Exam results.

Two postings in one day! I write tonight to boast that I have had the result of my final term results from my first year in college. I got a B13, which is in the outstanding performance category. Am I pleased, you bet I am!

Another one mark and I would have got an A - ah well we can't have everything! I certainly won't be getting anywhere near this is the poetry examination.

The Big Read

Hello Blog followers. Did you think I had deserted you? It's this dam poetry that I am doing, I am really not very good at it, and the main thing is my lack of interest in the subject. No matter how hard I try, much help I get, I can't quite bring it off! I need all the support anyone can give me, and many thanks to those of you that are helping me through. No working for high marks this term, just a pass will do!


I went to a day organised by the college yesterday, called 'The Big Read'. It was an excellent day. Multi talented poet and short-story writer Phil Carradice was reading and discussing his work. What an orator. He was wonderful, I could have listened to him all day, but I had to move on to the next session called 'Between the Black and the Green' which was a talk given by Professor Dai Smith on notable Welsh authors whose works have been republished in the acclaimed Library of Wales editions. There were some mediocre sessions in between before the last session for me which was Professor Bernard Knight, the master Medieval crime writer. My friend A. from pottery joined me and the college group for this last session as I was taking her to Cardiff for some scan results immediately afterwards.


It was a good day, well worth the contribution of £8 including a buffet lunch. If any one reading this who is of a literary leaning, sees something like this advertised it's well worth the effort to attend.

Poetry Today - again!

Last weeks poetry, written by me, was read out in class this morning! It's was never going to be a masterpiece, as I didn't understand the guidelines, but it was received well and the tutor was pleased.

Now this poem was not a production about eighteenth-duelling pistols, but about a humble mouse! I fulfilled the technique - even though I didn't interpret it exactly as told. I have this theory that talent is inborn and technique is learned. I will get there!

This week we have moved from rhyming - thank goodness - to narrative poetry. I think I am going to like this better. At the end of the day it's part of a course, people do this for a hobby, so let's start to have some fun with it!

Licensings and Commissionings!

It's all change in our parish! The curate has moved to the parish I actually live in where she is now vicar. Our vicar has become Area Dean and the ordinand that was licenced in June of this year, has become our curate! What has all this meant to me?


Firstly, it has not been user friendly to my diet! All these licencing 'Do's' have meant that I am having rather too many wonderful buffets put before me - which on one occasion - at least - I have been tempted, but the others I declined to eat - only because my weight loss has slowed down in Weight Watchers!!!


We are all duly proud of the three people involved and think it was a brave decision by our vicar especially to accept the post of Area Dean as he does have health issues.


The office of area dean (formerly Rural Dean) was an important one in the middle ages, but the office went into disuse after the Reformation until it was revived in 1836 ( so I read ) and is now reorganised in the constitution of the Church in Wales. As Deaneries become more significant in the modern church, this office has again become an important one. It was interesting to hear these facts at the Service of Commissioning.


Congratulations and best wishes to all those who are tackling new challenges, in and outside of the Anglican Church. I will say one thing for our Vicar, he does not shy away from a challenge, he is tackling quite a few in the city at the moment. He has the support of his parishes and I personally wish him all the best.

APSailing for charity!

The long climb to the top

There were a group of young people apsailing down the side of the transporter bridge this afternoon for charity - The St. David's Cancer Hospice Charity, a very worthwhile organisation that is struggling for funds like many other charities. . I went along to support. I could not have done apsailing, even when I was younger, I never had much of a head for heights even then!

The start.

He's off the top!

It's a long way down!

Done it!

Well done to all those who took part. I hope you enjoyed supporting this worthy cause.

Pottery and Birth days!

This is my plugged and strapped mould ready for pouring.

For the first time in ages pottery was a really busy this morning. I took in my gargoyle that I had made in Bristol back in March. Our pottery tutor showed me how to 'stress' it and I was quite pleased with the result.

Strapping the two halves of a mould together with bands

as demonstrated by our tutor.

Although I have 'poured ' a few times before, we were shown how to do it correctly this morning by the tutor. First you seal all the cracks in the mould with clay until no daylight is showing, and then the slip (liquid clay) is poured into the mould, left for 15 minutes and then poured out. A outer layer will have formed inside, which is left for a week. Next Wednesday we turn the moulds out and they will be bisque fired prior to painting, next they will be glazed. When this is done the final firing will take place.

The stressed gargoyle ready for firing.


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Other things happening today. My eldest son is 42 years old - Happy Birthday N. Almost an ancient monument x!

My nephew and his wife have a new baby girl. We are all in shock over this, as we were told the baby was a boy. I have often wondered if these predictions are ever wrong - well now I know!

A spare morning ......

Having been informed that our tutor for creative writing class is unwell and unable to take the class today, I had a morning free. I went to check out the new Asda Stores that had opened in the city. What is it with these shops? Once inside, you could be in any of their stores. I realise that they are going to carry the same lines, but the same layout, the same design, the same everything except it's location! I realise the advantages for Asda, same plans, same shop fitting designs etc. but I wonder how many people get fed up of all this?


The new B&Q in the city is exactly the same as the one in Sutton in Surrey and the one in Cambridge, except for a few hundred miles up the M4, you could be in the same shops.


It's the same with clothes shops. All this for me takes away the thrill of going out shopping for the day as we used to twenty years ago. These days we may as well save the fuel and pop around the corner!


Well I am off out to lunch in a very nice hotel, and that's not 'samey'! I had better go and get ready. Hallelujah for individuality!

A week of culture.

All week I have been telling people that I am going to see an amateur production of a Terrance Rattigan play, when in fact it was Arthur Miller! Old age etc. ?


Blackwood Little Theatre is just that - little! A far cry from the very modern and elegant Millenium Centre, where we were on Wednesday night, but this small place has a charm all of its own.


The play 'Broken Glass', set in the 1930's, is a complex play about a married couple who have personal issues, which are triggered by political events. It appears to be a play about sexuality, but it's also about the hatred of Jews by other societies and individuals - it also tackles the issue of a Jewish males' hatred of his own Jewishness.



The production was a sell out, but the majority of the audience were students studying 'Broken Glass' as an exam text. My friends and I felt a bit overdressed and 'aged' among such a youthful gathering of denim jean clad budding academics! However, it took away none of the enjoyment of the evening, and we all agreed that we would keep an eye on forthcoming events. What a cultural week this has been!