Beach and fish and chips

Lovely day! After I took Jennie to the hairdresser we went to the beach in the blazing sunshine and later met Rosie there. Had ice creams, met young lad who set up a stone skimming competition and then ate fish and chips on a bench, and felt guilty about it, whilst keeping an eye open for scavenging seagulls. Ended up watching Britain's Got Talent with Chris and Beti and shouting at the TV.
It is wonderful feeling as if you are on holiday when you are less than 2 miles from home. What a privilege.

English girls

When I was on the train yesterday I got chatting to a couple of lads from New York, aged about 22, who got on at Chester. They were students on their way from London, via an overnight stop in Northampton (yes, I did say Northampton) to Dublin via Holyhead. They said they would be flying home from Ireland but wished they were going back to England. When quizzed, they told me that they had met some lovely English girls and didn't want to leave them behind. Indeed, they went further and said that generally English girls are more attractive than American girls and put this down to Americans often wearing heavy cosmetics/makeup. After some discussion it was decided that English girls tend to be less self conscious. Now, what would they have said about Welsh girls, I wonder? If any American girls read this, do you think it is fair?
At some point in the conversation I said that there is one European capital city which beats London, and that is Berlin. This provoked another young man to join the conversation saying he was from Berlin and also a student. What a coincidence. I think he was a bit surprised that the last time I was there was in about 1991, when most of the wall was still standing. However, the woman in the corner, promptly chipped in that she was a Londoner. That part of the conversation lasted from Chester to Prestatyn on the train.

Cardiff

I've just been in Cardiff for a few days and found myself staying in the same hotel as three north Wales colleagues, which enriched my evenings. We stayed in the Ibis Hotel (French chain), which was comfortable enough and we discovered a Thai restaurant, almost next door, which I will re-visit. The food was delicious.
I should also say that I am now Chair of the GwirVol (youth volunteering) partnership for Wales, to which I feel highly committed. We had a meeting on Wednesday and it is clear that there are many people who value this youth volunteering work highly. Good.

Facebook

I have recently become active on Facebook and am ambivalent about it. I like this blog, but I am just not quite sure about Facebook. There is something about it which makes me a little nervous and I am not sure quite why. Perhaps this blog is simply more within my control. I will reserve judgement for now.

Private blog - not yet

It seems that my comment about this becoming a private blog is provocative. If you have views, please express them attached to the last post. I will not introduce this for now at least.

Becoming a 'private' blog? Views please

Just a forewarning - I may make this blog 'private' soon, so that it can only be accessed by people who request access and to whom I then give permission. If you have a view on this, please leave a comment. It would mean you would have to log in rather than just access the blog directly. Would that bother you?

Busy weekend

Last weekend we booked a holiday for 2 weeks in Rhodes (dry and hot I trust); sent an email booking a pig roast (awaiting confirmation); entertained a friend, Julie, and her children to Sunday lunch (new season leg of lamb); met with folk in the eatery in Colwyn Bay (tea and yummy scones) and cleaned out the Eglu. This just leaves the overflowing gutters and blocked drain to deal with as a priority.
I guess this was a routine but constructive weekend.

First egg for Hepzibah Hen

All our hens are now laying and today was the first time we had three eggs. Well done girls! Long live Hermione Hen, Harriet Hen and Hepzibah Hen.

As an aside, I should mention that Hepzibah was named after a book I owned and read as a child, by Olwen Bowen, called, believe it or not, Hepzibah Hen. I think it is still around somewhere.

David Essex - All the Fun of the Fair

Rosie and I were back at Venue Cymru, Llandudno, last night for David Essex in the musical 'All the Fun of the Fair'. We sat next to someone from Sheffield who was attending her 57th performance of this show, having followed it around the UK. I suggest that this could be seen as obsessive. Also, it must have cost her around £1450, and that is just for the theatre tickets. On top of that would be travel, accommodation and food.
Each to their own.
I enjoyed the performance - but once is enough for me.

Fairy Falls, Trefriw

Yesterday was our monthly walk with friends and their children and we went to the woollen mill and then to Fairy Falls (left), and beyond, in Trefriw. Fortunately the rain held off and it was a cool enough day to enjoy the walk up the muddy paths to the top of the hill. We just fell short of Llyn Crafnant, which we will visit on another occasion.

The day was ended with a tasty meal at an Italian restaurant in Conwy - although we nearly couldn't get there as all roads into the town were being closed off.

Balanced Scorecards and Vagina Monologues

No, the Balanced Scorecard is not some form of betting slip, but a strategic planning and management system which is used by a wide range of organisations and was invented by Kaplan and Norton in the 1990s. WCVA is now introducing it as a way of ensuring that high level aims are translated consistently and effectively into actions by individuals throughout the organisation. From time to time, I will comment on progess here.
Having spent a 'line managers' day' looking at Balanced Scorecards at the community centre in the blink-and-you-miss-it mid Wales village of Carno, I then returned to Rhyl to link up with some WCVA staff and others for a Chinese meal and a performance of the Vagina Monologues at the local theatre. I was a bit late to the Chinese because the satnav (GPS) took me to the wrong one - like the time it guided me to the old Wal-Mart site in Redmond, Oregon, just to wind me up.
I was one of about, maybe, 10 men in a full auditorium and this meant the 'gents' loo at the interval was empty whilst the 'ladies' loo had a long line of women waiting. I suggested to some theatre staff that they should temporarily convert a 'gents' to a 'ladies' so it would take the pressure off, but to no avail. Anyway, the performance was a blend of hilarity and disturbing commenatary and was an evening well spent. The whole thing was focussed on women and the vagina - what more can I say?

Minister for Social Justice and Local Government

I attended the biannual 'third sector' meeting with the Welsh Minister for Social Justice and Local Government, Dr Brian Gibbons AM, yesterday. This was in Ty Howell, the old National Assembly for Wales building in Cardiff.
Not everyone turned up from the third sector, which was a little disappointing but we had a very constructive meeting anyway. We had a discussion about 'violence against women' in Wales, which goes way beyond the existing domestic violence focus of the Welsh Assembly Government. This now seems to have been acknowledged, so policies may broaden accordingly. Credit where it is due, they are listening and responding.
I do like Brian Gibbons, he is sincere and personable.

Department of Work and Pensions contract

I have spent much of the last few months writing a tender and negotiating with the Department of Work and Pensions over the possibility of WCVA running the volunteering programme, in Wales, for people who have been claiming Job Seekers Allowance for 6 months. The aim is to build job related skills and attitudes, amongst these unemployed people, by them taking up volunteering placements with voluntary and some public sector organisations. Naturally, they do not have to do this.
We got the contract.

Harriet Hen nearly chicken stew

Harriet Hen nearly ended up as our neighbours' chicken stew last night because she flew over our wall into their garden. Unfortunately, Kay had already told us she was scared of chickens, so this was anything but welcome. However, when I suggested I might put a wire mesh fence along the wall to heighten it to prevent this happening again, I though Mike (Kay's husband) was going to make a stew out of me as well as Harriet. Conundrum. I don't want the hens confined to quarters all the time, although the run is big enough. They need some freedom to roam at leisure, but not next door!
Maybe I should clip their wings...