Tuesday 27 March 2012

Scorchio!

Does anyone recall that sketch from the Fast Show in which the weather girl only said 'scorchio'?  Well the weather this March has been astonishing. Record high temperatures in Scotland, and sublime days everywhere else. Earlier I went to one of my favourite spots on the Offas Dyke path above the village of Tremeirchion. There can be few better places in north Wales to see a glorious sunset; the mountains of Snowdonia are crystal sharp against the orange sky.

Look west young man.


Sunday 25 March 2012

There's a woman in Caerwys that calls me Phil

There's a woman in Caerwys that calls me Phil. On my walks around the town I often meet a very nice woman with her two prize dogs. We pass the time of day; usual things like the weather or vet bills. This type of conversation has been taking place off and on for perhaps seven or eight years. For some reason from the beginning she started calling me Phil. Now I have a problem with names and would rather not use them until I get to know the person. I can't explain why. So I failed to correct her about the Phil thing. And after so many years it seems inconceivable that I should not have told her the truth. In the newspaper shop recently we happened to be there at the same time: 'Good morning Phil', says my cheery but unaware friend. The shopkeeper (who knows me well) looked bewildered, as well he might. So I am faced with a minor social dilemma: should I confess that my name is not Phil (nor ever has been)? Or should I carry on and for a tiny part of my life actually be Phil? Answers on a sealed down envelope.

Thursday 22 March 2012

A Doll's House

"Why shouldn't I look at my dearest treasure? - at all the beauty that is mine, all my very own."
- Henrik Ibsen, A Doll's House, Act 3
Note the theme of the last two blogs: feminist. The last showed an example of how women were paid less than men for doing the same job, and this was happening in my own life time. Tonight I went to see A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, written in 1879. This time the inequality suffered by women went even deeper; the leading character - Nora - was unable to borrow money to save her ailing father, and even her husband who was also ill. In the end she got money from a third party, but only after signing a contract that bound her to fulfill impossible conditions under the circumstances. This experience drove Nora to question the entire basis and value of her life. The play at Theatre Clwyd was brilliantly performed as usual; if you have not seen it yet, do.

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Women's pay

I was reading some newspaper cuttings from the 1940s when this small article caught my eye. It was a small, seemingly inconsequential note about a London council awarding war bonuses to its employees. However, they were discriminating between the pay of men and women: men got bigger bonuses, presumably for doing the same job. This type of pay discrimination was outlawed in the 1970s, but in the 1940s it was accepted practice:


Saturday 17 March 2012

My scarf

My scarf says it all.
Today I faced a dilemma.  Everton were in the quarter finals of the FA Cup, and Wales were playing France for the Grand Slam. Going to Everton would mean missing the Wales game. So what should I do? I admire rugby very much, especially the present Welsh team, but really the Everton game meant more. So I got my ticket for Goodison Park and had to make do with the radio commentary from Cardiff on our way home. Culturally, football (or soccer) has always played a much larger role in my life. I was brought up in Wales, but with a clear view of the great city of Liverpool. When I looked across at the lights of Merseyside I used to imagine that the brightest came from Goodison Park. In school we only played football, and almost everyone naturally followed Everton. So I am delighted that Wales beat France to win the Grand Slam, but a more significant part of me wishes that Everton could have beaten Sunderland to reach the FA Cup semi finals.

Everton 1 Sunderland 1

FA Cup quarter final day and Sunderland face the mighty blues. There was an amazing atmosphere at Goodison Park today - all the tickets had been sold in hours. Thousands of colourful and noisy Sunderland fans packed the Bullens Road stand. The game itself was closely contested, but Everton played the best football, and should have progressed to the semi finals. However Sunderland defended well; indeed they went ahead early in the first half, only for Tim Cahill to score a typically brave headed goal before half time. I suppose Everton's best chance has gone; the game at the Stadium of Light the week after next will be tough. Nevertheless, Everton showed today that they have the better footballing skills, so we can still hope.

A view from the terraces.





Wednesday 14 March 2012

Hardly exciting: build your own air raid shelter (re-visited)

Sorry Tom, but this view of the second world world war as somehow being an exciting time has caught my interest. My previous post on this theme looked at the construction of a cage to protect ones bed, creating a terrifying impression of sleeping in a zoo or nightmarish prison. Reading government produced information leaflets on this must have brought the fact of war literally home to the people of this country, perhaps for the first time. The pamphlet I have on building an air raid shelter at home pulls no punches. In order to demonstrate the success of these 'bed cages' the good people at the Ministry of Home Security blew up a typical family house to test their design to the full. I am not convinced that these images would have done anything to calm the anxieties of the people. The pamphlet claims that despite the entire house collapsing on the 'bed cage', it was possible 'to get out unaided'. I might be suffering from 21st century cynicism, but it seems hardly credible. I have included the page from the information pamphlet for you to decide:

X marks the spot: sleep well

Monday 12 March 2012

Carry on Dr.

I went to see a dermatology consultant this morning. I had been on the waiting list for 10 months and so I was hoping for news about ways to control my Psoriasis, which has become progressively worse in recent years. The consultant was first class; he spoke with reassuring authority on my condition. However his approach to actually deciding what course of treatment I should take was interesting. In fact he did not decide, rather he asked me to make the decision. He set out four options: first drug A, which does x, and has y side effects; then drug B, with the same breakdown of cause and effect. Next the third option, which was a mixture of drug A and drug B; finally, the option of doing nothing at all. Obviously the final option was the most attractive, as that is what I always do, but I could not (easily) justify that having waited so long for the appointment. In the end, despite my natural inclination to do nothing, I picked the first option. I don't really know why, but at least the expert won't be to blame if it goes wrong. My decision.

Sunday 11 March 2012

Hardly exciting: build your own air raid shelter

This is positively the last post  in answer to my son's observation that it might have been exciting to live during the Second World War.  I have been given a number of public information leaflets that, for me, illustrate the terror that must have gripped most of the population. So far we have had advice relating to prisoners of war, what to do if poisonous gas gets into your food, and the actions to take if the the Nazis actually land. This last information leaflet provides the householder with advice, and even plans, as to how to construct an air raid shelter. This is not like an IKEA flat pack - which can be difficult enough, I know. In this case you only got the plans; no handily wrapped wooden bits or bag of nuts and bolts. Just drawings. If the thought of being bombed from 10000 feet was not frightening enough, the government expected, or suggested, that people build and sleep in this scary construction:

Exciting Tom? Exactly. I think I have made my point.

Saturday 10 March 2012

DIY audax ride: Caerwys to Llanrwst

Today I completed my first DIY audax ride. For those not in the know, this involves planning a route, submitting it to an audax verifier and then actually riding it. Audax UK is the body that controls long distance cycling in this country. Long distance cycling is considered a ride over 100km, usually far more, up to 1400km in fact. So my ride of 109km was relatively short. I had planned the ride from Caerwys to Llanrwst, going over the Denbigh moors and returning via St Asaph. For a strong, reasonably fit cyclist this distance is no real problem. It did involve, though, climbing around 2300 metres. I have failed to mention that to successfully complete the challenge it has to be done within a time limit, the minimum being 15km per hour. The weather today was sublime; a slight breeze on the way out, but nothing to complain about; and a tail wind home. We stopped for coffee at the chocolate factory in Pentrefoelas. That was our only break. I am still enjoying the freedom of light weight cycling and the hills today posed few problems. I also tried out my new carbon Dolan bike, and that performed well. So all in all a great day of cycling.

About to leave down town Caerwys

On the road to Nebo

Friday 9 March 2012

Hardly exciting: If the invader comes

On the theme of fear and the Second World War that I explored in my last post, I would like to share this government produced public information leaflet that I was given recently. It gave the householder advice as to what they should do if the Nazi forces actually arrived in our towns and villages. The very fact of receiving such as sheet would have raised the stress levels in even the most rational citizen. It does not make comfortable reading:

The advice to 'stay put' in the face of Nazi soldiers advancing is especially interesting and optimistic. Read from the standpoint of 2012 this advice seems hopelessly inadequate, yet it gives a sense of the desperate situation faced by this country with German forces poised to invade across the English Channel, before  Pearl Harbour and Operation Barbarossa.

The other side of this document:

This makes fascinating reading. It may well have been an exciting time for some, but I wager that for most reading this type of official publication would prove harrowing. I will ensure that these documents are placed in the local records office once I have read them again carefully.

Saturday 3 March 2012

Hardly exciting: poisonous gas

My son recently asked if I thought that living during the Second World War would have been exciting. I don't know what had provoked this question, but the answer is clearly No. It would have been a very frightening time for people of all ages. It might have been a time where the community collectively pulled together, and some may retrospectively view it as a golden period. That being said, to have lived at the time when the outcome was far from certain cannot have been anything other than extremely disconcerting. As I have noted in previous blogs, I have been given a series of original public information leaflets from the early part of the war. Reading them now brings out the terror that must have lurked closely below the surface of everyday life.

This leaflet (I will share some others another time) concerned the danger of a poisonous gas attack. Of course the issue of gas masks to the entire population is well known, but less apparent was the threat that this gas would get into the peoples' food. This leaflet - which must have caused consternation to many - explains how this danger should be faced.