I have a picture on my wall which is a rather large old fashioned tea cup and inside it is painted the raging seas, a distant lighthouse and a floundering sailship.. It is called "Storm in a Tea Cup" and as soon as I saw it in one of those quaint artist shops in St Ives I knew that it had to hang upon my wall.
But as I braved the cold and the wind this morning, I decided that a stroll along the beachhead at Burry Port harbour would make a change for me and a somewhere different for the dogs. They didn't seem to mind the cold wind which cut through my lightweight fleece and tried to whip my Crimson Moon cap from my head, but charged into the sea and cavorted in the waves. The wind was strong and the distant waves hitting the ridge swept spray in to the air and dampened the face, I am convinced that had I sported a beard there would have been Scott of the Antarctic icicles.
"Come on in - the water is lovely"
But the reason for the mention of the tea-cup was the sky as I wondered down the beach. The Lighthouse at Burry Port loomed over the beach and the clouds were striking, ominous and full of rain. The sun bright behind. Other intrepid dog walkers were on the beach, head down, scarves wrapped around faces, gazing mainly at the sand to keep the cold wind from scoring the skin, but I had to look to the horizon and in the space of only a few minutes the skies changed colours several times, from a dark shadow to a russet hue.
Burry Port - by the harbour
There was no storm. The skies just played at Kaleidoscope for a while and it was later when I got home that I was able to warm up a little with a cup of tea. But the cobwebs were blown well away and the dogs managed to shake water all over the car - but that is what dogs do.....
Red Sky in the middle of the day ... err!
I know the old wives tales of red sky at night and red sky in the morning - but in the middle of the day ??
Over a week since I have managed to get to the blog - and indeed a query from an unexpected reader to ask whether there was a problem!!! Unexpected as I never really expected anyone to be reading the meandering thoughts of and ex-barkeep and prospective farmer / entertainer, but it seems that there are those out there who care - to you - thank you, and yes I am back.....
Well I am back this evening after ten days of hacking and coughing, and generally feeling the affects of Manthrax and Manflu, and after a day of full recovery am rather despondent that this evening I seem to have the phlegm back in the throat and am spluttering over the keyboard. There was a time when I thought it may be allergy based, but the extreme version seemed to warrant the five days of antibiotics, and the symptoms disappeared with deceptive ease.... But this evening I have the thought that I pulled down the interior canvass from the Crimson Moon Tent, and laid it out in the living room so Susie could build her chicken run for the bedroom... Yes - I know what wrote there, and it is correct, the chickens are getting to big for the incubator and warming box - and I still have not been able to clear the basement for the few weeks that is required before they get their freedom into the garden.... So .. they have to live in the spare room for a while... Rusty the dog feels that this is a good idea - well when he is allowed inside!!!
So, there is an option that the canvass has set off a reaction again... I prefer to think that rather than dwell upon actually being ill, always a downer, or the other options of allergy, the latest batch of home made wine that I have started yesterday, which we have enjoyed with the home made bread, home made cheese and home made apricot jam for breakfast, the home cured ham this evening ... No they have to be the healthy option - even if they are likely to cause my final demise through obesity....
But there is a connection with a further possible cause - which relates to the future clearance of the house, both to move the marquees to their new home, and to try to sell the house, and that is the next stage in the "boxing of 41". I spoke at an early stage of Alice and my attempt to clear 3 square feet of the basement.
But as my health started to improve, and after a foray up to Morrison's where a very nice storeman promised me all the banana boxes I need - especially if I call in the morning before they have to break them up, saving them an hour of effort!!! I began to look towards the top floor of the house...
Books!! Plenty of Books!! that seems to be the story of my life - indeed the storey of my life (see what I did there ?? Here all week!!) But we haven't really looked in the top bedroom for a number of years. The damp patch in the corner was new!! New to me .. if not to the house - we have had so much rain I cannot really tell if it is a problem or a symptom of the flood. But in our case - most of our books are happily esconced in a shipping container down in Pembrey so it was only three full shelves of economics reference, Norah Lofts and Lensman Series... and then - the main and daunting task that loomed on the landing that lies between the second and third storey if the house..... Not books .. No - though equally as bulky!!
The lovely thing about the eighties and nineties was the availability of being able to watch television, more than once!. The onset of the Video recorder was one of those jumps forward in technology that I embraced. Luckily, the issue about the VHS or Betamax missed me and I was able to amass my collection of VHS over many years. The early days were far too expensive for pre formatted films so my collection was gleaned through many hours of television watching. My music videos were compiled over weeks and months, collecting from various sources from Multi Coloured Swap Shop to Top of the Pops - but each with the aim of capturing those illusive new things - the "Pop Video" - no live performances for me ....
Of course - Youtube now provides a glimpse back into the past - but have they collected what I collected in my 193 three hour videos?? I do not know any more - I have not watched any video for at least five years since DVD cam along. But I do have a catalogue which has a full list... but though I know that the technology is out there now to transfer from VHS to DVD - that looks like another plan - as it will take a commitment of many hours. The task will be to watch all the videos and decide what cannot be duplicated elsewhere and transfer to computer medium. My daughter is particularly interested in the hours of video I took of them in their childhood - and I am concerned that it gets transferred correctly when I have the time and the equipment.. And so - two ceiling high bookshelves, double stacked with videos get transferred into banana boxes for that time in the future when I "might just get the time".
I recall when we moved into this house twenty five years ago, the removal men looked with sheer consternation at the mountain of boxes that comprised our book collection at that time. After the second hour of carrying boxes one mentioned briefly " are this lot for the rabbit to read??" after deciding to stack next to the rabbit cage. But that was twenty five years ago, and twenty five years of more book collecting.... and the videos of course!! Most of them will probably end up in the plastic recycling of course - but only after they have been carried to a new house, viewed and transferred to new media for the future...
But that means that the removal Man will be required to carry all the additional boxes. They are in a neat stack - but there are a lot of them !!! They will stay here until we are ready for the move..
But they may well be singing the new refrain - "Video killed the Removal Man !!""
Llanelli is not usually bothered by snow to any large extent. The palm trees at the bottom of the road, at the junction of West End and New Road lay witness to the warming influence of the gulf stream which hits the south west coasts of England and Wales. It is normal therefore for the snow to pass over "Tinopolis" and start further inland, on the banks of Swiss Valley - perhaps so aptly named.
However, while my daughter residing in Crete gloatingly tells me that temperatures are resting at 20 degrees Celsius we are huddling in our house, with blankets and a fan heater, looking out the window upon a mainly white vista.
The central heating boiler churns and groans as it attempts to push water around the house. A few years ago I called an engineer to check the boiler, and as he looked aghast at the contraption. We discovered that it was an old industrial grade boiler probably best suited to small businesses, but capable of circulating around our quirky four storey house. Of course that was before someone added a few radiators back in the dawn of time and I must confess to adding to the problems by adding the basement heaters when we arrived in the eighties. I am no plumber. Sadly the artisans who complied with my request to add radiators followed my enthusiasm rather than examine the actual capabilities of the system and the flow from the pump. This all results in half of the radiators providing an artistic backdrop to a room rather than any actual heat.
My latest engineer took a look at it and stated that he really did not want to touch it, and if he did he felt he would probably have to condemn it! I was satisfied when he agreed to simply test the fumes - and pass it as safe. I know that it is not that economical, however the cost of a new boiler and probable replacement of the whole system means that we currently shiver a little in the winter... summer we can manage fine!!!
And so, recovering from coughs and colds, and sucking on the occasional amoxicillan to kick the whoop in cough, I look out upon the gentle fall of white stuff on the road, mentally pull up the draw bridge, and get on with composing some music and practising the lyre. That's Show Business... Mulled wine sees to be the answer.
I could go for a walk... I could add another section to "Walks in Llanelli" with a nice "Snow Section". The dogs certainly consider this a good option - they are restless and going stir crazy, throwing a plastic up into the air and chasing it when not sitting next to the chair and pawing at my leg.
But it looks cold out there...
Maybe tomorrow - I may be feeling a little better then.
or the next day....
As it says on the lid - sadly - nothing to do with the amount of or lack of snow, climate or weather, just a few days not really feeling very well at all. Started with a cough and a sort of cold which passed quite quickly, now hacking cough that keeps me awake - and the rest of the house - the dogs are complaining !!
Managed to put my back out at the same time - so all in all not really in the best of health...
General consensus may be that it is whooping cough - even thought I had it as a child. Apparently I have all the symptoms.
Better than the alternative however.
That is me done for a day...
