I haven't been going to the meetings lately, but I was pleased to see the Town Council's sixth newsletter tucked into the latest edition of WyeLocal.
They start by asking if any local group would be willing to take over the annual firework display at Clyro Court - the Black Mountain Lions have been running it for years, but this year was the last year they were prepared to organise. They will be on hand, though, to give advice to any new group that wants to step into their shoes.
The Council have set up a Low Carbon Hay Steering Group, to look at lowering the carbon footprint in Hay and looking at various energy solutions. They are looking for local residents, businesses and landowners to take part in the planning.
The annual senior citizens' party will be at the Masonic Hall on 8th January this year, with Dial-a-Ride involved to get people there and home again.
The Recycling Fund awarded a £500 grant to the Canoe Club to put on free taster sessions this summer. They organised nearly thirty free canoeing sessions with over a hundred local children, and also managed to support a regular group of twenty paddlers.
The Hay in Bloom prize for best dressed window display went to Golesworthy's this year. The prize was a gift voucher from the Old Railway Line Nursery and a certificate and silver salver to keep. The hanging baskets were themed red, white and blue to commemorate the end of the First World War. In the small window category, the winners were Satori, Otherworldz and the Fudge Shop on the Craft Centre. Runners up were the Old Black Lion and Oscars Bistro. Private gardens also got prizes for best hanging baskets and best container, and the Town Council hopes to encourage more people to take part next year. It not only makes the town look nice, but it encourages bio-diversity as well!
As part of the Hay in Bloom scheme, the Town Council is hoping to plant native trees and bulbs around Hay, and encourage more wild flowers in the open spaces.
As well as putting a lot of energy into the Hay in Bloom scheme, the Council would like to revive the Hay and District Show, if they can find someone local who would like to organise it.
Miles Without Stiles is still continuing, with new kissing gates planned for footpaths around Hay to improved disabled access, and also ramps for businesses around town to use.
The Community Speed Watch group is looking for new members, too.
Nigel Lewis has now retired as Town Clerk, after many years of service, and Nick Burdekin (his assistant) has been promoted. Nigel will continue to work for the Council as the Responsible Financial Officer.
And there's a new Councillor, Syd Morris - reviving the Hay and District Show was his idea. He's a shopkeeper and part-time gamekeeper, and was a volunteer fire fighter for twenty years.
Contact details are:
davidjames.23@btinternet.com for the Lions Fireworks Display
haytownclerk@hotmail.co.uk for Low Carbon Hay, the senior citizens' party, Hay in Bloom and the Hay and District Show
helen.scott@dyfed-powys.pnn.police.uk for Speed Watch.
Meanwhile, the saga of the Transfer of Assets still rumbles on in the background....
Friday 30 November 2018
Thursday 29 November 2018
Helping Our Homeless
There's a new collection tin on the counter of the Cinema Bookshop, for a charity called Helping Our Homeless.
The group of friends, based in Mid-Wales, who set the charity up are focussing their attention on the homeless of Wales. In 2015/16, there were about 240 rough sleepers in Wales, with the numbers going up to 313 the following year. When I last went down to Cardiff, I noticed more rough sleepers on the streets than I had before, with sleeping bags in doorways and so on. The problem certainly looks as if it's getting worse, not better.
The new charity doesn't think they can defeat the issue, but they can do something to help.
So they make up care bags, containing things like deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste, razor, hats and gloves, food like cup-a-soup and biscuits, notebooks, a novel, puzzle book and pens and so on to give out to rough sleepers. They also accept donations of clothing and food.
They have a Facebook page at Helping Our Homeless Wales.
The group of friends, based in Mid-Wales, who set the charity up are focussing their attention on the homeless of Wales. In 2015/16, there were about 240 rough sleepers in Wales, with the numbers going up to 313 the following year. When I last went down to Cardiff, I noticed more rough sleepers on the streets than I had before, with sleeping bags in doorways and so on. The problem certainly looks as if it's getting worse, not better.
The new charity doesn't think they can defeat the issue, but they can do something to help.
So they make up care bags, containing things like deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste, razor, hats and gloves, food like cup-a-soup and biscuits, notebooks, a novel, puzzle book and pens and so on to give out to rough sleepers. They also accept donations of clothing and food.
They have a Facebook page at Helping Our Homeless Wales.
Tuesday 27 November 2018
A Talk from the Moon Lady
I always try to get to see something at the Winter Festival, and my choice this year was Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who was talking about the Moon.
I hadn't been to the Festival tent before - I thought it was just an auditorium, but there was a whole mini Festival space in the first tent, with the auditorium behind it. There was a bar, coffee bar (with recycleable cups), art exhibition with pictures of horses, wild wreaths made locally, and a book shelf and signing table, with space for a signing queue, at the far end.
The speaker probably should have been in bed - she was still wearing a hospital wristband from earlier in the week - but she gave an enthusiastic and fascinating talk, interspersed with TV clips so she didn't have to talk all the time. She was wearing a rather wonderful dark blue dress, with a pattern of the faces of the moon on it.
She's a co-presenter of The Sky at Night, so it's no surprise that one of her astronomer heroes is Sir Patrick Moore, whose maps of the surface of the moon were so good they were used by the Russians during the Space Race.
She spoke of the moon as a family heirloom, lighting her father's way home from school on his bike across the plains of Africa, and fascinating her as a child through the street lights and cloudy skies of London - and it's a love of the moon she is trying to pass on to her own daughter, who is now eight years old and was sitting in the audience with her dad.
She talked about the importance of the moon to the earth, deflecting meteor strikes, controlling the tides and possibly even causing the creation of RNA (the ancestor of DNA) in tidal rock pools, thus creating life, and all of us. There was a clip of her in a helicopter in Arizona, circling a crater, and another of her in a boat going through a rip tide in Scotland, from a documentary she made about eight years ago. She got the email about the documentary about two days after her daughter was born, and her husband had to go along on location to look after the baby (by then about four months old).
There was another film clip of her explaining how eclipses worked to Jeremy Paxman, and actually getting him to sound quite impressed. On stage, she demonstrated the tidally locked moon with a plushy toy that she waved around, its face always towards her.
She also talked about the history of observations of the moon, from the earliest observatory discovered recently in Scotland, formed of pits that corresponded with the phases of the moon as observed from that cliff top, 10,000 years ago.
Then there was En-hedu-ana, Astronomer Priestess of the Moon Goddess in Ur about 4,000 years ago. Hers is the first female name recorded in history, and she is also the first poet known by name - she wrote poems about the moon, of course, and also ran the temple. Maggie Aderin-Pocock said that she was aiming for a similar official title, but Astronomer Priestess of the Moon Goddess of Guildford didn't quite have the same ring to it!
When she was asked to write the Sky at Night guide to the Moon, her first reaction was terror. Although she's a serious scientist as well as TV presenter, she's dyslexic, so writing a book was a difficult task for her.
I bought the book, of course.
I hadn't been to the Festival tent before - I thought it was just an auditorium, but there was a whole mini Festival space in the first tent, with the auditorium behind it. There was a bar, coffee bar (with recycleable cups), art exhibition with pictures of horses, wild wreaths made locally, and a book shelf and signing table, with space for a signing queue, at the far end.
The speaker probably should have been in bed - she was still wearing a hospital wristband from earlier in the week - but she gave an enthusiastic and fascinating talk, interspersed with TV clips so she didn't have to talk all the time. She was wearing a rather wonderful dark blue dress, with a pattern of the faces of the moon on it.
She's a co-presenter of The Sky at Night, so it's no surprise that one of her astronomer heroes is Sir Patrick Moore, whose maps of the surface of the moon were so good they were used by the Russians during the Space Race.
She spoke of the moon as a family heirloom, lighting her father's way home from school on his bike across the plains of Africa, and fascinating her as a child through the street lights and cloudy skies of London - and it's a love of the moon she is trying to pass on to her own daughter, who is now eight years old and was sitting in the audience with her dad.
She talked about the importance of the moon to the earth, deflecting meteor strikes, controlling the tides and possibly even causing the creation of RNA (the ancestor of DNA) in tidal rock pools, thus creating life, and all of us. There was a clip of her in a helicopter in Arizona, circling a crater, and another of her in a boat going through a rip tide in Scotland, from a documentary she made about eight years ago. She got the email about the documentary about two days after her daughter was born, and her husband had to go along on location to look after the baby (by then about four months old).
There was another film clip of her explaining how eclipses worked to Jeremy Paxman, and actually getting him to sound quite impressed. On stage, she demonstrated the tidally locked moon with a plushy toy that she waved around, its face always towards her.
She also talked about the history of observations of the moon, from the earliest observatory discovered recently in Scotland, formed of pits that corresponded with the phases of the moon as observed from that cliff top, 10,000 years ago.
Then there was En-hedu-ana, Astronomer Priestess of the Moon Goddess in Ur about 4,000 years ago. Hers is the first female name recorded in history, and she is also the first poet known by name - she wrote poems about the moon, of course, and also ran the temple. Maggie Aderin-Pocock said that she was aiming for a similar official title, but Astronomer Priestess of the Moon Goddess of Guildford didn't quite have the same ring to it!
When she was asked to write the Sky at Night guide to the Moon, her first reaction was terror. Although she's a serious scientist as well as TV presenter, she's dyslexic, so writing a book was a difficult task for her.
I bought the book, of course.
Monday 26 November 2018
Food Festival
On Saturday, the Food Festival was in the marquee on the Square and the Fairtrade Christmas Fair was in the Buttermarket (see the Fairtrade Hay blog for more on that).
Some of the stalls had already set up the night before, for the turning on of the Christmas Lights, when Hay School also had a stall. Most of the takeaway food stalls had set up the night before too, including the Welsh Italian Pizza Company, with their portable pizza oven.
There were old favourites there like Brecon Brewery and Rhymney Brewery, as well as newcomers like an interesting looking gin stall (for those that like gin).
Theoretically, I was looking for Christmas presents, but I ended up mostly buying for myself.
I picked up a loaf from Talgarth Mill - they're also running sessions called the Taste of Milling Experience now, where people can take part in everything that makes the mill work, and end up with a bag of flour they've milled themselves. They do bread making classes, too, including special Christmas ones for German Stollen, and Italian Panetonne.
On the way into the tent, there was a butcher's stall - Coity Bach from Talybont - selling goat sausages! I've never knowingly eaten goat, so I treated myself to a pack.
And on the other side of the entrance to the tent there was an Indian takeaway. They've been before, so I knew my last port of call was going to be them, to treat myself to some spinach samosas for later and Samosa Chaat to eat right away. It was delicious.
Meanwhile, two different choirs were singing while I was shopping (I didn't notice which choirs they were) - with the Kinnersley Singers in the Buttermarket, just far enough away that the music didn't overlap.
Some of the stalls had already set up the night before, for the turning on of the Christmas Lights, when Hay School also had a stall. Most of the takeaway food stalls had set up the night before too, including the Welsh Italian Pizza Company, with their portable pizza oven.
There were old favourites there like Brecon Brewery and Rhymney Brewery, as well as newcomers like an interesting looking gin stall (for those that like gin).
Theoretically, I was looking for Christmas presents, but I ended up mostly buying for myself.
I picked up a loaf from Talgarth Mill - they're also running sessions called the Taste of Milling Experience now, where people can take part in everything that makes the mill work, and end up with a bag of flour they've milled themselves. They do bread making classes, too, including special Christmas ones for German Stollen, and Italian Panetonne.
On the way into the tent, there was a butcher's stall - Coity Bach from Talybont - selling goat sausages! I've never knowingly eaten goat, so I treated myself to a pack.
And on the other side of the entrance to the tent there was an Indian takeaway. They've been before, so I knew my last port of call was going to be them, to treat myself to some spinach samosas for later and Samosa Chaat to eat right away. It was delicious.
Meanwhile, two different choirs were singing while I was shopping (I didn't notice which choirs they were) - with the Kinnersley Singers in the Buttermarket, just far enough away that the music didn't overlap.
Sunday 25 November 2018
Wayzgoose and Cider Mill
There's been a lot happening around town this weekend. I was working on Sunday (I always seem to miss Hay Does Vintage), but I managed to see a lot on Saturday.
I got to the Story of Books shop quite early. Upstairs one of the Blind Bookworms was just setting up for music making later - he had his trumpet with him. There were several representatives of local small presses there, and downstairs there was the opportunity to try printing myself. Someone from the Letterpress Collective in Bristol had set up his Printing Bike in the front of the shop, and was offering to let people print their own bookmarks.
A person can never have too many bookmarks!
I think on the Sunday it was Christmas cards that were being printed.
The Letterpress Collective can be found at theletterpresscollective.org
Just a few doors along, at the greengrocers, there was a cider tasting session going on. The shop was filled with a wonderful scent of mulling cider. Fair Oak Cider is made on a farm in Bacton, Herefordshire, where they've brought an old cider press back into production after a gap of about a hundred years, working it with a horse. Tommy is a Gypsy Cob gelding who lives in the hills above Hay-on-Wye. They think it's the only horse-powered commercial cider press in the country, and they use old cider apple varieties like Dabinett, Kingston Black, Yarlington Mill and Foxwhelp, from small orchards around the Golden Valley.
Even when the mill is not working, visitors are welcome to taste and buy cider by appointment. Their website (with a little film of Tommy in action at the cider press) is at www.fairoakcider.co.uk
I got to the Story of Books shop quite early. Upstairs one of the Blind Bookworms was just setting up for music making later - he had his trumpet with him. There were several representatives of local small presses there, and downstairs there was the opportunity to try printing myself. Someone from the Letterpress Collective in Bristol had set up his Printing Bike in the front of the shop, and was offering to let people print their own bookmarks.
A person can never have too many bookmarks!
I think on the Sunday it was Christmas cards that were being printed.
The Letterpress Collective can be found at theletterpresscollective.org
Just a few doors along, at the greengrocers, there was a cider tasting session going on. The shop was filled with a wonderful scent of mulling cider. Fair Oak Cider is made on a farm in Bacton, Herefordshire, where they've brought an old cider press back into production after a gap of about a hundred years, working it with a horse. Tommy is a Gypsy Cob gelding who lives in the hills above Hay-on-Wye. They think it's the only horse-powered commercial cider press in the country, and they use old cider apple varieties like Dabinett, Kingston Black, Yarlington Mill and Foxwhelp, from small orchards around the Golden Valley.
Even when the mill is not working, visitors are welcome to taste and buy cider by appointment. Their website (with a little film of Tommy in action at the cider press) is at www.fairoakcider.co.uk
Saturday 24 November 2018
Friday 23 November 2018
Tobago Traces Exhibition
Hay is dressed for the Winter Festival now. All the shops have put up their Christmas windows, and Festival events have already started. Tonight the Christmas Lights are switched on - there's already a light in the window of Keeper's Pocket that makes it look as if it's gently snowing across the street at Golesworthy's.
Meanwhile, at the River Cafe in Glasbury, Deborah Gillingham is putting up an exhibition of her paintings which are anything but Christmassy.
On her flyers she promises "Sea, fish, colour, pelicans and stately matrons, sea, colour, noise, lush vegetation and cool dudes, elegant crinkly elders, sea, birds, cacophony."
There's going to be a lot of sea.
The exhibition starts on Wednesday 28th November, and goes on until early next year.
Meanwhile, at the River Cafe in Glasbury, Deborah Gillingham is putting up an exhibition of her paintings which are anything but Christmassy.
On her flyers she promises "Sea, fish, colour, pelicans and stately matrons, sea, colour, noise, lush vegetation and cool dudes, elegant crinkly elders, sea, birds, cacophony."
There's going to be a lot of sea.
The exhibition starts on Wednesday 28th November, and goes on until early next year.
Thursday 22 November 2018
The Library and the Winter Festival
One of the events for the Winter Festival this weekend will be taking place in the new library. Between 3.30pm and 5.30pm on Friday children (and adults, I suppose) can make their own Christmas lantern, which they can then take up to the Town Square in time for the Switching on of the Christmas Lights by Kate Humble at 6pm.
The marquee was going up in the car park when I passed on my way home from work this evening, and there will be things going on in the Square from 5pm to 7pm, with stalls and choirs and so on.
Hay Library has been open on Friday afternoons since October, and it's proving very popular, especially for parents with young children, regularly attracting over a hundred people each session. HOWLS is hoping that this will continue - the County Council will be reviewing the situation in March.
Meanwhile, work is going ahead to install a screen between the two parts of the library (which was in the original plans, but library shelves were put up where the screens were supposed to go). When that's done, and more funding can be found, it should be possible to open the library on other afternoons in the week.
Meanwhile, the "For Sale/Ar Werth" signs have gone up at the old library building.
The marquee was going up in the car park when I passed on my way home from work this evening, and there will be things going on in the Square from 5pm to 7pm, with stalls and choirs and so on.
Hay Library has been open on Friday afternoons since October, and it's proving very popular, especially for parents with young children, regularly attracting over a hundred people each session. HOWLS is hoping that this will continue - the County Council will be reviewing the situation in March.
Meanwhile, work is going ahead to install a screen between the two parts of the library (which was in the original plans, but library shelves were put up where the screens were supposed to go). When that's done, and more funding can be found, it should be possible to open the library on other afternoons in the week.
Meanwhile, the "For Sale/Ar Werth" signs have gone up at the old library building.
Tuesday 20 November 2018
Nights at the Movies
I can go months without wanting to go to the cinema - and then two films I want to see come along in the same week.
The first was Peterloo - as a proud Mancunian, I had to go and see this. It's about the peaceful meeting in 1819 on St Peter's Field in Manchester that turned into a massacre. Over the years, I've done a bit of research into this important piece of Manchester history, and Mike Leigh got it right - the vicar gabbling the Riot Act while no-one could hear him, the disagreements between Henry 'Orator' Hunt and Sam Bamford (I've read his memoirs, too), even the removal of stones from the Field on the morning of the gathering. I was amused, though, when they talked about practicing drill and marching on Kersal Moor and the scene shifted to somewhere that most certainly was not Kersal Moor! Having said that, it would be impossible to film on Kersal Moor today, because it has been so much encroached on by more modern buildings (I used to live there).
There was another scene that had been filmed in Lincoln, in the square between the Cathedral and the Castle, at the top of Steep Hill - we recognised it (where the coach pulls up outside the newspaper office) straight away!
So, 'enjoyed' is probably the wrong word to use about such a grim tale, but I'd recommend the film to anyone who wants to know the history.
Then at the end of the week we went to see Bohemian Rhapsody.
The music was marvellous, of course, and the actor playing Freddie Mercury, Rami Malek, looked uncannily like the real Freddie - the actor playing Brian May could have been his twin, too. The Live Aid concert at Wembley was recreated extremely well, with original film of the crowd in the background of the modern actors - and when Freddie started to sing Bohemian Rhapsody on stage I was almost in tears, having seen what he was going through in his private life at the time. Again, a very good film, and I've been singing Queen songs all week!
The 7.30pm showing was fully booked when we got tickets, so we went to the 5pm showing, and went to Red Indigo for a very good curry afterwards, which made a perfect last evening before my Young Man had to go back to the Big City.
The first was Peterloo - as a proud Mancunian, I had to go and see this. It's about the peaceful meeting in 1819 on St Peter's Field in Manchester that turned into a massacre. Over the years, I've done a bit of research into this important piece of Manchester history, and Mike Leigh got it right - the vicar gabbling the Riot Act while no-one could hear him, the disagreements between Henry 'Orator' Hunt and Sam Bamford (I've read his memoirs, too), even the removal of stones from the Field on the morning of the gathering. I was amused, though, when they talked about practicing drill and marching on Kersal Moor and the scene shifted to somewhere that most certainly was not Kersal Moor! Having said that, it would be impossible to film on Kersal Moor today, because it has been so much encroached on by more modern buildings (I used to live there).
There was another scene that had been filmed in Lincoln, in the square between the Cathedral and the Castle, at the top of Steep Hill - we recognised it (where the coach pulls up outside the newspaper office) straight away!
So, 'enjoyed' is probably the wrong word to use about such a grim tale, but I'd recommend the film to anyone who wants to know the history.
Then at the end of the week we went to see Bohemian Rhapsody.
The music was marvellous, of course, and the actor playing Freddie Mercury, Rami Malek, looked uncannily like the real Freddie - the actor playing Brian May could have been his twin, too. The Live Aid concert at Wembley was recreated extremely well, with original film of the crowd in the background of the modern actors - and when Freddie started to sing Bohemian Rhapsody on stage I was almost in tears, having seen what he was going through in his private life at the time. Again, a very good film, and I've been singing Queen songs all week!
The 7.30pm showing was fully booked when we got tickets, so we went to the 5pm showing, and went to Red Indigo for a very good curry afterwards, which made a perfect last evening before my Young Man had to go back to the Big City.
Monday 19 November 2018
From Peterchurch to Orissa
Two local young people, with help from the North Weir Trust, recently travelled to Orissa in North East India to volunteer at a girls' school there. One of the ladies who founded the North Weir Trust died recently at the age of 100, but the Trust continues to give grants to local people for projects that will advance their education or extend their professional expertise through voluntary work.
Bella and Ludo took photos while they were there, which have been turned into a rather lovely calendar to raise funds for the school.
Calendars are £10, and are available from 18 Rabbit, The Old Electric Shop, the Globe and the Dorstone Front Room.
Bella and Ludo took photos while they were there, which have been turned into a rather lovely calendar to raise funds for the school.
Calendars are £10, and are available from 18 Rabbit, The Old Electric Shop, the Globe and the Dorstone Front Room.
Sunday 18 November 2018
Trip to Cardiff - Not Exactly Going to Plan....
When my Young Man got here, he wanted to re-watch some Peter Capaldi episodes of Doctor Who. We chose Heaven Sent and Hell Bent. The story begins and ends in a diner in Nevada, which turns out to be the Tardis that Me and Clara stole from Gallifrey, and which is now stuck in that form ("Awesome" says Clara).
"You know that's in Cardiff?" I said casually.
So we looked it up - it's called Eddie's Diner, on Mermaid Quay, and we planned a day out to go to see it (and have lunch there) and also visit a comic shop that I'd found near the railway station on a previous visit.
Online, we checked out the opening times, and the buses that go to the Bay, so we were prepared.
The trip down started on the T14 school/college bus, which only goes as far as Brecon, but we only had about ten minutes to wait for the T4 to take us on to Cardiff. We got off at the Castle, checked with the driver to find out which bus stop we needed to come back, and went for coffee at the Rendez-Vous in the Queen's Arcade.
Then we ambled round to Forbidden Planet and made a few purchases - I found Art Matters by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Riddell, and part 5 of the Green Arrow story I've been slowly collecting - and I know I have too many books that I haven't read yet already!
Then we walked down towards the railway station, and this is where things started to go wrong.
I couldn't remember exactly where the comic shop had been, so after a couple of false starts we decided to get the bus to the Bay.
We got on the No 8. It clearly said "Cardiff Bay" on the destination display. After a while, though, we got a bit concerned. The part of Cardiff we were going through was an area of multicultural small shops, which was interesting but unfamiliar - and surely we should be at the Bay by now?
I went to ask the driver - who was going to Heath Hospital, in exactly the opposite direction to the Bay, but swore blind that he'd changed the destination display before we got on. All he could do was to drop us at the next bus stop, where we crossed the road to get the next bus back. We just managed to scrape together the right amount of change for the fare. So now we had to go all the way to the city centre, and then down to the Bay.
On the way, we passed a parade of shops which included the comic shop we'd been trying to find. It had closed down.
By the time we got to Mermaid Quay, it was almost 2pm.
The last bus back to Hay went from the Castle at 3.10pm.
We found the Diner on the map of Mermaid Quay, went round the corner - and it was closed.
By this time we were both ravenous, and had a quick scout round to find somewhere that could feed us fast. The Young Man suggested Wagamama - which was brilliant. We were served the chicken ramen in rich sauce with a pottery cup of green tea in record time, and gobbled it down. (I'll certainly try the one in Hereford now, for a more leisurely meal).
Then we dashed round the corner to the taxi rank - we were in no mood to try the buses again - to get back to the Castle.
It was only when we had sat down on the bus, certain in the knowledge that it was going in the right direction, that we felt able to relax.
By the time we got back to Hay Castle (after 3 changes of driver!) we were exhausted.
I don't think we will be going to Cardiff again for a long time.
"You know that's in Cardiff?" I said casually.
So we looked it up - it's called Eddie's Diner, on Mermaid Quay, and we planned a day out to go to see it (and have lunch there) and also visit a comic shop that I'd found near the railway station on a previous visit.
Online, we checked out the opening times, and the buses that go to the Bay, so we were prepared.
The trip down started on the T14 school/college bus, which only goes as far as Brecon, but we only had about ten minutes to wait for the T4 to take us on to Cardiff. We got off at the Castle, checked with the driver to find out which bus stop we needed to come back, and went for coffee at the Rendez-Vous in the Queen's Arcade.
Then we ambled round to Forbidden Planet and made a few purchases - I found Art Matters by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Riddell, and part 5 of the Green Arrow story I've been slowly collecting - and I know I have too many books that I haven't read yet already!
Then we walked down towards the railway station, and this is where things started to go wrong.
I couldn't remember exactly where the comic shop had been, so after a couple of false starts we decided to get the bus to the Bay.
We got on the No 8. It clearly said "Cardiff Bay" on the destination display. After a while, though, we got a bit concerned. The part of Cardiff we were going through was an area of multicultural small shops, which was interesting but unfamiliar - and surely we should be at the Bay by now?
I went to ask the driver - who was going to Heath Hospital, in exactly the opposite direction to the Bay, but swore blind that he'd changed the destination display before we got on. All he could do was to drop us at the next bus stop, where we crossed the road to get the next bus back. We just managed to scrape together the right amount of change for the fare. So now we had to go all the way to the city centre, and then down to the Bay.
On the way, we passed a parade of shops which included the comic shop we'd been trying to find. It had closed down.
By the time we got to Mermaid Quay, it was almost 2pm.
The last bus back to Hay went from the Castle at 3.10pm.
We found the Diner on the map of Mermaid Quay, went round the corner - and it was closed.
By this time we were both ravenous, and had a quick scout round to find somewhere that could feed us fast. The Young Man suggested Wagamama - which was brilliant. We were served the chicken ramen in rich sauce with a pottery cup of green tea in record time, and gobbled it down. (I'll certainly try the one in Hereford now, for a more leisurely meal).
Then we dashed round the corner to the taxi rank - we were in no mood to try the buses again - to get back to the Castle.
It was only when we had sat down on the bus, certain in the knowledge that it was going in the right direction, that we felt able to relax.
By the time we got back to Hay Castle (after 3 changes of driver!) we were exhausted.
I don't think we will be going to Cardiff again for a long time.
Saturday 17 November 2018
Remembrance Sunday
Here's the Remembrance procession heading up the hill from the Clock Tower, with Gareth Ratcliffe carrying the British Legion standard, George the Town Crier, Trudi Stedman the Mayor, Dawn Lewis, army cadets, veterans, and a lone piper. It was a very good turn out for the 100th Anniversary.
The procession was on the way to St Mary's for the Remembrance service, after which they came back to the town square to lay wreaths at the War Memorial.
Wednesday 14 November 2018
Planet Buffet
When the Young Man arrived on Saturday, we had quite a while to wait for the bus back to Hay. We normally find somewhere nice for lunch, and this time he didn't want to walk too far from the bus station.
We got as far as the old Odeon cinema beside the bus station, now the Freedom Church. On the end of the building is a round extension housing a Chinese restaurant called Planet Buffet.
It's been there for years, and I don't know why I've never been inside, because it was excellent.
The idea is that you pay a set price for the meal, and help yourself from an island in the middle of the restaurant where there are various kinds of rice and noodles, and all sorts of meats in sauces and vegetables. The Young Man went for a red Thai curry with noodles, and I had pork in a rich sauce. We each got a pot of very good green tea as well.
The steps up to the front door were a little bit difficult with the suitcase, but I'll certainly be going there again when I'm in Hereford.
We got as far as the old Odeon cinema beside the bus station, now the Freedom Church. On the end of the building is a round extension housing a Chinese restaurant called Planet Buffet.
It's been there for years, and I don't know why I've never been inside, because it was excellent.
The idea is that you pay a set price for the meal, and help yourself from an island in the middle of the restaurant where there are various kinds of rice and noodles, and all sorts of meats in sauces and vegetables. The Young Man went for a red Thai curry with noodles, and I had pork in a rich sauce. We each got a pot of very good green tea as well.
The steps up to the front door were a little bit difficult with the suitcase, but I'll certainly be going there again when I'm in Hereford.
Sunday 11 November 2018
Saturday Mini Bus
I went into Hereford yesterday to meet my Young Man from the station, and got to the bus stop in good time for the 20 to 10 bus. Which was a bit late. None of us in the queue were very worried about this, because there was a notice about a diversion around Talgarth and Bronllys for the next week or so, which would add a few extra minutes to the journey time.
When the bus finally turned up, we all laughed - it was a minibus!
The driver explained that there had been a breakdown of the usual bus, and the replacement bus wouldn't start - so to keep the service running, this had been the only bus available.
We squeezed in.
He also explained that the "free bus on a Saturday" idea had changed slightly. It was free in Wales, but once he crossed the border into England, he had to start charging the normal fare again. So I could get a free return ticket from the Hay bus stop, but the person who got on in Cusop had to pay full fare, and my Young Man had to pay full fare from Hereford Station back to Hay.
At Peterchurch a lady with a child in a buggy got on.
At Kingstone Church, the driver would only accept the first two people in the queue, but he was very apologetic about it.
On the bus, I was chatting to one of the ladies from the Stitch and Bitch group, who was going to catch the train to London. She said the bus was so full it reminded her of being in India!
In a seat near the back was a chap who used to go to the Wednesday evening music sessions at Baskerville Hall - he was going off to Mirfield for a few days' retreat, and hoping to create some new music while he was there.
The bus back to Hay was the normal size.
When the bus finally turned up, we all laughed - it was a minibus!
The driver explained that there had been a breakdown of the usual bus, and the replacement bus wouldn't start - so to keep the service running, this had been the only bus available.
We squeezed in.
He also explained that the "free bus on a Saturday" idea had changed slightly. It was free in Wales, but once he crossed the border into England, he had to start charging the normal fare again. So I could get a free return ticket from the Hay bus stop, but the person who got on in Cusop had to pay full fare, and my Young Man had to pay full fare from Hereford Station back to Hay.
At Peterchurch a lady with a child in a buggy got on.
At Kingstone Church, the driver would only accept the first two people in the queue, but he was very apologetic about it.
On the bus, I was chatting to one of the ladies from the Stitch and Bitch group, who was going to catch the train to London. She said the bus was so full it reminded her of being in India!
In a seat near the back was a chap who used to go to the Wednesday evening music sessions at Baskerville Hall - he was going off to Mirfield for a few days' retreat, and hoping to create some new music while he was there.
The bus back to Hay was the normal size.
Friday 9 November 2018
Remembrance 100th Anniversary
The Remembrance commemoration this year starts at the Clock Tower at 2.00pm on Sunday afternoon, with a piper playing while the parade forms up. At 2.30pm the parade will march to St Mary's Church for the service of commemoration, followed by a march back to the war memorial for wreath laying.
The British Legion are hoping for as many veterans as possible to join them this year, for part or all of the commemoration. After all, this year is special - being exactly one hundred years from when the guns fell silent at the end of the Great War.
Meanwhile, local churches have been making a special effort to mark the anniversary, too. The poppy curtains and wall hangings at Cusop Church are impressive, and will be there for the rest of the year.
The British Legion are hoping for as many veterans as possible to join them this year, for part or all of the commemoration. After all, this year is special - being exactly one hundred years from when the guns fell silent at the end of the Great War.
Meanwhile, local churches have been making a special effort to mark the anniversary, too. The poppy curtains and wall hangings at Cusop Church are impressive, and will be there for the rest of the year.
Thursday 8 November 2018
Plastic Free Hay
There's a new group in town, dedicated to the reduction of single-use plastic in our lives. They've been going round the shops with leaflets, suggesting ways that we can reduce the use of plastic in our lives.
For instance, so many people carry bottled water around now - when it would be just as easy to carry a refillable bottle. Tap water is just as good as bottled water.
Or use a shopping bag that is not made of plastic - this idea has been around for years. The Co-op had an initiative a few years ago in which they gave every household in Hay a cotton bag - I still have mine.
Refuse takeaway cups, cutlery and straws unless they are compostable (when I was away for the weekend, I always refused the little plastic lids that they want to put on coffee cups these days). A little while ago, there was a visitor to town who wandered round with her own enamel coffee mug.
Avoid unnecessary packaging - I usually buy loose fruit and vegetables which can go straight into my cotton shopping bag, which can be washed easily. If it's something like mushrooms, I put them in a paper bag at the greengrocers. And I can choose exactly how much of anything that I want, instead of having a pre-packed amount - I might not be able to use it all, and wasting food is another global problem. And the local butchers keep the plastic they have to use to a minimum - no unnecessary plastic trays, for instance.
Shops that support the initiative will be getting stickers for their windows (and yes, I suppose they are plastic, but they're not single use - they'll last for ages).
I looked in the bag for my rubbish just now, and I have put 4 items in it this week - a butter wrapper, the cellophane from a cake, the plastic wrapping from some Welsh Dragon sausages from Gibbons, and the plastic seal from a tub of ice cream (the rest of the tub is cardboard, so will be going in the compost).
Plastic Free Hay has a Facebook page.
For instance, so many people carry bottled water around now - when it would be just as easy to carry a refillable bottle. Tap water is just as good as bottled water.
Or use a shopping bag that is not made of plastic - this idea has been around for years. The Co-op had an initiative a few years ago in which they gave every household in Hay a cotton bag - I still have mine.
Refuse takeaway cups, cutlery and straws unless they are compostable (when I was away for the weekend, I always refused the little plastic lids that they want to put on coffee cups these days). A little while ago, there was a visitor to town who wandered round with her own enamel coffee mug.
Avoid unnecessary packaging - I usually buy loose fruit and vegetables which can go straight into my cotton shopping bag, which can be washed easily. If it's something like mushrooms, I put them in a paper bag at the greengrocers. And I can choose exactly how much of anything that I want, instead of having a pre-packed amount - I might not be able to use it all, and wasting food is another global problem. And the local butchers keep the plastic they have to use to a minimum - no unnecessary plastic trays, for instance.
Shops that support the initiative will be getting stickers for their windows (and yes, I suppose they are plastic, but they're not single use - they'll last for ages).
I looked in the bag for my rubbish just now, and I have put 4 items in it this week - a butter wrapper, the cellophane from a cake, the plastic wrapping from some Welsh Dragon sausages from Gibbons, and the plastic seal from a tub of ice cream (the rest of the tub is cardboard, so will be going in the compost).
Plastic Free Hay has a Facebook page.
Sunday 4 November 2018
The Isle is Full of Noises
This was the Shakespearean evening in St Mary's Church last night - and it was such a lot of fun!
The Three Inch Fools were the company, three men and a woman who played all the parts, with quick changes on stage, adding jackets and shawls to their basic shirts and breeches - and Prospero had his wizard's staff, of course. They were Alex Wingfield (playing Ferdinand and Caliban from the Tempest), Claire Parry (Ariel and Miranda), Eddie Mann (Jaques and the Duke in the Forest of Arden) and James Hyde (Prospero). They have a website at threeinchfools.com
They were also all accomplished musicians, playing a variety of instruments (including a musical saw!), starting the performance with The Rain it Raineth Every Day from Twelfth Night, which moved quickly into the storm from the Tempest (enacted with two umbrellas). From Prospero's Isle we moved to the Forest of Arden, and then back to the Tempest (I'm not sure who the slightly sinister herbalist with the pestle and mortar was - I didn't recognise the play his speech came from).
They were full of energy and enthusiasm, and very funny, and it was a wonderful evening's entertainment.
The church was full, and I'm told that Botany and Other Stories, who organised the evening, raised over £900 to maintain the churchyard with regard to greater bio-diversity.
Looking around the church, I noticed that the new heating system is in place, with big radiators along the walls, which means that the short side pews have been taken out.
The Three Inch Fools were the company, three men and a woman who played all the parts, with quick changes on stage, adding jackets and shawls to their basic shirts and breeches - and Prospero had his wizard's staff, of course. They were Alex Wingfield (playing Ferdinand and Caliban from the Tempest), Claire Parry (Ariel and Miranda), Eddie Mann (Jaques and the Duke in the Forest of Arden) and James Hyde (Prospero). They have a website at threeinchfools.com
They were also all accomplished musicians, playing a variety of instruments (including a musical saw!), starting the performance with The Rain it Raineth Every Day from Twelfth Night, which moved quickly into the storm from the Tempest (enacted with two umbrellas). From Prospero's Isle we moved to the Forest of Arden, and then back to the Tempest (I'm not sure who the slightly sinister herbalist with the pestle and mortar was - I didn't recognise the play his speech came from).
They were full of energy and enthusiasm, and very funny, and it was a wonderful evening's entertainment.
The church was full, and I'm told that Botany and Other Stories, who organised the evening, raised over £900 to maintain the churchyard with regard to greater bio-diversity.
Looking around the church, I noticed that the new heating system is in place, with big radiators along the walls, which means that the short side pews have been taken out.
Saturday 3 November 2018
Another Floral Train
Now Hay has a floral train down by the bridge, I couldn't help noticing this example in Chester railway station:
Friday 2 November 2018
More 'Bitching' than Stitching!
It was the First Thursday of the month yesterday, so time for Stitch and Bitch at the Swan, where we were greeted with the invitation to sign up for loyalty cards, which is a new initiative. The loyalty cards offer a 10% discount on drinks and food.
Françoise came along to chat with us. She's planning a new exhibition around the works of Colette and embroidery, so thought it would be a good idea to write a little bit about the local Stitch and Bitch group to go into her newspaper The Cabbage Leaf at the same time. She also brought along a reel of paper twine she has been trying to knit - it's very stiff, but she has a project in mind for it (not clothes, though - it's far too stiff for clothing). She also discovered the existence of circular knitting, as Tracy was knitting another Fair Isle jumper on circular needles.
On the whole, though, we did a lot of chatting (we don't really Bitch) and not a lot of craftwork. There were a few light hearted suggestions about changing the name of the group - Stitch and Witch was quite a popular idea, as we do have several Pagan leaning members, but nobody really liked Knit and Natter - too bland, and we're not a bland group!
Françoise came along to chat with us. She's planning a new exhibition around the works of Colette and embroidery, so thought it would be a good idea to write a little bit about the local Stitch and Bitch group to go into her newspaper The Cabbage Leaf at the same time. She also brought along a reel of paper twine she has been trying to knit - it's very stiff, but she has a project in mind for it (not clothes, though - it's far too stiff for clothing). She also discovered the existence of circular knitting, as Tracy was knitting another Fair Isle jumper on circular needles.
On the whole, though, we did a lot of chatting (we don't really Bitch) and not a lot of craftwork. There were a few light hearted suggestions about changing the name of the group - Stitch and Witch was quite a popular idea, as we do have several Pagan leaning members, but nobody really liked Knit and Natter - too bland, and we're not a bland group!
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