I always thought Wales was a champion of cultural values. I thought the Welsh were supposed to willingly and enthuiastically accept other cultures, just as we embrace our own culture despite centuries of struggle to ensure its survival. Now we have egg on our face, deemed cultural egoists, too scared to let the All Blacks perform the Haka because it would give them an adavantage. This was never the WRU's intention Im sure - I mean, if we have let NZ perform the Haka in every game against us in the past, why would we change it now? The WRU did not want it to seem as though we are denying any national team the right to any cultural practice, but now thats the very charge which is raised against them and in the eyes of the rugby world, us as the Welsh people also.
Truth be told, the WRU have acted on an assumption. They assumed that the All Blacks will perform the Haka before Mae Hen, just like last year, when it was arranged as a one-off to celebrate 100 years of Welsh-Kiwi rugby rivalry. And we all know what happens when you assume something - it makes an ASS out of U and ME. For now we are faced with a blunder which both sides are reeling from. Misunderstanding?... maybe. Sheer stubborness?... perhaps more precise to the point. But can you do afford to do that when people are paying good money to see a complete show? Those people paid to see the Haka, just as much as they paid to see a game of rugby. And because the WRU can't get their act together, the regular punter is the one who gets the shortfall.
Shame really. And those punters Im sure will disassociate themselves from the bungling WRU. As last Saturday when we invited the Maori to dinner, we may have had the welcome mat out but we clearly had no manners. And judging by the rugby, we should really learn to match our opponent's appetite for the win.
All that glitters isn't gold, as it soon gets old...
As my city changes around me, its clear that yesterday's Cardiff is a very different one to today's. In particular, the Cardiff Bay Retail Park only a mile from my house has received two new additions, Morrisons and Toys'R'Us, whilst the once-imagined International Sports Village is now slowly becoming a visable reality. It kinda makes me remember when a certain Swedish chain opened their wares to Cardiff for the first time only a few years ago. Ikea was perhaps the very pinnacle of the retail park's status; indeed as well as the city itself, the store signalled that the Welsh capital was worthy enough to up there with the city powerhouses of Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester. In addition to creating a symbol of prosperity and confidence for the city, it opened up a whole new world for all Ikea virgins.
I must admit that when I went to see the Ikea store in Bristol, I was wowed. I couldn't believe what I was seeing - it was not just another MFI, a home furnishers paradise. The furniture was so different, so alternative to anything I had ever seen. You could even eat decent food in a gigantic restaurant, serving Swedish meatballs with ligonberry juice. It was such an experience which to this day, I guess I will never forget. And lo and behold when it came to Wales, my excitment was emulated once more. It wasn't long before I bought my Robin CD rack, my Billy Bookcase and a Bamsig toy (a cuddly blue dog in a spacesuit) for Jen.
So on a random trip to buy magazine containers for my BBC History magazines I stumbled into Little Sweden for a walk around. Now, the previous store opening shine has disappeared underneath the dirty layers of recession, stupidity and banality. Only a few weeks ago it was reported that the Ikea Cardiff kitchens were not conducting as cleanly as they should be, which was a blow to what is usually a busy sector of the store. The economic slowdown effecting retail has also caught up with the Swedish giant and in turn they began to cut staff rapidly. It is a common occurrence to wait a helluva long time to be served at the tills. But the final straw came to me when I took adavantage of the 'Hot Dog Combo' offer. At first I thought I was on a winner as for a pound, you can still get a large hot dog and a soft drink, but now you can have free refills on drink. Result! However to my disgust gone were the decent branded drinks, and even the ligonberry carbonated juice drink! In their place, were an orangeade, a cola drink and a lemonade so foul and unrefined it could make a Happy Shopper soft drink seem like in the same league with Pepsi. Come back Lowes, all is forgiven!!! I felt violated, betrayed and angered all at one time. But above all, I was disappointed at how things had changed - it was clear that Ikea was now part of the Grangetownian skyline. Now I no longer say "I can't believe Ikea is here", and a trip there is mundane and banal, not as exciting as before.
My point, be it obvious or not, is that Morrisons will soon become the new Ikea. In fact, I think it already is. Its just a shame that the glitter couldn't last just a little bit longer.
I must admit that when I went to see the Ikea store in Bristol, I was wowed. I couldn't believe what I was seeing - it was not just another MFI, a home furnishers paradise. The furniture was so different, so alternative to anything I had ever seen. You could even eat decent food in a gigantic restaurant, serving Swedish meatballs with ligonberry juice. It was such an experience which to this day, I guess I will never forget. And lo and behold when it came to Wales, my excitment was emulated once more. It wasn't long before I bought my Robin CD rack, my Billy Bookcase and a Bamsig toy (a cuddly blue dog in a spacesuit) for Jen.
So on a random trip to buy magazine containers for my BBC History magazines I stumbled into Little Sweden for a walk around. Now, the previous store opening shine has disappeared underneath the dirty layers of recession, stupidity and banality. Only a few weeks ago it was reported that the Ikea Cardiff kitchens were not conducting as cleanly as they should be, which was a blow to what is usually a busy sector of the store. The economic slowdown effecting retail has also caught up with the Swedish giant and in turn they began to cut staff rapidly. It is a common occurrence to wait a helluva long time to be served at the tills. But the final straw came to me when I took adavantage of the 'Hot Dog Combo' offer. At first I thought I was on a winner as for a pound, you can still get a large hot dog and a soft drink, but now you can have free refills on drink. Result! However to my disgust gone were the decent branded drinks, and even the ligonberry carbonated juice drink! In their place, were an orangeade, a cola drink and a lemonade so foul and unrefined it could make a Happy Shopper soft drink seem like in the same league with Pepsi. Come back Lowes, all is forgiven!!! I felt violated, betrayed and angered all at one time. But above all, I was disappointed at how things had changed - it was clear that Ikea was now part of the Grangetownian skyline. Now I no longer say "I can't believe Ikea is here", and a trip there is mundane and banal, not as exciting as before.
My point, be it obvious or not, is that Morrisons will soon become the new Ikea. In fact, I think it already is. Its just a shame that the glitter couldn't last just a little bit longer.
The Return from Gogland
Having returned from a quick and jolly jaunt up north, I now feel as though I know what my nation actually looks like. The beauty of the Snowdonia mountains was certainly breathtaking and was like nothing i had ever seen before. Good to know that its all on your doorstep.. well kind of!After a little rendezvous with Ria and Lisa in Mid Wales's most premier town, Aberystwyth, Leighton Jen and I headed north. We firstly conquered Machynlleth and Dolgellau, then we powered on to make sure we got to the Llanberis Slate Museum. En route we witnessed some beautiful sights, such as the one above, which we took whilst riding the famous Llanberis Pass. Once spending no more than 10 minutes in one of the most uninteresting museums ever, we made our way out of Snowdonia into Gwynedd's mighty administrative heart
of Caernarfon. We meandered around the town, looked at the great castle and made base camp at our accomodation in Bangor. In the evening we strayed into Bangor city centre and had a fine meal at the local Varsity and had a few cocktails in the very packed out Lloyd's Bar. Leighton at this point of the trip was euphoric as he felt well at home, with Welsh speakers galore! Although we agreed that Bangor was not what we imagined; it was quite dark and dismal, in addition to being a place which belonged solidly to the student population.
On the next day we attacked the day with a light breakfast, as we had castles to visit and Argos stores to assess. Before we left Bangor we decided to stop at the Argos Extra in the retail park, to check out North Wales's hottest Argos store as one would normally do! Our first stop was Beaumaris castle, which meant a trip over the Menai Strait and into the druidic ancestral home of Ynys Mon, or to many, Anglesey. This was probably the castle I wanted to see most, for it is revered for its sheer architectual brilliance. And it didn't disappoint. Leighton was still in awe of surrounding Welsh speaking folk by this time!
After that we went to Llanfair PG; which I must say, astounded me for it's absolute tourist pulling power! Its amazing how one train station can bring into so many elderly people! Jen stocked up on her beloved aniseed balls, I got my rum and raisin fudge and Leighton, well.... in his words, bought "enough to get me back to Caernarfon"! So we crossed back into the mainland and it was Caernarfon Take Two for Leighton to see his castle. We conquered the castle after a good two hours or so and we were all mesmerised by it's size and the well-preservation of the walls.
We then hurried along to Conwy for the castle Jen had longed to see. And it was pretty impressive. Again with lots to see, and a before entering the main gate there was a castle wall walk which was absolutely pointless to walk on but we walzed along it anyway! The sights of Great Ormes Head and the town were fantastic from the tall towers. Jen by this point had caught the Welsh speaking bug and began to recite the same sentence over and over much to her delight... "dw i eisiau coke", "dw i eisiau coke"... and to report, this trend hasn't ceased yet! After visiting Conwy, we lost a good friend in Mr Sun. So as we had to deal with Mr Night, we knew that it was time to head homebound bound. But first, we visited the North Walian seaside citidel of Llandudno, which boasted a picturesque beachfront (above). It did look like a Spanish hideaway, but it certainly wasn't as warm as one! We rounded off our trip by checking out another Argos Extra in Llandudno town and noticed a few safety hazards and poor name badge wearage. But, at least, their quickpay kiosks were A-OK.
We then travelled down the A55 North Walian Expressway towards Chester and then went to Wrexham, Shrewsbury, Telford and then came home via the M54, M6 and so on. It was a shame about the traffic on the M5 but it least it gave us a chance to reflect a great two days. Also Jen learnt more Welsh and put it to good use by asking for more things! Leighton nearly killed us with his toxic ass, but gladly Jen and I survived to tell the tale. Never again! Well, until next time!
A Reminder to Mr Bush....
In light of the recent US congressional elections, I thought I would display the video which got me chuckling when Kerry took on Bush and sadly lost. Yes, I would say for once and once only, I truly am a 'liberal wiener' instead of a 'right-wing nut job'. Enjoy!
"Thats no way to tell a lie"
Good evening, good morning, good afternoon... whichever is applicable to you, please note that One Man is back for another edition of my latest shenanigans. As you can probably tell from the title, or even the pics, I recently went to see the awesome James Dean Bradfield at Cardiff SU. It goes without saying that the Manics frontman really kicked ass, belting out his solo stuff as well as the stuff we all know and love. Emigre, perhaps my fave track from The Great Western, was performed better than I could imagine. In addition, the acoustic versions of Kevin Carter, This Is Yesterday and Ocean Spray were also fab. Its great to hear that the Manics are back together next year, but the solo efforts of Bradfield and Wire have been really promising, especially Wire's I Killed The Zeitgeist. The gig was also great because Jen and I had the chance to meet up with Chris and Greg as a four - the first time since we lived in Cathays. It was just like old times!
Once, twice, three times a Rhodri?
Now if Tony Blair strolled into your work, some people would understandably make a fuss, point and stare, ask for his autograph, and all that ridiculous faff people do on this island when they come face to face with someone with slight celebrity status. Alas for poor Rhodri Morgan, our very own First Minister of the Welsh Assembly Government, he can only muster confused looks and complete ignornance from his adoring citizens. Shame really, the power of celebrity - but thats another blog topic I could go on about for ages. The thing is, when Rhodri stepped into Argos the other day, it triggered The Bus Effect. I was not to see him once, but twice in one day. Spooky huh? And this was on Halloween too! Anyway after Mr Morgan was served at our customer service dept (and from what I gather, was given detailed information about our returns policy), he appeared at a conference in the National Museum where I was waiting outside with Jen and Tom for the 'Creepy Cardiff' tour (which was ok, quite informative, but in my opinion was fairly steep moneywise). Rhodri escaped the building with a bit of a whimper, no adoring public, no paparazzi, no police escort - in fact, he climbed into his chaffeur-driven car and got out at the nearby cash machine for a few notes! To think eh, even Wales' leading political figure has to go to a hole-in-a-wall just like us!?!?!? It amazed me. I really wish I took a picture now. Oh well. Rubbing shoulders with the Welsh political elite is tough job, but clearly it comes easy to me!
What?! You're Taking the Diss!
Alright.... I may have said the dissertation would be finished by October. Yet on the turn of November I was still placing the finishing touches on the thesis! But officially, it's now at a close. Last Wednesday I gave it in and kissed goodbye to student life for good. It was a great feeling to see the work in a shiny binded cover; it made the whole year worth while. Not to say that the year was a waste of time. I really enjoyed this year and the course, which was very thought provoking and rewarding intellectually. Political science and theory has really interested me and has opened new doors for me I feel. Let's just hope it finds me a job!
Which brings me onto full time work. Its hard! I'm currently working full time in Argos (thus the sighting of Rhodri) whilst looking for something new. I want to work in government of some sort, maybe a local council or maybe something in public policy. But again, I am no nearer about singling out a particular job - I dont think I ever will!
Well I hope that has wet your appetites for now, Im off to bed as I went for a lovely family meal to celebrate my parents' silver wedding anniversary. Good night to all, and to all, a very good night.
Which brings me onto full time work. Its hard! I'm currently working full time in Argos (thus the sighting of Rhodri) whilst looking for something new. I want to work in government of some sort, maybe a local council or maybe something in public policy. But again, I am no nearer about singling out a particular job - I dont think I ever will!
Well I hope that has wet your appetites for now, Im off to bed as I went for a lovely family meal to celebrate my parents' silver wedding anniversary. Good night to all, and to all, a very good night.
