Just a quick note to let you all know that we’ve (finally!) finished writing about our cycle trip around Pembrokeshire over on the crazyguyonabike website (with cycling photos and puffin photos at SmugMug).

Go puffin, go!

BBC Wales business correspondent Nick Servini on the lead role Cardiff could play in taking Wales out of the recession…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: are we in a recession. The blog is also related to: economy in a recession.

On the 23rd, the Toronto Maple Leafs managed to fire an incredible 61 shots on New York Islanders goaltender Dwayne Roloson, only scoring thrice. Roloson made some excellent saves and was full value for the 1st star he received on the night.

And yet…and yet there was the feeling in the Toronto media that the Leafs made it easy on him. After all, that was not the first time they had outshot their opponents (and by a healthy margin) yet failed to score often enough to win. Less than two weeks previously (the 14th), the Buds outshot the Flames at home 40-22, yet were defeated 5-2.

As the title of this post suggests, this is about the glove. The goalie’s glove, that is. Before we leave Roloson, check out his quick hand at 9:47 of the 3rd period, locating a snap shot by Phil Kessel to keep the game tied at 3.

And then look at each one of the three goals scored by the Islanders off beleagured Leaf goalie Vesa Toskala. Before bowing out “due to a sore groin”, Toskala surrendered 3 goals on 3 shots midway through the second period. Each goal allowed eluded Vesa to his glove side. Generally high to his glove side. He looked like a left fielder forced to play shortstop.

The next day, on Hockey Central, Nick Kypreos stated, point-blank, the Toskala does not have an NHL glove. During the game itself, the home-team announcers speculated that the Isles skaters were given the Toskala scouting report – shoot it to his glove side.

So is it true? Toskala has appeared in 10 games so far this year, and while his next appearance is clouded in doubt (he was placed on the IR after the game, he has already surrendered 35 goals.

Watching Toskala, this amateur scout noted his lack of size relative to the modern goalie as well as his tendency to play deep in his crease (to give himself more reaction time?). So I sat in front of the computer and re-lived the worst moments of the growing Leafs’ season. I replayed all of the goals Vesa has allowed. It was shocking to see how few of them truly seemed like great shots. Maybe 2. In contrast, 10 goals were scored to his glove side, mostly high. This doesn’t count shoot-out goals. Eight more goals were scored off rebounds Toskala directed right at an opposing player. Throw in the cross-crease feed he redirected into the net, we have 19 relatively weak goals.

Here’s the full total:

Nov 23 ‘09 NYI @ TOR – 3 – high glove, glove side, high glove
Nov 21 ‘09 WSH @ TOR – 1 – stick side
Nov 17 ‘09 TOR @ OTT – 3 – glove low, tip in, stick side
Nov 14 ‘09 CGY @ TOR – 2 – stick side low, rebound
Nov 13 ‘09 TOR @ CHI – 3 – high glove, stick side, tip in
Oct 31 ‘09 TOR @ MTL – 4 – deflected pass off himself, rebound, deflection, off goal stick
Oct 12 ‘09 TOR @ NYR – 7 – rebound, above head, glove, fivehole on rebound, rebound, high glove, rebound
Oct 10 ‘09 PIT @ TOR – 5 – high glove, five hole, rebound, tip, high glove
Oct 03 ‘09 TOR @ WSH – 3 – five hole, rebound, breakaway deke
Oct 01 ‘09 MTL @ TOR – 4 – down early, stuff low, tip, high glove

Like an old slugger has to cheat to hit sliders, Toskala has been cheating to give himself more reaction time. Unfortunately, this created more room around the crease for opposing skaters to stake goalmouth real estate. Toskala, as is, cannot contribute at the NHL level, definitely not on a regular basis.

And now to speculate on why the Leafs can take so many shots on the other goalie and not score…

In practice, the are shooting on none other than Vesa Toskala (and Jonas Gustavsson, to be fair). When shooting on Vesa in practice, it is taking less to score than it would on other goalies. So they don’t practice picking their spots as much as they might have to otherwise. So when the game arrives, they fire away, and if they are in the vicinity of the net, are not making the goalie overly exert himself to keep the puck out of the net.

In the Israeli army, we said, “Difficult in practice, easy in action” (sounds way better in Hebrew). For the Leafs, it seems to be the reverse. Too easy in practice, nearly impossible in action. The Leafs would be better off releasing Toskala.

For the first time in many years, social care has become a prominent subject in national political debate. This is long overdue and is something to be welcomed: social care is vital both for people with MND and for society more broadly, and it is right that it should be high on politicians’ priorities.

There is a down-side to this, in that with an election looming there is a temptation for politicians to try to ‘out-bid’ each other – the danger here is that politicians’ hasty headline-grabbing commitments may not work too well when they come to be implemented in practice.

We may already be seeing this in the social care debate. Over the summer, the Government launched a Green Paper on social care: while it did not go into fine detail, it addressed frankly the shortcomings of the current system and explored options for reform, advocating that a new National Care Service be created.

Its most contentious aspect was the proposal to roll Attendance Allowance into the National Care Service. It also suggested new models for funding, but did not put forward a wholly tax-funded option. It must be emphasised that this was a consultative document, and the ideas in it were not firm plans. Our response can be read here: while we welcomed the idea of a National Care Service, we opposed changes to Attendance Allowance and asked for the tax-funded option to be reconsidered.

While this in-depth debate was going on, however, the Prime Minister made an announcement at the Labour Party conference of free social care for those in the greatest need; this commitment was repeated in the Queen’s Speech. This is not what was proposed in the Green Paper, and seems to cut across it somewhat; we hear from Department of Health officials that it has required them to do a lot of work very quickly to try to make the policy work in practice.

We have therefore just received a separate consultation, on regulations to provide free social care in their own homes to those in the greatest need. This consultation runs until February and we will be responding to it; there will be a separate post giving more detail on this in the next few weeks.

The Green Paper and this new ‘free care’ proposal only apply to England, however, as social care is a devolved issue. The Welsh Assembly Government has now also published its own Green Paper, looking at the same issues. We work to lobby in Cardiff as well as in Westminster, and will be responding to this also.

Historically, health and social care in Northern Ireland have worked very differently to the rest of the UK, and we are not currently expecting a similar exercise to emerge from Stormont – but we will of course monitor this and take action if necessary.

There is therefore a lot of much-needed attention on social care at the moment, and much work to be done. Quite how the situation might change between now and the formation of a government by whoever wins the election is not clear – there may be more developments to come yet.

By Cara Sulieman

IT HAS been a popular playground game for generations, but children in one Scottish school have been banned from playing British Bulldogs on “health and safety grounds”.

Pupils at Edinburgh’s Firrhill High School have been told not to play the game, along with other “physical” pastimes such as wrestling.

The game involves kids running across the field and trying to break through a human chain formed by the other team.

It has had a revival in recent years as schoolchildren are encouraged to be more active in the playground – but has been banned in schools across the country.

“Not allowed”

And a series of minor injuries caused by playing the game at Firrhill has led to the acting senior depute Nick McClellan telling the kids not to play it during school hours.

A note in the daily bulletin message to pupils on the school’s website reads: “Please note that taking part in physical games such as wrestling or British Bulldogs is not allowed in the school grounds at breaks and lunchtimes.

“On health and safety grounds there is a significant risk of injury to pupils and these types of games are therefore unacceptable in school.”

Just last year, the Local Government Association (LGA) – which represents councils in England and Wales – called for the game to be reintroduced, saying schools needed to strike a balance between health and safety and getting the kids active.

But the move has support from local councillors, who say the game is “not appropriate”.

Councillor Jeremy Balfour said: “If schools can’t provide the necessary supervision, it’s probably a game that is not appropriate for kids at break times.”

“Don’t get out of hand”

Other councillors are calling for the school to life the ban, saying risk is “part of growing up”.

Councillor Alison Johnstone said: “This is a game that I played when I was at school and the fact that it’s still going strong shows it does have a real appeal.

“Clearly we have to take health and safety considerations into account but we have to be a lot more imaginative and can’t simply ban anything that has a bit of risk attached to it, as that’s part of growing up.”

A spokesman for Edinburgh City Council said: “We don’t have a central policy on activity in playgrounds.

“The school doesn’t want to see children wrestling or running into each other and getting hurt. They are simply trying to ensure things don’t get out of hand.”

See more of our pictures at our Flickr site and videos at our dedicated channel,  Deadline TV.

On June 20 1884 – two years after parliament passed John Lubbock’s Ancient Monuments Act, and a mere 12 days after General Augustus Pitt Rivers visited the site to assess its suitability – the great exposed neolithic burial chamber at Pentre Ifan, Pembrokeshire, became Wales’s first scheduled ancient monument. On June 20 two centuries later, a party of archaeologists gathered under the capstone to celebrate the general’s decision and the present system of protection that evolved from Lubbock’s act……

British Archaeology September/October 2009

Arriving rather late for the party at Pentre Ifan, but it is rather interesting to note that this very elegant monument had a birthday this year. It became the first scheduled Welsh monument in 1884, to be protected by law. Obviously saved for its dramatic beauty in the Welsh countryside it seems a pity that other such sites around the country cannot always have the same protection.

I haven’t got much to say about this article, apart from that it’s an interesting profile of Hollywood producer Ryan Kavanaugh.  Is he a new breed of producer, or just the modern equivalent of the movie moguls of the past?

It was EAVE in Wales week last week, and thanks to Anne-Marie at the Film Agency for Wales, as I was able to sit in on a few sessions.  The most interesting thing I learned is that many European producers see the UK as a difficult co-production partner because of the amount of red tape and hoops you have to jump through in order to unlock the finance for your project, and that one of the stumbling blocks are the huge legal fees incurred because of this.  If Wales is to develop a real feature film culture, something that we’re told is actually happening, then perhaps we need to consider how we can break down some of these barriers, even if it means lobbying government for change.

It was good to meet other like-minded people from Wales at EAVE, and also some from overseas.  I loved seeing how passionate people are about both crunching the numbers and telling stories they truly care about.  After all, even Ryan Kavanaugh cares about having a good script.  Maybe.

Zum Abschluss der Saison gab es noch einen letzten Sieg. Nach einer schwachen ersten Hälfte beginnt der AFC Southend direkt nach der Pause mit Power Play und schießt durch Ciliox, welcher nun mit 12 der Toptorjäger der 2. Liga ist, 2 Tore. Danach verflacht das Spiel wieder und Southend schaukelt den Sieg nach Hause.

Am Rande des Spiels wurde auch bekannt, dass der AFC Southend schon für die nächste Saison plant und zwei starke junge Verteidiger verpflichtet hat. Hier spiegelt sich auch einmal mehr die Philosophie wieder, dass auf junge Talente gesetzt wird und so auf lange Sicht ein starkes Team zusammenwächst.

A couple of years ago I wrote an essay for the Kendal Literature Festival writing competition. I was very lucky and managed to win the comp, which I was very pleased about.

Recently someone asked me about the essay and I thought – hmm, I’ll just pop it on my blog, so here it is.

I would like to thank Dave Pickford for casting an eye over this before it was finished and offering his sage advice. Dave is a superb writer and photographer. His article Who’s There on UKClimbing   is well worth a read.

Under The Black Cliff

Pushing the old body harder than it was used to, he suffered. Every step, his lungs bursting, legs screaming, up, up, harder, faster. He wanted to suffer.

Cresting the marshy brow, his head fell forward. He longed to look up, but he fixed his eyes on the damp ground. Wrenching his gaze forwards he stopped and steadied himself against the nausea. The shadow of the black cliff encased him and he retreated in to its darkness. A group of twenty, maybe thirty people were gathered at the cliff base. Flowers, poems, sullen faces, falsely cheerful tales: the shambolic grief of those close to the young climber. He turned around.

The walk back to Llanberis gave Graham little time for reflection. All too soon he was back in the land of roads, of houses, of people. The mountains pained him, but this village pained him more. The events of the past week would stay with him for the rest of his life. For the last forty years he had lived and breathed climbing. Living in Llanberis, he’d seen them all come and go. The bold, the strong, the talented. And the lost.

As he strode quickly down in to the village, ageing feet suddenly sore from hitting the solid tarmac, his thoughts wandered. A woman flung open a door, bursting on to the pavement, language and clothing equally colourful. It was a scene he had relived many times, his face flushed with shame. He thought of her, tall and colourful, and of how he’d left in a brown Austin Maxi, with her screaming on the step. But climbing was everything to him then. Almost running out of the house, leaving his Simond twelve point crampons on the kitchen table, not daring to look her in the eye. He’d not sobered up until Dover. That winter in the Alps had been his crowning glory.

The forgotten corners of North Wales have been a fitting background for troubled times in many a young climber’s life. He’d encouraged them, advised them, slowly brought them back to dry land. “Climbing is key”, he’d told them, “Keep climbing”. Who was he trying to convince, if not himself. It sickened him now. Who was he to advise, to educate? Back to the village, back to the bottle.

New to the scene, a young man exploded in to Llanberis this summer. Chris was an exceptional climber, he had a natural litheness about him, moving gracefully despite his long limbs. Tall and striking, flamboyant and confident, he’d made quite an impact on the local climbing scene. He ticked off test-pieces with a machine-like regularity. A modern day Fawcett, his appetite for rock was so insatiable that he could chew through partners, sometimes up to four in a day, leaving them worn out, raw handed and falling asleep after the first pint of the evening. The old man held his rope on Lord of the Flies and, watching him pull effortlessly on those tiny pockets, was young and fit all over again.

Chris was lost, as they always were. He was smart, as they always were. The old man gave him hope, gave him a light to follow, gave him purpose. Slowly, and for the first time in his life, Chris began to feel at home.

The Indian Face tackles a featureless shield of rock, high on the barren flanks of Snowdon. Facing North, plagued by rain and mountain vegetation, it lies in the most inhospitable nook of Wales. But when the late summer sun sweeps around Moel Elio, glinting gold on the perfect lines of the Great Wall, it gets under your skin. And for those that are good enough, of whom there are few, one route strikes a hidden chord. The Indian Face.

Heralded as a breakthrough in climbing and immortalised by the almost suicidal early attempts of John Redhead, The Indian Face is held in the highest esteem by climbers in Britain and throughout the world. If a man wanted to make his name in the world of climbing, then surely there was no greater route than this? And what if he were to die trying? Would his name be yet greater? A fearless and talented protégé, robbed from the climbing world by the simple snap of a flake? Or a lonely, lost soul, willing to risk everything to appease the baying crowds?

It was a dry summer, all sunshine and ice cream. It was a summer for swimming in Llyn Padarn, for cold drinks outside the Vaynol in Nant Peris and for climbing on Cloggy. It was a summer for The Indian Face.

Chris understood the seriousness of the game. His usual methodical approach to routes, working moves, learning the gear, saw him at the cliff many times over the summer months. He spoke at length about the route, to Graham and to everyone. Who didn’t want to hear about those holds? Creaking, sloping, pushing you in all the wrong directions. His progress was watched intently, a throw back to the days of the Eiger North Face. This time the binoculars had been replaced with internet blogs and there were no crowds gawping up from the valley floor. Instead, just hits on a website, silently following the dreams and nightmares of a man they’d never know.

He top-roped, shunted, abseiled. It was so complex, so many moves, so many holds. More used to the shortness of gritstone – which has few holds and even fewer runners, this was to prove a very different challenge. “You can’t learn this route Graham” he’d said one night in the Heights pub. “It’s a real climbers route. You just have to be able to climb. There might be a big sloper over there, or a crimp on the right, but it’s like a maze. I climb it differently every time. It’s just not in control ….”

“Climbing’s all about adventure Chris. Uncertainty, fear. If you knew you’d succeed then the challenge would be lost. It’s a magical thing and you need to learn to trust that magic. You can do it”.

Trust that magic. It had sounded good. Chris had smiled, picked up his pint from the bar and wandered off to chat to others in the pub, young men with bouldering mats and jobs and girlfriends. Chris was friends with some of them, but he always felt apart from them. Graham had put down his glass and continued arguing with Tony, seventy two, about the Kosovo genocide. His heart wasn’t in it tonight. Tony stood tall now, holding forth on air-strikes and politics, his voice full of passion.

Graham thought of his son. Where was he? How was he? He’d be the same age as Chris now. He hoped he climbed.

His hey days were now long behind him, but Graham had had his share of scrapes; greasy rock, no protection, heart in the mouth stuff. Stuck on the Brenva Face for thirty six hours, he’d lost a toe. He was convinced the lad knew what he was letting himself in for. They were both very wrong.

Stuck high on that slab, like a child swept out to sea, Chris had screamed for fifteen minutes. He couldn’t move up, he couldn’t reverse. Legs cramping, toes sliding, he swore. Then he’d gone quiet, resting his forehead against the rock. His rapid, loud breathing dimmed to a faint rasp. Young Martin held the useless ropes like rosary beads, his fingers twisting across them. It was too late, but Chris plunged upwards, no choice but to do battle with the cold, grey enemy. Shaking beyond control now, his foot stabbed the rock, eyes wide, fingers grasping, searching, crawling and, finally, slipping.

But what if he hadn’t have fallen? What if he had succeeded? The rock would still be there. The Black Cliff was filled with a strange quietness that evening. The wind made alien patterns on the surface of Llyn D’ur Arddu. As the cloud lifted slightly, the unrelenting shadow of the wall fell across the lake.

Later, as night was falling, the tall parabola of East Buttress leered back at Graham through the thin rain. The profile of the wall was now hardly discernable against the gathering gloom. He stooped against the wind to re-light his cigarette. Just visible between the boulders, eyebright flashed, hidden amongst the cotton grass. He remembered her twenty years ago, tall and colourful. Her figure was clearer now, her movements sharper. He remembered how she swam at the edge of Llyn D’ur Arddu, her dark curls making long ripples through the darker water.

Before he made a final turn across the northern edge of the lake, Graham took one last look towards The Black Cliff. He thought again of his son. Where was he? How was he? He’d be the same age as Chris now. He hoped he climbed.

Image by gazbryn825 via Flickr

Come for a bargain or two; or call in for a cuppa and a chat

A warm welcome to all at the

Table Top Sale

In the

 FELINFACH Memorial Hall

On

28th of November

At

10:00am

(Doors open from 09:00am to organize table. £3 per table)

Contact Administrator

One of the goods on sale on the day

Felinfach Memorial hall and surrounding

View Full Album

Hello oh faithful readers,

It really has been way way too long since I last blahed my blah at you, 2 months without a peep on the blog. Unforgivable, I hang my head in shame. However I return with exciting news! The Geekquest is evolving!!

A while back The Mistress and I were having a conversation about horror movies, as she (along with most of my friends) is a horror movie junkie. I made some joke about that being something we should do, she could do the make up and I could do some quality killing of the undead. We would rope people in to be victims or special effects people and wouldn’t it be funny. Well that’s exactly what I’ve decided to do. I am going to make a Horror movie. And I will need your help.

Anyone who has heard anything about Colin, the zombie film made for a reported £45, will know that the rise of uber low budget horror film is under way. Paranormal Activity has been storming up the box offices on a comparitivly titchy $15,000 budget. All proof that it doesn’t take vast amounts of cash to make a successful film. With the increase in digital technology’s availability and quality at ever decreasing prices lack of money is no longer the barrier it once was. What you need more than anything is people with enthusiasm, passion and dedication to what they are doing. Basically people like you, reading this blog.

The cast and crew for the film will be made up mostly of people who have trained in, been born in or reside in Wales. However I will be needing help from all over the world, people who will act as the street team for the film, telling people about it, spreading the news, sticking up posters etc. I call them the Bloodettes.

As more information comes in I will update you, in the meantime if you want to sign up to be a Bloodette, you or someone you know might be able to give your time for free to help make it (bareing in mind the Welsh criteria), you have a suggestion or you just want to say hey then get in contact. (Any nay sayers out there who want to get in contact only to say the whole thing is doomed to failure or something like it I am politely telling you now to cram it, don’t try and bring down others because they have the bravery and spirit to do what you dream of. As Nathan Fillion, Cap’n tightpants himself, says on twitter, it’s cost nothing to say something nice…even less to shut up altogether).

This is going to be a film made by geeks for geeks…and anyone else who’d like to see it, and I am looking forward to having you along on this Squeeetastic adventure

Love and entrials. x

Atrium - home of Creative and Cultural Industries

By Abhijan Barua . The Atrium hosted a careers seminar for students across South Wales to attend and meet a panel of successful professionals from different media fields. Co-organised by Skillset Screen Academy Wales and the Royal Television Society, the seminar panel was chaired by international award winning theatre director Ceri Sherlock.

Also on the panel were S4C and Al Jazeera television producer Nia Ceidiog, web designer Aled Parry, director Phil John, and assistant editor at BBC for multimedia news Ceri Jackson. More than 50 students attended this event from different institutions across South Wales such as Coleg Glan Hafren, Newport University, Cardiff University, and of course the Atrium itself.

 The panellists shared their career experiences with the students and spoke about the origins of their passions for their respective careers.

Notable was Ceri Jackson’s account of how her love for journalism began while accompanying her father, also a journalist, to the press box at Sophia Gardens many years ago. She went on to illustrate how students shouldn’t take one knock back to mean failure, when she accounted for her own master plans falling flat as she got turned down for a traineeship all those years ago.

She told how she did unpaid work experiences on local London newspapers, then had a chance conversation with the editor – getting her a place in the traineeship at Hendon and Finchley Times. From there she made a name for herself while working for Bella magazine before moving on to the Daily Mail, and finally BBC Wales.

Following the panellists sharing their career experiences, all students were broken up into groups of 12 allowing the panellists to go around the room and chat with them on a more personal level.

S4C’s Tim Hartley, also a Royal Television Society fellow, was one of the main organisers of this event and he feels the main purpose of it is to assist students get an idea of what it’s like to attempt to gain that elusive first foothold in an industry before establishing themselves.

He said: “The idea is to share experiences with those about to enter a similar line of work. Our panellists are from a wide sector of interest so we can break down traditional barriers between presentation and production, or public and private sector.

“It is important this way to try and involve young people in to an industry that’s currently changing as new technologies converge. We can’t talk about the industry in terms of just the television or a single source.

“There are different means, sources of funding and distribution platforms. It can be a scary world out there for someone just starting off but very very exciting too.”

• The UK Government white paper responding to Calman is due, and appears from the pre-spin to be pretty positive.

The next question is how the Conservatives respond, given the very unenthusiastic signals sent by Tory front-benchers about the financial proposals.

UPDATE: The Scotland Office’s news statement on the white paper is here.  Jim Murphy’s statement is here.

FURTHER UPDATE: The white paper is now available here.

• Peter Hain is to appear before the National Assembly (his ‘Queen’s Speech’ appearance), following yesterday’s shenanigans and the knot in which Rhodri Morgan managed to tie himself, and Welsh Labour.

UPDATE: The headline is that a row didn’t break out in the Assembly, and that Hain said that (like David Cameron) he would not reject a request for a referendum if the Assembly were to make one.  More interesting to my ears, though, in the light of the white paper on Calman discussed above, was Hain’s promise of a Commons statement on Thursday responding to the Holtham Commission’s first report.

(For those  who managed to miss Tuesday’s row – and it moved very fast – the story has been best told on Betsan Powys’s blog: start here and follow it through the next 6 posts.  See also coverage from the Western Mail here and here.)

Under 23 International Challenge Trophy – Northern Ireland v Wales

A weekend without blogging. Mr T got an email on Frday asking why I hadn’t blogged, my friend had nothing to read’. So this should keep her amused for a while – We’re currently in the car on the way home from Wales, a day later than expected due to the heavens opening and most of the UK being hit with rain. We ought to be used to the wet stuff, it makes up 80% of our weather, except we’re used to grey, dull, drizzle which is more annoying than exciting. This rain was more flood everything type stuff, the kind where you look out of the window and contemplate building an ark. Instead what we did was to stay an extra night with our friends and come home today (let’s ignore the guilt of midget missing a day of school for this…) on the basis of better safe than sorry.

Good weekend? Yes. In the whirlwind that can be my mind at times, our visits to Wales act like a more physical form of lithium for my moods. The ups and down become undulations and I can feel peaceful and more myself for a while. Going home this time, what were at one point childish tears at not wanting to return to normality have become the realisation that my dose of peace has been topped up and alongside Mr T the helter skelter is less likely to be polished and for a while the mats have run out. For now I can enjoy the contentment.

Hardly describes the weekend does it? Ok, Thursday started it off – I wasn’t sure about whether to go or not. Mini midget had been ill all week and she was only just coming out the other side. Then Mr T’s parents phoned to say they couldn’t look after the midgets as they had come down with equally icky germs. Looked like every thing was off. Then Mr T talked to Lady S and asked if we could bring the masses with us (this was fine, but it generally feels like we inflict the midgets on people and it’s only fair to be concerned). So back on it was…

 Friday Mr T and I finished work together and packed up the car with mini midget, we picked the midget up from school together and set off for Wales. I should explain something about this really. I love Wales, the place, the clean air, the people (who just seem friendlier), the random oddities who wander around the local supermarkets in their PJs, the accent, and Lady S and Mr L live there.  We go there as much as possible and the girls have begun to share my love of the place.

So we arrived Friday just in time for the girls to say hi and head off to bed which they did very well considering they’d just sat in the car for nearly 4 hours. So, with the kids in bed an evening in front of Children in need, cwtched up on the sofa began. Saturday was spent in Cardiff Bay where the weather had started to set in, lunch was found in the lovely Chinese restaurant and then all energy run off in Techniquest (this has to be the most fantastic science museum for midgets). Micro midget discovered a fascination with fish which was beyond cute, and as the kids all headed towards meltdown we headed home. In the sheeting, biblical rain (hmm…..).

Sunday morning, oooh err…. It’s a bit wet out there. We looked at the weather report and noticed a flipping great swirly cloud of black that was about to swirl its way across the whole of Wales and the UK.  Made breakfast and talked about whether or not to drive back. Phoned parents, both sets confirmed the weather locally was pants. Nice weather lady mentioned a gap in the weather today. Decision made. Stay the extra night, deal with reusing kids clothes an drive home in safety. Not the end of the worlds, and if we were to get stranded with anyone, I can think of far worse people! So thank you Lady S and Mr G not only for a wonderful weekend but also for not making us go out in the scary rain. And now I must sign off due to excessive lack of battery!

Following a recent post where I looked at the growing injury concerns in rugby it was interesting to see this article posted by the BBC today.

I have already spoken about the issue in hand in some depth and you can read it in full by clicking here.

But now with the day of reckoning looming with the IRB annual conference just a week away

Rugby Football Union chairman Martyn Thomas has told the BBC a review of the laws is on the agenda.

“At all costs we’ll do what we can to protect players,

“The rise in injuries is not acceptable. We can’t just shut our eyes. We have the ability to change laws. If the medics and experts say there is a problem then the RFU will take a look at it.

“The crucial thing is player welfare and the impact the injuries are having on the game, apart from a moral issue, of course.”

Surgeon and former England full-back Jonathan Webb recently joined the likes of Lions team doctor James Robson, when he told BBC Sport that the increase in injuries could be put down to players getting stronger and fitter. England internationals are now on average two inches taller and a stone heavier than those of 20 years ago.

“A bigger body travelling faster hitting another body is going to cause more damage,” said Webb.

Another blogger recently used the example of French international Mathieu Bastareaud and former England World Cup winning centre Will Greenwood.  At 21-years of age Bastareaud is six-foot tall and close to 17-and-a-half stone.
While 6ft 3ins, Greenwood weighed in around the 15 stone mark in his prime.

This increase in size is being blamed for the increase in injuries to players and one man all too aware of this problem is Martin Johnson.

In my previous blog I wrote:

One man feeling the strain of injuries more than most has to be England team manager, Martin Johnson, who picked his squad for the Autumn Internationals today with 21 of the 64 players in the England elite and Saxons training squads out injured.  Wales also have their own problems, missing the vital Ospreylian trio of Adam Jones, Mike Phillips and Lee Byrne.

In a further move that will please rugby fans around the world, Thomas also revealed the panel would look at the prolonged periods of ‘ping-pong’ and lack of tries in today’s rugby.

England, for instance, have scored just one try in their last 240 minutes of rugby, while Wales came under the scrutiny of the media for their lack of try scoring prowess in the build up to the Argentina game.

Nonetheless it is fantastic to see Unions looking to address the issue especially such a traditionally forward dominated country as England.

Earlier today, the Welsh Labour Party released a statement indicating that progress on a referendum would not be made before a UK general election.  In consequence of that, there have been serious ructions within the Labour-Plaid coalition, and even talk of its collapse.  Martin Shipton’s story from Wales Online (the Western Mail’s online service) is here, and the BBC’s is here.

What struck me reading this was not the delay in itself, but the reason for it.  The Labour Party statement says

Because a ‘No’ vote in a referendum could set back devolution for several decades, triggering the referendum process needs to be based on a firm prospect that public opinion is ready to respond positively in the referendum.

The implication is that this hasn’t yet been done.  But that’s exactly what the All Wales Convention was set up to do – and did.  Chapter 5 of the report is a careful and detailed survey of the state of public opinion, based on polling commissioned by the Convention.  That is what it has spent the last 18 months doing.  This position of Labour’s amounts to second-guessing the Convention it set up.  It’s a very odd position indeed.

This isn’t, sadly, the first time that Rhodri Morgan has commissioned a large-scale report on devolution and then reacted to it in a confused way, unclear how to handle party considerations and balance those with the requirements of his government and the larger project of securing effective devolved government for Wales.  The same thing happened in spring 2004, following publication of the Richard Commission’s report.  Once again, a comprehensive survey of the working of devolution and what the public think about it has come up with conclusions that are too difficult for Labour Party politicians to handle, so they seek to unpick.  It looks horribly as though history is repeating itself.

Marek Zilkowski (Trainer AFC Southend): “Wir haben ein starkes Spiel meiner Mannschaft gesehen. Meine Mannschaft hat das Spiel verdient gewonnen und sich damit und auch mit der Gesamtleistung über die Saison den Aufstieg redlich verdient. Jetzt wird erst einmal gefeiert und dann hoffen wir auf einen tollen Saisonabschluss!”

R. Jaeger (zweifacher Torschütze): “Es war ein klasse Tag für mich, zwei Tore, der Auftsieg und dann auch noch den 1. Platz gesichert. Ich ich werde nachher einen ausgeben müssen.”

Trainer AC Evolution: “Respekt an den AFC Southend. Über die Saison gesehen waren sie einfach die beste Mannschaft und auch heute haben sie uns ihre Grenzen aufgewiesen. Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Aufstieg. Doch wir haben es denen auch zu leicht gemacht, ich bin heute sehr unzufrieden mit meiner Mannschaft. Sie hatte zu viel Respekt vorm Gegner und das hat man deutlich gespürt. Vorne war Flaute und hinten lief auch nicht alles rund. Jetzt hoffe ich, dass wir wenigstens den Aufstieg noch packen!”