Departures

 Video for today. 

Today, I will mainly be in departures. 

Points to note:-

American Airlines will pay $2000 to bump you to a later flight if business is oversubscribed.

Don't keep your wife's passport in your manbag, and yours in her coat pocket. This can lead to distress @ the gate. 

Iceland Air smells of fish

Iceland Air boards 40 mins before departure

 Airport is 50 klicks from town!

Like landing in Cardiff for Swansea airport. Grrr

Swansea Council get something right!

Parking @ Langland Bay is now free for 1 hour for residents! Gosh! Mind you, to get resident status you need to submit a sample of blood, Birth Certificate, House deeds, and Car log book, and use Windows 3.0 on your phone.....

I'm a Lottery Winner!

 

We saw The Lottery Winners @ the Tramshed @ the 'diff last night, & I must say they put on a belter of a show. Thom Rylance is a natural Front Man, with an infectious laugh that rarely stopped. It seems that everyone there spent 2 hours smiling 😊. 

Katie Lloyd on Bass positively beamed all through the set, pogo'd, bopped, and swayed like a gal possessed. Robert Lally's lead guitar sang, & he joined in with the general smileyness. Joe Singletons drums were perfectly balanced with the guitars, and rocked the house. 

It's genuinely uplifting to see a band who have been crafting their art since 2008 in the pubs & clubs of North Madchester finally getting their time in the sporlight. 2 x #1 Albums, and a slot supporting Robbie Williams. Hat Tip Frank Turner for his introduction to them, and his part in their success. 

Grandad Needs His Medicine

 

Best little brunch stop in Swansea?

Started just over a year ago, these guys are going strong in a highly competitive brunch market in Swan Z. 

Dylan & I checked it out last week, & I noticed the £5 brekkie club deal. Not being able to resist a bargain, I managed to slot in a deal between dropping Kim off @ Uni, and going to Bay to invigilate. Between 09:00 and 10:00 you can get the deal, so I chose the breakfast Sando, which was lush. Proper crispy bacon, a runny egg, & "crappy American cheese". Served with 2 lil hash browns. Couple this with one of the best Flat Whites I've had - Coaltown roasters (passim), made with the proper double espresso and 1/3 milk. Perfect.

Last week, Dylan had the Katsu Pork toastie, which was perfect, too. The pork was juicy, tender, & tasty, the sauce was home made and went together with the Strawberry Jam, Pickled cabbage, cornflakes (yes, cornflakes) & parmesan. Superb. I had the Char-siu pork hot sanger, which was as good. Juicy to the max. It's obvious that these guys know how to cook, & combine flavours. Monster monster.

 Well done Grandad. (Want to know why? Check out their website for an explaination)

And they even have loyalty cards!

Go girl!

 

Hypatia of Alexandria 

(Its all greek to me)

Feminist, Mathematician, Anti-christian, Astronomer, Overall Smartarse & Martyr. Lived around 400AD. I think she'd have been a great lady to have a pint with. (Barring the time travel, language & other minor barriers). What a life she must have lived. 

From Wiki:-

Hypatia (born c. 350–370 – March 415 AD) was a Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician who lived in Alexandria, at that time in the province of Egypt and a major city of the Eastern Roman Empire. In Alexandria, Hypatia was a prominent thinker who taught subjects including philosophy and astronomy, and in her lifetime was renowned as a great teacher and a wise counselor. 

Principled

 

A trip to the 'diff & the Principality Stadium to watch Wales eke out a narrow win against Japan. Poor performance overall, too many silly penalties, poor kicking and lack of tactical nouse were all too aparent. I think 12th in the IRB World rankings is a fair reflection of where Welsh Rugby is at the moment. I struggle to imagine us beating any of those above us. 

What will become of Welsh Rugby is still to be seen. The turmoil in the regions and the ineptitude of the WRU don't fill me with confidence. 

Given the Elbow

My favourite Elbow lyric I hear you ask?

I have an audience with the Pope

And I'm saving the world at eight

But if she says she needs me

She says she needs me

Everybody's going to have to wait....

You're welcome. 

My Facebook

 Nearly 50 years ago... 

Back row:- Adam May, Nick Chanter, David Stanley Algar, ?,Rob Lloyd,? Nigel Poole,Dave Longden,Ian Mallet, Yours truly, John Peters, Phil Matthews, "Jubbly", Dave Pemberton,?,Neal Haywood,Ian Davies,?,?,?,Colin Elvins,? Price,?

3rd Row:- ?,?,Chris Short?,?,?,many ?'sHillary Davies, Christine Demonteaux,?,?, "horse",?,?,?,?,Liz Williams, Chris Mascal, Chris Short?,?,?,?,?

2nd Row:-Many ? Jenny Richards?'sGillian Isaacs???, Ruth Syvia (sp?), more?'s Linzi Thomas, ?,?,?,Joanne Thomas, Sian Johnson,?, Sue Bennet.

Swotty front row teacher's pets:- many ?'s,Kristoff Gallagher,? David Sleath, Jill Armitage??Priddy?? Julie Maxwell, Max Parker, ?, "General"Booth - Headmaster, Binda Singh Head boy, Smiley Woman, Marcia Powell?, Hugh Cornwell, ?, Stuart Davey,?, Clive Wiseman (Aeromodeler), 4x?

From the archives of Dr Bob. Additions/amendments to the usual place please.

Suited & Booted!

 

Freddie, with new engine bars, fog light bars, & sliders fitted. I should do less damage next time I fall over. :-$ 

Dunno if I'll get fog lights, as I don't intend to be out in fog. :-)

Taking advantage of a lone dry day amidst all the rain, @ Rhosili for a flat white. 

When is a Hooker not a Hooker?

A great story from BBC sport today about a message lost in translation:-

It just had to be Virgin Media who put the butain.....

Addendum:-

Google translate makes the same mistake! And doesnt mutate the p to b

Obs the welsh stole the Word from the french - a nation of dubious sexual morals indeed. Us welsh didn't need to create a word, as such wickedness would never occur to us

Those were the days...

Remember this? Locked in the Gym for 2 hours being grilled about stuff you will never use in real life? 

I did a stint invigilating GCSE early Maths yesterday, & can quite confidently say that I would have scored Nil Point. It all looked like complete bollix to me.

Look at them all working! Lovely little worker bees hunched over, buzzing like crazy.

Cymru am ptfhhh

 

An interesting article from the BBC prompted an enquiry as to is the state of Welsh Rugby & even the state of Wales (Chapeau Dr Bob)

Bob: - 

Possibly a metaphor for the state of Wales?

myself: - 

Did Welsh Rugby lose it's soul when the regions were created? Swansea & Neath never worked for either club. The Bridgend /Valleys club soon died. I can't even remember their name.

As to being a metaphor for Wales in general, perhaps the evisceration of the valleys coal, steel, & iron may have been the start of that under Thatcher. Slate for the North way before. There is certainly feck all in the valleys now, and a pitiful tourist industry & second homes down West. 

The optimism is still there in places, eg the rise of Plaid, and the tiring of Labour. 

Oh, and Aluminium.

Bob: - 

Plaid is a dysfunctional blind alley – you only have to look to Scotland – further divisionalism and factionalism

As to the first point – don’t know – I wasn’t there – it may presage a global issue with Rugby living beyond it’s means – there is some evidence that the Bath experience is atypical

I’m not certain the Game does itself many favours

Myself: - 

We have to reset Rugby, accept that we have fallen to #12 in the world rankings, and rebuild. Perhaps even go to 2 regions, & play in the English Premiership. The URC has not worked for Wales. I think the finances of the WRU are misdirected at the moment & need sorting, - surely we can finance 2 top tier teams? 

As for our nation, Plaid is only a means to independence. Without freedom from the yoke of Westminster, Wales will never thrive. Welsh Labour has been toothless for the last 50 years, trying to get by on the table scraps thrown by the South Eastern centric Tories, and Westminster Labour. Faux devolution of 'Scotland lite' was never any use. I think it's time to see how Wales fares for itself, and even including joining the EU. Perhaps then Wales will get it's 'calon' back. 

p.s. the original 5 regions:-

Cwrw'r Wythnos # un ar hugain

 Nom nom nom

Does my bum look big in Swansea?

 

We went to see the above last week, and it was great. Very politically incorrect, and rekindled some great catchphrases. They told the story of the show from the days of Higson & Whitehouse being in a punk band @ UEA, assembling the cast, thriving, and then going on to other projects. This was mixed with new sketches from the usual characters. I laughed out loud & tears came to my eyes many times. 

There was a lovely bit showing some of Caroline Aherne's best bits, followed by a spot were John Thompson's "Roy"  sat on stage alone, next to an empty chair. Nice. Great.

In Heaven they will have Custard Slices

 

The perfect sweet. Rich creamy custard, buttery flaky pastry, topped with tooth-curdlingy sweet fondant. Heaven on a sideplate.

Does anyone else cut them like this? Sideways on, so it maintains the structural integrity for each mouthful. Years of research have proved that this is indeed the optimal solution to slice portioning.

Not much left for poor dog though.....

I'd better eat my fill here, as I doubt that I'm heaven bound.

What kind of hell is this?

 

Found a chair & cushion to "try" 

Owain Sheen

 

Booked! The last night, too!

Shameful racism in Welsh Rugby

 

I had no idea of this story. From BBC News - Statue of Wales' rugby pioneers unveiled

It is very sad that at a time when black players faced prejudice, both Boston and Sullivan's talents were ignored by Wales' national side while playing rugby union, and it was not until 1986 that Mark Brown became the first black man to be selected to represent the country.

Sullivan did become captain of Great Britain after his switch to league, becoming the first black man to do so in any major sport, and led the team to the 1972 Rugby League World Cup title, scoring a try in each of his side's four games.

These guys had to move to Rugby League to carry on & excel in the sport they loved due to the prejudice in Wales. I'm glad that they & others have now been honored by a statue in Cardiff Bay.

Why would you?

 

So you bring poo bags 

You clean up after your mutt

Then you think "I know, I'll hang the shit on a fence!" 

Quiz of the Day #1

Name the episodes! 

What? No takers?

59

 

My beautiful wife is 59 today - hard to believe, I know!

She is as stunning today as the day I first met her.

Happy Birthday Kim! 

XXXXX

Rollo strikes out to conquer the Gower

Stunning afternoon @ Oxwich - contrary to the Met Office predictions 

Cwrw'r Wythnos # ugain

20 weeks, 20 excellent beers added to "the beerhunter" 

Grand total beers sampled now 2182. 

Started 2013. That means 181 beers /year.

Or 3.5 beers /week, or 0.5 beers /day. I suppose one every other day. I guess that figures, as its possible to try 5 or 6 halves in an evening in somewhere like BeerRiff or even 'Spoons. Holidays have even greater opportunities. 

What have I learnt? There are very few bad beers, as I try to avoid Sours. I guess that there is an almost infinite number of beers in the world, as most breweries try to generate sales by inventing new brews on a regular basis, to compliment their core ranges. So there are always more brews tomorrow than today. Not infinite, but infinite possibilities.

Rollo lands on a Gower Beach

 

Rollo of Yate lands on the south coast of Gower, to celebrate the birth of Kim of Sketty Park