Weekend In Wales
Friday 13th March 2015
Friday morning, healthy breakfast, check on emails and Lou's uni, then over to Derwen Fawr at 11:30 to drop off the C-E singles at Gabalfa.
Quick chat with Mr.H then back to Bishopston to meet Kathy and take mum round to the
Plough - which has gone all posh, less a gastropub, more a restaurant with a small bar area now. Top notch food and you know it will be heaving on Sunday for Mothers Day.
Murton Post Office, Chemist, popped back home then I headed into town at 3:30 to get time for a peek at the Man exhibition in Swansea Museum before it shut at 5:00. Cold and drizzly out but very happy once I got in the Museum - had the whole place to myself for an hour and loved seeing all the classic posters, singles and memorabilia. Dissapointing that the exhibition programme was sold out, but they said they'd hunt one out and call me. In the meantime, picked up
Deke's 'Maximum Darkness' book. His '
Rhinos, Winos....' is one of my favourite Rock biogs.
Check out some
exhibition photos and vids here.
Had a quick walk around past 'Old Nick's', now the Mission Gallery, then a look at the guitars and the Pictures Of Lily drum kit in Cranes, popped in HMV - horrible shop (and a completely empty Man section despite exhibition across the road) - and found a new Beck book in Waterstones, apparently just delivered that morning.
So back to the car and round to Griff's with his birthday present -
The Damned 'Black Album' box set - plus a couple of Damned 12"'s, a Rods white label, and a 'Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle' book. In return, I got the 'gold deluxe' edition of the "Jack To A King" DVD, signed by Ashley, Leon Britton and 'Magic Daps' Lee Trundle.
Quick cup of tea then in the car up past Dyfatty Flats, round Cwmbwrla Roundabout, over the top of Brynhyfryd and to the land of grey and pinks in Morriston. Quick turnaround and back to Sandfields to get chips and curry sauce from the Argyle Fish Bar before going out again up Mount Pleasant to Chrissy's house. Quick chat about plans for the rugby tomorrow then back down past The Heathcliffe and the Carlton Terrace punkhouse back to Argyle Street to pick up the records and off to Jonathan Bowen's in The Uplands.
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| Chrissy's scarves from all the away games |
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| The Griffiths Brothers swap presents - the Cockney Rejects DVD for Chrissy's 40th and a Czech flag brought back for Griff from a stag do in Prague |
What an incredible place, looks like it hasn't changed since the 19th Century. Had a look out in the garden at the bee hives and associated equipment before a cup of tea round the Aga and a tasting of the different batches of this season's honey. JB had been out on the Llanmorlais walk with Jams and met Sib, The Great Voltini, and we talked a bit about the old medical equipment that was in the house that Jonathan was aiming to try and repair. Griff was itching to repair to the music room so JB chopped some kindling and got the fire going. Griff was in ecstasy, working through all 6 sides and singing along to every word while JB and I played backgammon. Then time ran out and after a final blast of "The Crown" to end the evening we said goodbye and it was back down Mumbles Road. An adventurous hedgehog crossed the road in front of the car at the bottom of The Mayals, but not another soul in sight across Clyne Common and back to Bishopston for 1 a.m.
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| a Victorian TENS machine |
Nice morning. Nice big semi-healthy breakfast again before the nice ladies from the Social Services come round to get Dad out of his bed and,using some amazing hoist contraption, into a wheelchair. Kathy arrived with her friend's 'popemobile' and we got the ramps out, maneouvered the wheelchair into it, and set off for Langland Bay.
Hour on the tube to Hammersmith. Finished the book I started on Monday "The KLF: Chaos, Magic and The Band Who Burned A Million Pounds" by John Higgs - full of Discordianism, Ideaspace and magic. Got the car back to Kingston to load up for the journey and then off to Oswestry at 10:45 with exactly 1,000 miles on the tripometer.
