To close the decade

A Poem

It is not the critic who counts;
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;
who errs,
comes up short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;
but who does actually strive to do the deeds;
who knows the great enthusiasms,
the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end
the triumph of high achievement,
and who at the worst, if he fails,
at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those
cold and timid souls
who neither know victory nor defeat.

-Theodore Roosevelt

So 2009 draws to a close

Three years ago I pointed out to Penyffordd Community Council that we had a lot of speeding in Chester Rd. The clerk Nigel was directed to contact me with the instructions to tell me it was nothing to do with Penyffordd County Council.

This shows the sickness and arrogance of our local council, safety and environment nothing to do with Penyffordd Community Council they said.

So where are we now? In 2007 there were approximately 2000 cars a day speeding through the village. Three years later its still over 1000 with councillors having little interest in health and safety for our village centre.

I have been told I have done nothing for the village, its been said that they have done all they can.

The above two comments are totally out of order. Safety and environment do not have to be earned, Chester Rd residents pay their rates, FCC and NWP should do their jobs. I mention the fact that Rossett village have traffic sorted, this statement always falls on stoney ground.

Targets for 2010. To get North Wales Police and Flintshire County Council to help Chester Rd, Penyffordd to become a village centre instead of a race track.

Gladstone was a political giant

Link The Guardian

keywords: Hawarden

Arrive Alive in Pontblyddyn

Why won't Penyffordd County Councillors press AWSP to do their job?

It's nearly three years since I pointed out that there was a large problem with regards speeding.
Arrive Alive are never pressed over Chester Rd speeding.

WHY?

Why aren't North Wales Police pressed to control speeding?

What has Cllr Cindy Hinds or Cllr David Williams done?

Village environment does not matter at all.

Lots of questions and no answers.

keywords   gosafe.org 

Penyffordd Weather

Cold for the rest of the week. Chance of snow tonight and tomorrow. As a hot house flower it's not very encouraging. I have two computer boxes and a fast motherboard. Surely there must be hours of fun trying to get two reasonably fast computers out of the bits.

Penyffordd District Back Up Team

The sustenance and security team (Mummy's Boy and the Dark Destroyer)
reading the Sunday Papers.

Christmas Lunch 2009

Prawn Cocktail

Glazed carrots, braised red cabbage, gravy, chestnuts and sprouts, turkey

Roast Potatoes and Parsnips in Honey

Sweet which was stollen got delayed for a 3 hour dog walk around Pen Llan Y Gwr

Wikipedia Stollen

Presents

A book called Companion Gardening by the whacky Bob Flowerdew, an orchid, a CD called Blind Faith and a bottle of red wine. What I would really like is to live in a village centre instead of a race track. Will this happen in 2010?

Peace

Persistence

A happy Christmas to my readers. Who some of you are and why you look at the blog is a little mystery but who cares. (My log tells me of computers visiting and where they come from but little else)

I admire Paul Flynn MP and Tam Dalyell. They too are persistent the perfect role models. If Penyffordd councillors* think over a 1000 vehicles hammering through the village centre each day is fine they should resign in the new year. I will be as persistent as it takes to stop this daily violation of our village environment.

Quote Paul Flynn " When I won my award in Cardiff last week, I quoted Tam in a brief speech. I said that the look on the faces on my wife and staff when I mention Afghanistan is similar to look that came over the face of Tam Dalyell's wife when he mentioned the Belgrano for the 1,747th time."

And so it is with my wife Lisa when I mention speeding traffic through the village.

Link Paul Flynn MP

* Cllr Linda Vidamour the exception
Maybe Cllrs David William and Cindy Hinds think village environment an issue? For years PCC have messed around with daffodils whilst ignoring speeding traffic. Will they change?

Fun in the snow

C'mon lets have a game. Keep fingers well out of the way.

Hedley Greenslade RIP

Postscript: Comments are open if you wish to leave a comment please do. I have received an email from Hedley's son David thanking me for that which I have said below.

Died 23rd December 2009. I first remember Hedley when he played for Graesser RG football team at Sandycroft in the 1960's. Later I got to know him personally in the 70's as a member of Hawarden Golf Club. In the last few years I had become reaquainted with Hedley through golf on a Wednesday. This last 5 or 6 years Hedley had battled against cancer. Even this last year he still played 5 aside football and golf to a high standard. A courteous polite human being who will be sorely missed. Condolences to Sandra and family.

postscript. The tally grows, Archie Ferguson, Jeff Roberts, Mac Williams, Eddie Mansell, Geoff Atherton .......Men I have known from my youth.

The funeral is on 6th January 2010, 11.30 am St Mark's Church, Connah's Quay (the big one on the hill)

Further memories of Hedley.

Hedley was a perfectionist. I found him to be also very sensitive.  His golf bag used to tickle me. He had a row of four pencils perfectly sharpened. Hedley built a putting green next to his house. Its surface was as good as half the courses we played. Hedley was a practiser because he was a perfectionist. His golf swing a perfect precise mechanical motion. Not a violent flail as some of my other golfing friends have.

I found his memory prodigious. On a recent trip to Harlech he mentioned a game we had played that had happened 35 years previous.

On the minus side was his driving and navigation. He once turned up at Llanermynech when he was supposed to be playing Oswestry.

One of the final games he played was at Royal St Davids Harlech which is most fitting as it is one of the best courses in Wales. I picked up Alan Stubbs then we picked up Hedley. I knew the best most easy way to get to Harlech but on leaving Hedley's house he said go this way.

So off we go on an adventure. Instead of cruising along modern A roads we end up along single track roads with grass in the middle on the outskirts of Cerrigydriddion.
We end up battling to get there for our tee time which would have been easy on the A roads.


The trip itself was something special as Alan is a raconteur who has played football for Chester and worked for one of UK's largest banks at a high level.


On the way back Hedley and Alan swapped endless stories about football. Alan told us tales about the banking world and his time as a professional footballer . A perfect day out with perfect company.

keyword. Frank Accleton, golf professional, Rochdale, Hawarden

Seen Elsewhere

Link The Telegraph

My kind of people - Jonathan Dimbleby does Russia

Life in Russia - The final stage Siberia to Vladivostok.
A good program that gives a good view of Russian life. The series most excellent.

Finally he comes to his last stop: Vladivostok. Jonathan meets some students in a café. This far from Moscow, will they feel any different from the chic young people he met in St Petersburg some ten thousand miles ago? Not really. They want a strong Russia before they want a democratic one. As he looks out over the Pacific, Jonathan reflects on how charming and how different the Russians are from us.

Link BBC4

Car Accident on the Vounog

Accident car on the left in hedge.

Range Rover in hedge. Ambulance and NWP were called. Time as stated underneath.

Link The Leader

Hot Chillies

Greenhouse crop 22nd December.

Link Daily Mail

My kind of People - Sir Clement Freud

On BBC 4 tonight my favourite TV station. What a character, a full life, RIP.



Link
BBC 4
Wikipedia

Winter Solstice

Shortest day of light for the year. The garden in shade.
Postscript. Or was it?

Link Wikipedia

The Dogs in the snow

Lets have a game!

First Snow of the Winter

Snow in Penymynydd Rd, Penyffordd.