Why Not Build It Without A Supermarket?

It's not like me to have a rant I know but I've just been reading about the new stadium for the 2018 World Cup story and would like to add my two penneth worth.

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Portsmouth39s-World-Cup-dream-still.5278927.jp

Does every new development not just a potential new Portsmouth FC stadium have to be linked with a supermarket and housing (namely more flats?).

Portsmouth City Council have not exactly covered themselves in glory in recent times, they didn't encourage IKEA to come to Pompey and just look at the numbers who flock to the store in Southampton not to mention the 100s of jobs created, the tower fiasco and the millions of pounds wasted on computerised bus stops that weren't needed and never worked. But now Portsmouth has the chance to build something for the future, a facility that could serve as a football stadium and a venue for concerts, shows and exhibitions.

We don't need another huge supermarket we need more emphasis on encouraging local shops and a community spirit within our city before it's too late.

Don't get lured into the web of the greedy powerful supermarkets, keep our independence and take ownership of this citys future like you should have kept ownership of the Spinnaker Tower and the revenue it generates.

I don't believe she just said that......

We've all been there a terribly embarrassing moment, the wrong thing said at the wrong time when the maximum offence could be taken if not entirely meant. A moment when you wish you could just become invisible or the floor open up and take you away from it all but surprisingly this occasion wasn't my doing.

There I was sat in the dentists waiting room with just a television set to keep me entertained except that the Jeremy Kyle show is not my cup of tea. The usual fodder of single teenage mum, wayward noncontributing boyfriend, jealous new girlfriend and new hard-working boyfriend providing for the child all stoked up by Kyle and his particular manner of leading both parties to the brink of committing murder live on television before restoring calm and giving them a solution to their problem.

Ignoring the garbage on screen I said good morning to another patient just arrived, his unmistakable Eastern European voice replied "gud mournin" then it all got a bit busy a man arrived who I knew as an elder of the Bangladeshi community took a seat quickly followed into the room by a young man of Asiatic origin.

What came next was straight out of a BBC comedy show.......except you couldn't have scripted it, one seat left in the waiting room......next to me and who do you reckon came in and sat in that seat? Only the absolute spitting image of the vulgar grandmother from the Catherine Tate show.

"Look at that bloody rubbish on telly....bloody good for nothings....all on benefits you know? They should neuter 'em. Listen to 'em....can't even speak proper English". I did my best to be polite and nod agreeably with the odd "yes I know" thrown in for good measure. Seizing the moment I deflected her onto MPs and their immoral expenses claims but that proved to be a mistake. She let rip "I needed a new boiler and had to wait eighteen months for it and pay for it meself then they put the pension up and took my wotsname credit away bunch of bloody crooks.............don't get me started on that Gordon Brown and now they wants to bring in even more immigrants..........there aint enough room for 'em they wants to do what they does in China and limit the number of kids they can have".

Well I just sat there head thrown back staring at the ceiling I have no idea what the other occupants of the room were doing I just wanted to disappear into thin air........then I heard the words "Mr Newsham would you come on through please"............I have never so willingly entered the dentists surgery.

Beer Hunting

Bath is a fine city full of culture, too many tourists but thankfully full of alehouses. Loads of them, my weekend in Bath was punctuated by many a pint and one of the best is the local brew 'Bellringer' and I must confess to asking for a pint of 'Bellender' when I'd had quite a few.

Our first stop was the smallest pub in Bath (pronounced Barth for any northerners reading) this is the Coeur de Lion with it's quaint old coloured glass windows and fab food, the tempura vegetables are just enough for a lunchtime snack and allow themselves to be washed down by the beer without a hint of making a windy reappearance. As the pub is so tiny you are compressed into your seats and cannot avoid tourists.......namely Americans. Alright I know they are always so amazed at our old stuff like castles, Roman remains and Stonehenge to name a few. Why do Americans say 'Stonehenge' with the emphasis on STONE? it's not as if there is another one to differentiate it from. 'Hey buddy we're looking for 'STONEhenge'.......... 'ah you mean Stonehenge'..it's just one word my transatlantic friend. But what really made me chuckle was the elder male yank who noticing my shaking of the non-brewed condiment onto a bowl of chips exclaimed 'they put put vinegar on their French Fries!'....... his wife Myrtle said 'NO!!'..... he said 'yeah! they seem to like it ya know'.

The Abbey Square is the place to be after lunch, at two o'clock the guides gather outside the door of the Roman Baths waiting to take you on a narrative journey through their city. No need to book no need to part with any cash, the guide who led us on a two hour amble to check out the architecture and tell us the story of his city was a fine English character decked out in several layers of linen shirts finished with a linen jacket. His umbrella was quite clearly of a vintage older than myself and his topping off was a floppy grey Fedora, the whole ensemble spoke of a man who had style, class and the ability to tell a story without boring his audience into the nearest tea shoppe. His class was such that after the walk he simply raised his hat and said goodbye, no hanging around for a tip.

Back on the beer hunt The Star is worth a visit as is the Raven last years winner of Bath pub of the year. The Raven offers nine types of home made pie with mustard mash and a range of beers and ciders. On the subject of cider I was offered good advice by our free walk guide 'cider after beer will make e feel queer but beer after cider makes a good rider'. So thats sorted then make sure you taste the ciders first.

Bank Holiday Monday saw county cricket at the Bath ground just a short walk across the river and Middlesex were the visitors who being bowled out for a total of 65 didn't make for much of a game but the beneficiaries of this thrashing by the hosts meant the pubs cashed in with hundreds of visiting fans heading for the alehouses. Most were in a pretty fluid state by late evening and a most amusing moment on the platform at Bath station was a crowd of Middlesex fans chanting 'we don't know what we're doing'..........I can vouch for their honesty.

Get down to Bath on the train for a day of culture and beer but aim to arrive about tennish before the coaches and you'll have a comfortable visit to the Romans Baths, a nice lunch with a pint then take the free walk including the Circus and The Royal Crescent.......here's a good tip visit The Royal Crescent Hotel and they'll show you round, serve you tea and home made biscuits for a fiver which is a lot less money and a good deal less sickly than a massive Bath Bun with cinnamon butter.

How Does That Sound?

The latest television ad for Confused.com paints a rosy picture for those of us who are just too busy to go around getting different quotes from insurance companies.

So with my home contents insurance about to expire I thought I'd give it a go and out of all the quotes one stood out as fantastically cheap.....too good to be true cheap. If it looks too good to be true then it probably isn't true but I went for it anyway. One insurance company were offering me cover at £53.83 almost half the cost of everyone else lets give em a ring shall we?

'Good morning sir you're through to Dave how can I help you today?'

'I'd like to take out this insurance policy please'

'certainly sir would you like to add on personal legal cover at £15 for the year?'

no thanks

'I'll add it on just now and if you don't want it we can take it off at the end.......would you like key cover at £25 for two sets of keys?'

'errr not really'

'I'll add it on just now and if you don't like it we can take it off at the end.....would you like to add accidental damage?'

'errr go on then'

'right that's a grand total of £178.74 minus your £20 cashback offer today the £20 will appear in your bank account sometime in the next ninety days so now that's £158.74 how does that sound?'

'it doesn't sound anything like £53.83'

'well lets take off the key cover and the personal legal assistance and its £118.03 how does that sound?'

'It's still not £53.83 is it, I want that policy which you quoted'

'I'm sorry sir the best I can offer you today is £71.27 with Fortis'

'There's no point continuing this conversion'........sound of phone smashing into its cradle

Anthem For England

We've just been debating God Save The Queen, not the concept of saving her like if she was drowning or stuck up to her waist in a peat bog or something nor the artistic merits of the Sex Pistols tune but the national anthem.

What do we all think of the National Anthem? thats the National Anthem of Great Britain.......(whats Great about it?) Whats not great is that its used as the national anthem of England which is wrong. England needs it's own anthem for sporting events, we should grasp hold of our identity and shout it out, be proud to be English but there you have a problem. If you proclaim your Englishness in our multi-cultural society you are by default making a racist statement, Saint Georges Day is celebrated less by English people (especially students) than St Patricks Day.

On the subject of racism there is a case in this area where a couple complained about the mess left behind by modern day highwaymen known as travellers and the cost to the local authority to clear it up but because they called them Gypsies and weren't too complimentary about them the council could not take their case up because the couples complaint was deemed to be racist in the eyes of the law saying their views 'contained statements that are based on negative assumptions about gypsies, travellers and travelling showpeople and / or could be construed as offensive'.

Sorry, I went a bit off track there back to the national anthem.

der der der der der der
der der der der der der

well thats the first two lines of God Save The Queen, it's a dirge and very uninspiring thats my view, give us Land of Hope and Glory or Jerusalem. This site goes into a bit more depth, I vow to thee my country is another contender..........now where did I put my tablets?

http://anthem4england.co.uk/

Runners-Up League

The Liverpool followers at work are unbearably smug this morning, when asked if I saw the 'footy' I said 'No I didnt watch FOOTBALL I listened to Exeter v Bournemouth on the radio, a proper game in a league that actually means something to me not some farcical runners-up league in which teams who finish 2nd 3rd and 4th in their respective countries play for the European Cup, a trophy which once meant something when the Champions of the said leagues played each other for the right to be the best team in Europe.

Liverpool won this competition after they finished way back in fourth place in the Premier League, surely thats wrong? I mourn the passing of the Cup-Winners cup and the way the EUFA cup has become a disjointed carousel of knockout qualifiers followed by group stages then the remaining teams are joined by the Runners-Up League cast offs and goes back to a knockout basis.

The joke game in the Runners-Up League last night was the German Champions Bayern Munich thrashing Portugals third best team 7-1 which became 12-1 on aggregate, what a team they must be to lose five nothing at home.

The likes of Rotherham, Luton and Bournemouth who have been deducted points just because they owned up to being skint should be rewarded with cash injections from the Football League the FA and EUFA not get fines and points taken away that in Lutons case will see them losing their league status and playing in the Conference next season.

Chelsea operate on a loss making basis every season, Roman bless him writes a cheque to cover the deficit (usually around the £100m mark) how is that responsible business practice? I don't see Chelsea starting the Premier League with a minus 17 points total, even if they did they'd still probably qualify for the runners-up league because the gap now between the rich clubs and the rest has widened so much, ok Everton and Villa have a pretend go at a top four finish but I'll be very surprised if it doesnt end up tediously with United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal......again.

Castles Culture and Log Cabins

So you want to get away from it all for a few days? somewhere peaceful tucked away in the woods where your alarm call is the birds twittering and the sun shining through the trees. Do I know of such a place? indeed I do and just a couple of miles north of St Clears in Carmarthenshire you can find Woodland Lodges.

A friendly family run site with log cabins that sleep from two up to groups of eight people, all the cabins have their own sauna which is a nice addition to what is essentially a base to explore South West Wales. Each cabin has all you need to self cater during your stay, shower or whirlpool bath, a fridge freezer an oven with grill, microwave, toaster and a television it's all there, everything is run on electricity so make sure you have a supply of pound coins, one warning the electric meter will whizz round like a whirling dervish if you spark up the sauna.

St Clears is split in two by the busy A40 which hurries the traffic westward to Pembroke Dock and by-passing the quiet little town which has some nice pubs and a couple of excellent prize winning butchers cum delicatessen where locally produced food can be obtained for cooking back at the cabin.

Heading south out of St Clears on the road to Pendine Sands and Laugharne the brown signs direct you to Dylan Thomas' Boathouse and the village of Laugharne with it's ghostly mediaeval castle on the estuary of the River Taf. It is reputed to be the fictional town of Llareggub and the inspiration behind the Thomas play 'Under Milk Wood'. It's other claim to fame is that actor Neil Morrissey loves the place so much he bought one of the pubs Browns Hotel which he sold in 2004 and still has an interest in other property nearby notably the exclusive Hurst House Hotel.

Laugharne has a plethora of pubs ironically three of them are within a stones throw of Temperance House but for good home cooked food try Greens restaurant by the car park, they offer organic local produce but beware if you are peckish between 3 and 6pm as rural Wales is shut.

You can find the grave of Dylan Thomas and his wife Caitlin in the churchyard, a simple white wooden cross is all that marks the great writers last resting place. Most pubs around St Clears and Laugharne have pictures of Thomas on the walls and they all claim he was a regular. Thomas spent most of the last four years of his short life in Laugharne not always sober and often quoted 'an alcoholic is someone you don't like who drinks as much as you'....no wonder most people assumed he drank himself to death.

Take a walk along the cliffs westward away from the castle up through wooded cliffs and the coast path will lead you along the shore until just before the quarry you cut back into Laugharne where you can walk through the churchyard and then down to The Boathouse where Dylan Thomas lived, now part tea rooms part museum it can be visited as long as you arrive well before 3pm. Just along from the Boathouse is Thomas' writing shed, if not the most expensive shed in Britain it certainly has the best view, this culture trail is well trodden in the summer months when American tourists swarm down to see the great mans house and writing shed so avoid the high season.

After a wander around Laugharne a visit to Pendine Sands is a must, the vast stretch of beach with firm solid sand where land speed records were made and broken in the twenties by Sir Malcolm Campbell and J.G Parry-Thomas. The Museum Of Speed on the beach houses 'Babs' the motor car with a massive 27 litre aero-engined car driven by John Parry-Thomas who was to lose his life on the sands when Babs drive chain broke at a speed of 170mph almost taking his head off. The car was buried in the sand after the accident but was recovered and restored and returned to action on the beach in the seventies. I wanted to open up the modest 1.6 litre 16v engine on my new Renault for a blast along the beach to see what it can do but unfortunately the beach is in MOD hands now and all motoring activities on Pendine Sands are strictly prohibited especially between the hours of 1500 and 1800.

On the way back take a drive to Llansteffan just a few miles south of Carmarthen and climb the steep hill to the castle high on the cliffs. Llansteffan Castle is magical for as many reasons as you care to make up and mercifully unlike in England it's free to enter and not blighted by those twin spoilsports health and safety. Climbing on the ramparts gives a fine view out over the Tywi estuary and makes a wonderful playground, if I had a sword and shield I'd have been running around the place for hours. At low tide you can walk down the zig-zag steps from the south of the castle to the beach below for a spot of beachcombing or a walk on the sand.

This part of Wales is full of spectacular walks, loads of pubs and restaurants and a very friendly welcome from the locals, try the Butchers Arms in St Clears it's on the way out of town on the Laugharne road you'll get good ale and food including real chips something that South Wales is particularly good at, none of your frozen rubbish here just good locally sourced produce and scenery to take your breath away.

Woodland Lodges can be found via http://www.hoseasons.co.uk/