It's Scarecow Time!

It seems to have become an annual competition in Maenaddwyn and Capel Coch in Anglesey. Scarecrows are springing up outside all sorts of properties. As we go this way from Penysarn to Llangefni it is a source of entertainment for us. I think it is an excellent thing that in a major recession people can take time off for such a fun thing. Last year I didn't take any photos, which is a pity because one scarecrow really stood out. He was created riding a bicycle with his arm out to signal a turn!

Only in a rural area such as Anglesey would this sort of thing happen. Just as Harvest is still seen as a local celebration, so we recognise our life in the countryside by having events like these. It is certainly one up on people who set up expensive lights outside their house each Christmas. The cost is less and the individual styles quite unique.

This year our summer really feels like summer and people are enjoying it. The sheep shearing is well under way, the hay bales are done and the whole countryside is bright and beautiful. It is almost five years since we moved to Anglesey in retirement and we have never regretted a single second! What a place to live!

Road Safety Issues

Since settling in Anglesey in September 2004 there have been a number of deaths on our local main road. Not long after we came a section of the A5025 had a revised speed limit of 50mph. Whether this has had an impact on the number of accidents and fatalities I am not aware. But what I do know is that altering the speed limit in particular danger ares will not solve the problem.

A young teenager from our village of Penysarn was killed within our first 12 months here. It is easy to see where it happened as flowers continually appear at the site of the accident. In another stretch a young woman of about 30 years met her maker on a stretch where there is a double dip preventing drivers seeing the entire road before them. Add to this the fact that it was the time of year when the sun was low in the sky and right before a driver going east and you can see how an accident would happen.

A year or so ago a woman was killed late at night when the driver of an HGV from Germany crossed the road and hit her head on. Now there is a bunch of lovely flowers at another site where a death occurred. During the Easter school holidays this year a school teacher was killed by a lorry coming in the opposite direction on the stretch between Cemaes and Bull Bay. Soon afterwards came another fatality when a car and motor cycle came to grief on the same road.

Local people are seeking a reduction in the speed limit. In almost all cases I am certain that drivers are taking chances on a road not designed to take fast traffic.

In my opinion what is need is a new road that has less areas where accidents will obviously happen. One stretch of the A5025, where the double dip exists, provides a second lane for vehicles climbing the hill. It is wrong to provide such a short overtaking lane on the approach to a sharp bend. On one occasion my wife reported being very close to a car coming up the hill overtaking a car in the inside lane. The oncoming driver was driving with one hand and shading his eyes with the other and had already run out of space in which to safely overtake and was driving through the hatched area! There is no legislation that will correct such driving. The answer is to redesign the road and make drivers keep back when the vehicle in front is slower moving. After all we all know what it is like to follow all the tractors that use this road. This means we are used to being held back and this is safer than providing a race track for fools.

We all moan about he activities of the Arrive Alive vans of the North Wales police but we have to realise that the A5025 is a dangerous road that encourages speeding motorists. A preliminary precaution to take would be to spend some of the revenue of the Arrive Alive vans on permanent speed cameras at key points so that fools will slow down, knowing they will be "on camera" otherwise.

If you are a visitor to Anglesey do watch out on our roads. Last weekend the Air Ambulance was called out to a crash on an unnamed country road that passes through Parc. So we have a number of dangerous roads to take account of. This island is very beautiful and can cause you to look around too much whilst driving. Take great care!

Long Range Weather Forecast

Recently I was told that a long range forecast had been published that said we can expect a long warm and dry summer. That has got to be good news, and heaven knows we need some in these troubled times. As I have said in an earlier blog, one of the features of the Isle of Anglesey is the huge number of gorse bushes everywhere. The gorse was what I remembered most about my first visit in the 1960s. But, according to some local people it is also a guide to the coming weather in the summer. There are two growths of gorse flowers. The first is in late winter to early spring. Then in mid April comes a second growth to supplement the first. This year the second growth is amazing. The gorse looks more plentiful as each bush has lots more flowers growing. I am also told that this is the sign the locals look for to look forward to a good summer.

As I write is is May Bank Holiday and many visitors have come to Anglesey for a short break. They find it in full bloom with gorse and love it. Apart from it being a beautiful place to visit, our visitors can choose from no less than seventeen beaches. Because we are an island we have more coastline to enjoy. We do have a certain reputation for being a windy place. But never despair because if the wind is blowing from the south west (the prevailing wind) you can go on a beach on our north east coast and not be blown to pieces. Whichever coast is receiving the wind we simply go to the opposite coast to enjoy it.

Should the recession cause many to stay at home this year I can recommend Anglesey as a place with everything for everybody. When I say this I exclude entertainment such as one finds in a resort like Blackpool. But for one who loves the simple life of sand and sea we have it in abundance. We have a complete coastal path running round the island and many can be seen walking it. If you like seeing ships you will find quite a number drop anchor off Anglesey's north east lea shore as they await the pilot for the final run into Liverpool port.

From Monday to Friday (9-5) you can even watch lots of pilots training to fly fast jets from RAF Valley. If you fancy a flight to Cardiff and back you can fly from Anglesey Airport (also known as RAF Valley). There are 2 flights each way - one early morning and the other late afternoon when the flight training is quieter.

If you should get stir crazy you can leave the island for either a visit to Snowdonia which is on our doorstep or a visit to Llandudno for shopaholics. we have it all here on the island but for the odd thing you miss about home it can be find not far away. What could be better? If you are a camping enthusiast we have lots of caravan and camping sites to choose from. So with a good summer in prospect come over to Anglesey but be sure to keep to the speed limit. The operators of the Arrive Alive vans are ever vigilant and love nothing better than to catch the unwary motorist doing 35mph in a built up area.

First Day of Spring

For the past few weeks there has been a single colour appearing all over the island - yellow. There are thousands of daffodils everywhere. They are not just in domestic gardens but have been planted in their hundreds at the roadside. The past week has been dry and bright with lots of sunshine. The sun has ensured that many daffodils have been brought to their glory. Drive along the A5025 through Brynrevail and you will see a wonderful display of daffodils at the roadside. They are worth looking out for each spring. I have no idea who planted them originally but they have done a good job.

Not only do we have the bright yellow daffodils but there is also the gorse. I first visited Anglesey in the 1960s and my abiding memory of the island then was the mass of yellow gorse found everywhere. There is something about the gorse each year that tells me spring and Easter will soon be with us. I think the shade of yellow is amazing and glorious like the yellow of the daffodils. But unlike the daffodils there is a hidden downside.

Handling the gorse is well nigh impossible. At any time of the year you can be attacked by gorse thorns. Unlike roses they are in their millions on each bush. You have nowhere on a branch that you can safely grasp. Should you have been pruning back this gorse it will attack you not only at the pruning stage but later when you least expect it. You find it as debris in the garden and usually you find it the hard way! Pick up some gorse by accident and you will shout! I cannot count the times I have inadvertently handled gorse from the previous season whilst clearing flower beds.

You see, we have a profusion of gorse growing over our garden wall. I have to confess it looks well right now but at some point I shall curse it! If you wear thick protective gloves you find it does not hurt but the gloves make dexterity almost impossible. I can cope pretty well with the rambling roses that hang over the wall but when it comes to the gorse I do not look forward to pruning it.

Having said all this the masses of small yellow flowers brighten up the garden in this period of early spring when so little is in flower. The photo above was taken the other day and is of the gorse growing over the wall at the rear of our bungalow. It speaks for itself!

What's the weather like?

For two days I have been reading about travel chaos all over the UK. Every region has had heavy snow - except us and parts of North Wales!

When we began house hunting in Anglesey we talked to one vendor who had photos kept of a heavy snow fall simply because it was a rare occasion. Our good news is that Anglesey does not suffer heavy snow as a rule. Having lived here for over four years we can confirm that on one occasion only have we seen any really measurable depth of snow. The photo above is a record of the day it fell! It stayed for three or four days and then went. Mind you, it fell only on our side of the island. We travelled over on several days to find that no snow had fallen in Llangefni and south of it. It was amazing, therefore, to discover the Llangefni library was closed because of snow. We were advised that the staff could not get in! Yet, we who live on the affected side of the island had reached Llangefni easily! The woman in charge lived on the unaffected coast but could not get in.

I am of the opinion that it just as well that snow is pretty much a stranger here because it does not take much to put off would be travellers who live here. Whenever there is rain on a market day one sees a denuded market community. Sometimes there is only the veg stall and the mobile butcher in residence at Llangefni on a cold wet market day.

It reminds me of a story told by the travel writer, Arthur Eperon, when he travelled from Piraeus to Aegina in the Saronic Gulf. It was breezy and there were flurries of snow on this particular early spring day. So all the ferries, large and small were cancelled for the day. Only the Flying Dolphin hydrofoils were operating. When he arrived in Aegina all the shops and stalls were closed and people were huddled indoors. When the weather improved out they came again. It was just a slight deterioration in the weather but was enough to bring trade to a halt!

Over the past 2 days I have heard of so many journeys not started because of snow. When I lived a few miles outside the town of Oldham I always made it into work. Coming home one evening the traffic was so congested by stuck vehicles that my normally 15 minutes journey took two and a half hours. But I got home in one piece! Later, when I lived farther out from Oldham in the village of Milnrow, I came home to find I could not drive the car up the close. After tea the snow had ceased so my neighbour and I went and helped each other to get our cars back to our houses. After that we challenged our neighbours to a game of Trivial Pursuit and a tot of whisky! It was a good evening, for sure.

Our southern friends expect the roads to be kept clear just for them. They do not think they should ever be inconvenienced. No wonder they have a reputation as complainers! The Mayor of London, good old Boris, has told them that this is not an excuse for a long skive. But many will not be heeding those words, I fear.

Troubled Times

In economic terms the future for Anglesey is not rosy. We have been seriously affected by the current economic downturn. There are few employers of significant size on the island.

A large employer is the Anglesey County Council. Whilst they work to promote Anglesey in commercial terms they appear not to be shedding any staff. However, The Welsh Audit Office have said they are not happy about the poor relationship between elected members and senior management. Having been a Local Government Officer for 28 years until retirement, I can tell you that this is unheard of in local government! How can the Council be at odds with those who direct their departments? Ye it appears to be the case at present.

Another large employer is scheduled to close in 2010. This is Wylfa Nuclear Power Station near Cemaes Bay. Whilst there are plans to replace this with the latest generation of nuclear power stations the task will take a number of years. I just hope that the decommissioning of the station will employ a similar number to the workforce decommissioning Trawfynydd Nuclear Power Station in Snowdonia. Linked to this is the problem of getting power at a special rate for Anglesey Aluminium Company who currently receive a private supply from Wylfa. The smelting company which uses about 12% of all electricity in Wales has declared it will close in September 2009 when its contract with Wylfa runs out as no power generator is prepared to provide electricity at an affordable price. I cannot imagine a situation during a period of economic stagnation where a company does not snatch the hand of such a major consumer. Are they just plain greedy?

In Holyhead a local electrical company is to close because production there cannot match that of another factory in the group. Stena Line have reduced the number of sailings of the Stena HSS, fast ferry sailing between Holyhead and Dublin. The number of passengers has fallen. Rehau, Amlwch based plastic company are experiencing hard times. On the economic front all is doom and gloom.

Yet it is true to say that Anglesey has never been a place for marvellous employment opportunities. Our population is 67,000 with many incoming English people supplying the business for local firms. Without us I wonder what the scene would be like. It is such a shame because the island is a lovely place with lovely people who welcome you so openly.

For the tourist we have a lot to offer. Of course, nowhere would you find a resort organised like Blackpool. We have a number of discreet attractions for everyone and accommodation to spare. I can say we have at least seventeen beaches with good access. If there is an on shore wind blowing you can drive across the island to one where the wind is off shore and the beach is sheltered. We have a beautiful pastoral scene with both arable and livestock farming carried on. the food you find here that is truly local food is second to none as the monthly local produce markets in Menai Bridge display.

But I remain optimistic about the future because you have to believe in better times. Without optimism life is pretty dire and depressing. I still say that Anglesey is a place that lives in my heart as warm and welcoming. No regrets about settling here - and no plans to ever leave!

Oriel Kyffin Williams

This image is of an original painting by Sir Kyffin Williams. Until his death on 1st September 2006 in an Anglesey nursing home he was the greatest Welsh landscape painter alive. Almost as soon as his death was announced there was a move to create a permanent gallery (Oriel in Welsh) in Anglesey for his works. Wales is justly proud of the artist but Anglesey loves him to pieces because he was born here. He lived in Llanfairpwll, the village whose longname is found on the station sign and other sites in the village.

Kyffin joined the 6th Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1937. He developed epilepsy four years later and was discharged with this advice, "As you are, in fact, abnormal, I think it would be a good idea if you took up art." This was to be the beginning of his life as a landscape artist and he first taught art at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973.

His work centres mainly on landscape and the Welsh landscape in particular. In 1968 he won a scholarship that enabled him to visit Patagonia to study and paint Welsh descendants. His contribution to art is wonderful and at last the people of Anglesey have been able to show off his work in a brand new gallery which is part of Oriel Ynys Mon, Llangefni.

Pauline and I were able to call in this afternoon and were very impressed by his work. In the new gallery we saw many wonderful paintings and felt it had been worth waiting for as we had seen the gallery rise from the ground on our Saturday visits to Llangefni library. Actually, the who building has been greatly improved to make it a fit place to see art. All departments are now very much improved. You can buy a large number of books there which specialise in Kyffin Williams' art and more besides.

I write this blog as simply a lover of what I think is great art and this man fits that description for me. Previously I had seen nothing of his work but today I became hooked on it. Some of the paintings are so thick with paint that you have to stand back a long way to see them in all their glory and what they are saying. Personally, I am pleased I went and I shall return many times to see it all again. If you are in Anglesey, do call in for the greatest free show on earth.