Sunday 26 June 2016

Coal holes, KX, Kent, Brexit and Welsh deprivation

As you will know, Aberystwyth is surprisingly well provided in unusual and interesting architecture and street furniture. Notably, the number of surviving coal-hole lids is high: as soon as I am released from the wage-labour that is the National Plant Phenomics Centre I shall be conducting a survey of them.

A recent reunion trip with Patrick and John took me to Llundain, a rather run-down capital city of one of Europe's [slowly] developing nations, and it was a surprise to discover that there too, there were street views of interest. A number of coal lids can be found between Tavistock Square and Kings Cross:


Kings Cross was interesting - just imagine something with the functionality of Aberystwyth railway station, but without any of the creature comforts or facilities that the Welsh terminus has to offer. We were amused to note that the resited Platform 9.75 was so popular that it had an official queue and was staffed by a specially trained human being.

Yn ddiweddarach, ymwelais i รข'r wyrion, who were in fine fettle. Visiting the site of the 2017 nuptials, we saw LBSG 1016815 (a lovely 2087/2), and a very fine wartime relic (arguably more attractive than the chosen tithe barn, but perhaps not everyone would agree on this).

In other news, more than half of those who could be arsed to vote turned out to be dumbfoundingly stupid; unbelievably this was also true in yr hen wlad fy nhadau. (Roedd Ceredigion gan amlaf yn synhwyrol). Merthyr and other Valley areas were already adrift of most deprivation leagues, but you ain't seen nothing yet!

Wednesday 15 June 2016

Tempers snap in Ceredigion

Never known for their peace-making tendencies, Euro-friendly inhabitants of Ceredigion snapped into vigilante action yesterday.

Outraged beyond measure by a morning wireless interview with Trevor Kavanagh, Editor [sic] of the Sun newspaper [sic] on the topic of the upcoming under-publicised Euro-referendum, they took the only action open to them to redress the balance of political debate by defacing the Aberystwyth flagpoles - a brave move given the well known attitude of British justice to defacing of public materials.

Large numbers of outraged residents, masked and disguised, braved the June weather, flanked by protective troupes of Russian football hooligans on bicycles. Armed with labels and sellotape, they made a clean sweep of the poles, interfering with English labels to align them with the Sun's view of future political geography. Politically moderate dog-walkers attempting to reason with them were mercilessly beaten by the Russians; their broken bodies were thrown onto the beach to be pecked to death by seagulls awaiting the morning opening of Y Blwch Sglodion.

As the sun rose [sic] over the turbulent town, the evidence of night-time criminality was all too evident. Morning bar-kickers clustered around the poles aghast at the lengths the activists had gone to. At Coffee #1 on Portland Street, HQ of the Ceredigion Brexit [sic] campaign, the endless queue patiently waiting for insipid scalding coffee was alive with debate on the best mode of retaliation. Oliver Cromwell's well known slighting of Aberystwyth castle will seem as nothing compared to the ruins Aberystwyth will become as a result of these daring acts as tempers rise.