Bwlch Cwm Llan after all

We would have one glorious day between storm Eowyn and the next very blowy (and rainy) day, so I figured I needed to take advantage of that. And one way of doing that would be go to Bwlch Cwm Llan after all. 

There was a ‘Paned i’r Planed’ (cuppa for the planet) event in the community centre near me in the morning, so I went there first. I like supporting local initiatives having to do with climate and sustainability. So that meant I only had the afternoon, and although you can by now see where you're going at 5 pm, it still is only limited time. But to the pass is only 4 km, and the going is good, so that wasn't a problem.

As I had focused on speed the day before, I was going to take it easy this time and just enjoy the landscape. And that was very easy! It is so beautiful there. And I hadn't been in a long time.

I ran up in the low winter afternoon sun. I went to where you can look into, well, Cwm Llan. And then I turned back. By then the sun was behind the clouds, but that created dramatic skies for the way down. It was lovely! I might do it more often…

Running up under blue skies

Happy (winter) runner

The spoil heaps appear on the horizon 

Dramatic skies on the way back

Even more dramatic skies! 

Increase oven capacity

I have quite a big oven. That can be very handy if I have a lot of people visiting. But I can only put in as much as I can fit on one oven shelf. I'm not using it to full capacity!

This has been the case since I moved in, but was only now that I figured I should try to find out if I could buy an additional oven shelf. And it turns out that there are extendable shelves on the market. Buy them, adjust them to size, and Bob is your uncle. So I did!

When they arrived (I found a pack of two for sale) I saw that they came with tiny little bolts and a concomitant tiny little hex key. Very cute! And it was a question of seconds extend them to size.

Now I should really do something with my extended capacity. Maybe make a pizza in my oven tray, and bake a cake on another floor? At the same time? And it will sure come handy the next time I cook for a bunch of people. I always like being ready when they arrive, and just opening the oven when we decide it is time to actually have dinner. Stay tuned! 

Village life

Most weeks I pop by at the wholefoods co-op. It is only open on Friday in the late afternoon, and on Saturday afternoon. It is fully run by volunteers. And this Friday I suddenly realised 20 minutes before it would close that I should go there. I quickly put on shoes and went. But the light wasn't on in the shop! I already spotted a man looking a bit puzzled at the shop window. We shared our surprise. And while we were doing that, suddenly a car stopped at the curb. It was one of the volunteers!

She got to the point immediately. She said she could give me the key, we could do our shopping, sort out the payment, switch off the lights and lock up behind us again. She also works at the local cheese shop, so that is where I could give her back the key. And she was standing on a double yellow line, so she kept it short. So I received the key, and the heavy responsibility, and off she was.

It was all a bit unusual. I went in with the man, whose name turned out to be Rowan, who was the tenant of a lady who frequents the sustainability events in the area.

We found all the light switches and got what we needed. When we were figuring out how to pay we heard the door. I realise then that we were in effect now running the shop! Any other customer could just walk in and expect to be helped. We would do our best. But no one came in. Maybe the doorbell sound had been a ghost.

Rowan and I either just put the cash in the till, or took note of the shop’s bank details, switched all the light off again, and closed up behind us. Sorted! And the next day I popped by at the cheese shop and gave the key back.

The shop

I suppose this is one of those things that is unlikely to happen in a big city. This sort of shenanigans requires a certain level of familiarity and trust. The volunteer knows I come to the shop on a regular basis, so I'm unlikely to make a mess of things. That would disrupt my relationship with the shop. She might very well also know that even if she doesn't know where I live, her employer sure does. So if anything goes wrong with either payment or the key or any of that, people know where to find us. It was quite nice! It made me really feel a part of the community…

Storm Éowyn

Not long ago, we had had storm Darragh. That was a red weather alert in my area. When it actually came over, it was sure windy, but not anywhere near as disruptive as I thought it would be. And now Eowyn was approaching. The storm was supposed to come with gusts of up to 75 mph (Darragh had up to 84 mph), and was associated with an amber alert. It sure didn't look like biking weather! So I decided to work at home for a day.

It would start in the evening. I did wake up in the middle of the night because the wind was quite loud, and I was just snugly listening to it in bed with the cat. And in the morning I agreed with myself that this was not biking weather, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been. I was just snug in my home office. And it even quietened down quickly enough for me to go for an afternoon run. I need my exercise on this non-biking day! 

I ran up Penrhyn Quarry, as that is convenient, but also, by coincidence, in distance and ascent quite comparable to my upcoming race: Sbrint Stiniog. And that was fine; it was never difficult to stay upright. It was even nice and quiet in a way; it was clear that Zipworld had closed for the day. I would imagine the storm would have blown any punters a bit too quickly to the end of the zip wire!

Long shadows in the quarry

Altogether, this amber weather warning, quite like the red weather warning of the previous month, was rather inconsequential. Good! I like it that way…

Reading glasses actually getting some action

It was more than four years ago that I bought my reading glasses. It was before I needed them on a regular basis. I suppose that's the reasonable time to get them, really, although four years in advance might be a bit much. But either way; I have now come to the stage where if I go and read something in the evening, I often put my reading glasses on. It's a bit more comfortable. I still read the newspaper over breakfast without, but I'm sure that that will change at some point as well. I decided I was middle-aged then, because of having both the glasses, but I'm even more middle-aged now that I actually use them! It was going to happen at some point…

Back to the dentist

I suppose my body is showing signs of age. My tendons and bands are not particularly keen on my running habits. I need increasing amount of help with seeing things. And my teeth are crumbling. And that started many years ago, but there may be an acceleration now.

It started when I was still in Norway! I was a bit taken aback, but well, nobody died, so I left it the way it was. The next time something like that happened was in 2015, and that time I went to the dentist to have the fallen piece replaced by some filler. And I liked the result.

Nothing that happened for six years. But in 2021, another piece broke off. So I again had it repaired by the dentist. I seemed to be on a six year rotation! But before 2024 was over, it had happened again. I suspect that this time, it was one of the old repairs that had come off, and not an original piece of tooth. And I had a dentist’s appointment scheduled for January anyway, so I figured that would be a good moment have the piece of filler put back. 

It's been done now! My tooth feels good again. It had a bit of a sharp edge, and it felt a bit vulnerable, but now everything feels smooth and resilient again. But we'll see! This time series is too short to diagnose whether the crumbling rate of my teeth is actually experiencing an acceleration, but it would make sense it is. It's not as if your teeth get better with age! We'll see how this progresses. It would be nice if I get back to my six year schedule, rather than this three year malarkey…

Cysgod y Mabinogi

After moving quite quickly through several books, I stalled a bit on the second novel by Peredur (the linguist). I often read in bed, but then it’s annoying to have to use a dictionary. And for most of this book I don’t need it, but the narrative voice in the book changes a lot. From a casual-talking ne’er-do-well via a pompous lawyer to a mythological figure. And with the lawyer I sometimes wanted the dictionary, and with the mythological figure, even more so. So when I reached a chapter narrated by the lawyer, I stalled. Easier to read the newspaper as it doesn't require a dictionary! And then it took quite a while.

I brought the book with me to the Netherlands, and I also made some progress in it when I was a bit under the weather after I came back. And with that acceleration I finished it in January.

So what's the verdict? I like it more than the previous one, to be honest! The other one had a different narrator in every single chapter, which means you never really get to know anyone, or see any character development. This book only has 5 protagonists, with each between 5 and 15 chapters (which can be as short as 1,5 pages). So you get to follow them through the whole story. Or at least as far as they manage to stay alive. At the end of the book, two are confirmed alive, one confirmed dead, and two assumed dead. But two of these deaths are really late in the book. 

And what about the story? It is a lot easier to follow than the previous book. Spoiler alert: a bunch of people are trying to release the old god (or similar creature) Llyr onto the world, and the idea is that while doing that they will flood the entire planet, after which a new society can be built with only those that Llyr has chosen to stay alive. And then there are some people trying to thwart that plan. And almost all chapters are by the people who are trying to thwart that. Another spoiler alert: they succeed. But they also know that Llyr is still out there and will try again.

It has a quite diverse cast. I found the characters quite believable. And it is a page turner. It even has a very assertive cat. 

What I was not so keen on was the Hollywood action film side of it. It's just some fairly normal people who are trying to oppose mythological creatures, combined with an army of determined sect members. You would think they don't stand a chance. But in this book, they do. It would happen in the Hollywood movie like that too. The baddies are always bad shots, and the goodies are always lucky! If some otherworldly creature lashes at you with tentacles or claws, they always miss. But anything you do against them always works.

Given that this is a blend of mythology and contemporary life, timelines don't work very well, but I think it is reasonable to assume that if these mythological creatures really existed, they would be from the Bronze Age. And the protagonists have a sort of headquarters that has been there since that time, but at some point the sect comes visiting and sets it on fire. Would no one really have thought of that all the way since the Bronze Age?

There also is a mysterious artefact in the book. It is very powerful, and everyone is very keen for the other side to not have it. And after days of being hunted and hungry and beaten up and hypothermic and thirsty and all other uncomfortable things you can imagine, two of the protagonist just break it with their bare hands. Really? It has survived quite a lot of bashing around until then.

So this is quite my style of book? No not really. I'm more than Mrs Dalloway sort of person. No chasing, no guns, no mythological object, just a woman pondering some things. That is exciting enough for me! But you don't get to read a book by a friend very often. So I'm glad I did it! 

I'm also convinced I'll get to do it again. The whole book ends with a cliffhanger. It is clear that some of the beings involved in the failed ceremony are regrouping and considering their options. I am certain there will be a third book! I think he's on a roll. And I'll read the next one as well!