The Red Balloon

Former Masters student Hui Chung sent me a copy of her book The Red Balloon (it's already published in China and Germany). With a really nice personalised inscription...

Yes, I like it!

Blog excitement

My blog readers spread worldwide. My Mum in Wales gets pretty excited when I post new stuff on here. Enough to stop her reading Maureen Lee's latest from the mobile library.

Avocats

If you're looking for the best egg flip in Paris, head for August & Debouzy.

Seriously, it's a very nice engraved sign outside the lawyers' offices...

Happy accident

I took this shot by accident walking across my sitting room. Looks good, eh?

More on Welsh identity

Charlie Alexander, who ran Cardiff's best bike shop in the docks (oh, sorry, Cardiff Bay) had a saying for it. He'd wander around his cellar muttering quietly 'it's enough to make a shepherd shag his sheep'.

Come on, women at rugby matches? And when they dress like this, Charlie's words spring to mind.

Now it's gone too far.

That's the way, just be honest

I can't even remember what the offer was, but the voucher code had me wondering!

Every time I called the premium rate number and quoted FCKU they hung up before I got to the -139 bit! Never did get to save £41... what did I say wrong?

Welsh national identity

It's bad enough being in Wales on a wet and cold March day (apart from being able to sample Brains Dark in situ).

But at every turn the national identity turned theme park bites you. Where the hell is that bloody bus going?

Yes, it's Wales, and yes, the minority speaks Welsh, but Iesu Mawr, do we need to be reminded we're in Wales all the time? What is Welsh Pie? And the CLASSIC Welsh dish at the Birchgrove on this dismal day was FAGGOTS! Duw duw, does the whole population eat cawl? Must do, they're Welsh, it says so on every flat surface.

Perhaps something went wrong with the national brand when Wales started losing at rugby and the reminders started popping up.

Still, there will always be the days on which Rugby Internationals are played when it feels a bit like Wales again I suppose.

Until then there's always Brains Dark (warning: if you ever see it outside Cardiff do NOT attempt to drink it. It doesn't like coming away from Cardiff. I tried it in Sicklinghall last year and it had turned into something else which I will not describe here. Likewise, I tried a half of Keighley's Timothy Taylor in the Deri at Cardiff and was ill for several days. Duw, will you look at that poster - Welsh whisky for heaven's sake).

What did Lee Marvin sing in Wandering Star? 'Home is made for coming from, of dreams of going to, which, with any luck, will never come true'.