Hooray for Harlow (Part Two)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The more I'm in Essex exile whilst my mother is in hospital the more I'm conscious of this attitude to the "new" town of Harlow.

Today I'm walking along the street near where my mother's home is. I'm stopped by a man asking how she is. I say she's recovering and indeed in an hour's time I'd be visiting her after doing a few things in Harlow (the hospital is nearby to the town centre) which, I add is a place I rather like.

"Have you " he asked "been there at night?"

Aside from when I leave the hospital in the evening the answer's no. But I don't consider it an issue. After all I'm fifty four. Not of an age where you look forward go out regularly in any town centre in the night.

"Well" he says "there are good and bad spots in every town".

This is of course true. Yet you could tell from the sound of his voice that he figured that there were more minuses in the Harlow list than pluses.

I went to the town centre again this afternoon. And my view hasn't changed. Not Paris or Milan but not worthy of the mockery or snobbery of others ether. I noticed a few shops that were closed down but the vast majority were open and seemingly doing good business. People seemed happy and chatty and just leading their lives.

Mentioned in the original tweet that there was a statue of large books which I couldn't take last Sunday cause kids were playing on it. As presumably they were being educated today however ....

The thought did occur to me on Sunday that the kids were of the generation that aside from school they would be unlikely to want to read a paper book again. Which is sad.

I also noticed this statue.

This is Meat Porters by Ralph White. Two things. Firstly I'm not sure whether they would pass Health and Safety. Secondly though I didn't look too closely, I'm not sure the men had any clothes on.

And along the main thoroughfare there's this.

This monument is there to symbolise Harlow  as a new town. Personally it seems rather sad it just seems rather forgotten. I like the statues myself. They're unusual, slightly quirky but in a good eccentric way. Rather like Harlow itself.

And as for Harlow at night I give you....

Moon Over A Car Park

 Until the next time.

The Businessman As God In Fiction

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Have finished Titan by Theodore Dreiser and I didn't like it. Though readable, (yes Theo  still knows how to make you swipe the page) it was disappointingly predictable. Young Carrie it isn't. If we're taking score of those I liked and disliked then the football match from this ebook omnibus is currently 2-2.

I had thought that the next book was going to be the third in the trilogy but no, instead it's going to be his novel The Genius. Hope I'll like it.

But reading Titan (published I should say in 1914) made me realise about the portrayal of businessmen in fiction as a certain type of propaganda for hard right no holds barred capitalism. So perhaps we should chat about it further.

The characteristics of the businessman (and let's be clear about this it's about men here) are as follows:

1) The man is a business genius. Thing is in real life few businesses become instant hits. Instead they grow organically. Yet in this fiction everything the businessman touches turns to gold. The only problems occur  through the unforeseen or the malevolent actions of others.

This leads us to:

2) Attitude of Other Men: Men either hate him or wish they were him to the point of worship. As for women.....

3) Attitude of women: Because you're a businessman women will automatically fall in love with you. You have the pick of all the women you want. No matter how badly you treat them when you go to your next conquest they will think of you even if they're with another man.

Of course the reality here is different. If you looked at the pictures of the major directors of the collapsed company Carillion. What you saw (presumably taken out of the annual report) was the faces of fat smug suited older men. I would doubt that the platoon of women that fiction suggests would flock to these individuals would occur in reality. Even before the bankruptcy.

4) Blackmail and Bribery is OK: What does it matter if they are crimes? Grease the wheels for business that's all that matters. Punishment is for the lower orders.

If you want a more realistic and sympathetic portrayal of a businessman (though in this case more of a manager). I would suggest Nice work by David Lodge. It shows a good man trying to do his best. I would recommend it.

Until the next time.

Hooray For Harlow

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Before I visited my mother in hospital this afternoon. I needed to go into Harlow town Centre (which is nearby) to get a few pairs of fluffy pyjamas from Primark. The first time indeed I have ever bought women's clothing....he says quickly.

In the morning I'd mentioned this to a cousin who was enquiring about my mother's condition. I said that I'd only ever been once before and I liked it.

"Well I don't" came the response.

Harlow seems to have suffered from NewTownitis a symptom of which is to get decidedly sniffy when it's mentioned. "New" for the sufferers means not old, lacking a sense of tradition, a sense of style. Even though of course some of these buildings were built in the sixties or seventies

Of course there is an "Old" Harlow but nobody thinks about them anymore. The big buildings that announce themselves as you drive along is what most people think of Harlow. The Study Centre, The Leisure Centre (that describes itself as a leisure "zone") and the shopping complex filled with restaurants and superstores called The Water Garden.

Having driven through the area for the past week, and have wandered through it today my view hasn't changed. I'm not going to say that should you have the choice of Paris,Rome or New York the only way is Harlow. But I liked the town. There are far worse places to live in Britain and it does not deserve the snooty disdain that those who hardly know the town seem to give it.

You can always judge a town centre by the shops. So let's start with this:

That is a Polish shop. I noticed another nearby. Harlow: Quietly cosmopolitan.

The shopping centre is called The Harvey Centre. This is the statue in front of it.

To be honest it's an odd statue. Given that the unnamed lady concerned seems to turning her back on the very place she guards. There is incidentally a more interesting sculpture of large books nearby However kids were playing on it and so I couldn't take a picture in case people put two and two together and made five. Still it's worth a look if you're there.

The centre itself is a friendly place to wander round with a good mixture of shops. Must admit I liked it....except for this.

What the......

How did Spurs take control of Harlow so much that they have their own shop here? somehow I get the feeling that the West Ham board missed a trick again.

The shopping centre includes a cinema.Nearby there are more shops as well as a playhouse and a library. Clearly boxes are being ticked. But to me they seem to have slotted in well.

Of course when you think of Harlow you think of something like this.

But there is nothing wrong with this if it works. And from the relatively brief time I was there today it did seem to work. Sure there are more traditional houses nearby. Less glossy. But it does not matter. What matters is that Harlow seems to be place where new really does appear to mean better.

Until the next time.

The BBC, Like The NHS, Is Free At The Point Of Delivery....Except Apparently At The NHS

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

This blog I know has been disjointed recently. My mother is currently in hospital and is recovering from an operation. I won't go into details, that's my mother's personal affair. but I think, I hope, that I will be back in Wales within two to three weeks. But for the moment I continue to be in Essex exile.

I should say that I have no complaints about the NHS hospital she's in (unlike her GP practice, but that's another story). The problems I have are not specific to this hospital but seem to be general. the car parking charges are a tax in England on people's emotions as they are visiting their loved ones. And there is also the question of the available TV installed on every bed in the hospital from an American company called Hospiedia....for a fee.

There are many channels on offer, including those for sports and movies. But it's the fact that they charge for free to air channels that gets me. After all they are seeking money from people at their most venerable. When you are in hospital, unless you are too ill to be bored. Time is either frenzied or dull. and Hospiedia knows this.

Now BBC1,BBC2,ITV,Channels Four and Five are available for free....between eight and twelve in the morning. So unless Homes Under The Hammer, decades old American comedies which seem to be on a virtual loop or Jeremy Kyle make your world complete. You're screwed.

There are arguments that Hospedia will put up about this. But for the moment let's just focus on the BBC. If you are a licence fee payer of the state broadcaster and find yourself unfortunately confined in a hospital bed under the state run health service then surely it should be free beyond the confines of morning daytime TV.

The elderly, people on low incomes and indeed the entire licence fee paying community should get the BBC channels for free. It's what the state should provide to it's citizens at the very least.

Until the next time.

In Which Theodore Entertains But Ultimately Disappoints

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Being in my Essex exile looking after my mother means that there are periods where I have nothing to do but of course restricted as to what I can do. Which means that reading is one of those things that passes the time.

So a few days back I mentioned that I was reading Theodore Dreiser's 1912 novel The Financier and today, whilst my mother was asleep,I finished it off.

The book chronicles part of the life of Frank Cowperwood, the financier of the title. There are various problems with it but let me explain one thing. It is readable. When you're in the position of having to constantly look at someone to make sure they're OK and yet still find yourself in 19th century Philadelphia with no difficulty then that is the mark of a storyteller.

However there are problems. The relationship between men and women which is complex in Young Carrie or Jennie Gerhardt is much more simplistic and traditional here. It also in passing suggests an unacceptable view of African Americans. I'm not clear here whether it's the author's personal views or that of his character, but it's still unacceptable.

The central character is the sort of J R type figure that we have read or seen time after time after time again. And the trouble with it is that leaving aside your political objections for a moment you know that no matter how objectionable the character is. The author admires him. And I'm afraid Theo falls into that category.

And for the reader the other real objection to this book is this. The ending is rushed. It just has the feeling of knots having been tied.

It's as if Theo couldn't be bothered. He just wanted to move on to the second book in the trilogy The Titan, which is the book I'm reading now. The title alone gives me too much of an idea as to what I'm reading.

I hope I'm wrong.

Until the next time.

Theodore Dreiser: A Mystery Writer Of Sorts

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

For every reader there comes a book which, though not the best one you've ever read, or you'd bypass instantly in picking that certain something for a long stay in a desert island that nonetheless surprised you during the process of reading. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (published in 1900) was that sort of book.

Let me give you one part of the plot only. The beginning. Carrie of the title is a young woman who moves from small town America to Chicago.

Now the point is this. you as the reader is led to a certain mindset. And you go along with it, until something happens which makes you wonder whether you've approached the book correctly. But, and this is the skill, Dreiser does not as you go through the book say that you're wrong. Oh no what he says is that you might be wrong.

And that, I'd suggest is the sign of a writer who knows how to handle the plot. Because you as the reader has to continue reading to find out.

Not just plot mind you. Character as well. Your loyalties as a reader ebb and flow and ebb again. I would challenge anybody reading this book to honestly say that their view of any person is consistent from when they started to when it finished.

Relationships too. For the time they are written they are a mixture of their time or surprisingly modern to 2018 readers. As for his views of men and women whilst I wouldn't call him a feminist the position of men and women are not as clear as they first appear.

And like the plot itself the mystery is knowing whether or not you're initial judgement was right.

The novel was from a collection. The next one in that collection was Jennie Gerhardt. A book published in 1911.It has to be said that if you read Young Carrie then then there are less shocks here. But it's not without surprises.

So the next book in the collection is The Financier  a 1912 novel. We'll see if Dreiser is still a mystery at the end of it.

Until the next time.

Chelsea v Norwich City (Catalonia)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I am in the third day of my Essex exile whilst looking after my mother. Until I mention otherwise I won't be mentioning anything about it until she recovers.

When you look after someone, even for a hopefully short period of time, the day either is very busy or very boring. As I'm writing this it's eight o'clock pm. Chelsea are playing Norwich City in an F A cup replay. It's on BBC1 , my mother is asleep so I can watch it

I'm supporting Norwich in this. Partly because they're the underdog. But also because their football shirts are in yellow. Yellow: the colour of Catalonia. the colour the Spanish government are afraid of. Oh I know it's mad. But it makes it interesting.

Early minutes there is constant Chelsea pressure. Chances were missed. Tip of a football boot and it would have been a goal chances.

Yellow is a bright colour. But not the brightest of the evening. That belongs to outfit worn by Chelsea goalkeeper Caballero. Best described as Radioactive.

Apparently there is a Chelsea player whose name is pronounced Feng Shui. Always out of position though. Later we're told West Ham want him....typical! He also gives Norwich their closest chance of the game first half.

Chelsea have a chance that's tipped onto the cross bar.

The team in yellow is defending itself well against a team with richer resources. Note the metaphor to Spain and Catalonia there folks.

But more chances come through Norwich's way. More confident as the half progresses.

Kenedy of Chelsea reacts to being fouled by slapping his opponent. Handbags not being available.

First half ends 0-0. Advantage to the Catalans.

But then Feng Shui finds the right position and scores for Chelsea....damn

Norwich do fight back with a chance that hits the post.

Chelsea resort to cheating as Pedro dives in the penalty area. Not just diving but bad diving at that.

As the half progressed Chelsea was trying to bore the game to death. As if the one goal meant that mentally the drawbridge was raised in their players' mind. However the Catalans throw everything to score an equaliser.Then right at the end of the ninety fourth minutes Jemal Lewis scores for the Catalans.

Extra time then.

Willian hurdles over a Catalan defender's leg and falls. Not a penatlty thank goodness. Another Chelsea penalty request is rejected.

First period comes and go. One all still. Catalonia is still in with a chance.

Second period and again a penalty request from Chelsea against Klose...not even Klose.

Towards the end of the second period Pedro is sent off for a second bookable offence. You know it was the right decison because Conte didn't overreact. Another penalty request rejected. Morata gets booked...reacts badly..gets sent off. Chelsea down to nine men.

Extra time finishes . Penalties

Willian for Chelsea Scored.

Olivera for Norwich. Caballero saved

Luiz for Chelsea. Scored.

Madison for Norwich scored with the cheekiest of penalties. The arrogance of youth.

Azpulqueta for Chelsea scored

Vrancic for Norwich scored

Conte for Chelsea scored.

Murphy for Norwich scored.

Hazard for Chelsea scores and Chelsea wins.

So the Catalans lose ......but only just......and tomorrow is another day.

Until the next time.

The First Early Morning Ramblings Of 2018

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

At time of writing this it's 5:09am but I've probably been awake for an hour longer. My mother is still not one hundred percent. As she is with people tomorrow and there are things I need to do (like pay the rent) I've decided to leave for Essex on Tuesday. Though I know she's better than she was and is certainly eating more the improvement which was there when I left Essex for Wales last Monday seems to have stalled. This flu is certainly persistent.

I don't want to go. But obviously there are things in life that you have to do because it's simply the right thing. Indeed when wife is awake will get the Paris St Germain travel bag ready. Get that over with first.

So my thoughts are mainly dominated by my mother this morning. Which explains I think how I can go to bed at 12:30am on a Sunday morning and wake up around four hours later.

Saw highlights of West Ham's victory over Huddersfield last night. I was pleased. But a little distracted.

There is for the moment nothing to do. The calm before the snowstorm.

There is another reason why I'm not looking forward to the trip to Essex. My knee is playing up again. Before it seemed to only make itself (literally) felt when it touched the ground. I thought there was an improvement. But now there seems to be a throbbing pain on the side, where there wasn't one before. There are no issues moving driving etc, but it reminds me it's there. Once my mother is sorted out will need to get this looked into.

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

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

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

"I hate literature".

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

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

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

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

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

Like father like daughter it appears.

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

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

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

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

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

Derek Raymond - A State Of Denmark

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

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

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

Until the next time.

Welsh Labour: Franchising It's Duties To Yorkshire

Hello there. hope you're feeling well today,

Well I'm back in Wales. At time of writing it's just gone eleven in the evening and outside the weather is pouring down with rain. But despite it I've missed in the past two weeks wife/daughter (joint first obviously) and then Wales. Aside from any family event or as in this case here my mother being unwell there is no reason for me to visit England again. And you know what? I don't want to.

But whilst as I think I've shown commitment to Wales yet again Welsh Labour seems to willingly bite the hands of the people who voted for them. Yet again have taken Welsh voters for granted.

This concerns the Welsh Select Committee in the House of Commons. Now Stephen Kinnock who was on this committee decided to step down from it and concentrate work on other committees. We'll park that decision for a moment. The point here is that it left a vacancy for Labour to fill.

And fill it they have.....with an MP with a Yorkshire constituency

Now this has normally happened on a ministerial level with the Conservatives. If they haven't enough Scottish/Welsh MPs they'd fill any vacancy with Scots/Welsh MPs who had English constituencies.

Here though is different (though some of them might be on the Labour shadow cabinet) Labour have twenty eight MPs to chose from. And yet the vacancy has been filled by an English Labour MP with a Yorkshire constituency.

Why? Because no Welsh Labour MP wanted to fill it.

Apparently Stephen Kinnock did not appear in any Welsh committee meeting in this parliament anyway. Such was his commitment to Welsh affairs.

Thelma Walker the MP who has stepped into the breach has said that Wales and Yorkshire have similar issues such as farming or Brexit for example.

Trouble with that statement is that whilst Wales and Yorkshire may be "similar", it does not mean they are the same. It betrays an ignorance of Welsh issues. But to Welsh Labour "What's the problem? She wants to do it." As if that's somehow alright.

Again the essential niceness of the Welsh people is being taken advantage of here. After all can you imagine the Scots putting up with this? What other nation has to put up with it's elected representatives not willing to represent it on a Parliamentary Committee?

Leaving aside their front bench spokespeople and opposition whips as well as four who are on the committee. The remaining eligible Welsh Labour MPs are apparently too busy on other committees to attend the Welsh one. Well somebody should get one of these Welsh Labour MPs and make him/her go on the Welsh committee instead.

It's a matter of principle. Difficult for Welsh Labour I know.

Until the next time.

Neath Castle: Conquered By The Union Jack ?

Hello there. hope you're feeling well today.

Well here I am in Essex. Getting ready to drive back to Wales on Monday when all of a sudden Welsh news makes me yet again want to put fingers to keyboard.

Neath Castle. A Castle in Neath, in Wales (let's be clear about this here) have a flagpole just in front of it. Which shows the Welsh flag being as it is in Wales.

But no longer apparently because it's been replaced by the Union Jack.

Why this has been done or whodunit is not completely clear.

Let's start with who. Unless blog villain Alun Cairns has turned into a practical joker ("What a lovable scamp he is! Can't wait to see what he does on April Fools Day!) then the only logical suspect is Neath Town Council.

Let's assume it is the council. Either as an organisation or an individual from the council making a decision for whatever reason. Then the first question is why? Why would a Welsh council be prepared not to proudly display a Welsh flag in front of a Welsh castle? Why is it that unless rugby is involved there seems a gradual piecemeal dismantling of Welsh identity in, wait for it, Wales?

There are two logical reasons for this: One Neath Town Council has been infiltrated by spies working for the aforementioned political toad that is Cairns.

Or....

You may remember a recent post where I discussed Dafydd Elis Thomas. Independent Assembly member but current minister for Tourism. A man who has moved from former leader of Plaid Cymru to advocating that Wales should promote itself as a principality as a marketing option.

Perhaps this, either from a request from the Elis Thomas' office or as a response to it, is the reason why.

But what this Welsh council has apparently forgotten is that they are a Welsh council. In life symbolism is everything. A Union Jack instead of the Welsh flag outside of Neath castle suggests a nation conquered. Not only that but the actions of the council gives an image of a nation that has surrendered and is collaborating with it's conquerors.

Until the next time.

On Books and Football : Talking About True Legend Brian Clough

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well as my mother is getting better there are less things that I have to do as nursemaid. What this means is that for the first time in a week and a half  I've had time to concentrate on reading.

So let's go to an ebook I'd actually finished Letters On Sweden,Norway and Denmark by Mary Wollstonecraft. There is a mystery about this book to me. Wikipedia stated that it was written by Mary Shelley. However the introduction suggested that it was in fact her mother.

I don't have the time or inclination to check. Personally I'm hoping that it was her writer who wrote this. If only because it was a dull read.

Dull though is a description that I wouldn't give to the next ebook that I've read Cloughie: Walking On Water:My Life.

For those of you too young to remember Brian Clough was a legendary (when the word meant something and wasn't used to describe chicken burger) manager of the seventies and eighties. Taking two unfashionable teams Derby County and Nottingham Forest to League and (with regard to Forest) European glory.

This book, published in 2002 and ghost written by John Sadler is an autobiography of this larger than life man.

Since I've started this blog I've read three books by football managers before this one. There was the amiable tome by current Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock, the stunningly badly written Sam Allardyce biography and the weird biography cum business management book by Carlo Ancelotti.

This book is not only better than those. It's one of  the best football manager autobiography I've ever read. On a par with John Lyall's Just Like My Dreams.

The start is the key. Clough is in hospital awaiting a liver transplant due to his alcoholism. He has left Nottingham Forest following relegation. As you read it there is a sense of a man knowng that time is not on his side. The brash Brian of legend is replaced by a more reflective one. Never for example have I read an autobiography where a manager acknowledges that he was partly (because of the effects of the alcoholism) responsible for a team's relegation. He also speaks about his love of the drink and his regret about his feud with former assistant Peter Taylor and later how he handled Justin Fashanu

(And yes I forgive him for his remarks on blog hero Trevor Brooking. After all Trev answered him on the pitch)

Throughout he is not afraid to mention his failures as well as his successes.

What it reminded me of was Johnny Cash's last song Hurt. A dying genius looking back on his life.

It is a biography but it's a credit to Clough and John Sadler that rt reads as if he's chatting to you. He will speak about a subject meander and then go back to the main subject of the chapter. And you know what? It works.

Of the three books I mentioned earlier, it puts to shame the Carlo Ancelotti bio/business thing. Clough's style would not have been approved by Carlo. But we know who, given the resources at his disposal has achieved more.

Possibly if you're too young to remember him then this biography may be a difficult to understand. for those of us old enough though it's a worthwhile read of a true legend.

It will make you sad. It will make you wistful. It will make you smile as you remember him.

The next ebook is Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser.

Until the next time.

Listening To West Ham United With My Mother Part 2

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well for the second time in three days am listening to West Ham United playing against minor blog villain Tottenham. I'm with my mother in Essex being nursemaid whilst she's recovering from a virus infection. She is thankfully better though for reasons I'm not going to explain I won't be able to return to Wales until Tuesday possibly Monday.

My mother is not that knowledgeable on football.

"Who are West Ham playing?" Tottenham I respond. She gives a look that suggests that she's heard of them but that's the amount of her

"Is Nobby Stiles still alive?"

"What's happened to the manager with Bobby Moore?" Ron Greenwood? I answer. No. After twenty questions it turned out she was talking about Harry Redknapp.

There was an early Spurs chance "Have they scored?" No.

Constant Spurs pressure. "Where's it being played?" asks my mother. "Wembley"
"Ah" she says "whilst the new stadium is being built".
She knew that?

There is the tone from the BBC Radio 5 Live commentary that suggests Tottenham are going to score soon. I hear the sound of "Bubbles" in the air. The summariser is Steve Claridge, an ex-footballer with more clubs than Jack Nicklaus, and whose book Tales From The Boot Camps I'd recommend.

It is goalless in the first half. 74% possession for Spurs but goalless. This is so far so good.

"Can you do bacon in a microwave?" asks my mother. With every day that passes she's asking for more things food wise. She fancies that for lunch tomorrow. Fine by me.

Second half seems dull when all of a sudden there's a penalty call for Spurs. Apparently it was a good call. No penalty....thankfully. Shortly another penalty call. Again rejected by the referee Mike Dean. A man Arsene Wenger doesn't like. Arsene Wenger: a man who proved the Grinch didn't try to steal Christmas, he was too busy managing Arsenal.

Then against the run of play Obiang scores for West Ham on twenty minutes . A brilliant goal to watch on radio apparently.The excitement portion of the commentary and the crowd increases. You don't think.....?

Thirteen minutes remaining. See the goal on Twitter.....wow!

Then Son scores for Tottenham. Apparently just as good as Obiang's. 1-1 then.

That's how the match finishes. Must admit I'd have taken that result at the start of the game.

My mother was asleep for most of the second half. At the end of the match she wakes up.

"Who won?"

I tell her it was a draw.

"At least they didn't lose".

True enough.

Until the next time.

Listening To Swansea City And West Ham United With My Mother

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

"Nothing to watch on the television?" says my mother.

I'm as regular readers will know in Essex in the moment as my mother is recovering from a viral infection. Good news is that she's much better and all she needs to get a bit more energy back. I'll be leaving for Wales on Saturday.

But to answer my mother's question no there's nothing on the television. So I'm listening to football instead. The match on BBC Radio Five Live was blog friend Swansea City vs minor blog villain  Tottenham whilst there would be reports on blog hero (alright flawed hero) West Ham vs blog I don't know how to describe them West Bromwich Albion.

Swansea City had the new managerial appointment of Carlos Carvalhal. Which you could only look and wonder "why him?" West Ham had David Moyes, a manager where my opinion has moved from "Why him? He's rubbish, He's the messiah and currently "Why him?"

After about twelve minutes Spurs score. Llorente.Ex Swansea player. Apparently it was offside but no one seemed to really care as it appeared that Tottenham were so good /Swansea so bad. Listening to ex Swansea and in terms of his performance as a Hammer the best ex Arsenal player to play for us John Hartson being depressed. Swansea seem to be outplayed and outmanoeuvred in the apparently teeming South Wales rain.

Half an hour comes news from London. West Bromwich score. Leading West Ham 1-0. So let's get this straight, the teams I'd want to win are losing....perhaps it's me.

My mother has nodded off. Wish I could.

As the first half ends Swansea gives its fans more hope than at it's beginning but as any West Ham fan will tell you there is a misery in hope.

Second half.  Do I know what happened in the beginning? No. Wife rings. Tell her that I'm going to come home on Saturday. Moment I pass her to my mother there's good news from the TV. West Ham has equalised...meanwhile I hear discussions of the colour of paint on rooms. Another sign that she's better is that long female conversations on the phone have returned.

My mother chats further with my wife. Apart from the odd bit of excitement there appears to be no action with the matches. More action with the conversation between mother and wife.....worries me when they are close. Somehow I feel it's going to end badly for me somehow.

"I agree with you" says my mother to the wife. Suggesting that she disagrees with me.

Thirty five minutes that call was. Mainly between two of the three women in my life (the other being my daughter I should stress).

Two minutes left in the game. Spurs score. That would be it for the Swans.

Then last minute...WEST HAM SCORE!!! Andy Carroll the player who can be irritating yet inspiring in equal measure is in his inspirational moment . Now you might argue that West Brom were tired having spent two matches in three days...and you would be right...but I'm afraid I don't care...BECAUSE WEST HAM WON!!!

"Spare a thought for Alan Pardew" says the BBC radio reporter....well.....no.

I know childish of me. But as I've said once before (when I wasn't this old) that although I'm a fifty four year old man football, and only football, has the power to turn me into a ten year old boy.

Match Of The Day is on tonight. My mother has gone to bed. Will be watching it now.

Until the next time.

Cheryl Gillan...Champion Of Wales? I Don't Think So

Hello there. hope you're feeling well today.

I did not expect, being as I am in Essex for the foreseeable future until my mother is well, to be writing about Welsh politics on New Years Eve ("how saddo a thing to to is that!" you will say and yes you'd be right but if I have anything on my hands for the moment it's time) but there you go.

It wasn't even the news that former Secretary of State for Cheryl Gillan was going to become a Dame under the New Years Honours List. I don't care for the system of honours but it wasn't worth a blog post. No what made me put finger to keyboard came from of course Twitter and specifically the account of the Welsh Conservatives which, whilst congratulating Ms Gillan for the "honour", described her as a "Champion Of Wales".

So let's be clear what this "Champion of Wales"has done.

1) Though born in Cardiff she is an MP for Chesham and Amersham, in Buckinghamshire since 1992 which, for those without a keen knowledge of geography is in England.

2) Rail Electrification Of The South Wales Main Line. This promised electrification of the line has stopped at Cardiff. Even though it happened after David Cameron kicked her out as Sec of State did we hear Cheryl fighting tooth and nail for Wales as a true champion would? What do you think?

3) Reduced funding for the Welsh Language channel S4C. In an age where the channel needs help in this multi-channelled age (my previous posts refers) she was quite happy to kneecap it. Not the action of a true champion of Wales.

4) She did set up the Silk Commission on future Welsh Devolution. But that would have been set up if anyone was Secretary of State at that time.

5) There was a Welsh Office Green paper in 2012 that if successful would have reduced the number of constituency Welsh Assembly members. A proposal that apparently even Tories in Wales disapproved of.

That's not even discussing the non specifically Welsh issues that surrounded her career.

So if you're looking for a Champion of Wales a Tory emigre in Buckinghamshire is really not the person you should be looking at.

Until the next time.

How I've Learnt To Love The Inventors Of Videotape. The Experiment (Part 3)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

The next day then of channel surfing. The previous posts explains the experiment.Ten pm Saturday 30 December

ITV3 + 1 : Midsomer Murders: I've explained in a previous post how much I hate this show. One second. Click.

QVC Beauty : Shopping Channel. One second click.

Quest:Aliens On The Moon: No time for reality TV ghosts no time for reality TV Aliens either. One minute click.

Quest Red: The Jury Speaks: Another crime thing. This time the Jury on the Michael Jackson case. Not interested. Two minutes click.

CBS Action; NCIS: I've mentioned that I like this show. Unfortunately I've seen this episode before. And when I say "before" I mean this week. Two minutes click.

Food Network: Mystery Diners: Seems to be a show about security cameras trailing dodgy valets. Not for me.Five minutes click.

Travel channel : Life Before Zero - The Thaw: People living in cold climes that are less cold that they were.....????....rubbish. Two minutes click.

Gems TV: Another Shopping Channel. Turned over quickly but not before the woman selling jewels said that they had "A melody of colours". What??

Channel 5 + 1: The Championship: To be honest have lost track of football West Ham aside this week. Ten minutes click.

Challenge TV: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Simon Cowell is in it. Five minutes click.

FourSeven: The Simpsons. I've said before am neutral towards The Simpsons. Which for the purposes of this means uninterested. Four minutes click.

Movies4Men: The Gundown: You know being a man I can honestly say I've never watched a full movie on this channel. Nothing changes here. Two minutes click.

The Jewellery Channel: No melodies here. No interest from me either. One minute click.

Sony Movie Channel: Swat Firefight: Too old for this. One minute click.

My5:Jo Brand's Cats & Kittens: I'm not scared of cats as I am of dogs....doesn't mean I'm interested though. Two minutes click.

True Crime: Dangerous Women. Another crime show. Two women try to kill a man in four minutes on the TV. People who like this probably read Dean Koontz. Enough for me to turn over five minutes.Click.

True Entertainment:November Christmas: What???? This rubbish Christmas mush still on after it's finished? One minute click.

True Christmas: A Town Without Christmas: Well of course this town is without Christmas.....it's December 30th!!!! One minute click.

Blaze TV: Secret Access. UFOs Off The Record. Remember what I wrote about Quest TV? Ditto here.One minute click.

TBN UK: A religious channel.....I'm an atheist...One Minute click.

CBS Reality: Killer Doctors On Death Row night: Definitely not. Two minutes click.

Tru TV: Caught red handed: Series About Catching Shoplifters....I mean really ? One minute click.

My mother wakes up, time to finish up. Not a successful night.

Day Four then of the channel hopping experiment. It's 16:13 New Year's Eve

Horror: Icetastrophe: Don't really understand this channel. The Horror stuff comes late at night. This is just about people stuck in a snow storm. Two minutes click.

CBS Drama: Unsolved Mysteries: Another reality American crime series. A missing woman from the Chinese community being taken by a man. Would have turned over quicker but the phone rings.

Your TV: Body of Proof. Well I've praised this show before in this blog so I've no excuse not to watch it now. Especially as the only other channels are for children and news addicts.

So in my present situation I'm going to have to get used to this for a while.

Until the next time.

How I've Learnt To Love The Inventors Of Videotape. The Experiment (Part 2)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well I'm in Essex for a while looking after my mother. I won't go into her problems until they're resolved.I'm writing a post which I'll publish then. Let's just say that at least for the next few weeks Essex is where I'm at.

And if you wonder why I'm still writing the blog? Well it gives me a sense of release for the moment. No other reason. This of course leads me to Part 2 of Channel surfing the free to air offerings my mother's TV has to offer.

It's 9pm on Friday 29 December and to continue...

Film 4: Salt : It stars Angelina Jolie. Begins with Ms Jolie being tortured in North Korea. Do I really want to watch this? No. Seven minutes click.

QVC: Never, ever watched it. 2 Seconds click.

Really: Ghost Adventures: Aftershocks: Neither believe or am interested in this rubbish. Three minutes click.

4 Music: Friday Night Hotmix: A programme which screams "Why are you watching it you're too old!" at me. And the programme would be right. Three minutes click.

Yesterday: Jackie Stewart: the Flying Scot: Cannot really say I'm interested in Formula One now. Two minutes click.

Drama: Death In Paradise: Kriss Marshall is in it . One minute click

5USA: The Mysteries Of Laura. Two season American crime drama starring Deborah Messing as a brilliant detective but as a woman can multitask by being a wisecracking but messy overworked divorced mother as well. I loved this show when it was first on but can't remember this episode. Watched all of it. Forty minutes click.

Off to make a cup of tea...then

Ideal World: Another Shopping channel. One Second click

ITV4: Demolition Man: Remember seeing this Sylvester Stallone vehicle years ago....it was rubbish. One Second click.

Home:Fantasy Homes By The Sea:Not interested at all.One Second click.

ITVBe: Botched: American series where doctors sort out the mistakes other doctors have made. Freak TV. No No NO!!!!!!!!!! One minute click.

ITV + 2 : Skyfall: The days I'd have instantly wanted to watch a James Bond movie have long since gone. Five minutes click.

E4: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Saw the original and liked it. But to be honest really cannot be bothered to see a sequel. Ditto E4+1 Each One Second click

5Star: We're The Millers: A Jennifer Anniston film. I seem to have joined it whilst Jen is doing some sort of striptease...better watch it for a while then.

Actually it's not bad. It's the sort of film perfect for a late Friday evening when your brain is in first gear. Forgot to count how much I watched but it was most of the movie. certainly over an hour. Click.

5Spike: Fury: Tail end of the movie. No point watching it. Two minutes click.

Sony Movie Channel: Pistol Whipped: Steven Seagal in his post modern fat period. There is only one Steven Seagal movie I've ever liked. And as this isn't the gloriously tongue in cheek Under Siege then five minutes click.

ITV + 1: Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince: How come is this movie on at eleven twenty one at night (ten twenty one on ITV)? It's a kids movie. Three minutes click.

Feel my brain beginning to tire. Part 3 another day.

Until the next time.

How I've Learnt To Love The Inventors Of Videotape. The Experiment (Part 1)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well I've spent the day being nurse to my mother with her viral infection. I won't discuss it. People look after their family everywhere in the world everytime of the day. It's in the job description.

So instead I'll chat about something else.

My mother does not have a DVR. Nor does she have a Smart TV. That's her choice. She does not even have all the Free To Air Channels. Essentially then she goes retro and watches TV when it's being broadcast, like I did as a child of the seventies.

Whilst my mother is asleep there is little else I can do but to watch broadcast TV. I do not at the moment feel I can concentrate on reading books. Only now do I realise how much I depend on recorded or on demand TV. Because without the filtering process of your own choice you suddenly realise that TV is for the most part rubbish. In the seventies there were just three channels to watch in Britain and yet (even through the prisim of nostalgia) if you removed sports from the equation there seems less shows you want to watch now even though there are countless channels. More means less.

So during the time I had spare I decided to conduct an experiment. About as scientific as Daffy Duck you understand but there you go.

As when circumstances allow from BBC1 onwards I would watch the TV as and when it's on. When it's boring/I don't like it I'll move to the next channel on the line. The key thing is not the channel which can hold my attention for the longest, that's the luck of the draw. It's taking it all as a whole.

It couldn't be done in a day. Hence Part 1.

Half past eight in the evening: Let's start with BBC1 then. Still Open All Hours. The sequal to Open All Hours. Like most sequals it's not a patch on the original. And yet it's still there. I stay out of loyalty to the Ronnie Barker classic...and then I can't stand it anymore. After fifteen minutes click.

BBC2: Thailand: Earth's Tropical Paradise. It's an animal programme. Regular readers will know that I've not got an interest in animals. So after four minutes click.

ITV: Emmerdale. Apart from the Welsh Language Soap opera Pobol Y Cwm I don't watch soap operas. Mainly because the plot twists always seem to be in the TV guides. I'm incidentally old enough to remember when Emmerdale had a farm (and if you understand that joke then you're old enough as well).As I see it a female vicar gives a man a cuddle and a woman goes to pieces in a pub. Nine minutes click.

Channel 4:The Secret Life Of The Zoo. Another animal programme. Zoo staff chatting about why a couple of rhinos didn't have sex. Four minutes click.

Channel 5: World's Strongest Man. Initial reason why I found myself watching this was the voiceover. Eddie Butler, the man who would normally voice the dramas of Welsh rugby games is doing this?Then James Richardson normally a football presenter turns up.

Of course then comes the games. It's A Knockout as if devised by ancient Spartans. Muscled men lift heavy things....and then heavier things. Curiosity value for a time....then that curiosity goes. Seventeen minutes click

ITV2: Amazing Spider Man 2. 45 minutes left for the movie. Regular readers might remember the trip I made in the summer to see Spider Man Homecoming. Spider Man in this one seems to be older than the comics. He also has a blonde girlfriend who knows his secret identity...what?? The Green Goblin also seems to be a sort of green cyber punk and Sally Field is Aunt May. Ok she may not be Marisa Tomei but she's still too young. I'm a comic traditionalist me

My mother wakes up from her slumber to chat to me during this. It would have been clicked a lot earlier. But as it happens it's the forty five minutes click.

London Live: I'll say this for London Live. It's better than it's Cardiff eqivilaent. But only because it shows programmes that have nothing to do with London (I seem to remember Raise The Titanic yesterday. Spy drama Spooks will on next week). Now it's Best Pair Of Legs in the business. A 1973 film starring Reg Varney. As far from On The Buses as you can get. I've seen it before. Depressing is not the word that goes anywhere near to explain how black this is. Your first urge after watching this would be to jump off a cliff before you controlled yourself. Seven minutes click.

BBC Four: Francis Bacon: A Brush With Violence. A Biography of the painter. Not interested. Four minutes. Click.

ITV3: Endeavour: I'm a fan of Inspector Morse and Lewis but I've never liked Endeavour and I've tried. The problem I have with this is the problem I have with all prequels. You may not know the route to get there but you know what the destination is going to be. I try for a while but nothing has really changed. Fifteen minutes click.

Pick: Three Days To Live: One of these reality Crime TV shows. Not interested at all. Three Minutes. click

My mother asks me to make her a small snack. So I return to the TV at Ten.

Dave: Would I Lie To You? : You know if it was Have I Got News For You or QI I'd have stayed to have watched the whole programme. But it isn't. One Minute. click.

Channel 4 +1: What Britain Bought In 2017: Mary Portas, a woman who looks like an explosion in a sweet wrapping factory, presents this exploration of the shopping trends this year. It's not uninteresting I must admit. The moment you think it's just too girly (big knickers anyone?) it throws you the single brought out for the Grenfell Tower disaster. I watched it all.59 minutes click.

More 4: Greg Davies. The Back Of My Mother's Head, This was the comedian's 2013/14 tour. I enjoyed it  One hour click

Out of fourteen channels so far only two attracts my attention

So thankyou Mr/Mrs/Ms videotape. The pioneers of TV I wanted to watch. For without you....I might have gone out more.

Until the next time.

From South Wales To Essex....Unfortunately

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I'm writing this post in Essex. My knee is better though not 100%. Wife and daughter are in South Wales and I do miss them. But it has to be. As my mother is unwell.

She hadn't spent Christmas with us as she wasn't confident driving to Wales and my knee was too much of a problem for me to drive and pick her up. However on Boxing day she rang to say that she felt really in a bad way so there was no choice. I had to come down.

The drive normally takes me about three and a half to four hours. But certain things made it longer. The need to have an oil change at the beginning of the journey, to stop at three Motorway Service Stations to give my knee a break, the weather and most surprisingly of all given that it was Boxing Day the traffic.

My mother was not well. Today (27th) we've gone to the doctor. She has a viral infection. Getting an appointment proved to be easy. The timing in that morning was not as the snow that was not settling suddenly decide to get heavy and settle.

She now has the knowledge and the medication. Once she is on the mend my conscience will allow me to leave.

As I think I've said before. I've spent a lot of my life in Essex and and happy to defend it against all comers. It is however no longer home. But no matter how much you've changed there will be moments when the past calls you back and you have to go.

Until the next time.

Saturday Night And Sunday Morning Alone And Rambling

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It's Saturday night. I'm alone as wife/daughter have gone out to see a friend for the evening. I'm not going as my knee that I had the accident on Wednesday is still not feeling 100% and is uncomfortable on car journeys. I can do it if need be. But this was the first day I could properly rest it since the incident when I tripped and fell on the hard floor at work and so just wanted it to recover. Which it is. But slowly.

Nothing to watch on TV. Have a batch of Columbo episodes on the DVR. But they're waiting for Christmas Day when I return from work. But I'll chat about that another time.

The quietness is extraordinary. Either I'm the only person in the entire block staying in on a Saturday night (possible) or else this place is soundproofed to a high standard.

I find myself looking at mail. Enterprise Rentacar. Which I used as part of the motor insurance for the recent accident. Not my fault. Out of date now anyway as everything was done. Binned.

Try to activate my new Nectar card....Yes I'm THAT bored. Screen says, and remember that it's my newly arrived card UNABLE TO VERIFY YOUR DETAILS. PLEASE CONTACT THE CALL CENTRE. And it was THEY WHO SENT IT TO ME!!! Won't bother with that until the new year.

A lot of mail has been got through. Wife will be happy (though will also mention I should have done it a lot sooner.

Have also downloaded a load of books (all free) from recommendations by Robert Macfarlane's book The Old Ways. Particularly noticeable is George Borrow. I think I've done about eighty!!!

Ten pm. Daughter rings. They're coming back. Find myself starting to watch Columbo but am really too sleepy to pay much attention.

It's now Sunday morning just after seven. Have woken up before everyone else. As I make breakfast I still feel my knee. It's still not quite right.

The news leads on the fact that war with North Korea is likely. So I assume saying Merry Christmas/Nadolig Llawen to them won't help. Presumably twinning with a possible nuclear war is the sky which though dark is beginning to show a red dawn.

Oh and by the way shepherds....you have been warned.

Of course it's quiet out there. Apart from seagulls. They don't care for Christmas either.

Find myself on Twitter mocking people whose views are to the right of Ghengis Khan. Really,really don't care.

I hear voices. It's from the apartment opposite. If looks are anything to go by they're recovering from the party the night before. Genuinely not jealous. After all I didn't hear the party the night before....and I doubt would've gone anyway.

Seven fifty seven. Weather is daylight enough for me to switch the lights off. Only now do I register it's Christmas Eve.

Wife is awake. It's eight eighteen. Some people are coming over so some vacuuming needs to be done. Otherwise I think today is for a spot of reading.

Until the next time.

So Blog Villain Alun Cairns, Is The Abolition Of The Severn Bridge Tolls As Big a Triumph As You Make Out?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I've chatted about blog villain, political slimeball and Welsh Secretary of State Alun Cairns' speech to the Conservative party conference before when I questioned how truly Welsh he is. But something happened last night which drew me back to it.

In his "look at me, look at me, what a wonderful guy I am" speech ( and to be fair you do have to look....he's very small). Secretary of State Cairns boasted that the abolition of fees for crossing the Severn Bridge showed a commitment to the Welsh economy by the Conservatives.

But...

In this morning's Times newspaper apparently the Ministry of Transport is considering Pay For Mile Charging on roads. Currently this proposal only applies to lorries but may be extended to cars.

Now I'm making the assumption that as this is to do with the collection of tax for use on the road, this is a British wide issue. But even if I'm wrong and it only applies to England this proposal will damage the Welsh economy (particularly West/North West Wales).

Why? Say you're a haulier based in Llanelli and you travel throughout Britain. Because you're based towards the edge of Britain your pay per mile costs would be greater overall than an equivalent haulier in, say Birmingham because most of their journeys (even to say Edinburgh) would be quicker. Consequentally you might have to charge your customers more or be unable to continue the business.

So then Mr Cairns. Were you aware of this road charging scheme? And if not why not? Do you agree with it? And why boast about the forthcoming abolition of the road charging scheme for the Severn Bridge when something a lot worse might be coming to Wales soon?

And do you really care?

Until the next time.

On Books: Including One Which Seems To Quietly Go Mad

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Finished The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne. It reminded me of Don Quixote and Les Miserables where it appeared that though there was a basic plot Sterne seemed to throw in every piece of writing he ever did and somehow shoehorn it into the book.

It's a novel celebrated for being freewheeling in style. Personally for me it was as effective as a three wheeled car. You can guess that I didn't like it.

The next ebook is rather interesting. It's Letters on Sweden, Norway and Denmark by Mary Wollstonecraft (Mary Shelley). Thing about it is this. Whenever I watch anything about Mary, there always seems to be something along the lines of anything she wrote aside from Frankenstein was rubbish so this is a good test.

As for my recent library book borrowings, there were two. Firstly:

Annie Prolux - Barkskins

This is a brick sized book. It's going to take me a long while to read it. Unlike.....

Things That Are - Amy Leach

This is a book of essays about animals, plants and stars. It's also weird. I really wish I could break copyright and give you examples of the odd sentences that Ms Leach makes. Best I can tell you is that I challenge any reader of this book to say that there wasn't at least one example in every chapter where you thought "What on Earth is she writing?"

or

"Is she on drugs?"

If this book was a person it would be the sort of eccentric that's no harm to others but talks no sense whatsoever when you speak to them. You just nod as they go on not understanding anything that is being said.

And to think that in 2013 there were people who paid £12 for this.

Until the next time.

Have You Had An Accident At Work? Well Actually....

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I'm at work. I've said before that I don't have a glamourous or important job, but it's a job and I know what I'm doing.

I've got things to do and I know how to do it. I've a binder in my hand. I'm master of all I survey.....

And then...splat!!

I tripped..not only did I trip for a few moments I flew...before coming down to a hard floor.

My glasses scattered in front of me. For a few moments was not sure how I was feeling but then slowly got up. Aches on my arms and my legs. Unfortunately for all accident lawyers everywhere I wasn't unwell enough not to continue working.

I was hurting though. A few hours later realised that the right knee seemed to take worse of it all. It's swollen. Not broken though, I can bend it. Still when walking feel as if an extra weight has been added.

My colleagues? They laughed.

When I came back later that night I told my wife what happened....she laughed.

When my daughter heard about it ......she laughed.

When I told my mother about it over the phone she laughed as well!!!

The morning after wife showed a little more concern. After all a swelling is there and I'm clearly not walking properly.

Too late though.

And now for the first time on the blog. Naked flesh.

It's Hurting People

It's a little better now. But still makes it's presence felt. Particularly when I'm walking.

Until the next time.

Is Wales In Danger Of Becoming The Lost World?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Who is Wales run by at the moment? In Westminster it's Welsh Secretary of State and political slimeball Alun Cairns (regular readers of this blog will know I don't like him) who seems to be more interested in slowly weeding out Welsh identity than in bringing out the differences with the rest of Britain.

Whilst in Cardiff Bay Welsh Labour control the Senedd with the help of a LibDem and an independent. Not however stopping them from running things with arrogant incompetence. In Carwyn Jones it also has a leader who is facing next year on how he dealt with the dismissal of Carl Sargeant.

So where is Wales at the moment? In a very dangerous place. Poised because of Brexit to be the backwater of the backwater that Britain will become.

Take transport for example. The HS1 train project? Not available in Wales. Electrification of the South Wales railway line? Not available beyond Cardiff.

Take energy. The UK government is happy to throw the building of a nuclear power plant in Hinckley Point where the profits will go to a French State owned company and the Chinese government but when it comes to the Swansea Bay Lagoon where environmentally friendly energy could help Wales in its needs there is apparently cold feet.

Take the economy. Up and down Wales there are factories where the workers are worried about their future. Where they feel misled about Brexit and don't know what will happen next. Do you think Welsh Labour let alone the UK government are doing impact studies on Welsh regions? Both in an economic and in a social sphere? If they are they're doing a pretty good job of hiding it.

Take the perception of Wales: I have posted before that post Brexit Wales will become the last whipping boy of a certain type of English person. Do you think either administrations are trying to make Wales more assertive? Compare Wales to Scotland and you have your answer.

And what is being proposed to counter this? Basically the building of Super Prisons and a tourism policy of promoting Wales as a Principality. essentially a servile follower of England.

So the calls for independence must become louder. For the dangers of Wales becoming a Lost World are there.

Until the next time

Dafydd Elis-Thomas:The Welsh Version Of Fame Is The Spur?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

For those of you who think Fame Is The Spur is a sort of sequel to Fame and gives more airtime to young New York lycraed  aspirants in show business prepare to be disappointed. For it actually refers to a 1940 novel by Howard Spring (which I haven't read) subsequently made into a film in 1947 starring Michael Redgrave (which I have seen).

The plot is simple. A man starts off as left wing but as the story moves on becomes more and more to the right. Thus alienating those who helped him.

Well it appears that the Welsh version has finally made the ultimate step of no return. And it wasn't even joining the Labour Welsh government in Cardiff as a minister.

I won't bother giving a full blow by blow account of the career of Dafydd Elis-Thomas, there are far more expert than me for that. But see how the trajectory of his political career as gone when I give the following list.

Plaid Cymru MP, Plaid Cymru Leader, No Longer Leader, Plaid Cymru Peer, Member of National Assembly For Wales, Presiding Officer For The Assembly, Leaves Plaid Cymru, Independent Member Of The National Assembly For Wales, Minister For Culture,Sport and Tourism under the current Labour Welsh government.

So the man who was once leader of Plaid Cymru is, though an independent, a minister in Carwyn Jones' arrogantly incompetent Welsh Labour administration.

But as I said. That's not the most dramatic sea change. For in his capacity as tourism minister he's announced that he will promote Wales as a "Principality". Which is, for the uninitiated, means a territory "held and governed by a prince".

No matter that Wales has not been a Principality since the sixteenth century. No matter either that not even the Welsh Labour government agrees with this. This is the image, the servile state of the heir to the British Monarchy, that a former leader of Plaid Cymru wants to present Wales to the world.

I have spoken before about the dangers post Brexit of the Welsh nation becoming the last whipping boy to a certain type of arrogance that some English people possess. This servant/master image of Wales will not help matters.

Wales is a proud nation that possess many thing that it can shout about. A culture, heritage and full of breathtaking views that surely would bring the tourists in. It's people are on the whole nice, friendly and welcoming. It is the equal of any nation not it's slave counterpart.

It'll need a slogan. "Italy with rain" is close. How about "Italy in a cool climate"?

There you are Lord Elis-Thomas, I've done your job for you. And I didn't have to risk betraying Wales in so doing.

Until the next time.

Cardiff City Centre At Christmas

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well there I was on the Monday before the Monday that will be Christmas Day in the centre of Cardiff dragged by wife and daughter for last minute holiday shopping and to see the lights. I the man with no Xmas spirit at all experiencing the capital in action.

First stop for me was going to be W H Smith. Was going to come out with the Kindle and I'd read my library books so I needed something to read whilst wife/daughter were in the clothes shops. Unfortunately nothing screamed "Buy Me!" though the unauthorised biography of the Chinese ambassador to Britain was not selling well.

How To Fall From Grace And Be Richer At The Same Time

So had to be ready for boring moments of women buying clothes and asking for my opinion. I've said before that for a man this is possibly the hell on Earth that doesn't involve weapons. First was New Look. The fashion chain my daughter was interested in. The only thing I practised there was reverse psychology in making sure that she didn't buy clothes I didn't like by praising them to the hilt. She's fifteen now however and cottoned onto that quickly enough.

Then came "Bonne Marche" The clothes place, according to daughter "for old women". A long wait was had there as well.

Marks and Spencer, finally. Small items bought. On to something to eat.

Now a word needs said about the Christmas lights. Regular readers of this blog would know how there's no way I'd describe myself as Mr Christmas. Still even I was shocked by how relatively pathetic it was. This was Queens Street:

About as imaginative as a brick wall

All Queens Street was were these lights, some blue others white but that was it. The decorations in nearby streets and around Cardiff Castle were better but rarely did you shake off the feeling that the general idea was to go for the barest minimum they could get away with and that was it. Whether it was austerity, the consequences of Brexit, the march of online retailing or a mixture of the three I don't know.

But it wasn't impressive.

So to food. Though a Monday daughter wanted us to go to TGI Friday's. As it was Christmas we agreed. So a loan on was agreed over the phone and we had dinner there.

The bit about a loan was a joke. And wife/daughter loved the food (me less so) but I tell you it was definitely expensive. I'm sure I could have enjoyed food cheaper somewhere else.

Our bellies full we walked to our car. On the way we were passing St David's Hall and we saw a homeless man just looking at the cap of coinage in front of him. It was already a cold frosty night and it was going to get worse. He was a white man in a dreadlocked hairstyle but more importantly dressed in a T-Shirt and jeans.

I gave him all the coins I had in my pocket (about three pounds - I had no notes). He thanked me and I saw his face. Couldn't place an age on him though he looked considerably older than I'd expected. There are some homeless people whose faces are so ravaged by the elements that you just can't tell how old they are.

Hope he got through last night.

There are many things more important than Christmas. Homelessness is one of them.

Until the next time.

On Books:From Dickens to Golf,Science and Ending With East End Crime.....As You Do

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

When I finished my post on The Thirty Nine Steps so excited was I in throwing the theory forward that racist John Buchan is still remembered today because of sex harasser Alfred Hitchcock that I'd forgotten to mention what my next ebook on the Kindle was going to be.

Well in the spirit of the season it's Charles Dickens' A Christmas....no only kidding...been there done that....seen the movie (and the musical as it happens).

It was in fact Martin Chuzzlewit.

I did not unfortunately like it. For me it seemed a lot more meandering than other books of his I've read and yet unlike those other ones it didn't seem to easily to move back into the central plot. Consequently my mind meandered as well. There are books that you persevere with because you feel as a reader you should but the only thing you're looking forward to is the end.

The only interesting thing to me about the novel were those scenes set in America. It made me wonder whether Dickens was the first writer (or the earliest still remembered today) to think that he could get greater American sales by setting part of the story there. Just a thought.

The next ebook turned out to be Arnold Palmer: Reflections On The Game by the aforementioned Arnold and Thomas Hauser. This I bought for free. Now I know why. It was just a few pages. A glorified magazine/newspaper article. Obviously Arnold Palmer had the right to chat about golf more than most people, but none of what I read held any surprise. It was a waste of the nothing I paid for it.

So the ebook I'm now reading is The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy. Gentleman by Lawrence Sterne. It's a classic of British literature and am looking forward to it.

Have also read two library books. This was the first.

The Accidental Scientist - Graeme Donald

As the cover explains it's about the great accidental discoveries in science. In this case it's a book that scientists would buy their non scientist friends ("See? Science can be fun")

The trouble with this and similar type books is that you realise as you're reading it that each chapter would have made a better complete book in it's own right. So what you're reading may not be awful, but it is unsatisfying.

This was the other library book.

David Meikle - Kate Beal Blyth - The Krays The Prison Years

I'm not old enough to remember The Krays in their gangster prime. But growing up in the East End of London (I was born in Forest Gate) I do remember that even in prison for the rest of their lives they still seemed to have this myth surrounding them. Indeed for longevity in the collective East End memory the only other icon I can immediately think of is Bobby Moore.

So a detailed book (based on a TV documentary - not revealed until the end) about this rarely documented period in their lives banged up in prison is a worthwhile addition to the library of stuff written about the Krays. It's also the best book of the four I've chatted about today (yes it was more interesting than Martin Chuzzlewit) but perhaps that's my East End background talking

It's not without problems. For me the biggest was the surprising little time spent to their early prison years. It also made me feel a little sympathetic towards Ronnie Kray, given that he was a diagnosed with severe mental problems including schizophrenia. You wondered what would have happened to them if he hadn't been plagued with these illnesses

Still I "enjoyed" reading it and it's recommended. Won't be able to get new library books until Tuesday so we'll see what they are then.

Until the next time.

Christmas Catches Up With All Of Us....Even If We Don't Want It

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well just over a week until Christmas day. Done my best to put my head in the sand but it has the unfortunate ability to seep through whatever mental blocks that I've tried to put in it's way.

Of course having a wife, mother and daughter who are more ho ho ho than my ho ho humbug doesn't help. Indeed at time of writing I might have to drive to Essex to pick up my mother and drive her back to Wales. As the cataract operation has made her feel woozy and lightheaded. Apparently this was caused by inadequate spectacles which she now has but has to get used to in time.

So you see the point is that if I do have to take my mother back to Wales on the Eve, I'll be literally "Driving Home For Christmas". A fact that almost makes me want to vomit.

There are other issues. I feel honour bound to get presents. Have got most of them and intend to finish it off early next week. Wife/mother/daughter say they haven't bought much for me. I've told them "Get me a £15 Amazon voucher" and I'm happy enough.

On Monday will get Christmas cards for wife and mother. Unlike my wife the wording in a Christmas card is of no real interest to me. As long as it says wife or mother, mentions Xmas and doesn't look stupid it could have the football scores in it I wouldn't notice. Basically I judge a card by it's cover.

(As a quick aside we've taken a gamble as to my mother's present. It's an Amazon Echo Dot. Makes a change from a Marks and Spencer gift voucher. The idea is to install it in the middle of next month when it's my intention to come down for when her left eye has the Cataract operation. Not sure whether she'll use it. But it makes a change)

I'm working on Christmas Day. But surprisingly that brings it's own problems. Wife/daughter/mother will be at my brother-in-law's and partner's house for Christmas dinner with them and her family and friends. Now I'm happy about this as they will be having a festive meal which is what they wanted.

However I'm finishing work at six and will arrive back to the apartment at around six forty. Wife/daughter/mother/brother-in-law etc want me to come back to his place and spend the remainder of Christmas with them. Whilst I have absolutely nothing against my brother-in-law or his family and am genuinely grateful for their offer the idea of coming to their house relatively late,tired and having a meal that everyone else has had already whilst starting being "Christmassy" does not appeal. No I'd rather be by myself with microwave Spaghetti and a cup of tea thankyou very much.

Yes I know I'm the weird one. Not them. But I'm sure I'm not the only person who whilst he doesn't want to spoil other people's enjoyment of the season (especially children's) wishes to spend it as quietly and discreetly as possible

But perhaps I am.

Until the next time.

The Farewell Tour Of The McDonald's Menu Part Two: Chicken Select

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

For those of you not regular readers of this blog I've decided to forgo the instant (and then instantly forgotten) pleasures of McDonalds for the sake of my waistline but before I do to eat every regular medium meal from their menu.

This is (as they say) an occasional series. So occasional that I've only ever done it once before. But cometh the circumstances cometh the occasion. Therefore Part Two it is.

As the title gives away the McDonald's meal du jour is the Chicken Select. And here it is.

Not Exactly A Sight For A Hungry Tummy

Now the first thing to ask about this meal is this? Why is it called Select? After all in Britain McDonald's have been pushing the Chicken McNugget like it was a healthy option. Saying that it was one hundred percent chicken and only chicken. So what makes these Chickens so different that they are "Select"? To misquote Orwell perhaps in McDonald's all Chickens are equal but some are more Select than others?

I suspect their marketing department (who don't forget calls a Chicken burger in a bun a "Legend") wanted to give the impression by using the word "Select" that it was more of a high class product than those riff-raff at KFC which you could have if ponced up KFC (aka Nandos) wasn't available. For the record I like KFC. If only because there's no pretence. It's Fried Chicken...live with it.

And by the way the fries, why are they so wimpish? They really are the featherweights of potato cuts.

It's edible. But nothing more than that. Unless you're a snob the Select tag really is worthless. I'll try to remember that when it comes to say goodbye to the Mcnugget and see what tastes better.

Suspect really that it will be a dead heat.

Until the next time.

Why The Welsh Need To Prepare For The Certain Type Of English Person Post Brexit

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

This is the sort of post which I hadn't intended to write until Twitter raised it's head. It happened yesterday evening if you wish to check.

So I was entering an argument with a Brexiteer with regard to EU citizens living in Britain. He/She called them migrants. I was saying that they weren't migrants because the European Union allowed freedom of movement.

But then another Brexiteer, definitely a he and much more of a caveman popped up and I had this argument with him as well.

I felt I'd made my point and then he tweeted this:

Your in wales so you go bother your sheep and let the adults speak.

I responded first by attacking what he said with regard to Wales and then by tweeting:

Secondly I'm an adult and a literate one as well. I know for example it's "You're in Wales" and not "Your in Wales".......Thicko

And later when he stated that I didn't know what I was talking about with regard to EU citizens in the UK my response was 

Well given I've twice shown you can't compose a sentence in English I think I know far more than you

It referred to an earlier tweet where he again revealed an inability to write in his mother tongue.

But let's go back to his crass remarks with regard to Wales. It occurred to me as I was reading this that it was the shape of things to come with regard to a certain type of English person. The type who in the seventies would have made remarks about the colour of a person's skin or that he/she was Jewish. That person feels more careful not to do that anymore or at the very least where he (probably) will feel safe, will not attack the Irish now as they have the comfort of the EU to fall back on. Or the Scots because they voted to Remain and would give as good as they got.

Which leaves the Welsh. The majority of  whom also voted to Leave the EU. But now find themselves in an uncertain future with the English, some of whom hold the Welsh in contempt and would feel no restraint in showing it.

I made a post a year ago where I suggested that the problem with the vast majority of the Welsh people was that they were far too nice and it was this niceness that allowed them to be exploited by those whose motives you really could not trust. What Brexit has done is to make the Welsh the last whipping boy of that type of English person.

So I say again the Welsh need to react like the Scots. They need to rebel. They need to cause a stir. They need to show that they can't take this anymore and will react against it. No more Mr Nice Guy (and Ms Nice Lady of course).

In the long term independence is really the solution. But in the short term not being a lapdog will help the national psyche.

Until the next time.