foolhandy

I’m not a fan of jazz, but listening to I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue has given hours of enjoyment.

He’ll be sadly missed…

And here’s an obituary by the BBC.

“As we journey through life, discarding baggage along the way, we should keep an iron grip, to the very end, on the capacity for silliness. It preserves the soul from dessication.”

Dion Dublin is a footballing hero of mine. There aren’t many of them because generally footballers aren’t worthy of hero worship, but Dion is different. He made his name at Cambridge United and when he played for England (although no longer with the club) I couldn’t help smiling and feeling proud that Dion had made it that far. Since leaving Cambridge he’s played for umpteen clubs but has always been glowing about the U’s and spoken warmly of his time at the club. Under John Beck Dion was a vital part of our rise from the lower parts of the old Division 4 to moments away from the inaugural Premiership. I, along with many other Cambridge United fans, have always hoped he might return to he club in some role and as he got older the likelihood of him dropping a few leagues to rejoin us seemed greater and greater.

Earlier this year he announced that he would be retiring at the end of the season at the age of 39. Jimmy Quinn, our manager, has apparently made attempts to re-sign Dion but he’s insisted that media work beckons. So it’s not going to happen. Possibly better this way - he’s not going to tarnish his glorious reputation - but it would have been nice.

Maybe, hopefully, a friendly appearance will happen but if not…

Dion! Dion! Dion!

I was listening to PM the other day and it was suggested that Disney films feature environmental champions. I’ve never been a great fan of Disney films but this song has always worked for me. Baloo an environmentalist? Maybe, but he’s definitely an idler…

One of the blogs I subscribe to is Football Shirts News. Yes, deeply sad I know, but I love it that at last there’s a place for breaking news about forthcoming football kits. Because these things are important you know. Really…

Anyway, they occasionally have football shirt related news too, and today they brought to my attention (to save me having to read The Daily Bigot) the information that Chelsea forward Dider Drogba recently spent £1800 on replica kits bearing his name.

The reason? Well you can find out by reading the full article here. He may earn £70,000 a week but you’ve got to wonder how fulfilled his life is if this is true…

And so to waxing lyrical about yurting at Graig Wen…

Graig Wen is a site where you can camp, stay in your caravan or motorhome, hire their holiday cottage or even - as we did - stay in a yurt. It’s not a big place but it is fantastically placed in a very quiet and picturesque location with great views over Afon Mawddach estuary but still near enough to Dolgellau that you can use it as a base to visit much of this part of Wales. Sarah & John who own Graig Wen are very friendly, and as it’s all very new (we were only the third group of people to stay in our yurt!) the facilities are excellent.

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We visited Cwm Idwal in Snowdonia, Llechwedd Slate Caverns at Blaenau Ffestiniog, Betws-y-coed, Portmeirion, Harlech Castle and the fantastic beach at Dyffryn Ardudwy. They’re all to the north of Graig Wen, but to the south there’s Corris and Machynlleth to visit too. I really want to go to the Centre for Alternative Technology one day, and using Graig Wen’s yurt as a base certainly appeals.

They have a website which you can get to by clicking here:

and they even have a video!

If you’re thinking of staying in the area I’d recommend Graig Wen, and I’m looking forward to staying there again myself.

Finally, in case you’re wondering, you can find out what a yurt is by clicking here. (Ours was canvas over a local ash frame though - no yak skins for us!)

Especially for Murph & Steve because I just know they won’t have looked it up…

Why deny it? Everyone loves David Hasselhoff…

I started dropping hints on here ten days ago when I’d paid the deposit, but today I picked it up and so here it is - my new car…

It’s a Smart Roadster 80bhp in Jack Black. Lovely.

Now I just have to sell the Mazda to pay for it…

Incidentally, this is what Top Gear thinks about them :

I shall wax lyrical about yurting at Graig Wen next week when I’m back from further travels over the weekend, but I wanted to mention Cwm Idwal now. You can read the technical blurb about Cwm Idwal on its Wikipedia page and how it was voted the seventh favourite UK Beauty Spot on the BBC Wales site, but here I just want to get all emotionally unnecessary about it…

Looking at the map below it’s the lake (or cwm) highlighted by the blue marker.

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I first visited Cwm Idwal in 1993 as a teacher on a school field trip. I went back on the equivalent visit another seven times and never tired of the place. I’ve been back a couple of times since, including during the past week, and having seen it in glorious sunshine, torrential rain, low cloud and high winds I’ve never been disappointed with how it makes me feel. The atmosphere of the place, the views along the Nant Ffrancon Valley, the sense of peace despite the relatively easy access, it just blows me away. You can spend hours up there or, as we did this week, be back at the car park within a couple of hours without feeling at all rushed.

Until I visited Grand Anse, La Digue in Seychelles it was my favourite place in the world. Now it’s my joint favourite place, but with the advantage that it’s a little easier to get to!