The Continuing Rambling On An Early Sunday Morning British Summertime Post. Including Plaid Cymru,An Old Blog Villian And A New One

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It is as I'm starting to tap this 6:17 on a Sunday morning. Not too bad you might think. Until I realise that today is the first day of British Summertime (seeing Spring would be nice) and so the clocks have moved forward by one hour. So essentially my brain is on 5:17.

It seems that now I've settled back to living in Wales the insomnia has returned....yippee.

Wife wants to spend today going round IKEA getting a chair for our daughter. IKEA on a Sunday....I'd rather not.

You know given that the first few months of this year were spent looking after my mother in Essex I've lost the sense of sense of time. Only now am I beginning to sense that it's nearly April.

Plaid Cymru have had a Spring conference and the headlines is that it's "lurched to the left" to attract more voters. Of course words have their power "lurch" describes a sudden and violent movement whilst driving when you suddenly realise you've gone the wrong way.

Personally I feel that as long as the perception is that the party is not trying to out Corbyn Corbyn there is nothing wrong with this. Any policies though have to be catered for Wales and the people living there. There is nothing objectionable about "Socialism With A Welsh Face".

Old blog villain Bridgend Labour council have raised their heads from the Porthcawl sand and have suddenly apparently realised that there are empty houses and shops in the borough. Particularly in Bridgend Town and are setting up "a taskforce" to find out why and deal with it.

Regular readers of this blog would not be surprised that such a situation in Bridgend exist. Particularly with regard to the town. Perhaps the Labour council don't realise the problem because they have helped cause it with the rates, the pedestrianism, the car parking charges and I could really go on.

It seems that part of their social housing solution is for people to live over shops. That's fair enough but in Bridgend Town there is a good chance that those shops will be empty. You know Bridgend Town could be the first place in Britain where the town centre might have more accommodation than it does shops. Now there's a thought. Welsh Labour....supporting the community.

From time to time the National Assembly of Wales forgets that it's a Labour run administration and tries to act Conservative. Last week it's proposed a merger of local authorities throughout the country. Presumably to get "efficiency savings". How very Tory.

Now personally I'm against it. Particularly because it would be very administratively difficult to control the large swathes of area involved (for example Bridgend/Rhondda Cynon Taff). With regard to the proposal to merge Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan council though there would be a particular problem because of new blog villain Cardiff Labour council.

As I chatted about earlier this week. The attitude towards the Vale of Glamorgan by Cardiff Labour Council has been very Captial City. What is clear is that Cardiff Labour looks down on it's neighbour (Barry Town being "A town without purpose" according to one councillor which was not the only example) and this will only create antagonism. Let me make a prediction. Any Cardiff/Vale merger is not going to work because if this.

As I'm writing this the Australian Formula One Grand Prix is on. Have lost interest in this sport for a long while now. Probably the remaining bit will die next year when it goes pay TV. Trust me that I wasn't interested enough to pay money in TV subscriptions on it. I suspect that next year that there will be many people like me who hold the same view. Formula One will become like cricket. Slowly withering away.

Anyway that's enough rambling for today.

Until the next time.

Going Back To Watching The Pobol In The Cwm

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

During my roughly two nearly three months of Essex exile whilst looking after my mother many things that I used to do had to be put to one side. Watching the Welsh language soap opera Pobol Y Cwm  (People of the Valley) about the goings on in a village in West Wales on S4C was one of them. Now of course even in Essex I could have just downloaded it and watched the programme as and when I could. But I won't lie. For most of the time I'd other things on my mind and I neither really had the time or the inclination.

But that was then and this is now. Mum is better and I sit before you on a Saturday morning watching a recording of the omnibus edition I did last Sunday......as you do.

When you miss a soap opera for a considerable length of time you are conscious of the changes. The omnibus opens with a mother and her daughter (Sioned) arguing over the theft of a wallet. Something obviously happened during my absence. Also teenage Chester seems to have a girlfriend. A fellow student with multi-coloured dreadlocks. Presumably common in the Welsh Valleys. Last time I saw the soap he was in jail.

Sioned's partner. A man who she beat up and was practically bald seems to have grown a full head of hair and become a window cleaner. Did not recognise him at first

Both their relatives disapprove of the relationship. So they want to leave the village of Cwmderi? Where do they want to go to? Australia! I've written before about people leaving Wales since Brexit. Now here it is in soap opera form. Eventually they don't go. Instead there's an (accepted) proposal of marriage at the airport as the young couple are about to leave.

To get the money for the fare Jason borrows it from Gwyneth (with interest!). A woman who has turned into the local moneylender since I last saw the show. The man (Sion) who she was with seems to have turned his attentions to another  (Anita) whose niece is arguing with another character over the ownership of a cat.

When the couple do leave the village his mother and her grandmother panic. These are two characters I remember from when I started watching the soap oh those years ago. You do anchor yourself to those type of characters. A sort of soap nostalgia I guess

The new doctor came as a surprise. Bryn Fon. Actor, singer and as I remember it when my daughter was a toddler the Welsh language voice for Bob the Builder.

Sheryl the hairdresser is having a fling with Gethin the mechanic. Which is all very ironic as the man she's with (Hywel) was the Cwmderi Casanova when I started watching the soap. Gethin was living with Ffion who was the wife of the local priest years ago before as I remembered it he turned to murder. As a career change goes that's dramatic.

Interestingly in a pub scene in the Deri arms there were books in the background (?). One of them happened to be by Sue Grafton. A writer of private eye stories who died recently. Was this a subtle tribute or just coincidence?

Of course there were more plotlines than those I've chatted about. One particularly emotional one with regard to abortion.

It was an omnibus after all.

It was good to be back.

Until the next time.

UKIP In Wales. The Comedy Continues.....As Does The Ignorance

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Since this has been the first proper week I've been in Wales since looking after my mother for the past few months there have been some issues that I've not yet feel able to chat about since returning from Essex exile. Simply because I'd not the opportunity to look into them properly (such as the Barry furnace, the dumping of mud from mud at Hinckley Point to Cardiff and what has been described as a potential "lurch to the left" by the party I support Plaid Cymru - Gut instinct nothing wrong with that unless it's perceived as way of out Corbyning Corbyn. Then it will fail).

So what I'm saying is that if you think for the moment I'm avoiding chatting about particular subjects. Well guilty.....for now.

But one thing that apparently hasn't changed during my time away is the regional comedy that's UKIP in Wales. From appointing Neil Hamilton as it's leader. To watching another Tory defector move to UKIP and then move back to the Tories (Ignorance is bliss...it's also Mark Reckless). To seeing Nathan Gill choose between his roles as Assembly member for in the Welsh Assembly or as Member of the European Parliament....and choosing Europe.....let that sink in.

The point is that even before the party looked stupid on a United Kingdom level it has become a laughing stock in Wales long before that.

A few days ago Neil Hamilton continued in this vein as he sent this tweet @NeilUKIP protesting about the Brexit transit deal and what he sees as it's dire effect on the fishing industry.

I'm calling on Britain's fishermen to get their rods out and march on Downing Street, to send a message to Theresa May that Britain's fish cannot be used as a bargaining chip at the EU negotiations. @FishingforLeave

Now my first reaction was to go all Carry On and Oh err Missus at his call for fishermen "to get their rods out". But then something else occurred to me. Something much more serious.

UKIP are talking about the fishing industry around Britain as they understand their concerns and fight for them. But even I, a man who has never been on a fishing boat, knows that the people who work on these boats don't use rods..... they use nets. 

Anglers use rods.

UKIP claim to care about the fishing industry and yet here is it's Welsh leader being ignorant of it.

UKIP are a party without a purpose. Like the dead fish Nigel Farage threw into the River Thames (was that legal?) it's just there for show now and nothing else.

Until the next time.

The Farewell Tour Of The McDonald's Menu Part 5: The Fillet O Fish Burger

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As regular readers of this blog will be aware. I have decided to abandon eating fast food after going through the standard McDonald's menu as and when opportunities occur.

A couple of days ago it was the turn of the Fillet O Fish burger. Why they describe it that way, as if it was created by a leprechaun , is one of the of the great mysteries of Western civilisation. But for now I'll let it pass.

I must admit when I was younger this was my burger of choice. Only to show people that I was different, an individual. No bits of cow, oh no. I follow a different drum me.

However I soon learnt that not following the crowd meant that in a drive thru you had to park in a designated spot and wait whilst they cooked the thing. This happened so often that I just gave up and joined the masses asking for a Big Mac medium meal with a Diet Coke so at least I'd get the stuff there and then.

And you know what? Although I went inside the McDonald's on Tuesday. When I asked the young woman for that meal she said "It will take a little time as we'll need to cook it"(!!)

Anyway here's the result.

I know you're impressed

You might notice the hole at the top of the burger. The bit of bread that was there was stuck in the box. Was unimpressed by that.

It was of course edible but really it's no more than a fish finger with sequins on. Although the more I'm doing this exercise the more I'm growing to dislike the McDonalds' fries. Puny thin things aren't they? There really is a need for them to butch up and become chunky.

But there we go. Another medium meal knocked off the list.

Until the next time.

Barry Town: It's Purpose Is That It's There

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Had to go to Barry Town this morning for a few pieces of shopping which I couldn't get in Penarth. Nothing major you understand. Went in. Did my business went out. Job done.

But I was caught out in a newsagent when I saw a headline in the local newspaper. Where Barry Town was described as "a town without purpose".

Now I didn't need to read on to know that the remark would have only been said by councillor from Cardiff City Council. It has (and I know this as a Londoner) a kind of arrogant capital city mentality that some (note the word some folks) people in any capital city possess.

The Labour councillor Russell Goodway (who amazingly lives in Barry and was born in the Vale of Glamorgan) was discussing the pan South Wales "Cardiff City Deal" which is designed to create jobs and investment throughout the region. He was asked about investment in smaller towns to which he said that Barry Town was " a town without purpose" because the "purpose it was created no longer exists".

I have said before and will repeat that I like Barry Town. Rather like Harlow it's a place that whilst I wouldn't compare to Paris or Milan is far better than it's reputation. It seems a friendly town with an adequate array of shops. It's not escaped austerity, but it seems to have made a better fist of adapting to it than Bridgend Town

By Mr Goodway's skewered logic. You can argue that if you exclude it's centre and the Bay (as that's where the National Assembly is) Cardiff is a city without a purpose. Of course it's a rubbish argument. All town and cities evolve when circumstances occur. Even if (as I'd argue with the case of Bridgend) these circumstances were (Welsh Labour Council) self inflicted.

The Cardiff Council Labour Leader (not Goodway) spoke of towns outside the capital needing "a reason to exist" beyond being a commuter town. Even that comment smacks of crumbs from an arrogant Welsh Labour man's table.

Barry Town has investment in housing, infrastructure, roads and new factories. Being outside of the capital city but being close to it will do the place no harm at all. And of course if local businesses need to do business overseas they could always use Cardiff Airport....which is in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Of course Barry Town's original purpose no longer exists. No one ships coal from the docks in Wales anymore. But to denigrate as merely a "dormitory town" and nothing more shows the contempt of Cardiff Welsh Labour and needs to be countered.

Until the next time.

Let's Chat More About Snow,The Vale Of Glamorgan Council And The Metropolitan Police

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The more I thought about it. The more I felt I should return to something briefly mentioned in my last post.

There was I. Aimlessly on the laptop on a Sunday morning looking out at the snowy scene outside and suddenly thinking "Is my daughter's school going to be open tomorrow?"

So onwards to the Vale of Glamorgan council website I go and find to my surprise that (for what I learnt later is a six month experiment) they are trying to earn extra dosh by putting ads there. Now personally I don't think adverts should be put on state websites anyway as a matter of principle. But in the midst of Hotels.com and tour operators that tell you to "go mahoosive" (and again no idea what that means) one ad catches my eye.

It's for the Metropolitan Police.

YOU CAN KEEP YOUR CITY SAFE

Then it goes on to say that there are incentives for people to join the Metropolitan police in London and become Police Constables.

Which makes me (and yes this is another ad on the website) Confused.com

Now you have to ask what is the Vale Of Glamorgan Council doing showing an ad that appears to encourage people to move from the borough and indeed Wales? (And let's make it clear here. The website stated that the council choose the ads).

The council really should stop this ad. It does not do them or Wales any good at all.
Are they saying that South Wales does not need anymore to apply for it's police force? Of course not. Potentially what they are doing is allowing for an emigration of talented individuals away from the Vale and Wales (with - and did they think of this at the time? - the consequent loss of council tax revenues).

But of course the key point is this. Wales is not considered by the UK government capable of running law and order through the National Assembly. This means that the Metropolitan police can poach talent from South Wales without reproach. Another emigration route from Wales begins.

Until the next time.

Being Random On An Early Sunday Morning Including the 6 Nations, Alun Cairns And Why I Don't Like Gerald Durrell

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Because of Essex exile whilst looking after my mother it's been a while since doing this but here I am at 6:48am on a Sunday morning. Wife and daughter are asleep. Nothing I can do at this time but go online and chat.

First things first. It's snowing outside. Nothing at first glance that suggests it's as bad as a few weeks back. But it's settling...and continuing.

Highlight of the day weather permitting are the two FA cup quarter final matches on BBC1. That's my Sunday sorted. Don't feel sorry for wife/daughter. They'll have their own back later on with Call The Midwife and The Durrells based on the early life of Gerald Durrell.

I feel you know that I'm one of the few people who doesn't particularly like Gerald Durrell. This though is a consequence of reading books out of sequence. For I've not read (not out of choice more so many books so little time) My Family and Other Animals. I.e Gerald Durrell as little kid fascinated by the wildlife around him. No the book of his I've actually read was called The Beaufort Beagles. This was Durrell as adult zoo professional. Taking animals from their natural surroundings and shipping them off thousands of miles away. And whilst no one will ever remotely suggest that I will challenge David Attenborough as naturalist of the year that is just not right.

A quick word about Wales performance in the six nations. They came second and this is used as a justification for the Pro 14 league. Well no. People like me who are against the current structure argue about the affinity of some supporters in their designated area (eg the Rhondda Valley to the Cardiff Blues) not about the ability of players. Of course though in the old system Wales produced their best rugby being the Brazil of the egg shaped ball in the seventies.

John Inverdale. A broadcaster I once liked but now seems to be focused too much on England for presenting duties on the Wales/France game wanted to focus on reasons why they did so badly. They were tired from the British Lions tour of the summer seems to have been the general consensus from the Welsh and French summarisers with him. Ok. They obviously know more about rugby than I do. But that's really no excuse for them coming fifth in a league of six.

It's 7:44 as I'm writing this paragraph now. And about that snow.....worse now.

On Twitter there is mention that Secretary of State for Wales and professional slimeball Alun Cairns (who has blocked me on Twitter...something I'm proud of) has put out a job vacancy for a director of media communications. Knowledge of Wales is apparently not required. Again Wales is treated in a way that no one else would be treated. I've said it before and I'll say it again the problem with the majority of the Welsh people is that they're far too nice. They should rebel in the way the Scots and the Irish would.

Of course when I say the majority of the Welsh people are nice Alun Cairns is not included. Caring about Wales didn't stop him becoming Secretary of State so why does knowledge matter when trying to spin things around his way?

Well wife is awake so one final thing. Snow is so bad that I've just accessed the Vale of Glamorgan website with regard to school closures. They have ads in that site. And August those for a booking website and a travel company that's "so mahoosive" (I'm fifty four. No idea what that mean) There's an ad for people to become police constables in London. 

Are they saying that South Wales is a crime free area?

Until the next time.

The Farewall Tour Of The McDonald's Menu Part 4: The Quarter Pounder With Cheese

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have mentioned before in this blog that before abandoning all fast food outlets I intend to eat everything from the standard McDonald's menu. Today on returning from Essex the opportunity came up to do that so I took it.

The menu in the local McDonald's revealed that the next one on the list was the Quarter Pounder with cheese so I took it.

Here it is.

The word we're looking for is pathetic

I always imagine the quarter pounder to be the jealous little brother of the Big Mac. After all everyone looks up to the Big Mac. It's after all Big, with the manly word Mac by it's side.

This was just,well,pitiful. I mean look at the splurge of yellow between the buns that's apparently cheese. Or the bit of cow for the burger bit. It is (not in another burger chain way) Wimpy.

For heavens sake the most impressive thing about this meal were the fries.

Definitely not going to miss this meal anymore.

Until the next time.

Why Eddie Jones Should Not Come To Cardiff During the Next Six Nations

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

English national rugby coaches have been, whatever you think of them otherwise, diplomatic when discussing their opponents. Polite, quiet and very careful as to what they are going to say.

So it's a shock that the most unpopular English National coach in my lifetime to other countries in the Six nations championship turns out to be an Australian. Eddie Jones was unpopular before yesterday's video came to light but now things have reached such a level that he should have sent a thank you card to Vladimir Putin or else he would have been undoubtedly headline news.

The Irish I'm sure can defend themselves from being described as "scummy". But let's talk about Wales shall we and his description of the entire country as a "little s**t place".

As I've said often on this blog Wales is not without problems for reasons that are probably too complex for Mr Jones to understand.....but so does England  . A fact that Eddie Jones would appear to be more like his namesake Mr Ed in that he approached the subject with blinkers on.

Having a quick look at his career it would appear that the only part of Wales he knows is Cardiff on Six Nations matches. It doesn't seem he's visited any other part of the nation as well and yet there it is, in all the diversity of it's regions North and South East And West described as a "little s**t place.

Has he seen the golden beaches of Tenby? Or just taken in the views from the South Wales Valleys? Of course not.

I have seen tweets that suggest that all he was doing was providing "banter". Well that's rubbish. As I have said, national coaches should be diplomatic with their opponents. But also the point needs to be made. Eddie Jones wasn't insulting the Welsh team....he was insulting a nation.

I have said before that if there is a problem with the majority of the Welsh people it's that they are just too nice. What needs to happen is that the Welsh Rugby Union need to grow a pair and insist that Jones does not attend the six nations match between Wales and England in Cardiff next year. To allow Jones to attend would reduce the WRU to a sporting lapdog and would be an insult to Wales.

Until the next time

The Essex Exile Epilogue....Hopefully

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until the next time.

Wandering Again Through The Welsh Labour Shame That Is Bridgend Town.

Hello there. hope you're feeling well today.

As regular readers will know I have chronicled the decline of Bridgend Town since I began this blog a few years back in view I would argue of the rule of arrogant incompetence by the Labour council.

I haven't done this for a while. Partly because I've moved from the area (though I still work there) but of course for the main reason that as I've been in Essex exile looking after my mother I haven't been in Wales let alone Bridgend for the past few months.

(A quick aside. I'm writing this from Essex at my mother's home after her week's recuperation with me and my wife/daughter in Wales. But tomorrow will be leaving her to return the Vale of Glamorgan, She is not 100% but well enough that I can leave her alone with a clear conscience. Barring a disaster Essex exile will be over. I'll chat about that tomorrow)

But yesterday for reasons I won't bore you with I had before work the chance of wandering around the town and decided to do just that. Now before going on need to say that it was just two hours including grabbing a carton of chips and trying to eat it on the go without dropping them for lunch, a sort of potato jenga. So this was no scientific survey, just a wander.

So let's start with good news.

This store closed down last year but has now reopened. Never seen this in Bridgend Town before but worth mentioning. However for the most part nothing seemed have changed. A few new shops cannot hide the many empty ones.

The Latest Example

I wanted to see whether there are any changes from some particular examples I've previously mentioned. Let's start with the case of the Mcdonalds. Closed down in 2000 and left to rot for seventeen years until demolished late last year to be replaced by social housing and, incredibly given the aforesaid many empty shops in the town, retail units.

Anyway three to four months have passed since I last saw it so let's see how the building work is going on.

Err....

So at this moment it's the closest Bridgend Town shoppers will ever see a gap there. Let's hope that this is not going to take as long as the resolution of what to do with the Mcdonalds.

And what about the Nolton Arcade? Where aside from the two shops that back onto Nolton street every single shop has closed down?

Unchanged

And the Bridgend Indoor Market where there are many empty stalls. Well that was unchanged as well. Personally if I was a stall holder I would think that the council didn't really care for me. Little things you understand such as this.

It's March But The Christmas Decorations Are Still Up

Even when work is done to improve the town there seems to be potential problems, One of the buildings being renovated was First minister and local Assembly Member Carwyn Jones' old office (yes even he left Bridgend Town). All very well you might think, except whilst the work is being done there is a sign TO LET on it. The question is why do this when there are empty units in the very same street and those nearby. What purpose does this serve?

There was a particular shop closure that caught my eye. The business (a florist) didn't close down but said in a notice that it wasn't able to operate in Bridgend Town and was moving to nearby Porthcawl. Now what I'm going to say is off the top of my head and I might be wrong but I think that there are no florists in Bridgend Town.

It used to have two not that long ago.

Porthcawl has two.

It occurred to me that in any region what should be the biggest town should be the one that has more to offer than the other towns in the region. In the Bridgend borough though there is more of a debate in comparing Bridgend Town with Porthcawl or Maesteg.

Bridgend Town deserves better.

Until the next time.

It Might Have Been International Women's Day But Fathers And Sons Is Better Than Wives And Daughters...And Other Books

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today,

Well have been reading a few books since we last chatted. So let's start with a biography of Robert Burns by John Sharp. If this book was a meal I'd describe it as edible but nothing more. I'm sure there are better bios to use your time on instead.

You may remember a few posts back that I chatted about Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell and that I didn't like it. Well in the random way I pick books to read the next book turned out to be Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev (and it was random....honest!).

Whilst not perfect I enjoyed it. On the one hand you get the sons, with their youthful hopes,ideals cynicism, and disdain for their elders. Also properly discovering for the first time the mystery that are women. On the other there are the fathers. Men you feel are dissatisfied. The feeling that as their best years have passed them by they haven't yet found a certain peace within themselves.

There is more of the sons than the fathers, and as now I belong to the former I would have rather seen it the other way. Still of the books I'm chatting about today this was the best in my view.

The Angel of Terror by Edgar Wallace is one of those books that's perfectly acceptable as long as your brain is cruising in first gear. That said, Erle Stanley Gardner is better.

To be clear with regard to my criticisms of other Wallace thrillers it didn't strike me as racist and regard to sexist whilst the heroine has moments of dimness where she needs the help of men the cleverest villain is a woman. So I suppose that is some sort of equality.

Beowulf then. No one knows who wrote this epic poem but I think we can hazard a guess that it was a man, Indeed I'll go further by saying that it was not the sort of man who would wander lonely as a cloud and chat about daffodils either.

At the risk of being beheaded by the ghost of some Viking warlord what it didn't do is become one of those exceptions to my disregard of poetry. Ditto The Dalby Bear and Other Ballads by George Borrow.This time though I think this was my fault as I downloaded writers mentioned by Robert Macfarlane in his book Tracks ( W H Hudson was another) but in my eagerness to download everything I disregarded the fact that this is a ballad so probably better appreciated with music. I'll give George a pass.

Regular readers will know that there are certain writers that I describe as literary Switzerland in that whilst I don't dislike them I don't understand why they're considered great either. Anton Chekhov falls into this category and taken as a whole The Schoolmistress and Other Stories does not change anything.

There are exceptions. The title story (which is the best of the collection) and a few others make you sit up and take notice. But for the most part I just shrugged and moved on to the next tale.

In another tick off the literary bucket list the book I'm reading now is The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. Can't say I'm happy with the portrayal of the villain but I'll chat about that when I've finished.

Until the next time.

Perhaps...Just Perhaps...The Lack Of Top Tier Free-to Air Welsh Rugby Might Be A Good Thing

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I am writing this, after all these months, in Wales. My mother is with me but next week I'll take her back to Essex and can leave her with a clear conscience. For whilst she's not a hundred percent she is well enough to look after herself. Barring an unexpected disaster Essex Exile has now finished.

One thing I discovered by accident when my mother was discharged from hospital but too ill to look after herself was that Welsh club rugby (shown on BBC Two Wales) was in fact available in Essex on the red button. So I had the very odd but almost comfort blanket feeling of watching it from far away.

This however is soon to be a thing of memories. Because the BBC have lost the rights to show Welsh club rugby (from the Pro14 competition) to pay TV operator Premier Sports.

It's not clear whether free-to-air top tier Welsh club rugby will be unavailable from next season. Premier Sports also own the FreeSports channel and negotiations with S4C are still ongoing. But for the moment let's assume that free to air coverage will be at the very least curtailed.

I've chatted before (whilst I'm not an expert on rugby) that I'm not a fan of the current structure of top tier Welsh Club rugby. Believing that it's greatest failure was that an assumption that because a place might be in a region's catchment area fans would automatically come to it (the South Wales Valleys and Cardiff Blues come to mind). The crowds, with or without free to air coverage have been I would argue consequentially pitiful compared to what would have been expected.

Taking away free to air matches would mean that the Pro 14 league will slowly fade away for most people. Out of sight out of mind. It will I'd predict in Wales anyway whither and die.

And for those of you who would trumpet the Pro 14 "product". I would point out that it's not just BBC Wales who've lost the rights. So have SKY. Don't you think if they really cared they would have battled tooth and nail to have kept it?

But perhaps....perhaps...it might be a good thing. S4C already and probably so will BBC Wales shows Welsh rugby games in the lower tiers. With clubs that are more connected with their community. With the focus on these clubs. Perhaps their crowds will increase. Perhaps more people will ignore the top tier and instead come together to support their local team.

Perhaps therefore there will be, all be it by accident, a return to the old values of Welsh club rugby.

Perhaps.

Until the next time.

More Reading At Outpatients

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well last Monday I was at outpatients with my mother. And as per usual there was the wait, and then another wait, and then another wait. And in the meantime I read. Some of these books were started before we went into the hospital and others were finished afterwards but they all bar the first had the outpatients reading vibe upon them.

Romance of Roman Villas (The Renaissance) by Elizabeth Champney then. When I started this read I said I didn't know what it was going to be. Now that I've finished it I can truly say nothing has changed. I wasn't really sure whether I was reading a historical novel, or a biography or art history. One moment the Borgias were being discussed. The next there were quotes from William Morris. My head hurt.

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell was the next read. The good thing about this was that it's definitely a novel. And..... well.....that's it.

Written to be published in a magazine between 1864 and 1866 whilst this was (though obviously decades later) in a Jane Austen manner it was nowhere near as good. As regular readers will know Jane Austen is for me in that group of writers that comes in that neutral "literary Switzerland" territory.

Elizabeth Gaskell is however (based on the books I've read) more moving into the D H Lawrence blog villain category. Possibly this is to do with the reputation of North and South (which I haven't read) as a social novel in the Dickension mould. Wives and Daughters is anything but. Inconsequential is the best word I can describe this....and the most kindest.

A Hero Of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov is another book which I didn't like, Essentially a collection of tales with the overall arc surrounding them all I can say is that I suspect I would have enjoyed it more if I was Russian.

So now it's a biography of Robert Burns by John Sharp. Let's hope I like it better than this lot.

Until the next time

On A Boring Underground / Subway Journey? Call Perry Mason

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

For those who don't know. If you want to go to Victoria Underground station from Snaresbrook station you take the central line to Mile End, cross the platform and take the District Line to Victoria and that's it. Great railway journeys of the world it ain't.

So what you need to pass the time is a book. And I don't mean the Kindle either. Wasn't going to take that to the underground. So instead I looked at my mother's bookshelves and noticed a slightly battered paperback that I bought. I took it and read it. Half from Snaresbrook to Victoria on Tuesday and the remainder on the reverse journey today?

Why? Because wife/daughter came down from Wales to remind themselves what I looked like (and of course vice versa) for these five days.

A couple of diversions from the main chat. Firstly Monday is important as to whether I stay in Essex exile or can leave for Wales that day. Everything will depend on the result of my mother's outpatients appointment and whether after that able to leave before the Beast From The East snow arrives. Fingers crossed for that.

Secondly a quick word about the borough of  Westminster. People talk about the contrast within a short space of time between rich and poor. Must admit I agree. Here is a building near Victoria station.

Rich 

I must admit I really hate this building. Not just because of my dislike of untrammelled capitalism. But because it hurts my eyes.

A short walk away you'll get this

Reality

Anyway back to the book I picked which was...

Erle Stanley Gardner - The Case Of The Negligent Nymph

Erle Stanley Gardner's creation Perry Mason was the lawyer cum detective. This was in fact the first Perry I've ever perused. And I loved it.

It occurred to me as I was reading that this was the sort of novel (part of a series of course but this was written in 1956) that I think is rarely written nowadays. Where you're reading a book purely as an entertainment and you get the feeling that the author is having fun. That Erle is holding a party and you, the reader have been invited.

I suspect any degree of realism in this book was purely coincidental and that if you're a member of any branch of Law and Order you'll be tearing your hair out at the depiction of characters in your profession being ridiculed by the genus that is Mason. But it really doesn't matter. It's an entertainment. It's the perfect book for a commuter ride. Doesn't think you're thick. But doesn't expect your brain to be in top gear either. 

Until the next time.

Wandering Through Wanstead High street

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I am not normally a man who goes back to the past, but sometimes circumstances offer it to you and, well you can;t resist.

I spent about two decades of my life living near Wanstead in Essex. I say Essex but in truth if you ignore actual boundaries then it's the place where East London and Essex coexist....and Essex starts to win. It's not as if I've not been in the intervening years. Driven past it and a couple of years back went to a wedding reception there. But for reasons I won't bore you with I had the chance to walk along Wanstead High Street on a grey Monday lunchtime and I took it.

Firstly perhaps I should show the statue where the town remembers it's war dead.

Quietly Impressive

It did occur to me as I was wandering has changed more than any other place I remember in my childhood. I might be wrong. Memories play tricks but here's an example.

Just A Pub? Well perhaps...

There was a pub. In this spot I think that was mocked up to look like a cricket pavilion. That's gone now anyway.

Some changes were even more dramatic. Here's a pharmacy.

But not just a pharmacy

For it was in fact a main post office and, though the picture doesn't make it clear it's actually a pharmacy come Post Office now.

This however was the biggest shock.

Not the statue of Churchill But The Building behind him

That building and it's a big building, used to be the local Conservative club. Now it's a pub/restaurant. Those of you who believe in symbolism should rejoice.

There used to be a bookshop. Now it's just part of a chain of Belgian restaurants.

Belgian restaurant chain:What the world has been crying out for

Some things though remain the same. This, even for a non-drinker like me, is a true pub.

The George

And what did I feel at the end of this short nostalgic Wanstead wander? Very old.

Until the next time.

When A TV Show Is An Unexpected Comfort (Bones)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So still in Essex exile at the moment. Hopefully just over a week to go before I can return to Wales. In the meantime Wales seems to appear in different ways. For example the discovery that I can watch Welsh club rugby on the TV in Essex via the red button was a pleasant surprise though the match itself, between the Ospreys and a South African team wasn't.

But as my mother is thankfully on the road to recovery it did occur to me about the things that pulled me through when things did not seem so bright. Coming back to the house from the hospital on a late evening, uncertain about the future, grabbing a microwave meal, a meal that someone in the family kindly made for me or a buying a bag of chips from the local Chinese around the corner (I tend to go Belgian with chips. Mayonnaise is my thing) and then propping myself in front of the TV.

I've mentioned before about the programmes I've been watching, either straight from the TV or as a DVD box set, during these two months, but during those specific moments of uncertainty one of these shows seemed more important than others. I think because this was the show I grew to like during this period when things were at it's most darkest.

And that programme (as you can tell by the title) of this post is Bones. What makes this even more unusual is that when I saw the odd episode before I didn't like it. Thought it was too glossy.

It does happen like this. Unexpectedly a programme creeps up on you unawares and before you know it you're a fan. It becomes a sort of comfort blanket when times are not good.

Bones is I know an odd choice. Loosely based on the life and novels of Kathy Reichs. Essentially episodes consist of a gruesome murder where you would see the victim in various stages of decomposition however as they would mainly be in a skeletonal state. This is convenient as the FBI in the form of Special Agent Seeley Booth is onto the case with his partner Doctor Temperence Brennan, a forensic anthropologist from the Jeffersonian Institute. Not just her though. There are other "squints" (scientific experts in their field) from the same institute.

I think the reason why it resonated was that it showed a group of good people facing a dark situation and being able, both with humour and intelligence to resolve it.

I have a few box sets now of this twelve season show. My mother's moaning that I'm watching too much of a programme that she doesn't really understand. She'd rather watch Murder She Wrote (Am happy to help my mother during these past few months...but there are limits).

Until the next time.

The Catalan Language In The Age Of Jackboot Politics

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

For forty years the language spoken in Catalonia has been Catalan. But now things have changed. Because the Spanish Government in Madrid angered by the democratically government of the region wanting a democratic election to result in a democratic Catalonia which they stopped in the most brutal actions of a Western European country since, well Spain under Franco now wants to control the region through a more insidious way.

Even though the Catalan people have reelected a parliament with a pro independence majority.

They intend Catalan children to be taught solely in Spanish. Why? Because they fear the power of those who speak the indigenous language as it shows independence of thought and those seeking independence for a nation. This is the same fear that permeates the resistance of the DUP to an Irish language act, or the sniping of mainstream media towards Welsh.

What the Spanish government seem to believe is that if the young Catalans can be seduced into speaking Spanish then gradually they will divorce themselves from Catalonia in other ways as well. It's this logic that people who want more of us to learn Welsh/Gaelic (Scots or Irish) have to fight against the all pervasive power of English.

What Spain wants and I've argued before that this is the tactic of those who oppose the teaching of Welsh, is that the Catalan language dies of gradual neglect.

It will I suspect fail. For their actions during the referendum have led to the anti Spanish backlash. Fear of the language by Spain will probably result in it being taught underground. And what the Catalan people will note by the actions of the Spanish government is that the greatest weapon they will have in the fight for independence is the power of the tongue.

Until the next time.

On A Vain Search For A Jeffrey Archer Novel In W H Smiths Epping

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It seems that on returning from hospital my mother's taste in books has gone as wild as her taste in food. She asked me today as well as groceries to get a novel for her in the Epping branch of W H Smith (she can't remember where her library book is). That novel was Not A Penny More Not A Penny Less by Jeffrey Archer.

This choice, left field though it was, was not an issue for me. Firstly it meant that her taste for reading had returned. Secondly, as I've mentioned before in this blog I have no problems with Jeff's books before A Matter Of Honour judged purely as an entertainment. Indeed I've read Not A Penny More Not A Penny Less and, as a piece of bestsellery fun, liked it.

Now what I'm going to say next is not at all scientific. Obviously the state of selling books has changed since I was a child. The internet has seen to that. Still the percentage of adult books for sale in the shop seemed small for me and if you exclude those being offered as a "Two for £7" offer then really pitiful when you reduce the choice to adult fiction. The time when a small branch of W H Smiths was my childhood book nirvana has long since gone (Ilford many decades ago).

So looking for Archer's books did not take me long. Nor did looking at them either. There were just four. These four were part of the "Cliveden Chronicles" (which I haven't read) and as they were numbers two,four,five and six respectively then buying them instead of the novel she wanted to read was not going to buy them as a consolation prize. Indeed if you were not following the chronicles then no one was going to buy them.

When I was young, so the glasses I'm wearing are obviously rose tinted as well as modelled on Joe 90, then if you were a bestselling writer (I'm not talking about the factory like James Patterson - plus one other) then most of your books were going to be on sale in the local small town bookshop. Not apparently anymore. No Kane and Abel or indeed my favourite Archer novel of all time First Amongst Equals. Nothing. And you can't say that it was because they were written decades ago. Stephen King's Carrie and Misery were in that very same branch.

Jodi Picoult and Stephen King had more books than Archer in this branch. As indeed did Terry Pratchett and Peter James.

So what am I saying? Perhaps it's the case that Jeffrey Archer is not as much of a bestselling writer than he was. No real idea and to be honest I don't care.

Well if you live in a small town and want a particular book that very day then you will probably have to go to a bigger town (for example the W H Smith in nearby Harlow is larger). A small town with a bookshop is unfortunately rare nowadays unless you're watching old movies. Penarth has one. Epping did once but it closed years ago.

The small town bookshop then. Slowly dying due to the internet and supermarkets. And yes I'm just as much of a hypocrite as the rest of us.

Until the next time.

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

Hello there. Hope you're feeling today.

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

Today was appointment number one.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upright Motive.....Certainly Upright

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

Aside from the jeans I bought something else

I Shopped Polish

Until the next time.

On Books: Including With Regard To William Morris How You Cannot Judge A Book By Its Wallcover

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

William Morris then. Socialist wallpaper guy. Hero of his era. I'm left-wing too.

But let me give you a secret.

His wallpaper designs? Of those I've seen. I don't like them. Suspect my grandmother would have though.

And of course my opinion is absolutely right. As is yours if you disagree. Because what you want to be put onto your walls. Be it wallpaper or in my preference paint is entirely up to you.

Now the point of all of this is that when I woke up at four o'clock in this Monday morning. Unable to sleep further. Worried about my mother. Not knowing for sure when I can return to Wales from Essex exile (though 27th Feb taking her with me to complete her recovery seems the most likely). Well that's the moment when I grab my Kindle to find out that the next book was his book Hopes and Fears For Art. And I'm not

It is not a bad book. Actually for a subject I'm not all that interested in it had it's moments. He doesn't like bankers, has views on art that the majority can appreciate and his comments on the effect of trade on Indian art exports is an interesting snippet in itself.

Not the sort of book I should warn that when you realise you've nodded off after swiping a few pages you can plough through regardless. You have to go back. Still it's a good read. And the version I read didn't have any illustrations of wallpaper...which is a help.

Sometimes reading a book without knowing the background is fun. Sometimes though it's a waste of time. When I downloaded Harbours Of England (published 1856) by John Ruskin it was because a) I heard about him and b) it was free.

However essentially what this book is about is Ruskin talking about certain paintings of John Turner. Paintings that I probably have seen but have never noticed. It could be the greatest piece of art criticism ever but it was wasted on me.

The next book is Bright Young Things by Scarlett Thomas. Suspect I'll be able to get into it a whole lot quicker.

Until the next time.

The Farewall Tour Of The McDonald's Menu Part 3: The Big Mac

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I've made the decision not to eat any thing from Mcdonald's anymore once I've eaten every regular medium meal from their standard menu for one last time. Now opportunity has not knocked for me recently, but tonight my mother, who I have been looking after in Essex exile since she has been discharged from hospital asked again for a Chicken Mcnuggett meal.

Now her taste buds have gone really askew since being discharged. Before she would have turned her nose at anything linked to the Big M. Now however the Mcnuggett and my mother have been suddenly entwined.

The first time she asked, I I you understand refused. Couldn't leave her alone in the house whilst I took the car on the five minute journey to the nearest Mcdonald's, off the M11 just outside Epping. But this Sunday night was different. I could do it.

The Mcdonald's itself is an interesting place given that it was once a pub. Interesting in that how many churches have closed down and now pubs have followed suit. Not sure exactly what this means but the world certainly has changed since I was a child.

Of course I too was going to have a McDonald's. I looked at the menu and the next one on the list was a Big Mac. You know despite what the people at Big M will tell you by calling their most expensive offerings by this name the Big Mac is truly their signature dish. When most people have a picture of a McDonald's meal in their heads it's the Big Mac people have in their minds. It is after all Big and Enticing and well, has that image of America.

For the most part when I have been in a McDonald's the Big Mac medium meal is what I choose. For no other reason than I know there's less chance of having to wait than if I'd ordered the Fillet O Fish or, Heaven forbid, the Veggie Burger.

But the sting, or should I say aftertaste in the tale is this. When I've described a McDonald's meal in this blog as like a cheap bestseller, enjoyable but quickly forgotten, it's the Big Mac meal I'm talking about.

There is though one other thing. Like a fading Hollywood movie star the Big Mac has lost some of it's Americana glamour. All of a sudden it looks old.

This meal did not change that.

Of Faded Burger Glory

What really surprised me as I ate this Big Mac meal for the final time was that I knew I wasn't going to miss it.

My mother liked her Chicken Mcnuggets though.

Until the next time.

Why Plaid Cymru Should Not Panic Part Three: Alyn And Deeside

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Though in Essex exile at the moment as I'm looking after my mother I wasn't unaware of the recent by-election in Alyn and Deeside following the suicide of Carl Sargeant.

I've spoken about the background to Mr Sargeant's death and the possible effect on First Minister Carwyn Jones before so I'm not going to discuss that. But if Twitter is a guide the by-election would appear to have to caused a reaction within Plaid Cymru as they lost share of the vote.

It is my view that this is not a by-election where you can judge Plaid Cymru one way or the other. Whilst I don't have the answer as to why the Liberals increased the vote. The choice of Mr Sargeant's son as Labour candidate clearly had an emotional appeal which made it difficult for Plaid to have taken votes away from the governing party in the National Assembly.

I have also said before that things will not be simple for Plaid Cymru in the near future. Since the last UK general election where Labour did surprisingly well people have the hope that they can just give that one last push and become the government. I know that this was an election for the National Assembly but Welsh Labour, even though they don't deserve it, have benefited from it.

But the moment will come when Labour will be perceived as a weak opposition or an unpopular government and this is where Plaid Cymru needs to strike. Any discontent in the meantime will be highlighted in the media, will be a distraction and will only help the undeserving Welsh Labour party.

Until the next time.

Should I Not Read John Le Carre ......For My Mother's Health?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Whilst she is making a remarkable recovery my mother does at this moment need a professional carer to come in every morning for reasons I won't go into.

The point though is that nothing can be done in the morning until the carer comes in. And the company uses the extremely wide timescale of 7-11. For the past two days she has come in between 8-9. Today however she came in at ten.

Thing is until the carer comes in there is nothing apart from making my mother breakfast in bed that I can do. So I find myself every morning now watching one of the DVD sets I bought from Amazon to help pass the time. Have been going through Series 2 of Bones, a show I didn't like at the time but am warming towards now (on a weekday evening am watching on the channel Your TV Bones, Body of Proof and Castle shows which are perfect entertainment).

The other box sets I bought were Perception Series 1, a show I liked but didn't see all of hence the purchase and The Net (the TV series of the film) which I bought because it was cheap and now know why.

Anyway because she came late I wasn't able to have a quick trip to my mother's local GP to get her full medication until around eleven. And whilst her prescription was being made, I was able to read the latest book from my Kindle. Which turned out to be Single and Single by John Le Carre.

The thing is this. The last book I read of his was Absolute Friends. Which was at the time my mother had her first cataract operation (I wrote about this at the time). And (though the hospital where she stayed for the past few weeks advised was purely coincidental) her troubles seemed to begin from the moment she had the operation.

Can a book cause bad luck? I actually believe yes and no. It is after all a state of mind. If you believe that a book has caused problems then stopping reading relieves you from that worry, whether it was justified or not.

A few years ago I started reading Next Man Up by John Feinstein. A book where the writer follows the American football Team the Baltimore Ravens. From the moment I started to read the book my daughter tripped and grazed her knee.

Ok....

Then my wife cuts herself whilst trying to open a can of peaches. A cut so bad it required stitches from Accident and Emergency.

When they found out that everything seemed to happen from when I started reading the book. Wife and daughter pleaded with me, alright they nagged me to stop reading. Fearing that as what happened to them seemed to increase in severity the fate that would have awaited me if I continued would have been much worse. So I stopped.

And I thought being a Chicago Bears fan would be the limit to my dangers following American Football.

Best then I postpone reading the Le Carre...not superstitious you understand...just thinking about my mother's health.

Until the next time.

The Black Pig (Mochyn Du) As Metaphor For Wales' Future Under Westminster

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As I'm in Essex exile at the moment looking after my mother. I don't feel that it's the right time to discuss most Welsh issues as I'm literally miles away. There are certainly things that I do want to deal with, the mud from the Hinckley Point nuclear power station being buried in Cardiff or the Barry incinerator springs to mind. But to me they are best looked into when I return.

But as regular readers will know. Even though I'm in Essex I'm not completely immune in this blog from discussing things Welsh. Which leads me to the Black Pig, or as I should say, Y Mochyn Du.

Y Mochyn Du was a pub in Cardiff city centre and popular with Welsh Language Speakers. Now before I go on I've never visited the place. Partly because I don't live near enough partly because I'm of an age where visiting a town centre in the night is the exception not the rule. But mainly because of the minor little fact that I don't drink. So let's face it I'm not it's target audience.

But remember I'm talking about this place for metaphor for Wales. Therefore we need to begin with the fact that is has been taken over by the London based chain Brewhouse and Kitchen. So what has the London based chain done? It has changed the name of the pub to the imaginatively named Brewhouse and Kitchen Cardiff. Thus in a stroke it has taken the Welshness of the place away so to assimilate it with the other English pubs in the chain. It has become the Cardiff branch office and nothing more.

Does Alun Cairns have shares in the firm?

But then it gets even more concerning. The drinks list includes under the caption "English Style Ales" (whatever that actually means) an ale called Y Mockyn Du. Now let's pause here. A Welsh ale done in "an English style" (whatever that means) with a name that's almost literally a mockery of it's past (that or it was written by an Englishman/woman brought in who thought that was how it was spelt).

Also the Twitter account adds insult to injury where they describe that they're about to open "a shiny new pub". Again I'm not the target audience but I would guess that no one actually wants a "shiny" pub. They want it to be clean but not shiny. The pictures it includes makes you realise that it will be very little different to other Brewhouse and Kitchen pubs throughout Britain. The Welshness barring a throwaway tokeness is gone.

And this is the metaphor for Wales. Today a pub...down the line a nation?

Until the next time.

Listening To Football With My Mother : Newport County Edition

Hello there. hope you're feeling well today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I think she's confusing Spurs with Millwall.

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

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

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

"Newport"

"Newport in Wales?"

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

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

"Is the game over?"

"No it's half time"

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

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

Until the next time.

Wiltshire...What Is It Good for? .....Shepherding Apparently

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

My personal experience of Wiltshire is basically limited to driving along the M4. So all my knowledge of the place is limited to observing green grass which to my unknowledgeable eye seems perfect for sheep to graze.

Which is a good thing considering the latest book I've finished is A Shepherd's Life: Impressions Of The South Wiltshire Downs by W H Hudson published in 1910.

So let me start by saying one thing: "This is probably one of the best books about the countryside that I've ever read. I'm not saying for one second that it would have inspired me to leave my wife and daughter in Wales and my mother here in Essex for shepherding (but she's not in hospital anymore - She's been discharged tonight - Yippee - Still frail and needs me to be with her but I'm hoping after a couple of weeks she can finish her recovery in Wales).However it did grip me.

Why is such an interesting countryside book? Because whilst the countryside as well as the natural world may be an important factor it's the people, especially the shepherd of the title Caleb Bawcombe and the tough life they lead.

The toughness is the key. No lyrical description of lush green grass and lambs frolicking here.

Hudson's politics is intriguing. Whilst clearly not a socialist he is not unaffected by the conditions the workers have to face. Or the unfair laws against them.

And perhaps the most interesting example of this is his view of villages. for he does not approve of the squire or squire type figure. All very good and left wing you might think. However his solution is that the village should should fend for itself in a hard world. A sort of prototype Brexit. Makes me wonder if he lived today Hudson would have been a UKIP supporter.

Still politics aside this is an important book. It's reality countryside style.

Until the next time.

On Reading Between Hospital Visits....Including A Mormon Western

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Emergencies aside Sundays at a hospital are dull affairs. The consultants are not there to consult. The big doctors are not there to do big things. No mainly medication is given and wheels are just made running until Monday. It is also eerily quiet. And for the patients of course irritating. As their futures

And of course there are the hospital visits.

So I'm seeing my mother and there is a gap between the afternoon and evening visits. It is pointless to go back to the house during the break. So armed with a coke bottle it's time to read whilst the few people around me eat,drink and chat.

So it's time to chat.....

Victorian Short Stories:Stories Of Successful Marriages is not as I assumed just by Elizabeth Gaskell but others as well. Unfortunately the stories were just, well, unsuccessful. Next was The Advocate by Charles Haversage. A small comic novel....just not so comic.

But the most interesting book was Riders Of The Purple Sage by Zane Grey published in 1912. This apparently was the novel that set the tenplate was the Western genre. I get it. There is the young buck character. the main females being feisty but whimpering when faced with "a real man" and of course the mysterious stranger, treated with suspicion because he's "not from these parts".

However, as the title of the post indicates, what makes this book different is the setting, Utah and the involvement of Mormons. No native Americans or bad guys in black hats here.

The book is readable. You can see how he had a career in writing. But as I was going through it I couldn't really decide whether this book has specific Mormon as villain or is generally anti Mormon the religion. My view is the latter but you can make the case for the former. The thing is if I did explain how then it would spoil things should you read it

It occurred to me also that I haven't a read a Western novel in decades. When I was young the Western was a staple of popular culture. Now it's a novelty.

Until the next time.

On Books: How Theo Is Now Terminated And How Engels Is Relevant Today

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The question I know you've been asking on Friday evening is this. If you have to pick some writings to put in a collection from a writer famous in his/her time but now forgotten how would you go about it?

Well if the collection of Theodore Dreiser is anything to go by what you do is to put the best book by a EU twenty seven country mile (kilometre if you wish but the joke is not so good) Sister Carrie first. You put the second best book (Jennie Galbraith) next. And after that throw in potboliery twaddle like Titan or The Genius. Or dull work like Twelve Men or the short stories.

And that's it. Job done.

Truly Sister Carrie aside the only real pleasure I had in this collection was it's ending.

The next book was The Condition Of The Working Class in England in 1844 by Friedrich Engels. Whilst Freddie may not be the possessor of the ability to produce sassy titles. This book is relevant today.

I won't go into much detail. That would be a political spoiler. But when you read it things will begin to unnerve you. Because the Britain it describes then is not far removed from the Britain of today. For the poorest amongst us it's already there. For most working class families it's not a few steps away and even for most middle class families sudden bad luck would make it closer than they would believe.

You think that it's fanciful? The welfare state and the NHS are the two tangible things that are different from the Victorian era. And they are the two things the Conservatives are chipping away from the fabric of British society.

I'll give one example. Employers were complaining about laws to limit the working day to ten hours. Ten hours!

So whilst you shouldn't expect a rip roaring read. Don't avoid this book. For you might find that you'll experience the Victorian Britain it describes in your future.

The next book is Victorian Short Stories: Stories of Successful marriages. I'm expecting that the title is deceptive given that the author is Elizabeth Gaskell of North and South fame.

We shall see.

Until the next time.

The Return Of The £5 Amazon E-book Buying game (£4.68 Version)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well it's the first of the month and the early morning. I'm in Essex exile whilst my mother is still in hospital recovering from her operation so at the moment have nothing much to do.

So in the spirit of shrugging my shoulders before I go and have a bath decide to resuscitate the Amazon £5 ebook buying game. Basically where starting from their Daily Deals and following from their recommendations try to buy the cheapest (though they would have to interest me) books I could buy for a total of £5.

This time though. As there is £19.68 in the account. The balance to play with, rather like chocolate bars, has shrunk to £4.68 for this month.

So let's begin.

I look at the Daily and Monthly Deals. Nothing screams buy me. So I look at the books that are "recommended" for me based on my ebook-buying purchases. One book strikes me instantly. The Common Reader by Virginia Woolf. A collection of essays. Worth a read I think so bought for 99p.

£3.69 left. "Top Picks For you" The screen emboldenedly pronounces. I look.I notice The Tenderness Of Wolves. Costa Book of the year 2007 (Costa has been going for over ten years?) . That too is 99p. Bought.

£2.70 left. Suddenly my eyes fall on a complete collection of the works of Marcel Proust. Have never read him but you feel that a subconscious literary bucket list in your head is saying "buy it". It is also just 49p so bought.

£2.21 left. The system then gives me the complete works of James Joyce. but I know I've Dubliners in the Kindle so I pass. Then I notice the complete works of Franz Kafka for 49p as well. That same literary bucket list is telling me not to be an idiot and buy it, and buy it now.

So I do. £1.72 left. The collected works of the essayist William Hazlitt crops up. 99p. Bought.

73p left. Spend 49p on the complete works of Alexander Pushkin. I know I have a novel of his (I think a poetic one at that) in storage at the moment. But hey. It's the complete set so why not? Bought and for this month the game is finished.

And I look at the books I've bought and think? Am I a proper reader? All these classic works that I haven't read. But then it comes back to the curse of the reader. So many books but so little time. Even at my fifty four years on this planet life interferes with the need to turn and now swipe the page. Still they are bought now. A greater chance that I'll get round to reading them sometime.

Until the next time.