from Pantperthog to Knockando
Thursday, March 07, 2024
Snack of the month - Gold Billions Wafer
Sunday, March 03, 2024
Football recap of the month - February 2024
February 2024 proved to be a megamonth of football for me, as I went to nine matches. This is the most I've ever been to in February.
Game 37: Caerau Ely 3-2 Llantwit Major
Reason for going: This was a late decision, when my friend Steve suggested we go. It was a Friday night game and set me up for a 3 game weekend.
Point of interest: Llantwit Major came back from two goals down but were only level for a couple of minutes.
Game 38: Barry Town 0-3 Pontypridd Town
Reason for going: Barry's first game of phase 2 of the Cymru Premier season.
Point of interest: The first goal of the game was calamitous from the home team's point of view. The goalkeeper rushed out and failed to clear the ball leaving the striker free to fire home from the edge of the box.
Game 39: Barry Town Ladies 1-3 Cardiff City Women
Reason for going: I'd been to watch Barry Town Ladies the week before and enjoyed it. So decided to go and watch them as they were hosting the table-toppers.
Point of interest: This was the penultimate game of Phase 1 of the Adran Premier League. Cardiff City were unbeaten up to this point and it was easy to see why. They were a good team. (They lost the following week, though.) This was also the third day in a row I'd been to a football match.
Game 40: Penybont 2-2 Barry Town
Reason for going: Penybont is one of the closest away trips for me.
Point of interest: This was my 100th Barry Town game. I got a Futbology badge.
Game 41: Newport County 1-3 Notts County
Reason for going: My friend Paul is a Notts County fan. Although, for reasons of restricted ticket supply, I ended up in the home end with Paul's wife, Val, instead.
Point of interest: We caught the train to the game. Unlike last time I tried to watch Newport County, this time the train from Cardiff to Newport thankfully didn't go via Reading!!
Game 42: Llantwit Major 1-0 BK Skjold
Game 43: Barry Town 1-1 Haverfordwest County
Game 44: Cardiff City 2-1 Stoke City
Game 45: Caerau Ely 1-0 Taff's Well
Saturday, March 02, 2024
Love and crime - events of February 2024
And suddenly we are at the end of February, even though this year we had a bonus Leap Day.
For Valentine's Day, Cathy and I celebrated by building a cute Lego set together. I hope these two hedgehogs are as happy together as we are.
February was a difficult month all told. Halfway through the month a "change programme" was announced in work, which will have an impact on my team. Morale and motivation have definitely taken a hit as a result. It's almost inevitable that it will, particularly if people are leaving as a result - it's reminded me of several aspects of organisational change that I studied in my Business Psychology MSc.
On the home front we have had some stress too. What started initially with enquiries about some repairs to the house turned into a full blown roof replacement. We are very happy with the result, which included taking the top part of the chimney out and roofing over it. The state of the chimney has been worrying me for a long time and I'm very glad it's sorted.
However, getting a new roof during one of the wettest Februarys on record meant it took a lot longer to complete than anticipated. The benefit of having it done while it was lashing down with rain every other day meant we could instantly check whether it was watertight. Fair play, it held during some downpours even before the new slates went on.
Also, I've discovered that getting a new roof fitted is a great way to meet some of your neighbours. We had several people knock on the door asking if our roofers were any good and seeing if they could get quotes for their roof repairs.
Our roofer, Sheldon, was very good. I liked him a lot and when he finished on the final day and said goodbye I honestly told him I was going to miss him. Apparently he is going to be back in our street soon working on someone else's roof and he says he will knock on the door to say hi.
Less pleasantly, for the first time in my life I was the target of muggers. I won't go into too much detail, but basically, I was walking home from the city centre at about 6.30pm on a Friday evening. There were two youngish lads at the end of the street and as I walked past them one of them lashed out without warning, hit me and pushed me to the ground, then demanded some money.
After taking some money, he proceeded to run off. His mate ran off after him. I phoned the police and talked to a 999 call handler all the way home, which was only a few minutes. Obviously Cathy had a horrid shock when I walked in bashed and bleeding. Police officers were able to attend and take a statement within minutes. CID called round the next day. And I'm very happy to say that within two weeks, the police had arrested my assailant, had charged him and he's currently being held on remand.
While the incident was horrible, the response I have had from family, friends, neighbours and colleagues has been lovely. I genuinely felt loved and supported by so many people, many telling me how outraged this had happened to me. Some of our neighbours brought a box of cookies because they saw the police car outside and saw my black eye and wanted to check I was OK. That was the only time I cried about what had happened - crying because of their unexpected kindness.
So, yes, a bad thing happened, but there are still lots of good people in the world and the response to the bad thing really brought that home to me.
And on a final note, even having that incident happen, didn't stop me from going to nine football matches (full report to follow!), my first ever international ice hockey game, and making a dent in my pile of shame by building one of my Blood Bowl teams that had been sitting there unbuilt for two and a half years! So a good sporting month all round.
New Blood Bowl Orc team ready for mayhem |
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Book of the Month: Independent Nation
I've had this book in my reading pile for a little while. With the tagline 'Should Wales leave the UK?', it's written by Wales Online Welsh Affairs editor Will Hayward to scrutinise both sides of the discussion about Welsh independence.
I felt this was a decent review of the situation Wales is currently in. While Will points out that the idea that independence will help solve all of Wales's many problems is simplistic, he also strongly makes the case that the current status quo isn't going to do anything to solve those problems either. This is something I've talked about before when discussing my feelings about independence - 18 months ago when my friend Chris asked me whether I could really see a future for Wales as an independent country, I replied that I couldn't really see much of a future in the UK. This book acknowledges that things are bleak.
The problems we see in Wales - the high poverty rates, the demographic shift in society, the low quality infrastructure and the ongoing post-industrial trauma in the population's health are all covered by Will. And he pulls no punches at the lack of action from the UK government to do anything about them - inaction that has lasted for decades under whatever flavour government has been in charge.
Will doesn't have much time for the sloganeering of Yes Cymru, harshly skewering claims that Wales could get by selling water and energy. He points out that if Wales went independent without an economic plan it would be ruinous, but plans could be made and, indeed, some people are already coming up with ideas. Will believes a solution is for Wales to find its 'niche' in the world - something it would be world-leading in.
He also recognises that independence provides an opportunity to recalibrate the economy in Wales and focus on other priorities rather than 'growth'. A constitution for Wales could focus on social justice and quality of life for all the people who live here with economic policy flowing from that. It was encouraging to have some other possibilities included in a serious political work instead of discussions of the economy just being the de facto Western idea that 'wealth' is measured in money.
The flipside of the book is an examination of the current political system, which is exposed as seriously lacking. The idea that the UK can persist with an 'unwritten constitution' is deeply unsatisfactory - as is the idea of Parliamentary sovereignty, which leaves the people of the UK at the mercy of charlatans and thieves. This isn't a theoretical criticism; the corruption in our current government shows that.
So what is the solution? Will doesn't give an opinion, although he does offer a range of options, showing this isn't a binary question. The most interesting scenario he paints is accidental independence - asking what would happen if England decided to opt out of the union. That's a feasible issue if Scotland went independent and there was a nationalist swing in England that saw Wales and Northern Ireland as more trouble than they're worth.
If I had one criticism of this book, it's the author's tendency to insert himself into the narrative. As readers, we don't need to know which coffee shop he's met a politician in, or how he talked to an academic on a Zoom call. I know why authors add this colour in to their narratives - and Will doesn't do it as egregiously as some people do - but it's a distraction. There are other occasions where Will adds colour very successfully - for example, providing a short synopsis of the Aberfan disaster and how the UK government misappropriated the donations that were given to help the families of the victims who were killed.
But overall, that's a minor quibble for a book that I would recommend anyone with any level of interest in Welsh politics should consider reading.
Friday, February 09, 2024
International Ice Hockey
Tuesday, February 06, 2024
Making a tiny dent in the pile of shame
In the middle of 2021 I bought the starter set for the "second season" reboot of Blood Bowl. When I unboxed it I talked about all the lovely sprues of figures ready to be built.
And they remained on the sprue until last night, when I finally got round to building one figure - the star player for the Black Orc team.
Clipping fun! |
That's ten teams with four currently untouched in the pile of shame!
But still, I've made a tiny little dent.
Saturday, February 03, 2024
Snack of the month - pickled plum crisps from Japan
These crisps were in my Christmas stocking although I think Santa Claus may have had some help from my sister, Sarah (hi Sarah!)
According to the packaging Sweet & Sour Pickled Plum is a popular flavour in Japan. I can see why. The crisps were a unanimous hit among the three people (including me) who tried them. Cathy liked them a lot. Bryan gave them the thumbs up too.
I wasn't sure what to expect with these. I was a bit trepidatious after the last crisps to feature as my snack of the month were totally disgusting. Pickled Plum tasted like a slightly sweet salt and vinegar flavour. The sweetness gave the vinegar flavour a tangy edge that was very moreish. The crisps were nice too, crunchy but not cut too thick and not too oily, either.
So overall, a very nice snack which maintains the success rate of decent snack-of-the-month snacks for 2024.
Friday, February 02, 2024
Football recap of the month - January 2024
Into the new year with a bang!
My game numbering continues from December.
Game 33: Haughmond 1-0 Wem Town
Reason for going: I was in Shrewsbury for the weekend and went with my nephew to watch this Shropshire County Premier League game.
Point of interest: The Shrewsbury Sports Village was my first new ground of the year. It's where the Shrewsbury Town Academy team play.
Game 34: Shrewsbury Town 0-1 Wrexham
Seven photographers! Usually there are two max. |
Game 35: Cardiff Corinthians 1-1 Cardiff Draconians
Clubhouse full of history |