On the trail of the greatest secret agent in the world

A work trip to London meant a short stay near Baker Street and a chance to visit the secret entrance to the spy headquarters of none other than Danger Mouse himself!

Massive shout out to Gawain who humoured me and acted as my official photographer!

A quarter century being fast and furious

On a recent cinema trip I saw a poster advertising a 25th anniversary re-release of The Fast and the Furious. 25 years? That made me feel old.

I was working in that same cinema when The Fast and the Furious came out. (It's changed it's name since I worked there - RIP UCI!) I remember some co-workers being really excited about it - to the point of running across the lobby to watch the trailers.

25 years later it's amusing how a central theme of the film is a cop trying to track down a criminal gang stealing high end electronics, in this case DVD players! 

That also makes me feel old, remembering how excited people got about getting a DVD player, a massive upgrade from VHS videos, without suspecting how quickly those devices would become obsolete. Hard to believe that it was ever believable that stealing DVD players would fund a selection of high performance cars for a street racer gang, but we all accepted it.

The Fast and the Furious quickly spawned a sequel: 2 Fast 2 Furious, with one of the stars of the first film, Paul Walker. The other main star, Vin Diesel, was filming XXX at the time, another film with over the top stunts, fast cars and explosions. 

2 Fast 2 Furious came out so quickly I was still working in the cinema when it was released. My last shift there was spent watching the film while helping people navigate the stairs. The little safety lights that illuminated the stairs had stopped working so I was sat there with a torch to help anyone needing to leave to buy more popcorn or go to the loo. Needless to say, most of that last shift I just watched the film.

Neither Paul nor Vin appeared in the third instalment of the franchise, Tokyo Drift, but both came back for the fourth film that started using CGI instead of physical stunts. That rather defeated the whole point of the movies, in my view.

With XXX not turning into a multiple-film franchise like he'd hoped, Vin Diesel turned The Fast and the Furious into a spy adventure series instead, with the gang becoming mercenaries for hire. The films continued after Paul Walker's untimely death, adding notable action actors like Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson to their roster. (Stath and The Rock had their own spin-off movie too.) 

The franchise is still going with Hot Wheels cars and Lego sets to attract younger fans. I wouldn't have expected any of that 25 years ago when it all started because a street racer gang were stealing DVD players. 

Back to the castle for our third gig of the summer

Yesterday we went back to Cardiff Castle for the second time in less than a fortnight, this time to see Bowling for Soup and Frank Turner on their joint 'Bowling for Bones' tour. There was additional support from American Hi-Fi. We arrived in time to see all three bands perform.

We had 'accessible' tickets this time so were on a raised area with seating some way off to the left of the stage. It meant we were near the castle keep.

Although being in the accessible area was helpful for Cathy, it was a lot colder than the previous gig we went to at the castle. And being on a raised platform meant the area was quite exposed. Cathy ended up putting on extra layers. It was quite a contrast to when we saw Garbage on the brink of a heatwave!

All the layers - including rain poncho!

American Hi-Fi were decent. They have a very early noughties pop-punk sound. I enjoyed their set. 

Frank Turner's set list included most of his faster, louder songs. He started with I Still Believe and played most of my favourite songs, finishing with Get Better. 

There were a couple of slower songs in the middle, like Wessex Boy, which he introduced with an apology for being from Southern England. He had previously expressed a love for playing in Cardiff and name-checked Clwb Ifor Bach as a "legendary" venue, that he had performed in very early in his career. 

Frank concluded his set by saying he had met a bunch of American tourists in the castle earlier who said they were in a band and so he had invited them to perform a set. He asked the crowd to stay for at least two songs. 

And then Bowling for Soup came on for the kind of mayhem they tend to bring to the stage. There are only two band members left from when we saw them play the Student's Union Great Hall 20 years ago, but we still got the full gamut of classics like Almost, High School Never Ends, Ohio, Girl All the Bad Guys Want, The Bitch Song and 1985. They also introduced their "most popular song" early in the set and played the theme song to Phineas and Ferb. 

I particularly liked their Cymraeg rebrand!

Music aside, there were lengthy, sweary, funny rambles in between songs, an on-stage giveaway of a signed guitar, a dragon, pyrotechnics and flame projectors. It was non-stop entertainment.

This was our third big gig in less than two weeks. It's been a hectic time but great that so many artists we like are coming to Cardiff making it easy for us to see them.

My 1984 stocktake

I'm slightly envious of the guy who collected 1,984 copies of Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and turned them into an art exhibit. It just feels like a really cool idea. As someone prone to collecting, and who had a meaningful number as a collecting target in the past, it's one of those ideas I wish I'd had.

But perhaps it's a good thing I didn't have the idea! I don't have space for 1,984 copies of the same book. But I do have a few different copies. 

This is my favourite cover. I didn't need to buy this when Penguin released it a few years ago, but come on... it's perfect.

You can see how the 'censorship' black-out strip is over an embossed title, so it can be read more clearly if the book is tilted slightly.

The write-up on the back is quite minimalist. Penguin were packaging George Orwell's work as "Great Orwell" at the time. 

Keeping to the minimalist theme, there is no introduction. There is a page of quotes by authors and reviewers though.

Here's an older copy that I acquired from my Grandma's house. I kept a few of her books. This cover feels very cluttered and chaotic, in keeping with the way the Party both demands order but pursues disruption.

The writing on the left continues round onto the spine and then the back of the book.

The back cover features a quote from Andrew Motion, who might have been poet laureate when this copy was published. (It doesn't give an issue date but the existence of an advert for Penguin Books's website implies it was published after 1999 when Motion took up the role.) There is a brief author bio in the front but no intro.

My other Penguin edition is my 'reading copy' and has an issue date of 2008. It also has a 4-page introduction by Peter Davison (the literary professor, not the actor who played Dr Who!)

The cover design by Shepard Fairey is quite striking and they designed covers for Animal Farm as well (as seen on the back).

The two endorsements on the back are from comic Jo Brand and author Margaret Atwood. They feel like an unlikely pairing.

I blogged two years ago that several companies have started printing Nineteen Eighty-Four because the copyright on the book has expired (as has the copyright on all of Orwell's writings) so it's been a bit of a publishing free for all. 

But, despite seeing lots of attractive copies I have resisted the temptation to fill out a shelf with them. However, I did buy this version in TK Maxx recently. It is published by Wordsworth Classics and I bought it because it had an interesting-looking long introduction and several other essays by Orwell included. 

Plus the cover designed by Becky Surridge was very cool. It has real Fritz Lang 'Metropolis' vibes. Given the opening line of the book, the man in the clock in the 8 is striking. It could be Winston. It could be whoever is spying on Winston.

The introduction by Sally Minogue, author and academic, is 30 pages long. And adding even more value to this edition is a selection of essays and other bits, like book reviews.

There are no endorsements on the back. The write-up lists all the words and terms coined by Orwell in this book - something I blogged about way back when in the early years of this blog.

The list of additional content looks intriguing. I'm interested in what he thought of Wells and Huxley, both of whom were authors of speculative fiction too. (I've categorised 'speculative fiction' previously.)

So, those are my copies of Nineteen Eighty-Four. I have two books about the book as well. I reviewed DJ Taylor's book On 1984 back in 2023. I also have a copy of The Ministry of Truth by Dorian Lynskey, which will hopefully make it off the reading pile and onto the blog at some point!

For now, it's sitting in my 1984 collection.

My June selfie photo dump

The monthly round up post was a bit too long to include all the selfies I took. So here is a special edition photo dump.

Very early on in the month I went to Shrewsbury as an overnight stop on a work trip. I stayed at Hotel Mum and went out for tea with the proprietor.

I also saw Dave on the same trip.

Here's my football four person selfie with Sara, Steve and Scott, when we went to watch Wales women versus Czechia.

Sara and Scott are former work colleagues and it was a bumper month for selfies with people I used to work with.

I met Matt and Jo at a big charity expo - which was also at Cardiff City Stadium, funnily enough.

Kate was at the same event.

I took a selfie with Justin at a Plaid Cymru gathering.

And I met Heather for lunch as we continued our tradition of marking the solstices. 

And a few solo selfies. Firstly, my double-sided sherbet ice cream at Tafwyl.

Here's a selfie from on my way in to my Cymraeg exam in Treforest. My confidence was unfounded and I suspect I have done terribly.

And a selfie from my canvassing session in Treorchy to finish off.

My June 2026 round-up

Another busy month. On tbe blog I shared my good news about my diabetes recovery, my book of the month, my album of the month and my summary of the football season after I went to my final football match of the season and watched Wales women win against the Czech Republic. (And in tabletop sport, the dice were kind to me and unkind to Bryan when we played Blood Bowl!)

Cathy and I went to two gigs: Garbage in Cardiff Castle and Counting Crows in Bristol. We also had two cinema trips this month. The first was Masters of the Universe. I own one MOTU t-shirt and made sure I wore it. 

I liked the film. It was the perfect mix of homage and gentle mockery of the original 1980s cartoon. 

Cathy and I both wore suitable t-shirts when we went to see a tribute to the Muppets followed by a screening of The Muppet Treasure Island.

I had a nice work-related surprise when I was told I was one of a handful of people nominated as a 'Voice Champion' by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. I didn't know anything about this until I opened an email with this certificate attached. It made a grey Tuesday morning a bit special.

I made it to the Keep Grangetown Tidy litter-pick this month. Nothing very exciting to report this time in the three bags of trash I collected.

After a few weeks off, I was back on the canvassing trail. I went up to Treorchy to encourage people to vote in the council by-election. 

I was back knocking doors with James from Pontyclun. It was like old times! (As in, just a few weeks prior!)

Canvassing is great exercise. I ended the session by calling into a chip shop for a tray of well-earned sglodion! They were delicious. #NoRegrets. (Richard, the Plaid Cymru candidate, won the election with 70.8% of the vote!)

Canvassing wasn't my only political activity of the month. I went to the Tafwyl festival to help out on the Yes Cymru stand. While working there I met several Senedd members I knew, and got pics with a couple of them.

Senator Gonzalez

Senator Crowley

We had lots of interest from passers-by, and with the Westminster government sliding into even more chaos, the discussion about independence feels as timely as ever. 

One of my longer days out this month was to Swindon for the AGM of the British Thematic Association, the stamp collecting group I've been a member of for 16 years now. The meeting was at the stamp fair, Swinpex. 

It's been a good stamp collecting month for me, with two new philatelic passports added to my collection (from France and New Zealand). At Swinpex I bought a few stamps for my collection of pangolins on stamps, including this one produced by Sarawak in 1950. For a 76 year-old stamp, it's looking very crisp.

And at the end of the month we had a heatwave that set new temperature records in Cardiff. My impulse buy to help us cope was half a giant watermelon. By the time we finished it the heatwave was over!

Hand for scale!

Our summer of gigs continues with Counting Crows

You wait ages for your favourite bands to tour and then they all decide to tour at the same time. This was gig 2 of 3 in a fortnight for me and Cathy, after seeing Garbage a week ago, and with another gig coming up at the weekend. 

This time we were off to The Beacon in Bristol. It was the first time we had been to the former Colston Hall since their big refurb and name change when they wanted to distance themselves from the historical baggage of links to slave trader Edward Colston. 

We were sat right at the back, in the penultimate row of the third tier. We were so high up we had a good view of the lighting riggers. I've sat right at the back of a few venues and the Beacon definitely has the best views from that sort of seat. It didn't feel dizzyingly steep either. 

After a forgettable support singer, the band came on. 

This was billed as the "Complete Sweets" tour. We were expecting them to play most of their latest album, which was released in two parts. Instead they played mainly their classics. Most of their debut album August and Everything After got an airing along with various singles. I'm not complaining although they didn't play my favourite song off the new album, 'Boxcars'.

There were also a few covers. I have heard Counting Crows play 'Friend of the Devil' so many times now it feels like it's their song (and I sing along). They also did a cover of  'the 1' by Taylor Swift. It didn't feel like there were a lot of Swifties in the audience but everyone seemed to enjoy it. 

The camera on my phone isn't good enough for pics from up in the gods, but they look colourful at least!

And so, after an enjoyable night, we are now gearing up for gig three of our summer run of gigs!