A mixed bag

As always, my best intentions on blogging regularly* have fallen by the wayside, with no post since 7th March, so here's a brief, mixed bag update of sorts

* not that I have any/many followers, but I suppose it's also a diary/reflection thing of sorts, albeit a very limited one.

Life's too short

Soon after my last post in March, we lost my wife's brother after a relatively short illness. At 70 he'd previously been fit and well living a full and active life, playing golf, motorbiking, walking and being a Dad/grandad and loving music and beer. He may have been my brother in law, but he was like a brother to me. To lose him so quickly was a shock to us all - he seemed as one of his daughter's said, "indestructible". But there you go. He wasn't. None of us are, and it brings our mortality front and centre. I still find it hard to believe he's gone. 

Live life to the full, because you just never know what's around the corner.

Sunshine at last

After what seemed like months of rain (actually it was months of rain), the weather finally broke a couple of weeks ago, and what a relief it's been. Sunshine and warmth lifts the mood so much. The garden's run away with growth, new wildlife is around in abundance. I can get my shorts on for golf and the BBQ can be broken out of it's winter wrapping.

We've had some fabulous days out recently. We did a swift overnighter to our favourite place - St David's in Pembrokeshire. We did the four waterfalls walk near Neath in the Brecon Beacons (now reverted to it's original Welsh name, Bannau Brycheiniog), and we visited the Wales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary, which actually isn't that far from the waterfalls area, although we went a week later than our waterfall visit.  

Whitesands beach, Pembrokeshire

Sgwd yr Eira on the Afon Felte
You can walk behind this waterfall if you're steady and have non-slip footwear!

We walked on the Heritage coast on the South Wales coast near Monknash and last week went to the enchanting, if quirky Dewstow Gardens and Grottoes near Caerwent, between Newport and Chepstow. 

Heritage Coast, Vale of Glamorgan

Dewstow Gardens and Grottoes

In between all this, I've managed to get plenty of golf in. I've enjoyed it though my form hasn't quite returned to it's best, but it's great to be out on the course.

So we've been pretty busy all told. There's a holiday coming up with a visit to the Lake District, somewhere I've never actually been, so that'll be fun and definitely worth a post of it's own who we get back. There's also some other trips later in the year to look forward to so hopefully plenty to update on in due course.

And then to top everything off so far this year, my better half and I are celebrating 30 years of marriage. To be honest, I don't know how she's managed to put up with for this long, but personally, I wouldn't have it any other way.

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Just an ordinary day

It’s barely after 9am on a very warm day in South Wales. The Met office yesterday issued for the very first time a severe heat warning covering much of the UK including this neck of the woods. Frankly, they’re a bit late - it’s been rostio here for a few days, knocking 30°.

Why is it that us British bemoan the cold and wet of our climate, only to moan like buggery as soon as it gets a bit Mediterranean like?

Anyway, no golf today (normally play on a Tuesday). Nevertheless, up with the lark, or at least when my wife got up to go to work at 7am. Breakfast on the patio (porridge - on a day like this 😂). Then watered the garden, fed the cat (again), emptied the dishwasher, changed a couple of plug sockets (been decorating you see), and brought the green waste bags in from the road. The other 5 recycling bags/bins won’t be emptied until about  2pm. Also sent a couple of emails in my role as cricket club Secretary. Just caught up on my social media feeds as well, although why I bother I don’t know. It’s either covidiots or sensible (ish) people retweeting or moaning about covidiots. 

Oh, and I’ve had a grump about next doors dogs, which bark incessantly driving me nutty. 

Just an ordinary day, and it’s only 9.20am. 

The older (oldest) generation

Tomorrow marks a sad and poignant day, but one to remember good things too. It's my mother-in-law's funeral, a lady I've known for almost the last 30 years. As a devout Catholic, stalwart member of her local church and matriarch to a large family, she would have wanted a proper send-off, something that's been denied her due to the Covid restrictions on funerals. There will be no church service, and a limited family and closest friends gathering at the crematorium. We will hopefully get a memorial mass at some point when churches re-open fully, so all is not lost, and despite the restrictions in place tomorrow we'll all do our best to remember her life and the wonderful lady that she was.

It also draws a line under her generation within both my wife's and my families. My wife lost her Dad in 2017, whilst my Mum died in 2002 and my Dad at the end of 2016. That means we, along with our brothers and sisters are now the elder (senior?) generation in both our families. Yikes!

Normality? Not yet, but it's getting there

Things are slowly creeping towards some sort of post lockdown normality. It's certainly not the normal we knew before Covid-19 appeared, but but it's most assuredly better than effectively being confined to quarters for the best part of three months.

Here in Wales we've looked in with a mixture of astonishment and jealousy as England has fairly speedily unlocked the various restrictions associated with lockdown. The Welsh Government has taken a much more cautious approach, welcomed by many but ridiculed by some, although I think the over-riding view has been that a steadier line is the right line.

Anyway, we can now travel pretty much anywhere (within reason) although the advice is as always, be sensible. Non essential retail shops have already opened, and this week sees the much anticipated re-opening of two of the most wanted services - pubs and hairdressers (my wife is delighted - about the hairdresser that is, and already has her appointment!).

Also good news for those looking for a break as self contained accommodation gets the green light  this week and campsites with shared facilities can get going from the end of the month. Our break away to Pembrokeshire is therefore a go-er, and I have to say I'm delighted, relieved and very much looking forward to getting away. Who knows, we might even get to a pub for beer and food!

Finally, team sports are also now allowed, and my cricket club sees it's first action next weekend in a season where frankly, we didn't think we'd see any cricket. I spent most of yesterday afternoon with others from our club helping to prepare the ground for next Saturday, and frankly that's the closest I've felt to normal in a long time.

Preparing the cricket pitch - a semblance of normality

               

How quickly will we forget?

To say it's been an odd few months is no understatement. Before Christmas we were all concerned with  the trials and tribulations of Brexit (remember that?), Boris finally having got his way to "Get Brexit Done. Blimey, if that was all we had to worry about! Looking back now, we can see how the Government loves a soundbite/message and was perhaps a foretaste of what was to come with "Stay At Home, Protect the NHS and Save Lives", shortly followed by "Stay Alert (I still don't know what that means"), Control the Virus (I still don't know what that means either), Save Lives".

Anyway, fast forward to the start of the year and we all watched from afar as the coronavirus spread westwards at a rate of knots, blissfully going about our business as usual, before it was too late, and we were suddenly in lockdown (or a lighter version of it, because let's face it we were never in real lockdown).

During the last couple of months, we've (mostly) seen people being nicer to each other, helping neighbours and friends out who are isolating or shielding, clapping the NHS and other key workers. We've left notes and sometimes gifts for our postmen/women, refuse collectors. We've seen business models change to adapt to lockdown. We've learnt to work from home, obey social distancing rules and live without things that previously we might have seen as "essential". We've done all those jobs we've been putting off for weeks, months, or even years. we've de-cluttered, we've learnt to cook. We've possibly exercised more, perhaps not because we wanted to exercise per se, but because it was an excuse to get out of the house, but hey, let's not decry the fact that we are at least exercising! Many of us have discovered more about our local area than we ever knew before, and probably would never have known if it weren't for this pandemic.

Sure, we've missed (and continue to miss) many things. Popping round to a friends house, or the pub, or going to a restaurant, theatre or on holiday, but we've survived.

At some point though, things will start getting back to some sort of normality. In some places in the UK (England I'm looking at you), this has started sooner than for the rest of us. Having said that, despite Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland continuing their stricter lockdown approach, we do have coffee shops, garden centres, fast food outlets, DIY stores, car washes, etc open, and we do have people using them, almost certainly on non-essential visits. We also have people getting in their cars and driving to places for exercise, or just because they want to.

Let's not kid ourselves here. Whilst in Wales, at least locally, we're not seeing the mass migration to beaches and parks that are happening in some parts of England played out across news and social media, we're not holier than thou. When a picture of a packed Southend beach from last weekend was posted on Twitter alongside an photo of an apparently empty Whitmore Bay at Barry Island as a comparison, along with the predictable comments, what you might have missed were other comments and reports on other social media timelines saying that actually, Barry Island was busy that day (not ridiculously so, but it wasn't empty either. Apparently Cardiff Bay was also packed. Anyway, I digress.

So, the question I have is this. When we do see lockdown lifted, and restrictions eased, how much of everything that we've done and adapted to in the last two to three months will remain, and how much will we quickly forget as we rush back to our cars and self centred lives? Will we continue to talk to our neighbours over the fence, or check in on that little old lady at the end of the road? Will we not moan about queues, or take public transport instead of jumping into our cars, or God forbid even carry on walking? Will we stop appreciating the NHS, and all other key workers we've been so resolutely thanking and applauding these last few weeks? I'm not suggesting we continue clapping every Thursday - that needs to end sometime.

Will we all flock back to Wetherspoon's for our cheap beer after decrying them so vehemently for not paying their workers early on in the crisis and saying we'd never visit s 'Spoons again? News reports of massive queues at recently opened McDonalds for example (or let's face it, anything that opens - Starbucks, recycling centres, garden centres - God knows what will happen when the high street shops open), suggest that however much we say one thing, as soon as the opportunity arises, we instinctively resort to our previous behaviours, and will do anything for a soggy burger and fries, or cup of coffee. In a nutshell, how easily we forget.

I'd like to think we won't, but I'm not holding my breath.

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives

March 29th: Curtains and quizzes

Today my wife and I should be in the car on the way to her sister's in Birmingham for a meet up with her other sister and brother, and all other halves, before all 10 of us take an onward journey tomorrow to the Peak District for 3 nights away, walking, eating and drinking beer.

But we're not. The coronavirus pandemic has put paid to that. It's really disappointing - it's been in the diary since the middle of last year, but it is what it is. Derbyshire will still be there when all this is over. So in the meantime, here's a couple of photos from our last visit there in October 2018.

Kept away from all news today - it's refreshing to take a break.

The peaks above Hathersage, Derbyshire

Derbyshire Peak District

In #stayathome mode today I've been cleaning and tidying up. Someone mused on Twitter yesterday (you understand by now that I'm a bit of a Twitter fanatic) that they were currently taking apart a p-trap under a sink having started doing something completely different, but had got distracted. That's me to a tee.I start doing one thing, then see something else and before you know it I'm taking down the curtains and hoovering them. Yes, you heard that right. I was trying to declutter my small study but went into the bedroom for something, glanced at the top of the curtains and realised how dusty they were. Is I took them down with a view to sticking them in the washing machine, but then read the label that said "dry clean only". So I hoovered the dust off. All worked ok if a little unorthodox!

We've done a couple of online (YouTube) family quizzes in the last couple of nights - another social distancing thing apparently.

The one on Saturday was a pub quiz sort of thing. Hard though. We're pretty good at quizzes (not brilliant, but not bad), and I top scored with 26/50! Rubbish effort.
Tonight we did a Monkman and Seagull one (they of University Challenge fame). This time my son top scored with 13/30 and I only got 10/30!!!! It was hard! They (or rather Bobby Seagull particularly) go off at a tangent throughout - he can talk for Britain - and the whole video is around an hour for just 30 questions. It's good fun watching though. Overall verdict on our scoring - must try harder. The cat could probably have done better.

On the diet trail

I've been meaning to lose weight for a while. By a while, I mean maybe several years. But there's always a reason why it's never been easy, and it's not that I'm really overweight (cough).

Anyway, the time has come. I decided before Christmas that this time it was for real. And then to top it off I decided to do "Dryanuary" - not alcohol during January. Well actually from 4th January on as we had friends over for a meal on 3rd, and it would have been rude not to assist in the indulgence.

So, it's been almost 2 weeks grog free. Whilst it would be incorrect to say I haven't missed alcohol (it was tricky on an overnight trip to London this week with colleagues in a pub downing Doombar and me on the diet coke), it hasn't been too hard. I'm not a heavy drinker. One bottle a night maybe two at weekends is my norm, or sometimes a glass or two of wine instead. Even when I have a night out I rarely get past 4 pints.

And as for the food. Well I like my food. I like any food, but I do have a penchant for the stuff that isn't good for you. Bread, chips, chocolate. I'm not averse to healthy food, and we absolutely don't eat unhealthily - lots of veg and fruit, but I'm a sucker for seconds, or sometimes even thirds.

So it was decided I'd try the 5:2 diet. East what you like (within reason) 5 days a week, and limit to 600 calories on the other two "fasting" days.

I'm a week in to this, and I have to say it's been ok. And between the diet and lack of alcohol I believe I have lost a bit already. Stupidly, I didn't weight myself at the start, and our old tatty scales were almost unreadable on it's analogue scale. On Thursday I bought a set of cheap(ish) but recommended digital scales so my benchmark is from here rather than the start of it all.

I'm pretty proud that I've resisted all forms of chocolate and bread  even on my non fasting days this week. I drink black coffee normally, so I haven't missed milk in coffee or tea, and otherwise it's been water or occasionally diet coke.

I'll let you know how I get on.

On your doorstep - don't miss it

It's been a fantastically gorgeous day in Cardiff - wall to wall blue skies and sunshine. It's difficult to believe it's 29th December.

Making the most of the unseasonal weather we've been on a circular walk of Cardiff Bay. It's a great walk - about 5 miles give or take that we've now done a few times, but the key for me given my very dodgy knee, and other aching bones is that it's flat, and all or pretty much all on paved surfaces. A decent pair of trainers will see you all right unless it's chucking down.

We started at the free car park on Marconi Avenue just down from the Oystercatcher pub, and went anticlockwise, taking in the barrage first, passing Penarth Marina with it's collection of boats of all shapes and sizes. In fact the number of craft in the Marina, the river Ely and the bay itself is tremendous, and needs to be seen to be belived. The best place to view is on the Pont y Werin bridge looking down the Ely towards the bay towards the end of the walk.

We stopped in Mermaid Quay for a Starbucks coffee before the second half taking in the wetlands nature reserve  before crossing the road bridge and then Pont y Werin footbridge over the river Ely completing the walk and finishing off with a very good value meal in the Oystercatcher, which is one of the Hungry Horse chain of pub/restaurants.

As is so often the case, it's a reminder of what's on your doorstep and either taken for granted or, in many cases completely overlooked. As well as the barrage, impressive in itself with it's three sea locks and now, huge freshwater lake fed by the Taff and Ely, there are many important and historic buildings along the way. The Senedd, Norwegian Church with it's Roald Dahl connections, the Millenium Centre, Pierhead building and Millenium Stadium are all visible in the photo taken from the Penarth side of the barrage. Mermaid Quay is a bustling centre these days with coffee shops, ice cream parlours and eateries to suit every taste and pocket. The newer builds of the St David's hotel and spa, flats and unseen here, white water rafting centre, ice rink and swimming pool show how vibrant this area is these days.

On our way round we were ruminating about the "old days" of the mud flats, the Red House pub and the scrappies along Ferry Road. Rose tinted spectacles perhaps. The number of people out and about with kids or just adults around on their own today, whether taking in the weather or a visit to the Dr Who Experience or the wetlands nature reserve behind the St Davids hotel would never have been possible without the foresight to redevelop what was a pretty run down area of the City not too long ago.

It was a lovely walk in lovely weather, but whatever you do, just take the time to pop down and regardless of whether you do the whole circuit, or just a short stroll on part of it, don't miss it.

Pssst! Where does your food come from?

As I was helping my good lady put away today's Tesco shopping, I happened to notice that the apples were sourced from France. Interest piqued, I started to look at some other items. This is what I found.

Apples - France
Bananas - Colombia
Pears - Netherlands
Satsumas - South Korea
Grapes - South Africa
Wild rocket - Italy

And that's just the fresh stuff. Add into that some wine from New Zealand, and I'm sure if I started rooting through the cupboards, fridge and freezer, I'd find a lot more stuff that had its origins far from these shores. I didn't though. More because her indoors would wonder what the hell I was doing rather than any lack of interest on my part!

Does this matter at all though? Well, I'm sure there are varying views with the inevitable polar extremes.

On the one hand it does matter - but for different reasons. For the producing countries it's welcome business. For the consumers it's the opportunity to have to hand produce and victuals that would otherwise be at best only seasonal in the UK, and even then some would be impossible on an economic scale - have you ever tried growing bananas in the UK?

The downside of course is the massive, massive logistical and ecological cost of shifting this stuff around the planet. Think how many container ships, planes and trucks there must be moving this around our seas, airspace and roads. I can't even begin to contemplate it. Then there are the arguments about the human costs of producing the stuff. Low wages, poor conditions etc, but I'm sure that's not universal.

But just think about it next time you eat a banana or satsuma. I eat a banana from half way across the world. A country I've never been to, and am unlikely ever to visit. Oh, that satsuma - it's from half way across the world but in the opposite direction. Somewhere else that to me its just more known for its export of footballers.

I'm not trying to state a particular argument for or against produce from other countries (and I like bananas and grapes anyway). But I think that we just take for granted sometimes that food comes from Tesco's or Asda's or Morrisons (or indeed Lidl, Aldi or the local corner shop), rather than realistically from another continent.

Just think about that for a moment.