Author: Ffiftypluses

Human being.

Siarad Cymraeg

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Two of my nieces and their parents (well, they are only 10 and 5 respectively) have just moved to Wales. The girls are settled in school and the family are enjoying their new life. One thing they have to consider is that the girls will have to learn Welsh as part of their schooling in order to get the best from life there. I think it’s great. Both parents have some Spanish, having lived there in their teens and now it’s time to see the other side where you are the parent in another country debating the need to learn the language.

As a wise old aunty I realise that teens love the idea of secrets from mum and dad. What better way to keep them than to speak a whole new language! Naturally there’s only one thing I can do.. I have to learn Welsh.

Now I’m not saying I’ll ever be fluent but hopefully I’ll know enough to scare the children into believing or worrying that I am. Lol (as the young people say).

I had a Welsh friend at uni many moons ago and started to learn then but you lose touch things drift and there’s no reason to remember so now I’ve gone back to a language app to try again. We went to a pantomime, starring one of the nieces and her mum, over the weekend and I found myself reading (badly) the Welsh language signs and leaflets. I even brought some home. I tried out a phrase or two on the staff and was thanked for my efforts. Apparently my accent is good.

It seems to me a matter of respect to learn something of a country’s language and culture before you go. Even if all you can say is “sorry I don’t speak the language” it shows you’ve made the effort. Trying to explain that Wales is its own country with separate laws and government within the UK is a tough concept for some people.

I’m not about to lecture anyone over their choices. Having a little Spanish when in Valencia a few weeks back made our lives easier (ironically so did having a little Dutch since they formed the bulk of tourists there). People open up to you and show a greater  to help generally (I’m not sure Paris operates on the same rules) gets a smile and care in service. Now I’m not claiming to be any kind of linguist I’m just saying taking a little time and care to be decent to people makes a huge difference.

I’m going to continue with my Welsh lessons. You never know when it could save a niece from a terrible situation.

On the road again…

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I’m off to Valencia. I’ve never been before and it’s 50 years at least since I was in Spain. The journey is part holiday and part Ingress Anomaly. Ingress is an Augmented Reality Game (ARG), which I’ve been playing for a number of years now and which I’m using as the basis for the ole’ PhD. One day (maybe two) will be battling  for my team on the global battlefield, and the rest will be rest.

I wrote the message above before we left on the 30th October. We heard there had been heavy rain. People at the airport were happy enough but as our flight time approached there was increasing concern as I was seeing messages from friends already there that roads were closed and they were having to walk from the airport. The flight took off as planned but staff began talking about the metro system being totally closed … No taxis… City buses may or may not be running…

We arrived to find a queue for taxis which stretched back for hours (talking to people in the queue). Thankfully we snagged an Uber within minutes and made the city and our apartment just before 10 pm. Our hosts were very concerned and very confident that the trip we had planned by train out of the city was not going to happen. Local government information suggested we would be ok at that time.

Then we caught the news.

Waking up in a beautiful restored historical monument of a home in a city searching for it’s own was surreal. The historic centre of Valencia was totally dry and safe thanks to Franco having drained the river years before in case of just such an emergency. This was not something local people wanted to acknowledge had saved lives. We wandered the streets a little dazed. How do you act as a tourist when people are dying just a few miles away? What could we do? Of course the obvious thing was to leave and let the people get on with repairing their city. Naturally flights were booked up and also (naturally) the scalping had begun with one airline raising ticket prices over 500% How is there not international law against this?

We found there was no way out until our planned leaving date anyway and it wouldn’t be our planned route as 3 km of track had been washed away and train tunnels filled with rubble etc. We were not going that way. In fact we ended up flying into Mallorca and then home.

Unsurprisingly the events planned for the weekend had been cancelled. I was more than a little irritated by fellow players complaining about this because they wouldn’t get their badge! FFS! People have died here. That evening we called in to the meet up said our hello’s, ate, collected our game packs and left still wondering what we could do.

The answer turned out to be to donate to the food bank. We took a couple of bags of the things they had requested. It was little enough. This image is one of five collection points half an hour before it was supposed to open. I honestly don’t think it had closed for siesta. There was a lengthy queue of Valencians waiting to bus out as volunteers. The rules were : wear boots and bring a broom.

We saw quite a bit of the old city. The ceramic museum , S Joan and S Nicholas churches, the ancient city wall (part of which we were staying in).  We spent a whole day at Oceanagrafic, the aquarium. We met new friends and found ourselves invited back when the city has recovered. The mayor is in trouble for a breach of his duty of care. The king was covered in mud from the clods thrown at him on his visit but we were invited back. We tried to be thoughtful and respectful. We asked after people their friends and family. They shared their stories and thanked us. Good luck Valencia.

Sorry for my absence

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Over the past few months my father has been unwell. Very unwell. I’ve been spending time hospital visiting g and caring for him alongside my mother and brother. He passed away a few weeks ago and I can now let you know.

I promise my next post will be normal service resumed. I have not forgotten the blog just taking care of business.

Fruitless Summer

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Well, not quite fruitless but weird. We grow food in our garden. Usually.  Thus summer in the UK the weather has been very odd. I know the soild was prepared. Co.post had been composting. We have a worm based bin where the little critters push the goodness out through the holes in the bin. Extra cow poo was added. The ground was turned over but boy have We had a lousy crop.

The lettuce was eaten alive by pests despite all natural deterrents deployed as usual. The broccoli never made past 3 inches because of  hungry slugs and caterpillars. The beetroot have done ok but still on the small size. We had 4 or 5 meals from the spuds where we usually have double that. Whilst there are tomatoes on the vine they are not ripening. We’ve done nothing differently but the weather…..

I’m still hopeful that there will be peppers. No chilli this year, we didn’t get any. I think I’ve sat out once, eaten an outdoor meal once. It’s been lousy.

Don’t get me wrong, there have been sunny days, but few and far between. Yes, we go on about the weather in the UK. Even by UK standards, this year has been strange. This morning ing it rained heavily. Now the sun is shining  and there are clouds overhead. Yesterday was cloudy where my parents ts live and sunny where I live less than 50 miles away.

Usually, I have more blackberries that I  can use for jam. This year, nothing. I guess it happens. We have a warm, comfortable home and enough to eat. I have nothing to complain about. I’m just intrigued as to what’s going on.

Motorway madness

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I’ve seen a lot of the M6 in the last few months. I’m still hospital visiting. Not only that but part if the family have now moved to Wales so that’s been the scene of one or two days lately too. Sunday was possibly the hottest day of the year and I found myself stuck in a traffic jam. A one hour journey  took two hours. There was a air show. I didn’t know and wound up in the queue. Still I had my new best playlist to keep me company.

Does anyone else make playlists for specific  purposes? For years I’ve curated lists for friends themed birthday parties (which reminds me there’s a baby shower soon I wonder if they need one?). I love making what are effectively musical mood boards. Give me an era or a topic or a state of mind I’ll match it to some tunes. I can go full classical to.pop and rock, folk to funk and everything in between. My love of obscure songs from niche genres takes me down many a rabbit hole. There’s a playlist on spotify called crate diggers which hales back to a time when we used to have actual physical objects to play our music from not this ethereal digital mess. We’ve lost so much. Yes, the crackle, hiss and annoying jump of scratched vinyl but also so many B sides and album tracks in a world where the greatest hits are on demand.

I still buy physical cds and vinyl where I can. I still own a cassette player too, not to mention the 78s (ask your gran). I’ve not yet found anything play a wax cylinder though but I’ve seen one in action. Which reminds me I need to add a Madness track to my motorway list… which is where I came in.

Hospital Visiting

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When you get to a certain point in your life, hospital visiting becomes inevitable. Over the past weeks it certainly has for me. Thankfully it should shortly come to an end and life will shrink back to normal.

I say shrink because, although it’s been a tough couple if weeks and I really need a long sleep and/or a holiday,it has shown me a.lot of things I never thought I’d be capable of. Disturbed nights sleep. Stupidly long days (I’ve never had kids, so bear with me), missing planned events for the sake of someone you love and facing some harsh truths and difficult conversations. I’m certain that I’ve grown as a human being over the course of these past weeks.

I know I have the ability to share duty and responsibility with my close family… and that we can have reasonable conversations about it! I know that my support network is amazing and always there for me. Its different seeing them in  action than just having the idea it’s there. I know that you need to let people around you hear that you love them and to accept their love too. I know that you can’t look after anyone unless you look after yourself. I know how much I value time out/alone.

Mostly I know not to take my health for granted. As a wise person once said… there are no pockets in a shroud. Time to live a little.

Isn’t nature wonderful

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No filter. Spring growth.

I stopped to take a picture if these new shoots. I was deciding whether to crouch or lean when, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a movement. The tiniest mouse was nibbling on some new leaves at the foot of a fallen tree. She scurried out took a leaf and retreated behind the log. I stood still and, sure enough, she reappeared two or three times taking a leaf each time before borrowing into the fallen autumn leaves. I was alone and stayed very quiet. Anyone passing by would’ve taught I was crazy but that little mouse made my day.

Easter Gift

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I’m incredibly lucky to have found scuba diving. I love it and it brings me so much joy to be able to share it with others. If you’d have told me this would become my main hobby I would’ve said you were mad. I’m terrified of drowning! What scuba allows is a level of calculated risk. The trick is to do the calculations and then stick by those calculations on your dive…. but I digress…

I’m a member of a BSAC club. Number 2405, Midlancs SAC. I’ve been an instructor for about 5 years now and it is always a pleasure to see a new diver’s face when they emerge from their first try dive. This weekend my club along with a partner club Just4FunDiving took our Easter Saturday to take a bunch of lovely blokes in for a try dive (and they got some resuscitation training too). The guys from Andy’s Man Club are all on their own journey and each came with their own story but those are not mine to share. Suffice to say that for some of them the idea of diving was both exciting and terrifying in equal measure. The pure joy on the faces of these guys when they realised what they had achieved was something I will remember for a long time. I spent an hour and a half underwater, 45 minutes each with two new divers. One of them was so excited he was even chatting under the water which is difficult with a regulator in your mouth, but he managed it! They all have a certificate for their day and a real sense of achievement. These were all guys who have realised that its not so macho to keep quiet and they’ve learned to work on their issues. We need more places like Andy’s Man Club, more “men’s sheds” just as much as we need more safe spaces for women. Tremendous day.

All the ‘staff’ on the day were volunteers from kit movers to instructors to bakers (there is always cake). Thank you to Northern Diver for the sponsorship and to Wigan Council for the use of the pool.

Cold Comfort

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Spring is springing. It’s been su shine and showers all week and mainly too cold to do anything meaningful. A couple of weeks back I managed to get 4 buckets of potatoes planted. The garlic planted last autumn are growing strong but  a few weeks way from harvest yet.

This is when the seeds go in. The beds were dug at the same time that the spuds went in and the solid layer if fertiliser had leached in nicely. Time to top out the potatoes with farmyard manure and put some brassica in to sprout. The strawberry plants are growing nicely

Today peas, mangetout, broccoli and cabbage. There are new tubs on the windowsill slowly streaming up and hopefully getting the plants revved up for planting out before we jet off again. The cats are fascinated.

My personal task today was putting together cold frame. I hate using chemicals  and avoid them if at all possible and, since last year saw us losing to slugs and caterpillars, the next line of defence is now a plastic half formed greenhouse in miniature which fits over one of the raised beds. Let’s see who wins this one sluggies!

The blackcurrant is putting out new shoots. The gooseberry is spiky and green. We may have enough for a pie this year! As ever, the garden is a joy since we converted it to growing food crops. We use it so much more with the summer house being a glorious place to sit.

The Greatest British city

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Happily watching Susan Calman as she tours Liverpool. The joy of this is that I know and love this city well. People if ypu can get the UK channel 5 please check this out.

The Liver Buildings, Charles Dickens, Williamson’s Tunnels, the Atheneum, St George’s Hall. It’s an amazing city about more than the Beatles, more than tne football teams.

If you’ve never been, please visit. Walk the  streets, see the sights but above all talk to the people. You won’t regret it.