Tuesday, Mar. 24, 2009 - 21:14

(This is all transcribed directly from a notebook as written.. mostly on trains and in pubs on my day trip to Aberystwyth. I did try scanning the pages, but they were illegible!)

TRAIN TO ABER

Upon arriving at Wolverhampton railway station this morning (usual time to catch the usual train to work, though unusually today I was off to the seaside instead!) I was able to witness the tableaux of several train station staff trying to pacify an obviously upset bloke who was crying and cursing on a nearby bench. In the end he calmed down and turned his jacket back from inside out, but his disturbed behaviour did make me think "Who is really the nutter? Isn't his behaviour the more rational response to being in Wolves station at 6:15 a.m.?"

"I must go back to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky.." (who wrote that? I must look it up)

Jools Holland is on at 11pm ish tonight?? Are you going to watch it??

Pleased how quickly (not 10min west of Shrews) the scenery turned to countryside of sheeps and big hills. Part of me motivation to take this trip was recollection of a journey out to near Aberystwyth with work five or six years (shit! Nearer seven or eight!) to spread manure on a field for a top secret Government research project. The drive out then (I recall 'Overload' or 'Run For Cover' being on the radio) was pleasantly made by sunshine and mountains (as today's trip was). This somewhat provided fortunate distraction from the smell of 20x25 litre plastic barrels of heavily (bacteria-)spiked cattle, pig and sheep slurry in the back of the van, and the sad sight of burning carcases in the fields we passed (due to the F+M epidemic).

Gavin & Stacey has a lot to answer for. Some Welsh folks just got on at Newtown and.. well.. I can't be blamed for thinking of the most recent Welsh popular accents on TV, can I?? Yes I know a mid-Wales accent is prob v. different from a Barry accent, but..

Which reminds me - I have Welsh cousins I probably should look up on Facebook or the like.

Lot of lambs. Are they earlier in Wales, or have I just been unobservant in Shropshire so far this spring?

Deffo my type of countryside. Almost interchangeable with North East Scotland, out Caithness way. Not just in the terrain, but also wrt the samll towns and villages having a shared architecture'look.

Ooh! Wind farm!! (Carno)

Amused at the part of me that (on there being an attractive woman on the train) thought 'if only I'd shaved and/or had a haircut..' as if I had any realistic chance of wooing her! I suppose it comes doen to confidence, in that were I more happy with my appearance, I'd feel more able to talk to peoaple.

LISTENING TO:- I selected 'folk' as a genre on my iPod and got wonderful train journey accompaniment including Joan Baez, Sandy Denny, Bon Iver, Eliza Carthy, Rosie Thomas and Ray Lamontagne.

Large bird of prey near Machynlleth with a very triangular tail - what's that then?

Really must investigate more stuff by The Handsome Family.

On a beautiful day like this, I really could just give it all up and move to Borth or something. Get a shitty job stacking shelves and just live somewhere nicer. I suppose ideally I'd have a bit of both, but.. I guess moving to Shrewsbury is a nice compromise. Wonder if there are any science jobs on the West Wales coast? Or would I be best having a sex-change, getting up t'duff, and seeing if the council will give me a cottage in West Wales? I'd even take a static caravan.

I could burn my mum a 'nowt so queer as folk' CD. Nice idea - though I need to sort my PC CD-RW drive out. Or bring my laptop home from work. Or copy the tunes I want to a memory card and burn a CD at work?

LUNCHTIME

Enjoying a pint of Red McGregor in Wetherspoons near the station (correct me if I am wrong, but isn't a wether spoon something to do with instruments used for castrating rams?). Somewhat amusing to be drinking an Orcadian beer for the first time (I think I might have had it just once before, actually) in a Mid Wales seaside town, when I spent a large proportion of my life at one time in the Orkney Isles ('cause I have family there). I guess it's partly because I've only been there twice since I was onld enough to drink.

Aber is nice. I've been lucky (so far!) with the weather, which has been sunny, dry and not too cold despite the wind. I've found enough to do and see and look at and walk around (seafront, a few book/charity shops, the ruins of the castle and an impressive war memorial*, a little museum of some interest, and a wander round the retail park looking for shirts - unsuccesfully, it would transpire).

There's a slightly funny feel to the place - not unpleasant, just different - because fo the fact it's essentially an old traditional British seaside town, but with a pretty good university and high student population. I imagine Brighton n'the like are the same. Quite a few nice ladies about as a result.. even if students are getting younger and younger these days (er.. 13yrs younger than you, mister writer!).

Hic. I'm not used to drinking at lunchtime - I've come over all tipsy and woozy and tired :-) I need to fill my stomach and then have a wander to walk it off!

Peeps at the next table are speaking in tongues. Trying to work out whether they are posessed by demons, foreign, or Welsh. They're all white and look non-demonic anyhow.

TRAIN HOME

I've just spotted eight or so cows stood on a mud bank in the middle of the river near Dovey Junction. It's not a deep river, just the mud flats near the estuary, so to speak, but I fear that they'll be stranded. Too quicksandy to cross?

Subdued chilled sort of afternoon, with a lot of sitting and drinking and thinking. I also read my book (and finished it) and wrote a postcard to my folks.

* - Above is a photo I took of the castle and war memorial in the background. The memorial is actually a lot more impressive, as can be seen in the pic below that I didn't take. It was also a lot more sunny than it appears. Somewhat odd that..