2021 in photos

As we hit 2022 I thought it would be fun to post a photo I've taken from each of the last 12 months. These are far and away from my best shots of the year, and most if not all were either taken using or uploaded to my iPhone rather than using my "proper" cameras, but they tell a story.

January 2021

We didn't see much snow last year - this was about as good as it got, and the car not going anywhere as we were all in lockdown!

February 2021

Still in lockdown, so getting out and about largely meant walking from home. On this walk in late February in the local area, the daffodils were in full bloom.

March 2021

Lockdown is easing, but we still go for regular local walks anyway lockdown or not. It's fascinating what you can miss that's right under your nose. These stones along the coast path near Sully have nods to all sorts of "local" stuff.

April 2021

April saw us on a family walk in north Cardiff starting from one of the most iconic buildings of the area, Castell Coch. Worth a visit, even if you just park up and walk in the local woods as we did.

May 2021

In May we eventually managed to get away for our first proper break for many months on a stay in North Wales, near Caernarfon. Here's a shot of the famous Italianate village, Portmeirion, built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis with the Snowdon range in the background.

June 2021

June sees us able to start enjoying our new patio & pergola - we'd been planning to have this done for years, and finally got around to it in late spring (or rather we got someone in to do it for us!). Cheating rather, there are two photos here for June with the before and after photos speaking for themselves.

July 2021

A long time friend, Pete Colley, passed away earlier in the year from cancer. I'd known Pete for nearly 30 years, primarily through cricket and skittling. Pete was one of those people who was a true legend in "The Village" (Dinas Powys), know by or to nearly everyone. Together with his family, the cricket club held a memorial match to remember him and raise funds for Marie Curie Wales. It was of course, fabulously attended, and we all raised a glass, or rather several to our good friend. 

Another "doubler" for you.

August 2021

August, and the Covid restrictions have eased sufficiently to allow people to go on holiday. We enjoyed our annual extended family holiday in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, some camping, some in caravans and some (us) in a holiday cottage. Not sure how many there were altogether - getting on for 20! Very relaxing, quite chilled and lots of walking around the beautiful coast path. This shot is of Solva (left) and the Gwadn valley (right), with one of my favourite places in the world to sit and wonder, the Gribyn centre.

September 2021

We stay in Pembrokeshire for September's photo, although this was taken a few weeks after our family holiday, as Mrs H and I enjoyed a sneaky short break to Milford Haven. The weather was actually better than in August, and it was really warm, with shorts and t shirts all the way as we had a lovely relaxing couple of days. This photo is of the stunning Barafundle Bay.

Narrowly missing out this month were photos of a trip to Margam Park, and a visit to the RHS Malvern Autumn show with friends on the day the petrol crisis really started to bite.

October 2021

There were many contenders for October's photo. Local walks around Barry, Cardiff Bay and Dyffryn Gardens, another short break to Bournemouth and more, but it goes to my favourite shot of the year, sunset at Barry Island, looking down the Bristol Channel as a container ship makes its way to Avonmouth. This is a low res version, you can see a better shot and many of my other photos on my Flickr feed.

November 2021

Again, many contenders for this month's shot, but the winner is a family group shot. We try to get away in the autumn with a big family group, but obviously Covid has scuppered the last couple of years. We managed it this year and went to North Devon, near Ilfracombe. Lots of walks, cake and beer.

December 2021

Ah.....there you all were expecting a Christmassy photo for December, but it's not. Playing golf (or trying to) is something I've been enjoying since retiring. I play at the Vale Resort in the Vale of Glamorgan. To prove the sun does actually shine in December sometimes, here's a couple of my regular playing partners about to hit into the 18th green on the Lakes course. It's a good job I got some golf balls for Christmas, as there are quite a few of mine in that lake....

I hope you enjoyed these photos. You can follow and see more on any of the feeds below.

Twitter: @Statto1927 

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Coronavirus, Covid 19, Omicron and all that shit

Credit. Imperial College, London

So here we are, with two more days until The Big Ho, Ho, Ho! (apparently we can't call it Christmas any more) and we are at the fag end of 2021.

Remember what we all said on New Years Eve 2019? Here's to a great 2020. Look how that turned out.

Remember what we said on New Years even 2020? Hurrah, we're starting to vaccinate, it'll all be ok by the summer. Look how that turned out.

And yet here we are. 2021 will soon be a distant memory, another new word Omicron, is abounding and causing UK governments to start imposing further restrictions on us all just as we thought we were seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not sure I'll be raising a glass to having a fantastic 2022 in New Year's Eve this year.

I recall watching a UK Government presser way back in the early days of the pandemic, when one of the health honchos (probably Chris Whitty, but it could have been someone else), saying (and I paraphrase),

"The only way out of this is through vaccines"

Well, we've been giving vaccines for over a year. I've had my two initial jabs and my booster (so three in all if you're keeping up), as has much of the population, certainly here in Wales, and across much of the UK.  Thankfully, through this, and largely following the guidance, advice and regulations most of my family has avoided catching Covid (as far as we know), although my son did get it in September this year, but luckily he'd already been jabbed by then, so whilst poorly for a few days, didn't need anything other than a bit of R&R. And for the thick amongst us, remember that having a vaccine isn't a 100% guarantee that you won't get it, or pass it on. It's designed to not make you as ill as if you'd not had the jab, and likely need hospital treatment (if you're lucky).

Anyway, through the jab programme things seemed to be getting back to some sense of normality and then along comes Omicron, a variant of Covid. It is of course not surprising that there is (yet another) variant. That's what viruses (virii?) do. They mutate. That's why the flu jab is constantly needing tweaking. The problem here though is that there appears to be some significant difference of opinions bout Omicron - whether it's more (or less) transmissible, whether it's likely to lead to more serious illness or not, and consequently we have a some confusion about the right way to manage this in society. And as usual, the various UK governments are all taking a slightly different approach, announcing stuff at different times, and with different emphasis.

There is certainly some element of fear around Omicron and the rate of transmission - it seems almost everyone in London has it if mainstream media is to be believed, with most government and media acknowledging that we're in for a big hit, but no one seems able to quantify that in real terms.

The Welsh Government started a few days ago by releasing a statement at midnight (!), yes 12am when almost everyone was in bed, saying that all sporting events in Wales would be held behind closed doors from Boxing Day. Today they've further embellished and added to restrictions by reverting to a variation of alert level two (from alert level 0) which included no meeting of more than 6 in a pub/restaurant, 2m distancing, face masks, table service in hospitality as well as clarifying further restrictions on attending sporting/outdoor events.

Understandably, this has not gone down well with many. The main arguments seem to be along the line of - I can still go to a pub and watch football (if there's any on - most clubs seem to have a problem with players and staff catching covid, and there's also seems to be an element of many footballers not being vaccinated at all, but that's another story), but I can't go along and watch it outside in person. It's not quite as black and white as that, but I must admit as a general principle it does seem daft.

The same for park runs or indeed any large outdoor gathering - it's outside, largely socially distanced and being in a well ventilated area is now one of the defect bits of guidance, but no, you can't do it. Nip along to your local 'Spoons though with half a dozen mates and tens of others who are doing the same thing at the same time. Oh, and you still can't sing in a sparsely populated church, but it's fine to sing in a packed Alexandra Palace at the Darts world Championship with a crowd of people fuelled on by expensive lager.

Oh, not to mention the rules saying you must work from home if you can and you could be fined for going into work. Can you imaging saying that three years ago?

Basically, it's all a bit of a mess.

I don't know when all this is going to end. We cannot continue in a cycle of easing and locking down forever. People's mental health is at stake here as much as their physical health.

I do understand the need for management and to protect the NHS form being over-run, but to be perfectly frank, the NHS is more at risk of being over-run through continued and chronic long term underfunding and poor strategic management at government level than from Covid alone, but at some point there has to be a scenario where we just get on with it.

As an aside, if you're one of the vaccine nay-sayers or just an anti-vaxxer, you're a twat. Get it done. Don't give me any crap about not knowing what's in it. You probably don't know the secret recipe for KFC or Coke, but you'll still eat and drink it, and if you're worried about side effects, just look at the contact-indications on the med sheet in a box of paracetamol.

But hey, it's Christmas. I'm looking forward to a fairly quiet one (well I can't go to the football on Boxing Day as it's cancelled, or any of the matches following as crowds have been stopped from attending). 

So a nice few days with my immediate and close family away from it all. Might even get a game or two of socially distanced golf in before they stop that too.

Have a good one wherever you are.

Hang Fire Southern Kitchen - a BBQ delight

The Hang Fire Southern Kitchen is a restaurant in Barry, in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. It's been  extensively reviewed in blogs, newspaper articles, and Twitterati, Instagrammers and people on Facebook. It's owners Sam and Shauna have appeared in their own TV series  and they've written books on their take on southern US BBQ style cooking. In short, it's an amazing place to eat (and drink) and it's really, really popular. Although walk ups are available, they disappear in the flash of an eye, and if you want to book a table, you normally have to do so weeks, if not months in advance.

We've eaten there several times, and never been disappointed. But as for all hospitality venues, the pandemic, and lockdown has been a challenge. Never ones to shirk an opportunity, Hang Fire have developed their "Heat at Home" menu. Basically a click and collect of their best dishes that you can order online and pick up to eat at home.

So this weekend, we did just that.

The online ordering process felt a little more protracted than it should have been - I have used easier online ordering systems.  Oddly, once I'd selected and paid, although I had a confirmation page with my order number, I didn't get an email or text confirmation so had to take a screenshot of the confirmation page for my sanity.

We were ordering for four adults (although neither my wife or daughter have big appetites). We ordered the Big BBQ Deal which promises a feast of 9hr smoked Brisket, 21hr smoked Pork, 3hr smoked BBQ Wings, Mac & Cheese, Pastrami & Potato Hash, plus fixings of 'slaw and pickles and 12oz tub of their Kansas City BBQ sauce. It's stated to serve 3-4 people. Cost £56. We also added their famous, 8hr smoked, free-range, pork spare ribs which they say serves 1-2 at £14. There was also some chilli brisket and beans.

I turned up at the appointed collection time, and was served in a Covid secure way, the heating prep explained (a leaflet is also provided) and was out within a couple of minutes. Seamless.

It's not the cheapest, but as the saying goes, you get what you pay for, and this is quality food, ready prepared for you to heat and eat. It's worth every penny.

The food is slated to last up to 3 days kept in a fridge, and we were planning to eat the next day.

The heating time for each item varied, but the maximum was 25-30 minutes (the Mac & Cheese, Pastrami Hash and brisket and chilli beans in their foil containers). The wings around 20 minutes, the ribs took around 20 minutes and the brisket and pulled pork heated gently in simmering water in the vacuum packs for around 8-10 minutes. Usefully everything that needed heating in the over needed the same heat level, so it was just a matter of getting your timing right.

Once everything was cooked, it looked like this

The Feast

Firstly, you've obviously got to love meat to eat this sort of food!

The wings, once doused in their special BBQ sauce were delicious. The pulled pork was tasty. The mac and cheese was creamy and warming, and the pastrami hash was chunky and added a nice texture to the plate. The chilli brisket and beans was suitably spicy but not overbearingly so. The stars of the menu though was undoubtedly the tender, thickly sliced brisket and the enormous, cricket bat sized ribs. With accompaniments of house pickles and slaw, and plenty of BBQ sauce it made for a sumptuous feast. So much so, that even with the four of us, there's probably plenty enough left for a an almost complete second sitting the following day.

All in all, it was brilliant, and I'd highly recommend splashing out on this as a treat if you like quality food, especially meat and BBQ's!

Lockdown or Loosedown?

O'Shea's webcam Barry Island

The above image was taken the Sunday after Christmas when Wales was supposed to be a couple of days into its latest and more severe national lockdown (now along with the rest of the UK). However, the evidence of many is that the current restrictions are far from tight, and certainly in my experience with adherence levels nowhere near those we experienced in the first lockdown back in March 2020.

With the current surge on Covid cases across the UK, the constantly repeated 'stay at home' message seems to be flying tight over the head of many.

Perhaps its down to fatigue. As a nation, the UK has endured almost 10 months of differing levels of restriction. Confusingly different messages depending on which parts of the county you live in. Statements from the Prime Minister that Christmas would be 'near normal'. People ARE fed up, but we have to hang in there.

The brilliant news of several vaccines being approved and starting roll out is cause for optimism and hope. But it's going to take time. Todays news in Wales at least, is saying that the plan is to have offered/given all adults a vaccine by the autumn (though whether that's the start or end of autumn isn't clear), but who's arguing about three months here or there?

But that means we are still going to have to live with restrictions of some degree until then at least, and let's not fool ourselves - the Governments ability to deliver on it's promises and timelines hasn't been great these last few months.

So whilst there is light at the end of the tunnel, we're stuck with the restrictions for now. People need to listen and abide by them. But there are things happening that perhaps contribute to the idea that things aren't quite as bad as they are being reported.

Elite sport is one. In the first lockdown pretty much all sport stopped. Now we've got football wall to wall every day, international rugby is around the corner and so on. Yes, they're (supposedly at least) in contained, controlled "bubbles" and are being regularly tested, but it's evident that this isn't wholly working with many players contracting Covid, in some cases enough to have matches called off through lack of players or putting out makeshift teams as Derby did in the FA Cup this weekend. Whilst there are still no crowds (save a short period for some clubs just before Christmas), watching the players you'd be hard pushed to think there's still a global pandemic. And watching scenes from Crosby at the weekend of Tottenham's visit to Marine FC in the FA Cup, with people lining the streets, there was definitely no 'stay at home' going on there. Worse, there have been several reports of footballers breaching guidance to varying degrees. I'm not just picking on Crosby, and I'm not just picking on football - I'm a fan and season ticket holder myself and would be desperate to get back to watching Cardiff City (well perhaps not so much at the moment the way they're playing). No, my general point is that there's enough "stuff" going on to make people think there's near normality in some areas, which may then be impacting their own behaviours and bending the restriction guidance. It certainly gives ammunition to the 'covid deniers'.

I don't like the restrictions. I'm fed up of them, but if it helps keep the NHS from being overwhelmed (although I think they're pretty close to it now), I'll do my bit. I wish others would too.

I'm still here! Unfortunately so is Covid and Brexit

I've done it again....

My last post was on 28th October where I opined about the frustration of not being able to play golf in a local (well Wales wide) lockdown. Well a lot's happened since then.

The Wales' "firebreak" lockdown ended (yay!) and my good lady and I managed to get away for a couple of days to Pembrokeshire in West Wales for a couple of days after the firebreak ended. We had three days of glorious weather and the place almost to ourselves. As well as being away in a fabulous place with my wife, it was a release from looking at the 4 walls of the house and staying broadly within this locality for the last x months which was certainly good for the soul.

I got back on the golf course and shot my best ever score both gross (91) and Stableford points (43) and in doing so won the day's Men's Handicap competition. I won't be flying off to enjoy retirement in the sun on my £17 winnings though I'm very proud of my achievement. Breaking 90 is my next target.

Then as we approached Christmas it started to become apparent that despite all the local lockdowns and firebreaks, Covid cases were ramping up again, and despite advice that up to three families could meet up for up to 5 days over Christmas, that quickly became no meeting up (more or less) at all.

We, like most families therefore experienced a strangely quiet Christmas seeing no-one, and conducting  Zoom calls with our families rather than having them round the table tucking into turkey, and following Christmas Day we lurched into the next lockdown/firebreak/tiered restrictions (I't getting hard to remember the terminology now).

We're seeing more and more medics (genuine practising medics and healthcare professionals) stating the severity of the situation and the pressure on the NHS, especially emergency and intensive care services, with the concerns that this is likely to get much worse before it gets any better. Compounding the problem is the identification of a new variant of the Covid virus which is proving far more transmissible (though not apparently more severe) than the original. This seems to be exercising lots of people, but this is what viruses (virii?) do - they mutate all the time. That's why we need a flu jab every year (those of us old enough, or at risk enough to need one that is).

At the same time, we continue to see Covid deniers in mainstream media and unfortunately on the streets including the horrific sight of a protest outside a London Hospital on New Year's Eve with protesters chant "covid is a hoax". Honestly, this is beyond deplorable, and if I had my way we'd lock these people up, or take them one by one unmasked and un-PPE'd into a Covid pressured ITU to show them how bad things are. Sadly, whatever response is given to these people (and there are some well known and high profile people amongst them), they just won't believe anything that's said - they seem to be beyond all reason. As an aside, I think much of the media has behaved very poorly throughout the pandemic, reporting often for clicks/views than sensible and clear reporting and holding powers that be to account for their actions and decisions.

And now we are all back in some sort of national lockdown for the foreseeable future. Personally I can't see anything changing before February at the earliest. Annoyingly everything varies a bit from region to regions and UK country to UK country (I can't play golf in Wales in effectively a Tier 4 lockdown) but I could if I was in England for example. Travel (even local) is advised against unless deemed essential and all non essential retail, and hospitality (restaurants, pubs etc) remains closed - although thankfully you can still get a takeaway. Currently there's also a massive hoo-ha going on about whether schools should return this week and the risks and or impact on children getting or transmitting the virus. 

My main consolation with everything being shut is that I got a rather severe haircut just before Christmas so I'm good for a few weeks yet!

* as an aside, my earlier post about golf still stands. It's brilliant for my mental health to get out in the fresh air playing golf with a couple of mates, and the chances of transmitting or getting Covid out on the course must be negligible. Why can't we do this? Its got to be better for you than being cooped top indoors.

On the brighter side (if there is actually one), two vaccines have been approved in the UK and roll out has started. However, it's going to take months yet before we see the benefit of this as we'll need a significant number of the population vaccinated before we can start to reap the benefits of these vaccines. Even the vaccination programme has changed though - the Pfizer vaccine is a two dose 21/28 days apart protocol, but now the view is that we should vaccinate as many people as possible once and then worry about second doses. Sensible I suppose, but for those that have had one jab, this was on the basis they'd be getting second one. There is no data (that I'm aware of) about whether delaying a second jab of the Pfizer  vaccine for at least 12 weeks is acceptable, bad or not ideal but ok. I suppose we'll see.

And then there's Brexit (or Brexshit as I like to call it). We're officially out of the EU now, and whilst the "deal" we've got has been lauded in some quarters, we're still going to be a damn site worse of now, after the last four years buggering about than we ever were before it. But it's done, and we just have to live with  it. (it would be interesting to see how many of the covid deniers voted for Brexit).

So ultimately, we're still in the shit, but at least there is a (faint) light at the end of the tunnel. If we're anywhere near normal by June it'll be a miracle, but hey ho.

Anyway, I'll try not to leave it so long until my next post.

Happy New Year folks.....(I said that last year and look what happened.....)

Golf and lockdown

I know this is a first world problem whilst many people are suffering from the effects and impact of Covid-19 far more than me, but please tell me why I can't play golf in the lockdown?

I can exercise - but only if that exercise starts and stops at home.

Now the golf course will be shut 

I can't get in my car at home, drive alone (in my case about 8 miles to the golf club), get to the first tee and then play three and a half hours of golf in the open air, completely socially distant from my friends (I'm a bit wayward and frankly its easy to keep comfortably apart), walking around 6 miles in the process getting my exercise in a way that's entirely good for my mental health. Then get back in the car and drive home alone.

exercise - tick

social distancing - tick

sensible - tick

The "argument" I guess is that I could be putting undue pressure on emergency services if I have an accident on the way to or from the golf course. Not convinced. And yes I know I only have to wait two weeks before I can play again. 

But then logic and common sense has long been thrown out of the window by the powers that make these rules.

Until next time.... #isolationlife #staylocalsavelives