The Cardiff Exile

Recognising a great guitarist that you might not have heard of before...

2012-02-13T21:10:00.000Z

In recent posts I have highlighted and paid my dues to some of the great musicians who have helped form my musical journey through life. My favourite guitarists are from a variety of musical spectrums such as Ken Nicol and Michael Chapman from folk, Michael Schenker from the hard rock/heavy metal scene, blues guitarists such as Peter Green and Paul Kossoff and from the world of progressive rock Dave Bainbridge (pictured left) from the celtic rock band Iona.

In my early years of being a Christian I became a big fan of Iona's music. Their first three albums remain amongst my favourites until today namely "Iona", "The Book of Kells" and "Beyond These Shores". Whilst I also have "Journey Into The Morn", "Open Sky", "Heaven's Bright Sun" and "Woven Cord" by them, I haven't listened to these as much as the original three studio albums. I have had the pleasure of seeing them play twice in Oxford and High Wycombe and they are an impressive live band too. I saw them when their ranks included drummer Terl Bryant, multi instrumentalist Troy Donockley and bassist Tim Harries (formerly of Steeleye Span). The current line up still features founder members Joanne Hogg and Dave Bainbridge who is an excellent guitarist. He has been an influence on the more technical aspects of my playing as he combines classical and rock guitar with equal measure. Unlike other guitarists of his musical genre his playing is subtle and perfectly fits each musical progression. I think that is the mark of a truly great guitarist, as he doesn't play for the sake of playing or try to dominate a piece of music. He adds to each piece of music in much the way that Michael Schenker does. As Peter Green once said during his Fleetwood Mac days "less is more".

Folk's not dead, no! It is alive!

2012-02-12T22:03:00.001Z

I love folk music and I suppose a lot of this is because of my passion for Steeleye Span, a British band who have incorporated traditional folk songs and reinvented them within a rock music setting. However, I also like traditional folk as well and one artist I have recently discovered is the British artist, Seth Lakeman (pictured). When I saw Jethro Tull perform at the Colston Hall in Bristol in 2008 during their 40th anniversary tour, Seth Lakeman was the special guest that evening. His song "Kitty Jay" is a fantastic combination of just fiddle and vocals and is one of my favourite songs. After receiving an ITunes voucher for Christmas I enoyed spending it on a lot of his EP's and one of his albums. I also enjoyed watching some of the emerging folk music talent on this year's BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards on BBC4 the other night. Folk music is still in a very healthy position and just like rock music will remain popular even if it doesn't cross over into the mainstream. In this era of digital downloads, the X Factor and many anonymous shortlived pop artists, I would sooner delve deep into musical scenes where real talent is present. Seth Lakeman is one of those talents, who is well worth discovering in my opinion.

What a waste of talent, but roll on May!

2012-02-12T21:48:00.002Z

The late Ian Dury (pictured left) once recorded a song with his backing band "The Blockheads" called "What A Waste". I was reminded of this when I read about the death of Whitney Houston earlier today. Whilst I wasn't a fan of her work it was very sad to see someoe who had such a great vocal talent, eventually lose her voice, career and ultimately her life through drug abuse. It also reminded me of other musical talents that have been lost over the years to drugs and alcohol. The list is like a who's who of pop and rock music that includes the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Janice Joplin, John Bonham, Bon Scott, Paul Kossoff, Tommy Bolin and many others. All were incredibly gifted and talented, but their lifestyles ultimately destroyed them.

On a less sombre note my lovely lady and I have discovered a new blog written about Malaysia, which I will be reading up on over the next few months ahead of our trip to Kuala Lumpur. Entitled "Malaysia by a Malaysian" it includes some excellent information about the country and is very informative. If you want to check it out for yourself then please click on the following link:- http://www.audioguidemalaysia.com/blog/2010/05/22/welcome/

Mixed fortunes for my sporting teams.....

2012-02-12T21:30:00.000Z

It's two wins out of two for Wales so far in this years RBS Six Nations tournament following a 27-13 win over Scotland at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff today. Whilst Scotland's indiscipline cost them during key parts of the game, Wales were able to capitalise on this by racking up most of their points, whilst two Scotsmen were "sin binned". Leigh Halfpenny (pictured left) showed a cool head and near perfect accuracy with his penalties and conversions. Next up is the must win game against the "old enemy" England and hopefully the triple crown will be heading back to Wales next weekend. Wales will then end the tournament with a match against Italy followed by the finale against France.

Fatigue, or lack of strength in depth are real causes for concern for Cardiff City at the moment after another defeat yesterday. The City slipped to a 2-1 defeat away to big spending Leicester City and in the first half City spent the entire time defending. September was the last time that City lost back to back league games and hopefully the team can regain some momentum against Peterborough United next Tuesday at CCS. Some fans have questioned our lack of activity during the transfer window and whether this will hurt the team in the long run. There are 16 games to go until the end of the season with City sitting in 4th position in the table. It would be a huge shame if their form dipped off now when promotion is still a realistic ambition.

A railway bygone that is now part of a cycling network.....

2012-02-09T20:56:00.001Z

Following on from my last post, I have always enjoyed walking along old railway lines over the years. There are many great railway walks around Merthyr Tydfil which my family and I used to walk along when I was younger. The section of old line from the former station at Pontsticill Junction to Pontsarn is lovely although the viaduct at Pontsarn now bears a "cross at your own risk" sign these days! The lines in and around Merthyr closed before and after Dr Beeching and my parents remember when the lines were dismantled for good.

One former railway structure that always fascinated me when I was younger and which I could see from my Nan's house in the Twyn-y-rodyn area of Merthyr Tydfil was the magnificent stone viaduct at Cefn Coed. It still stands proud as a relic of the former Merthyr to Brecon railway and I remember walking across it with my Dad about 20 years ago. I had always wanted to walk across it and to get the perspective of the views across Merthyr that a train traveller would have once seen as the line curves back towards the town. Today the viaduct has survived and has been incorporated into the "Taff Trail" cycle path which runs from Brecon and follows the River Taff all the way down to Cardiff Bay. Whilst trains will never cross it again at least Cefn Coed viaduct has been preserved for future generations to experience and enjoy.

I once passed this on the Cardiff road....

2012-02-09T20:39:00.001Z

Some of my favourite childhood memories are of summer holidays and Christmas present runs to see family and friends in both Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff. Over the years we were regular travellers on the main A470 road from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff passing the wonderfully named places "Fiddlers Elbow" near Quaker's Yard and also up on the hillside the magnificent Castell Coch. For many years I passed this landmark (pictured left) and thought it was just a tower built for the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. Over recent days I have made an interesting discovery regarding this structures origin. It was originally part of an old railway bridge called Walnut Tree Viaduct!

In Wikipedia it describes the viaduct as follows:- "Walnut Tree Viaduct was a railway viaduct located above the northern edge of the village of Radyr, in Cardiff, South Wales. Originally built to carry the Barry Railway across the River Taff, it was deconstructed in 1969, leaving only two of the support columns visible from the A470 road." At one point there were many lattice girder railway bridges in South Wales such as those at Walnut Tree Junction, Llanbradach and Crumlin. Sadly only small brick abutments or supporting columns are all that remain of these once magnificent structures. I also found this excellent picture online of Walnut Tree Viaduct whilst trains were still running over it (pictured left). I can imagine that the views were spectacular for the passengers on this line and it is a shame that this journey can never be made again. It is ironic that some of the most scenic and beautiful railways in Britain were the least used by passengers and the first to close. Thankfully these lines were either photographed or recorded on film so that we can remember the former industrial and railway heritage of South Wales.

The reinforcements are beginning to arrive!.....

2012-02-09T19:51:00.000Z

Whilst Cardiff City may have missed out on the permanent signings of Marvin Sordell, Craig Noone and Matt Phillips during the permanent transfer window; things have already got off to a better start during the loan transfer window. 19 year old Slovenian under 21 international midfielder Haris Vuckic has today joined City on a one month loan from Premiership side Newcastle United. His arrival has been met with a great deal of excitement from our fans and the feedback from Newcastle fans has been about an "exciting young prospect". Hopefully he can make a positive impact during his time with us although he is sadly ineligible for the Carling Cup Final against Liverpool on Sunday 26th February. Manager Malky Mackay has already hinted that he is trying to add further loan signings to the squad, which will hopefully add to the strength in depth needed to maintain out promotion push. One messageboard contributor joked that after the recent arrival of Kadeem Harris, we appear to be signing players with the name Harris. Hopefully Rolf and Keith won't be joining us shortly.

Moving onto Christmas DVD's!.......

2012-02-08T19:01:00.000Z

I was very fortunate this Christmas to receive a lot of excellent music on both CD and DVD. This week I have finally got around to watching Julien Temple's excellent documentary about 1970's pub rock legends Dr Feelgood (pictured left). Entitled "Oil City Confidential" it charts the rise of the band from their humble beginnings growing up in Canvey Island in Essex (which is also home to a number of large oil refineries) all the way to chart success in the mid to late 70's. It focuses purely on the original line up of the band and is largely from the perspective of former guitarist Wilko Johnson. The film also sees the three surviving original members reunited with Wilko being joined by John B Sparkes (nicknamed "Sparko" on bass guitar) and John Martin (drums - also known as "The Big Figure"). There are also archive interviews with lead singer Lee Brilleaux who sadly passed away from Lymphoma in 1994 and lots of great live clips of the band from various gigs. Most of the best gig footage is from the "Going Back Home - Live At The Kursaal" DVD, which I bought a few years ago when I first got into the band's music. There is also a great clip of the three surviving members playing together at the annual Lee Brilleaux memorial festival at Canvey Island too. It is a shame that the acrimony between Lee Brilleaux and Wilko Johnson, which caused Wilko to leave the band in 1977 was never resolved. The band did seem to lose momentum after he left and despite enjoying chart success with "Milk and Alcohol" with new guitarist John "Gypie" Mayo the band didn't achieve the success of their early years. "Sparko" and "The Big Figure" both left in 1981 after years of long tours leaving Lee Brilleaux to front various different line ups of the band until his death in 1994. His dying wish was for the band to continue and Dr Feelgood are still touring, but with none of the original members involved. They do a great job of playing the Feelgood material but I still prefer the original "classic" line up. Wilko Johnson still tours and plays the Feelgood material that he wrote so at least one original member is keeping their early sound alive.

Catching up with my Christmas CD's......

2012-02-07T19:18:00.000Z

It seems crazy that I have got as far as February without having listened to the CD's that I received as Christmas gifts in their entirety. As my lovely lady is away in London this week I am trying to find many different ways of occupying my time so that I am not solely focusing on how much I am missing her. I am looking forward to calling her in the next few moments and catching up with her today.

Tonight's musical treat has been Rory Gallagher's posthumous new album "Notes From San Francisco" (pictured left). The album was recorded as long ago as 1978, as I mentioned in a previous blog post, but was finally released in the latter part of 2011. I had forgotten how many of the songs I already knew as I remember "Guitar Techniques" running a series of tutorials called "the A to Z of great riffs", which just happened to feature some of the tracks on this album. To this day I can still remember how to play the riffs from "Mississippi Sheiks" and "B Girl" (later renamed "Public Enemy Number One" when it appeared on his 1979 album "Top Priority"). I have enjoyed discovering more of his music over the last few years and I would like to collect more of his albums at some point. This album has been well worth releasing and if you love blues based rock music then this album will be right up your street. "Rue The Day" is a great opening track and I may have a go playing along to it later. Since I stopped playing live in November I have not played regularly over the last two months or so. I am trying to discipline myself into a daily practice routine now so that I don't get rusty fingers, or lose the skills that I have worked hard to develop. I have a Gibson Les Paul Standard and a Marshall AVT275X amplifier ready and waiting to be used so to quote Marti De Bergi in the film "This Is Spinal Tap", "Hey, enough of my yakking. What do you say? Let's boogie!"

I am a fickle rugby fan....

2012-02-05T22:42:00.001Z

There are very few things in life that I am fickle about, but unfortunately Welsh rugby is one of them. I suppose it is because I watched too many games in the late 80's and 1990's when Wales were usually hammered and humiliated by the likes of England, France and Western Samoa. I also remember the team losing 71-8 to New South Wales in 1991 and by 96 points to South Africa. I used to be an avid viewer on international days, but over the years I lost interest as I watched numerous poor performances that bordered on the embarassing. Then in 2005 after nearly 25 years of underachievement, Warren Gatland led the team to its first Grand Slam since the heyday of Welsh rugby in the 1970's. The next couple of seasons weren't much to write home about until Wales won a second Grand Slam in 2008.

Following the recent heroics of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, expectations were higher this season. Today saw Wales win a thriller away to Ireland by 23 points to 21 thanks to a last gasp penalty by Leigh Halfpenny. It was a great start to the Six Nations for Wales and hopefully they can continue this with a win against Scotland in Cardiff next Sunday. It certainly helped pick me up because due to illness I had missed church in the morning, so I had stayed home to rest and recover. Hopefully the City can also get back to winning ways next weekend even though they are facing a difficult away trip to Leicester City. Manager Malky Mackay has bemoaned the poor defending against Blackpool yesterday and hopefully the team will work hard to improve on this ahead of next Saturday's big game.

Another railway comeback.....

2012-02-05T22:21:00.000Z

Following on from an earlier post where I praised the Welsh government's pro-rail stance, I have to admit that I was excited to read about the work that is going on to reopen Goodwick station in West Wales. The station closed as part of the Beeching cuts in the mid 1960's, but due to the local population growth and a successful campaign it has brought about the reinstatement of rail services to this community. At present the inhabitants of Fishguard can only travel by rail to and from Fishguard Harbour. Goodwick station (formerly known as Fishguard & Goodwick) is closer to the town of Fishguard and therefore it makes more sense for the station to reopen. Today's picture shows the work that is going on at present and thankfully the original platform is still in a reasonable condition for reuse.

Dismal City!.....

2012-02-04T18:57:00.001Z

I will not criticise Malky Mackay because he has been a breath of fresh air at Cardiff City this season. I am sure that he is as angry and disappointed as the majority of City fans are today following a dismal 3-1 home defeat to Blackpool at CCS this afternoon. Some fans including myself are putting today's defeat down to a bad day at the office and on the previous occasion the City lost at home (3-2 to Middlesbrough in early December) the team has gone on an excellent run of results. Perhaps today has shown that the team needs strengthening so that we can maintain our excellent start to the season. It would be a massive shame if the City hit a dip in form especially with big games coming up against Ipswich Town, Birmingham City and Leicester City. The team has a great team work ethic, which was strangely lacking today and hopefully it was just a one off.

Could trains be about to return to Portishead?

2012-02-04T18:44:00.002Z

After the recent dismay that followed North Somerset Council's failed bid to secure Government funding towards reopening the Bristol to Portishead railway, it was nice to hear some positive news about the reopening campaign. The Bristol Evening Post included a story this week featuring news that the Portishead line and a new station at Henbury looks likely to be included in the franchise agreement for the train operating company First Great Western. Thanks to campaign groups such as Friends of Bristol Surburban Railways (FOSBR), The Portishead Railway Group and other groups rail is very much back on the agenda at local government level. Our local authorities in Bath & Bristol have also begun feasibility studies towards reopening the stations at Saltford (near Bath), and both Ashley Hill & Horfield stations in Bristol.

It is a shame that the UK Government has diverted yet more expenditure towards road building schemes instead of looking at alternative transportation, which the Scottish and Welsh assemblies to their credit have already done with great success. It is almost as if the UK Government have the same mindset as messrs Lord Ernest Marples and Dr Richard Beeching did in the 1960's. Whilst I acknowledge loss making rail services perhaps inevitably closed back then , history has now proven perhaps that many of these lines could have now alievated our gridlocked roads. Portishead, Tavistock, Witney and Abingdon are all towns that could all benefit from rail services, but in the case of the latter two it is sadly too late to reinstate them as the trackbeds have been redeveloped.

Winter finally arrives....

2012-02-04T18:12:00.000Z

I am quite glad that I decided to look out of the window at around 2pm as we had originally intended to go out much later than we eventually did. What started as a few small flakes developed into heavier snowfall as the afternoon went on so we decided to brave the mass hordes of people panic buying at Tesco's. In much the way that people become both aggressive and irrational in the shops in the build up to Christmas, the same kind of behaviour was evident today. I think it also shows how we as Brits struggle to cope with snow unlike our European neighbours, or how the USA and Canada manage with this weather. It is very much a fact of life in these countries, whereas it seems to catch most of us by surprise here! I have many Polish friends who find it laughable when Britain grinds to a halt, as their snow drifts are usually far greater and they just get on with life.

Thanks to my lovely lady's suggestion I have started to use a novel way of getting around having to scrape ice off my car windscreens each morning. Old duvet covers are a great solution to the usual de-icer and ice scraper routine. As you can see they can easily fit over the side mirrors, front and rear windscreens leaving only a small amount of scraping to be done on the side windows. The best solution is a car cover which I am hoping to find and one of our neighbours has recommended one that they found on the internet. Until then whilst the cold weather is here I will make the most of what I already have and hopefully it will enable "Zippy" to have a warm night's sleep!

More progress at Helston...

2012-02-03T22:38:00.001Z

Over recent weeks I have gabbled on a lot about some of my favourite preserved railways. I am especially excited about the Helston Railway and their current progress. Their tracklaying is continuing towards the former halt at Truthall and thanks to the local council they have gained planning permission to rebuild an exact replica of the former GWR station. Recent excavations at the site have unearthed the foundations of the original station and they are remarkably well intact.

The Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway are also making progress at Broadway Station where platform rebuilding continues at an excellent pace. Tracklaying from Laverton to Broadway is planned this year too although a lot of work is required first. Work on bridges, signalling, trackbed clearance, tracklaying, ballasting and the rebuilding of station buildings and the signal box at Broadway all need to occur before regular trains can return to the station. Before that the embankment repairs at Chicken Curve need to be completed so that the existing line between Laverton and Cheltenham Racecourse station can reopen in its entirety.

I also watched a great programme on BBC IPlayer last night about the once great rail network in Wales. Sadly most of the network either disappeared in the late 1950's due to dwindling passenger numbers, or in the early to mid 1960's due to Dr Beeching. The programme focused on the stories of surviving railwaymen from the steam days who were responsible for the high volume of freight that was moved by rail during this time. I especially enjoyed the archive footage of the marshalling yards at Pontypool Road, the sight of trains crossing the long gone Crumlin and Quakers Yard high level viaducts and a rare piece of footage showing trains pulling into the long closed stations at Dowlais Top in Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff Riverside Station. There was also an excellent feature on the preserved Llangollen Railway and the many steam engines that survived being scrapped after they were stored at the renowned Woodham's yard in Barry Island. Rail preservation owes a lot to Dai Woodham and a large proportion of preserved steam engines all came from there. Thankfully there are many great engines around for us to enjoy today and long may that continue.

The dream team....

2012-02-03T22:17:00.000Z

There were many things I enjoyed about Cardiff City's recent Carling Cup Semi-Final victory over Crystal Palace. With a final against the mighty Liverpool on Sunday February 26th coming up there are many reasons to be cheerful right now. The team are currently in 3rd position in the Championship just three points behind the league leaders and title favourites West Ham United. West Ham are due to play City at CCS in early March and with a tough month coming up for the team hopefully it will be a month where we see the best of manager Malky Mackay's team.

Today's picture shows our Malaysian owners, Vincent Tan (right) and Dato Tien Ghee (pictured left) alongside Malky. They must be thanked for the way they saved the club from collapse and through their significant investment into the club they have helped the club achieve new heights. This season already has exceeded expectations and with a key home game against Blackpool tomorrow hopefully we will be three points closer to promotion. Apparently it's the start of the Six Nations this weekend and whilst I may watch the Wales game, I am far more passionate about football. Watching the City at both Ninian Park and Cardiff City Stadium has brought me much enjoyment and disappointment over the years. Would I swap any of that? Not a chance, c'mon City!

A cinematic gem.....

2012-02-03T22:06:00.000Z

It is rare for me to watch a critically acclaimed film and actually agree with the hype or plaudits that accompanied its release. Films such as "Titanic", "Pearl Harbour" (give me the historically and factually accurate "Tora! Tora! Tora!" anyday!) and "The English Patient" are three such films that are good, but are not quite worthy of the hype that they generated during their release.

However, tonight I have just watched an excellent and heartwarming film called "Australia" featuring Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman and the star of the film Jamal Bednarz-Metallah. Set in the Northern Territories of Australia during the Second World War years it combines the visual beauty of the Australian outback, with a respectful portrayal of the indigenous Aboriginal communities and the racism they encountered from their rich white oppressors. The story is told through the eyes of a small indigenous child called Nullah and an excellent summary of the plot can be found on wikipedia here:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_(2008_film) . I can honestly say that this film is arguably one of the best films that I have ever seen and I don't bandy that phrase around a lot. I have favourite films such as "Still Crazy", "Hot Fuzz", "A Night To Remember", "School for Scoundrels" and "Clockwise", which I can watch time and again. However, there are very few films that have that "wow" factor and make you realise that you are watching something great. This film is one of them and if you haven't seen it yet make sure you book out two and half hours to watch this cinematic gem.

St Paul got it spot on...

2012-01-31T22:24:00.000Z

One of the things I have really begun to understand about God's grace over the last few years is that it is completely undeserved. The Worldwide Message Tribe once released an album called "We don't get what we deserve" and that is very true. I remember many years ago hearing the Reverend David MacInnes describing how we as humans often get worse before we get better, indeed Paul summed this up in Romans 7:15 when he said "I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate". (New Living Translation).

I have finally faced up to some character weaknesses that I need to change tonight and the only thing I can say is that I wish I had done this sooner. So often we can be in denial of our problems and make excuses for them. Sometimes we can make empty promises and fail to turn our words into positive action. We can also become a victim of circumstance and try to blame everyone else for our misfortunes, but then fail to see that the accusing finger points back firmly at ourselves. Mal Fletcher once said in a great message I heard at King's Church in Newport that "we are all the products of our decisions". I have procrastinated for too long and have been very good at making promises and then not seeing them through. I accept that I have made some poor decisions over the years and that I am solely responsible for them. I regret the pain that I have caused other people and especially the times where I have failed to come through on my promises, or have put off to tomorrow what I could have done today.

However, I am thankful for God's love and grace even though I don't deserve it. I have changed my concept of God thanks to some helpful teaching on grace by Pastor Rick Godwin (pictured right) and Pastor Joseph Prince. One statement that Rick Godwin said really helped me when he said "How can you expect people to approach God, if you think he is mad with you all of the time?" I have enjoyed reading Matthew's Gospel and reading about Jesus's life and teaching. I am grateful that God still loves me and has a purpose for me, even though I fail him on a daily basis. I am thankful that Jesus died for me and paid the price for my past, present and future mistakes. His free gift of grace is something that I don't want to take for granted as I begin to make changes in my thought patterns. When I read the Bible and see the character flaws of people such as David, Gideon, Jacob and others, it gives me hope that I can change too. I may not have committed adultery or murdered anyone, but I know that I have let myself go in the way I approach life. I am grateful that even in those times when I haven't stayed close to God, He has remained close to me. He has loved me even when I have got things wrong and has always been there to help me pick up the pieces. At the same time I know that I can't stay the same if I want to maintain a healthy walk with him, marriage, job, or other aspects in life. Change is good and I thoroughly recommend it, but I want to sum up tonight's post with the following lyrics from a great song called "Forever Grateful":-

"You did not wait for me to draw near to You

But You clothed Yourself with frail humanity.
You did not wait for me to cry out to You
But You let me hear Your Voice calling me
And I'm Forever Grateful to You
I'm Forever Grateful for The Cross
I'm Forever Grateful to You
That You came to seek and save the lost".

As Paul Oakley once wrote "it's all about you, Jesus" and now I am endeavouring to allow God to influence the direction of my life so that there is less or me and far more evidence of Him.

A new signing and the frustrations of the transfer window...

2012-01-31T21:34:00.000Z

Since its introduction, the January transfer window has not been particularly productive for Cardiff City. A couple of seasons ago there was the furore of the advanced season ticket sales money which was raised with the promise of it being used solely for team strengthening. The truth was that it ended up being used to pay an outstanding tax debt to the HMRC that unbeknown to the fans threatened the very existence of the club. A few transfer windows have passed since then with lots of rumours, but all have ended with very little substance.

Many players have been linked with moves to the City again this month, but it would appear that most of these players are either joining other teams or the selling clubs have priced their players out of a deal in order to keep them at their respective clubs. However, a promising young winger joined the club yesterday with Kadeem Harris (pictured above) joining the club from League One side Wycombe Wanderers. I am looking forward to seeing him play as our current management team are giving our younger players a chance to shine this season. Joe Mason has excelled since joining us from Plymouth Argyle this summer and youngsters such as Joe Ralls have made a positive impact when they have played. Croeso, Kadeem!

Whoa-oh!, we're going to Malaysia!.....

2012-01-29T23:30:00.000Z

To say that I am excited would be a massive understatement, but I am genuinely excited at the prospect of visiting my lovely lady's family in Malaysia later this year. I am especially looking forward to flying for the first time, as my only flight experience to date is a mere 5 minutes between St Mary's airport on the Isles of Scilly to Lands End airport on the Cornish mainland. Whilst the journey time is long I am looking forward to a stop over in Dubai after flying on a Boeing 777, but I am especially looking forward to the second part of the trip which will be from Dubai to Kuala Lumpur (pictured right) aboard the Airbus A380! Having recently seen one of these planes at Filton Airfield they are huge!

When I worked as a foreign exchange cashier I regularly sold Malaysian ringgits, Thai Bahts and Singapore dollars. My knowledge of Malaysia has improved thanks to my wife and family and it is also ironic that Cardiff City are now owned by Malaysians. I am looking forward to experiencing it for myself especially after watching the film "Entrapment" featuring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones-Douglas (delete where applicable) as parts of the film featured the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur (on the extreme right of the above picture). I have always wanted to travel and see different parts of the world. This is the beginning of hopefully a journey of exploring the many different countries and continents of this world.

A victory for "fan power"....

2012-01-29T23:14:00.001Z

Over the last 20 years there have been many stories of football clubs folding or going out of business. Fortunately dedicated bands of supporters have successfully relaunched their teams often at a much lower league level and I want to highlight some of the clubs that have achieved great success.

Aldershot Town in League Two were formed out of the ashes of Aldershot FC, who had the misfortune of going out of business part way through the 1991-92 season. I remember their last ever game that season which was a 2-0 defeat away to Cardiff City at Ninian Park on a Friday night. City fans raised £9,000 in a bid to keep the club alive but sadly it wasn't enough for "the Shots" who folded a few days later. The fans formed a new club a few months later and over the next 16 years they began the climb back up the divisions from the Isthmian Third Division and culminating in their return to League Two (fourth division to you) in 2008. Newport County who folded in 1989 followed a similar journey and after 21 years they were promoted back to the Conference (now known as the Blue Square Premier) in 2010, which is also testament to a band of dedicated supporters who are trying to bring league football back to the city of Newport. Controversially Milton Keynes Dons were born out of the contentious relocation of Wimbledon to Milton Keynes, when a new club (AFC Wimbledon) was born amidst fan protests due to the relocation. It seems fitting that this week the Football League are discussing passing a law that will prevent a club being rebranded like this scenario. To the credit of the AFC Wimbledon fans they rebuilt their club from scratch starting in 2002. In 2011 after 5 promotions in 9 seasons they returned to League Two, which ironically is one division below the club that usurped their identity, MK Dons.

More recently Merthyr Town (pictured above) were reformed out of the ashes of Merthyr Tydfil FC who folded at the end of the 2009-2010. The new club began life three divisions lower than their previous incarnation and won the Western First Division Championship in their inaugural season. Currently they are riding high in 5th position of the Western Premier Division just 6 points behind the league leaders Bitton and with games in hand. The Martyrs have a very good chance of securing a back to back promotion and as they are my second team I will be backing them all the way.

Friday night is music night.....

2012-01-29T22:44:00.001Z

Over recent years I have grown to appreciate the music of The Beatles, George Harrison and Sir Paul McCartney. I suppose that I disliked them because of the hype that usually surrounded their music and the fact that people endlessly raved on about them. Due to the fact that I wasn't alive during "Beatlemania" perhaps I didn't fully understand how much they transformed modern pop music when they arrived on the scene in the 1960's.

On Friday night I watched two excellent music programmes on BBC4 one of which focused on the British music invasion of the 1960's and the second was devoted to Sir Paul McCartney's gig at the 2007 Electric Proms at the Camden Roundhouse in London. The bands to feature on the first programme were the usual suspects i.e. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who, The Hollies, Herman's Hermits, The Animals and The Yardbirds. A few years later this trend continued with British rock bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Queen, Jethro Tull, Yes and Black Sabbath. What was especially interesting was seeing how fanatical the US audiences were for our bands and how many were mobbed on their first visits to the States. However, what sets these bands apart and which made them exceptional was not only a combination of great musicianship, but brilliant songwriting too.

In terms of Sir Paul McCartney's gig, it contained a mixture of his solo material and perhaps inevitably a selection of Beatles classics. My first vinyl record was a 7" single of his solo hit "Take It Away", which remains a favourite track of mine to this day. A few years ago I also really enjoyed his rock'n'roll album "Run Devil Run". His version of "All Shook Up" is a great track and I prefer it to Elvis Presley's original as it is more guitar driven. Going back to the subject of the gig, I was amazed at how well his voice has held up and how much stage energy he has. The highlight of the gig was the finale with the classic Beatles tracks "Lady Madonna", "Get Back", "Let It Be", and "Hey Jude". I prefer the latter Beatles era especially "Sergeant Pepper", "Abbey Road" and "The Magical Mystery Tour". My favourite tracks are probably "Come Together", "Lady Madonna", "I Am The Walrus" and "Sergeant Pepper". The gig itself was a reminder of why people still love the music of the Beatles and also why thousands of people turn up each time to watch a musical master at work.

Music of the future, music of the past.....

2012-01-26T22:32:00.000Z

I am a self confessed music "junkie" if it boils down to it and I love to surround myself with all types of music both from the present and also from the past. I have just discovered a band called Caedmon's Call thanks to UCB radio and although I was always aware of them thanks to Christian music publications such as "Premier" and "Cross Rhythms" tonight was the first time that I had heard one of their songs. I have enjoyed listening to some great music on UCB recently especially Tim Hughes and US heavy metal band Revelation X.

I also have a large collection of albums on tape, CD and MP3/M4a files. A few years ago I won a small prize as part of a call centre incentive scheme at a former workplace. I opted for HMV vouchers as my prize due to my obsession with music and much to my delight I discovered two albums that I had wanted to get on CD that I had once owned on tape. The albums were both by British rockers The Cult namely "Electric" (pictured) and "Sonic Temple". I remember when Electric was released in 1987 and the band enjoyed chart single success with the classic tracks "Love Removable Machine" and "L'il Devil". With this album and Sonic Temple the band enjoyed a great deal of commercial success as they transitioned from being a goth band into a mainstream hard rock band under the guidance of producer Rick Rubin. Another reason why I love these two albums is because they came out in the same time period as some of my favourite hard rock/heavy metal classic albums such as "Hysteria" by Def Leppard, "1987" by Whitesnake, "And Justice For All" by Metallica and "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" by Iron Maiden. However, as is always the case with the rock scene even when it falls out of critical favour like it is at present and is deemed as "dead" an explosion of new rock music usually follows. Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters is likening the present time to when Nirvana burst onto the scene in 1991 and changed rock music. He feels rock is ready to made a fresh, new impact again and I for one look forward to seeing that come to pass. However there are some great rock bands out there now such as Black Country Communion, Airbourne, The Answer and The Union. Hopefully this scene will continue to grow and prove once more that rock isn't dead after all.

A memorable night of footballing achievement!...

2012-01-25T19:25:00.000Z

The adrenalin has finally worn off after an emotional and nailbiting evening of football last night. The last decade has seen a huge turnaround in the fortunes of Cardiff City Football Club after many years of struggling in the lower reaches of the Football League. Until 2008 Cardiff City had only been to Wembley for two F.A.Cup Finals losing 1-0 to Sheffield United in 1925 and again two years later in 1927 where they beat Arsenal 1-0 to become the only non English side to win the trophy. However since 2008 the team has played at Wembley on three occasions namely the 2008 F.A.Cup Semi-Final 1-0 win against Barnsley, the 1-0 defeat to Portsmouth in the F.A.Cup Final of the same season and finally the awful 3-2 Championship Play Off Final defeat against Blackpool in 2010. After last night's result however, City have now booked themselves a 4th trip to Wembley on February 26th in the Carling Cup Final where they will face the winners of tonight's semi-final between either Liverpool or Manchester City.

Last night's semi-final second leg was a tense affair against Crystal Palace with the Londoners holding a slim 1-0 advantage after they beat City in the first leg. Crystal Palace's first leg goal hero Anthony Gardner turned to villain after only 7 minutes of last night's game when he headed the ball past his own goalkeeper Julian Speroni to give City a 1-0 lead. For the remainder of normal time and the 30 minutes of extra time Cardiff battered a stubborn Palace defence and Kenny Miller, Filip Kiss and Aron Gunnarsson all hit the post or cross bar for City. It really did look like it was going to be one of those nights as the game went into penalty kicks and City's Kenny Miller blasted our first penalty over the crossbar. However, the hero of the evening proved undoubtedly to be Cardiff goalkeeper Tom Heaton (pictured right) as he saved Palace's first two penalties from Jermaine Easter and Sean Scannell. City then scored their next two penalties through Craig Conway and Rudy Gestede before Jedinak scored one in reply for Crystal Palace. Peter Whittingham then made it 3-1 to City on penalties, which meant that Crystal Palace had to score their remaining penalties. Unfortunately for the Eagles, Jonathan Parr ballooned his penalty over the crossbar causing Cardiff City Stadium to erupt into scenes of unbridled joy amongst the City players and supporters alike. It is an incredible achievement for everyone involved with the club from the players and management to the directors and staff. However, it is also a night to savour for all City fans and hopefully this will be the beginnings of a successful era for this team.

A new classic rock band that are rather good!

2012-01-23T21:28:00.000Z

In a previous post I waxed lyrical about a number of new rock supergroups that had begun to appear over the last year or two. At the time of my original post I focused especially on Them Crooked Vultures after becoming hooked on their debut album. I also mentioned in passing Chickenfoot (featuring Joe Satriani and ex Van Halen members Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar) and latterly Black Country Communion (pictured left). After receiving BCC's first two albums for Christmas I have to admit that they are brilliant.

They are a four piece consisting of ex Deep Purple bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes, the amazing Joe Bonnamassa on guitar, Derek Sherinian on keyboards and Jason Bonham on drums. They take their name from the fact that Hughes & Bonham were both born in the black country (West Midlands) region of the U.K. Jason Bonham has developed into a fine drummer in his own right and is no longer known merely as the son of the late, great John Bonham of Led Zeppelin fame. His career has taken in stints with Foreigner, U.F.O, his own band Bonham and a couple of guest appearances on two Led Zeppelin reunions in 1988 and 2004. Hughes made his name in the Birmingham based act Trapeze before joining Deep Purple in 1974 following the departure of previous bassist Roger Glover. Derek Sherinian has played for rock giants Kiss and Alice Cooper, as well as more recently in the US modern progressive rock band Dream Theater. Joe Bonnamassa is a brilliant blues/rock guitarist who has built a very successful solo career and has also played with many great bluesmen such as Buddy Guy, Jack Bruce, Robert Cray, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood. Together they have created a classic rock sound that sounds fresh and dynamic, but at the same time makes no apology of drawing on its collective musical heritage. It is not hard to spot their influences, but I don't think any musician can totally hide them away. My favourite two tracks at present are "Black Country" and "One Last Soul" and my hope is that I will get to see them play live at some point.

One year left to save a local landmark....

2012-01-23T21:00:00.000Z

When owners BAE systems announced that they were proposing to sell off Filton Airfield during 2011 it was met with mixed emotions here in Bristol. Due to the current economic climate the complex has been deemed no longer "financially viable" and it is scheduled for total closure by the end of 2012. There is a lot of history tied up with the airfield due to its former links with the development of various aircraft by the Bristol & Colonial Aeroplane Company and other companies such as GKN, Airbus, Rolls Royce & BAE Systems. From the Bristol Box Kite, to the doomed Bristol Brabazon and in latter years to the revolutionary Concorde and Airbus A380 (pictured right) the airfield has played a major role in ensuring that the aerospace industry has survived in the city. Many Bristolians fear that this important part of history may be lost once and for all under redevelopment if the airfield does indeed close.

So what are the proposals if the site closes? The likely choices are for the site to be sold off for housing and small business enterprise parks, which are seen as vital to the economic and commercial future of this area. As I live a short distance away from the airfield my concerns are that not only will the airfield be lost forever, but having seen large housing developments spring up in Weston-super-Mare my fear is that this will cause traffic gridlock for the surrounding road networks just as it has created there. The nearby existing Cribbs Causeway development and area is due to expand and a clear transport plan has to be put in place to ensure that traffic congestion does not become the norm. There has been talk of two railway stations being reopened if the development goes ahead with North Filton platform and a new Henbury station on the agenda. However, having seen the way that the Westminster Government rejected the plans to restore a much needed rail link to Portishead, I have to admit to being somewhat sceptical about this. So my head can understand the difficult position BAE Systems is in and their logic, but my heart would like to believe that there is a better solution than more housing and potentially clogged roads.

If you would like to read more about the "Save Filton Airfield" campaign then please visit their website at: - http://www.savefiltonairfield.org/

Last minute winners.com (brought to you in association with Craig Conway!)

2012-01-21T20:44:00.000Z

There's one thing for certain, supporting Cardiff City is not dull at the moment! Malky Mackay's strategy of creating a hard working team who work hard for one another and take good care of themselves individually seems to be paying off. Over the last few years City teams seemed to fade in the last 10-15 minutes of each game under previous manager Dave Jones. It was not uncommon for previous City sides to lose or draw games by conceding late goals that proved crucial by the end of each season. The difference between previous seasons and now is that the current City side will keep battling until right to the end. Today's 3-2 win over Portsmouth ably demonstrates this point as with 21 minutes to go City trailed 2-1 despite having taken a 15th minute lead through Kenny Miller. Goals by skipper Mark Hudson and then a stoppage time winner from Craig Conway (pictured above) were enough to move City to 1 point behind 2nd place Southampton who will be City's league opponents next Saturday. Before that though is the small matter of the Carling Cup Semi Final second leg v Crystal Palace at Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday night. Hopefully City can overturn the 1 goal deficit from the first leg and book a fourth trip to Wembley since 2008. It's not going to be easy but at least I can watch it live on BBC and I am sure the City will fight to the end. 'Cmon City!

The loneliness of the long distance human statue....

2012-01-21T20:26:00.000Z

Human statues seem to draw large crowds of fascinated onlookers when they appear on city streets here in the U.K. Today's picture is of a man performing his human statue routine in the Broadmead shopping area in the centre of Bristol this afternoon. I find this type of performance art both amusing and strangely enjoyable at the same time. I expect that it is because of how unusual it is, but it is most likely due to the brilliant comedy horror film "Hot Fuzz" starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. There is a recurring character in the film called "the human statue" who is disliked by the parish council who view him as a blot on the landscape and a threat towards their chances of winning the "village of the year" title that they crave. They eventually have him murdered, but in the case of today's statue hopefully this won't be a fate that befalls him. On a more animated front, drummer Oded Kafri made another appearance with his one man rhythm show. I wrote about him during a previous blog entry, as my lovely lady and I enjoyed watching him. We didn't stay to watch him today though, as we had other things to do and especially as he had drawn another large crowd to see him play.

Returning to the human statue front, a couple of years ago my lovely lady and I witnessed a pair of statues that I liked to call "John and Yoko" (pictured right). I remember finding them quite quirky and I stopped to photograph them on our way to visiting the magnificent Bath Abbey and then the former Somerset & Dorset Railway terminus Bath Green Park station. Street entertainers are very popular in both Bristol and Bath and whether they are one man band drummers, human statues or drama students staging excerpts of well known plays they brighten up a Saturday afternoon or two. I like to document the things and people I see as they add to the variety of life and give me something else of interest to write about. They also remind me of a time in my life when I did some open air gigs with my band Opening in Witney town centre in the early 1990's. We played on a temporary stage by The Angel Inn facing towards St Mary's Church and Henry Box School. I remember at one point turning around during our soundcheck to see an elderly gentleman dressed as a circus clown sat down on one of the seats at the back of the stage. I remember it made us all laugh because no one saw him arrive, or indeed found out why he was even there in the first place. We carried on soundchecking and by the end of our check he was gone! I guess our music wasn't to his taste!

Is anyone thirsty? Not any more!......

2012-01-19T22:45:00.002Z

Earlier today Wales announced the managerial successor to the late Gary Speed. Following his recent resignation as manager of troubled Greek side Larissa, Chris Coleman (pictured right) was unveiled today as the new manager of Wales in a very subdued press conference. Normally the appointment of a new manager is surrounded by great excitement, but today's press conference was very poignant given the circumstances of how the job vacancy opened up. The tragedy of Gary Speed's death will never be forgotten and he was very much in everyone's mind today. Coleman, a personal friend of Speed's for almost 30 years, summed up his appointment when he said "I've already spoken with the FAW members... and I said 'excuse me if I don't seem that excited, I am excited, I'm just a little bit subdued because of the circumstances'. It won't be easy but I'm looking forward to it. I think for any manager who was going to come in it was going to be difficult because of the situation and it's more difficult for me with my relationship with Gary. It's not going to be easy, but it's something I'm prepared for. On one hand it is the proudest moment of my career but on the other hand, with the circumstances I was very close friends with Gary for 30 years." Football is a results game and I am sure that there are many people who will be rooting for Coleman to inspire Wales in the way that Gary Speed had managed to in a short space of time. The players themselves are determined to continue Speed's legacy and to qualify for the next World Cup. Hopefuly this will really be the start of something good, rising up out of the ashes of tragedy.

After the "fun and games" of yesterday's disruption, it was a relief when two jovial plumbers restored our water supply within a couple of minutes earlier this evening. We were the 4th house in our road to have encountered the same problem this week following the water pipe renewal programme. At least the hole outside our house has been filled in and hopefully it will be covered with fresh tarmac by tomorrow. It is amazing to think just how much we rely on water and electricity in our modern world and how things that we take for granted cannot function during these times.

Water, water everywhere, but none for us to drink....

2012-01-18T22:50:00.000Z

At the moment our street is resembling a building site due to some water mains renovation work. I have had "fun" trying to find a piece of pavement to park the car on each night, as right now there is a 2 foot by 4 foot hole at the end of the driveway with various bits of pipework and plastic tubing protruding out of it. Earlier this morning one of the workman had confidently assured me that "we will have filled this hole today, butty". Sadly he was a tad optimistic and much to our dismay our water supply has not returned to normal due to a possible pipe blockage between the mains and our water supply. We have a trickle, but no water for bathing or showering and due to the inconvenience the water board have given us for free 6 litres of water until a plumber can come to sort out our supply tomorrow.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (pictured right) once wrote an epic poem called "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". I first discovered the poem through the unlikely form of Britain's premier heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Maiden adapted a section of the poem into their own 14 minute epic song of the same title. It is one of the standout tracks on their excellent 1984 album called "Powerslave" and it remains a favourite track of mine to this day. As the lyrics of the song were largely the same as the poem I can recite sections of it even now, which proves that heavy metal can be educational! I remember purchasing a mini book from the Penguin 60 range and one of them was of the entire "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" poem. Needless to say I could still hear Bruce Dickinson singing some of the lines in my head as well as Dave Murray and Adrian Smith's lead guitar breaks in between each stanza I read! So there we have it literature and heavy metal - a perfect combination.

Can it really be 20+ years since "Nevermind" was released?.....

2012-01-17T22:35:00.000Z

When grunge music took over in the early 1990's I became hooked. Bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mother Love Bone began to make regular appearances on the Friday Rock Show as traditional heavy metal bands slipped out of mainstream appeal. I remember reading a review for Nirvana's "Bleach" album in Kerrang magazine and it waxed lyrical about the band before awarding it a 5 out of 5. At the time it didn't make me want to rush out to buy it, but it was with their follow up album "Nevermind" where myself and the rest of the world began to take notice of them.

To this day as soon as I hear the opening bars of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" play, my inner 15 year old jumps around and moshes like it was 1991 all over again. As an album it still sounds great now and tracks such as "Breed", "Come As You Are" and "In Bloom" stand out. Their follow up album 1993's "In Utero" was a much darker album as singer Kurt Cobain's life became engulfed with depression due to his heroin addiction. The real tragedy was that Cobain decided to take his own life a year later and that no one was able to stop him. Fellow band members Krist Novoselic (Bass Guitar) and Dave Grohl (Drums) have gone in different directions since the band dissolved following Cobain's death. Novoselic went into politics in the USA whilst Dave Grohl went on to form and front the highly successful rock band Foo Fighters as well as his side project Them Crooked Vultures. Dave Grohl wrote a great song for the Foo Fighters called "Best Of You", which was written about his former bandmate Cobain. It moves me every time I hear Grohl's heartfelt words sung with his accustomed passionate vocal delivery. Nirvana were a great band that impacted millions of young people around the world and I choose to remember them for the great music they played and not the tragedy that brought Kurt Cobain's life and the band to a premature end.

Video didn't kill the radio star after all.....

2012-01-16T22:27:00.003Z

Since the time I received a digital radio as a Christmas present one year from my parents, I have continued to enjoy listening to the radio. I grew up listening to the Top 40 and recording my favourite tracks from the charts each Sunday afternoon as a boy. A few years later when my lifelong love of hard rock and heavy metal music began, I owed a huge debt of gratitude to the much missed Tommy Vance (pictured left) and his legendary "Friday Rock Show" on Radio 1. The self proclaimed "music vendor" introduced me to a whole new world full of bands like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Deep Purple and emerging artists such as Metallica, Nuclear Assault and Testament. I also remember him once playing "The Messiah" by Christian hard rockers Bloodgood, which really bucked the trend at a time when the metal press usually tried to criticise and devalue Christian metal. Most metal fans of this era remember him as the man who played whatever he wanted despite record company and radio station pressure. When he sadly passed away in 2005 thousands attended his funeral service including many well known faces from the various bands he passionately championed over the years. I recently discovered that he was born in the village of Eynsham in Oxfordshire where I spent my childhood and teenage years. So thanks to Tommy, Eynsham has another plus to its name.

During my teenage years I also enjoyed listening to Radio Wales on a Saturday afternoon as it was the only place I could keep up to date with Cardiff City's progress or lack of each season. Richard Shepherd, Ian Walsh, Rob Phillips and Ian Gwyn-Hughes were my companions during this time as the City bounced around the lower divisions. The occasional highlights such as the Third Division Championship and Welsh Cup double winning season of 1992-1993 were the best especially when Cohen Griffith and a double by Phil Stant secured a 3-0 away win and the League Championship at Scunthorpe United's Glanford Park. I remember listening with my dad to Merthyr Tydfil's 1-0 win against Newport County in the 1987 Welsh Cup Final and their promotion to the Conference in 1989 in the car park of "The Puesdown Inn" in Gloucestershire. I also remember on my 15th birthday, my footballing hero Ian Rush scoring the decisive goal as Wales beat Germany 1-0 in Cardiff. I can't fail to remember where I was when the dreadful Hillsborough disaster happened too. Aled Samuel presented a show called "Rock Pile" on Radio Wales which was the first time that I heard two of my all time favourite metal tracks namely "Equal Rights" by Nuclear Assault and "Bite The Bullet" by Gillan. In later years I remember listening to the late Stuart Cable's Radio Wales rock show and hearing Budgie for the first time when he played their classic track "Hot As A Docker's Armpit". These were some of the things that shaped my musical and sporting life.

These days I tend to alternate between Planet Rock, Radio Wales, local station Jack FM and UCB Christian radio. In the case of UCB I enjoy the mix of music, talk, sound Bible based teaching and great messages by various international speakers. My lovely lady and I have enjoyed listening to some great music by artists such as Tim Hughes and Peter Furler, as well as the teaching of Chuck Swindoll. Whilst I enjoy watching TV and DVD's, I don't think I will ever grow tired of listening to the radio. So in this case video, you didn't kill the radio star after all. Stop being so smug MTV.

In need of strengthening.....

2012-01-15T20:17:00.000Z

I must admit that transfer windows are incredibly frustrating for fans especially when other clubs are signing players at will and your team is struggling to attract new players. Cardiff City have made massive progress under manager Malky Mackay and he must be applauded for the way he has brought in 11 new players after losing 12 players in the summer. The signings have all been good ones but over the last 2 or 3 games the team has begun to look tired and jaded.

Yesterday's 0-0 draw away at Doncaster Rovers, whilst being acknowledged as a hard earned point, can also be seen as a missed opportunity. Yesterday the City could have closed the gap to 2 points on joint league leaders Southampton and West Ham United, but that gap is now four points. The Carling Cup semi final first leg defeat away to Crystal Palace also seems to have knocked the confidence of this team. Malky Mackay has also repeatedly said that without team strengthening this current team may not be able to sustain a push for promotion. Hopefully some deals are around the corner, but early indications are that this could be another frustrating and uneventful transfer window with no new recruits. I hope to be proven wrong over the next two weeks before the transfer window closes.

I don't care if they are "outdated", because they can still be played....

2012-01-15T19:58:00.000Z

I am a strong believer in making use of old things that still work. Whilst I may not possess all of the latest "must have" gadgets it doesn't bother me one iota. This afternoon I enjoyed putting my music and video tapes out on one of the small bookcases in one of our guest rooms. I had forgotten how many I had including the entire James Bond movie collection up to Pierce Brosnan's final film.

Most of my music collection was from the stage when I was listening predominantly to Christian music (although I also listened to mainstream music too) in the 1990's. I enjoyed listening to a little bit of Split Level's "View Of A World" album and the album that got me interested into Rory Gallagher's music "Fresh Evidence". I also enjoyed listening to segments from "Below The Salt" by Steeleye Span and "All Change" by Cast. I also unearthed some old teaching cassettes and CD's by speakers such as Kevin Gerald, Eddie Windsor and Dave Smethurst which I will probably dust off and play soon.

Before you start thinking that I like living in the past then I beg to differ. I have an Ipod and I like the fact that I can carry my favourite tunes everywhere with me. I have downloaded music via ITunes and I am sure that I will continue to do so. A bit like vinyl record fans who still play their old records, I feel the same way about cassettes that have formed my musical journey and have been part of the soundtrack to my life. Whilst I own a large collection of DVD's, I still have a fully functioning Video Player and I enjoy watching my old videos too. Just because something is old it doesn't mean that it no longer has any value, if anything it has a greater value. New is great because it is fresh, but old isn't always so bad and it still has a place in my world.

The usefulness of bookcase pegs and another preserved railway success....

2012-01-14T22:15:00.001Z

Over recent weeks I have become acquainted with these little fellows during the course of building our new bookcases. I have to admit that I prefer the metal ones as they don't tend to collapse as easily as wooden or plastic ones. It has come to something that earlier on today I became quite excited about getting some more! This was so that I could replace some existing ones on one of our older small bookcases. I do have a life before you start to worry and I am not some strange bookcase peg collector.

Over the last few days I have written a few posts celebrating the achievements of UK based preserved railways. I read some great news in last month's edition of "Steam Railway" about the "Dean Forest Railway's" station rebuild at Whitecroft Station (artists impression pictured right). Whitecroft has not had a passenger service since 1929 and whilst rebuilding the station has always been a longer term aim of the railway, it is fantastic to see this finally happening. I am sure that it will bring new visitors to the area and hopefully this will see an increase in passenger volumes. It would also be great to see the railway achieve its ambition of extending the line further north into the Forest of Dean in the near future. It is perhaps ironic to think that 50 years on from Dr Beeching's "Reshaping Of Britain's Railways" act that people are once more returning to the railways. Passenger numbers on the National Rail network continue to grow steadily each year and with the HS2 and Crossrail projects being given the green light by the U.K. Government maybe we will begin to see a small part of the Beeching era reversed.

Revisiting a classic band.....

2012-01-13T22:28:00.000Z

When I first discovered the Christian music scene in my mid teens, I suppose I approached it with an element of dread. With the exception of Seventh Angel, I had the opinion that the music scene would be either cheesy or cringeworthy because of some of the acts I had heard. I was pleasantly surprised by the music I discovered and indeed I still am with some of the recent music I have discovered on UCB Christian Radio.

One of my favourite bands during the early 1990's was Eden Burning (pictured). I was introduced to them by one of my best friends who recommended that I use my Kingsway Records "Buy 5 Get 1 free" bonus sticker on their "Smilingly Home" live album. Their folk roots sound won me over and over the years that followed I bought their "Vinegar & Brown Paper", "Mirth & Matter" and "Brink" albums until they disbanded in 1996. I saw them perform at Basingstoke and at the Greenbelt Festival Fringe stage, as they performed just before my band Opening went on. I remember feeling extremely nervous at having to follow them, but I needn't have worried as the few hundred people who came to see them play left with them. I have nothing against Eden Burning for what happened that day (in case they are reading this), as I felt honoured to watch a band that I loved so much at the time. Following their set we played to about 75-80 largely bemused people when we opened our set with our "classic" number, "Smashing Windows With My Mate Dave". Three people danced to our indie music based sounds and the remainder politely applauded. Rock'n'roll, eh?

Construction the Ikea way.....

2012-01-12T22:05:00.000Z

Over recent weeks my lovely lady and I have built two bookcases and some other lounge furniture as we have begun to alter the layout of our home. I really enjoyed building it with her and during the course of putting them together we had a bit of a laugh at the cartoons on the instruction leaflets (pictured left).

The moral of the story, as far as I can see, is that under no circumstances must you build Ikea furniture alone. It may be heavy, you are likely to break it and in some extreme cases you may actually forget what you are trying to build. If you wise up to this fact however then if you work together with someone else, everything will be fine. The weight will seem like a mere trifle, nothing will be broken as long as you build your object on a tasselled rug and because you have remembered what you are doing then you can always have the satisfaction of ringing up Ikea to tell them how great you are.

Please bear this in mind when you visit your local Ikea and make sure that you are not alone. Secondly make sure that your car is big enough to transport everything safely, as I would not recommend using say, a Vauxhall Corsa like mine unless you are prepared to unbox an entire bookcase first. We just about managed to cram everything in around my lovely lady and I and thankfully we were able to trundle home without being stopped by the local Police Constabulary. It was worth it in the end though and like the picture top right we are very happy with our work, but we have resisted the temptation to ring up Ikea and brag about it.

Paying homage to a great Scottish rock band...

2012-01-11T21:48:00.000Z

One of my friends from my last work place joked that I was born in the wrong era due to the passion and fervour I have for 1970's British rock bands. Led Zeppelin, The Who, Deep Purple, Budgie, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and Jethro Tull have been amongst my favourite bands for some time now. However, today I want to champion a band that I have just recently discovered called Nazareth.

The band were originally formed in Dunfermline in 1968 when messrs Manny Charlton (Guitar), Dan McCafferty (Vocals), Pete Agnew (Bass) and Darrell Sweet (Drums) got together. They enjoyed chart success in the 1970's with self penned hits such as "Hair Of The Dog", "Bad Bad Boy" and "Broken Down Angel". However, they are more well known for their unique cover versions such as "This Flight Tonight" (by Joni Mitchell) and "Love Hurts" (by The Everly Brothers). Joni Mitchell was reported to have found their cover version somewhat amusing, as they transformed her acoustic ballad into an uptempo rock record!

In 1979 they expanded their line up to a 5 piece (pictured above) with the addition of guitarist Zal Cleminson (ex-Sensational Alex Harvey Band) and recorded the heavier rock albums "No Mean City" and "Malice In Wonderland". Thanks to my Mam and Dad, I received their Greatest Hits album "An Anthology" for Christmas which I am really enjoying! The band is still going today featuring original members Dan McCafferty and Pete Agnew plus Pete's son, Lee Agnew on drums and Jimmy Murrison on guitar. They can still cut it, but if you want to watch a classic clip of the band playing my favourite song "May The Sunshine" please click on the play symbol on the below video window.

A massive hard rock music find.....

2012-01-10T20:32:00.001Z

One of my favourite websites and digital radio stations here in the U.K. is Planet Rock. It is the leading classic rock music station on digital radio and I am always in my element when I listen to it.

During the course of each day there is a segment on their website which is devoted purely to rock related news. Amongst todays news stories was the incredible story of the recent discovery of 700 unreleased tracks by Thin Lizzy (pictured left). The haul of 150 tapes which were in the possession of a long time Thin Lizzy fan may see the light of day in boxed set form. This is because the tapes have been donated to Universal Music who are Thin Lizzy's record label. The tapes originally belonged to the late Phil Lynott (pictured right) who played bass and sang for the band during their classic era between the 1970's and 1980's. Some of the tracks are reportedly unreleased tracks that were omitted from their original studio albums and some are alternative takes/versions of classic Lizzy tracks.

Unreleased/alternative tracks are very much the in thing at the moment. Amongst my music collection I have a boxed set of albums by Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac including outtakes and in between studio talk which is a fun insight into the making of albums. A few years ago The Sensational Alex Harvey Band released an album that they decided not to release in 1974 called "Hot City" and in 2011 the late Rory Gallagher's family released his posthumous "Notes From San Francisco" album in a remixed format and with an unreleased live bonus CD. Some may argue that it is "cashing in" or "scraping the bottom of the barrel", but in these examples nothing could be further from the truth.

C'mon City, let's make footballing history!

2012-01-09T21:03:00.001Z

As I mentioned in a recent blog post, I wasn't hugely disappointed about Cardiff City's F.A. Cup defeat at West Bromwich Albion last Saturday. This is because of the team's successful run in this season's Carling Cup (or League Cup as it is more commonly known). Tomorrow night will see City take on fellow Championship side Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi final. The prize for either side is a date with the Premiership giants of either Manchester City or Liverpool in the Final at Wembley.

This season's on the field success has rejuvenated the club and after the despondency of missing out on promotion last season there is a growing excitement as each game approaches. Hopefully if manager Malky Mackay can strengthen the squad during the January transfer window the club can continue climbing the league table towards promotion. C'mon City!

Preservation success story number 2 please!

2012-01-09T20:43:00.000Z

Following on from my last post I have to mention the ongoing preservation work that is going on at Shillingstone Station in Dorset. Shillingstone was one of the intermediate stations on the former Somerset & Dorset Railway between Bath Green Park and Bournemouth West, a route that was closed amidst much controversy in the post Beeching era of 1966.

In August 2003 the North Dorset Railway Trust acquired the derelict station building and surrounding land and began the long process of restoration. Over recent years they have completely restored the main station building, have rebuilt the Signal Box and have recently begun to lay track which they intend to continue extending this year. It is an exciting story and along with the New Somerset & Dorset Railway's projects at Midford and the Somerset & Dorset Heritage Trust at Midsomer Norton it is great to see some of the surviving remnants of the line being brought back to life. I recommend checking out the Shillingstone Station restoration website at http://www.shillingstonestation.addr.com/

Amazing progress at the Helston Railway.....

2012-01-09T20:26:00.001Z

I have to admit that I get really excited when closed railway lines reopen either as part of the National Rail network, or as a preserved line. The reopening of the Ebbw Vale to Cardiff, Barry to Bridgend and Alloa to Stirling lines have been huge success stories. The preserved railway movement also has numerous successes such as the Severn Valley Railway, Bluebell Railway, Swanage Line, West Somerset Railway and Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway amongst many others.

Today I want to celebrate the achievements of the Helston Railway Preservation Project. To give some historical background the original Helston Railway ran for 8.75 miles between Gwinear Road , a junction station on the West Cornwall main line between Camborne and Penzance, and the branch line's terminus at Helston. This branch line was one of many to succumb to Dr Richard Beeching's axe in the early 1960's as he began to implement his "Reshaping Britain's railways" cost cutting exercise. Following the removal of the surviving freight service in 1964 (two years after the cessation of passenger services) the track was ripped up and the abandoned track bed returned to nature.

However, thanks to the current preservation group fresh life has been breathed into the middle section of the former branch line. The group has plans to revive the middle 3.5 mile section of the line between Nancegollan in the north and Helston Water-Ma-Trout Industrial Estate in the south. Since 2005 they have made massive progress culminating in the clearing of 40 years of undergrowth, relaying of 1.25 miles of track, the building of a station at Trevarno and the renovation and restoration of rolling stock and coaches. Just before Christmas they were able to run the first brake van rides culminating in the first passenger services on the line since 1962. Today's picture shows the progress on the current track laying programme towards their next milestone of reaching Truthall Halt, where a new halt will be built to replace the original one that was demolished when the original line closed. I hope that my lovely lady and I can visit this line in the future and experience it for ourselves one day.

The joys of following the beautful game via Twitter....

2012-01-08T17:43:00.000Z

Like them, or loathe them, social networking sites can be useful things. Whilst some would argue that they can be intrusive in terms of privacy, just like the Internet in general they are tools that can be used for both good and bad.

One of the areas where it has kept me up to date is in the area of football. I follow the fortunes of four of my favourite football teams on there namely Cardiff City, Merthyr Town, Witney Town (pictured right) and Newport County.

In the cases of Merthyr and Witney it means that I can keep up to date with the latest scores as they happen. At Merthyr things are going very well with "the Martyrs" nicely placed in 5th position in the Western League Premier Division table with games in hand. For Witney however a struggle against relegation to the Hellenic First Division is becoming increasingly likely following a dismal 4-0 home defeat against fellow strugglers Fairford Town at the Polythene UK Marriotts Stadium yesterday. Phrases such as "a shambles" and "didn't turn up" summed up their capitulation from the fans perspective and it is very sad to see them struggling on the pitch in the way that they are at present. I remember fondly my days of watching Witney Town at their old town centre ground Marriotts Close, as well as the first couple of seasons at their then new Marriotts Stadium. It is sad that grassroots football doesn't receive even a portion of the resources of the Premiership clubs and after the fans have kept fighting so hard to restablish the club I hope that Witney Town Football Club will be around for a lot longer despite the financial challenges that they and many other smaller clubs are facing.

So it's off with the TV and time to sit back and relax with a good book....

2012-01-08T17:17:00.000Z

Earlier this week my lovely lady and I decided to rearrange some of the furniture and layout of our home. I must say that I love what we've done and one of the things that I have rediscovered over recent days is my love of reading since we built our new bookcase.

By my own admission I am great at starting off reading books, but I am poor at finishing them. One of the books that I bought ages ago at the Hillsong UK Conference in 2008 was "How To Be Your Best, When You Feel Your Worst" by Pastor Casey Treat (pictured). I heard him speak at the 2007 and 2008 Hillsong UK Conferences and I have always enjoyed reading his books because he has a great way of breaking down complex subjects and making them more understandable. In essence the book is about not allowing the challenges of life to stop you living your life, or fulfilling the destiny that God has for you. I have found the book very helpful and it has been refreshing to be able to sit back and listen to some music whilst reading an excellent book.

Resolution number one is broken, whilst "Earnie" returns in style....

2012-01-08T16:52:00.000Z

After my lack of blog writing last year, I had determined to try to write my blog every day but 8 days into the new year I have already failed miserably at this task! I have some other resolutions which I hope to stick to, but I won't mention them as I would sooner achieve them before I talk about them.

With Cardiff City's Carling Cup Semi-Final First Leg against Crystal Palace approaching on Tuesday, it came as no real surprise when City fielded a largely reserve team away to West Bromwich Albion in yesterday's F.A. Cup tie. It gave an opportunity for our fringe players and emerging youngsters to give a good account of themselves and indeed they did despite the fact that City lost 4-2 to their Premiership opponents. At one point they fought back after being 2-0 down to draw level at 2-2 thanks to goals from Robert Earnshaw (pictured) and Joe Mason, but West Brom had that little bit extra to win. I am confident that the City first team can get a result against Crystal Palace on Tuesday night and hopefully a return trip to Wembley will be sealed by the end of this month.

Going to see the River, man.......

2012-01-01T16:28:00.000Z

Despite being a non swimmer and having a fear of going under water, I love the sea and rivers. Pictured below is the River Evenlode, a tributary from the River Thames, which flows from Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire and which also joins the Thames a mile from Cassington (near Eynsham). My parents and other family members love this spot and in all fairness so do we.

This photograph was taken from a small road overbridge down the Cassington Road between the villages of Cassington and Eynsham. It is a lovely peaceful location despite the fact that it is a short distance away from the busy A40 road.

Today's blog title is a play on words based on the wonderful song by Nick Drake called "The River Man". I always think of this song when I come here and it was certainly playing on my internal jukebox that day. His music really moves me and his three albums "Five Leaves Left", "Bryter Layter" and "Pink Moon" are amongst my favourites.

Christmas From The Square.....

2012-01-01T16:11:00.001Z

My lovely lady and I enjoyed our Christmas with my parents this year, even if sadly it was over far too quickly. During our stay we popped out for a few walks in the locality and on one occasion we walked around the village centre of Eynsham. Pictured left to right is the Red Lion pub, St Leonard's Church and the original village school building (now home to the Parish Council meetings).

Whilst I have always held onto my roots and consider myself 100% Welsh, I can't deny that I spent most of my childhood and teenage years here. I enjoy returning to Eynsham for visits as the place still has an appeal and the pace of life is far calmer than what I am now accustomed to. One of my special places is the Swinford Toll Bridge and Eynsham lock as there were many summers where I would pop down and sit by the banks of the River Thames. I remember on one occasion having a chat with the lock keeper and having a discussion about Anton Chekhov (I was reading his play "The Cherry Orchard" at the time!). This would have been around the time I studied Theatre Studies A-level and I was immersing myself in a world full of Stanislavski, Brecht, Shakespeare and Wilde. I have often thought of acting again at some point as I still have the knack of mimicry and creating characters of my own. Perhaps this is something that I can revisit in 2012....Who knows?

Happy New Year and a tenuous link to a classic 70's concept album!....

2012-01-01T15:53:00.000Z

So here it is, ~~Merry Christmas~~......Happy New Year! Every time I think of these words I always hear Abba's 1980 hit of the same name. This is why I have chosen a suitably cheesy picture of the band before it all got a bit tricky between the four members. I am proud to admit that I am one of the few straight men I know who loves the music of Abba and this is probably largely to do with my parents. In the late 1970's my dad bought a Sanyo hifi system and one of the records he brought home (these were still the days of vinyl, y'know!) was Abba's greatest hits. There are a number of songs that I still enjoy to this day from this L.P, namely "Summer Night City", "Eagle", "The Name Of The Game" and "Take A Chance On Me". Some detractors have criticised Abba over the years for being too polished and perfect, but I choose to view them as a band who wrote and performed well written and crafted songs. If the songs had no depth then I am sure that a musical like "Mamma Mia" would not have seen the light of day and dance floors would not fill up to the strains of "Dancing Queen".

At the opposite side of the musical spectrum I was reminded of a classic concept album from the 1970's by the Canadian rock band, Rush. "2112" (pictured below) is one of the stand out albums from this decade and in time honoured concept album fare is set in a future world where music is banned. Whilst I am not a massive fan of the band, this album is truly great and the musicianship of messrs Geddy Lee (Bass & Vocals), Neil Peart (Drums) and Alex Lifeson (Guitar) is excellent. The album itself is divided into two parts with the first part being "2112" and the second part which includes 5 separate non related tracks including my favourite track "Something For Nothing". I draw inspiration from all forms of music but in the same way I admire Jethro Tull for their musical inventiveness and occasional complexity, I admire Rush for creating an album with some interesting time signatures and movements. However, like Tull this album stays away from the pomposity and overblown nature of some of the progressive rock bands from the same era.

A bizarre, but entertaining music video...

2011-12-12T21:24:00.003Z

Whilst the gig may not have been entirely enjoyable, we did get to watch a video by Genki Sudo's World Order for their song called "Machine Civilization". In between each band "The Fleece" had a large screen advertising gigs and at the same time they were playing this video on a loop. We enjoyed it visually as the soundtrack wasn't coming through at the time. As I can't describe it effectively in words, I have included a link to the video for your fun/enjoyment/puzzlement/confusion (delete where applicable).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-qhj3sJ5qs&feature=player_embedded

A wedding celebration and a good gig ruined by rude people...

2011-12-12T20:43:00.001Z

Sunday was an interesting day for a mixture of different reasons. First of all two of our friends got married during our church service and it was a really happy occasion. In a similar manner to how my lovely lady and I got married in the summer, they have done the church bit and have registered too. It was lovely to be a part of their celebrations and I along with the rest of the guys wish them both a long and happy life together.

In the evening my lovely lady and I visited "The Fleece", which is a small rock venue that has standing room for around 200 people. We went to see Wilko Johnson, original guitarist and founding member of Canvey Island's pub rock legends Dr Feelgood. Whilst Wilko left Feelgood in 1977 and has enjoyed a successful solo career and a brief stint in Ian Dury and The Blockheads in the late 70's/early 80's he still possesses an energy to perform at age 64 like a man of far younger years.

Sadly the evening was not as enjoyable as we had hoped for. After arriving at the advertised start time of 7pm, nothing happened until 8.25pm when the first of two support acts appeared. Whilst we were frustrated at having to stand around for so long, the first band "The Soulvents" from Bristol were pretty good and played an enjoyable 35 minute set to a small, but appreciative crowd. After a short equipment change we were disappointed to see a second support act, which came in the form of a band called Petrol from Serbia. They were ok but were not my lovely lady's cup of tea as they were too noisy. They reminded me of a cross between Feeder and Muse, but sadly not as good as either of these bands. At this point we were feeling very tired after their 45 minute set and a bit fed up from being bumped into and pushed about by various inebrated locals stumbling to the bar.

Eventually at 9.30pm Wilko and fellow bandmates Dylan Howe (drums) and Norman Watt-Roy (bassist with The Blockheads) came on stage to an enthusiastic welcome. It was worth the wait as Wilko and the guys rattled through a host of songs from his own solo work plus some of the Dr Feelgood classics he wrote from the "Down By The Jetty" album such as "Roxette", "The More I Give", & "She Does It Right". Another handful of later Feelgood songs "Back In The Night" , "Don't Let Your Daddy Know" and "Sneakin' Suspicion" were also included in a high tempo and entertaining set. We left before the end at around 11pm as we were both very tired and disappointed that the behaviour of some inconsiderate people in the crowd had ruined a perfectly good gig for us. I have included a video of a track called "Barbed Wire Blues" by Wilko for your enjoyment. The sound quality is admitedly poor as it was recorded on my mobile phone, but hopefully it catches some of the energy of his performance.

Wise preparations, or the wonderful randomness of Aldi?

2011-12-12T20:24:00.001Z

The comedian Bill Bailey in his excellent "Part Troll" DVD once joked that Argos contained "the laminated book of dreams" with "so many beautiful gifts that I cannot hope to possess them all". Whilst our local Aldi store may not include such a book or many bounteous gifts that we desire, it wins hands down for the most regular amount of random items available for sale. I have a chuckle most weeks when I pop in and have made it an unofficial pastime to locate some of the more unusual times for sale. Over recent weeks we have had the electric generator, a fortnight ago the arc welder machine and a child's first battery operated construction crane.

Whilst we are also currently encountering stormy weather here in the West Country, my lovely lady and I both thought it was quite amusing that there was a pile of snow shovels available to buy outside the store. I expect that they will have sold out of these in Scotland following the snow, winds and rain that have hammered the country over the last week. So far the snow has yet to make a repeat visit here from last year when the West Country had a fair covering. In all fairness though it was nowhere near what my parents had in West Oxfordshire last Christmas. It will be interesting to see which weather patterns develop in the build up to Christmas, but right now I will batten down the hatches and stay warm indoors.

A festive brass band and "The Prisoner" connection....

2011-12-10T22:55:00.001Z

There was a strong likelihood that Bristol city centre and especially Broadmead would be packed to the rafters with Christmas shoppers today. As a result of this we rather wisely chose to remain closer to home and decided to visit the gargantuan Asda Walmart at Cribbs Causeway instead. To add to the Christmas cheer there were two different bands playing at both entrances which included a youth orchestra playing Christmas carols and a local music group (pictured left). The repertoire of the latter band was varied and didn't stick purely to Christmas carols and yuletide fare. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the opening section of Bizet's "L'arlesienne" suite.

For me this piece of music will always be synonymous with the episode from "The Prisoner" called "Hammer Into Anvil". There is a scene in which Patrick McGoohan's character Number 6 listens to the opening 20 seconds of six identical records and writes something down before leaving the village shop music listening booth. He uses this unusual behaviour as one of many ploys to bring down the village leader Number 2 played by Patrick Cargill. Number 6 eventually manages to drive Number 2 to an emotional and mental collapse by pretending to be an agent sent by the village authorities to check on Number 2. However, unlike Number 6's lack of satisfaction with the Bizet records, I, on the other hand thought the rendition I heard today was rather good.

Experiencing a new "old" classic....

2011-12-09T21:03:00.001Z

Over the years I have acquired a few music CD's or film DVD's thanks to British Sunday newspaper giveaways. One album that I got during this time was Mike Oldfield's 1973 album "Tubular Bells", which is an album I suppose I was always aware of but had never checked out before.

My only prior experience of Mike Oldfield's music was through his chart single hits "Portsmouth", "Moonlight Shadow" and "In Dulci Jubilo". He has always been a bit of a mysterious character and in watching a recent interview with him I realised that he is a shy man who prefers to let his music do his talking. The phenomenal success of the album on its original release and the pressures of his new found fame made him want to withdraw from public life. He remains popular today and especially in Europe with his unique brand of progressive world music.

The album itself consists of two parts, which mirrors many progressive rock albums of that era (including one of my favourites "A Passion Play" by Jethro Tull). What makes it incredible is that Oldfield played most of the instruments on it and the opening theme has been used in many tv shows/films but perhaps most infamously on the horror film "The Exorcist". I can see why people rave on about it even if it also includes a bizarre movement called "piltdown man" featuring a drunk Oldfield shouting incoherently over the music. Apparently this track had the vocals added after Oldfield had an argument about lack of vocals on the album with his record label boss, Richard Branson of Virgin records. It has made me want to check out two of the albums that he released later the same decade namely "Hergest Ridge" and "Ommadawn".

We're looking at the big sky.....

2011-12-06T20:24:00.001Z

Over recent years I have grown accustomed to living in urban and built up areas around Bristol. Whilst I now live with my lovely lady in a quiet suburb in the north of the city, one of the enjoyable benefits for us has been the lack of light pollution. Why is that such a big thing, you may ask? Well I suppose it is because on our evening walk we were able to enjoy the beauty of the night sky tonight.

I suppose it was the first time since growing up in the village of Eynsham, of my University days in Caerleon that I have seen the night sky so clearly. I can't take any credit for the picture though as my camera couldn't take the sky in such detail! Needless to say though on a clear, but cold night we could see the moon and the stars without any street lighting getting in the way. The constellation of Orion (pictured left) and the Plough were both very clear along with the vapour trails of various commercial aeroplanes flying overhead. The streets were quiet and not even the usual hum of the police helicopter was around to ruin the peace of the scene.

We're glowing at my desk....

2011-12-06T18:55:00.001Z

We've been having some fun decorating the office over the last few days. Two fibre optic trees have been set up and various bits of tinsel adorn the picture frames in the various corridors of our building. Some of us have also been able to have some fun USB powered Christmas decorations too. Mine is a snowman and the department has a mixture of these decorations or the Father Christmas alternatives.

It added to the happy atmosphere in the office on what was a fun day. It seems weird to think that Christmas will be upon us in two and half weeks, but it will be nice to spend time with friends and family during this time.

Kenny does it again!......

2011-12-05T00:02:00.001Z

When England scored to make it 5-1 against Germany a few years ago, commentator John Motson famously said "this is getting better and better!". His statement matches how I feel about Cardiff City at the moment and especially about their current excellent run of form. I along with many other City fans have a genuine excitement and expectancy ahead of each game.

Following Tuesday's 2-0 win over Premiership strugglers Blackburn Rovers, genuine optimism of a return trip to Wembley has been evident this week and also for a home league win today. That optimism was rewarded with a 1-0 win over Birmingham City at Cardiff City Stadium courtesy of Kenny Miller's (pictured right with team mate Lee Naylor) 68th minute strike. Bearing in mind Birmingham won the Carling Cup and were relegated from the Premiership last season, this is further evidence of how far we have come as a club in the last 25 years. This is an exciting era for the club and is a far cry from the "Durban's disasters" of the mid 80's, the boom and bust of the Rick Wright era in the early to mid 90's and the dreadful mid to late 90's under Samesh Kumar. Whilst our Malaysian investors have brought stability to the business and off the field activities, Malky Mackay has built a team that is proving that you don't have to have big names to be a successful team. Norwich and Swansea were both promoted last season with players that many people hadn't heard of, but the key strengths of both teams were that they were fit, hard working and had a very strong team ethic. These characteristics are evident in this Cardiff City team and hopefully it will be our turn to celebrate in May.

Christmas comes to our household.....

2011-12-04T23:22:00.001Z

After acquiring the various baubles, tinsel and lights for our tree over the last few weeks, it was nice to be able to decorate our tree and our lounge. As the song says "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" and we are both really excited about our first Christmas as a married couple. It was the first time I had decorated a tree since my childhood and it was great fun. We also hung some other decorations from the mantlepiece and from our lounge lights. With our Christmas shopping almost done it now means that we can hibernate for the next couple of Saturday's "far from the madding crowd(s)" as Thomas Hardy once put it. From our own experience Broadmead has been wall to wall people and The Mall at Cribbs Causeway in the north of the city has been the same.

Fiddler on the rope......

2011-12-03T22:00:00.001Z

Bristol city centre was full to the rafters with Christmas shoppers today, but that didn't spoil our enjoyment of the various street entertainers that were performing in Broadmead and around St Nick's market. The usual suspects were there - "Going slightly mad" on keyboards, the blind gentleman and his karoake machine, mumbler the hairy guitarist/singer/songwriter, but most surprising of all was the sight of Oded Kafri and his one man drum show again. He may be on an extended stay of leave in Bristol, but it was good to see him perform again.

Following my haircut I realised that I now have rather a lot of gray hairs. In all fairness though that doesn't have to be a bad thing as I take comfort from Proverbs 16:31 as it says, "Gray hair is a mark of distinction, the award for a God-loyal life. " After trying some Moroccan Lamb meatballs for lunch we discovered this rather interesting street performer. I didn't catch his name but in essence he plays the fiddle whilst balancing on a makeshift tightrope. We enjoyed it visually and musically, but hey enough of my yakking, enjoy!

A night of great music at St Georges Hall.....

2011-12-01T21:56:00.001Z

Perhaps I have never said this before, but I really must thank my parents for introducing me to the music of folk rock legends Steeleye Span. It is amazing to think that my enthusiasm for their music began way back in 1989 when we went as a family to see them at the Oxford Apollo. It was the first time that I had experienced folk rock as I was immersed in heavy metal and hard rock at the time and my daily musical intake was usually AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Metallica. Back then Steeleye Span were touring to promote their album "Tempted and tried", an album which gave us "Seagull", "Padstow" and "The Fox" and which remains one of my favourite albums by them to this day.

My lovely lady and I enjoyed a great performance by the band at St Georges Hall in Bristol last night. Steeleye have now reverted to being a six piece for the first time since the 1980's. The change was partly due to the departure of the excellent Ken Nicol on guitar last year so the band now has two guitarists in Peter Zorn and Julian Littman. Peter is a multi instrumentalist as well and aside from acoustic guitar he also plays flute, saxophone, oboe, mandolin and bass guitar, whilst Julian can play piano and electric guitar. Vocally the band have extra depth as a six piece and we were treated to the whole of the 1974 album "Now We Are Six" in the first half. The second half of the show consisted of tracks from the "Winter" and "Cogs, Wheels & Lovers" albums plus classic tracks "Cold, Haily Windy Night", "Who told the butcher?", "Gaudete" and inevitably "All Around My Hat" to close the show. Peter and Julian complement the sound of existing members Maddy Prior (Vocals), Peter Knight (Violin), Rick Kemp (Bass Guitar) and Liam Genockey (Drums) and whilst Ken Nicol was technically a better guitarist than Julian Littman, he is still an excellent part of the current incarnation of Steeleye Span. Hopefully they will be back again next year, but until then I am counting down the days to my lovely lady and I's next gig, Wilko Johnson at The Fleece also in Bristol.

A Cup upset at CCS and an emotional tribute to Gary Speed....

2011-11-29T21:45:00.001Z

After the shock of Gary Speed's death on Sunday, it was time for Cardiff City F.C. to pay their tribute to him tonight. On an understandably emotional occasion it was an evening of contrasts at Cardiff City Stadium this evening. The City team perhaps had additional motivation ahead of tonight's Carling Cup Quarter Final against Blackburn Rovers. Players such as Don Cowie and manager Malky Mackay had both stated prior to the game that they wanted to win even more in order to make it a fitting tribute to Gary Speed.

On the pitch it was a great evening for the City as they ran out 2-0 winners with goals from Kenny Miller (pictured above) and Anthony Gerrard. A semi final awaits us against one of the big clubs as Liverpool are already through and both sides will be joined in the final four by either Manchester City, Arsenal, Crystal Palace or Manchester United. I remember being excited when City got to Wembley in 2008 and played Portsmouth in the F.A. Cup Final. The chance of a return visit to Wembley is all the more exciting and whilst it will be a massive effort for us to get there, why not? We've been there before!

A tragic loss to Welsh football....R.I.P. Gary Speed.

2011-11-27T21:24:00.001Z

Shocked and upset are two of the many words that football supporters and players have all felt in the U.K. following the announcement that Gary Speed, manager of the improving Welsh football team had died today. What makes this such a tragedy is that he leaves a wife and two sons behind and many family and friends wondering what on earth could have pushed him to take his own life at the mere age of 42.

He excelled as a footballer during a career that included spells with Leeds United, Newcastle United and Everton and most recently he inspired the Welsh national team to their best run of results since 2004. It is an incomprehensible tragedy that a man with so much going for him felt that he couldn't carry on with life. I am sure many of his closest friends and family are asking why? To quote former colleague Robbie Savage, "The world has lost a great man in Gary Speed. I'm devastated spoke to him yesterday morning why ! Why. Why !! I'll miss him so much x". Arsenal and Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey said of him, "I was given the tragic news this morning. To say I am devastated is an understatement. My thoughts and prayers go out to Gary's family and friends. Today the world has lost a great football manager but even more sadly a great man. He will be missed by all." Ryan Giggs of Manchester United also paid his own tribute by saying "I am totally devastated. Gary Speed was one of the nicest men in football and someone I am honoured to call a team-mate and friend. Words cannot begin to describe how sad I feel at hearing this awful news." The tears shed by Aston Villa keeper Shay Given in today's game at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea also showed how highly regarded he was within the football community.

Amidst this tragedy I was reminded of the lyrics to a song that the band Iona wrote called "Beachy Head", which was inspired by a visit to a place that has become synonymous with being a suicide blackspot. The first verse and chorus says:-

"Here at my feet
The metal remains
Of hopes that died in the air
Here at my feet
Salt water washes over despair
Was it for fear of the future
Was it for guilt of the past

And where are the souls
Oh the sea doesn't know
And where are the souls
Oh the rocks cannot say
And where are the souls
God only knows, how you're feeling today".

I may never have known Gary Speed personally, but I only wish someone could have reached him and helped him see that things were going to work out and be ok. My prayers, thoughts and love go out to his family and everyone else who knew him. Rest in peace Gary, you were a credit to Wales.

Not so little drummer boy, pa rum pum pum pum....

2011-11-26T21:29:00.001Z

I must admit that we have been really spoilt over recent weeks with the quality of street musicians here in Bristol. Today we were treated to the best so far in the form of Israeli session drummer Oded Kafri (also known as The Drum Machine). I have to admit that there are very few drummers I have heard that can play fast, can combine percussive touches and keep time too. We liked him so much we bought two of his CD's which we enjoyed listening to on the way home from the city centre this evening. His robotic dancing and energy also kept many passers by entertained and whilst my amateur video clip doesn't capture the atmosphere of actually watching him play, I hope that you enjoy his unique and dynamic style.

He has inspired my lovely lady and I to want to become drummers, which is something I have always wanted to do long before I picked up my guitar for the first time 20 years ago. I don't regret being an "axeman" as it has given me a lot of joy and fulfilment over the years and hitting a chord and letting it ring on a Gibson Les Paul guitar through a Marshall amplifier is one of my favourite things in life. I want to expand my musical range to incorporate Mandolin and Drums in the future and it is something I look forward to achieving.

German Christmas markets, Bristol style.....

2011-11-26T21:11:00.001Z

The German themed Christmas markets in Bristol city centre have become a popular attraction over recent years and my lovely lady and I really enjoyed visiting them again earlier today. We sampled some traditional German spicy sausage from one of the nearby stalls and providing some excellent seasonal music were the Salvation Army band (pictured left). In all fairness Salvation Army and Royal Marines bands are full of excellent and skilled musicians and it was lovely to hear the Christmas carols played with such skill and musical sensitivity.

I love Christmas carols and enjoy singing them when I get the opportunity to do so. I suppose it is because I grew up with an appreciation of them from an early age. We used to sing them at school, both at Eynsham County primary school and Bartholomew School in Eynsham each year including the mass singing free for all that became "On the first day of Christmas". I also recall joining in with door to door carol singing around the housing estates of West Witney with Witney Community Church which was great fun and I seem to recall doing something similar around the pubs of Eynsham too. At least I remember entering "The Jolly Sportsmen" at some point and I don't think I had been drinking either.

The meeting of two unlikely minds and a quirky band revisited...

2011-11-25T13:36:00.001Z

As my health has gradually improved, I have spent most of this week indoors keeping warm. During this time I have spent the time trying to keep my mind active and more importantly taking time to rest as well. Today I have watched a couple of TV programmes that were quite interesting. First of all "Living the life" is part of a series featuring informal chats/interviews between famous people from different ends of the entertainment spectrum. The pairing today has drawn together British movie actor Lesley Phillips and former Bee Gees member Robin Gibb. On paper this programme could be potentially dreadful, but it has been very interesting to hear them share stories both poignant and funny about each others lives.

Earlier this morning I saw a concert featuring Ian Dury & The Blockheads (pictured right) filmed at the Hammersmith Odeon in the 1980's. Whilst Ian Dury admitted himself that he wasn't the greatest singer in the world the Blockheads were and still are an excellent group of musicians. The musicianship on songs such as "Hit me with your rhythm stick", "What a waste" and "Reasons to be cheerful pt.3" was very good and tight. I also enjoyed the guest appearance of ex-Dr Feelgood and Blockheads guitarist Wilko Johnson for an encore. My lovely lady and I will be seeing Wilko Johnson and his backing band featuring current Blockheads Norman Watt-Roy on bass and Dylan Howe on drums in 3 weeks time. Before that though will be Steeleye Span in Bristol and a special evening featuring the whole "Now we are six" album being played in its entirety. Happy days!

Bring on the Forest!....

2011-11-24T12:25:00.001Z

I can't help but be excited about Cardiff City's start to this season. It has certainly exceeded all expectations as most City fans (myself included) expected the team to struggle especially after 12 players left in the summer including influential players Chris Burke, Jay Bothroyd and Michael Chopra. Malky Mackay and his managerial team must be applauded for bringing in 10 new players who have gelled with the remainder of the existing playing squad. The City currently sit in 3rd position in the table and are only 3 points behind 2nd placed West Ham United.

One striking difference between this City side and previous ones is the team worth ethic. We have had many great individual players but this is the most together City team I have seen for a while. From Kenny Miller (pictured above) who has scored a few important goals, to the new midfielders Don Cowie, Craig Conway, Aron Gunnarson and Filip Kiss and youngsters Joe Ralls and Joe Mason we now have a team that will keep on fighting till the very end. Existing players such as Peter Whittingham and David Marshall have also improved under new management and hopefully they can play a part in ending November with an unbeaten run of results. Next up is Nottingham Forest and hopefully the City can bounce back from their disappointing 1-1 draw at Coventry City on Tuesday with a win against an improving Forest team.

A live classic....

2011-11-24T11:48:00.001Z

Sky Arts 1 is providing some rather excellent musical entertainment for me whilst I am recovering from illness at home. Today's treat was Pink Floyd's live rendition of their seminal classic "Dark Side of the Moon" album (pictured left) recorded during their 1994 Pulse tour. Either I am getting old, or my musical tastes have matured over recent years. I had avoided progressive rock purposely apart from Jethro Tull who in all fairness were by their own admission "not a serious progressive band". I have really grown to appreciate Pink Floyd's music over recent years especially since their brilliant final performance in 2005 at Live 8. What made their final live appearance so special was the fact that it was the first time David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright had reunited with former bassist and leader Roger Waters since 1983 after years of ill feeling towards one another.

Songs such as "Breathe", "Money" (which I am currently learning how to play), "Us and Them" and "The Great Gig in the sky" were the highlights of the 1994 show. I also like their earlier output with their original frontman Syd Barrett especially tracks like "Arnold Layne", "See Emily Play" and the wonderfully eccentric "Bike". After turning his back on the music industry following years of mental health problems, Syd reverted to his original name Roger and lived peacefully in Cambridge up until his death in 2006. Since Live 8 Keyboardist Richard Wright has also passed away but for me his crowning musical moment for me will always be "Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-7)" a song which Pink Floyd wrote about Syd Barrett's demise into mental instability. The keyboard and synthesiser parts are atmospheric and perfectly understated, which is probably why they are so memorable.

In rememberance of a great Welshman....

2011-11-24T10:10:00.001Z

On a recent visit to my home city of Cardiff, I decided to photograph ths statue as I have walked past it on many an occasion. To quote Wikipedia "Aneurin "Nye" Bevan (pronounced /əˈnaɪrɪn/; Welsh: [aˈnəɨ.rin]; 15 November 1897 – 6 July 1960) was a British Labour Party politician who was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1959 until his death in 1960. The son of a coal miner, Bevan was a lifelong champion of social justice and the rights of working people. He was a long-time Member of Parliament (MP), representing Ebbw Vale for 31 years, and became recognised as one of the leaders of the party’s left wing, and of left-wing British thought generally. His most famous accomplishment came when, as Minister of Health in the post-war Attlee government, he spearheaded the establishment of the National Health Service, which provides medical care free at point-of-need to all Britons. "

Due to recent proposed reforms of the NHS in both Wales and the U.K, Aneurin Bevan has featured prominently on Radio Wales this week. This is partly due to the opening of a brand new hospital called Ystrad Fawr in Ystrad Mynach which is one of the hospitals that comes under the Aneurin Bevan health board which also covers hospitals in Ebbw Vale and Caerphilly amongst others. A few years ago I realised how much he is still held in high esteem by the people of Wales when his statue was smashed by mindless vandals. The South Wales Echo ran a campaign called "Show some respect", which successfully raised the money to repair the statue to its current state. Sadly the statue has fallen foul of some over zealous pigeons and their droppings recently and on one occasion following a Welsh football game in the mid 90's Aneurin was found wearing a Wales bobble hat and scarf, whilst holding a baguette in his right hand. He may have raised a smile over the scarf but his vision to set up the NHS in the first place mustn't be forgotten.

Step forward, Foremarke Hall!......

2011-11-23T12:24:00.001Z

A couple of months ago my lovely lady and I enjoyed paying a visit to the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire railway at Toddington. It was the first time we had been there together and the first time I had been there since the embankment collapse at Chicken Curve had severed the line in two. The first stage of the journey had been between Toddington and the new extension to Laverton on board a heritage Diesel Multiple Unit (or DMU for short - pictured left). Being on one of these trains brought back memories of the long and dull train ride between Cardiff Queens Street and Merthyr Tydfil that my Mam, sister and I made when I was a small child. The train seemed to take forever to get to Merthyr, but thankfully these days the journey seems to be a lot quicker than back then. The last time I made the journey was when I went to see Cardiff City v Merthyr Tydfil in a pre season friendly at Penydarren Park in 2008.

On the same visit to the GWSR we drove the short distance to Winchcombe station, which is an immaculately presented GWR (Great Western Railway) country station. The station building is not an original as it was originally the station building at the long closed Monmouth (Troy) station. It was moved brick by brick and reassembled in this pretty Gloucestershire village and it is great that a small piece of Welsh railway history now lives on in this small corner of England. At present all trains from Winchcombe to Cheltenham Racecourse are steam hauled and we were really spoilt when No. 7903 GWR Modified Hall 4-6-0 "Foremarke Hall" pulled into the station. I have attached a short video that hopefully captures the experience of this great preserved steam locomotive.

The lone Scotsman....

2011-11-23T12:16:00.001Z

Following on from my recent post about musicians on the streets of Bristol, I found another video clip that I had filmed a few weeks ago. I had intended to write about this at the time it happened but unfortunately I didn't make time to do it. However, I couldn't let this opportunity go by without sharing this lone piper with you. If you are a Scotsman then this may stir up something within you, but even as a Welshman I love the sound of this instrument when it is played reasonably well. It is a tricky instrument to master along with the Uillean pipes and I admire anyone who can play this well. I hope that you enjoy this short clip even if the best bits are of the curious passers by watching him play.

Something to cheer up an ill young Welshman...

2011-11-23T11:50:00.001Z

I don't enjoy being ill, but unfortunately I am currently off work with a chest infection. One of the main reasons I don't enjoy it is because there's not much you can do but rest and recuperate. Oh, as well as suffering daytime television. Fortunately I have discovered on Sky Arts a really decent gig from 2005 when the now late Gary Moore and various ex members of Thin Lizzy and former Jethro Tull bassist Jonathon Noyce got together in Dublin to pay tribute to former Thin Lizzy frontman the late Phil Lynott. I have been treated to some excellent guitar work by Gary Moore, Eric Bell (both pictured left), Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham (pictured below with Gary Moore). It reminded me of what a great band Thin Lizzy are and also the quality of Phil Lynott's songwriting.

In 2008 I saw a reunited Thin Lizzy play at The Colston Hall featuring Scott Gorham and latter day Lizzy guitarist Jon Sykes plus guests Tommy Aldridge & Marc Mendoza. It was a great gig especially as the opening two numbers were "Jailbreak" and "The Boys Are Back In Town". The current Lizzy line up has changed significantly since then but are still going and paying tribute to one of Ireland's greatest bands. Some of my favourite guitarists have been Irish including the late Rory Gallagher, former Gillan and current GMT guitarist Bernie Torme and of course The Edge from U2 (although he was actually born in Wales, so bad example...but U2 are an Irish band so ner!). Gary Moore and Phil Lynott also recorded a great duet in the mid 1980's shortly before Phil's death called "Out In The Fields". This song remains one of my favourite rock songs of all time as it features some amazing guitar work by Gary. Whilst Gary played blues in later years and was generally dismissive of his own solo rock material, he remains a much missed guitarist who managed to excel in both blues and rock music.

He's gone, but he's been fun to watch!

2011-11-20T20:36:00.001Z

I'll be honest that it has been some years since I have sat down and watched Saturday night television. The last few months have been different though as I have surprisingly become engrossed in "Strictly Come Dancing". A lot of the appeal has been down to the camp, extravagant and crazy routines featuring Russell Grant. I remember him from being an astrologer on breakfast TV here in the UK back in the 1980's, but he has really entertained the British public along with his dance partner Flavia Cacace. Tonight he was eliminated after scoring the lowest votes, which given that the tournament is about dancing is perfectly fair. However watching him fly out of a cannon is quite possibly the funniest thing I have seen in some time. Indeed as judge Len Goodman so aptly described it, “The thing is, Russell, I don’t care how many great dancers they have and how many series of Strictly Come Dancing there are, people will always say ’Do you remember when Russell Grant flew out that cannon?’ It will always be remembered.”

Some urban music in the city......

2011-11-19T19:33:00.001Z

Now anyone who knows me well will know that there is a vast amount of rock and heavy metal music in my album collection. I also enjoy folk, country, classical, indie and pop too. However dance or urban music usually passes me with the exception of Faithless, The Prodigy and Bristolian duo Massive Attack and Roni Size. However, we enjoyed an excellent urban band in the Broadmead shopping area in Bristol city centre. I didn't catch their name but I filmed this small segment of their short but excellent set. Whilst only being a trio consisting of an excellent young female singer/rapper, a male rapper and a saxophonist/flautist/keyboard/synthesizer/samples multi instrumentalist, they managed to create some excellent and well crafted songs that had my lovely lady and I grooving along too. We also saw earlier in the day two other good street musicians including a pianist who played chart hits and a singer/songwriter who was doing a reasonably good job of covering David Gray/James Morrison songs. We ended the day by buying some tickets to see ex Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson at the Fleece in December too to keep up the musical theme and hopefully I will be able to secure us some tickets to see Steeleye Span in a fortnight's time too. Live music in all its forms gives me a massive buzz and I hope that you enjoy my short but sweet video clip today.

Christmas comes with wavy hands....

2011-11-19T19:11:00.001Z

This cheery snowman was too good to miss when we did our weekly shop on Friday night. Apart from being some kind of snow god to the assorted penguins who appear to be worshipping at his feet, he has moving arms and a rotating head to keep the young children amused. If you are in and around Bristol he can be found in the Willow Brook Centre at Bradley Stoke by the entrance to Tesco.

We also enjoyed looking at the German Christmas markets in Bristol city centre earlier today. The centre piece included a rotating tower complete with the three wise men plus Mary, Joseph & the infant Jesus. The unfortunate thing was that the tower looked like a cross between a helterskelter, a stick of seaside rock and a rotisserie. Thankfully the ox and the cattle were not being spit roasted in the manger. At least not by Joseph that is.

Cardiff City continued their 100% run of wins in November. The wheels always seemed to come off the promotion bandwagon around November during each season under the management of Dave Jones. Needless to say after today's 2-1 win away to Reading at the Madejski Stadium, many City fans are enjoying this month far more than the last 5 or so previous years. Hopefully another win away to Coventry at Tuesday will consolidate the 4th position that City currently occupy in the league table.

A rather splendid cake, if I may so...

2011-11-19T11:55:00.003Z

Last night was the annual "Children in Need" extravaganza and my lovely lady and I enjoyed watching some great entertainment as well as learning about some of the special projects that benefit from the fundraising. At work we did our bit and today's picture is of a cake baked by one of my colleagues which was one of the prizes in a raffle in aid of children in need. As I am sure you will agree this is a pretty amazing piece of work and I couldn't resist capturing a photo to remember it.

The fundraising at the close of the TV show had reached a record £22.5 million which goes to show that even in these difficult and uncertain economic times people are still prepared to give to those less fortunate than themselves. What is especially good is knowing that every penny raised directly benefits and improves the lives of the children and also makes a significant difference to many lives and communities around the United Kingdom.

Training time.......

2011-11-15T18:18:00.001Z

I am reflecting at the end of a very fulfilling day following a training session I attended today. Whilst I have worked in the field of customer services since 1997 in a variety of different roles it was nice to have a change of scene and to attend a dedicated customer service training course with some of my work colleagues. Whilst the subject matter was similar to the content of previous courses I had attended I still learnt some new things and feel revitalised ahead of my return to work tomorrow.

You can never learn too much and there is always something new that you can learn. The danger comes from the point where you think you know everything and you aren't prepared to take on board new things. If I draw an example from the world from football, the transformation of Cardiff City under Malky Mackay has been astonishing. One of the key differences with this seasons team has been their overall fitness levels and a lot of that has been down to a complete change in the training and preparation of the team. Over the last few seasons City had a tendency to concede late goals or lose games perhaps due to tiredness or a lack of fitness. This season there is a never say die attitude and a desire and physical strength to keep battling to the very end. Perhaps some of our existing players were used to things a certain way under our previous coaching regime. Sometimes change is good and necessary in order for us to achieve new things and to climb out of a rut. All of the changes have brought positive results and I hope that this City side can go one better and gain promotion to the Premier League.

The return of the dragon....

2011-11-12T19:53:00.001Z

If I'm honest, I was completely underwhelmed when Gary Speed was appointed manager of the Welsh football team following the dismal era under John Toshack. Whilst Speed had excelled as a player and had been captain for Wales in the past, his tenure as manager of Sheffield United had been far from successful. Wales as a national team had slumped under Toshack and wins very rarely happened. I have to admit that I stopped listening to the games for a while as they were generally depressing affairs, but I must credit Gary Speed and the Wales team for the hard work they have put in over the last year.

Despondency has changed to optimism with Speed's young team having now won 4 out of their last 5 games including today's emphatic 4-1 win over Norway at the best footballing venue in Wales, Cardiff City Stadium. Gareth Bale (pictured above celebrating with Steve Morrison) was amongst the scorers along with former Bluebird Craig Bellamy and a double from Wolves' Sam Vokes. What was also particularly pleasing was to see Cardiff City's Darcy Blake having another good game at the heart of the Welsh defence. There are striking parallels between the current Wales side and this season's Cardiff City side under Malky Mackay. Both sides are young, hard working and have a great team work ethic. I believe that these qualities are playing a massive part in the revitalisation of both Wales and Cardiff City and hopefully over the next year it will bring success for them both.

Time for posting.....

2011-11-12T19:17:00.001Z

It suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't written anything for a while although it has been pleasing to see that some people have still been reading my older posts. I have written far too infrequently this year although in all fairness I have done two of the things that people generally say are the two most stressful things you can do in life: getting married and moving house. Over the last few weeks we have really enjoyed writing our thank you cards and compiling our wedding photo albums. Looking back our wedding registration in July and our wedding blessing in September were both very happy occasions and both days were full of fun and laughter. Our photographs have captured the atmosphere and fun which we had hoped we would have, but which we also had in a greater measure than we could ever have dreamed of. From "doing the Ayatollah" to the Bhangra dancing mentioned in my previous post I can honestly say it was great. We have also settled nicely in our new home and it is nice to no longer be living in a shared house anymore

Why is Greendale's most famous resident (Postman Pat) today's featured artist? Well, it was because it was time to post our Christmas presents off to our family in the USA and Malaysia. I have to admit that it was a far cry from queuing in Eynsham post office to buy a bag of acid drops or posting letters for my family. For a start we were served by the Manager who was professional, helpful and wait for it.....friendly! My general experience of post offices has been of being served by grumpy or short tempered people who have chastised me of my lack of knowledge about "postal procedures". Today was a different and positive experience altogether and we will certainly be making a return visit!

On a separate note I remember in one of my old bands "Opening" we did a rock version of the "Postman Pat" theme for a bit of a laugh. It evolved from a fictional heavy metal band called "We Are Hard" that I performed in at a Crusaders Minchinhampton camp in 1993. "Postman Pat" became a crowd favourite along with our other quirky songs such as "Smashing windows with my mate Dave" and "Return to Eynsham". I remember that we had written about 12 songs for our first gig at The King's School in Witney and also chucked in "Sit Down" by James for added measure. "Postman Pat" was added as a gig filler but remained in our set list which expanded over the next few months with more songs that we had written as well as a cover version of Nirvana's "Serve the servants". It was a fun time and whilst we only existed between 1992 and 1994 and reunited for two gigs in 1996 I still remain in contact with my old band mates to this day. It was also nice to bump into a couple of old bandmates from my recently defunct band "Mr Big Stuff" recently and it would be great to gig again at some point in the future. Right now I am focusing on improving and honing my musical skills so that I can do it justice when I do play live again.

The beginning of a brand new journey.....

2011-09-19T20:19:00.000+01:00

To say that the last few months have been both action packed and eventful would be somewhat of an understatement. It is all good change though as during this time I have got married and moved house. I can look back a few weeks later on and say that it was all worth it, as I am now very happily married to my best friend and I am also enjoying our new life at home. Although we were officially registered as married in July, September 3rd became known as the "official wedding" to many of our guests. Both wedding days and the house move went very well and my lovely lady and I are very thankful to God for the way he covered every need and practical aspect during these times. My abiding memories of the "official day" will always be how beautiful my lovely lady looked, the music, good food, the excitement, laughter and catch up time with our family and friends, the excellent support by the hotel staff , "doing the ayatollah" during my best man's speech and the mass bhangra dancing during the evening reception. It was a fun time and I am proud to say that everybody left the wedding very happy and lifted, which was exactly what we hoped would happen. For those of you who are reading this post today who were present with us that day, thank you for coming and for helping to make our day very special too.

The "Miller's" tale......

2011-08-08T21:33:00.003+01:00

Change has been the buzz word at Cardiff City FC this summer. Watching our opening game of the season away to West Ham United on TV the scale of the changes was evident to all. The departures of high profile names such as Michael Chopra, Jay Bothroyd and Chris Burke had left a sizeable hole in the squad. 9 players have arrived this number and perhaps most notably it is the arrival of the experienced Scottish international Kenny Miller and the return of City legend Robert Earnshaw that has raised the expectations a little.

Yesterday's match pitched the multi million pound players of West Ham United, freshly relegated from the Premier League against our more modestly assembled squad. A number of things struck me about City's performance yesterday and most notably it was the team work ethic. New manager Malky McKay has instilled a discipline and focus in the players that was only evident in patches over previous seasons under previous manager Dave Jones. Whilst at times it looked like the team was still getting to know one another special praise must be given to David Marshall who was excellent in goal and the whole defence who reduced West Ham to only a handful of clear cut opportunities. With the game poised at 0-0 and with most City fans being happy at securing a point against the bookies favourites for the league title, the unimaginable happened. Substitute Rudy Gestede disposessed the West Ham full back and crossed the ball for Kenny Miller (pictured) to fire the City into a 1-0 lead in stoppage time. I went nuts much to the amusement of my lovely wife and the City saw out the game to secure an excellent result. Next up is our first ever trip to the Kassam Stadium to face Oxford United in the Carling Cup on Wednesday. C'mon City!

B is for Battery Point.......

2011-06-18T12:40:00.002+01:00

Portishead, near Bristol has grown over recent years and has become a very desirable place to live. I am fortunate to work just 3 miles away from the town in nearby Portbury and over recent weeks my curiousity has led me to drive over the hill from the town centre to the seafront. I have mentioned the seafront in previous posts which is a very popular lunch time location with local families and tradesmen. This rather ugly looking beacon is located a short distance away on Battery Point which on this particular day was very windswept. This is probably why it is called Battery Point as the winds really hammer into this exposed location. The views of South Wales, The River Severn and the two Severn bridges from here make it a beautiful spot from which to enjoy the scenic elements of the coast in this area. I discovered it purely by chance as I was inquisitive about finding out what was over the hill and I was pleasantly surprised. I haven't tried the one mile circular walk in the nearby woods yet but I have heard that it is rather nice. That will have to be a trip for another day.

We are the village green appreciation society....Bradley Stoke, that is...

2011-06-18T12:29:00.002+01:00

Over recent weeks I have had plenty of ideas for blog posts but in all honesty with wedding preparations, work, church and preparing for a house move I haven't had a huge amount of spare time to write. However, this is blog catch up time for me and it has been incredible to watch the daily viewing figures of my blog massively increase. Thank you for taking the time to read my occasional ramblings from as far afield as the USA, India, Australia, Iran and Slovenia amongst others, as well as from my other fellow Cardiff City supporters in the U.K too!

On my birthday a few weeks ago my lovely lady and my parents enjoyed watching a cricket game at Bradley Stoke. It has been many years since I have watched the game at any level both televised or in person. The last game I think I was at was when Glamorgan faced Oxford University in a friendly game at The Parks in Oxford. In much the way I don't remember much about my first football game, the only thing I remember from that day was being with my parents and also seeing Glamorgan player Tony Cottey with a frizzy perm and a white shell suit on. It was the late 1980's in all fairness so his style was befitting of the era. The final score is long gone from the data banks of my memory unfortunately but Glamorgan probably won in the end....I hope....

Croeso i Gaerdydd, Mr Mackay!

2011-06-18T12:09:00.003+01:00

After all of the recent weeks of doom and gloom following our failure to get to the play off final, at last some positive news from Cardiff City Stadium. In one of my last posts I mentioned that manager Dave Jones' own position was under review and sadly for him the team's failure to get promoted ultimately cost him his job. Key players have also left this summer with Michael Chopra, Jay Bothroyd, Chris Burke and Adam Matthews having moved on leaving the remaining squad short on numbers. In the last 48 hours next seasons opening fixtures see City travelling to newly relegated West Ham United on the opening day of the season, closely followed by another away trip and a first visit to the Kassam Stadium to face Oxford United in the Carling Cup! I chuckled at the latter fixture as when I grew up in nearby Eynsham I was the only Cardiff fan in the village! In the years since Oxford have slumped to the depths of the Conference and have only now begun to climb their way back up the Football League. Cardiff meanwhile have become one of the leading clubs in the Championship and welcomed new manager Malky Mackay to CCS yesterday. His appointment has polarised opinion amongst Cardiff fans but two key qualities he has are tactical knowledge and excellent motivational skills. He also has the unenviable task of rebuilding a team especially in midfield and attack, but I am confident he can do the job and that next May it will be us joining Swansea in the Premiership (assuming they survive their first season that is!)

An evening with a star...

2011-06-05T22:49:00.003+01:00

Bristol has many famous sons and a few years ago many of these people became immortalized in statue form. When Bristol Exploratory closed in the late 1990's it was replaced by a much larger facility in the harbourside known as @Bristol. In the plaza behind this centre are a series of statues of famous Bristolians including Archibald Leach from Horfield, or Cary Grant as most of you will know him. He's the bronzed fellow on the left incidentally, as I am not aware that he ever liked Thin Lizzy like I do.

On the other side of the harbourside is a statue of Giovanni Caboto (or John Cabot) Wikipedia says of him "John Cabot (known in Italian as Giovanni Caboto; c. 1450 – c. 1499) was an Italian navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of parts of North America is commonly held to have been the first European voyager to travel to the continent of North America since the Norse Vikings in the eleventh century. The official position of the Canadian and United Kingdom governments is that he landed on the island of Newfoundland." Many landmarks and places in the city are named after him such as Cabot Tower for example. The tower is due to reopen later this year after extensive restoration work to repair structural cracks in its brick work. Hopefully its restoration will be a fitting tribute to its namesake.

The joys of al fresco dining, Bristol style....

2011-06-05T22:26:00.002+01:00

Without wishing to sound like a pretentious restaurant critic, I must promote a fantastic little place in the Bristol Harbourside that my lovely lady and I visited recently. If you want great service, wonderful food and a fantastic location then "The Mud Dock" has it all. Today's picture is the view from the roof terrace of the harbourside including a very special guest, "The Balmoral" steamship which is currently being renovated there. My lovely lady and I have really fallen in love with this area. We have enjoyed some great evenings there of late and it is a truly wonderful place to go and relax together.

Haze over the harbourside.....

2011-05-22T22:20:00.003+01:00

Bristol harbourside is a very popular place for couples and needless to say my lovely lady and I enjoy walking around there very much. Friday evening was beautiful and watching the sunset over the River Avon was something special. During our time there we spotted a group of Swans (pictured right). Initially there were two of them but that swiftly became five and it was lovely to see so many of them in the heart of the city. A few months ago my lovely lady and I took a "city ferry" boat ride from the city centre to Hotwells passing the industrial museum and remnants of Bristol's bustling harbour in the form of old dockyard cranes. These days the ships call at Avonmouth and Portbury Docks and no longer sail up the river. However some of the best sights on this river trip are Isambard Kingdom Brunel's masterpiece, "SS Great Britain", a replica of John Cabot's ship, "The Matthew" and views of both Clifton and Mr Brunel's fantastic Clifton Suspension Bridge. One place that we are both hoping to revisit is Brandon Hill and in particular Cabot Tower, once its restoration is completed in the next couple of months.

Underneath the arches.....

2011-05-21T07:40:00.002+01:00

If you ask the average Bristolian where the arches are then they will be more than likely referring to the railway bridge in this picture. It is located on Cheltenham Road and the Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach line still crosses over this structure. A few years ago I travelled over this bridge when I took some guitar lessons in the nearby Redland area. In fact there are two stations either side of this bridge with Montpelier to the right of this view and Redland a short distance to the left.

The line itself has always held an air of neglect with weeds alongside the tracks, vandalised and graffiti covered station buildings and abandoned platforms from the time when the branch line was once double tracked throughout. However passenger usage continues to increase especially in the current climate where fuel price increases are causing people to review their daily travel arrangements. It also made me realise that if this once doomed line can be a success, then surely a reopened rail link to Portishead can produce similar benefits and results. Unfortunately reopening railways seems to be way down the agenda in this region behind car and bus travel despite the fact that people want the line to reopen. It all boils down to money and it is a shame that a leaf can't be taken out of the books of both the Scottish and Welsh Assemblies who have helped to reopen closed rail links with great success. In South Wales the Vale of Glamorgan line between Barry and Bridgend and the Ebbw Vale to Cardiff (and shortly Newport) links have proven to be massively successful and passenger usage has been far greater than expected. Bristol, the ball is now in your court.

I'm sitting by a postbox, on the corner of the street.....

2011-05-20T19:27:00.004+01:00

I find the smallest things interesting in life and on a mild May evening I am soaking up the atmosphere of Cheltenham and Gloucester Road in Bristol. This curious looking double postbox caught my attention whilst I was waiting to meet up with my lovely lady. I sat outside an internet cafe and was offered Jamaican food which they served at the cafe by a cheerful Jamaican lady. I politely declined the kind offer and my lovely lady and I sampled a wonderful Lamb Biryani at a new Lebanese restaurant nearby instead. I hadn't really tried food from other parts of the world until my early twenties and I have now eaten Mexican, Thai, Greek, Italian, Chinese, Indian, Polish, Singaporean, Vietnamese, Lebanese, Malaysian and French food over the years that have followed. I hope that during the rest of my life my lovely lady and I can travel the world and explore some of these places ourselves. I have only been overseas to France and there is a whole new world that my lovely lady and I wish to discover together. Malaysia will definitely be on the agenda though!

That sinking feeling....again....

2011-05-19T23:50:00.004+01:00

The phrase "nearly men" is often used to describe a collection of people or perhaps a team that promise to achieve great things but sadly fail at the final hurdle. This term has been used repeatedly over recent days about Cardiff City's dismal failure in the play off semi finals after losing 3-0 at home to Reading. Over previous years the team has failed after significant defeats at the end of each season. In 2009 it was the 6-0 defeat away to Preston North End, last season it was the play off final defeat at Wembley against Blackpool and this season it was the dreadful 3-0 home defeat to Middlesbrough. Tuesday's 3-0 home defeat in the second leg of the play off semi final to Reading could now spell a summer of upheaval for the club. Most of the speculation is surrounding the future of manager Dave Jones (pictured) and top scorer Jay Bothroyd. Early indications are that both men may leave but on the positive front our Malaysian investors seem happy to continue rebuilding the club and pushing it forward. Maybe its time for a change of manager, but right now I will happily not think about the game until pre season starts in July.

Tales from the river bank.....

2011-05-15T00:08:00.004+01:00

Despite the fact that I am not a strong swimmer and that I also have a phobia of going under water, I love being near rivers or the sea. I find it very relaxing sitting and looking at a lake, river or the sea. Part of this is probably due to the fact that I visited the local seaside towns of Penarth and Barry when I was a small child living in Cardiff. We also enjoyed many lovely family holidays near the coast too which I am also thankful for. One of my favourite places is the Swinford toll bridge and lock near my adopted home village of Eynsham (pictured right). I took my lovely lady for a visit down there last year and we sat on a bench watching the riverboats passing along the River Thames and through the lock itself. It is a very peaceful location and when I was younger I used to sit and read books during university breaks whilst sitting on the same bench. Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard", Douglas Adams "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" and "The War Of The Worlds" by H.G. Wells were amongst the many books I read there. My second favourite location is Penarth Pier near Cardiff (pictured bottom left) Seaside piers have always fascinated me I suppose mainly because they have a uniqueness of their own. Sadly many have been demolished and some of the remaining ones are now closed to the public. Some have become derelict such as Weston Birnbeck Pier amongst others. Penarth pier has always remained well looked after thanks to the regular sailings of The Balmoral from the pier which have provided a great source of revenue for it. I love the unspoilt nature of Penarth seafront and the tranquility of the pier. Both Swinford lock and Penarth will always hold a special place in my heart as they are my peaceful places.

Fancy seeing you here!.....

2011-05-14T23:53:00.003+01:00

It is amazing how the appearance of a ship or a steam train can cause people to stop what they are doing and take notice. I have recently discovered a nice quiet spot on the other side of Portishead which is known as the seafront, although in all fairness it is more of a river bank for the adjacent River Severn. One of those "stop" moments came unexpectedly on Tuesday lunch time when the soon to be decommissioned Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Gloucester, sailed by after a short stop at the nearby Royal Portbury Docks. It was a strange moment as myself and a few other passers by all started taking pictures like a load of crazed Japanese tourists on our camera phones. Sadly this fuzzy effort was the best one I could come up with.

It's 1991 all over again on BBC4!.......

2011-05-04T23:56:00.004+01:00

A lot is made of music from certain periods of history. For example at most discos or at gigs played by covers bands material from the 1960's and 1980's tends to feature highly. However one year that I am currently reliving thanks to BBC4 tonight is the unlikely year of 1991. This was the year that saw bands like Blur (pictured above), The Stone Roses and The Happy Mondays begin to emerge and dance music by the likes of The Prodigy and The Shamen was beginning to dominate the charts. One of the albums of the year was "Screamadelica" by Primal Scream which coined the classic tracks "Come Together", "Movin' On Up" and "Loaded". Prior to this current compilation programme I watched a programme that focused on the making of this album. It was one of the first albums to have crossover appeal between the rock world and the dance music of the thriving club and rave scene of the time. In the present day Primal Scream are touring and playing the album in its entirety to celebrate its 20th anniversary. "Screamadelica" was undoubtedly one of the albums of the 90's and it still sounds fresh now in much the same way that "The Stone Roses" album or "Nevermind" by Nirvana. The programme has now made my night by playing "Unfamiliar" by the much missed Oxford band, Ride. Ride were a huge influence on me when I began to get involved in bands at 14 years of age at school. I still listen to Ride, Catherine Wheel, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Swervedriver from time to time now in order to make sure that I keep my passion for music alive. These bands made me realise that I could play guitar and sing too and so 20 years later I still wish to say a big thank you to these bands for inspiring me at the beginning of my musical journey.

Expanding my linguistic horizons.....

2011-05-04T23:45:00.003+01:00

When I was at school depending on which GCSE options you chose, one of the core subjects was a foreign language. My choices were either German or French and I chose to study the latter.

In my younger years my inability to balance different subjects at the same time certainly accounted for my D grade in the end. Despite my academic shortcomings back then, I have now started learning basic phrases in Italian, German, Spanish, French and also thanks to my lovely lady some Malay. I have always had a desire to study languages and one thing I have now that I didn't have as a teenager is the self confidence and belief in my own ability to absorb and retain what I have learnt. One of my ambitions is to be able to speak all of these languages to an excellent standard, but there is one language above all that I would love to be able to speak. That language is Welsh and if I could learn to speak my "mother tongue" fluently then I would be very happy indeed.

Severn days revisited....

2011-05-02T22:22:00.003+01:00

After discovering the derelict delights of Severn Beach yesterday, my lovely lady and I decided to travel along the Severn estuary between Aust and Portishead. The bank holiday weather was superb again and the driving conditions were ideal. Indeed it was the first time I had been remotely near the original Severn Crossing for many years, as the Second Severn Crossing is a much more direct route into Wales.

Between Aust and Avonmouth there were occasional glimpses of the river but today's viewpoint was the hillside by "The Whistle Inn" near Portishead. On a beautiful day it is the perfect place to view the River Severn and the coastline of South Wales. The horizon was very clear to the point that I could identify a few of the local landmarks in Newport! I am glad that I made a wrong turn and ended up in this spot too as I hadn't planned to drive on this road. It was the perfect end to a lovely bank holiday weekend.

Oh no, not again!

2011-05-02T22:00:00.004+01:00

Being a City fan is certainly eventful and crushing disappointment is a usual and familiar outcome. Tonight's abject 3-0 home defeat to Middlesbrough coupled with Norwich City's 1-0 win away at Portsmouth means that it is Norwich who have clinched the second automatic promotion place and not us. From what has been written by supporters and pundits alike tonight's 'no show' was reminiscent of a long list of City failures over the years. Indeed one comment that has been made is that it was like watching the 3-0 defeat at home to Ipswich in the last game at Ninian Park. I left Ninian for the final time that day wistfully wondering if the City would ever make it to the Premier League and after this defeat knowing that promotion can only be achieved through the play offs has filled me with a football related dread. As the bowl of petunias commented as it fell to earth in "The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" (pictured), "oh no, not again!"

A big day for 'the City' and recognition for the "silver fox"....

2011-05-02T09:34:00.002+01:00

Since his arrival from Aberdeen in 2006, Kevin McNaughton (pictured above) has gone on to become one of the best players at Cardiff City in my opinion. Last weekend he was named Cardiff City Supporters Club player of the year and this accolade is thoroughly deserved. Whilst our attacking players such as Craig Bellamy, Michael Chopra and Jay Bothroyd have made more headlines, "the silver fox" has done a sterling job in both the full back and central defensive positions this season. "Super Kev" is most definitely a City legend.

Today could decide whether Cardiff City will remain in the hunt for 2nd position and automatic promotion, or whether they will have to battle it out in the play offs again. City face Middlesbrough at CCS at 17.15, whilst 2nd placed Norwich travel to Fratton Park to face Portsmouth later the same evening. I am confident Cardiff can win and will be hoping for a rare slip up from Norwich, so in the words of Ali Yaseen "support the boys on the park and make some noise!"

From the windy banks of the Severn...

2011-05-01T23:03:00.002+01:00

The one thing that strikes me about Bristol and the surrounding area is that you are never that far away from anything. Tonight my lovely lady and I discovered Severn Beach, which nowadays is a sleepy coastal village. I hadn't realised how close it is to the Second Severn Crossing, which I have regularly crossed over the years going to and fro from Cardiff. The coastal defences and footpath give an excellent vantage point of the river, Portishead and the docks at Avonmouth, as well as the South Wales coastline and the cities of Newport and Cardiff. Up until the 1950's Severn Beach was a popular seaside resort for Bristolians, but the advent of cheaper foreign travel in the 1960's to more exotic locations saw its tourist appeal decline. It has the feel of a place that has seen better days but at the same time it is also pleasantly peaceful and quiet. Now that we have found it we will probably go there again as we saw other couples walking the coastal path too. Not bad for a new discovery, eh?

Can 'the City' make history?

2011-04-27T23:09:00.003+01:00

At the end of the 1959/60 season Cardiff City finished in 2nd place in the Second Division and were promoted to the First Division. The squad (pictured left) was the last Cardiff City squad to play at the highest level and since 1962 when they were relegated, City have not played at the highest level of the Football League since. Between 1968 and 1971 City had a successful side that was amongst the best in the Second Division and which also enjoyed some exciting cup runs in the European Cup Winners Cup. However, despite showing great promise the team narrowly missed out on promotion each season.

Between 1972 and 2000 the club went into a period of terminal decline. This period was peppered with the occasional promotions in 1976, 1983, 1988, 1993 and 1999. There were also Welsh Cup final successes in 1976, 1988 and 1993, but also seasons of struggle in the lower divisions and the embarrassment of FA Cup defeats to the likes of Hayes, Bath City, Weymouth and Enfield. Whenever the club got promoted, key players were more often than not sold to balance the books and then relegation usually followed shortly afterwards. The arrival of the controversial ex-Wimbledon chairman Sam Hammam in 2000 revitalised the clubs fortunes with two promotions in three years and a return to the Championship (or old second division) for the first time in 18 years. However this success came at a price with the club racking up huge debts and nearly going under. Hammam went from being a hero to a zero and along with his successor Peter Ridsdale is now viewed by some City fans with a great deal of contempt. During this time the club also transitioned from Ninian Park to the brand new Cardiff City Stadium in 2009.

Why do I mention all of this? Well it is because the current Cardiff City side are on the verge of making their own history. With two games remaining City are 3rd in the table just a point behing Norwich City who currently occupy the 2nd automatic promotion spot. This is the closest any City side has got to reaching The Premiership or old First Division since 1971 and I would love this to be our year. It would be great to be the first Welsh side to reach the top division and would be a massive financial boost to the club. After near misses in 2009 and 2010 hopefully this will be a case of third time lucky.

Look what we found!...(Soothing images #34 & #35)....

2011-04-27T00:54:00.004+01:00

There are many beautiful and green areas in Bristol, but one of my favourites is the Bradley Stoke nature reserve. Despite being located in the heart of one of the most densely populated areas of the city, it is an oasis of peace and calm and a great place to view the local wildlife. During the walk that my lovely lady and I took we saw a crowd gathered around the lake edge. We decided to see what the centre of attention was and it turned out to be a Swan with its baby cygnet (pictured above). Apologies for the fuzzy nature of the picture but I was using the zoom setting on my camera phone so as not to intrude upon the Swan's personal space! We also found these sleepy ducks (pictured right) who somehow managed to sleep through the noise of some very vocal moorhens nearby. It was a lovely warm spring evening that felt more like a summer's evening and the bank holiday weather has certainly been kind to us here in the U.K. Hopefully the rest of this week will follow suit although many a pessimist has suggested that this is our summer! I genuinely hope it isn't and that this warm and dry weather will continue for quite a bit longer first.

Go for it lads!........

2011-04-25T12:52:00.002+01:00

As Ali Yasheen used to play at the end of our games at both Ninian Park and CCS, "It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings!" Today I will be rooting for my beloved Bluebirds to get a win away to Preston as mentioned in my previous blog post. I will also be hoping for Derby County to do us a favour at Carrow Road against Norwich City, the side who currently occupy 2nd position in the table. Since I started supporting Cardiff City at the tail end of the "Durban's disasters" 1985/86 season, I have happily seen the club move on from being a yo-yo club bouncing between the lower divisions to now being one of the leading clubs in The Championship. During this time the club has progressed in many ways despite battling debts that threatened the clubs very existence. The move across the road from Ninian Park to Cardiff City Stadium has gone very well, the spectre of hooliganism that has blighted our club has lessened and the club securing Family Club of the year recently shows just how far the club has come in the last 25 years. The image of the club has changed from being a bit of a laughing stock followed by mindless lunatics to now being a club that the city of Cardiff can be rightfully proud of. C'mon lads you can do it!

Good Friday and churches working together as they should be....

2011-04-25T11:57:00.005+01:00

I have come to appreciate West Oxfordshire more and more over the years since I moved out of the area in 1997. My former home village of Eynsham still retains its appeal and has been my family's home since 1981 after we moved from the busier surroundings of Cathays in Cardiff. One place that has always held a special place in my heart is Witney. The town has retained a lot of its original character and buildings including "The Buttercross" (pictured left). It used to be a place where farmers wives used to sell butter and eggs and the town itself has always been a market town. Up until the closure of the last blanket mill in 2002, Witney blankets were also produced in the town and this brand is well known around the world. My lovely lady and I also enjoyed a churches together Good Friday service in the Witney Market Square with my mum, which proved that churches can work together when minor differences are put aside. We also heard about the successful Street Pastors project which has been positively received on the streets of the town. It was also great to see some familiar faces from two of my old churches (High Street Methodist and Witney Community Church) too and I enjoyed being there on what turned out to be a lovely sunny Spring day too.

As I alluded to in previous posts, there are some great praise and worship musicians out there. Lincoln Brewster, Planet Shakers, Hillsong and The Parachute Band have released some great albums. I have been particularly encouraged by an album that I have by Tim Hughes (pictured right). "When Silence Falls" is a great album and it has been my companion on many a car journey over the years since I passed my driving test. Songs such as "Beautiful One" have really encouraged me during my personal worship and prayer times. My car is my secret place when I can sing and pray to God. In Psalm 91:1-2 it says, "Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him." Jesus himself told us to find a quiet private place to pray and for me my car is that place. I can pray and everyone thinks I am either on a hands free set or I'm singing to something on the radio! I hasten to add that my eyes are also open and my hands remain on the wheel at all times just in case you thought I drove round with my eyes closed and my hands folded!

Cardiff City will be aiming to lay the ghosts of 2009 and 2010 to rest today by getting a win at Preston North End this afternoon. The last two promotion campaigns have faltered at the end of each season and on both occasions heavy defeats away to Preston have helped destroy our promotion ambitions. Hopefully today will be 3rd time lucky, especially if Jon Parkin is passed fit to face his former club. "The Beast" as we was affectionately known during his time at Preston was the architect of our destruction on both occasions and hopefully he can play his part in helping the City instead. C'mon City!