The other way

One of the advantages - some say the only advantage - in a general election month is that everything else stops happening. The saturation coverage of elections manages to marginalise almost everything else that's still going on, and only the apposite intervention  of a volcano provides any relief from the otherwise wall-to-wall, excruciating monotony only merciless dissection of minutiae can provide.

So, in the true, boring-you-to death-about-the-election spirit, here're some interesting facts: the UK is one of only a few governments to use the first-past-the-post voting system, or 'Plurality' voting system.

 If more than two parties with substantial support contest a constituency, as is typical in Canada, India and the UK, a candidate does not have to get anything like 50 per cent of the votes to win, so a majority of votes are "lost".

Dividing a nation into bite-sized chunks for an election is itself a fraught business that invites other distortions, too. A party can win outright by being only marginally ahead of its competitors in most electoral divisions. In the UK general election in 2005, the ruling Labour party won 55 per cent of the seats on just 35 per cent of the total votes. If a party is slightly ahead in a bare majority of electoral divisions but a long way behind in others, they can win even if a competitor gets more votes overall - as happened most notoriously in recent history in the US presidential election of 2000, when George W. Bush narrowly defeated Al Gore.

The anomalies of a plurality voting system can be more subtle, though, as mathematician Donald Saari at the University of California, Irvine, showed. Suppose 15 people are asked to rank their liking for milk (M), beer (B), or wine (W). Six rank them M-W-B, five B-W-M, and four W-B-M. In a plurality system where only first preferences count, the outcome is simple: milk wins with 40 per cent of the vote, followed by beer, with wine trailing in last.

So do voters actually prefer milk? Not a bit of it. Nine voters prefer beer to milk, and nine prefer wine to milk - clear majorities in both cases. Meanwhile, 10 people prefer wine to beer. By pairing off all these preferences, we see the truly preferred order to be W-B-M - the exact reverse of what the voting system produced. In fact Saari showed that given a set of voter preferences you can design a system that produces any result you desire.

So there you have it.  All voting systems are notoriously flawed, doomed to failure and inevitably lead to the wrong party and candidates being elected.

But all this overlooks one simple fact: we don't need MPs at all.  The country functions perfectly well during their lengthy summer breaks, bank holidays and other times when the house isn't in session. That's because the executive minds the shop and generally follows established protocols. It's true MPs were needed years ago, because asking everyone's opinion on every issue was impossible. But a lot has changed, even in ten years. It's now technically achievable and thus perfectly feasible for everyone in the UK to vote when asked on a law.  The internet has made that possible.  That means anyone could put together a law they liked, submit via the internet to the public, who could then vote and pass it into law. 

Of course, you'd need some sort of organisational committee structure, but the members of that could be elected in the same way, and dismissed just as easily.

Wonder why our MPs like to keep things the way they are…

Hung by their lanyards

The question of a hung (or balanced) parliament came up on Any Questions last Friday, and predictably both the Labour and the Conservative panel member asserted that it would lead to unstable and economically disastrous coalition government. Here's a remarkably frank observation from a Danish friend: Obviously they would say that, but I suspect they actually believe it too. Do they never look at other countries? To the best of my knowledge, Denmark has not in my lifetime had anything other than coalition government - no party has had an overall majority in that time that I can recall. Yet I hardly think anyone would seriously suggest that Denmark is less prosperous or less well-governed than the UK. We've had very stable government for many, many years; our per capita GDP ($55,942) is the fifth highest in the world (after Luxembourg, Norway, Qatar and Switzerland). The Uk ($35,728) comes in 21st place. If Britain is so different, and if coalition really would be disastrous, what does that say about British politicians and their regard for the wishes of the electorate?

Cool, man

The Times today carries an article by Dominic Lawson, in which he attributes the 'climate of fear' engendered over any scientific issue as created by  those largely to blame––the tabloid newspapers, the means by which scientists who aspire to a high public profile can achieve notoriety (just so long as they are prepared to indulge in some unprofessional exaggeration).

There might be some truth in what he alleges, as we slide towards an ever more risk-free society, but he would do well to remember that when the government ignores the advice of its own scientists, which it is doing in the case of the drugs advisory council, then responsibility for the consequences in terms of society rests entirely with those who make the laws.

Wonder if any of the current band of politicos will have the courage to suggest legalisation of cannabis?

Sorry?

Ten reasons why Nick Clegg is Britain's Barack Obama

Revealed: the uncanny similarities in the lives and political DNA of Nick Hussein Clegg and Barack William Paul Obama

Is Nick Clegg the British Barack Obama? Photograph: Steve Caplin

"Clegg's ... against-the-odds message of change is energizing young voters and has the British press comparing him to President Obama."
Washington Post, 22 April 2010.
So what do Nick Clegg and Barack Obama have in common?

1. Both men have exotic middle names

Obama: Hussein
Clegg: William Paul

2. Both men had to defeat political giants to win party leadership

Obama: Hillary Clinton
Clegg: Chris Huhne

3. Both men grew up in a minor island overshadowed by major continent

Obama: Hawaii
Clegg: Britain

4. Both men troubled by smears and rumours

Obama: Secretly born in Kenya
Clegg: Secretly bought Ikea cake tin

5. Both men published inspirational works of literature

Obama: Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Clegg: Learning From Europe: Lessons in Education

6. Both men achieved notable 'firsts'

Obama: First African American president
Clegg: First party leader from Chalfont St Giles

7. Both men favour cutting-edge television drama

Obama: Likes The Wire
Clegg: Likes Morecambe and Wise

8. Both men admit to past dabbling with strong substances

Obama: "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it."
Clegg: "Peanut butter – I'm an addict! I will go to great lengths to find some if it is not actually readily available."

9. Both men are associated with prestigious accolades

Obama: Won 2009 Nobel peace prize
Clegg: Made video for 2008 British curry awards

10. Both men inspired by charismatic spiritual leaders

Obama: Rev Jeremiah Wright
Clegg: Paddy Ashdown

Taken from the Guardian unlimited, today.

Since 1945...

How the papers say

Another report, anyone?

The results of a doubtless extremely expensive and 'radical' survey into the sometimes parlous state of the North Wales coast are in and contain a number of truly astonishing suggestions, never before made.  These include

 - landscaping and screening off caravan parks to “reduce their visual impact”
- a new waterside experience and destination focused around Rhyl’s former funfair site at Ocean Beach and Foryd Harbour
- Colwyn Bay’s Eirias Park becoming a major focus for events
- A new focus of activity in Colwyn Bay around a regenerated Victoria Pier

These groundbreaking ideas, combined with the earth-shattering revelation that the bulk of tourists to the quaintly termed “non-aspirational” resorts along the Conwy and Denbighshire coastline were people with nostalgic childhood memories of the area, make us all realise why we pay consultants so much.  How anyone would have come up with these truly innovative ideas without this impressive survey escapes us completely.

But wait a minute;  did anyone read any of the local blogs? 

This survey cost a lot of money, will almost certainly not be translated into action, and apart from parroting what's been said locally for years misses crucial factors such as what makes resorts around the world so successful: novelty transport systems - trams, monorails, miniature trains; sandy beaches - Miami used have only stones, until they asked the US corps of engineers for ideas, who responded by creating a totally new, thickly sanded beach in a relatively short time;  great hotels with reasonable prices and an integrated transport policy, designed to encourage the car owner, not punish them.

Note: the above ideas are copyright, and will incur substantial charges if we re-print this page and send it into the WAG.

Now we know why Oscar calls them the Arsembly.

Makes you wonder

From the Guardian:

I doubt if Rupert Murdoch watched the election debate last week. His focus is very firmly on the United States, especially his resurgent Wall Street Journal. But if he did, there would have been one man totally unknown to him. One man utterly beyond the tentacles of any of his family, his editors or his advisers. That man is Nick Clegg.
Make no mistake, if the Liberal Democrats actually won the election – or held the balance of power – it would be the first time in decades that Murdoch was locked out of British politics. In so many ways, a vote for the Lib Dems is a vote against Murdoch and the media elite.

I can say this with some authority because in my five years editing the Sun I did not once meet a Lib Dem leader, even though I met Tony Blair, William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith on countless occasions. (Full disclosure: I have since met Nick Clegg.)

Full story here

Spots on

Iceland is a wonderful place. From their awesome scenery, with volcanoes around almost every corner, and glaciers scrunching their way towards the sea, to their predisposition towards every conceivable type of fish prepared in almost every conceivable way, their minuscule population, most of which is centred in the capital, to their world-class symphony orchestra, drawn from a total population a third the size of Cardiff's, Iceland is a place where life and death, art and science are sharply juxtaposed.

We'd probably panic somewhat, if Snowdon starting erupting, particularly as Snowdon isn't volcanic, but that's a minor matter. But Icelanders?  They pack sandwiches, warm clothes and a thermos and go out to have a picnic and watch the eruptions.

And they're a delightful, warm, pragmatic and highly educated people, whose command of English would put many a native speaker to shame. Their volcanoes also erupt quite frequently, which poses the question as to why we don't remember all this trouble with ash before.  The answer, as the lyricist would say, is blowing in the wind.

For a few months we've been in the grip of an odd weather pattern, which is doing nothing to blow all the ash away from us.  This time of the year we'd normally be watching the spring flowers decimated by the traditional spring storms, gales, deluges of rain and overcast skies.  Now - none of it. This, apparently, may be down to sunspots, the lack of which is possibly going to cause a few years of colder than average winters, which is doubtless good news for the energy industry, kids whose schools have to close and ski retailers. Sunspots are not, as they may sound, a solar form of acne, although the current state of the sun does suggest that it's had the galactic equivalent of Clearasil applied. They are an indicator of the sun's activity, and, although it's been getting more active for the past 400 years, it's now started to become less active - a trend which is likely to continue for the next 100 years. But hey! Let's look on the bright side.  At least we won't have to worry about that air-conditioning for a while.

One down...

For those with an insatiable electioneering appetite:

The first election debate in 15 seconds....

What's in a word?

On Oscar's blog the other day the subject turned to scrounging, prompted by an article in the egregious DFM.  In the comments, two were fairly amusing, although one was precipitated by the other:

 I wrote  "In terms of birth rate, the lower socio-economic and attainment groups are breeding happily, while the older, ambitious and career-orientated are only having 1.7 babies per couple, a pattern being repeated in most developed countries. What to do about that, however eludes pundits and politicians alike."

to which the ubiquitous Moi (Again) replied…

    "How on Earth do you have 0.7 of a baby? Surely this (generally first class) exponent of the British Language has not heard of the word "average"!"

which led to thoughts of language in general.  A great deal is assumed in written communications if the writer assumes it's perfectly clear that the (apparently obvious) meaning is absurd.  So when penning "1.7 babies" it is absurd (but nonetheless quite amusing) to imagine 0.7 of a baby, and the assumption is made by the writer that folk will automatically add in the word 'average' for themselves. 

But that's not always the case, and some of the oddest things have been written, often because the reader does not share the mental context of the writer. This often happens in technical manuals, where significant contextual awareness is assumed by the writer, and too often in instruction manuals for machinery originating in Japan.

Japan, of course, is fair game, with such wonderful instructions to car-hiring tourists as

"When a passenger of the foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet at him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage, then tootle him with vigour"

or the mind-boggling invitation in Tokyo hotel rooms:

You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid

But perhaps the best examples of assumptions for the sake of brevity come from newspaper headlines.  The following show just how dangerous too much assuming can be:

Stiff Opposition Expected To Graveyard Plan

Car Dealers Will Hear Car Talk At Noon

Lack Of Brains Hinders Research

Policeman Help Dog Bite Victim

Man Denies He Committed Suicide

Four Battered In Fish And Chip Shop

Ban On Boxing After Death

Boy Wanted To Kill Man

Bodies Needed To Look After Graveyard

Protestors Tried To Spoil Play But Actors Succeeded

30 Year Friendship Ends At Alter

and almost certainly the best

No Cause Of Death Determined For Beheading Victim

Smoke above

Well, the clash of the titans didn't produce much in the way of surprises, and we're still in danger of being blanketed by too much hot air and dust by the continuing emissions from that hotbed of calderic excitation, the national press.

Meanwhile, with the entire country a lot quieter, it's worth remembering that the last time there was a shut down of air space on a similar scale - 9/11 - global temperatures showed a slight but nonetheless measurable rise which was, apparently, all to do with the lack of jet emissions, which play a part in reflecting sunlight at high altitudes.

It's been an odd few months, in weather terms, and the trend towards these repeated spells of high pressure could mean a massive heat wave in June and July, and that would not be nice, except for Fan manufacturers and air con salesmen. Staying cool, of course, is far harder than warming up;  it's easy to slip on another pullover, or have a nice cuppa, but cooling down is a more difficult process, without resorting to cold showers and baths. 

Whatever the weather, and whether we like it or not, the political temperature's bound to rise before May and the British people, in their joint wisdom, choose the government they believe will create the least mayhem for the future. Let's hope they get it right.

Careful!

As Snowdonia claimed the life of yet another young man last night, a brief walk on the Great Orme yesterday served to illustrate just how fortunate we are that there aren't many more serious accidents. 

Yesterdays cool but fine weather afforded a wonderful opportunity for walking, so we took full advantage.  Parking in Hafod y Mor, opposite the Headlands' Hotel, the walk was up the road leading to the Ski slope, across at the base of the slope then up the steps to the top. 

Despite a haze, the views from the top were good, and strolling to the cliff top immediately above the toll road meant it was possible to gaze at the pier from a God-like perspective, search for those intrusive but elusive wind turbines, consider how we would change the world with a wave of the arms and watch the antics of other walkers.

When the excited cries of a young child drew notice, it was possible to see that a mother and 4 or 5 year old had positioned themselves very close to the edge of a pretty sheer rock-wall face.  The mother was shouting at the child to behave, but the child was still perilously close to the edge. Eventually, both moved off, but from that single example it was easy to see how folk can be lulled into a sense of false security by the imperceptible merging of man-made and fenced walkways into a wild country setting.

Both the Ormes are magnificent, wild, dangerous and unpredictable, but there are a lot of city dwellers whose experience of and preparation for this sort of terrain is inadequate, given the potential for disaster.  As the season progresses, it's almost inevitable that there will be an accident on one of the Ormes, and the question that will be raised is how much should the country park or Mostyn's do to warn people that there are dangers.  The amusing sign on Conwy mountain which informs you that you're approaching a steep drop, moments before the mountain drops - almost vertically - into a caravan park about 800 feet below seems incongruous, but perhaps what we need is better education for the visitor, with pamphlets in each hotel at the season's start.

Even then, there will be some who will call for the Ormes to be fully fenced, and that would be an aesthetic disaster. We need danger in our lives and we need to learn how to manage risk;  it's part of life and growing. But perhaps we also need to warn visitors that babies don't bounce - especially from 200 feet up.

An improbable fiction

It's good news that Theatr Colwyn is getting a much-needed revamp.  Theatre and entertainment, music and singing are essential components in the fabric of any community or society and Theatr Colwyn has seen a lot in the past.  About 20 years ago, the World Harmonica Championships were held there, so the place is no stranger to important events. The Arts Council provides with unimaginable largess for London opera-goers, yet comparatively little - if at all - for the bedrock of the theatrical industry - the provincial theatre. This sort of fiscal snobbery misses several points, but the important one is that talent doesn't recognise social class or wealth.  Some of our best entertainers - true geniuses - hail from North of the M25, yet the big government quangos seem to be remarkably myopic when it comes to funding the very operations that would bring these geniuses to a wider audience.

Too much is often invested in the capabilities of the individual manger, also; ITV's unbelievable stupidity in cancelling Foyle's War some years ago and Greg Dyson's instant re-scheduling of Neighbours to suit his daughter's school are just two examples. Perhaps it's time we had just a little more accountability in the entertainment industry - and a few more comedians that were actually funny.

Values

Last night on Countryfile, the 'regular' farmer, who makes a weekly appearance, was shown delivering lambs and bottle feeding some of the rejected.  He made an interesting observation whilst so doing. He said 'Bottle feeding lambs, given the cost of dried milk and the time it takes, doesn't add up economically.'

Although the comment was made almost as an aside, those younger viewers who heard it might still be somewhat mortified.

Yet at lambing time, it's easy to forget the farming is an industry and not an extension to a Disney theme park.  Farmers in North Wales work mighty hard and have to take tough decisions. 

But where do we draw the line? Every year, the Great Orme goats hit the headlines, usually because - lacking natural predators - they reproduce too quickly and to an unsustainable level.  Every summer, also, a young or old goat will get stuck on a ledge, prompting an avalanche of calls from concerned tourists. §yet do we do these animals any favours by rescuing them and thus ensuring the older and weaker genetic traits get passed down through the generations? It's easy  - and fashionable - to condemn those who believe in non interference with the natural processes, but perhaps sensible thought should be given to how best to deal with wild animals who have to survive, even if only on the Orme.

Nature, after all, has been dealing with this for millions of years.

Aha, Jim lad!

At 108, Okushima takes to the floor for traditional Japanese dances. She was born when Japan had only recently seen off the shogun warlords. If an ageing population is on the way, she is not a bad advert for what we have in store.

In 1984, Japan had the youngest population in the developed world, but by 2005 it had become the world's most elderly country. Soon it will become the first country where most people are over 50 years old.

The fertility rate in Japan is just 1.2 children per woman, far lower than the 2.1 needed to maintain a steady population. And they're not alone. In 19 countries, from Singapore to Iceland, people have a life expectancy of about 80 years. Of all the people in human history who ever reached the age of 65, half are alive now. Meanwhile, women around the world have half as many children as their mothers. And if Japan is the model, their daughters may have half as many as they do. In just a generation, world fertility has halved to just 2.6 babies per woman. In most of Europe and much of east Asia, fertility is closer to one child per woman than two, way below long-term replacement levels. The notion that the populations of places such as Brazil and India will go on expanding looks misplaced: in fact, they could soon be contracting.

The long term implications are significant, because we're acquiring a population of older, very experienced, intelligent people who have time on their hands and a desire to fill that time with productive but non-stressful occupations.  Thus we have ex-Police superintendents stacking shelves at Tesco, ex-senior social work managers selling boots and shoes, ex-lecturers serving coffee and ex-nuclear physicists looking after trees. These people comprise an enormous resource for the country in terms of skills, knowledge and experience, and it will be interesting to see which of the main parties promises to use that resource for the UK.

Spring has sprung

This being the first weekend in a long time that the central heating can safely be turned off, the sheep are mainly white through their coat colour, instead of snow and rabbits are  escaping their burrows without the aid of an ice breaker, it's probably safe to assume that Spring has arrived.

With the advent of spring come all manner of delightful distractions; flowers competing desperately to attract the attention of any passing bees, an increase in white tails bobbing madly as young rabbits realise there's someone coming across the field, tiny lambs and not-so-tiny lambs pushing exhausted mothers into a hedge as they try to get an early breakfast and the appearance of hedgerow birds and flowers.

In town, you can almost smell the impending Extravaganza, and this year's event will be massive, as always, competing only briefly with the Colwyn Bay Prom Day.

Like it or loathe it, the Extravaganza is organised entirely by volunteers, and it takes roughly a year to plan. The event costs a lot to mount and in all fairness it does a lot for the town, kick-starting the season like no other event. If you feel you can do better, or if you simply want to get involved, the committee will welcome your interest.

This year, the organisers face the headache posed by the continued closure of the Maesdu Bridge, which will restrict traffic to only one entrance route to the town across the weekend. But if you don't like crowds, and would prefer a quieter, more relaxing activity venue, then you could do worse than try  the brand new pitch and putt course, pioneered by a member of the Llandudno Local forum.

Finally, don't forget the wonderfully quiet, scenic cafe on the Great Orme Marine Drive, where you can chill out (often literally), enjoy a legendary tea cake and watch the sea-world go by.

Big Bother

As the greatest of reality shows gets under way, it's mildly absorbing fun to ponder which of the contestants will win. Will it be the older bloke, with the boring voice and the funny mannerism when he's talking, a twitch which serves to distract at least this observer, or will it be one of the two younger blokes; the smooth-talking smarmie, who seems short on facts but makes for great watching or the little chap who is telling us all how he wants to change the world?

Of course, we're really all waiting for the Challenges.  Things haven't really warmed up as of yet, but a few soakings, egg-throwings, walking on thin planks in funny costumes and singing in a mud-pool and we'll all enjoy the entire process much more.

And given the ubiquity of the internet, bloggers, facebook, forums and iPhones, we may also see contestants gaining votes for helping their fans, irrespective of party affiliations.  Which is really how it ought to be.

This is also a wonderful opportunity for Plaid, a group whose power base is expanding because they are genuinely so good at helping their constituents.  And perhaps we could do worse than follow the US model, with individual States being able to legislate on almost anything, but federal control being retained by the White House.

Sniff...

It's a curious thing about politics and politicians, but they seem to come with an instant 'disbelivability' tag.  The expenses scandal last year should have changed the political landscape for ever, but listening to the main party leaders it seems as though very little has changed.

It becomes increasingly difficult to accept their assurances and lack of courage and honesty. A simple illustration is drugs.  The drug advisory council is now all but bereft of the scientists  - the people who take decisions based on evidence and fact - and the council might now just as well be a political department.  Most people in the UK would probably support the legalisation of certain drugs, but which party would have the courage to say that in an election manifesto? 

Maybe we really do get the politicians we deserve.

Schooled to succeed

North Wales Tourism's chairman Chris Jackson, who is also the Welsh Mountain Zoo’s administrative director in Upper Colwyn Bay, said: “The feeling generally is that it has been a below par Easter to date, that’s largely due to the weather. But the English schools still have the best part of two weeks on holiday so there is still hope that we can get something back from visitors.”

The Liverpool and Manchester education authorities started the 'official' Easter break on Monday, and don't return until Monday 19th, so there's time for the visitor numbers to pick up in what is a crucial period of the year for our tourist-related businesses.

The Easter break is a mixed blessing for most comprehensive schools;  few outside of the school world realise that many bring in their A level and GCSE students for revision, extra work and tuition, all in the teachers' own time. Eirias - to give one example - has always run a full timetable for students during the Easter break, which can be invaluable, as a concentrated period of working - free from the distractions of school bells, lesson changes and those who simply don't want to work - can make the difference between an A and a B grade in the results.  Those who condemn the education system would do well to remember that it's because of the selfless effort of so many local teachers that our schools locally are among the best in the country and - in the case of Eirias - the best in the UK.

Jam today

Welcome to Sunny Llandudno!  And enjoy a leisurely drive home, as you stare out of the window at miles of cones, queues and frustrated motorists.

As anticipated, the merry japes of the Highways chappies ensured more than a leisurely drive home for those stuck in a six mile tailback at Abergele on Monday.

The ever helpful but rather unaware Denbighshire County Council deputy leader Eryl Williams said the roadworks were needed to repair the bridge, damaged by a lorry.

He said: “It was a major reconstruction over months, not just this weekend. I sympathise with drivers but they could have researched many other good, countryside routes.”

That would be the A5, then? Assuming anyone can extract themselves from Llandudno, since there's only one route in and out until the ephemeral working crews at the Maesdu disaster area reappear, both the A470 which they'd have to take, and the A5 are not known for being the easiest to drive. Or perhaps he means any of the multitudinous back roads, replete with their merry little pothole collections, tractors, wandering sheep and single track widths. What a scoundrel he is!

An even more helpful  Welsh Assembly Government spokesman said: “One lane was closed over the bank holiday weekend while we undertook essential safety works to the bridge parapets. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, and hope to reopen it on Wednesday.”

Ah.  But did they close it because it was a bank holiday? You have to wonder if they have a calendar in their offices, which outlines bank holidays and they simply assume that's the best time to close carriageways, without using their brains to consider whether that's also the best time to make everyone navigating the horrendous mess think very carefully about ever visiting Llandudno and other holiday resorts again.

Of maybe someone in the WAG is a '50s buff, and simply wants to give everyone the chance to re-live the halcyon days of that decade, when only a single carriageway connected North Wales to Manchester and Liverpool.

Never mind;  two more bank holidays coming up, so they'll be able to plan carefully which major routes to shut down then, so they can create even longer tailbacks.  Ooh, aren't they awful?

Holiday fun!

Being a bank holiday, and thus a day on which - by definition - no news occurs, the mind turns to thoughts of…just about anything, really. Like why Einstein's brain was smaller than average, or how hard it is to recreate a trough-led Tsunami in a laboratory, why hot water freezes faster than cold or why the WAG makes it so hard to find a set of plans for a new road that's being built just North of Llanwrst, the first warning of which was a sign blandly informing us all that "work starts here for 48 weeks on 25th April", which will bring cheer to the hearts of all those who seek to make a living out of the tourist market in Llanrwst and Betws.

Being a coastal community (as, in a sense, the entire UK is) we're much preoccupied with thoughts of water, Piers, solitons and visitors, but we do sometimes forget that tourists are a vital component of the fiscal circle of life, particularly when they're driving a twenty year old car at 30 mph in the middle of the A470.

But hey! The weather's slated to stop raining - eventually - and it might even become a tad warmer.  And then we'll all be able to moan about heat waves, flies, global warming and the state of the roads. Happy Holidays,,,

Egged on

There's a curious but growing tradition that seems to be to wish folk "Happy Easter!", although there's as yet no exchange of presents, nor the greeting "Merry Easter!", which sounds even odder.

Easter was known as Ēostre in Anglo Saxon, which is presumably where Oestrogen makes its appearance, and was - like all religious festivals - itself a conversion of a pagan festival which preceded it.

Notwithstanding all this erudition, it's safe to say that most people enjoy easter eggs, think the whole thing is no yolk, adopt a thick-shelled attitude to all the ribaldry and hope for the weather to stay fine.

Happy Ēostre!

That's a wrap

You might not notice, but yet another film has been made in Snowdonia - this time the remake of Clash of the Titans.  The Daily Post erroneously reports that

not since Pierce Brosnan’s 007 used Snowdon as a stand-in for the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan has Wales’ foremost peak and surroundings played such a vital role in a major film

but in fact Snowdonia plays host to film makers of every persuasion on a regular basis. The Great Orme itself was used three times last year alone for shooting both feature films and adverts (watch the Landrover ad that uses the postcard motif carefully), the uninspiring Prince Valiant was shot in Gwyrch (Abergele) Castle, Willow in Betws Y Coed and an episode of Hetty Wainthrop  in Penryhn beach and Bryn Elian School, and those are only some examples of the filming that takes place on a regular basis.  Local suppliers make props, such as Daunts, although these are often unseen, since the heroes have to set forth, dauntless…

The weather in Snowdonia can be tricky, as we know, but it's a testament to just how scenic the area is that so many film-makers make the trek here and eschew the more usual locations. Many years ago, Carry on up the Khyber was made in Porthmadog when extras were paid ten bob each per day. Film making is very good for the area in many ways, and we can always look forward to a film about CCBC and its work. Possible titles could include "From here to Eternity" ,"Lord of the Rungs" or "We did it our way".   Tickets, anyone?

They're late

Yesterday's April fool announcement on this blog about CCBC's plans for Happy Valley seems to have struck a chord, possibly because this sort of thing is becoming an all too familiar pattern for CCBC.  In fact, we probably need a new county motto for CCBC: "Decimate not Innovate".

That aside, the Easter weekend promises the usual traffic chaos on the A55, although the main problem is on the East bound carriageway, so at least visitors will make it here fairly easily.

Providing the weather behaves itself, we can look forward to the start of another season, and we can hope that this year sees some real ideas and progress in respect of Happy Valley - a wonderful site that has been allowed to deteriorate beyond recognition.  We allowed sheer stupidity and greed to lead to the incredible loss of the Penmorfa and we mustn't repeat it, although all might not be lost.  Ten years ago, the Times wrote

Thanks to the survival of two of the holiday homes of Alice Liddell, the child who inspired the Alice books, Llandudno has long been the world centre of Mad Hatters, March Hares and Mock Turtles

In 2012 we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the writing of Through the Looking Glass and it would be innovative indeed if something could be created for the same year we're expected to host the Olympics to remind visitors that Llandudno's more than just a seaside town.  Although avarice saw the demolition of the house itself, the outline and foundations remain and could be rebuilt. Arguably,  a new Alice attraction could be created as a walk-through experience in some of the larger houses nearby as they come up for sale. The old joke 'Nostalgia's not what it used to be' couldn't be more wrong;  nostalgia's a bigger incentive for visitors now than ever, thanks to the ubiquity and availability of information.  And creation of something along the lines suggested could be a wonderful and lasting legacy. And the irony of CCBC caring about Alice in Wonderland shouldn't be lost...

Sad times

From inside sources, we can reveal that CCBC have plans in hand to remodel Happy Valley and the gardens in a major cost-cutting exercise. The overall plan is to remove a lot of the terracing in the gardens, along with most of the plants and trees, and lawn the entire area, so that the current amphitheatre modelling will be continued right up the ski slope. In effect, the whole of Happy Valley and the old outdoor theatre will become a grassy hillock, bereft of trees, plants and  interest for visitors. This plan, however, has been quietly slipped through to anticipate the furore that might erupt if the plans to concrete the decaying Haulfre Gardens become a reality.