When I lived in Switzerland, it was not unheard of for the first snows of the winter to leave people caught out and stranded with total chaos for a day or two…just like here….. but there it was accepted as normal…

When I lived in Spain and Portugal, Autumn downpours regularly caused enormous floods (no adequate drainage) and long power cuts….. everybody accepted it.

As we start yet another drizzly weekend in August, I was amused to read the following in ‘The Costa Blanca News’, an English Language local paper about the rain in Spain this week, and the accompanying chaos:

“BENIDORM town centre was brought to a standstill on Monday as a combination of bad weather and an influx of thousands of vehicles saturated the town’s access roads.

The unexpected rain meant many people from other parts of the province opted for a day out in Benidorm leading to a massive overload of vehicles coming into the town.

This led to parking problems in just about every part of the town, forcing many drivers to drive around in circles looking for a space.

Ongoing work on pedestrianising some town centre streets has taken away hundreds of parking places and all of the underground car parks showed they were full for most of the day.

In Dénia continuing roadworks and breakdowns in the water supply network saw thousands of motorists caught in traffic chaos also on Monday.

A combination of road closures, excavation work, rain and hordes of families looking for a parking place was more than enough to totally disrupt traffic flow and heat tempers to boiling point.”

Ah well! Time to get the wellies out again and take the dog for a nice long muddy walk along the estuary, I think! At least the gardens and the countryside benefit from the wetness.

This is necessary because it is a busy road passing a primary school.   However, we don’t think it will make a lot of difference to the standard of driving in the area unless it is combined with a permanent speed camera.

In today’s unusual conditions, though, not even a camera could deter some of the local “children” who came out to play in the snow!

If you click the picture, it might grow a little!

It can be tempting to give your dogs and cats extra treats too in the festive season……….but it is a bad idea.

Watch this amusing yet very pertinent video:

http://www.giveanimalsavoice.org.uk/

Oops…. that video no longer appears….sorry!

Merry Christmas!

Dydd Dewi Sant Hapus Iawn

Happy St David’s Day

Because it happened to fall on a Saturday this year…….. schoolchildren all over Wales celebrated the special day a day early, though that will not prevent their celebrating all over again tomorrow. Most schools devote the day to mini Eisteddfodau, where children preform songs, both choral and solo,recitations and dramas.

One of the great things about being brought up in Wales is the traditional emphasis placed on culture and public performance which stands children in good stead for the future.

Most children wear Welsh costume for the special day (and this year they get two days).

Girls wear check skirts, red jackets , white blouses, red or check shawls, frilly white mop caps all topped off with either tall black hats or the prettier ‘cockle’ hats.

Legend tells that on one occasion this ‘uniform’ saved Wales from invasion from the French under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte .

With too few soldiers to defend against an invasion by sea at Abergwaun (Fishguard), the local women moved swiftly up and down and around a hill, giving the French the impression that the area was heavily guarded, so like the redcoats uniforms did the ladies’ costumes appear. The raiders took both fright and flight, fearing a massive army had arrived to quell them, and the instigator of the women’s rebellion, Jemima Nicholas has been a heroine in Wales ever since. She was known as Jemima Fawr (Jemima the Great), and I know of at least one school where her story was acted out as a drama today.

Towns and cities throughout Wales will be the brighter tomorrow when everyone will head for town in their Welsh costumes to show off!

When I was a child, little boys wore tweed jackets and voluminous caps, but these have  gone out of fashion and most little boys (and some girls too), now sport Welsh rugby shirts as their contribution to a happy and colourful day.

Of course everyone also sports either a daffodil or a leek.

Let’s hope the sun shines on them all!

I am indebted to kitmarlowescot2 … via Stonehead for these pictures of a delightful Gloucester Old Spot piglet born this week with appropriate markings for the occasion

Happy St Valentine’s Day…. give someone you love a hug…… and be kind to everybody you meet… little things like just letting somebody out in traffic, for example, can be contagious and spread like ripples on a pond.

There has even been talk of the possibility of closing the famous St Helens Rugby and Cricket Ground to build a raised platform to allow bendy-bus passengers to have a better view of Swansea Bay as they travel towards Mumbles. What about the rest of us? Is our view just to be of these lengthy beasts?

St Helens was formerly the home of Swansea RFC (All Whites) before their metamorphosis and amalgamation with former arch enemies, Neath RFC (All Blacks) to form the ‘Ospreys’ rugby team, who now share the magnificent new Liberty Stadium on the other side of the city, with the Swans, the local soccer team.

It is also where Garfield (Garry) Sobers hit the first ever ‘six sixes from six balls…’ bowled by Welshman, Malcolm Nash. You can click here to see a video of the achievement.

Thankfully, the roadworks in the city centre have been put on hold for the run up to Christmas to reduce traffic hold ups, however we shall have to put up with them all over again, no doubt, in the new year.

I was interested, then to read of a problem being experienced in Aberdeen where they already have some of these flexible monsters in service.

In order to comply with European law, any notice affixed to the rear of buses, must be printed in each European language. Because of this, they have decided instead not to label their vehicles at all as ‘Long Vehicles‘, seemingly resulting in occasional problems with traffic having difficulties of miscalculation when overtaking.

Another case of political correctness gone mad?

Here in Wales, we have legislation which requires every sign, notice, council newsletter, job application form etc., etc., to be bilingual, Welsh/English. There are, of course, cost implications to this, but that is generally accepted.

I wonder though, what might be the possible reaction of the council to the further increased cost of including all the possible European languages?

Time will tell!

When I was a child, all the local children spent weeks collecting twigs and branches to build a huge bonfire in the middle of a field. We also had to guard it against rival gangs who might try to take some of our hard earned pile.

Everybody contributed several fireworks which were placed in a safe lidded box in the care of the adult in charge.

After banging old buckets to frighten out any animals which had thought the woodpile a heaven sent refuge for the winter, the ‘Guy’ was hoisted into place at the top, and the fire was lit.

Fireworks were set off, sparklers whizzed around making dazzling patterns.

All too soon the fire died down, but then came the best time of all. We kids each had a spud to put into the embers, and after a while they were fished out with sticks and devoured hungrily. Nothing before or since has ever tasted so awful or so good at the same time!

However, one of my most vivid memories of childhood was the very first time I ever saw a bonfire.

It was wartime and we had been subjected to a very strict ‘Blackout‘ for nearly all of my life.

One night when I was nearly six, I remember my mother and a man coming into the bedroom to waken me. I was wrapped in a blanket and carried downstairs and out into the night air.

My mother carried my baby brother and the man carried me. We all hurried along a couple of streets, around a corner…. and…. there….was….the….brightest….. light…. I had ever seen!

The war was OVER!

A huge bonfire had been quickly built on the site of a house which had previously been hit by bombs during The Blitz. I was aware of silhouetted people dancing around the fire. Chairs and tables were added to the pyre, anything to keep it blazing.

Then there was a big cheer and an effigy of Adolf Hitler was thrown onto the fire. I was horrified as I thought a real person had been burned alive!

The ‘stranger’ who carried me that night was, in fact my father who had just been given compassionate leave to come home to see his newborn son… just days after being awarded the D.F.C.

I suppose it is no surprise that no bonfire has ever lived up to my first one?

By the time the squeaks had developed into glorious song a few weeks later, the habit of thinking of dear old Blod as a female was already well established so it stuck and he was to remain ‘she’ for the next seven years.

Now, dogs and birds are not usually expected to be bosom pals, but when Cassy joined the family, there was no animosity between them. Cassy used to enjoy watching Blodwen bathing in her clip-on bath (soaking everything and everyone with in a 3 ft range). And each recognised that I spoke to them both individually.

Blodwen used to do a special dance when offered slices of cucumber or lettuce leaves (little gem were her favourites), spreading her wings, opening her beak and acting quite spectacularly. Cassy watched this with benign understanding, possibly reasoning that if I had fed the bird it must soon be time to feed the dog too?

We never knew how old Blodwen was, but she was with us for seven years so was probably just a baby when we had her. Certainly she was bigger and shaggier in recent times.

One morning, having been woken by her beautiful rolling song at 8am, we ware shocked to find her ‘feet up’ on the floor of her cage at 9am. At least it was a quick death.
We tried to do the ‘pet thing’ right, and let Cassy sniff the cage to know that her friend was dead, and Cassy saw us bury the little shroud in the garden…. and inspected the empty cage afterwards.

She occasionally searched where the cage had formerly stood, but soon seemed to accept that her companion had gone for ever.Then one evening last week we came upon an old home video and were watching it on the TV, all three of us together. Suddenly, the screen was full of Blodwen and her beautiful singing and we felt quite nostalgic.

Then Dave noticed that the dog (who usually ignores the TV) was sitting up and watching the screen very alertly. Then Cassy got up and ran to the screen, wimpering and following the bird’s movements from side to side. We were amazed! She got so upset that we had to turn the video off.

Who would have thought it?

But how do you start to explain to a dog that it was just a film?

When I was about 16 in the mid fifties, the usually very stuffy BBC Radio presentations began to throb with wonderfully vibrant sound. Elvis Presley had emerged!

We didn’t have TV in those days, of course, just old fashioned radio… and after I had worked at a Saturday job for a while, I was able to buy a little record player too and buy records.

Last night, we went to the 10th Birthday Celebrations of the Llys Nini Animal Centre in Swansea. It was held in the Swansea Dockers Club beside the River Tawe

The star of the show was Andy Woodward, a local Elvis impersonator, new to the task, but undoubtedly very very good at it!

As he belted out the old familiar numbers, the years rolled back and we bopped and jived for hours. It was wonderful. Well done, Andy!

In addition to giving everybody such a good time, it has to be said that everyone arranging the event and taking part (including Elvis himself) did so in a voluntary capacity. As well as the modest entry fee, there were raffles and auctions, with all the proceeds going to help the rescued animals at Llys Nini.

If you get the chance to go to see Andy Woodward as Elvis… I can heartily recommend the experience.

We put up a tent to shelter the officials and people wishing to register, and set out cones to create a car-free safety enclosure.

At the allotted time, the rain dried up and miraculously, the sun came out. The massed walkers set off for their three mile saunter bathed in beautiful autumnal sunshine.

SUCCESS !!! By the time all the walkers had left County Hall.. some with real dogs, others with toy ones, and some with their partners in harnesses with faces painted with black cold noses and whiskers, we had already been handed over £2,000.00 in cash. We were also promised more sponsorship money to be collected after completion…..so that total is set to grow!

This is a great boost to Llys Nini Animal Centre, but sadly only a drop in the ocean of the £350,000 that is needed to keep the Centre open. Remember it is entirely dependant on voluntary donations form the public as it receives no government support.

Our own dog missed out on the walk as we had then to pack away the tent and all the paraphernalia…. and take the cash to a safe place. However, she was rewarded with a walk later, on on another beach.

A big ‘thank you’ to all who came this year…and if you live in or near Swansea, look out for the event next year and come and join in the us next time… you don’t even need a dog.