Costa Avventuriero

With the heading 'Costa' those who know me would expect that I am about to write a few paragraphs on the high street coffee brand. Alas my friends, nothing could be further from my thoughts at this dreadful time.

With the Costa Allegra now under tow following a fire and loss of power in the Indian Ocean, we should all start wondering what on earth is going on with the cruise line industry and the further inevitable and damaging fallout for this type of holiday.

This catastrophe has occurred only one month and a bit after the sinking of the Costa Concordia with the loss of 25 lives. Some can claim run aground as one commentator recently did, but in my world on its side, holed and people dead equals a sinking. Worse still most of us recognise that that bad news sort of comes in threes. The ‘sods law’ of events suggests that a third happening will happen soon. It is inevitable, not necessarily for Costa, but somewhere involving a cruise liner. To be quite blunt, this second event so soon after the first one, suggests that sailing on the high seas (or the low seas close to land for that matter) has become a risky business for the holiday of a lifetime tribe. Of which I am one.

I believe that the British ship the Britannic sank not so long after her sister ship the Titanic and that there may have been a third liner. If not a third, then maybe the Titanic and the Britannic belonged to the then Olympic class of ships. The point being that the ‘3’ thing is an historical happening. It is not something new, and no one should be surprised when the third ship runs aground, sinks, blazes away, or otherwise meets its doom.

This storyboard has clearly demonstrated the urgent need for further regulation and safeguards in the maritime industry especially that involving tourism and the high volume transportation of fee paying guests. I am at a loss why there is no back-up system to restore power, and how the circumstances could have been allowed to occur that could disable all systems as a result of a fire. With 32 years experience in the fire industry, and a First Class Fire Engineering and Management Degree to boot, it beggars believe that ship design could be so poor. What really concerns me however is that I suspect that the fundamental flaws are not restricted to the Costa brand and could be replicated far and wide. It’s just that Costa is now taking the big hits whereas others may be sailing on the theme of; ‘but for the grace of god go I’. That’s not a case of trying to paint everyone with the same brush, but rather flagging up to the powers that be, that an urgent review of maritime safety is now needed to ensure that there is not an avoidable colossal loss of life.

Life safety regulations in the United Kingdom have all too often been a stable door reaction to the horse that has bolted. On this occasion there is opportunity to step up to the mark before the big event. That’s not belittling the loss of 25 lives, but the worry about the loss of 4,000 lives when their deaths could have been foreseen and prevented.

If the cruise line Costa brand survives; then long term maybe they could consider naming a future ship the Costa ‘Avventuriero’ as nothing seems to be straightforward for those that have recently booked a cruise with this particular company. In the short term maybe Costa need to undertake a significant review of its products and delivery and thereby restore customer confidence. For all those glowing in the sidelines and thanking that it’s not their fleet; the same review of products and delivery is also urgently needed. In all cases it must not be a back patting exercise and the reviews need to be independent so that the painful observations are made and the painful questions are asked.

Model Making

Not all Cemeteries are a bad thing. I like making models from waste materials and the like.

This model is a gift to someone who made me smile when he mentioned that his daughter chatted to him at a crucial moment during a task and I thought that it was lovely that he let the task slip away and instead spent the time responding to his daughter.

You see; nothing is as important as family and that’s a fact. There are more photographs of this model in the modelling section tab at the top of this Blog. Click on the tab and then scroll down to see the images.

The Gift

Well here is a BIG thank you to the lovely AUNTY Janet and the equally lovely AUNTY Eileen back in South Wales. Because of their kindness I have now bought myself Winsor & Newton Artists quality Chinese white, Quinacridone Magenta, and Cadmium Lemon with a Derwent Classic 56 page 165gsm acid free water colour book on order. The new and much needed acquisitions bulge my Winsor & Newton Artist’s water colour set to breaking point. I mean there is no more space left in the tin.

Thank goodness for the lovely Brian and Madeleine in the Art Shop on Pier Street Aberystwyth for the advice that they gave me and their generosity in handing me a Winsor & Newton Artists’ Water Colour hand painted colour chart. I have sort of spread bet my colours across the available range. It would be nice to have them all, but that’s not going to happen with the pension. But what I do have is a fair representation of the range of colours and I can now crack on with the 28th of the illustrations that I am currently producing for simple enjoyment.

The ‘Chinese white’ was an essential requirement for the three illustrations as each one involves white areas or depicting white lettering. Now I have to save up some dosh for a couple of the brilliant ‘JP Perkins’ water colour brushes. Pure sable and pure bliss to use, but mine alas are wearing away. All in all this has been a great month, physically and more importantly mentally. Maybe the settling down is due to a stress free period and the relaxation a few hours of painting each day brings. For these reasons the new paints and the paper are extremely well received.

Better still, it’s not a bad result at all for a month when I'm broke :-)

Exercise

Well today was the day of days. It turned out to be a compendium of physical and mental exercise. 52 lengths in the pool followed by a 10 minute sauna. Then the library for some ancestry research followed by a good read in a nice large but quiet room. Followed by pancake practice (nope not the mixing and the tossing, just the eating) and then chess club this evening.

Which in itself is not that remarkable, except that I haven't been to chess club for 14 years since I suffered the first of my numerous nervous breakdowns. I lost all of the games, but to be quite blunt, I couldn't care less. You see, I played and enjoyed and part of the enjoyment was about going along to play. The only thing wrong; there wasn't a cup of coffee in sight. Full, spilled or otherwise, nope, zero, nothing. Now I wonder if Costa would let a chess club meet there? 1.e4 e5, 2.f4 fun, oh Happy Days :-)

The triple three lady and the spreading coffee

The only thing that I have that can match the four pencils and the four fingers of the last few Blogs; is the four unintentional extra lengths in the pool this morning. Gosh it was cram packed in there, and yet again a fool tried to swim backstroke. Unreal I know, but there you have it. Twenty five people in the water and all swimming lengths and one little lady swim’s without being able to see where she is going and can’t manage a straight line. Phew, it’s enough to wind you up. But then again I am a bit of a cool customer when it comes to problems.

If you don’t believe me, then track down and ask the ‘triple three lady’ from Costa. A lovely thing from North Wales who like me has three daughters. So that’s two of the number 3 sequences. The third number ‘3’ being the number of sugars that she brought me when she bought me the coffee that she insisted on buying. Now don’t get me wrong, I like a nice looking pleasant woman, and I like my coffee, and I also like free coffee. So the unnecessary sugar is just a story filler that fits in with the other two three’s if you get my drift.

Anyway, there I was engrossed in the latest of my ‘three on a go at any one time’ reads (two about Passchendaele in the Great War and one about the official history of MI5). Oops, there’s another ‘3’ then, so it’s four three and not three three’s if you look closely enough. The 300 odd pages one was balancing partly on the edge of the table and resting on my reading glasses case. When the vision approached me and asked if she could sit down. I mean, what is a hot blooded man going to say. “No lady that seat is taken, and while you are at it, please leave me alone to read another 30 pages of this historical tome with the Germanic slant”. Nope, not on your Nelly. The book was closed as quick as you could say “Jumping Jack Flash”, or in this case, "Yes, please do”.

This of course makes a nice story but doesn’t necessarily link into my temperament comments at the start of this Blog entry. No, there must be more say you. Well of course you are right. There were no flaying fingers in sight, she sat calmly and did not practice the backstroke, but alas she did hit the ‘sweet spot’. Gosh, I was super impressed and when the lovely lady from the North made a lasting impression on me. There is no getting away from it, offspring co-incidences aside, we are certainly kindred spirits. We share a liking for the corner and a liking for a glass of water with the coffee. Unfortunately as her hand moved eloquently across the table while holding the water, the glass, so gingerly, touched the glass containing her hot drink. Whoosh, and there was a total disintegration of the second static vessel with shards of glass swimming in a volume of coffee. Some of the drink on my new book, some inside my glasses case and on the lenses of my designer reading glasses, a lot on my trousers and shoes. But not a blink of an eye or a harsh word from me. As the eternal gentleman I played down the situation and tried my best to put her at ease. I probably didn’t do as well as I thought as within a few minutes of buying me a drink, she was off on her way.

The second lady from the north to make a lasting impression on me, the other was back in Africa.

Mr Remington and the Flying Fingers

With the gang back and the car broke it has been a weekend without exercise and we all know the importance of physical exercise to aid mental health. So quite late at night; I decided that I would get up at 0715 hours the next morning and pop along to the swimming pool. This would have been OK if I had thought about it early enough to get my stuff ready and have a shave the night before. But alas the witching hour came and went before the thought of swimming had occurred. So there I was early in the morning fumbling round the room looking for clothes and my long lost swimming trunks and towel and with every movement making noises that were likely to disturb the grandchildren there was no way that I could fit in a shave.

Fitting in things is something I was not thinking of when I arrived at the pool. Indeed, I should have been thinking that way, because as I stepped through the door from the changing room to poolside; I had to rapidly think of ways of fitting myself into a lane. I mean, how on earth do so many people get up so early and only do so on the day that I need a swim? Luckily I caught a break and as I popped into the water, someone the other end of the lane next to the ladder, popped out. This was pretty cool for me as I was now tucked in against the wall and could safely swim up and down or 'trawl' as I call it. Now I know that it was busy, but why did everyone want to swim with and against me when there was a perfectly good lane next door? “Mr Popular or what”, thought I as the first ten and then twenty lengths were done.

I had a few brushes with the other swimmers, there was the chap who just avoided me, the one who swam at me, and the one who swam in front of me until my front crawl touched his ankle. I mean, come on folks, I am in the inside lane tight against the wall. LEAVE ME ALONE! But want I don’t get is the lady doing the backstroke in a crowded pool. Yes, you may think that you move in perfect harmony with tight arms neatly oscillating. When in fact, what actually faced others in the pool was the dance of the flaying hands and flying fingers. As tight as I was to the wall, the inconsiderate act struck me across my face and down my right cheek but thankfully I had my swimming goggles on and my eyes were safe. Do backstroke by all means, but start doing the lottery as well, and go and buy yourself a private pool. Or swim a stroke that includes looking ahead, so that you can swim straight and not strike others.

Smarting from my physical assault, I was aware of my unshaven look. Not a cool look, like those male models have who wear designer clothes. No this is the over 50 in need of a shave look. It then occurred to me that my trusty Remington shaver was in a pouch inside my swimming bag. Now this was a long shot as the thing had last been charged up some two and a half years ago. Even as I unzipped the pouch I was thinking shall I shan’t I. Unbelievably it sprung into life. The light may have been RED but the blades whirred. I even shaved left and right in case the thing died early, but I should have had a bit more confidence as the Remington brought about a close shave. This of course was a nice end to a session that had included the ‘flaying hands’ of the inconsiderate. Four pens from the previous Blog entry, and four fingers with this one, so what on earth would happen next?

Mythical Dragons

I have just accidentally found a particularly unusual propelling pencil that was made for/by Wyvern in the 1940's. It's very desirable for me and something that I want to add to my collection. I then go and stumble on four more identical writing instruments over the next two days. It's sort of London Buses isn't it? None for ages and then a load turn up. My chances of owning one? Probably the same as my chances of winning the Euro Lottery.

Crazy Icicles

As forecast it was bitterly cold the other morning. The car should have taken ages to defrost but for some strange reason as cold as it was, there was no deep freeze. But the ground was frozen and the gauge showed -4 degrees at the 0730 pre-swim warm up. With this in mind I have to ask myself why the crazy young driver was overtaking a van while driving towards me on the main road running through the housing estate of Waunfawr? What a fool, I thought to myself as I applied my brakes carefully. Now careful is my middle name, which is a good job, because at -4 degrees you have to be careful. Once you slide it’s usually the other person that you kill.

Although the -4 degrees at 0730 didn’t come as a surprise, the -2 degrees post swim drive home was a big surprise. But not as big as a surprise as the idiots who were walking in the road instead of on the pavement opposite. I mean, it’s not as if the road had been gritted or that the pavement was really icy. I had to pause and think; “does cold weather bring out the silliness in people?” What I should have considered was “does the cold weather also make a fool aggressive?”

I popped out of a junction and with the road clear to the right hand side and took up a central position ready to pop into a gap in the flow of traffic coming from the left. But the next youngster of the day who had moved fast from the junction on the right, now started hitting their car horn and making aggressive gestures at me. Now why on earth would you do that?

Yes, I know that you life is important and that you want to get to where you are going because if you don’t make it in the next thirty seconds then you will die, but hey ho missy, just let the guy turn his car without the need for aggression. No, please save the nastiness for when you are at home with your family and partner. Because in my world, aggressive drivers, are simply aggressive people. Nasty when driving; nasty in life.

I almost immediately move off with the nasty young girl, well I think that it was a girl, having been held up by all of five seconds and still barbing. Her delay was brought about due to her speed, and her aggression was brought about for her desire for more speed. I wonder if she is an uninsured driver? Fools come as no surprise and aggressive nasty little people seem to be a thing brought about by today’s society. However the continual cold weather throughout that day came as a big surprise.

It all began with the -4 degrees that led to foolishness, then the -2 degrees and the nastiness and at the end of the day it was still only 0 degree. Although by then I had enjoyed separately a chat with five friends and a lovely coffee in Costa. So was it a day of ‘crazy icicles’ and is there a correlation between temperature and temper? I don’t really know if there is a correlation, but I do hope that a lot of people take a hot water bottle to be bed with them tonight and start to warm up. Oh, and I hope that the 0740 fool is caught and given a few good points before someone is hurt or killed, and that the 0900 aggressor can’t start her car tomorrow or the rest of the week, oh and next week as well. Now that would be justice, especially if we can also get those idiots to walk on the pavement.

The Godfather

My eldest will enjoy reading this Blog entry. It’s about the joy of electronic information and the catch up opportunities afforded by the Web. Her Godfather got in touch via that well known Social Network site yesterday. Now that was a shock as it must be nigh on twenty years since I last spoke to the Godfather. Well it must be twenty years as I had my first work related mental health episode in 1998 and that’s fourteen years ago.

The thing is I can’t pin down the exact date as I remember meeting up for a beer and a meal and cannot imagine that I would have travelled all the way from the coast for that. No, that get together must have been when we were living in the valleys. It would have still been a jaunt with a thirty six mile round trip, but not as onerous as from where we now live. If it was ‘from the Valleys’; then that dates the catch up at about twenty four years ago. I did try and meet again as I remember the impact that the row of wheelie bins had on me in the street when I called by and how nicely the table was laid when I peeked through the window in the absence of an answer.

The friendship at the time must have been good, as I’m not the type of chap who would pick any old person as a Godfather. I have always seen the duties as quite important. I try to keep in touch with my Goddaughter; and from time to time send a small gift for her daughter. My Goddaughter has a special place in my heart, and I suppose that this is one of those things that can sometimes fall by the wayside when people move away. Our lives are busy and time passes by so quickly. It’s not wholly our fault but we begin to neglect our responsibilities. I certainly neglected mine.

The strange thing is though, that although we are busy we find time online. At a time when there is so much going on, we somehow manage to interact more often and more remotely due to the astonishing advancement of computer systems. We now seem to be better informed. Most of us know what is going on, and what is happening to whom in ‘our village’. That being a social interaction of let’s say one hundred friends and family. Knowledge exchange, sometimes in small sound-bites is one of the big things about Social Networking. The interesting thing is though, that Electronic Social Network systems can have a duality of effect; they can lead to ‘dysfunctionality’ whereby people spend too much time on line and acquire a glut of almost false friends, in many ways like some form of trophy hunting, while paradoxically they can bring people back together. The Godfather still plays Chess whereas I don’t. Maybe if we ever move back to South Wales I can settle down with a beer or a glass of wine and play a game. Better still, maybe if Jeffers visits the Principality I can arrange an international. It could be billed; ‘the Godfather versus the African’, two friends who are Continents apart. But due to Social Networking I can now contact either at any time.

Deed Done

So I done the deed and ventured out in the cold weather all the way from the village and into town. "Why on earth did you do that", I hear you ask.

Well, because some tea-leaf has I believe taken my swimming goggles. Now; I suspect stolen rather than lost as there weren't many places to look. Plus of course I have asked twice at the venue in case they have been handed in. Mind you I met someone in town this afternoon who said that I should ask a third time. They advocate that I should ask yet again; just in case someone innocently took them home believing them to be theirs and then realise the mistake after the weekend.

Nevertheless, I had to buy another pair for the morning. No, option really you see. Because without the goggles it is a neck hurting 20 lengths, and with them it is 32 to 36 lengths and no strain. Mind you, just in case the person who found them does hand them in, I bought blue and not black. Well, it would be pointless having two pairs of black swimming goggles wouldn't it?

Coffee Making Tip of the Day

Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (15) Of course the coffee machine isn’t just for coffee. Wifey has started enjoying her almost daily hot chocolate: Fresh water, when ready purge steamer using usual small china or heat resistant jug. Discard old water and run hot water through coffee machine without coffee holder and on into pre-warmed jug. Transfer this water to tall coffee/chocolate drinking glass. Put two coffee measurer of drinking chocolate powder into now empty jug. Run small amount of hot water through system into jug. Use a small spoon and mix the hot water and drinking chocolate powder to a paste. Top up the mixed paste in the small jug with hot water to desired amount and strength. Discard warming water from chocolate/coffee glass, and pour drinking chocolate content from the jug into the glass. Steam the mil and froth it up. Use clean coffee measurer to ‘spoon’ milk onto the drinking chocolate so that there is milk marbling on the top. Take a clean knife and scoop small amount of drinking chocolate from tin, place over the drink, and tap the knife so that the chocolate powder sprinkles down onto the milk. Serve and enjoy.

Coffee Making Tip of the Day

Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (14) If you know me, then why not pop over to mine and enjoy a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Oh, and if you like yours brewed as an Espresso, then please bring along an Espresso cup; because I like my coffee long and slender. Better still, why not bring along your favourite blend for us to try out? At the moment mine is ‘Panama Boquete’. But then again not that long ago I was just as enthusiastic about ‘Breakfast Blend’. CAMRA eat your heart out, I can see a range of coffee being purchased, savoured, and sampled as lovingly as a good beer any day of the week. Mmmm, warm beer, now that’s a thought.

Coffee Making Tip of the Day

Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (13) If you are meticulous with the cleaning as you go along, the only thing that you will be left to clean after enjoying your freshly brewed drink will be the coffee cup. Everything will be there nice and clean and waiting for the next time, but when that comes around; don’t forget to change the water! It may be my 13th ‘Coffee Making Tip of the Day’, but it won’t be unlucky for you! Clean fresh water, system purged, and raring to go. Mmmmm, lovely.

Sky Terry

I should be writing about the appalling John Terry Witch-hunt. That situation has been blown out of all proportions with far too many commentators having far too much to say. As usual in our modernised British Justice system, the condemnation will inevitably mean that the accused cannot receive a fair trial. I should be writing about ‘innocent until proven guilty’ as I too have faced more than one witch-hunt during my life. The second of which led directly to my second nervous breakdown. It would have been an enjoyable discourse or is that monologue? About the rights and wrongs of a society that allows its media to dictate the themes, and a media that seems to allow far too many to have a say rather than wait for the justice mechanism to revolve. Yes, it would have been a good-un; but instead I am writing about SKY News.

The folks at SKY News were right of course. As they predicated and as I mentioned earlier this week; it was -8 degree in Aberystwyth this morning. Ok, so it was the 0715 car pre-warm prior to swimming. But nevertheless it was also -8 degrees. In fact it was so cold that when I arrived at the pool, I noticed that my flip-flops were frozen along with my shower gel. Worse still I spotted that my swimming goggles were missing. They had obviously been left behind yesterday morning or had fallen out of my bag. Whatever the cause for their disappearance, we now know after asking two attendants and at the counter; that some tea-leaf has them in their possession. Quite sad really as Bloggers will recall that there was a period last year when I found three items on separate occasions and handed them in. These included an iPod, and a pair of swimming goggles. All of which were waiting to be reclaimed by what I suspect were their grateful owners.

You see folks; theft is theft whichever way you dress it up. Minor theft is still theft, and ‘finders keepers – losers weepers’ is also theft. If you are reading this Blog and you have found my goggles, then please do the right thing and hand them in. Please don’t blame your partner to maintain what I suspect is your unblemished record. Please don’t blame the newspapers for not writing about your alleged crime. No. Just do the right thing and hand them in. Just say that you meant to hand them in, and there was no one at the counter. There won’t be a witch-hunt, unless your name is Terry. The decision not to needlessly hunt you down and make you mentally ill, is mainly taken because at -8 degrees in Aberystwyth, it is simply too blinking cold. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Coffee Making Tip of the Day

Having just wifey a hot chocolate using my new coffee machine, I thought that it would be a good idea to take some more time out from the painting and instead post Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (12) Stop the coffee machine when you have enough coffee in your cup and rather than pour the hot frothy milk from the jug into the coffee, instead ladle the milk into the cup on top of the coffee using the clean coffee measurer. This way you get a nice marbling on the top, some frothy taste, and an altogether nicer drink. Enjoy!

It's cold folks

As the weather bites; the sleepy hollow of Aberystwyth makes SKY News. You see folks the hills are all white and the temperature has plunged. It is -2 degrees today, but SKY has reported a forecast of -8 degrees for Aberystwyth this weekend. Now I know that this is no great shakes for my African friends in Canada. I mean for them, a daily temperature of -8 degrees would be positively warm. But here in Wales where the sheep’s coats are thin, this my friends is worrying news indeed.

I am well prepared with the heaters on in many of the rooms, including turning on the grand heater in the hallway. Now that doesn’t happen often because as a ‘pensioner’ money is tight and I’m not due a pay-rise for another three years. I have even ventured from the village and got in some much needed provisions. I now have in my cupboard; Perylene Maroon, Ultramarine Violet, and good old Winsor Blue (Red Shade). The hatches are battened down, and this old chap is going to plough on with the water colouring. There’s no getting away from it; painting and drawing helps mental health, so thank you ‘the cold wind from the East’. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.