Wanderings In Barry Town And Whitchurch (Cardiff)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

For reasons I won't bore you with yesterday I found myself with time to wander around two different places in South Wales yesterday. I've already dealt with Barry Town a bit in this blog so won't dwell on it that much but Whitchurch (a suburb of Cardiff) is new.

So let's start then with Barry Town.

I call this "View From Barry Town Car Park"

Now I like Barry Town, and it doesn't have the death spiral feel of Bridgend Town, but (referring to the high street) it must be careful not to fall in the same trap it's near neighbour did. It's not easy to work out the extent, partly because a number of outlets are being renovated and some (closed when I was there) were sort of takeaways/restaurants open in the evening, but it's not immune to shops closures.

I still feel though that what happens to this place (which I mentioned in my last post) is a bell weather to what will happen to the town as a whole if no one is careful.

Still Closed

As I mentioned in the previous post this is the Filco convenience store which has been closed since December last year. All retail closures are obviously bad news for the town, but like Bridgend Town with it's McDonald's or Phones4U there is something particularly depressing when the shell of the previous owners is still there after a particular length of time.

You may remember that I had a go at Cardiff Councillor Russell Goodway for suggesting that Barry Town did not have a purpose. In it I mentioned that by his logic (which I didn't agree with) you could make the same argument for most parts of Cardiff.

Whitchurch is a case in point. By Councillor Goodway's argument it's just a purposeless suburb that should just be called "something on the outside of the important bits of the capital" and forgotten about. But places evolve into a character of it's own. And Whitchurch is no exception. Circumstances meant I had an hour to wander round the place so here we go.

The main high street in Whitchurch is a delightful throwback to the Seventies with amongst the established names there are also the quirky shops. Unfortunately some shops so embrace the seventies they actually closed at 1pm on a Wednesday afternoon. Including annoyingly the Welsh Language shop.

A settled place I think

And of course amidst the coffee shops, bars, delis, gift shops there are a few charity shops. This from The Cancer Society Shop is worth a mention.

Is it just me or does Tracey seem a bit demonic?

It does have an impressive looking church, even for an atheist like me.

St Mary's

No need to wear a watch here

What bothered me about this church was that there were some parts of the cemetery outside where the grass had been cut and some which were not. Have no idea as to why but surely this should done equally just to respect the dead?

Example One

Example Two

As I've said the church was impressive looking. This spoilt it.

Walked past the local High School when I saw this sign.

Thing Is...

What's wrong with this sign? Well it's the following year. So no pressure on the class of 2018 then.

Sometimes you know you turn a street not specifically looking for anything and you are caught by surprise. St Mary's Church didn't give me that feeling. This did.

As Unexpected As It Was Impressive

I have no idea whether it was a planned thing or not. But that was unquestionably the best bit of graffiti art I have ever witnessed personally.

Whitchurch then. Settled. Relaxed. At ease with itself.

Perhaps that should it's motto.

Until the next time.

The Farewell Tour Of The McDonald's Menu Part 10: The Peri Peri Chicken One Wrap

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well I'm on the final stage of going through the medium meal menus of McDonald's before I stop eating fast food anymore. No more burgers though this time it's a wrap.

Literally

I remember when McDonald's introduced these wraps as a response to Morgan Spurlock's film about them Supersize Me. As if they were saying "We can produce healthy food as well". Like they're now saying "We can produce coffee like Starbucks" (In fact they can't).

You can see from this that the wrap was, well, not really wrapped properly. Looking at it it just seemed to be an undercover chicken burger. The Peri Peri sauce inside was just unimpressive.

It was, well, rubbish.

I had thought I'd got three meals left to do. But then I saw two of them were exactly the same as this and just the sauce was different. Only one meal really then to go where bacon is added to the chicken.

Then it's literally a wrap in every meaning.

Until the next time.

From A Jack To Still A King..Just A Sadder One. Swansea City Today

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

About two and a half months ago Swansea City fans I knew were not exactly gloating but were smiling to me, probably the only West Ham fan they knew at the fact that their team had won 4-1. At that time, the way the football mood was melding it appeared that the Swans were going, like last season, to escape relegation by the skin of their teeth whilst the hammers looked as if they were on the way down to the Championship.

Fast forward to today the thirteenth of May. West Ham play Everton knowing that they secured another Premiership season a week ago. Swansea City however were relegated. Their extremely slim chances were cut to non existence by losing 2-1 to already relegated Stoke City.

And with that relegation there's the example of how fairy stories don't always have a happy ending. Or if they do unexpected bumps occur. Their rise from Division Two and the brink of bankruptcy to the Premiership and their first ever cup competition win is the stuff of legend. They were the team people admired and yet now they are relegated. Of course to add insult to injury their bitter local rivals Cardiff City are taking their place amougst the elite.

(A quick aside here. I've not met that many Cardiff fans gloating about Swansea's fate. If only because they would have wanted to have seen the return of the South Wales derby)

So how has it come to this? Well their American owners have to take a vast amount of blame for their fate. But probably with hindsight their decline truly began in November 2015 when the Chief executive Huw Jenkins sacked club stalwart and then manager Garry Monk (I chatted about his autobiography (written whilst still with the club) in this blog. Read with hindsight it's probably the most bittersweet football book you will ever read. Just as the film about their rise to the Premiership, From A Jack To A King, will be probably the most bittersweet football film you'll see for a while.

Whether the firing of Garry Monk was justified or not is not the point here. The point is that by sacking him in an attempt to stay in the Premiership Swansea City lost their innocence. That certain somethng that made them different from other clubs was gone. They were like all the rest.

And then we come to the American owners. I suspect that they felt that the Swans were going to be a sort of Premiership cash cow. Because when Huw Jenkins and the previous group of businessmen took over the club from the brink of bankruptcy they seemed to have the knack for the most part of picking the right manager. People like Roberto Martinez or Brendon Rodgers seemed to be left of centre managers capable of finding inexpensive but talented players from across Europe (I chatted about the book Spanish Swans by Pablo Gomez which went into this).

However when the American owners took over that knack was already eluding the Swans. They had just survived staying up last season. There was I remember a tweet by a Conservative Welsh councillor that mentioned that Swansea City like Theresa May was "strong and stable" (this was during the election) forgetting as I reminded him that last season they had three managers so not so strong and stable (he blocked me since).

So if the club were unable to find cheap bargains like Michu anymore they needed the owners to put up much more money to provide players that would keep them up. This they didn't do and despite the false dawn of  manager Carlos Carvalhal's early results (including the West Ham one) gradually the growing problems came to damn them to relegation.

The future? Who knows. But as club legend Leon Britton said. It would be better that they were out of the top flight for years if it meant that when they did return they were ready for life again in the Premiership.

As a West Ham fan I hope they do.

Until the next time.

Does Carwyn Jones Have A Picture Of Bridgend Town In His Attic?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Now before I start properly anybody who has not read/seen the film should know that I'm going to referencing A Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde in this post. So Spoiler alert and all that.

Last week Carwyn Jones, soon to be not First Minister of Wales gave an interview to the local paper where he stated that when he relinquishes the top post and becomes just an Assembly Member he will concentrate on work in the Bridgend area. To which my reaction was about time too.

But it appears not for long. Last Friday it was announced that he won't stand again for the next Assembly elections in 2021. Devotion it appears has a time limit.

However this got me thinking. Until essentially the suicide of Carl Sargeant Carwyn Jones' future seemed secure. In 1999 he got elected as Assembly Member for the Bridgend area. In 2000 he was appointed as  Minister for agriculture. An appointment that seemed to be welcomed on all sides given that the First Minister at that time, Alun Michael, decided that the previous incumbent for the post was of all things a vegetarian. Nothing against the world of the Veggies but even they must have thought that was odd.

It was as if supernatural forces were lined up for him.

In 2007 he was appointed Minister for various things such as culture and the Welsh language but (and I must admit I'd forgotten this) education. Given how bad Wales is in international league tables it's not surprising when asked about his successes as First Minister that wasn't on his list.

And in 2009 he became First Minister. A job which he holds until resigning this autumn. He had as I've explained before one real skill which was as a politician which since Mr Sargeant's death he seemed to have lost.

But during the same period Bridgend Town has declined from a proud hub of the area into an urban tragedy. You will see from my blog countless examples in the last two years alone where the rot has literally set in and the council gives the impression of running the place under crisis management conditions.

Is this his fault? Well exactly where the demarcation line is between the Welsh Labour National Government and the arrogantly incompetent Welsh Labour Council it's not easy to say. But what is clear is the lack of response from Carwyn Jones about the situation the town finds itself in.

I know what you will say. He's First Minister as well as holding other national portfolios. He just hasn't the time. Well firstly he's AM for the area, that's his job. Secondly it's the lack of any relevant criticism or action. That damns him (or more accurately the town). And again, when asked about his successes as First Minister he didn't mention anything Bridgend related.

So perhaps Carwyn jones has a picture of Bridgend Town in his attic and now that his career is on the wane perhaps the town will rise again.  Let's hope so.

Analogies though go so far. Welsh Labour are still in control.

Until the next time.

And Another Book By this author in Matthew Quick,Quick Time

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Late last month regular readers to this blog may remember I chatted about Matthew Quick's novel The Reason You're Alive. Essentially I didn't like it. Feeling for reasons that the post chatted about that it was too American Republican for my taste and best avoided.

Well in the random way I pick books from the library I'd taken out The Good Luck Of Right Now by the same author, which I'd mentioned last week in passing in my post on the American football match in Llanharan I saw last week.

So I've never read a book by this writer and like London buses two come along in Matthew Quick succession.

Now I've finished the novel let me say this.....I loved it.

Essentially it's about a thirty nine year old man who lived with his mother who had to adjust to life since her death. He is clever but not emotionally attuned rather like a younger version of  Zachary Addy in Bones.

It's a quirky novel filled with quirky characters trying to cope with the quirky things that life brings. I won't say that the plot points will surprise you. There's one particular twist that's not so much telegraphed as lit up Las Vegas style. But that doesn't matter. It's watching different individuals deal with things that makes this book readable and indeed recommended.

Now the fact that I've read two novels by the same writer and have had two different reactions to them made me think. Of course I have favourite authors. But the chances of such a different response seems to occur more in books than in films or television. Why? Well I suspect we readers invest more in the book, we immerse ourselves in it. More than say TV for example where you know you're not in an island looking for treasure or trying to get around the world in eighty days. As a consequence the writer has more of a chance that the reader will consider a different work in a different light.

Also writers for the printed page are more likely to experiment with different genres/forms. So if your taste is not for a comedy then a Science Fiction novel set in a parallel universe might help you like a writer instead.

Random from the top of my head without doing any research I know. But interesting nonetheless.

Until the next time.

On Books: Including Not Really Liking Jane Austen

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well what can I say? Regular readers will know that I've read Jane Austen books with an open mind. Until the last book Lady Susan my view was neutral.

And of course I'm a fifty four year old man, so not her natural audience. Also everything I'm going to say is on the understanding that I haven't read all of her novels including the biggie Pride and Prejudice.

But I've finished Northanger Abbey, and well, I was bored.

It actually started so well. I got the fish out of water theme it seemed interesting enough. But then my mind was rather dulled by it all and then it started to wander until at the very end I really couldn't care less if all of the characters jumped off a cliff in mass suicide (spoiler alert:they don't).

So why don't I like her now? Well not being her audience is clearly a factor but not the only one. I think possibly because her male and female characters seem like clichés to me. Perhaps this "comedy of manners" thing is not for me. We shall see when I read her next time.

The next book was Letters Of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible Society. I enjoyed reading this, having taken a bit of an interest since he was mentioned in Robert Macfarlane's Tracks. But if you don't know George Borrow from George and the Dragon this will have no interest for you whatsoever and best avoided.

The Death of Balder a short play was the next thing. I don't like reading plays as a rule. I didn't like this one.

The next book is All Hell Let Loose by Max Hastings about the second World War. I've read his book about the D-day landings and liked it and so am looking forward to reading this.

Jane Austen it is not.

Until the next time.

The Farewell Tour Of The McDonald's Menu Part 9: The Chicken McNuggetts

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As regular readers will be aware before I abandon fast food for good I'm going on one final tour of the normal medium meals in the McDonald's menu. A few days back it was the turn of the Chicken Mcnuggetts.

And here is the meal:

Yes I Know

I'll say this. Unlike most other meals I've had in this exercise the name makes sense. They do look like nuggets. These chicken pieces which are according to the ads carefully reared and yet not good enough chickens to be called "Select" or "Legend".

Of course it was tasty. but like most McDonald's meals quickly forgettable.

One thing that did occur to me whilst eating this, but it doesn't just refer to it, is whether McDonald's meals are actually getting smaller so that they can hold down the price rather like chocolate or packets inside multipack crisps. Of course what I'm saying is completely on memory and might be wrong. But a lot of their meals just seemed somehow bigger in the past.

There is a nine McNuggett meal (I had the standard six) but I'm going to ignore it. If only because my comments would just be times three of this one. That means there's actually just four standard medium meals to go. All wraps.

I can't wait.

Until the next time.

So Let's Talk Again About Radioactive Mud Coming To Cardiff Bay and Virgin Media

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Sometimes issues return when you least expect them. But there you go. However I didn't expect to talk about the fact that mud from the Hinckley Point nuclear plant will be deposited in Cardiff Bay for a while. But there we go.

I argued that it did not matter that science said it was safe. Science can be wrong. And the consequences of it being wrong here, being dumped not just on the Welsh capital city but also depending on the tide the seaside resorts of Barry Town and Porthcawl would be devastating.

But I find yet again I'm being accused of being "anti science" or "anti progress" or wanting to live in the dark ages or I assume wishing Wales was some large Amish community. What I've learnt is that for some Science is the new religion. Question it in any way and you're a heretic, a disbeliever. As a general term this could be called the "cure for cancer" argument. In that if you don't believe in science you don't believe in the people who are trying to make lives better.

The trouble with that argument is this. Again if we are talking generally medicines are tested first. If they fail then nothing changes to the status quo. With regard to anything nuclear however then if the science is wrong then the results could be a disaster. And that's why Wales, and specifically here Cardiff Bay, should not be used as Westminster's dumping ground for this radioactive mud.

And so back to Virgin Media.

You may remember last week I chatted about the announcement by Virgin Media that it was to close next year their call centre in Swansea. Eight hundred people were going to lose their jobs.

You know when a company lays off workers or closes a factory there is normally a sense of regret by that firm. Whether it's true or just for publicity purposes depends on the case by case basis. But here you just don't get that vibe. The feeling you get is that Virgin want you to ignore this. "800 jobs? Don't worry about that just look at our flashy new superfast superfast broadband". And who might you get if you enquire about this by phone? Why possibly some of those eight hundred whose futures have been cast aside by the Virginites. Imagine how you would feel being one of these people, trying to be professional whilst Virgin have done this to you?

And so, for the reasons I explained in my earlier post but even more now. I feel Wales should just boycott Virgin Media. There wouldn't be major job losses as I explained previously and Wales can live without Virgin Media now that Virgin Media has decided to live without Wales.

I don't believe they would be missed.

Until the next time.

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

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Green Army

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

After touchdown two

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

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

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

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

Matthew Quick - The Good Luck Of Right Now

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

The Warriors Half Time Warm-Up

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

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

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

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











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

Until the next time.

The Farewell Tour Of The McDonald's Menu Part 8 : The Spicy Vegetable Deluxe

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Regular readers of this blog know that I'm on an exercise before I no longer eat any fast takeaway food that I'm slowly going through the regular medium menu of McDonald's. I have learnt that despite it's Americana allure the food is really not as good as I assumed. And that what they call their burgers is well, stupid to say the least.

In my last post on this I chatted about the Vegetable Deluxe. I'd assumed that that was it with regard to all things Veggie amid the home of the Carnivores. But I was wrong. The Vegetable Deluxe was not on it's own. It has a raunchy cousin. The Spicy Vegetable Deluxe.

And here it is:

You're impressed. I know it

I'll say this unlike the Vegetable Deluxe I didn't have to wait for the burger for a more than a few minutes. Presumably when the veggies enter the meat shrine they try to make themselves more sophisticated by ordering this than the mere deluxe.

So let me make it clear. Like it's ordinary version you cannot see why this is deluxe. It's also not all that spicy either. Taste wise it's hung around my mouth more than any other burgers I've tried on this so far.

Perhaps my foul mood was because for the first time since I started this exercise when I took a bite bits of orange sauced lettuce came out and went onto my T-shirt. Since my T-shirt was white it did it's damage. I hate it when that happens. People think you've only just escaped from nursery school.

It was worse than the vegetable deluxe.

You know with every medium meal I take the more I'm looking forward to finishing this and saying goodbye to fast takeaway food.

Until the next time.

Another Rambling Post From An Insomniac Morning : Mayday Weekend Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well insomnia has taken grip of this Saturday morning and it's three thirty am. I am awake. Something's wrong. Went to bed at ten only had Bread and jam for dinner. Curious. Very different from me normally.

Twitter is suggesting to me to count sheep (I live in Wales it figures someone will think that's funny). But no insomnia doesn't do that. You are awake. But you're also asleep. That twilight zone of living. that's insomnia. It's where you feel up to reading Twitter but not a book.

Wife is having an uncomfortable sleep but is staying in bed. She's bunged up with the cold. Still none of the easy option for her of getting up and wandering zombie lite. She's fighting to get back to the land of nod.

I look up at the sky. There is a half moon. I'm not sure how to spend the day. Probably helping/nagging my daughter with her homework. This holiday weekend is meant to be hot, very hot. Must be honest not comfortable with extremely hot weather  as I've said before. Probably will hunker down inside, Well until tomorrow anyway, I've something in mind for tomorrow and we'll see whether I can do this. Regular readers will know whether I succeed Monday.

For the moment am listening to the Backlisted Podcast. After it's finished will listen to Classical King FM from Seattle. After five thirty it'll become the turn of BBC Radio Cymru. That is the only planning I have for the day. Let's face it. A day with no plans is not great when you have a day off work.

It's 4:12am Classical King FM is on now. Seattle. Halfway round the world and I'm a listener. The internet can do that.

Four Fifty Seven am. Dawn is beginning to break now. I hear seagulls. Summer is coming. Not saying it'll be bright and hot all the time you understand. But it is coming.

Five Seventeen am. The electric light is switched off.

Five Fifty Eight am. Now I'm listening to BBC Radio Cymru. It's a church service at the moment. Odd given that it's a Saturday morning. Definitely day now.

Six twenty nine. Beginning now to feel tired. Will give sleep another chance despite the sunshine.

Seven thirty eight. Did sleep a bit but it wasn't easy. Awake again. Wife/daughter still asleep.

Until the next time.

Perhaps A Boycott Of Virgin Media By Wales Is In Order....

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Today there has been shock in Wales as Virgin Media announced plans to close it's Swansea Call Centre next year. Which will mean that eight hundred people will be out of work with an employer that I suspect they assumed they would be with for the rest of their lives. That they could raise families, buy houses with mortgaeges, go out on holidays etc. In other words a reasonable standard of living. Within a day those people's ambitions were thown away in probably the most cruellest of ways.

The Welsh Labour Government's reaction was unsurprising. It was going to set up a taskforce to try and find the people affected new jobs. Nothing against that of course. Except what was also crystal clear from their reaction was that they were completely unaware of the announcement. Hence echoes of when Tata Steel originally proposed to close down the Port Talbot Steel works two years ago. Or when Tesco actually closed their call centre in Cardiff earlier this.

Yet again Welsh Labour have been asleep on the job. Bet Carwyn Jones won't reminisce on this being "an achievement" of his time as First Minister.

Swansea council stated that the lack of rail electrification west of Cardiff would have been a factor in the decision. Something Secretary Of State, Political slimeball and blog villain Alun Cairns denied. Well whilst it probably wasn't a final dealbreaker the fact that the stabilisers have to be put on the trains past Cardiff doesn't help now does it? And after all he won't care. His constituency is in the Vale Of Glamorgan.

On the BBC today it was suggested that some of the staff could get similar call centre jobs with other firms. Let's hope so. But there may be issues of cost and exactly where these opportunities will be in terms of distance. So things will not be easy.

What Virgin Media's behaviour has revealed yet again is that for the most part Wales is considered the easy option for big companies, often happy to take Welsh government money when setting up something here, to close down when no longer needed. Yet again Wales suffers for no apparent reason. If you think about it. Apart from the Port Talbot Steelworks when has there been a time when there has been a fight over a proposed closure in recent years? After all, as I continue to say, the Welsh people taken as whole are too nice for their own good.

So perhaps there should be a quiet revolt by the Welsh people against Virgin Media? Perhaps what they should do is not get their services? Perhaps if they have already a contract with them is not to renew it?

There are other internet companies out there. Other providers of  TV services. Other providers of telephone and mobile services. There is also the likes of Netflix and Amazon. So you see Virgin Media would not be missed.

Would some people lose their jobs? Well I suspect following from what has happened today the Virgin Shop in the city centre in Swansea will not be with us for much longer. As for the tech people. Again I suspect a lot of them are agency staff anyway. They'd do BT work the day after for instance.

So you see Virgin Media are vunerable to a Welsh boycott. They may seem like a big company. But even Goliath fell.

Until the next time.

On Books: Including For Men At Some Time What Is The American Version Of Jane Austen

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Let's start with the latest library book I've read:

Peter Haining - The Great English Earthquake

Did you know there was a violent earthquake in England in 1884 with Essex as it's epicentre? Well  didn't. How a book about an earthquake in England during the Victorian era reached a small library in South Wales I don't know. But there we go.

Historians and Seismologists will love this book. Mr Haining knows his Essex earthquakes and the research he's done clearly shows this. However for the general reader (of which I'm unquestionably one) account after account of the ground shaking and damage to buildings can be wearisome after a while.

Still if you're into earthquakes and especially Essex earthquakes this is the book for you.

So a couple of days ago I was looking through the hard drive of the DVR (dominated by programmes the wife records now for me it's just Pobol Y Cwm and Bones generally speaking) when I noticed a film she'd recorded in late December when I was away in Essex exile looking after my unwell mother.

" I see you recorded Little Women" I said

"What of it?"

"Well I'm reading it right now".

And for the first time ever when I mentioned to the wife what book I'm reading she actually gasped.

My attitude to Louisa M Alcott's classic novel was exactly that to whatever Jane Austen tome you'd care to mention. As a boy/teenager/in my twenties I avoided it as it was "for girls". When I got older it was a case of so many books so little time...until now.

Let's start by saying that a fifty four year old man is not the target audience for this. But given it's classic status any true reader does need to say that they've read it.

Apparently Little Women was originally two books before merged into the one we know today. This did not surprise me. For (talking about the completed package) if football is described as a game of two halves then so is this novel. I can't remember another book where there seems to be a radical and sudden difference between it's first and second half. If there was one reason why I couldn't say I liked Little Women it was that.

The first part was very homespun American. And the thing is, nothing much really happened. It was a dull read. Indeed it was a shame that it wasn't set in the American South because with the general storyline (the lives of a group of women living in genteel poverty) I couldn't help thinking of cliched Country and Western tunes. The type that work along the lines of "We were poor and living in a cardboard box in Nashville....but we were happy" (not that poor mind you,they have a servant).

But it seemed as if Ms Alcott realised this because in the second half everything that she could have put in such a book seemed to be thrown in all of a sudden. So I disliked it for a different reason. That things happening so quickly in relation to the first part beggared belief.

But yet again it wasn't aimed at me. Mind you I've read Caitlin Moran and Marian Keyes and have enjoyed them as well. So perhaps it was just the case that Ms Alcott knew her audience and was happy enough with that.

Perhaps. Who can tell?

And in the random way I pick books from the Kindle the next ebook turns out to be Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. As I've said before in this blog my view of her is that she's in that group of writers I call "Literary Switzerland". In that I don't dislike them but I can't understand why they're considered great. A position that always bothered me because I feel I've missed something.

My Kindle has a mind of it's own.

Until the next time.

Wales: The Politics Of Apathy?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Recently there has been a poll which showed that Wales was the most apathetic nation when it came to politics. The reaction on Twitter that I saw was wide ranging. But I did notice that there was a number who were despairing about this. One tweet I saw suggested that he might as well move to Scotland and help the SNP with their Independence drive.

So why is this? Well one factor as I've said before and am going to repeat again is that the Welsh people suffer for the fact that taken as a whole they are just too nice. They allow decisions to made which the Northern Irish or the Scots would rebel about. Not so much apathy, more the "mustn't grumble" approach to life.

Trouble is. Being nice means that for example, a bridge can be renamed to toady up to a Royal. Radioactive mud can be dumped in Cardiff Bay, Super prisons for criminals to be built for criminals  all round the United Kingdom or whilst high speed services are built in England with Welsh taxpayers' money the intercity train service west of Cardiff has the rail equivalent of stabilisers being put onto it as the line is not going to be made electric. And don't get me started on Welsh local Labour Government mismanagement...(Regular readers know what I think of what they have done to Bridgend Town)

And these decisions are taken by Labour and the Conservative party in Cardiff, local government and Westminster level in this "mustn't grumble" atmosphere which they take full advantage of. They also have the advantage of the one true obstacle of their political monopoly, Plaid Cymru, being damaged by the leadership of it's previous leader Iuean Wynn Jones, who damaged the brand by muddying the waters as to what it stood for.

Can this situation be changed? Even to an extent where Welsh independence can be seen as a credible alternative? Well yes in my view. Of course in politics events are everything but based on how they seem at the moment I have also mentioned before that the Welsh might vote Labour in the next general election if they felt it could get Theresa May out. This would in the short term damage Plaid but when the people see that Socialism with a Westminster face does not work for them then that's when the party for Wales will need to move to show you can provide Socialism with a Welsh face. For the people will need an alternative. the politics of apathy could soon turn to the politics of despair which only extreme parties profit from. Only Plaid Cymru, not extreme but not part of the establishment either can offer a true alternative, and yes, that includes independence.

And when people are shown there is an alternative, that there is a different pathway for their aspirations then the Welsh will be apathetic towards politics no more.

Until the next time.

The Farewell Tour Of The McDonald's Menu Part 7: The Vegetable Deluxe

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As regular readers of this blog will know, there is an occasional series where before I give my waistline a rest and never eat takeaway fast food again I'm going to be eating every regular medium meal from the McDonald's menu. So today it was the turn of the Vegetable Deluxe.

I'd never ordered a veggie burger before. Wasn't really sure how to approach it. Do I go all meek and quiet so that the carnivores around me don't mock me. Or do I pretend I've come out of the Veggie Closet and proclaim my desire "FOR A VEGETABLE DELUXE"?

Needless to say I chose the latter.

I was number 88 in the queue. Let me explain the panic I must have caused in the kitchen when they knew someone had asked for the Vegetable Deluxe. I had to wait FIVE minutes before I got the order. Numbers 89,90 and 91 were done before I got my hands on it. Two of those five minutes were after when I heard someone there shout out "The Vegetables Done"

And this was the result. The question which of course needed to be asked was...what on earth is deluxe about this?

Pathetic is the Word

I feel after looking at this to apologise to the quarter pounder with cheese, for it's this that's truly the wimpy meal. This that gets bullied by the other burgers after dark. If the Vegetable Deluxe burger was a person I'd send it to counselling immediately.

It was also only just edible. Clearly a conspiracy by McDonald's to convert veggies back to the land of meaty burgers. For the first time since I started this exercise I put extra tomato sauce on the burger to hide the dry taste of deluxian Vegetables.

All in all not the greatest.

Until the next time.

Is Sajid Javid Going To Be A Good Home Secretary? Perhaps You Should Ask The People Of Port Talbot

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So Sajid Javid is going to be the new Home Secretary replacing Amber Rudd, a woman who is either a liar, incompetent ,lazy, illiterate, dyslexic or prone to amnesia depending on your point of view. Mr Javid of course is going to bestride the Home Office like a Goliath. He will have full control of his brief. Nothing, and I mean nothing is going to pass Sajid.

However....

If a week is a long time in politics then it appears that just over two years is an eternity. For it was then that Tata Steel announced that it had planned to close the Port Talbot steelworks. An action which would have created a wave of redundancies in the area and the surrounding boroughs not just in the plant itself but in the wider economy of the South Wales.

And obviously an action which would have devastated Port Talbot as an area.

Sajid Javid was Business Secretary. So you would think he would be aware of the scale of the situation in a major employer in a major industry. That he would be aware that an important decision was going to be made (he was apparently aware of the meeting). Well no...He was in Australia at the time on a Trade mission. He had to cut short his visit and fly all the way back to Britain to try and handle this unforeseen mess.

I remember him visiting the Port Talbot Steelworks on his return. He described the steelworker I think as "magnificent" or something like that. You knew if he could kiss their backsides he would have done so if only to have left the area with all of his limbs intact. It was pitiful.

But a deal with Tata was eventually made and the steel plant was saved. As was Mr Javid's career. You see he got lucky. For he was not the only person who was caught on the hop by Tata's original decision. Step forward soon to be ex First Minister of Wales Labour's Carwyn Jones. Both of them probably knew that their careers would go down the plughole if the plant was closed so along with the Trade Unions an agreement was reached (you may remember the First Minister said it was one of the successes of his tenure that the jobs were saved).

So if you think Mr Javid will be a reliable Iron Man in his job. Come to the Port Talbot Steelworks. I suspect the response will be different.

Until the next time.

Let's Chat About The Centre Of Cardiff (Without Pictures...I'm Blaming My Wife)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

You may remember a few posts back that I mentioned in passing that having been to centre of Cardiff during Easter I'd hope to return in a few weeks to chat about it with pictures as my phone was dead at the time.

Well that day was yesterday. Wife/daughter, both of whom are old enough to know better wanted to see Disney On Ice which was being held in the Motorpoint arena in the centre of the city. I, just old and wanting nothing to do with Disney other than apparently audition for the role of Grumpy was not going.

They had wanted to go by train to Cardiff Central and then I was to pick them up when the performance finished. That was the plan. However the best laid plans of mice and women were foiled when they were slow to get ready and so wife decided to drive there to save time. This meant that I couldn't do what I'd intended doing which was to provide a snapshot portrait with pictures of the capital city centre.

So what I'm going to say now is a brief portrait of what I saw. It is based on a trip we did in the Easter break on a Sunday to see Cardiff Castle. So in no way am I saying this is scientific. Just an impression.

Let's then begin by one fact. I did not go to the centre of Cardiff because I didn't need to. If you live outside of Cardiff you don't visit the centre  (obviously excluding working there) unless there's a reason to. Thing is the reasons are reducing.

When we were there a few weeks back we went to the Toys R Us in Queens Street that was going to close a few days after out of curiosity. But the bigger shock came when we left the store. For opposite the Burtons store had also closed down.

Now Burtons obviously has it's problems (as I've mentioned before the Barry Town branch has also closed). But it would appear that the concept of a "flagship store" in a city seems to have lost it's allure. Currently the only Burtons store in Cardiff I'm aware of is just in an out of town place occupying the first floor of a Tesco's supermarket.

We were walking along St Mary's Street as well. Looking around as we were had time to spare and we noticed a few things as well as shops closing down. There was a feeling that the centre of Cardiff had gone a bit shabby. Not the Chip Shop alley One Night Stand Shabby. No. Shabby in the sense of being tired, drained.

And there was also the homeless. The centre of Cardiff always had homeless people there. You get that, cities do provide them whether intended or not with shelter and the chance of more money from the coins of kind strangers. What I hadn't seen before (and remember that this was during the day) was the fact that there were definitely more of them. Some chatting away together. Some alone. And one man who just seemed to spontaneously chat to anybody nearby. I have to say I made sure we avoided that man. Not because he was homeless, but that I wasn't sure whether he was drunk.

So why am I going on about this then? Well as I've discussed before Cardiff Labour Council appears to have taken a snobby attitude with regard to neighbouring boroughs. If this snapshot is in anyway typical for the City Centre now then perhaps they should deal with the problems within the city than acting superior to those around them.

Until the next time.

Carwyn Jones' Final Problem: Is He On The Way To Becoming The Welsh Tony Blair?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Today (Sunday) Carwyn Jones, still First Minster of Wales is in all media giving "exclusive" interviews following his announcement last weekend that he will resign from the position in the autumn.

In these interviews the main thing he insists upon is that he did not make the decision to resign in the light of Carl Sargeant's suicide. He stated that he had made the decision months earlier.

Now, I am not saying that Mr Jones is lying, I have no idea. But as I have said in this blog before that since Mr Sargeant's death (the main enquiry of which is about to begin) the First Minister gradually began to lose the one skill he genuinely did have in politics which was as a politician. He surely knew as he uttered those words in the interview that there would be a proportion of the people who saw/read it, and I would guess the majority, who did not believe him because they consider him culpable in Mr Sargeant's suicide.

So these words, whether true or not are worthless. Just as he threatened to use the courts if publication of one of the enquiry reports was voted on by the Senedd to block it. Doesn't matter whether he was doing it out of innocent motives. Perception is the key. And the perception was not good.

Unless there is clear and conclusive evidence that the First Minister's actions were not a factor in Mr Sargeant's suicide then that is the issue that will hang around him until his dying day. Rather like Tony Blair (and as an aside Blair has aged more quickly than any other politican I know. Not only does he look old he sounds old as well) when he's wheeled out to talk about Brexit on TV few people listen to him because he is tainted with Iraq well this is I belive is what will happen to Mr Jones if he discusses Welsh affairs when he no longer First Minister.

Let me give you a few more examples from that interview that shows Carwyn Jones lost his touch as a First Minister. He said regarding his record that there was nothing that was unfinished? Really? A precarious econonmy. Bottom of International Education Leagues. I can really go on and on and yet he thinks there's nothing unfinished?

His proudest "achievements" were saving the Port Talbot Steelworks and the proposed Aston Martin factory at St. Athan. Again really? As I recall he was caught on the hop when the initial decision was made by Tata Steel to close the steelworks and the final deal was a combined Welsh/UK government and Trade Union initiative. He was not the only person involved.

He was you may remember also caught out when Tesco closed down their Cardiff call centre despite Welsh Government cash being used when it was set up. He doesn't mention that. So I've done that instead.

As for the Aston Martin plant I've written on this blog the possibility that should Brexit go pair shaped the plant might not be built in the first place. It might be an achievement.....but it's too early to decide.

He will revert to being an Assembly Member for Bridgend. Good. Perhaps then he can concentrate on a region that he seemingly has ignored during his time in the highest echelons of Welsh politics. Perhaps he can start on the urban tragedy thanks to Welsh Labour mismanagement that is Bridgend Town.

So is this situation fair on Mr Jones? Of course we don't really know at present. Hopefully the final enquiry will give a definitive answer. If it doesn't then possibly only History can be the final judge.

Until the next time.

When Science Loses To Emotion Part Two: Hinckley Nuclear Plant Sediment Coming To Cardiff

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Let me first recap on the situation. Radioactive mud from the Hinckley Nuclear Power Station in Somerset is going to be transported and then disposed of in Cardiff Bay. When I discussed the situation in an earlier post my argument was it didn't matter whether the science said it was a safe thing to do. If the Science is wrong the consequences would be disastrous given that it was to be dumped by the capital city of Wales and depending how the water flows could also be in coastal towns such as Barry Island and Porthcawl.

The responses I got for this post ranged from the local Friends Of The Earth who questioned where the science was for this decision in the first place (their comment in below the original post) to those who said on Twitter that I should just accept the Science and that's that. That Science "is rarely wrong" (note the word "rarely" which comes from an actual tweet) . That Science is progressive and emotional responses are regressive. And also that if we don't follow Science but emotion we would be living in the dark ages.

The other response from the detractors of what I wrote on Twitter was that if they lived nearby they would probably get emotional too. Well being patronised by scientists is one thing I didn't expect when I started this blog.

But what these pro-science critics of what I wrote before don't seem to realise (and perhaps I should have made it clear in the first post but I'd assumed it would be obvious) is that I'm not anti-science. I'm not talking about the science of trying to find a cure for cancer, or making further advances in technology. What I am arguing about is the science of saying that it's perfectly safe to dump radioactive sediment from a nuclear plant in a bay by the capital city of Wales. If science had said the best place for this sediment was on the River Thames in some of the busiest parts of London do you seriously think this would have been acted upon? Do you? Of course not. And the arguments against it would be exactly the arguments I'm using here. That the consequences of the science being wrong outweighs the benefits.

I'm sure this sediment could have been placed in a more isolated spot for example in Somerset and yet it's being placed here in Wales. You know post-Brexit Wales seems to have been designated as a radioactive dumping ground, a place for super prisons and a regal theme park. It really shows both the contempt of the Westminster government towards Wales and the weakness of the cowardly Welsh government.

Ah I'm being emotional again.

But to those pro-science people (and remember I'm not talking about science generally but on this specific issue) I'll end this post as I ended the last one. If you think the sediment is safe....you take it and place it where you live. I bet you'll get emotional then.

Until the next time.

The Reason You're Alive By Matthew Quick :American Conservative Literature?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So I finished yesterday one of the library books I'd borrowed a few weeks back which was this (even though I did a spoiler alert in the title)

Not Easy On The Eyes This Cover

Now the cover revals that Mr Quick was the author of The Silver Linings Playbook. I'd heard of the film, didn't realise it was a book, haven't seen/read either.

The best thing I can say about this novel was that it was readable. I'll give it that. Ultimately though I didn't like it. Firstly because until the end there are few moments in this book where anything really happens. It is mainly a reminiseence by the main character Vietnam War Veteran David Granger.

He is not just a war veteran but a Republican. It's his views that permeate the book. So that it's the sort of narrative where he is not just right politically but in everything else as well. He might be aware that he has certain flaws. But these are caused by what others inflicted on him. Such as him not being on good relations with his son is partly due to him being "a liberal".

He is not racist....apart from being of the view that all muslems are terrorists. Equally disturbingly he seems to think that paedophilia is accteptable if a) Done "back in the day" b) Consensual c) If your mind's messed up due to having fought in a war.

America is "the best country in the world". Well I'm old enough to say it isn't. Nowhere is perfect. Everywhere has problems they're just different.

The fact that it was a Conservative book did not bother me (I've praised Jeffrey Archer in this blog!).It's more the lack of nuance, subtlety that's annoying.

For all I know there may be hidden subtexts that I didn't catch. I don't think so. But you know any book is irritating where it has these so well hidden that you'd have to use infra red technology to highlight them.

The book cover of the UK paperback edition is interesting. Firstly the blurb says that the book "challenges us to look beyond our own prejudices and search for the good in others". That presumably refers to the politics. Also there are five comments of praise. None though from any British and only one from an American newspaper, which I think tells you how it was received.

So the question is this. Would this book have been published in Britain if it wasn't for The Silver Linings Playbook?

I don't think so.

Until the next time.

The Cowardly Welsh Labour Brexit Deal

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So here's a question. What do you do when those powers you thought you were going to receive post Brexit as part of a devolved administration when you realise that Westminster has grabbed them for itself?

Well apparently the answer is that if you're Scottish you fight and if you're Welsh you give in.

In a deal cobbled together yesterday the Welsh Labour government has agreed that Westminster can keep those powers for seven years and that any further changes in Westminster power would have to be agreed by the devolved administrations.

So let's look into this.

Firstly the UK government must delight in the "divide and rule" tactic which Welsh Labour have agreed to. Pressure will now turn on Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland. Welsh Labour have stabbed her in the back in an issue where the Scottish government would have rightly assumed they had common cause.

Seven years is a remarkably long period of time. Longer than a normal Parliamentary term. Why did they not only give in but give in for this long a period? Also if Labour does form a UK wide government within this period will they give Wales these powers earlier? We need to know.

I have said in this blog before that Carwyn Jones lacked stature to lead Wales. This deal (and deal is the right word, for it has not been negotiated out of any degree of political principle) just means that Welsh Labour have one less immediate issue to wrestle with no matter what it's importance to Wales as a nation. This is the politics of the lazy, the "quick-fix".

That's the current leader of Wales betraying the nation. The fact that the man who is tipped as the next First Minister (Mark Drakeford) was also involved in this "deal" does not bode well for the future.

What Westminster will also have learnt from the deal is that the Welsh government is weak. After all it's a minority Conservative UK government and only around because of the Democratic Unionists in Northern Ireland. However even in that state of affairs the Welsh Labour government caved in. What it means is that should the Conservatives be able to form a majority administration they will know they can push Welsh Labour around.

So this "deal" has been done by Welsh Labour people afraid of battle, afraid of putting themselves on the line for the cause of Welsh devolution. This "deal" has been negotiated by cowards.

I'll leave you with one fact. If this deal is so good why is it that the happiest Politician in Wales today is likely to be Alun Cairns?

Until the next time.

In Which I Wonder Why I'm So Calm When People I Know Are Dead

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I am I think a man of many normal emotions. I can be happy, angry, passionate or humorous.I can also be caring and definitely grumpy. And yet if there is one thing my emotional DNA stops me from doing it's grieving when another person is no longer with us.

Was reminded about this a few days back when contacting my mother and could only hear tears on the other end of the line. Eventually she told me that a relative had unexpectedly died of natural causes.

My instant reactions were as follows:

1) Relief that my mother was fine given her problems earlier in the year.

2) Surprise that a good person had died so unexpectedly

3) Sadness

4) Calm

When I told wife/daughter about my relative's passing, their reaction was only on a level slightly below my mother's. They started looking at Facebook and Instagram accounts of that person and reminiscing.

Me? I went to bed.

Now let me stress before I go on this person and me got on fine. And, as I said before I'm genuinely sad at her passing. Also, and this I must stress as well, my reaction was not unusual in the face of death. Even my father's. He was a man I loved and admired very much. A man who I miss with every day that passes. And yet when he died as my mother was so (understandably) distraught I spent the day after at the hospital, the church, the registrar of deaths and the funeral directors. Other than specific details of the service which needed my mother's input I just unemotionally dealt with arranging the service and subsequent burial.

So then why is this? There are three obvious explanations.

1) Some sort of British "Stiff Upper Lip" thing?

2) Some sort of Machismo thing

Or, as my wife put it

3) I'm a cold fish.

Of course I don't know the answer or what can be done. And as the years roll on I'm more conscious of this now than when I was younger.

Perhaps the real answer is that when it's my turn to die, I feel unless it involves extreme pain I'm going to be equally calm at my own death. That is really how I would like to go.

Quietly.

Until the next time.

The Severn Bridge Rename Revisited : Why Symbols Are Important. As Is Welsh Nationalism

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have spoken about the proposed renaming of the Second Severn Bridge Crossing before in this blog but am brought to chat about again following an article in the Wales Art Review by editor and journalist Fedor Tot. In it he criticises what he sees as the arguments against the renaming on the basis of the symbolism of what the proposed change means.

So let's stop there for a moment. Symbols are important. Firstly the decision to call it the Prince Of Wales Bridge is a not the symbol of a thrusting nation. It's a symbol of a nation tied to a monarchical past. Also the manner of the decision, done in Roman pro consul style by blog villain and all round political slimeball Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns without any consultation with the Welsh people symbolises a contempt for legitimate opinion about the proposal.

In other words....who cares what the Welsh think?

His view is that this argument plays into the hands of "the worst elements of Nationalism" of thinking that "my country is better than your country". I would argue that Welsh nationalism is different because it never has said "my country is better than your country" it says, just like the equivalent Irish and Scots versions that "my country is different from your country and should be independent from it"

Unlike Mr Tot I do consider Plaid Cymru to be a Nationalist (ie my description of Nationalism mentioned above) party and as an Englishman and a member I've no problems with that. There may be issues as to the timescale but if Plaid Cymru is not the party for ultimate independence for Wales then it is nothing. It's a position that Leanne Wood holds and I would argue when it's previous leader Ieuan Wyn Jones seemingly muddied the waters on it then the party was damaged.

And with his comments with regard to Yugoslavia and it's turmoil when it spilt up well who is arguing for war? Independence without the vote of the people for it will mean failure. As Scotland showed you can have a referendum on a nation's future without bloodshed.

So there is nothing wrong with Welsh Nationalism, nor indeed with disagreeing with the symbolic effects of decisions made without consultation with the Welsh people. For people who believe in Welsh Nationalism know that whether "my country is better than you country" is unimportant. What's important is that independence means that every decision is made without having to look over a bridge (which will of course be renamed).

Until the next time.

Carwyn Jones: The Most Successful Failure In Welsh Politics

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So I was driving home from work last night. Decided to listen to BBC Radio Five Live as there was some live Boxing coming up, but as it happens I'd turned on in time for the news. Remember now this is a UK wide station, so imagine my surprise when I heard as chief headline the words "Carwyn Jones..."

I knew then he was going to resign as Welsh First Minister, the announcer did not need to go on.

As I've said in a post earlier this week. Since the death of Carl Sargeant Carwyn Jones lost the one real skill he had which was being a politician. He probably knew this. Whether the Labour party in Wales knew this as well who knows? Did he go or was he pushed? Who knows? Who cares? Though it's worthwhile pointing out that should any of the enquiries going on concerning Mr Sargeant's death blame the current First Minister in any way, he will probably not be First Minister by the time they're published.

And before we chat about his career in his speech to the Welsh Labour conference yesterday he stated that no one knew the pressures put on his family in the past few months. No matter how truthful the remark it was nonetheless tactless because there would be no one who heard that who wouldn't be thinking about what Mr Sargeant's family have had to face in the past few months. At least Mr Jones' family still have a husband/father with them.

So then Mr Jones' record as First Minister. Was it good? Of course not. We start with the simple fact that he always seemed to lack stature on the political stage. When Nicola Sturgeon said something London listened. When Carwyn Jones said anything London yawned.

The Welsh economy is in a precarious state. It takes problems in key factories throughout Wales and immediately there could be regional disasters (such as what happened when it was proposed a few years back that the Port Talbot steelworks should be closed).To Westminster it appears that Wales is only good for investment as a nuclear mud dumping ground, a place to house monster prisons and a regal theme park. What is the reaction of the Welsh government? A mixture of the ineffectual and the servile. As a force for Wales the government under the current First Minister was useless.

The Health service have faced cuts and longer waiting times. Education in Wales is in such a bad state in international league tables that a LIBDEM is education minster. It's culture minister proposes that Wales the country should market itself as a Serfdom Principality and there's no murmurs from the First Minister.

His record as the local Assembly member for Bridgend is not great either. To this day I've no real idea on whether he has made any comments on some of the Welsh Labour council's mad policies that have so damaged the borough. Particularly the urban tragedy that is Bridgend Town. It's noticeable also that the council have often complained about their Welsh government grant.

So all Carwyn Jones really had was his skill, and it was a skill, as a politician. When that left him, there was really nothing else he could do.

Until the next time.

On Books:Specifically How Those On Ireland And Russia Makes Me Wonder Whether The Welsh Are The Last Serfs Of Europe

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The Land War In Ireland (1870) A History For Our Times a contemporary history written by Irish writer James Godkin was an interesting book to read. Imagine the history of a country (and yes I know the republic didn't exist then) through the basis of it's laws of land ownership and rent with the effect it had on the people.

His preface was an interesting one. Suggesting as it did that whilst Ireland did indeed have problems. It was largely brought upon by the English ( though to be fair here Westminster).

It's not an easy read. It demands your complete attention and any lapses of thought are punished as you find yourself adrift for a while only discover sanctuary in the next chapter as the story moves apace.

The thing is that the Irish Land laws punished the vast majority of the population. But they were also, you realise now with hindsight, one of the slow burners that led to the creation of The Republic.

John M Synge: a Few Personal Recollections, with Biographical Notes is essentially an article John Masefield wrote about the Irish playwright. It was I must admit an indulgence (albeit a free one) on my part getting this book. But I was curious given that I had to do The Playboy Of The Western World for my exams at school.

Well it had it's moments. But mainly it was a waste of my time and my (non) investment.

Can you like and dislike a book in equal measure? This question comes to me on reading A Sportsman's Sketches Volume one by Ivan Turgenev. This is a volume of short stories published in 1852 and set in the Russian countryside.

Sketches are in fact the perfect description for this book as in the majority of these cases you catch a glimpse of the lives of people and then move on. This was before I read him what I understood the term Checkovian meant before I read the good doctor Anton and yet it's Turgenev who seems to better define the term and is indeed to me the better writer.

Also I've never been to Russia, let alone it's countryside and yet the picture Turgenev conveys of a sense of place in the nineteenth century certainly seemed convincing to me.

However the "sport" referred to in the title is in fact shooting birds which to most people is just the passion for the rich in money if not mind. And the condescending tone the narrator has for the people he describes doesn't does grate.

Best described as a nearly then.

The book did remind me in one story though of the system of serfdom in Russia at that time. Rather like the Irish land laws it was one of those issues that served as a slow burner that led to change for the nation.

And the thought did occur to me that Wales could be the last Serfs of Europe. Allowing Westminster to starve it of long term investment such as the Swansea Bay Lagoon or electrification of the Main Intercity line. Instead it seems to be deemed only worthy in their for dumping nuclear mud, monster prisons and the rest being some sort of regal theme park. The Welsh government in the Assembly seemingly powerless or obsequiously servile to all of this.

Which just might mean it's another slow burner to independence....hope so.

Until the next time.

Ramblings Before I Make A Call About A Car Accident....

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well as I'm writing this it's 7:02am on a Saturday morning. Wife/daughter are asleep and outside it looks as if it's the forecast last of the hot days we've been having recently.

There goes summer folks...

At around eight thirty I have to make a call to the motor insurance people. To possibly make a claim. I cannot really comment about it at the moment. All I will say is that it's remarkably like the last claim I made about six months ago, including the fact that (acknowledged again by the other driver) it was not my fault.

Also if appearances are of any judge the mighty Kia Picanto seems unaffected. But as I learnt last time appearances can be deceptive. It will need looking into. Hence the reason for the call.

We were as a family off to the Grand Theatre Swansea from the Vale Of Glamorgan to see a production of Of Mice And Men. A journey that should have taken one hour took about two. And the exchanging of numbers etc with the other driver was only part of the reason why it took so long. Apparently, as the saying goes we were caught up in the "sheer weight of traffic".

Lucky us.

For me as a reader I didn't want to go even though it was my suggestion as I knew it meant that I couldn't really read the novel by John Steinbeck. It would be like watching a recording of a sporting event on the TV whilst knowing the result. However it is on my daughter's literature syllabus at school. So it seemed like a good idea.

I'll say this. Judging by the short time I was there unlike the journey where you could see completed or soon to be completed along the road to the city. There seems to be a decline in Swansea City centre. This is purely judging by the drunks acting up in the Tesco car park, the teenagers doing exactly the same thing along the main shopping area, and the closed down shops which seem to be more than last time (This is about 6:45pm yesterday evening....in daylight)

Now as I said all of this is from a relatively brief impression. I didn't really have the time or opportunity to look around properly. But if this impression is right then something is very,very wrong. I say this because having been to Cardiff City Centre a few weeks back the very same feeling came to me there as I saw the shops that were closed down and an increase in homeless people wandering around the streets. I might have to go to Cardiff City Centre next Sunday. If I can I'm going to make the time and wander round.

It's 7:41 now....

Apparently today (Saturday) is going to be the last of the string (and here I mean three) of hot days we have recently had. Hope everyone enjoyed their summer.

Well 8:10am ....time to prepare for that call. Until the next time.

Why Barry Town Must Always Look At Bridgend Town

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Now Barry Town is not Bridgend Town. Not even close. But there is a constant danger that if it is not vigilant enough it might become the urban tragedy that is Bridgend Town thanks to the arrogant incompetence of the Welsh Labour council.

A town does not normally decline through one factor alone. A group of factors combine and, and you don't realise this until you take a step back, suddenly realise that it's in trouble.

I spoke last year of the proposal to add car parking fees to the town centre and what a disaster that would be citing Bridgend Town's experience. I'm assuming that has (for now at least) been put on the shelf. But yesterday on Twitter another example came up. That of what you do to closed down retail outlets.

Again, Barry Town  has closed down shops in it's centre like all towns. But nowhere near the vast swathes that blight it's Bridgend neighbour. The most prominent is this.

The Windsor Hotel

I think I've mentioned this before in this blog. Personally given how exceptional this building is in relation to the rest of the town centre I don't think it can be judged like the rest. It's been closed down for at least a year.

An off the top of my head thought about this building is this. If ever a place seemed suitable for social housing and, say a gym at the ground level, this is it.

The Burtons in Barry Town has also closed. But I don't think that's to do with the place, given that I know that the one in Cardiff Queens Street has recently closed as well.

This though did come as a surprise. Which I saw today.

Not So Direct For Barry Town Soon

But the shop closure I want to specifically chat about is this.

Filco

This store, opened in 2015 was closed in December last year. I was personally only aware of the closure yesterday though to my defence a lot of the intervening time was spent looking after my mother in Essex. If you look at it only the For Sale sign gives you any hint of trouble. When I approached the front there was a message announcing the closure and laughably suggesting that you should you wish to shop in Filco go to neighbouring stores which included places about an hour away such as Maesteg!

A Plaid Cymru councillor Millie Collins has asked the Housing Association for news on the current position of this property. She is right to do so. Why I'm focused on this shop? Because if left empty then it reminds of Bridgend Town Centre with it's closed down Phones4U shop still a retail shell (barring the sign). And who will ever forget the McDonald's? Closed down and left to rot for seventeen years before being demolished in 2017.

Unattended shops, leave a sense of decay which in the long term damages a town. It's important that, even if it involves giving temporary leases, these buildings are used. It is why Barry Town must always constantly look at the urban tragedy that is Bridgend Town to avoid it happening there.

Until the next time.

The Farewell Tour Of The McDonald's Menu Part 6: The McChicken Sandwich

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Regular readers to this blog will know that I've decided to stop eating fast food. But before I do I'm going to be eating every regular medium meal of the McDonald's menu as and when the opportunity arises.

Well this time it's the turn of the McChicken Sandwich.

A Mutated Sandwich If You Ask Me

Let's be clear here. Whatever this is, this is not a sandwich. I don't see slices of bread over a fried chicken. I see a roll. And because the chicken is hot. I see a burger. This is a chicken burger with pretensions.

If there is one thing I've learnt since starting this exercise once McDonalds went off their original menus and started on new items they really went for the most stupid names going. After all what is legendary about their chicken legend meal? Who on earth thought that Fillet O Fish was the best way to describe what is essentially a fish finger with pretensions?...Really!

And of course it was edible but quickly forgettable. I'm beginning to wonder whether what seemed seductive American glamour is in fact just fuel for the body and nothing more. Once I finish this tour of the menu I will be very surprised if I miss it.

One final unrelated issue. With this meal I ordered a Cappuchino as my drink. McDonalds do coffee now. And they advertise it as basically just like Starbucks or Costa but without the caffine snobbery.

Well...the only connection between the drink I bought and any other coffee establishment was that it was hot liquid. It really was awful. Won't be doing that again.

Until the next time.

Whether Guilty Or Innocent Carwyn Jones Has Revealed Himself To Be Incompetent

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

You may remember earlier this year the political fallout from the suicide of Assembly Member Carl Sargeant. Something I discussed at the time.

Well amongst the various enquiries that were instigated was one as to whether the sacking of Mr Sargeant was leaked to the press. That report has been completed and the Conservatives have sought a debate today (Wednesday) in the Senedd to force the Welsh Labour administration to publish this report.

So what does Carwyn Jones do? He writes a letter to the presiding officer asking for the debate to be postponed or else he threatens court proceedings. He states that the reason for doing this is to protect the confidentiality of witnesses to that enquiry. At time of writing the Presiding Officer has rejected his request.

Now whether or not he has a case I don't know. But it's worth pointing out that he writes this letter a day before the actual debate and without any notice beforehand to the other political parties that this could be an issue.

Obviously the other parties were unhappy about the governing party of a major Parliament in Britain using the courts. What was telling watching the news reports was the sheer silence of the Labour AMs as Jones was trying to defend himself. Tellingly at the back of the chamber the look of the man who replaced Carl Sargeant as AM, his son. You felt that here was a man who was keeping his powder dry....for now.

Now whether or not Carwyn Jones is trying to cover up something I don't know. Clearly there are two scenarios here. One is that he is using the notion of witness confidentiality to save his own skin from some damning evidence in the enquiry report. The other is that he is completely innocent and the actions are being from a genuine concern.

The trouble is, even if he is innocent, his authoritarian, undemocratic methods to muzzle the Senedd was always likely to make people suspect a cover up. If protection of witnesses was an issue then this last minute heavy handed approach will not help these people as it has only made the other parties assume he does have something to hide.

In other words. Whether guilty or innocent Carwyn Jones has made a delicate situation worse by his actions.

It would be laughable....if we were not talking about the loss of life.

Until Mr Sargeant's death, and for all of his faults Carwyn Jones was a smooth political operator. Since that tragedy though. The First Minister seems to have lost his touch (note my comments on his Syrian Statement Of Nothing).

Until the next time

Barry's Almost Into Europe....That's Barry Town United By The Way

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It had been last year that I went to a football game. There were various reasons. Working regularly on a Saturday doesn't help. But spending roughly two and half months in Essex helping my unwell mother recover was probably the main cause.

But this Sunday was different. Barry Town United were playing Newtown. Wasn't working. Am back in Wales and I was looking forward to watching Welsh League football.

Barry Town are, I think I've mentioned this before, amongst those group of teams that I genuinely wish well unless they're playing the team I support (and in the case of Wales that's Ton Pentre FC though I can't say that I've had the chance to follow them this season). This game was important. For they just needed one point to guarantee entry into the playoff spot for the ultimate prize being entry into the Europa league, or rather the matches before you go into the Europa league, but you probably knew that anyway.

Their opponents Newtown however had every reason to stop them. For they were only one position behind them in the league. So they needed to defeat Barry in order to still be in the running for this play off space themselves. The Welsh language channel S4C knew all of this, which is why it was it's live game of the week.

I bought the matchday programme and was shocked to discover that Secretary of State for Wales and blog villain Alun Cairns was actually honorary president of the club! So let me give Barry Town United AFC are friendly warning. Be careful. Or you will soon find yourself being called Prince Of Wales United.

Le Parc De Jenner

To the noises of cowbell, horn and a drum it all started. When I was watching games when they were the away side it was irritating. In Le Parc De Jenner it's just part of the atmosphere. Probably it's because the perspective is different. After all the artificial grass is always greener on the other side.

A couple of men were chatting about potential European opponents should Barry go through and win the play offs. Paris? Milan? Madrid?

No. Liverpool apparently. I blame Brexit.

After about fifteen minutes Newtown scored. A ball exposed a gap in the Barry Town defence and left the keeper exposed on a one on one basis. It really was no contest.

"That's OK" said the voice behind me "Last time we played them they scored first and it finished five one to us".

So that's all right then.

Then it started to rain. And heavily at that. The assistant referee was soaked. No sympathy for him. I hate all match officials younger than me. And as I'm fifty four that means all of them.

Ha Ha Ha

The referee was not popular with the Barry Town supporters judging by what I heard. However I felt they were being unfair given that he was suffering with a disability during the first half to be unable to use his arms to collect a [insert colour here] card to give to Newtown players after countless fouls. Also, from a distance the ref looked like he was wearing a skull cap.

What do you think?

More Action From Le Parc De Jenner

Towards the end of the first half there were three miracles that I need to chronicle. Firstly the sun shone (yes I know). There was a moment when it was so bright I actually had to cover my eyes (and again, I know).

The second miracle was that the Ref overcame his disability and was able to give a Newtown player a yellow card for a foul. Praise be.

And the third miracle was that Barry Town scored. But it wasn't that they scored a goal. It was truly a magnificent goal. Worthy The Barry player Jon Hood received the ball in the Newtown half, moved through to the box and then made a low curler that was too finely targeted for his opponent's goalkeeper to reach.

If this was La Liga you would have thought it was Messi who scored. Hood did a dance to celebrate. I don't blame him. If I'd scored a goal like that I'd have boogied on down Barry Town High Street.

At halftime I went to get something to eat and drink. I chose Belgian.

They like Mayonniase on their chips

In truth the second half was not as good as the first. I can only recall one decent chance per team. So that was how it ended.1-1. A fair result with regard to the game. But for Barry Town it was enough. It meant a shot at the playoffs, which. for a newly promoted side is very impressive.

Barry's nearly into Europe

Until the next time.