stuff and nonsense!

THE WOMAN KING (Film review - spoilers)

On the back of a 94% rotten tomatoes score & a great review somewhere I've forgotten, I watched this the other night.

It was great. Good to see a non-euro/us centric story for a change, based on a true tale of derring do by an African kingdom fighting the slave trade with a legion of female warriors in their army. The acting was good, the battle scenes well done, and the story worked.

It was fascinating to see how african armies fought in the early 1700's compared to europeans. Unarmoured, unshielded, and weilding machete like swords. Compare this to the American war of independence.

The female warriors were called

The adojie. The kingdom was dahomey, similar to modern day Benin (home of the famous brasses)

From google:-

The Agojie (also spelled Agoji, Mino, or labeled the "Dahomey Amazons" by Europeans) were an all-female elite military regiment in the West African Kingdom of Dahomey, which exists today as the modern-day Republic of Benin.

Operating from the 17th century until 1894, they are renowned as the only fully documented all-female front-line army in modern history.

History and Origins:-

Early Beginnings: Their origins date back to the late 1600s, initially serving either as a royal bodyguard or an elite band of female elephant hunters under early rulers like King Houegbadja or Queen Tassi Hangbe.

The Standing Army: During the 19th-century reign of King Ghezo, the regiment was formally expanded into a massive standing army, reaching between 1,000 and 6,000 warriors at its peak.

Demographics: The ranks were filled by volunteers, forced conscripts, captives from regional conflicts, and even children as young as eight years old.

Life, Status, and Training: The Agojie held an incredibly high and semi-sacred social status within Dahomean society. They resided directly within the royal palace and were legally considered ahosi (wives of the king), which afforded them great political influence, wealth, and authority.

Sacrifice: They swore an oath of cellibacy and were forbidden from marrying or having children while serving.

Specialized Regiments: The army was divided into distinct, structured wings, including huntresses, riflewomen/musketeers, archers, artillery gunners, and the terrifying reapers (razor women) who charged headfirst into battles equipped with massive three-foot machetes.

Last Survivor: The last verified surviving veteran of the original army, a woman named Nawi, passed away in 1979.

I had no idea.

My rating 7.5/10

NOBODY KNOWS!

I've had a long & sometimes heated debate with my peers about whether an independent Wales is economically viable. Today I found a fair & balanced view of this debate here:-

https://nation.cymru/feature/draft-is-an-independent-wales-economically-viable/

Granted, the site is a news site devoted to Wales, but I still think it's published a pretty balanced review of the data. It seema that Wales could survive as an independant state, with no more financial pressure than many other world states.

Some key points from the article:-

For as long as Welsh independence has been a serious political proposition, it has come attached to a number. Sometimes that number is £14 billion.

Sometimes it’s £21 billion. Sometimes, if you’re talking to the right economist, it drops all the way down to £2.6 billion.

Depending on who does the counting, Wales is either sitting on a fiscal black hole that makes independence a fantasy, or nursing a deficit no worse than most small European countries run every year without anyone questioning their right to exist.

Professor John Doyle of Dublin City University to re-run the numbers using accounting methods that actually reflect how two independent countries would trade with each other, rather than treating Wales as a UK region.

Doyle’s conclusion: a fiscal gap of around £2.6 billion in an independent Wales’s opening years, or 3.4% of GDP, is close to the OECD average.

It also means the two headline numbers that have defined this argument for a decade (a deficit that might be £2.6 billion, or might be £21.5 billion, depending entirely on whose model you trust) will keep getting thrown at each other largely untested, because there’s no live campaign forcing either side to prove its working in public.

Ask the average voter in Wales whether independence is affordable, and the honest answer right now isn’t yes or no. It’s:nobody has built a version of Wales’s public finances solid enough for both sides to agree on, and until someone does, or until a referendum forces the question, that isn’t likely to change.

Interesting. However, I don't think anything will change in the next 4 years. Perhaps after that, if Plaid do a good job, there may be more of a desire to test this, & look seriously at independence.

STILL BOUNCING?

Pity about Cardiff, tho:-

Or The United States of Wrexham:-

THERE'S A POT OF GOLD IN OUR LOCAL CHINESE TAKEAWAY

An 18, a 7, a 54 & a pot of gold, please?

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

I had a little tootle a velo to Clydach today, between the rain showers. Glad I went, as it stayed dry for the duration.

Nice to see that it's quicker by bike than pubic transport.

On the way, I discovered a tree down on National Cycle Network route 43, alongside the Tawe @ Landore.

The process of reporting this was easy, with a quick form on the CCS Website allowing you to post a map link, or use What 3 Words to pinpoint the issue. Well done City & County of Swansea! (Perhaps I should reserve judgement until it's been cleared). ///rival.acted.case will take you there.... Probably..

Bloody Strava glitched again, & I may just resort to manual input from now, as I'm too poor to buy a Garmin.

The alternative route says "Fewer hills". In the words of Jim Royle, my arse!

Snaps I hear you ask? Oh all right, then:-

NCN PATH 43

Reward

Uptown Clydach

Tucker stop

Ricky Tomlinson

MOMENT OF TRUTH COMING?

From:-

Welsh rugby has reached another extraordinary crossroads.

An attempt to force an EGM and oust the entire WRU board is gathering momentum, with those behind the move confident they already have enough support from club members to trigger the process.

It comes at a pivotal moment for the game in Wales, with the WRU facing huge decisions over the future structure of professional rugby, the number of teams and the direction of the organisation.

The dispute is no longer simply about personalities or individual decisions. It is a much bigger battle over who should lead Welsh rugby — and what its future should look like.

With a proposed EGM potentially only weeks away from being called, the coming period could prove defining for the WRU and the entire Welsh game.

Would enough Welsh clubs really want rid of the current board? Would the chaos be worth it? Or is it time for change, no matter what?

The 282 Welsh clubs who make up the Welsh Rugby Union could soon be tasked with making one of the most seismic decisions the game has ever known. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

We really do need to fix this mess. One way or another.

SNOOP DOG BOUNCE?

Only 3 games in, but great start for the Swans!

correction:-

now

CWRW'R WYTHNOS CHWE DEG

Curry, mango, banana pastry sour ale!

THE TIDE IS HIGH

12.34m tide in Swansea tonight. (40.5ft)

12.78m Sunday night

13.0m highest this year

That's a range of 42.6 feet. The 2nd largest in the world.

https://grumunkin.blogspot.com/2026/01/there-is-tide-in-affairs-of-men.html

FANTASTICKÁ PRAHA

4 days in fantastic Prague, & just learnt enough Czech to say please & thank you.

The last time we were here was 25 years ago for my birthday, on a whistle-stop tour mainly spent in bars and the old town. We didn't even have time to do the castle.

This time we had almost 4 days, and could really get under the skin of the place. Kim found us a great Hotel, 3 minutes walk from the main underground line to the centre of town, and boy did that work out well. As an added bargain, it was just off one of the smartest squares in the posh residential district of town. Loads of great cafes & restaurants on our doorstep. There was even a keg bar called BeerGeek, with 32 taps of the Ambrosia of the gods.

The highlights for us?

An open top classic car tour of the city,

A stroll across Charles Bridge,

The company,

A boat trip on the Vltava,

A wander around the castle,

The old town,

A coffee in Old Town Square,

The Churches,

An underground Prague tour,

A trip to St Norberts monastery,

A tram journey up past the Castle,