CWRW WYTHNOS PEDWAR DEG

JAMAICA? NOPE, SHE WANTED TO

 

Just checked in @ the Jamaica Inn! Tales of Wreckers, Smugglers & pirates abound! 

From the Wiki:-

The Jamaica Inn is a traditional inn on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England, which was built as a coaching inn in 1750, and has a historical association with smuggling. 

The inn was the setting for Daphne du Maurier's 1936 novel Jamaica Inn, about the nocturnal activities of a smuggling ring, "portraying a hidden world as a place of tense excitement and claustrophobia of real peril and thrill." In the novel, it was transformed into a rendezvous and warehouse for smuggling.

Room is quite comfy, and as its 5pm, I'll see if I can persuade Mrs H to join an away team to https://firebrandbrewing.co.uk/ just up the road....

THE POSTMAN ALWAYS KNOCKS THRICE?

The story of Please_Mr._Postman? Is quite an odd one. From the wiki above:-

It's famous for being the first Motown song to reach the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100

The song has been covered several times, including a version by the Beatles in 1963. It became a number-one hit again in early 1975 when The Carpenters' cover of the song reached the top position of the Billboard Hot 100. 

In April 1961, the Marvelettes (then known as the Marvels) arranged an audition for Berry Gordy's Tamla label. Marvels' original lead singer Georgia Dobbins needed an original song for their audition and got a blues song from her friend William Garrett, which she then reworked for the group. Dobbins left the group after the audition and was replaced. 

So, it is now credited as being written by Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland and Robert Bateman. Some of whom re-worked the song into its final form.

Since the original version hadn't made it into the British charts, few in the UK knew the song "Please Mr. Postman", allowing the Beatles to make it their own among all Liverpool groups.

Beatles author Mark Lewisohn reflects: "Without even realising it (and they'd have been thrilled to know), the Beatles broke the Detroit 'Motown sound' to the British listening public."

Who knew?

DISGUSTED GENTLEMAN DOESN'T RIDE

 

Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride returns for 2026 to mark 15 years of dapper charity fundraising

There is actually a Swansea Run! From The Pier, to the Brangwyn Hall, on to Oxwich Bay, and returning to the pier. Sounds like a fun way to raise some £'s for Men's Mental Elf & Prostate Cancer Charities.  

I quite fancied this, however, we will be in Cadiz... poo. So, I've signed up for 2027!

IT'S A HARD LIFE

 

Sitting outside the National Waterfront Museum, on a 20℃ day, drinking a very acceptable flat white from their Cafe. Just me & my dog. 

There is something about boats at anchor, calm moorings, and the gentle chatter of other coffee drinkers that is very relaxing. 

Dylan looks quite alert, though. Perhaps thinking "Isn't that a statue of Captain Cat over there?"

'ER NEXT DOOR

 Looks like my 6th great grandparents lived next door - well, next Village actually. William Metcalf b.1698 in Aysgarth, married Margaret Lupton b.1700 in Carperby. Deep in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. 

I'd love to know their story.

L S D

 My little joke with the garden waste recycling bags... 

LarkSpur Drive? Geddit?

THE LUNATIC HAS TAKEN OVER THE ASYLUM

This is the craziest thing I have seen from Trumplethinskin yet :-

From The Grauniad today. I am genuinely afraid of what this man can do.

I would say "God help us" if I was a believer.

CWRW WYTHNOS TRI DEG NAW

VIVID IMAGINATION

Visiting Oystermouth Cemetery this afternoon, whilst paying my respects to my Great Grandfather Walter Poole Terry, I noticed a fallen comrade a few graves down, an Able Seaman, from HMS Vivid I. 

A quick search revealed:-

So there.

This led me to notice that I've blogged about Walter 4 times before! Must be a record for me.

Walter Poole Terry 4

Walter Poole Terry 3

Walter Poole Terry 2

Walter Poole Terry 1

O'R DIWEDD, DW I'N DYSGU CYMRAEG!

 

Let's see how far I get! 9 days so far...........

Gawn ni weld pa mor bell y byddaf yn cyrraedd! 9 diwrnod hyd yn hyn...........

It fibs!

C G M T

 

OUR OTHER TOWN

I did it! I managed to see the second half of The Welsh National Theatre's Our Town, after bugging out at the interval in Swansea.

We had to travel to Kingston upon Thames, but got to see our 2nd "last night", and the last night of the whole run. Swansea, Llandudno, Mold & finally The Rose in Kingston.

I must admit to being apprehensive at seeing it again, but wow! was it worth it! The first half was magical, beautiful, captivating, and mesmeric. The Welsh hymn singing was even better, as was the choreography, and there was more warmth & humour somehow. The company had really grown into the rôles. It seemed a little more "Welshy". I think Sheen also called the town Grovers cornel - Welsh for corner deliberately, although Time Out heard ‘Grrrrrrrohvahs Corrrrrrnahs’

The second half was dark, poignant and thought provoking. Wilder's message being that we don't pay enough attention to the people around us whilst we busily go about our lives. 

What did Time Out think of all this? Read their review here

Cwrw Wythnos tri deg wyth

 

 

The tracks of my Years

Chatting on Saturday night, someone asked what is your top song? We decided it was far too hard to choose just one, so here's my top 10:-

My top 10 tracks

Teenage kicks - Undertones - 1978

Recovery - Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls - 2013

The Distance - Cake - 1996

Carmen Overture - Bizet - 1875

Song for my father - The Horace Silver Quintet - 1964

Devils haircut - Beck - 1996

Red Right Hand - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - 1994

No more heroes - Stranglers - 1977

Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - 1975

Photosynthesis - Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls - 2008

I guess that sets my prime well before the millennium 

Truth funnier than comedy?

 

From www.popularmechanics.com/science

Men that have Coffee (Or Last of the Summer Wine) 1

Perhaps I'll start an occasional series on the plethora of Coffee Stops springing up in this lovely ugly town. 

Today's stop is Sloth, opposite Maple Crescent, on Glanmor road in uplands. 

£3.95 for an excellent flat white, whole milk fresh from the farm, in a cup without a handle - obligatory these days, a la mode.

There is a limited selection of pastries, that looked lush, tbh. Yorkshire rhubarb or blood orange & pistachio danish, pain au chocolat, sticky buns, and warm crumpets!

About 12 - 15 seats inside, some outside if you can brave the Welsh weather.

9/10

900,000+

I am the one-in-ten?

We can beat that. 15 years of tory government, Brexit, pandemic mismanagement, we are now up to 15% -  almost 1 in 6

Over 900,000 young people out of work (16-24)

Obscene 

O bydded i'r heniaith barhau!

 

Dan Fox's taid, outside Tal-y-Braich Uchaf, Eryri (Snowdonia), c 1965.

Photograph: Courtesy of Dewi Jones

There was a lovely article on the author's experience of the Welsh Language in The Grauniad recently. This reminded me of a phrase I have sung often in the chorus of our anthem, but only recently understood "O bydded i'r heniaith barhau".

I have often regretted not being able to speak Welsh, and blame my grandmother for not passing it down to me. It seems like Dan Fox had a similar story. Some snippets below:-

There is a Welsh saying I learned only recently: Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon. A nation without language, a nation without heart.

Welsh has a reputation for difficulty. A cartoon that sometimes does the rounds on social media shows a man returning a Welsh Scrabble set to a store with the complaint that half the vowels are missing*. There is a YouTube clip of the standup comic Rhod Gilbert, an anglophone Welshman, describing the fate of his classmates in a 30-person Welsh course: “One passed, three failed and 26 dead.”

I have thought of learning my native tongue, but been put off by the realisation that I'd have no-one to practice it with. Also, I am bone idle.

* Welsh has more vowels than English. Its alphabet uses 29 letters but no j, k, q, v, x, or z. Instead, it has ch, dd, ff, ng, ll, ph, rh and th, all treated as separate letters. What are commonly considered consonants in English have open vowel sounds in Welsh: W is often used for “oo”. The letter y can be “ee” or “uh”. Ch is like the “ch” in “loch”. Dd makes a firm “th”, as in “these”. One of my favourite Welsh words is smwddio. Here the w is “oo”, and dd is “th”, making it “smoothio”. It means “ironing”.

Ai mazin!

 Fun fun fun till daddy took the AI away...

Wokka wokka

Gonna die soon

But suicide will be painless

That's life, Jim

Why thank you nurse

Take me away, janeaway

Micheal row the fleet ashore

A young Henry before he ate

Super trooper 

Cwrw Wythnos tri deg saith

 

Captain Kirk

Happy birthday to James Tiberius Kirk aka William Shatner, and my Brother-From-Another-Mother, Robert John Matthews. 95 & 65 today!

(Thanks to Google Gemini for the montage)

Greengrounds

The Green Grounds are a legendary, now-submerged area off the coast of Mumbles, Swansea, believed to be a former wooded, agricultural landscape swallowed by the sea, potentially during a 1607 tsunami.

Evidence, including a 19th-century court case, suggests it once featured a farmhouse, large meadow, and "Silver Wood". 

Key Details about the Green Grounds:

Location: Submerged land in Swansea Bay, with remnants located near Mumbles Head and the Swansea Docks entrance.

The Legend: Local stories tell of a fertile, cultivated area, sometimes called Grove Island, that was destroyed by a violent storm or tidal wave.

Historical Evidence: In the 1890s, the "Misses Angels" won a legal battle regarding land ownership by producing an old map that depicted a farmhouse on the Green Grounds.

Submerged Evidence: At very low tides, remnants of carbonized earth, tree trunks, and old stone structures have reportedly been visible.

Modern Day References: The area is still recognized in nautical terms, such as the SWIGG (South West Inner Green Grounds) buoy near the Swansea docks entrance.

Association with Disaster: The site is often linked to the 1607 Bristol Channel floods, a devastating event that destroyed villages along the South Wales coast

This event was the backdrop to a novel I read recently, called The Drowned City. Quite a good read, actually. 

In January 1606, exactly a year after the execution of the conspirators who tried to blow up Parliament in the failed Gunpowder Plot, a towering wave sweeps up the Bristol Channel, leaving a scene of devastation. Whole families are drowned, buildings are swept away and farmland is destroyed. As the survivors try to come to terms with what has happened, rumours begin to arise. Some say the wave was summoned by witches, others that it was God’s way of taking revenge for the executions. 

Not a bad review here 

Sources:-

https://www.storyofmumbles.org.uk/stories/articles/landmarks/the-story-of-the-misses-angels-and-their-farm

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/swansea-village-washed-away-tsunami-17058088

Are you Cross?

My manor, West Cross in Swansea, is a 20th-century residential suburb, officially developed by the council from 1945 onwards on former farmland (Grange Farm) to combat housing shortages. Originally part of surrounding areas like Norton or Blackpill, it was transformed into a sprawling estate, featuring prefabricated homes and later, extensive private housing. 

We moved in 1970, on the BMS builder's estate @ the top of West Cross Lane, on the old Whitestone farm lands. It was all new, & I remember playing in the unfinished houses along the road, and hiding in the workmen's shed, building dens & mantraps in the hedgerows. We were surrounded by fields back then. 

I remember the prefab houses @ the bottom of the hill, similar to one on display at St Fagans museum of welsh life. Higher up the hill were 2 story versions, some of which have lasted to the present day.

Key historical aspects of West Cross include:

Development: Following the 1945 compulsory purchase of the 62-acre Grange Farm for £14,500, the area was quickly developed with council housing, including notable prefab and steel homes.

Original Landscape: Before the estate, the area consisted of rural land, including West Cross House, which was advertised for sale in 1807, and buildings like the 1863-built Brynhyfryd House.

Industry & Landmarks: The area formerly had a marble works (closed 1825) near the shore. It was also home to the Currant Tree inn, a 19th-century pub frequented by travellers.

Name Origin: The name is thought to stem from a grange or manor associated with an old religious order, rather than a crossroads.

Community: The area developed rapidly, with Bethania Baptist Church (1851-2001) serving as a focal point for the early community. 

 Sources:-

https://www.storyofmumbles.org.uk/stories/memories/20th-century/the-development-of-the-west-cross-housing-estate

https://sites.google.com/site/ahistoryofmumbles/west-cross-mumbles

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Cross?wprov=sfla1

Team Violence

 

Whilst invigilating today I saw this pen. Some little angel had customised it and scratched out the word "prevention".

I think Violence team is far more interesting than the Welsh alternative.