Back to work

Well the holiday season is over and it's back to work. So no more Mr Nice Guy, no more travelogues and pretty piccies. The topic of the moment is prizes. Has anyone noticed how many there are. They are everywhere.

"Congratulations sir you are breathing, this qualifies you for our special inhalation prize. Just ring this premium rate number and sit on the line for a couple of hours and we'll tell you which worthless gift you've won."

Or, you open the paper and yet another scratch card falls out. You scratch the panels off and lo and behold you've won one of the Grade 'A' prizes which could include any of the following: a week wallowing in Hippopotamus shit, being the live bait for a Great White Shark fishing trip, 10 chances of contracting AIDS by re-using random needles found in a dump etc etc. All you have to do is text STUPIDMORON to the following number 05417.

I have to ask what is it with this society that we are so obsessesed with the quick win. The easy route to riches and idleness. Are we really so full of envy and sloth that all we can think about is having more money than we can spend in 3 lifetimes so that we can surround ourselves with overpriced crap and eat ourselves into oblivion watching yet another episode of The Simpsons.

Call me old fashioned, 'You old fashioned staid git!' but wouldn't we feel better in ourselves if we were able to say we had made a positive contribution to the society we live in. The idea of voluntary work, helping your neighbour or contributing in some way to the neighbourhood seems to have died out since Scouting's 'Bob a Job' was withdrawn. The WI still exists, but tends towards an increasingly geriatric group of biddies. Christian fellowship has degenerated to having tea with the vicar in the church hall on Sunday.

So look around you. Do something, no matter how slight, for some one else and feel better in yourself, it surely can't be that painful, can it - and who knows where it might lead.

Vive la France

It's post number two, and another holiday post at that.

First Wales, now France ... Vive La Difference? Quelle Difference? We're in France for a couple of days and we're rained out of Rouen and drowned in Dieppe. Fantastique!!

So having managed to dump both the children, one in summer school, one at Explorer camp, it's off to France for a couple of days. We've booked a couple of days in Hostellerie near Mesnil-val. When you get there it's surprising how many places are called Mesnil-xxxx. Confused? I was.

However, I must give the French their due, getting there was a pleasure ..... used mostly side roads, very scenic, no traffic, little stress, road signage was up to scratch, road surface was smooth, not riddled with speed cameras or groups of policemen in vans armed with radar guns every 6 Km. In fact the 'side' roads were so good I used them in preference to the motorways for all our travel.

So, if it's Monday it must be Rouen and Dieppe. Not the best idea in the rain and drizzle, but what the hey. Rouen was grim, Monday? Oh yes, on Mondays everything is shut, except for the big stores. Still the architecture is on the outside, and it is fantastic - so a few piccies of that then.

Bored of Rouen in the rain we head Dieppe. Bad mistake. If it was wet inland, it was even wetter on the coast. The umbrella sounded like the drums in a Black Sabbath concert. Rain bounced off the streets, so if it didn't get you on the way down, it got you on the rebound. Every now and then the clouds broke and the sun hinted at its presence, but then gave up and let the rain have its way again. Still, bought an Opinel folding knife, some jam and some other viandes, so it wasn't all bad.

It was sunny as we arrived back at the hotel, minutes before sun set!

Day two, last day! Oh look, it's sunny. Lets visit a few places on the way back. I recommend Eu. It's fantastic. What a charming place, could rave about it for a while ... but basically it's eveything you expect of a small French town. There is a Hotel Dieu .... which is kind of different. And a chateau, where they signed the Entente Cordiale - which is like Lime Cordial ..... not!

Then on to Abbeville. Bad mistake! This is everything that Eu wasn't. Modern square architecture. Grotesque, peeling concrete. Probably the most depressing place I've seen - living there would drive me to take my life in a brutal and messy manner as a protest. We lasted 30 minutes before we left.

Boulogne sur mer. Bit of a cliche, but if you ignore the brash new town and head for the old walled town it is possible to spend a couple of hours there quite enjoyably. We did, walking about admiring the narrow streets, enjoying the views from the walls - general tourist stuff, but that's not always a bad thing. We even managed to get a climb up the bell tower on the town hall.

Then Calais, and straight onto the boat for the trip back. Work on Wednesday ..... ho hummm.

Welsh Rarebit

First of all - welcome to all those migrating from my previous blog space on eponym.com. Why move? They want more advertising - I don't, 'tis that simple. Anyway - Hi! to old and new alike.

So to the point - if there is one. Previous entries (capsacin.eponym.com if you must) have been poking holes in the common view, picking at the collective scab if you like. However, I've been on holiday for the last week, so here's a quick sketch of a week in Snowdonia, Wales.

Clouds, low clouds, rain, wet grass, wetter trousers, hill walking in the gloom, aching legs, boggy ground, heather clad hillsides, clouds, more clouds, some rain, camping shops, Pete's Eats, flat beer, Canarfon Castle, Menai Bridge, Anglesey, low flying jets, more low flying jets, irate drivers, slow drivers, pigs, sheep, more sheep, shorn sheep, unshorn sheep, bleating sheep, cows, clouds. Oh there was some superb scenery, when you could see it as well.

The Welsh are a friendly bunch, provided you aren't speaking English as you walk into a pub, then they all switch to Welsh to make you feel at home. However, or should that be ,hwefer, they are a genuinely kindly bunch who will take the time to tell you where to go, should you need telling.

One other feature of Welsh worth noting is the general lack of what we English, and other common western countries would call vowels (excluding Poles & Czechs - because their alphabet is similarly challenged). So we have places like Pwllheli which is not pronounced 'pwellheli' but more 'poohkheli'. And, only the Welsh could possibly have invented Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, look only 12 vowels!

And there we have it - a week in Wales. We had fun and enjoyed ourselves, that's the main thing!