in my admittedly unscientific wander round the town centre I saw two buildings being renovated and one new shop opened (a "Dessert Bar". A concept I'm probably too old to understand but seemed popular) and that was it. There are vast swathes of empty shops but the council thinks that adding new units is going to help the situation? Even if these units are filled it will not help the problems the town centre is facing?

(As a quick aside given Halloween is coming soon you don't think that the tenants of these flats are going to be haunted by the smell of Big Macs from time to time? Just a thought)

And there seems to be no solution to specific issues. Regular readers might remember the Nolton Street arcade. The small shopping arcade where aside from the two that backs onto the street every single shop has closed down.

Well nothing has changed.



I also went into Bridgend Indoor Market. Not completely sure but I think that an extra stall has closed since I was there last.



Certainly doesn't appear to be any new stalls there. Anyway I spoke to a stall holder and he said to me that the decline was due to the council and the rents they charge.

And to add insult to injury I give you this.



Seems like nothing I haven't mentioned before? Look at what's hanging on the wall. It's a Christmas decoration. It's October and Christmas decorations are being put up? I've made it clear in this blog that I'm not one of life's Christmas people anymore. But even so given how depressing the situation is the stallholders I doubt are feeling the Christmas spirit at the moment.

Bridgend Town Yesterday

After lunch. Which was rather nice.....



I walked along Wyndham Street. Where I saw this.

Can't remember what it was before. Clearly dead now.

The biggest shock though came as I was walking back to my car when I noticed this.

The town centre Argos has closed. Apparently it's moved to to join the Sainsburys in Macarthur Glen retail outlet centre. Now the area has three Argos stores. No longer however does it have one in the town (unlike nearby Maesteg that a quick search on the internet suggests is open). So one more major retail outlet has left the town centre.

And what is the Labour council currently doing? Well apparently it's partly depedestrianising what it pedestrianised in the first place and it's attention is also being held by what cuts it's going to make to public services. It seems they will be "consulting" on the issue with the public. If you want my views on this consultation I would refer you to my post 

http://sopralalunawithpenguinsintherain.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/perhaps-maesteg-is-not-only-indoor.html

(where incidentally I first discovered that Bridgend Indoor Market had problems)

Why this post? Because roughly this time last year Bridgend Council did exactly the same thing.

And as I've said previously. The town is in this position now but it could be in an even worse state if anything happens to the Ford engine plant. The council, like the Welsh government, needs to plan now for a worse case scenario.

I doubt it will though.

Until the next time.

Another Episode In The "I've Woken Up Early And Am Wandering The Internet" Insomnia Series

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well as I'm writing it's six am on a Sunday morning. It doesn't seem to be a cause to claim insomnia but given I did the afternoon/evening shift  at work yeserdday and went to bed at one am I'd argue it is.

Wife/daughter are asleep. Being Sunday I don't know when they'll wake up. Might be five minutes, might be five hours (will definitely wake up daughter beforehand if it's the latter actually). Can't do anything else without disturbing them.

So am on the internet. Being that digital hobo I like to be when no other options are available.

For the moment am listening to the radio station Classical King FM from Seattle. Always interesting listening to something across the world and in a different timezone. It's an opera on at the moment. Though as regular readers will tell have no idea what opera. Though Wagner it ain't. Ah now I've found out. It's The Barber of Seville. Or how it would be described as now The Hair Stylist Of Seville.

I'm on my third cup of tea in half hour and my throat feels dry. Have I caught this bug that all around me appears to have had or is this but a sniffle?

I note on Twitter that Plaid Cymru has made it's position on Catalonia clear and unequviocal. Spain all of sudden has entered into a race with the Conservative administration in Britain as to who in Western Europe is going to be the most facist first. All people have the right to bare a ballot. Spain has lost Catalonia by what it's done and will continue to do to repress free will. And as for the King of Spain. By being as neutral as a train track Catalonia will be independent and a republic.

Oh by the way...in La Liga...definitely want Barcelona to win now.

Meanwhile Britain still seems to be run by polictical scentologists who still seem to feel that a race over a cliff edge that is a good thing. This I tell you will be the thing that will lead to the break up of the UK. The Welsh Conservatives have tweeted that Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood is fighting against the people of Wales by advocating staying in the single market. As I've said before. People voted for the destination not the route to get there. Since she's trying to avoid that cliff edge all power to her.

Yesterday came the arrival of Storm Brian. That's the storm so named to reek havoc whilst wearing its slippers on. Caused the weather to be bleak yesterday. The following is a picture I took on the way to work on the A48. There were better pictures I could have taken but on that road there was no easy place to park.

Still even when looking bleak Wales is capable of producing stunning views

The sun is out. It's 8:45am. Still reading about Catalonia. The way things are going the phrase "Spanish inquisition" is going to take a whole new meaning.

Interestingly the National Trust will still allow trail hunts across it's land. However the vote in favour in their annual general meeting was very close. The phrase "same time next year" comes to mind. Trail hunts really is like a gateway drug. If you allow this then you know people will be tempted to go further.

Just seen a report from Sky News that thieves in Hawaii are selling tins of Spam to fund their drug habit. So I presume if drugs are sold through a dealer, stolen Spam will be sold through a filter.

Ah well wife is awake

Until the next time.

Why Being A West Ham Fan Living In Wales And Working An Afternoon Evening Shift May Be The Best Thing Right Now

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So yesterday I was working the afternoon evening shift at work. Didn't to be honest have much thoughts about anything except just making sure I did my job and looking at the weather outside. I'd thought from the forecast I saw that Friday was going to be the calm before the storm....literally. That storm's name was Brian and apparently he was coming in the next day.

(What a name for Storm eh? Brian. Suggests that it will come in and reek havoc whilst discussing train timetables and wearing slippers)

As it happened Friday night weather wise wasn't that great either. Rain and wind with skies that darkened early. It was the gale before the storm.

And work was well, work. Left at around ten. The journey back to the apartment, which would normally take me thirty minutes took longer because the roads were treacherous due to the rain. Eventually though I made it. Wife/daughter were asleep (Daughter asleep? On a Friday? Is she unwell? Thankfully not).

I get out my Kindle tablet open the Alexa app and ask for a "flash briefing" which is Amazon's flash term for news headlines. Essentially then Theresa May is quite close to begging the EU to move quicker whilst at the same time slowly backing away from the hard line she originally gave. The Prime Minister really is incompetent wrapped in a professional wrapping.

Then I ask for a "Sports Update". I'd been speaking to a Swansea City fan that evening and had realised was unaware who West Ham were playing that weekend.

Well West Ham were not playing anyone during the weekend.
They had already played that evening.
They played Brighton...at home.....
,,,,and had lost three nil!!!

To lose at home is bad enough, to lose against a team that you should have at beaten is worse but to lose at home against a team that you should have beaten by three goals is just beyond. Is this the same Slaven Bilic who just two seasons ago had led us into Europe? Have West Ham just decided to go for a similar Brexit from the Premiership? For it does appear from a distance that way.

What is happening?

I am saved the smug comments from Arsenal fans had I still been living in London. Though for those who know me here in South Wales I'm probably the only West Ham fan they know. Have to prepare for that.

Still even from this distance I still feel the embarrassment and yes the shame. For just like Brexit the cliff edge of relegation is appearing and no one seems to know how to stop it.

Something has got to be done, quickly as well.

Until the next time.

The Barry Town Barber Was Right. To Kill A Mockingbird Is A Great Book..Shame About The Others I've Read

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well the Barry Town barber was right. For the reasons explained in my previous post I borrowed the book from the local library and as he saw the book by the sink he mentioned, unprompted, that it was a "great" book.

Now I've read it, (very quickly as well - always a good sign) I can only agree.

There are certain aspects that make this novel truly exceptional. Firstly, and I knew this beforehand, it's from the point of view of a child. Thus idealism is mixed with inexperience as the reality bites.

Secondly the trial of the Afro Caribbean man accused of rape does not occur to just after halfway through. When it is mentioned in the beginning it is slow seeping process and just part of the narrator's life until for the moment of the trial it starts to dominate. It's the skill of Harper Lee's writing that you're not impatient for the trial to start.

Finally. Given that it's set in a small town in Alabama. What it shows is that for the most part the white people were not evil. They were good people indoctrinated by a racist doctrine in their attitudes. You know you can make an argument that it's like some of  those people who voted for Brexit with regard to their attitudes to people from East European countries who moved to the UK.

And as for the use of the N word that bothered the Biloxi schools district to not teaching this book in schools anymore. Well as I said context is everything and in the context of the book I didn't see it as an issue. Indeed there is a paragraph where the book's hero Atticus Finch gives his opinion on the word, and he's not a fan. Perhaps the Biloxi school district should read that paragraph again.

In conclusion then. Unless something comes along to truly blow me away. It's not only a great book, but the best book I've read this year. So thankyou, Biloxi Schools District for getting me to read it

Sir David Attenborough's book Life Stories turns out to be one of those rare things, a book where you preferred the sequel. I'm, as I've explained before not really the audience for this type of book. Still it comes under the category of slight disappointment. It just wasn't all that interesting.

Still the Attenbourough book, disappointed as I was with it, is still a gazillions light years better than The Cake Shop In The Garden by Carole Matthews. It was chick lit cliché. Put upon woman frustrated with life (tick), handsome man with a past (tick) constraints to the woman finding happiness with handsome man with a past (tick) a crazy sidekick (tick).

What was even worse than that though is that although as a reader I've come to an age where I don't mind not being surprised.Being able to tell what's going to happen is a different matter entirely. There were moments where things were so obvious it was as if Ms Matthews had emailed the plot points to me beforehand.

A truly awful novel.

So it means I've borrowed two new books from the library. They were:

The Great King - Christian Cameron

If the cover is of any guide I don't think I'm going to like this. But we'll see.

And the other was :

To The End Of The Earth - Tom Avery

This is a book about Robert Peary being the first man to reach the North Pole. Now this seems interesting.

We shall see.

Until the next time

In Which Biloxi Mississippi Public Schools Makes Me Start To Read An Extra Book plus added Barry Town

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As I've said before in this blog there are moments as a reader where a book pushes itself into the must read list whilst all the others have to wait a little longer for my attention. This time though it was caused by the actions of the Biloxi School District of Mississippi.

For this district has dropped Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird from it's reading list because some people were "uncomfortable" with the language. This I suspect is the use of the N word.

I suspect that context is everything. I suspect that given the context of the novel the use of the N word is acceptable or else surely it would have been withdrawn years ago. I suspect that it's withdrawl by the Biloxians (who sound like a Doctoer Who villain) for this reason is a travesty of what Harper Lee was writing about.

However I haven't read the novel. Purely because there are so many books but so little time. But the Biloxian action literally (and literary) got me off my backside to go the main borough library in Barry Town and get it.

Which I did.

Thirty Million People Can't Be Wrong

Once the book was borrowed I walked along the main high street of the town knowing that a barbers was nearby. When I saw it I entered. A young man led me to a seat and, after I gave him my normal vague instructions (trim, sideburns and hair on the back of my neck cut) started on my silver mane.

Now there came a moment when the barber stopped, looked at the book I'd put on the shelf and said:

"That's a great book". He'd read it at school

So after all these years he could recall it not just being "good" or "readable" but "great". Also the fact that he'd read it at school should perhaps make the Biloxians wonder how it is that no one is querying the right of Welsh children to read this book but it's somehow deemed too tough for American children to grasp any degree of nuance or context into it's language. Here's a hint. Kids aren't stupid when it comes to this sort of thing.

By the way for the record the guy did a good haircut. I know this because wife/daughter liked it. And if you can pass their stern gaze then you've got to be good.

One quick aside. When I mentioned that we'd moved from Bridgend a look best described as pity entered the barber's face. Bridgend Town is now having a reputation as a place of decay in South Wales. Reputations, especially bad ones, take a long time to change.

This Was The Barbers. Bagnalls

I have to admit that Barry Town has grown on me in the past few months. Of course no one is going to look at it and immediately confuse the place with Venice. And also no town is perfect. But it seems to be a friendly sort of place where people will stop you in the street to chat (which actually happened to me, when someone I knew as a boy called me. He's now taller and married with children).

I was told by the barber that Barry Town was like Bridgend Town until investment was put in. Perhaps Bridgend Labour Council might seek tips on how to turn urban decay around. Somehow though I doubt it.

Barry Town Today

Until the next time

Rhys Webb: A Victim Of The Welsh Rugby Union's Brexit In Advance Policy

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

In the rare times I chat about rugby in this blog I always feel the necessity to preface what I'm going to say by mentioning that though I don't dislike the game it's not my favourite sport and there are far more knowledgeable people than I who write about it.

Still I've held the view that though all powerful in it's sport the Welsh Rugby Union is incompetent in the way it runs things and now comes an example of who will be eligible to play for the national team.

There is a new rule brought in that says to be eligible to play for Wales yet play your club rugby for team outside of Cymru you must have won at least sixty caps. Rhys Webb, who intends to play for Toulon next season has only won twenty eight and is distraught to find himself ineligible to play for his nation having signed the contract before this condition was known.

Now whether this is the idea of the coach Warren Gatland  (who clearly supports this) or the WRU is unclear. I would guess this is a combination of the two. Still what you are getting is the Welsh Rugby Union operating a "Brexit in Advance" strategy.

Now this doesn't apply to Welsh rugby players already playing abroad. As for this "sixty caps" idea. It reminds me of plays from what was the Communist Eastern Europe coming to play in the decadent Western football leagues once they had proved themselves by playing for the [insert national team here] over a number of years.

So why are the WRU doing this? Do they think that the messed up state of Welsh club rugby is going to be improved by having a raft of discontented players who are unable to experience life in a foreign country because of a Brexit loving policy? Do they really think that it will be impossible that Wales could be improved as a team by players learning things from foreign coaches in foreign teams?

Ah yes, foreign coaches. Put your Brexit "Wales first" policy to the coaches as well then WRU. Think of all the Welsh club jobs that would go in one swoop then. Including of course that of the New Zealander Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards. But you won't of course.

A player like Webb, who has spent ten years playing Welsh rugby will suffer for trying to improve himself. This will do him or Welsh rugby no good at all.

So the WRU's Brexit in Advance Policy is just like the original Brexit. Where the seekers of purity from foreign influence have not thought their ideas through.

And the whole nation will suffer if there's no compromise.

Until the next time.

The Random Jottings Of The Jet Lag Without Flying That's Shift Work

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

For the past five days I've been doing the early morning - afternoon shift at work. Now many people do such work. I'm in no way special. And it's no way a complaint, needs must after all. Still I had written down some jottings that I hope would be interesting.

I've admitted in this block that I'm not the most sociable of people. In that regard shift work is perfect. For you have a reasonable excuse not to act sociably. "Do you want to come with us and see my brother?" says the wife. No because I'll be asleep sometime around seven thirty. No arguments will ensue.

However once waking up at three am and after a shower you will find that the world, both the immediate and distant, have been happily going on without you. That feels disconcerting. You're superfluous to requirements.

(Now I know that the above two paragraphs make no sense. But both are true and anyway life sometimes makes no sense)

I've been in bed at around seven thirty in the evening and you know what I feel a little excited when I say goodnight to wife/daughter and then go to the bedroom. Can't say why.

Sleep is rarely easy when you're on the early shift. I find myself restless. As if despite having two alarms on the go I'll sleep through them and be late for work. That's never happened. If anything I've woken up earlier than the alarm because I can't sleep.

When you wake up you have to do all the things you need to do in the bathroom, to dress and make yourself some breakfast without disturbing wife/daughter. It's not easy. I find myself changing my clothes in the living room/kitchen part of the apartment. It seemed I found out later that was not as quiet as hoped for. Not really bothered. Wife can turn to the other side of the pillow and instantly doze off.

I look out at the apartment block around me. Judging purely on weather the lights are on it appears that I'm the only person awake.

The journey time from the village of Sully to Bridgend is about forty minutes. A large part of it is on the A48 from Cardiff. During the day it's actually a pleasant enough road to travel through with green fields and small villages (though you wonder for how longer with the signs suggesting new housing is on it's way. Not I suspect for people who truly need it). At around five o'clock though it's just one area of darkness with the occasional brightness of electric light.

And speaking of darkness. You learn that there are degrees of the stuff. The darkness when I'm returning from the afternoon evening shift when the world is still awake and preparing to slumber is different to that on a weekday morning which is in itself different to Saturday and even more so on Sunday. You might be working, but it's Sunday and the world wants its extra hour of sleep thankyou very much.

Work is basically the same as the afternoon-evening shift. I learn as a quick digression that my work colleagues are also having this early flu bug that wife/daughter/mother got. I've not been affected which means to repeat myself means I'm either a) Superman b) typhoid Mary or C) the germs are gathering together to attack me.

I leave work at two in the afternoon. As I make the forty minute return journey I feel I've rejoined the planet for a while. However my body clock is about two hours ahead of the actual time. Consequently I'm not really all there. I'm out of my groove. Have had domestics with the wife/daughter during these periods (including this one) where I know that being in this jet lag state has not helped. I'm just too out of sorts and irritable to enter rational debate.

An example: Daughter has had her hair cut and restyled. She's proud of it. Wife is happy. My response, (baring in mind it's shown to me when I've returned from work jet lagged) is "I don't care as long it doesn't look stupid. It doesn't look stupid. Now I want to make myself lunch".

Not I would admit my proudest moment as a parent, though admittedly true, but if this was any other shift my answer would have been more diplomatic.

But until the next time the early morning shift is now over.

Until the next time.

Does Secretary Of State Alun Cairns Like Wales?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yes I know this sounds odd. After all Political slimeball and blog villain Alun Cairns is the Secretary of State for Wales and he speaks Welsh far better than I do (also as I've explained previously he doesn't like me either blocking me on Twitter. A fact that I consider a badge of honour).

Still.....

I mentioned last year that he had changed the logo for the his ministry taking out any "Welsh" symbol. He had it appeared wished to kill the dragon.

But this has now gone further. In his speech to the Conservative Party Conference last Monday (something I've only discovered today) he was speaking about the forthcoming abolition of the Severn Bridge Tolls and said that it "brings the opportunity to bind the south west and south Wales ever closer together".

"Bind"? Why does the Secretary of State want to "bind" two separate countries? Is it that he seeks the submission of a separate national identity for an economic purpose? South Wales is not England. It is Wales. The job of a Secretary of State for Wales is to fight for the Welsh interest rather than London's cheerleader. He is not there to support the South West of England.

The toll was a tax on Wales not the South West of England. What he should do is to attract businesses to Wales based on the opportunities the abolition of the toll gives it. But no. He seems to consider South Wales to be equal to a region of England and should be promoted together.

This actually gets worse. He continued by saying that the abolition would also help develop Bristol, Cardiff and Newport to becoming "on the western side of the UK a new powerhouse".

What? He is Secretary of State for Wales. He should be fighting for a Welsh powerhouse not a Western one. The absence of Wales in that statement I'd argue would show his instinctive dislike for Cymru as an entity in its own right.

Also you will note that this "Western Powerhouse"doesn't include anything west of Cardiff. Not surprising given that unlike the North of England it's being denied the electrification of trains. Hardly a powerhouse then when the Conservative party literally denies it power given to England.

In his speech he also accused First Secretary Carwyn Jones of being obsessed with power and standing "shoulder to shoulder" with EU negotiator Michel Barnier (Alun Cairns would never do that. He's so small it's probably shoulder to hip). Regular readers of this blog will know that my response to that is "if only". You see pictures of Carwyn Jones with Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon. He is much taller than her. But it's she you look at. Because she has stature.

This gradual dissolution of a Welsh identity is something that needs to be monitored constantly. If London's pro consul apparently seems to be not acting for the place he is supposed to be representing then it needs to be countered by everybody living in Wales.

Until the next time.

Flu...responsible for all the fun things in life

Hello there. Hope  you're feeling well today.

And I am feeling well. Yes I am. A slight sniffle, a dryness of the throat requiring more than the normal gallons of tea that goes down my gullet but for the most part am perfectly fine thankyou for much.

All around me though people seem to be affected by one bug after another. I know it's the season for all of this but it seems to have struck earlier than normal. It's early October not January after all.

My mother was the first to be affected. She suffered with what appeared to be flu. So she was feeling weak in the morning, better as the day goes on. Confident when she went to be bed only to find herself in this groundhog flu when she woke up again.

Thankfully she's feeling a lot better. Barring a hacking cough. But she seems to have got off better than her nephew, roughly thirty years younger, who showing the same symptoms was rushed to hospital because in his weakened state caught pneumonia. He missed his brother's wedding because he was too busy spending his time attached to a ventilator in a local hospital (back home now. Still not one hundred percent though).

There was also a friend of my mother who found himself  in bed for two whole days.

So what that means is that I try to comfort my mother by calling her a "tough old bird". Something I don't think she appreciates.

Closer to home daughter is alright physically and unfortunately for her healthy enough to go to school but she too suffered from a bad cold, a cough and a sore throat so bad her voice was as croaky as a phalanx of frogs (that last part causing me to punch the air in front of her - a quiet apartment! - the diplomatic and caring father that I am). She is better now, though apparently addicted to hot honey and lemon.

The wife too has been under the weather but not enough to stop her going to work.

And as for me, a slight sniffle, a dryness of the throat but otherwise fine. This means that there are one of three scenarios happening here.

1) I am Superman

2) I am the carrier

or most worryingly

3) The bugs, getting stronger by the day, are getting ready to attack me.

I wish I was Superman. But given I woke up at 3:55am in the morning I know this isn't the case. My insomnia is back.

Until the next time.

Why Bridgend Labour Council Should Call Alistair Campbell To Teach It To Spin: Maesteg Market

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yes I know. Maesteg Market yet again. You thought I'd left it after my last post. Well so did I. But yet again Twitter makes me put finger to keyboard.

So it's Tuesday. The sun is shining unusually for a day in October. This fact is noticed not just by me but also whoever is in charge of the Twitter account for Maesteg Market @MaestegMarket (which is controlled by Bridgend Council). At 10:32am this person tweeted

"Good morning all! We are loving the sunshine here at Maesteg Market so why not come and join us today and shop"

All very true. But how about when the weather is not so good. Perhaps then people can shop and wander around in an indoor market without having to dart from shop to shop or stall to stall and avoid the occasional rain Wales can get?

But of course they can't. Because as regular readers would know the indoor market which was situated in the old Maesteg Town Hall building is to all intents and purposes dead. Killed by Bridgend Labour council's wish to create a "cultural hub" in the building it was in using EU money that it's not certain it will have and not making any indication that it has a plan B should it not be forthcoming.

Bad and mad.

If you were a trader in that market forced to move out and looking at the tweet you would have probably gone ballistic and quite rightly so. The sheer insenseitivity is breathtaking.

And it gets worse.

Because perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps Maesteg Indoor Market is still going to be open despite all evidence to the contrary? After all I have official confirmation that stalls 6B,10,11,24A and 24B are still available. How do I know this? Well it's all there in Bridgend's councils own website last updated in July 2016!!

(Here's the site before they take it off - http://www.bridgend.gov.uk/services/property/markets/maesteg-market.aspx)

Bad,Mad and incompetent.

So Mr Campbell if you want to relive the old times and give a tired Labour administration some tips on presenting itself better an opportunity awaits.

Until the next time

Catalonia - Cymru

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Let me tell you something that I now know. Catalonia will be independent. It might not be directly following this weekend's referendum but it will happen because of the response of Madrid's Conservative administration. The Spanish police (you will note not the Catalan force) was prepared to hit people with batons and rubber bullets and leave them bleeding rather than allow them the right to bare a ballot. And it is that response that will lead to independence.

Indeed when you listen to the Spanish Conservative Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, or any members of the administration, you cannot help but get the clear tone in its attitudes to Catalonia that Madrid is Westminster in a warm climate.

Most nationalists look at the EU's attitude to this, with it's almost unequivocal support to Spain, with immense disappointment. But Brexiteers cannot gloat either. For the EU is commenting on the wish of a group of people to be independent, something that the majority of them don't want to happen either.

Nationalists movements around the world look at Catalonia with a certain amount of envy that we felt the same about Scotland during the referendum there. For we see a nation tantalisingly close to being free.

I am of course not saying that about Wales at present. If only because people might decide to vote for Jeremy Corbyn's resurgent Labour party rather than Plaid Cymru to get the current Tory administration out as a sort of lesser of two evils. But as I've said before politics is cyclical. And when (and it is when) UK Labour shows itself to be a betrayer of Wales in the same way Welsh Labour is currently doing, then Plaid Cymru will need to be ready for that moment to say to the people this....

Independence will not be perfect. Nothing is. But look across the sea at Ireland. Not even the most fervent nationalist will say that everything in the Republic is without fault. But, the people living there make their decisions and vote for their parties. They do not have a London which denies them new transport infrastructure in favour of the North of England or seek to make Wales the new New South Wales in the way they want to dump criminals from across the United Kingdom to "super prisons". In Ireland they see a country emerging from its financial crisis more confident than ever as it profits from Brexit.

Whilst the trigger moment to call for independence may be difficult to work out. I've said before that the consequences of Brexit might be that moment. And whilst no nationalist would actually want independence to happen as a result of this, because that would have meant families having suffered, nor should they ignore the opportunity to shout even more loudly that there is a better way. Because they will have voted for the better way that is independence, and it's a better way because the people living in Wales will consistently be using their right to bare a ballot.

So the situation in Catalonia needs to be monitored by all of us who believe in Welsh independence. The Catalan time has come. One day that time will be Cymraeg.

Until the next time.

One Of The The Building Blocks Of A Nation Is It's Archive. Wales Should Have One NOW

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Amazing thing Twitter. Yet again I didn't feel the need to write a post today when 140 characters comes along and makes me put fingers to keyboard.

It was linking  an article on Wales Online with regard to the agreed budget deal between Labour and Plaid Cymru. There are many important things in it, some I agree with, some I have worries about but the thing that created the most questions in my head was that there was going to be a "feasibility study" with regard to the creation of a national archive for Wales.

Actually just one question.

Wales doesn't have a national archive already?

One of the building blocks of a nation is its past. If Wales does not have a national archive that means that items of importance are scattered not just in the country but also around the United Kingdom (particularly of course London) and around the world. 

Wales then through possibly indifference I don't know has allowed its history to seep through its hands through the borders. I would guess that this was first done by Westminster and then by the incompetence of Welsh Labour.

Wales needs a national archive now. Not just in Cardiff but across the nation. I know that a National archive will not feed you, or treat you when you're ill. But the creation of an archive is essential to allow the people access to his history or else an entire people may be ignorant to aspects of it.

So a National Archive is an essential tool for the identity of a nation. There is no need for a feasibility study, just a plan of action. Welsh Labour, happy to throw money at things that the nation doesn't need, should act on something that can be truly called "Welsh".

A short post. Largely because I wanted to get this out there quickly. But I would argue an important issue that needs to be actioned as soon as possible.

Until the next time.