March 24th: Lockdown day 1.

So here we are. Lockdown. In simple terms this means:

• Stay at home - no unnecessary journeys or social contact 
• Only leave home for essential shopping, medical needs and one form of exercise per day
• Travel to and from work only if absolutely necessary
• Public gatherings of more than two people are banned - excluding people you live with
• Don't visit other peoples homes or socialise outside your home
• Police have the power to fine/enforce these rules
• If any of you, or your family are unwell, isolate yourselves

Watching social media in particularly there still seems to be some confusion and uncertainty over what constitutes an "essential" worker - builders for example seem to be one group where there's a significant divide of opinion. We're waiting for a bathroom to be ripped out and a new bathroom to be fitted - was due to happen in early April. I can't see that happening (reasonable). It'll wait. It's not going anywhere. And pictures of the Tube in London suggest no-one's heard of the lockdown or social distancing! 

Here's my dilemma. I consider myself to be a reasonably well adjusted, sensible, educated sort of bloke who absolutely understands the implications of everything that's happening (I was once a nurse in the dim and distant past, but far too long ago to be of any use now). But....

My arthritis and a couple of other minor and managed health conditions apart, I'm fit and well. My wife who as you now know is a practising NHS nurse (part-time) and is also a carer for her elderly housebound mother who lives a few miles away (who also has carers coming in morning and night to make sure she's up/ready for bed). I'd like to do more. I want to do more, but it's not the "right" thing to do, especially now the lockdown rules above have been implemented. And that places a greater burden (and potentially risk) on my wife which makes me uncomfortable. 

Personally, one effect on lockdown has for me is be the inability to go out wander round and take photos of the local area. It's been a glorious day here in South Wales, (I've even got shorts on), and there's nothing better I'd love to have done than to wander down to Barry Island or Penarth and have a walk and take some photos. I'm an enthusiastic photographer rather than a good one. You can find some of my photo albums on Flickr here. But whilst Boris has said you can go out for one walk a day, I still think it's not the right thing to do. According to my iPhone I've "walked" almost 2 miles today staying within the confines of my house and garden whilst gardening, so I can hardly claim inactivity.  Whilst this is going on I'll have to find some other stuff to take photos of like my garden. So here's some nice tulips to brighten up your day.

And as for the cat. well my daughter was teaching her how to do jigsaws, and stand up for treats.

The cat learning how to do jigsaws

She'll do anything for a treat

March 23rd, Blood, dogs and lockdown

Latest news first. Lockdown.

I think we all knew it was coming, but watching the Prime Minister deliver the message was surreal. But at least we have a clear and definite message/instruction. Let's see how it plays out. Good job I have some paint in. Might as well get on with the decorating.

In other news, this is how my day went.

Moral support to our daughter who was supposed to be at work today, but is finding things so stressful she felt that she just couldn't go in. She felt worse that she was letting people down. I reminded her you have to look after yourself first.

Went to GP surgery for a routine/regular blood test (remember I'm on a disease modifying drug for arthritis that can potentially damage your liver and affected the immune system, so require these regular blood tests. I was stopped at the door to the surgery to answer questions about my health and have my temperature taken (all good). Place was very quiet - only four other patients in the waiting area, though the two receptionists were constantly on the phone helping patients with their enquiries. Phlebotomist did a wonderful job as per and I was in and out in about 2 minutes. Also handed in my prescription - the adjacent pharmacy is very busy, and have to go back to pick up later, as they're now dispensing three months worth of drugs at a time, and they didn't have enough of one of them until later today when they get a delivery. Update: I now have more drugs than Boots.....😂

Following that I went to Cardiff Dogs Home to walk a dog. I took up volunteer dog-walking in December after I retired (my wife is also a walker). And despite the current situation, those dogs in the home still need to be walked. Its's good exercise for me and something that can be done whilst socially distancing - walkers aren't allowed to be close to other people/dogs anyway. The signing in and handover of the dogs was almost as strict as at the GP surgery! Today's "client" was Hip, a lovely, friendly staffie/brown Patterdale cross. I'm not sure what happens now we're in lockdown? Can I combine my allowed daily walk with a visit to the dogs home?

Jip

A friendly fella

River Ely with canoeists and Cardiff Dogs Home behind

It's been another sunny day here, so cat is on sleeping duty (again). No rats today.

22nd March 2020

A relatively quiet day in Chez Stats.

Anne (my wife) has been over to her mother's, partly because it's Mother's Day, but also because she's her part-time carer. Wrong though it felt, I decided not to go on the basis that really the general advice is not to visit others, even though it is my mother-in-law. I suspect however that there will be times over the coming weeks that I will have to visit. As I feel fine (as does my wife), and my mother-in-law - for an almost 94 year old housebound person with multiple pathology, it does feel wrong not to go, but that's what we're being told to do, so that's what we're doing.

I've been nowhere today, and neither have the kids. Its been another nice day if little breezy, so I've been doing some more gardening. My daughter has been trying to set up the laptop she's been given for potential home working, and despite being advised the set-up is "idiot proof" has run into an issue that requires advice when she's back in work tomorrow. Such is the nature of IT. It's supposed to be easy, but rarely is in my experience.

We've all (well me, my wife and son) had a go at Joe Wicks' YouTube "Worksout for Seniors" this morning. We chose the "seniors" version  at my wife's behest. She's only 59 😂. 10 minutes of fairly gentle exercises. Was quite funny to watch (us not the video), but on a serious note, as we move towards a more confined life for the present, maintaining any level of activity is important, and 10 minutes is nothing. What else are we going to do?

The news (and particularly social media) is still full of tales of scenes of idiocy at supermarkets and in some public spaces. Best avoided I think. Supermarkets and social media that is.

Tomorrow I have to go out as I'm due a regular blood test at the GP surgery, and to pick up my prescription.

I almost forgot. Last night me and my son watched Zombieland. Felt immensely weird watching an albeit comedy film about a zombie apocalypse give the current situation, but it was very funny. Well I thought so anyway. Reminds me, I might have to watch Shaun of the Dead (again).

The cat's been out enjoying the sun, and as per my quip yesterday that she could always go out hunting in these times of (some) food scarcity, she was spotted this afternoon coming home along the top of the fence carrying a large, dead R.A.T. Luckily we managed to catch her before she brought in indoors.

21st March 2020

So today I accompanied my wife for our weekly shop. Last Saturday the local "big" Tesco's was a bit like Christmas. Rammed, no (or very little toilet roll, pasta or rice. After a week of sensible people telling the idiots not to stockpile (which might just actually make it worse) and I wasn't expecting a fun hour or so out.
Actually it was OK. It was less busy than last week (we were there at about 8.30. There was a general air of calmness about the place. Sure, there wasn't any loo roll (or just a couple of packs, but we didn't need any anyway). everything else looked reasonably stocked apart from dried pasta and rice - still non existent, and the other thing now looking remarkably scarce is pet food (cat, please take note). However, again we are pretty well stocked for that anyway and usually have a couple of weeks worth in. Anyway, she can always go and hunt for fresh meat 😺.  Also, the wine shelves whilst far fro empty, certainly had quite a lot of spaces. Talking of which...

The other obvious thing was that restrictions on (some) items were being reinforced. The bloke in front of us at the checkout had several bottles of wine (in fact that's pretty much all he had), and was told in no uncertain terms that he could only have three. There were trolleys at the end of checkouts where staff had obviously removed items from customers who had 'overlooked' the limits, and these were to be truthful mostly full of alcohol. I suppose the thinking is, with pubs and restaurants shut, if you have to stay in isolation you might as well make it as enjoyable as possible!

Our daughter has been given a laptop and headset to set up in advance of the decision to work from home, although she's not yet sure when that will be.

Sone has been over to see his best mate and lend him a guitar. He reckons if he has to self-isolate he may as well learn a new skill.

Was a day off from visiting mum-in-law today as my wife's brother was on the rota for that, but we will be going over tomorrow, which also happens to be Mother's Day.

It was a nice day today so I spent some of it doing some early gardening - it's the first decent dry day we've had for a while, and then we went for a walk in the local woods. Quite a few people about making the most of the day and the chance to get out and about.

I've also updated a camping website I do for a friend with their latest update on CV19.

In the last 24 hours Ive also been in touch with my elder brother and sister, neither of whom I see very often. They and their families are all ok.

With one eye on the news, what we're hearing from Italy is horrific. Why Italy seems to be hit so bad, or whether we're just not hearing reports from elsewhere I don't know. One thing seems certain. We haven't seen the half of it here yet. But, if we follow the guidance/advice, ignore the crap on social media and scare stories, we'll all be a lot better off.

The cat's spent most of the day asleep in the conservatory.

Laters....

20th March - quick update

Just a quick one as I missed posting this yesterday, and will do a lengthier post later.

Still all alive and well at Chez Stats.

Boris has ordered the shutting all pubs and restaurants. No surprising really, but still a stark reminder of where we are.

New Chancellor Rishi Sunak calm and comprehensive approach to the financial challenges facing individuals, business and the country in general seems to be being received very well in the main (there's always someone with an axe to grind though. Hey, this is unprecedented folks, one step at a time...).

Just found out that I can "pause" my Sky Sports subscription whilst there's no live sport on their channels (thanks to an article I came across in the Independent, otherwise I wouldn't have known as Sky aren't doing this automatically). It's worth doing. You still have access to the channels, you just won't be charged for watching old re-runs and documentaries.  It's easy to do online and Sky will resume automatically once live sport returns. Seems a no-brainer.

Braved the weekly shop this morning (21st) with Mrs H. more on that later.

Cat couldn't care less.

19th March

So day 2 of my blogging about Coronavirus/Covid-19 (can I just abbreviate it to CV19 or is that a Coventry postcode 😂?)

We've just had the latest Government New Briefing with Boris and the Chief Scientific Officers. Whatever your views on Boris, you wouldn't wish this situation on anyone to have to lead a country through and all politics aside, I think he's doing a fairly decent job in what must be a monumentally pressured job. Whatever he says or does, or those around hime recommend in terms of policy and actions, he's not ever going to please everyone - this is completely unprecedented. I also must give a shout out to the two CSO's Patrick Vallance and Chris Whitty who in my view are both hugely impressive in both conveying their messages, their knowledge and their demeanour.

I haven't been out and about today - not social distancing particularly, for one it's been a rainy old  grey day and not conducive to going out - I did think about walking a dog but chickened out, so have stayed inside cleaning lights and curtains and sorting a dodgy radiator - all those things that when I was working I never really had the time (or rather the inclination) to do.

My wife has been to see her mum and make sure all is well with her. My son continues to work at home, although he did pop into Cardiff to the office to collect few bits. My daughter is at work, although is feeling incredibly anxious about everything - more worried I think about having CV19 without knowing because she's working with others and using public transport, and passing it on to others in the family. I've tried to reassure her, and hopefully that's helped a bit. I'm sure her company will continue to do the right thing, support their staff and make the right decisions for the good of their employees.

Some of the skittle team are having a last hurrah at the club this evening, but I've decided not to go. A load of men playing with their balls doesn't seem very sensible, although I'm sure they'll take appropriate precautions. Who knows, maybe CV19 is undone by beer? That could be a win.....

We've also almost certainly knocked on the head a trip to the Peak District the week after next with my wife's sisters and brothers and their other halves. The pub we were going to stay at for a couple of days is still open, but it just doesn't seem to be the right thing to be doing, although our daytime activities of walking in the hills and valleys would probably have been an ideal social distancing activity. The meals and beers in the pub afterwards perhaps not so much.

The cat's mostly been asleep.

In other non CV19 news, everyone associated with Cardiff City has been devastated today to hear of the passing of former Bluebird midfielder Peter Whittingham, who has died following a fall a couple of weeks ago. He was only 35 and with a young family. Truly tragic. He was one of the most, if not the most gifted footballer I ever saw in the flesh and gave me and all Cardiff fans many moments to remember over his time with the club. My condolences go to his family at this terrible time.

Peter Whittingham  8 September 1984 - 19 March 2020
(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)

Coronavirus/Covid-19 - a personal perspective

This is scary stuff isn't it?

When the first reports of coronavirus first started coming out of China, the only pre-occupation I had was around whether a long planned cruise with friends to Asia would be affected. Short answer - yes. It was cancelled. So we booked a last minute break to Lanzarote instead where we endured a 3 day sandstorm, and heard of a coronavirus outbreak in neighbouring Tenerife.

Anyway, by now we all know this thing has blown up globally, and there's no end in sight - in fact it may only just be the beginning for us in the UK. So I thought I'd pen a few thoughts about how it's impacting me and my family. I might get fed up with this pretty quickly, but it helps pass the time.

Me: I'm 60, retired (at the end of last year), and enjoying new found freedom. In reasonable health apart from an arthritic condition for which I take a drug that suppresses my immune system and requires regular blood tests. Not good if viruses are around....
I'm secretary of the local cricket club, play golf (a bit), and like walking & photography. I'm a volunteer dog walker at the local dogs home.

My wife: Semi-retired, is a nurse working 2 days a week in the local hospital and spends a lot of time caring for her 93 (soon to be 94) year old housebound mother who lives a few miles away.

Son: Still at home, works in Cardiff.

Daughter: Still at home, works in Cardiff

Cat: Does her own thing

Currently, we're all fit and healthy (not withstanding my arthritis, and a currently painful shoulder - cause unknown but not arthritis). Wife's work is understandably busy and making plans for what might come. Son is working from home for the foreseeable future, and his job makes that fairly easy. Daughter still working in Cardiff on shifts for a large insurance company. Talk of working from home, but no clear idea yet how that can be realistically achieved (she's a customer service agent in the call centre). She's perhaps understandably, fretting about it.

We haven't stockpiled anything - there's no reason to. Plenty of stuff in the shops if only other idiots would realise it. I'm not sure the media and social media publicising people panic buying helps or just makes the situation worse.

We have things in place to support my elderly, infirm mother-in-law, but clearly the idea of "social distancing" and the potential to require those over 70 to remain in social isolation for up to four months could become a major issue.

At the direction of the ECB (cricket's governing body) the cricket club has cancelled all activity including pre-season nets. The season won't start on time and may not happen at all.

Socially, our skittles league has been cancelled.

We have some short breaks and holidays booked. They're a little further ahead in time at the moment, so no need to worry about them just yet, but I'm thinking they won't happen. Myself, son and daughter are all Cardiff City season ticket holders, so that's gone, as has pretty much all sport. Cardiff's RHS Flower show in April has gone. And Boris has told us to stay away from the pub - although apparently he hasn't told his father!

As things stand and like most others, I'm very concerned about how all this will pan out in the end - and when will it be "safe" to resume anything like normal life and social activity? What will the high street look like in the coming months or next year? What businesses will go to the wall? In the short term, if we're all sensible and follow the advice we should be ok. It'll be hard no doubt but to be honest, as things stand at the very moment in time we're in a much better situation than many.

As for the cat, she couldn't care less so long as she's fed regularly, and spends most of her time sleeping.

Center Parcs - always a great break

We've been to Center Parcs many times over the last 25 years. The first time, our eldest (now 25) was about a year old. This time both our grown up kids came along  plus my sons's best mate. We went as we always have to the Longleat resort.

The Rapids in daylight

The Rapids at night - an absolute must!

I've blogged a couple of time about our visits, this one in 2006 and this one in 2010 so I won't go into the minutiae again - a basic summary is that it's a midweek or weekend break in the forest, with a tropical indoor pool area (free), and a gazillion activities (mostly extra cost) that can be done if that's your bag. Plus restaurants, and well furnished accommodation that range from basic (but nonetheless well equipped) to luxurious. It can be expensive (and overall accommodation prices are hiked horribly to co-incide with school holidays), but at the end of the day you can take it or leave it. We love it. A good friend of mine is also an advocate, and he's also blogged about it previously.

The Pancake House

I suppose having written before about what you can do the key things for me are the way I've seen the place change over the years. It's still fundamentally what it set out to be. Good family fun. The lodges have been uprated and improved over the years, newer, executive style lodges and even tree house accommodation is now available. We pushed the boat out this time in a 3 bedroom executive style lodge complete with sauna! Also new (for us since last time) is that you get given a green wristband(s) which acts as your key to your lodge and key for your locker in the Subtropical Swimming Paradise. It certainly makes you 1) less likely to lose a key, and 2) not have to faff around trying to find £1 coins.

Our 3 bedroom Executive Style Lodge

The restaurants have changed. There are many more activities that have appeared over the years. The Sports Bar has a TV at almost every table. The (free) wifi right across the estate is pretty decent in the Plaza's and accommodation, and if you can't get wifi at least you can (mostly) get a 3G/4G signal these days.

Our lodge interior (downstairs)

Our lodge interior (downstairs) with a well equipped kitchen 

The new tube rides (Cyclone and Typhoon - free as they're part of the sub-tropical swimming paradise) are great, although inevitably the queues build pretty quickly and waits can be long for a short thrill ride - but arguably worth it!

In the Dome - there were people about - honest!

Sports Plaza (it's much bigger than this!)

Inside the Dome

We had a fabulous time on our long weekend break. Plenty of pool/slides/rapids/tube rides time, a couple of meals out at Las Iguanas and the excellent and highly recommended Rajinda Pradesh Indian restaurant. Although some of our party were carrying various injuries between us we played badminton, table tennis, snooker, pool, min-golf (indoor and outdoor), the girls spent time in the Aqua Sauna spa, we watched sport, drank beer and wine (and cocktails), went on a nature walk on the estate, rode bikes and played 10 pin bowling. I think that's a pretty impressive effort for a weekend!

One of the many Coastal Redwoods on the estate

Unfortunately the weather can't be guaranteed we had one decent (but overcast) day and the Sunday was hit and miss with some heavy rain showers, but that didn't stop us! As I said of one of our previous visits, the beauty of this format is that even if you're only been for the weekend, you leave feeling like you've had a real break from reality. Chill with a glass of wine, or be as active as you want. The choice is yours. Will we be going again? Absolutely!

There are paths galore

All the paths are well laid out, generally well lit at night when the forest looks and feels remarkable different, Keep your eyes open for squirrels, badgers, foxes, owls and even deer.

You're not far from nature anywhere!

Center Parcs at night near our lodge

There a quietness about the place at night, even though it's 900 lodges are generally at 97% capacity (so we were told). The site is 400 acres, so there's plenty of room and places for those occupying the lodges to disappear to, and although inevitably the Sub Tropical Swimming Paradise, key rides, and Sports Plaza and popular activities can be very busy at times, there are plenty of quieter opportunities.

Heaven's Gate (just outside Center Parcs with view over Longleat - when it's not foggy!)

You're right next to Longleat Estate and the Safari Park (or very nearly - you won't get eaten by lions).

The magic of the FA Cup: City 2-2 Carlisle

FA Cup 3rd round day. One of the biggest football days of the season. David's v Goliath's. Or in this case Cardiff City v Carlisle United. Separated by around 300 miles and 50 or so league places, it should have been a walk in the spork for City, especially given Neil Harris, the City manager's resolve to bounce back after a 6-1 hammering by QPR on New Year's Day. But this is Cardiff City, and things never, ever go to plan. There were multiple changes to the squad as expected, but it was still a decent XI on paper. City appeared to be denied a penalty by the inconsistent referee within the first few minutes, only to concede a penalty themselves 11 minutes in, which was scored on the rebound after 'keeper Smithies saved the original shot.

City were all over the place, and chants by the decent number of travelling fans of "You're fucking shit" couldn't really be argued with. In fairness to the visiting fans, that wasn't the only song they had, and the predictable "Championship - you're having a laugh" and renditions of God Save The Queen were wheeled out, and they did their best to create some sort of atmosphere. With less than 5,300 fans in total, and the Grange, Grandstand and Canton stands closed there was never going to be any atmosphere from the City faithful.

But back to the football - if you can call it that. A Premier League side only last season, Cardiff's stock plan seems to be pass sideways, sideways, sideways, then back and hoof long. Come to think of it, that was our plan in the Premier League too. There's no visible plan, let alone a plan B. There's little quality on or with the ball, and a lack of composure and urgency right round the team. City had a fair bit of the ball, but could do nothing with it. Carlisle compounded City's woes by going 2-0 up on the stroke of half time, and the Bluebirds were roundly booed off at the break.

Manager Neil Harris said after the game there was no ranting at half time (there bloody well should have been), but City did come out of the blocks after the break for 10 minutes at least, pulling back a goal through Callum Paterson and then equalising  via a Gavin Whyte header (despite a suspicion that the ball had gone out of play before he scored), but any glimmering hopes of a City comeback win faded as they reverted to type and despite a (slightly) better second period, they failed to break down the visitors defence. Indeed, Carlisle had a couple of late chances to nick it, and whilst that might have objectively been harsh, you wouldn't have been surprised had they done so.

There were less boos at full time, but a hugely disappointing afternoon following on from the QPR game and the prospect of an unwanted long distance midweek replay beckons, but I suppose at least we're still "in the hat" for the 4th round.

More worryingly, the next home game is the fabled South Wales derby, with our friends from down west hoping to do the league double over us. On this form, who'd bet against it? Not me.

New Year 'up North' - waterfalls and castles

Travelling abroad for holidays often makes me think how small the UK is. But it's not really. A trip to Barnard Castle in County Durham for New Year with a whole bunch of family brought it home to me.  For a start there's the getting there. It's a bloody long way. 304 miles to be precise the way went which keeping (roughly) to speed limits and allowing for a stop or two, took us around about 6 hours. Unlike the rest of my family, I always enjoy the "getting there" aspect of any trip. Despite being behind the wheel, I always find it interesting to go to (or past) places I've rarely/never been or only read about or seen on TV/film/social media (delete as applicable). County Durham, and indeed a lot north of Birmingham is relatively unfamiliar territory for me so signs to York, Ripon, Harrogate, Wensleydale (and even Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham) make me wonder what these places are like (I've actually been to Harrogate a couple of times, but not the other places).

Anyway, we got safely to our lodgings adjacent to a livery stable in Barnard Castle and unloaded for a couple of days chilling with family.

On New Year's Eve, wanting to make the most of our trip we ventured out - eventually. Have you any idea how difficult it is to corral 17 people and 6 dogs to leave (and arrive at a designated place) at the same time!

We drove a few miles into wilder country to High Force waterfall on the Tees river. One of the most impressive waterfalls in England, it was certainly in fully flow when it appeared out of the trees on the well maintained short path to it from the car park.

Countryside near High Force, County Durham

High Force waterfall from the path

The walk to High Force

Myself and my good lady at High Force

It's an impressive site as you at first hear the waterfall as the path winds round and then comes into view, the river Tees plunging 70 feet into the pool below. I've seen some waterfalls in the Welsh valleys, but this is a step up on them (with apologies to my Welsh family and friends!). The river then continues downstream, the water dark and brooding, even if not very deep. We retraced our steps, and then took a walk slightly downstream, across a bridge and back up the other side of the valley to get close and personal with the falls from the top.

The Tees downstream of High Force

High Force from the far side of the valley.

The Tees just before it plunges over High Force

A little bit of artistic licence as the Tees starts its plunge down

We were lucky that the light was good, the river was in full flow to see this most impressive waterfall.
After our walk we had a quick refreshment stop at the High Force Inn by the car park (you actually have to pay to go down to the falls - tickets available at the hotel, but it's only a couple of quid, and worth it for the well maintained track and safety fencing).
After refreshing ourselves we drove back and had a very quick stop in Barnard Castle. The castle itself was closed, but again, a mightily impressive site sitting on the banks of the Tees in the evening sun.

The bridge over the Tees at Barnard Castle

Barnard Castle itself

I suppose the point of this blog, aside of sharing some phots of an impressive waterfall, is to reinforce that we live in a country with some wonderful areas of outstanding natural and historical beauty. There are many, many places in the UK that I've never been in my 60 years on this planet, and although it 'feels' like this was a long trip, in the grand context of someone who normally travels abroad at least once a year, it's not. We have a whole lot on our doorstep, and there's plenty to choose from. I'd certainly like to go back to this part of the country and spend longer exploring. And I've got family who live barely 45 minutes from there, so it's not as if I have an excuse!

Misty Walk around Cardiff Bay

We normally go on a family walk sometime between Christmas and New Year. We're not all together at Christmas or New Year, so coming together, albeit briefly sometime in the intervening days is a great chance to catch up, get some fresh air and walk off some of the yuletide excesses.
Wit ages ranging between 8 and 70, we don't go far, and several times over the last few years we've done a circular walk around Cardiff Bay. It's ideal - at 4 miles it's far enough to make it a worthwhile walk without overkill. It's flat. It's not muddy (pretty much all paved, and certainly all paths), and there are a multitude of refreshment points half way round at Mermaid Quay. We've been blessed with some decent weather in previous years, but this year 27th December dawned gloomy and damp.
We started as normal from the free car park off Marconi Way in Penarth Marina Park and headed in a clockwise direction over the Ely via the Pony y Werin bridge.

River Ely from Pont y Werin bridge

From there we walked down past the ice rink and onto the boardwalk. The misty gloom contributed to an atmospheric picture as sailing boats in the bay slowly appeared out of the mist, one boat standing out due to its luminous sail.

Sailing boats in the bay

From the relative peacefulness of the boardwalk, we moved onto the road bridge carrying the A4232 over the Taff. Always busy and noisy, this part of the walk normally provides some great photo opportunities of the bay, but the fog played havoc with that. All we could see was one water bus coming down the Taff into the bay. In one corner near Cardiff Yacht Club, various detritus had gathered, having floated down the Taff and Ely rivers into the bay. It was fascinating, and though somewhat sad to see at least a dozen footballs in that single area that probably once gave so much fun to someone. On the plus side, it gave me a chance to post the photo to the Twitter account @lostfootballs!

Lost Footballs

Escaping the roar of road noise, we took the path into the Cardiff Wetlands reserve, heading towards the St Davids hotel, with a quick detour down the boardwalk to get closer to the various swans, dusk's, coots, grebes and other associated waterfowl that call the bay their home.
From St Davids hotel we wandered into Mermaid Quay, and met up with some more family in the Wetherspoon's Mount Stuart for some much needed refreshments!

Once fed and watered (ok, alright, beered), we walked past the rest of Mermaid Quay, the magnificent Pierhead building, the Send and Norwegian Church, before making our way past the vast empty space that until recently housed the Dr Who exhibition. On the way, it was a fantastic opportunity to take some really atmospheric snaps that the misty weather enabled of the old moorings, and various boats coming out of, or disappearing into the mist.

Old moorings

Water taxi disappearing into the gloom

Boat coming into moor

The disappearance of the Dr Who exhibition allowed for a nice reflection shot in a puddle on the concrete.

Refelections

From here we wound past the old disused locks, and onto the barrage proper. The tide was way out - as low as I've ever seen it, showing the mud flats and the deep channel into the still working port. The by now dry, if not clear day, had clearly got people out and about from their cosy homes to walk off the Christmas calories and the barrage was pretty busy. The mist was so bad, that you couldn't see Penarth Head, only the first couple of floors of St Davids hotel were visible, and the tops of the flats alongside the A4232 and across towards the Cogan spur were all but invisible.

The sea locks at the Penarth end of the barrage are always a fascinating site to behold. The deep locks, the creaks and the rushing of water over the fish ladders. The little pink shack on the end of the harbour wall was just visible with the guiding lights shining out of the mist, and as is usual, I didn't pass up the opportunity to stand on the spot that gave me the perfect shot of the concentric circles where they all come together.

Harbour entrance wall and guiding lights

Circle Art

Almost at our walks end we crossed into Penarth Marina, across the bridge and back alongside the river Ely before returning to the car park.

Penarth Marina

We've done this walk many times. Usually in dryer, bright conditions. However, the walk today gave an opportunity to see (or not see) the bay in a completely different light (quite literally), but it was no less interesting for that, and some of the photos I took I was really please with, as it provided a unique atmosphere to the shots.

It's a great walk whichever way round you do it. A decent guide can be found from Derek Brockway's "Weatherman Walking" website. The PDF of the walk is available here.

Brexit. What a stinking mess.....

I’m not a political person. I don’t trust (most) politicians from any party. Some local councillors are ok to be fair, but even then not all of them. Politicians say what they want you to hear. They can’t give a straight answer a straight question. They tell lies (remember the  big red bus and the £350 million for the NHS?) And too many of them over the years have been shown to not have any grip on reality 

I don’t profess to understand Brexit. After three years I’m still struggling to understand what a backstop is (we used to have them when I played cricket as a kid) or what ‘no deal’ really means (for the eejits out there I know at least that it isn’t not leaving the EU as some seem to think).

What I do know is this. David Cameron in his infinite wisdom (perhaps ‘wisdom’ is the wrong word here), decided to go to the country to ask whether we should leave the EU or not. Clearly no one thought for a moment that the country would vote Leave. But vote Leave they did - by a fine margin. Whoops. Didn’t see that coming. Clearly no one (we’ll Dave anyway) had really considered what leaving would mean apart from the chance to have a nice blue passport, and as a result we’ve spent the last three years trying to work it out. 

Dave, having realised his faux pas promptly legged it, and no one has seen or heard from him since. 

So the incumbent government under the leadership of Remainer Mrs May, has ploughed on regardless. “It’s what people voted for”. “It’s what they want” is what we hear. Erm, no it isn’t. It’s what just over half voted for with no understanding of what leaving would actually mean. Anyone who did  know wasn’t admitting it. Maybe people though it was about getting bendy cucumbers or gnarly tomatoes back and not being told what to do by those nasty people in Brussels. Personally I suspect many of the people who voted Leave just did so to stick one up the Tories backside, a sort of general election by proxy if you will. Anyhow, here we are. 

Brexit is less than a month away as I write this and we’re still none the clearer on what this actually means or the impact it will have. The doom mongers would have us believe there will be shortages of food, medicines, and no people to do the jobs that no British people want to do. Foreign nationals, some who have been in the UK a long tine are genuinely fearing for their future. The Brexiteers are jumping for joy that we’ll be rid of that nasty EU who tie us into legislation and stuff like that whilst hastily shifting their business and money overseas

Businesses meanwhile generally seem pretty worried by the prospect. A friend of mine in an important job in a massive organisation has said he’s had to buy shedloads of stuff (millions of pounds worth) just in case because he’s got no clue what the impact of Brexit will actually be but fears it will raise prices dramatically. And he’s a very clever chap (much cleverer than any politician I’d argue). 

What really annoys me is that we’ve spent three years buggering about. As a country we must have spent millions if not billions on this. The time, effort and energy could have been spent on things of much greater importance. The NHS for one, but many other things besides. Roads, schools, etc. You get the idea. 

It’s hard to see a resolution with any positive outcome at this point. Our leaders (and I say that with tongue firmly in cheek) keep saying it’s the will of the people (well it was about the will of half of them three years ago when we knew nothing of the mayhem to come) and that no deal is better than a bad deal -(remember eejits, that no deal doesn’t mean no Brexit).

Well for what it’s worth I think the politicians (on all sides) have well and truly put the country in a worse place now than we were three years ago, and who knows where we’ll be in another three years time.

I’m off for a pint before the country runs out of beer.  At least I’ll have a new blue passport when the time comes to renew mine. 

Photography bug

So my re-birth of interest in photography is going well. I'm getting to know my way around my new camera, but I though the only way to really start to understand it was to do a course.

I booked a Level 1 Photography course through Jessops the high street photography store. I hadn't been in a Jessops for years, and to be honest thought they were long gone.

Anyway, course booked I turned up at the Cardiff store with 5 other people at 10am on a Saturday with my camera. Our experience ranged from enthusiastic but not experienced to the more experience, but the general take, was people wanted to get the best out of their gear.

The level 1 course is pretty basic - our tutor, an engaging young lad called John, who clearly knows his stuff took us through everything from how to hold the camera properly, to aperture, shutter speed, composition, exposure and more. I knew some stuff, but learnt a lot. It was a good, fun day, and my photos have definitely improved since the day.

I've now booked onto the Level 2 course, which delves deeper into camera controls and principles, and I'm certainly enjoying my new found enthusiasm for photography.

Here are just a few samples of what I'm achieving. They're not brilliant, but they aren't bad.

Cardiff Queen Street Station

Wife and daughter on Penarth Pier

Flowers