You can’t change the weather but you can adapt and change your form of transport…
In the village of Penywaun, a few miles north of Aberdare, most of the village lanes and side-streets are snowed under making driving conditions very difficult.
That’s where four legs come in much handier than two legs or even four tyres.
Enjoy more Photos and News Stories on Penywaun Online
Building and household waste, electrical equipment such as fridge and vacuum cleaner, clothes, you name it, it’s being dumped in this corner of Hirwaun Industrial Estate.
According to WorkNotPlay : “This video was made entirely of photographs. We used a lot of make-up and airbrush, both on the artist and the background to create visual effects. It’s basically lazy stop-motion, cut to the excellent remix by the Incoherent Mumble Train, featuring fantastic facial expressions by Calendar Girl, with airbrush by Superalot.”
Enjoy.
* Photograph and statistics by National No Smoking Day
* Information on the Welsh Smoking Ban which comes into force on April 2nd 2007
Thursday 15 February at 8 pm.
Chapter Arts Centre, Market Rd., Canton
Tickets available from Chapter box office.
Organised in association with Oyster Clothing.
The film will be introduced by poet, Robert Minhinnick, who will also show a short film about his recent visit to Iraq.
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Corporate Watch UK research and report on the corporate carve-up of Iraq.
Plaid Cymru in Cynon Valley are going green.
To save on unnecessary use of heating, they have decided to hold all their Constituency meetings in a Telephone Box in Mountain Ash.
Dr Richard Wyn Jones from Aberystwyth University claimed some of the credit for Plaid Cymru’s innovation in Cynon Valley. “I would have preferred a small four-person tent as I advise in my recent book, but a telephone box is a good start.”
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You have to dig deep and hard to find any news story concerning Plaid Cymru holding a good old-fashioned public meeting in Aberdare. This was taken from the Aberdare Leader, March 10th, 1977
Plaid in Public
Plaid Cymru are holding a public meeting in Aberdare this saturday as part of a nation-wide campaign, following the defeat of the guillotine motion on the Devolution Bill.
The speakers will be Mr Dafydd Elis Thomas, MP, Mr Phil Richards, prospective parliamentary candidate for Aberdare, and Mr Harri Webb, the poet and former librarian at Mountain Ash.
The meeting takes place at the Palladium, starting at 2pm.
On the eve of the Welsh Assembly elections the Cynon Valley is an interesting ‘political laboratory’ to observe how elites operate. Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) would be particularly amused working in this ‘lab’ as many of his theories concern how elites function.
The current Labour Assembly Member in Cynon Valley faces no opposition, instead there is a pretense of opposition, a ’show’ put on for the ignorant masses : the occasional gesture here, a brief letter published there, a chattering blog yonder, and maybe even a trifling press release as dessert.
If you blink, you will miss it.
It is Democracy-Light and it might look and sound like democracy, but it is not the real thing and ultimately it leads to dissatisfaction and an alienated electorate who see no reason in voting.
This is a desired feature of the system. The lack of interest in democracy leaves the elites – and Vilfredo Pareto would agree – to squabble amongst themselves.
The Aberdare Blog ‘limousine’ took at least half an hour to de-frost this morning.
It’s brrrrrr….. blinking cold in Aberdare today, near freezing temperatures for most of the day.
We spent a few hours brainstorming for a suitable image and phrase to describe the weather this week, and we came up with “a witch’s tit” and a snapshot of the Aberdare Blog-mobile windscreen.
Dear Reader, we spare no expenses in the quest to bring you only the very best from Aberdare.
Today is Buy Nothing Day 2006. It’s a day to switch off from shopping and live more. It’s a chance to opt out of the pre-Christmas shopping frenzy albeit for just one day in the year. And most importantly it is a day to ask yourself serious questions and reflect on how you live your life.
Here’s a challenge… Choose a day of Voluntary Simplicity.
Opt out of shopping, spending, buying, consuming for just one day.
Choose it.
Let your life speak.
“The proceedings in the Dujail trial were fundamentally unfair,” said Nehal Bhuta of Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “The tribunal squandered an important opportunity to deliver credible justice to the people of Iraq. And its imposition of the death penalty after an unfair trial is indefensible.”
Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty as inherently inhumane punishment and says that executing Hussein while other trials are ongoing will also deprive many thousands of victims of their day in court.
Ann Clwyd MP chairs the campaign group INDICT which has collected much evidence of the crimes committed under Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Ms Clwyd, who is also Chair of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group, has welcomed the guilty verdict however she is opposed to the death penalty.
A good old-fashioned cold snap hits Aberdare after the hottest summer on record.
Some were more prepared than others to brave the freezing temperature…
In Llwydcoed the sheep looked happy and content in their thick wool coats.
That’s why the Poppy Appeal is as needed now as it ever has been. Last year the Appeal raised a record total of £24.7 million and yet this only accounts for a third of the £75 million required to fund the Legion’s vital work. Much of this money goes to fund Poppy Support, the Legion’s range of welfare services set up to support those who have served and continue to serve in the British Armed Forces.
It’s not just older people who benefit from Poppy Support. The Legion helps people of all ages, providing financial, social and emotional help to all those who have been affected by conflict. Beneficiaries range from children to widows, from single mothers to pensioners, in fact anyone who finds themselves in need. Some 10.5 million people – that’s one in six of the UK population – are eligible to approach us for help.
Commenting Mark Serwotka said: “The fantastic show of support demonstrates that staff are not willing to stand by and see the services they deliver damaged by crude job cuts. The perpetual self denial of DWP senior management over the level of staff anger and impact of job cuts serves only to undermine services that some of the most disadvantaged rely on.”
The discovery was made in a countryside road near Llwydcoed, not far from a busy intersection on the Heads of the Valleys Road.
The road connecting Hirwaun and Llwydcoed, via the Heads of the Valley intersection, was closed for most of Friday and Saturday as Police carried out a detailed forensic examination of the area.
This part of the Heads of the Valley A465 Road is a notorious accident blackspot.
In 2002 this section of road was given high priority status as part of the Welsh Assembly’s Trunk Road Programme.
Dualling of the A465 between Abergavenny and Hirwaun is being managed by the Welsh Assembly.
Divisional commander, Ch Supt Jeff Farrar, said: “People in the area can be reassured that extensive enquiries will be conducted over the weekend to establish the identity and origin of the remains.”
Residents of Llwydcoed and Trecynon have reported no water since Monday evening. Comin School based in Trecynon was unable to open today due to no water supply. The water supply for Penywaun was also cut off this afternoon.
Dwr Cymru Welsh Water are unable to say when the problem will be fixed but will deploy free bottled water and water bowsers in the area if necessary.
A Welsh Water spokesperson explained that there are two burst water mains in the Trecynon area near Aberdare. This has affected the water supply in many nearby villages.
But the problem seems to be much bigger than Dwr Cymru acknowledge.
Residents of various parts of Merthyr have also been without a water supply since Monday evening and most of Dwr Cymru’s stock of water bowser containers seems to have been deployed in Merthyr.
There are rumours that Dwr Cymru are facing serious operational problems further up the Valley in their water reservoir system.
60% of those voting, endorsed the union’s call for a two-day nationwide strike. The ballot result comes as job cuts in the DWP have already contributed to one million benefit calls going unanswered, leading to people having to wait up to eight weeks before they receive their first benefit payment.
The axe has so far fallen on approximately 15,000 posts in the DWP as it seeks to cull 30,000 jobs as part of a government drive to cut a further 70,000 across the rest of the civil service. The resultant pressure on staff has now reached unacceptable levels and the deteriorating service has led to a significant increase in problems in local offices.
The union is calling for the DWP to halt the job cuts programme and to objectively assess with the union adequate staffing levels based on operational need.
A spokesperson for the union said : “It is unacceptable that job cuts in the name of efficiency are actually leading to people having to wait longer to get advice about finding a job or understanding the benefits they are entitled to. The department and the government need to halt the job cuts programme and engage with the union in objectively assessing staffing needs and the impact of staffing levels on services. As ever we stand ready and willing to reach a negotiated outcome that meets the expectations of the public and staff alike. But if no agreement can be reached we will have no other option but to strike in defence of key public services.”
See also
