The phone rang in the pharmacy today, so I answered it, the conversation went as follows :-

Me-  hello, pharmacy, can I help you?

Woman’s voice- yes please, you gave me some anti-biotics for my little girl earlier, and I’d like some advice pleace

Me- of course, what’s the problem?

Woman-  well, the leaflet said not to drive or operate heavy machinery while taking the medicine

Me- Yeeees?

Woman-  well she’s only 9, she’s too young to drive or operate heavy machinery, can she still take it?

As the heading says, There’s nowt so queer as folk!

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As in the rest of the UK, we’ve had a lot of snow, ice and freezing temperatures lately. It hasn’t caused too much disruption here, the public transport has been pretty good, on the whole the buses and trains have kept running through it all, and I walk to work anyway, so that hasn’t been a problem, but I am still waiting for a few deliveries that I was hoping to get before Christmas ( luckily none of them for presents). One good thing to come from the weather is all the local shops have benefited, they’ve had a great few weeks because people haven’t trusted the post to bring their internet shopping on time.

I worked right up until Christmas eve afternoon so I haven’t had a lot of time to go out and take photos of the snow, even though it’s been really pretty around here,  but here’s a few I have managed to get.

As I said, it’s been really pretty around here, the only drawback is it gets dark so early. if only we could have snow when the day’s are longer, so I had more time to get out after work!

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I haven’t been around much the last few weeks, last weekend we had a party at home with 8 friends so I had a hectic few days cooking and cleaning. I based the food on things I’d eaten in S. Africa when I’d been out to visit Del earlier in the year and made a lamb and date tagine, tomato and spinach casserole, chicken with coconut and mango, honeyed chicken and yellow rice with raisons. It all went remarkably well and a good time was had by all, except for one person who shall remain nameless and was sick into his best fur-lined hat on the way home! (nothing to do with the food I hasten to add, but the copious amounts of Mojitos that were partaken of during the evening)

The weekend before that I’d gone with Sis to York, from Saturday to Monday.  We had an amazing time there. I’d never been to York before but had always wanted to go. The reason for the visit this time was to see my niece who’s just started in Uni there, so I’m looking forward to going again several times in the four years she’ll be there. York was a lot smaller than I’d imagined it to be, full of little cobbled streets, and with the shops all lit up for Christmas it had a real Dickensian feel to it. There are some great places to eat there, and as ever when I go anywhere with Sis we seemed to spend most of our time in one or other of them. We had a terrific meal on the first night in a place called the Blue Bicycle, and an even better one the following night in Nineteen. The beetroot sorbet was a revelation, and the hand made chocolates were the best I’ve ever tasted.

The weekend previous I’d been on a shopping trip to Calais and Ostend. we left home at midnight on Friday and got home around 10pm on saturday night. It wasn’t a trip I’d want to do again in a hurry, it’s a long way by bus just for a few hours shopping, but I quite enjoyed the ride and managed to come back with a few bottles of French Wine and some lovely Belgian chocolates, so it wasn’t in vein, even if the person that got off the bus at the stop before me took my cheese and pate! I’d like to think it was accidental, in which case I hope they enjoyed them. If it was by design I hope they’d gone off!!!!

Anyway, on to my fab birthday prezzie! It was my birthday three weeks ago, and Del and Jaco sent me Scott Kelby’s boxed set of books on how to take photos like a pro. Now, as I’ve mentioned, I’ve had a busy time, so I haven’t had a chance to read much of it, but the first few pages were all about taking photos outside in low light. I walked up to my dad’s last night through the snow, ice and fog, and on the way back decided to put his advice into practice. I know the shots aren’t anywhere near sharp enough, I broke his first rule to always use a tripod as I didnt have it with me, but I followed the rest of his advice and kept the ISO low and the shutter speed quite slow, and used the self-timer to help avoid camera shake, and I was quite pleased with the results. I thought the camera captured the colours and atmosphere of the weather really well. As I said, I know they’re not sharp enough, especially the one of the berries, but I don’t think it was too bad a first attempt. I’m looking forward to reading the next chapter, and who knows, I may even get my tripod out of the boot of the car next time!

Thanks Del and Jaco, a perfect present, xxx

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Just back from a fabulous fortnight in San Pedro De Alcantara, Costa Del  Sol. Out  of the hundreds of photos I took, here’s a few that I’ve just had some fun playing around with.

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I thought there might be fellow bloggers out there who would be interested in seeing the birth place of a certain Welsh Pixie, so on one of my walks last weekend I found this amazing view point of the village where both Del and myself were born, Blaenrhondda, right at the top of the Rhondda Valley.

Well worth a visit if there’s anyone in the area.

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Amy and Evan

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I haven’t done much walking lately, due to the bad weather as well as other commitments over the last week or two, and hadn’t really planned on going out this weekend either, but on Sunday morning Sis rang me and asked if I was free for a stroll. I didn’t need to be asked twice, it was a great day for walking, bright and sunny, but chilly in the shade. Perfect.

She lives an hours drive from me, so she brought the car over and parked it at the bottom of a forestry road a 10 min walk from where I live, and we set off. The first half hour is a bit strenuous, all up hill, but after that it’s  quite a flat walk, it took around 3 hours in all, in a circle back to where we’d started, and I certainly felt as if I’d walked off the several large slices of chocolate cake I’d eaten over the weekend!

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The weather has been aweful the last few weeks, a typical Welsh summer, but I had a day off work today so I grabbed my camera and went to pay a visit to a cousin who lives about 2k away, and as I started the walk back the sun came out and we had a glorious afternoon.

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I was walking to work this morning when I noticed a large gang of people congregating outside the Conservative Club, down a side street just off the main road, so I went to investigate, and there were three coaches parked outside picking up said people for a trip to the sea-side. It was a far cry from when I was little and the annual club outing needed over 50 double decker buses to accommodate� everyone.

At that time almost every man in the valleys belonged to at least one, if not two or more, clubs. My dad belonged to two, the Working Mens club and the Labour club ( women weren’t allowed to join in those days and could only get in if their husbands signed them in, and even then were only allowed in certain rooms ). They paid a weekly contribution to the club and in return the committee organised a summer day trip to the sea-side for all the family and a Christmas party for the children. Not many families had their own cars in those days, so that day trip was the only chance a lot of children had to see the sea, which seems unbelievable in this day and age, living on such a small island.

The day before the outing my mum would be busy all day cooking for the picnic, making pies and pasties, hard boiling eggs and making sandwiches, and making sure our clothes were all washed and ironed and shoes polished.� Everyone was dressed up, if not quite in their Sunday best at least in their second best.

All the streets would be crowded with people leaving their homes at the same time to walk to the buses, which would be lined up around the club, filling a few streets end to end. As soon as we got on the bus there’d be an allmighty� clammer with children shouting back and fore to their friends,� the men ( those whose wives would let them) shouting to their� mates making arrangements� as to which pub they’d meet in later,� and the women� trying in vain to restore order to the chaos!

As soon as the buses arrived at their destination the committee members would set up a trestle table and all the children would get off the buses and file past and everyone would be given a pound note to spend during the day. We usually went to either Porthcawl or Barry Island, both of which had a funfair, so the money was usually pocketed until we visited that later in the day.

The families would then head straight to the beach and the men would rush off to hier the deckchairs for the day while the women looked for the best spots on the beach to spend the day. Barry Island had a wall running all along the beach with big numbers painted on it in white, and the women would try to sit near one of these numbers so the children would be able to find their way back to where their families were sitting� after the long treck down to the sea to paddle – and it was a long treck if the tide was out!

It seems very strange now, although at the time it was quite normal, but all the men would be sitting on the beach in shirt and tie, with their sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and their� trousers rolled up to their knees. And I’ve seen a picture of my gran and her friends all sitting in a circle on their deckchairs smiling happily at the camera wearing their best chapel coats and hats and eating ice creams.

An hour or so before the bus was due to pick us up we’d pack up and head to the fair, to spend our pounds on the rides. My dad and I always loved the roller coasters, the higher and faster and more rickety the better, although by todays standards they must have been pretty tame.� These days I don’t like anything more scary than the dodgems! As we walked around we’d stuff ourselves on candyfloss and hot fresh doughnuts,� treats that we couldn’t get at any other time of year.

And then the best part, walking back to the bus with fish and chips , wrapped in news paper and dripping with salt and vinegar. I can remember my dad carrying my brother on his shoulders as we walked back, and my brother dropping his chips down the neck of my dad’s shirt as we went.

On the bus back the chaos was even worse than the journey there, with everyone� hot and tired, not to mention all the children being sick everywhere from all the candyfloss and chips. And then home, hungry again after the journey, and raiding the picnic basket looking for leftovers.� To this day I love squashed ,soggy ham and tomato sandwiches.

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It’s hard to believe,  but it will be a year tomorrow since my mum passed away. She was diagnosed with cancer in June 2008, when she was 82, and died a year later in July 2009. She was a remarkable woman, not because of any great deeds she performed or amazing achievements, but simply for the way she lived, and finally died, with  courage and dignity.

She was always full of life and energy, and even in her 80′s would think nothing of walking for miles, she would often ring me- I only live a mile away- and say  ” come on, it’s a nice day, grab your camera and meet me and we’ll  go for a walk” , My brother had bought a digital camera a few years before and she always said it was even better than owning a dog, she got plenty of exercise without having to feed it!

She was always worrying about her weight, even though she was quite small, and quite often when I went up to see her she’d have music playing and be dancing around the house with a duster in her hand, killing two birds with one stone, as she put it. I saw a dance and exercise tape tape in a second hand shop one day and thought she’d like it, so bought it and took it up for her. I phoned her the next day to ask what she thought of it and she said ” It’s excellent, I watched it all the way through while I was eating my tea”!

My parents were never very well off, my dad was a welder traveling around  various steel works wherever the work was, and my mum was a seamstress in various local factories, so , even though I was never aware of it while growing up money must have been quite tight, especially with three children to bring up, but in the few years before retiring they managed to make a few small, but as it turned out succesful, investments. Because of this they were able to really enjoy their retirement, and  enjoyed going abroad several times a year, and even when they were home they were always out and about, using their free bus passes so often they even had to have them replaced half way through the year once because their pictures had worn off!

She thought of herself as quite timid, but she had great reserves of strength and courage, and when, at 82 she started to feel unwell, she wouldn’t give in and  we had to practically drag her to the doctors. She was taken in to hospital and given a blood transfusion as she’d become very aneamic , and after that she made a remarkable recovery and seemed to be back to her old self, so it came as a shock when we were told she cancer of the oesophagus. She was feeling so well at this time that she decided she didnt want any treatment, that she’d enjoy herself as long as she could, and hopefully not have too long and painful an end when the time came. During that last year my parents went on holiday to Spain, then to Italy by bus, and we had several long weekends away in this country with my sister and her two children, and went to visit my brother who lives in Croyden.  She really enjoyed her last year, until finally, almost a year to the day after her diagnosis, she began to feel tired and started to go downhill. M y father did an amazing job of looking after her at home, especially as his health hasn’t been great for the last few years, but after three  weeks she finally went into hospital  where she passed away a few days later. So she achieved her wish, she didn’t suffer, just got tireder as the final few weeks passed and died peacefully in her sleep.

We all miss her dreadfully, of course we do, but it’s helped a great deal that she didn’t suffer, and had a great life right up until the end.

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