Brecon Road Bus Shelter

 The bus shelter on Brecon Road is no longer in use - as a bus shelter, that is.  Gareth Ratcliffe, and his son Lincoln, have been giving it a new coat of paint.  A bookshelf has been installed, and it is being transformed into a Community book and DVD swap area.  It's ready for donations now.

Open Mic at the Globe

 While looking through the £1 books outside the Cinema Bookshop, Tim the Gardener struck up a conversation with a visitor to Hay.  Tim has been a performer at Open Mics for years around Hay, and he was keen to invite the newcomer to the Globe, where they were having an afternoon, outdoor Open Mic session between 2pm and 5pm.  The Globe have put an awning up, so the seats are undercover even though it's outside.

It's a good idea, but I don't know how long they'll be able to keep it going, now we're starting to head into the colder and rainier part of the year.

On the Bus to Hereford

 I needed to go to Hereford again yesterday, and I noticed a few changes on the way.

The Boughton Arms in Peterchurch has been empty for a while, but it now seems to have re-opened as Casa Lupo, an Italian restaurant and B&B.

The Old Bridge across the Wye in Hereford is now closed to traffic, so the bus goes over the new bridge now.  This is a weekend of Extinction Rebellion action, and I saw two people standing with a banner on the bridge, waving at the cars.  I waved back.  I forget the exact slogan, but the gist of it was that this is a perfect moment to introduce green policies that will help to mitigate climate change, if only there was the political will to do it.

For my little treat after I'd finished my shopping, I went to the Hereford Beer House for a bottle of Kernel Table Beer.  There the system is that you sign in with your phone number, as I did at Tomatitos on Wednesday evening, and you are served at the table.  I was in one corner reading Dolphins of Pern, which I'd just picked up in the Heart Foundation charity shop, and there was another group by the front window in the opposite corner of the bar.

More Mad Hatters

 There was another craft fair in the Buttermarket on Wednesday, and this time I collected some cards from different stalls.  

There were felted goods, including slippers and fridge magnets by Inga Sipcenoka.  

Another stall had small felted creatures and spinning and wool supplies - they are KC Felties and Fluff from Hirwaun in South Wales, and they have an etsy shop.

There was jewellery, too, by Heather from Twisted Crystals.

This was in addition to the leather handbags and wooden chopping boards and clocks and fancy chocolates.

Signing in at Tomatitos

 I went to Tomatitos yesterday for the first time since lockdown started.  It was a gathering for drinks after a funeral.

So I got to see the new arrangements for pub customers in place.  There's a table by the door with a folder on it where you have to sign in with your phone number and the time you arrived, and when you leave, you sign out with the time you leave (which all makes far more sense to my old-fashioned, pre-computer brain than having an app on a phone).

It was strange to be in a crowded bar again, but it was good to see how many people turned out for the occasion.

Mad Hatters Craft Market

 I happened to pass by the Buttermarket when the craft market was on this weekend, and I was very impressed with the high quality goods on display.  There were leather handbags, wooden clocks, glass cutting boards, and lots more.  I especially liked the Nelmwood Designs stall, with intricately cut out wooden plaques and signs.

The next craft market is on 30th August.

Small Business Saturday

 Velvet Fern have been re-decorating the shop on the Pavement which used to be the Old Electric Bookshop.  It's gone from pink and green to white inside.

They are interior designers, presently based in Knighton, and they also do made to measure Roman blinds, curtains, cushions and lampshades.

Listening for Leaks

 The Water Board were digging the road up last week not far from my house.  They've filled in the holes again now and gone away, but the other day a friend saw a man from the Water Board in the middle of the road with a long tube.  He was listening to the flow of water, and he let her have a go!

He was the man who determines where the leaks are, and he was checking to see if the repairs had done the job.  He explained that there are stop cocks at various points on the network, so they don't have to turn off water to a lot of properties at once, and that they monitor the flow to see where there might be a problem - and then they send him out to listen.  He tends to do it early in the morning when there is less traffic, for obvious reasons!

Follow the Tuk Tuk

 I went for a walk on the other side of the river yesterday afternoon, through the new glamping site - every time I go they've added a bit more to it.  This time I paused to admire the arrangement of tree roots planted with ferns near the Meadow "tree house".

On the way back I met some neighbours walking their little dog.  They'd stopped at a bench to look at the view over the field up the hill from the path, where the barley has just been harvested.

We walked back into Hay together, chatting, and as we came over the bridge, a tuk tuk went past us!  (They're also known as auto rickshaws and are used as taxis in the Far East).  It had flags flying - the Union flag and the Welsh flag - and a sign on the back saying "Follow the tuk tuk".

Just as we were saying "What on Earth was that?" three more tuk tuks came across the bridge, and off they all went together.

This morning I did a little research, and found the Facebook page Adventures in a Tuk Tuk very easily.  They're doing a tour of Wales.  They've been wild camping at Arthur's Stone and their latest entry talks about the former coaching inn at Garthmyl where they're staying the night.  They also seem to have a support vehicle, a big van, so they can do repairs as they go.

[Edited to add: the nice tuk tuk man has just sent me this photo!

Colourful Camera Club

 

Here's the winning entry from the Camera Club's recent competition "Colour", by Angela Bonner.  There were over 60 entries.

(click on the picture to see the whole thing)

The Camera Club is still meeting online for the forseeable future, on Tuesday evenings - their details are on the side bar.

Coming up are presentations on Using Photoshop and Botswana.

Thanks to Peter Seaman, the Chair of the Camera Club, for the information, and the winning photo. 

Light Bedtime Reading

 I just saw Father Richard walking through the Thursday Market.  He was very pleased with his new purchase, a book called The Beast 666 - a biography of Alistair Crowley!

Somewhere to Play and Something to Read

 I met an old friend by the river, and he told me about the new play park they've been working to create in Glasbury.  It includes equipment for adults to use as well as children, so I told him about the play area on Gosmore Road in Clehonger which recently had all their equipment upgraded, including some gym equipment in one corner for the adults.

They've also been involved in adopting a local disused phone box, to use as a book exchange.  People have also been putting up posters there, and poems and pictures.  I'd just been down to put a couple of books on the shelf under the bridge that appeared at the beginning of lockdown, and which has been very well used.

Mad Hatters Craft Fairs

 The Buttermarket is being booked for events again, as well as the stalls for the Thursday market.

On Sunday the first of a series of Mad Hatters Craft Fairs was held there - I think they're happening every two weeks or so until November.

Stitch and Bitch in a Garden

Last Thursday was the usual evening for Stitch and Bitch.  Since March, this has been done by Zoom meetings, but this time one of the ladies offered the use of her garden.  

It was lovely to see everybody in the flesh again.  Chairs and tables had been set out in a big circle on the lawn so we could stay well distanced.   We all brought our own drinks.

One lady brought her spinning wheel, and was demonstrating to another lady who was interested in learning how to do it.  There was also knitting, and rug hooking, and I had my lucet.  Another lady was taking a duvet apart, for reasons which seemed good to her at the time!

Although the forecast had been fine, there were a couple of times that we sat through a light drizzle, but it soon cleared up.

It was a lovely, relaxing evening, and we will be watching the weather forecast for the beginning of next month to see if we can do it again.

Virtual Tour Hay Castle 2020

I missed the live Zoom tour (I think I was on a bus coming home from Hereford at the time), but a friend sent me the link to the Youtube video.  It's fascinating to see what they've done so far.  I've been in every part of the Castle except the Victorian wine cellar (now stripped back to the Medieval stone), so that part was especially interesting, especially with the evidence for the original gate to the castle.
And the views from the top of the tower!  I'm a bit scared of heights, but when that viewing platform is open I will certainly make the effort to get up there!

Keeping up to Date with Opening Times

 Lief van der Baan has created a new website to keep track of all the different opening times for Hay's shops, takeaways, pubs and cafes.

It can be found at https://hayo.liefy.org

Trip to Hereford

I've now travelled into Hereford three times in a week (there were things I wasn't able to do in one day, so I had to go back), which was quite an adventure since I've not left Hay since March.

It did not start well - I went to the bus stop to check the times, and discovered (after waiting for half an hour for a bus that didn't come) that the timetables at the bus stops are wrong.

The true timetable is online, and a friend who lives across the road from the bus stop told me that the bus from Hereford and the bus from Brecon both come in at twenty to eleven and turn round in the car park before picking up new passengers.

So I returned at twenty to eleven, and got on the bus.  

Masks are now mandatory on the buses.

They don't seem to do the Powys Rover any more, so I got a Return ticket to Hereford, and they really want you to pay with the exact money.  It is also possible to pay with a card now.

About half the seats in the bus have a cardboard sleeve round them to ask passengers not to sit there - the bus I was on each time was limited to 19 passengers in total.  People mostly followed the rules, but some didn't seem to notice the signs.

Once in Hereford, I did the business I needed to do.  Masks must be worn in all the shops and banks and so on.

I also thought I might check out the charity shops, but didn't have much luck there.  Some seem to be still closed.  Others, like the Cancer Research, have moved out completely.  I did get a good quality sheet at the RSPCA shop, and a couple of bits at the Blue Cross.  I didn't have time to check out the charity shops along St Owen Street.

There's a new comic specialist on Hereford Indoor Market.

Laura Ashley is having their Closing Down Sale, and the shoe shop tReds and Hawkins Bazaar have also closed down - I used to go in Hawkins Bazaar occasionally for frivolous things like Star Wars merchandise.  Speaking of frivolous purchases, I went into Waterstones to buy the Good Omens Script Book, and also bought an original series Star Trek communicator.  I have wanted one since I was six years old!  It makes noises - but I can't quite flip the top up like Captain Kirk did on TV.

I was very pleased to see the wool stall in the square - I used up every scrap of wool in my house over lockdown and I've been itching to do more with my lucet and round loom (I'm not sure what I'm making yet - but it's going to be a very long tube!)

I had enough time for a quick half before the bus back home (quarter past two from the Railway Station), so I stopped outside the Imperial to read the instructions there.  They want customers to use an app to order from the bar, and the drink will be brought to the table.  I don't have a mobile phone, so I stuck my head round the door to ask if it was possible to order from the bar if I didn't have the app.  The staff looked deeply uncomfortable about this - and one of them asked me for my home phone number, if I didn't have a mobile.  I didn't see how this would help, since my home phone was an hour's bus ride away - so I came away.

Instead, I went to the Litchfield Vaults, where it is possible to order and pay at the bar.  I sat outside in their little beer garden at the back and enjoyed my half of Wainwright's Golden Ale.

New Bowls Club House

Work has begun on the new Bowls Club House, which is being built at right angles to the present Sports Pavilion.  To keep the costs down, the club members are going to be doing a lot of the work themselves.

I understand that Hay Council will be using the Sports Pavilion to meet in the future, as the Council Chambers is now up for sale.

Friends of the River

The latest edition of WyeLocal (also incorporating Local Beacon upside down from the back) has an article about the algae blooms that have been reported along the River Wye, and a group of people from the local Extinction Rebellion group who want to do something about it by forming a Friends of the River group to research what is causing the problems leading to the algae blooms (is it the increase in poultry farms or something else?) and to find out who is responsible for doing something about it.

Meanwhile on the local Facebook page there is news of bad pollution on the River Llynfi, which has killed many fish and also affected invertebrate life.  This happened on Friday, and it's been a busy weekend on the river with many people visiting and paddling and canoeing, and dogs jumping in and so forth.  Yet there doesn't seem to have been any information available to those visitors about the pollution and whether it is safe to go into the water.  

The Llynfi runs into the Wye at Glasbury and the local canoe group Glasbury Paddlers have cancelled their meeting in case someone falls in and ingests polluted water.

National Resources Wales seems to be the body with responsibility here and they have said, according to one commenter on the Community Facebook page, that they don't know what the pollutant is, but that they don't think it is still getting into the water.  They have collected samples for testing but the results are not out yet, and have been out along the river assessing the damage to the fish population, and trying to find the source of the pollution.

The River Llynfi is a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of the population of white clawed crayfish there - assuming they have survived.

Council Offices Up for Sale

It's finally happened - the Council Chambers are being sold off.  The sale includes the Annexe at the back of the building and the gardens and Powys County Council wants £400,000 for them.

A Walk to Priory Wood

Last week I got the map out and headed off down the Wye Valley Path, across the old golf course and along Hardwicke Brook:

It's a very well maintained path, as you can see, even when it crosses a field of wheat, but there are stiles, so it's not part of the Miles Without Stiles network around Hay.

The path comes out on a lane opposite Priory Farm, and here I left the route of the footpath to visit Clifford Church, further up the hill.  I sat in the churchyard on an old tree stump to eat part of my packed lunch and admire the view across the valley.

I was pleased to see that the church was open.  I haven't been inside for years, but when I lived in Priory Wood it was my local church - in fact, I went to a service there on the morning after Princess Diana died, which was quite a surreal experience.  It was a grey, overcast day, and everybody had heard the news so the service was very subdued.

The church has a rare carving, which is in quite a dark corner at the side of the altar, so this was the best picture I could get:

It's an 11th or 12th century life sized wooden effigy of a priest, who may have been one of the Cluniac monks from the Priory down the hill, where Priory Farm now stands.  I like to think of one of the monks toiling up the hill every day to the church to ring the bell and say Mass.  There are records of the effigy being paraded round the churchyard on special feast days, though nobody really knows who it represents.

I decided to go on to Priory Wood, along the route that I used to walk to church.  I'd forgotten how beautiful it is up there - it was a pretty stressful time when I was living up there, so I wasn't really interested in contemplating the views at the time.  The houses are pretty scattered until you come to an area around a sort of village green that has been planted with fruit trees, where I found that Priory Wood now has a shop!

 

And this is where I used to live, in the flat overlooking the stable yard:

On the way down the hill to Clifford, I saw dragons!

 

At the bottom of the hill, I found a bench where I ate the other half of my packed lunch, and then I set off along the road back to Hay.  Clifford Castle was looking good: