MORE-ROCCO

 After an auto-da-fe last night, we are gradually adjusting to Morocco. 

The airport pickup zone was a total free-for-all, with taxis, hire cars, babies, pregnant mothers all throwing themselves on a zebra crossing at the same time. Then, came the madness of the roads. Here, motorbikes, scooters, pushbikes, trucks, taxis & pedestrians all wanted to be in the same place at the same time. Luckily we only saw one collision in the 25 mins it took to travel 5 miles. The road passed through two gates, just wide enough for one car or about 25 scooters, with traffic allowed in both directions. 

The nice man in the taxi then dropped us off outside the pedestrian zone of the medina. Well, I say pedestrian, but that seemed to include scooters, sports motorcycles, donkeys, tuk tuks (tok tok) over here, delivery scooter/truck hybrids, & probably camels. To be fair, Kim fought them all off and ploughed a furrow to our Riad. Allegedly 5 mins away, this took 15 & several expletives.

The Riad turned out to be down a dilapidated side alley, but the door opened to a haven of peace & beauty. What a find! Travel Agent Kim strikes again!

After chatting to Yahya (Moroccan for John) we girded our loins & entered the cacophony of chaos that is Jemaa el-fnaa. What a crazy place! More details of this to follow. 

We ate in just as mad a place - a restaurant with a dj playing a theremin over records, then a violin playing dwarf playing "o sole mio", then a piped version of Alabama song by Brecht. The food was Moroccan, or pizza or sushi of course.

Todays snaps:-

Tanjia (boiled cow with bones)

Juice bar

Old koranic school

Kimmy door 1

Kimmy door 2

Not so secret garden

Photo museum 

Atlas mountains 

MARRAKECH, BAAAABY!

Off to Morocco! Staying here 

Beats a rainy Bristol....

DOCKLESS DISASTERS

 

E-Bikes R us:- I know! Let's increase sales by doing away with docking stations!

Anytown Council planners:- Great, our citizens will love us!

Joe e public:- Great idea! I can ditch the bike wherever I want!

E-Bikes R us:- yeah, but be careful..

Joe e public:- yeah yeah of course, but its only one bike...

Later, back at the ranch.....

Joe e public:- Shite, the pavements are all blocked!

E-Bikes R us:- Don't look at us, we tell our users to be careful.

Anytown Council planners:- we told them to be careful 

Joe e public:- I can't get to the tube station!

Anytown Council planners:- oh feck - why didn't we think of that...

Anytown Police:- 'ello 'ello 'ello, What's going on here then?

Chaos ensues 

All Exit, stage left, pursued by a bear.

Ministers to target ‘wild west’ of ebikes blocking pavements 

THE SIN OF PRIDE

 From Katabasis, by R F KUANG, an example of the sin of pride, the first court of Hell:-

In that case, Tim Ley is doomed....

CWRW'R WYTHNOS TRIGAIN WYTH

 

PEMBREY HAS IT ALL!

 A dry ski slope, a country park, a land speed breaking stretch of beach, parked up fighter jets, a racetrack, an airfield, and this little gem:-

Beat that for Value!

UP THE UPS 2

In front of the old clubhouse 

My thoughts turn to days of yore @ Swansea Uplands Rugby Club.  

Some of my earliest memories are set in the old clubhouse, just off fairwood common in upper Killay. This was a ramshackle collection of post war sheds, set back from the road. 

The clubhouse which was split into three sections. A lounge area along the pitchside, with large windows looking over the field, and a darker cave- like "snug" section with team photos, jerseys , cups & momentos for the players, and some mud encrusted, wintergreen smelling changing rooms.

The Snug was a magical place, reserved for the team, post match, where the arcane arts of rugby teams were practiced. I remember my dad singing "Old King Cole" in there, and repeating a sanitised version to me later on. something along the lines of:-

Old King Cole was a merry old soul,
And a merry old soul was he.
He called for his cup, & called for his bowl,
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Now every fiddler had a very fine fiddle,
And a very fine fiddle had he.

Fiddle diddle de diddle de said the fiddlers,
What merry men are we.
There's none so fair as can compare with the Uplands RFC.

There is of course, a much ruder version, laced with innuendo & misogyny, par for the course in many a club across the land back in the Neanderthal 60's.

Jugs of ale were served up to the team, flat tasteless low alcohol stuff that passed for beer back then, enabling drinkers to claim that they had consumed 8 pints & were still ok to drive home. This was often followed by a shout going up in the clubhouse to go and lift a car out of the pond on the approach road to the club, as said drinker had forgotten about the bend, and the pond.

I fondly remember the old groundskeeper, Freddy Bourne, slipping me a warm pastie from the batch heated up for the after match team feed. If you know "Ted" from the Fast Show, you can picture Freddie. 

My Dad used to tell a tale, straight out of Micheal Greens "the art of course Rugby", where some of the promised kit failed to materialise, so the team improvised by painting green hoops on their legs in lieu of the missing socks. Different times indeed.

My Dad & his mates (with crap socks)

PERHAPS, PERHAPS, PERHAPS

 

Could it be? Read the full story here

A NOT-SO-CRUDE HALL

We had a lovely break at Crewe Hall Hotel & Spa this weekend, to celebrate Kim's 60th trip around the Sun, with Hari, Ows, Dan, Katie, Dylan & myself. Much fun was had, relaxation gained & pounds added to bodies. The Hotel was fantastic, in an amazing old house, tastefully curated & added to, to make a truly 4 star home-from-home.

Stunning 17th Century house

The Stable block

The West Wing

Entrance Hall

Entrance to the Chapel

said Chapel

We has an adventure to Little Moreton Hall, as Storm Bastard had closed the bird of prey sanctuary we had planned to visit. This turned out to be breathtaking - a stunning Tudor moated Hall - alledgedly the inspiration for the architecture of Chester. It rained, but we had a great time stepping back into history.

Tea @ Bleeding Wolf, Scholar Green, was 10/10. If you ever pass this way I would highly recommend it. We were all amazed by the quality of the fayre. I asked for lashings of custard on my crumble......

A darn good time was had by all.

CASTLEHUNTING 25 - CASTELL TREFYNWY

 

Cadw site:- Castell Trefynwy 

Wiki site:- Castell Trefynwy

Other site:- Visit Wales

From Cadw:-

Ruined castle with a regal history

It’s a surprise to find this ruin, tucked away as it is in a lane off Monmouth’s main shopping street. Strategically located at crossings of the River Wye and River Monnow, only a few fragments – ruins of the 12th-century Great Tower and 13th-century hall – remain of this once-important castle.

It was founded in the 11th century by Norman lord William fitz Osbern, and by the mid-14th century was in the hands of Henry of Grosmont, who modified the tower with large decorated windows whose outline can still be seen in the east wall.

The most notable event in the tower’s history occurred on 16 September 1386, when King Henry V of Battle of Agincourt fame was born here, an occasion commemorated at Monmouth’s Agincourt Square.

Not much left

Keep (not accessible)

 

Sad that there is very little remaining of what must have been an important Castle, birthplace of Henry V. Probably not worth a visit.

THE FIRST PASSENGER RAILWAY IN THE WORLD

These panels have solved a long held conundrum that I've had. It's oft stated that Mumbles was the first passenger railway in the world, a claim which I have seen stated elsewhere, notably Stephenson's Rocket, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, (built and driven by George Stephenson), and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, widely recognized as the world's first fully timetabled, inter-city passenger railway.

As is often the case, the devil is in the detail - the key phrase beng "Passenger Railway" - no mention of how said carridge was propelled. It seems that Mumbles was indeed the first passenger railway, but propelled by horses, not steam. Conundrum resolved!

Mumbles railway Blackpill station

The world's most pointless fence (uncontested)

ANTI-CWRW WYTHNOS

In the spirit of Matter & Anti-matter, Pope & Anti-Pope, Good & evil, Darkness & light, I give you the first in an occasional series of Anti-beer-of-the-week; Coors. This unmitigated shit show of an industrially produced, tasteless dribble of pish masquerading as a beer peoduced at 3.4% ABV is more of a shandy/low alcohol fizzy water than a beer. Truly disgusting. It gets no stars at all, and has no redeeming features. Best avoided.

MORE MONKEYING AROUND

Following my post here, more awful news from Caldey Island on the Beeb today:-

BBC News - Monk on Caldey Island gave naked photos of himself to visitors

So its all her fault...

Read more on the above link