Blogs

For those of us not in the UK, or who don't own a tv, this is a brilliant, hilarious ad campaign from BBC Wales on the 2012 6 Nations (I couldn't find one for Ireland - if someone finds one for Ireland, put it up!)

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Follow the whole nine yards here (a 95 part series) :- Half Marathon Blog

Why I am running:- West Coast Eisteddfod Bryn Seion Church

For details of how to sponsor see this post

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As promised photos of Sauvie Island after our exploration earlier on today.
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People do not realise the real price of coal, the horrible diseases people are still dying from today, the dust created by airborne particles from opencast mining, is polluting our air and killing the children and our future, breathing problems and lung related diseases are already on the up. The so called protected wildlife will suffer by losing the land that is their home and the nesting birds will go away again, the mountains will become barren, black deserts, because of the greed of companies like Miller Argent who put their profits before the health of people and the environment they are destroying.

We WILL NOT let this happen, they are thinking of digging marshland, home to many species of nesting birds, such as Lapwings, Plovers, Skylarks & many more, that hasn't been touched in over a thousand years, what right do they have to destroy this beautiful natural sight around Rhaslas pond?,

and the beautiful views that people see every day will be gone forever.

In the words of James Dean Bradfield "If you tolerate this, then your children will be next".

Hard grind, but I hope it's worth it...... I've spent most of the last week formatting and uploading five novels for Kindle, available from the Amazon websites worldwide. They tell you it's incredibly simple -- and indeed it is, if you want to upload any old rubbish. But if you want a novel that looks good, reads well, with a Table of Contents that works automatically, and with some chance of selling in that ultra-competitive world, you have to get it right.

So everything has to be transferred from Pages to Word, then reformatted with headings centred, page breaks taken out and put back in the places where they should be, indents for tables and lists etc etc ...... After one novel I felt dizzy and cross-eyed -- now, after five, I feel distinctly shell-shocked!

But Kindle is the way to go, since it makes book a available for a couple of dollars, and since there are all those people (mostly young people?) out there with their Kindles in their bags, commuting and reading every day. Replacing the old market, or just complementing it? Still not sure.......

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Follow the whole nine yards here (a 95 part series) :- Half Marathon Blog

Why I am running:- West Coast Eisteddfod Bryn Seion Church

For details of how to sponsor see this post

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Gaynor asked for a running pic a few posts ago so I thought I'd include a couple of shots of your cabbage patch action man in the 'wild'. I realise they are all a bit distant but I can photoshop them if necessary. Running went well today...probably about 20 minutes and I have kept to my pledge to quit smoking . Not one so far today ( 7.10 pm PST ). Gaabriel will comment later if I make it through the whole day

Pics of Sauvie Island to come tomorrow hopefully and of course the KStart or Indiegogo sponsorship app. Bit of a delay on that as I havent quite decided which one to use yet. Meanwhile the West Coast Eisteddfod page on this page is at last under way. Only very minimal details so far but we will be adding more in the coming days and weeks. SO....keep checking back for more info!

Me running

Ditto

Ditto again
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After travelling throughout Wale s on their week-long Big Welsh Busk, Warner Musics bright new signings Lilygreen and Maguire, both from the Newport area, were back in their hometown.

Friday morning saw them visiting Tredegar House, Newport, and busking at the amphitheatre in Caerleon.

Today was what I was waiting for said Jon Lilygreen, travelling through Wales was a wicked experience, but setting foot in my hometown was an absolute pleasure. A good bunch of fans turned up, including a mum and daughter who had travelled from Dorset. Our families and mates were also there and we got a guest appearance from 2 of my best mates. One of the most memorable things was the fact that it hailed. Hard but we still played through it.

From there they travelled to Cardiff where they set up camp outside Wales Millennium Centre. Some fans were there for the third day running.

Thats some dedication, said Jon Jon Maguire, a great number of people had turned out to see us there. They were mostly fans who had seen us on the Oly Murs tour. It was amazing to see them singing the words to all of our songs. A truly great day.

Friends Jon Lilygreen and Jon Maguire , have just released their debut single Come On Get Higher on the Warner Music label and will release their EP Aint Love Crazy on June 11 th 2012 .

The local duo has already built up a solid fan base after supporting X Factor runner-up Olly Murs on his recent arena tour of the UK and Ireland. They are also well- known within the South Wales' music scene: Lilygreen as a covers performer and Maguire as a local music producer and member of a rock band. They came together in 2009 when their talent was spotted by Warner Bros. Music who soon secured the duo with a lucrative record deal. Their debut album will be released later this year.

Lilygreen and Maguires tour started on Monday in Wrexham and their first busk was at Glyndwr University in the town.

Since then they have tr av elled to Bangor, Aberystwyth, Carmarthen , Swansea and Barry, Caerphilly and Caerleon, whe re they have performed on a beach , a pier, in castle grounds and various shopping centres .

For further information about the Big Wel sh Busk tour visit www.facebook.com/lilygreenandmaguire

An acoustic version of their debut single Come On Get Higher can be found here http://www.youtube.com/lilygreenandmaguire

Jon Lilygreen said we were so looking forward to these gigs, to pitch up at some fantastic locations and play in the open-air. We knew It was going to be quite a challenge visiting so many venues across Wal es, including a beach, a prom and a c astle and we were no disappointed. Our fans travelled from far and wide to support us and cheer us on . for the rest of the week.

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A duo that will make their mark in a very big way in 2012. The Mahogany Blog

www.lilygreenandmaguire.com

www.facebook.com/lilygreenandmaguire

http://twitter.com/lilygandmaguire

http://www.youtube.com/lilygreenandmaguire

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What I'm Reading

The Earth Hums in B flat by Mari Strachan

Gwenni Morgan can fly, in her sleep at least. With enough practice perhaps she will fly while awake. This is the story of her town, her family and the secrets that everyone knows, but no one talks about. Gwenni wants to be a detective and she will leave nothing be, until she can make sense of it. She wants to discover the whereabouts of Ifan Evans, the missing shepherd, and what's "dolally" mean and why did her grandmother go "dolally", and is Gwenni odd, as her mother says, and will she go dolally? And why is her best friend Alwenna, suddenly interested in boys? There is always a lot for children to learn, and the best part of a coming of age novel is the rediscovery of our own emergence from childhood and the first understandings of an adult world that makes little sense to the straightforward mind of a precocious child.

A small cast of characters keeps the town knit together. There is Gwenni and her Nain (grandmother) and Tada (father) and Mam and her sister Bethan, all of whom will also be caught up in the consequences of spilled secrets. Elin the teacher, is married to the lost man Ifan, and Nanw Lipstick is the gossip who knows everything and tells everything. Alwenna, Gwenni's best friend, cannot remain so, and must grow as well.

Told through Gwenni's voice, the story unfolds slowly through both a plot moving towards a conclusion, and through the slow and changing descriptions of the people and town as Gwenni sees them. The writing is straightforward and provides a nice foil to the matter-of-fact belief Gwenni has in spirits and in flying. The reader catches the warmth that Gwenni fells for her family and begins to feel the same. Every character is deserving of sympathy, while each portrait is unsentimental and evokes that period in childhood when the world opens up whether we are ready or not. This is a first novel, by Welsh librarian Mari Strachan, that succeeds admirably. Well worth a reading.

Llandeilo brewer Simon Buckley has given his reaction to a new survey which claims that publicans in Wales back the introduction of a minimum price per unit of alcohol.
Mr Buckley, chief executive of the Evan-Evans Brewery based in Llandeilo, gave his reaction to the Western Mail newspaper today, but his quotes were heavily edited.
Here is what he told the Western Mail -
Minimum pricing is only one of the key issues that need to be addressed.
Supermarkets are far cheaper than pubs.
But the demise of the pub is also due to the fact that pubs have not moved with the times.
They should have upped their game to match the demands of the consumer.
Most importantly, they should now listen to what the consumer wants.
We have, of course, done this at Evan-Evans and the pubs we run in Llandeilo, Brecon and Cardiff.
As a general point in Wales, many pubs are more professional than in the past.
But many still do not provide what the customer wants clean, well-run pubs, with high levels of service and the ability of people to get good well-cooked food with strong local provenance.
It is a fact that in todays economy there is a general lack of disposable income.
This means that the customer is far more discerning than in the past. They only buy what they want.
Minimum pricing will not stop binge drinkers.
People who are determined to drink too much will always find a source of cheaper alcohol.
We need less bureaucracy, not more.
I am afraid to say that we are going to see a lot more pubs close before this is all over.
Mr Buckley was reacting to a survey undertaken for the charity Alcohol Concern.
A total of 77% of Welsh publicans, when asked whether they were in favour of a minimum of 50p per unit, said that they supported the idea.
The survey was undertaken in February and March 2012, prior to the recent announcement that a minimum unit price for alcohol will be introduced in England and Wales.
The UK Government is proposing a minimum price of 40p per unit, whilst in Scotland 45p per unit is being debated. The survey results show that many publicans in Wales would back a higher price of 50p per unit.
Results from the research also indicate that a large number of pubs in Wales are struggling, with almost half (48%) of respondents saying their sales of alcohol have decreased during the last year, and 61% of these expecting them to continue to decline over the next 12 months.
Most lay the blame at the door of supermarkets, whose cheap drinks promotions they say are damaging trade; and many believe that the introduction of a minimum price would create a more level playing field between publicans and retailers:
94% think that cheap alcohol sold in supermarkets is responsible for stagnant or declining alcohol sales at their premises, with a majority (56%) citing this as the main reason
91% believe that it is hypocritical that supermarkets are allowed to promote cheap alcohol when pub landlords feel tightly controlled.
One landlord who took part in the survey said: People are coming out to the pubs already drunk. Its too cheap in the supermarkets.
Another said: Cheap supermarket alcohol is one of the reasons our trade is falling. It would be a good thing if their prices were brought more into line with pub prices.
Prices of alcohol products are so low in the supermarkets that 22% of publicans admitted they sometimes buy their stock from there instead of the cash and carry, with nearly a third (32%) of publicans from free houses (those not tied to a brewery) saying they have sourced their alcohol in this way.
Mark Leyshon, spokesperson for Alcohol Concern Cymru, said: This survey shows that a large majority of pub landlords in Wales support plans for a minimum price per unit. A minimum price would set a baseline price below which alcohol could not be sold. This would leave pub prices largely unaffected, but would stop supermarkets and off licenses selling very cheap alcohol.