Cookin' 'elp required NOW!

[Nick]

I e mailed Honest John (www.honestjohn.co.uk) about the Brunstrom "speed camera in ahorsebox" idiocy.

He replied:

Brunstrom is a Labour Government hero transgression tax collector.

[Nick]

Wales, cheap housing, better quality of life, as soon as Mr Wench gets a job.

Housing is certainly cheaper and in North Wales (despite the Mad Mullah AKA The Chief Constable) crime does not so much wave as nod a greeting. South Wales has different problems to the North but if you pick you spot (Pembrokeshire, Cardigan Bay etc) it is worth living there just to get up and look out of the window in the morning. That's how I feel about  this place. I can put up with the natives, their nationalism, their stupid language and their slowness just to be able to enjoy the views, the cleaner air and the general feeling that I am living "on holiday". AND of course I could not afford a large house back in Hampshire where I couldn't buy a shed for what I paid for this place.

For about 8 to 10 weeks of the year we get invaded by shaven headed Scallys in shell suits, their ugly wimmin and even uglier children but we take their money and the rest of the year it is all ours. Further south I understand the annual invasion is mainly Brummy based (though one or two creep in from the Leicester area but they're not so bad ~ Eh TG?)

Wales really is two different countries. The North/South split is even more noticable here than in England.

Basically it is going to be near to Cardiff. I need to work and I think I stand a better chance of getting a job there. Plus close access to an airport is a must for me, what with a parent who isn't getting any younger still being in foreign parts. Also, Mr Wench would like to go to more football, which seems fair so Cardiffish it is. It's near the sea which will please me, has "good" train links into London. It seems to be the sensible thing to do really.

Fair enough.I livedin London for 25 years and loved it, and still do love it, but it all got too hectic for me and the traffic and parking and transport were the stuff of nightmares. We moved to The Village, bought a vast house for next to nothing, and, as you say, enjoy a better quality of life(though a bit close to Wales from my liking  )

[Bar Wench]

Don't get me wrong, I love where we live at the moment but we will never stand a chance of being able to buy round here and I will certainly never be able to give up work. The whole Wales thing just makes sense really. I don't have any ties to anywhere and would pretty much go wherever, but Mr Wench is Welsh, so Wales it is.

[Snoopy]

Tenby is nice .... in a Brightonish sort of way. And has all you require in the way of transport links etc.

North Wales offers better access to top flight footy but as he is a Cardiff supporter forget it.... it is quicker to get to London that Cardiff from here.  Flights from Liverpool and Manchester would get you to Spain.
Only problem I see in Cardiff is the language, many schools insist on staff being bi-lingual as do most employers in fact. Not such an issue in the North unless you want to work for the Council, the Police or the NHS.

[Bar Wench]

Tenby is nice .... in a Brightonish sort of way. And has all you require in the way of transport links etc.

North Wales offers better access to top flight footy but as he is a Cardiff supporter forget it.... it is quicker to get to London that Cardiff from here.  Flights from Liverpool and Manchester would get you to Spain.
Only problem I see in Cardiff is the language, many schools insist on staff being bi-lingual as do most employers in fact. Not such an issue in the North unless you want to work for the Council, the Police or the NHS.

Not all of the schools do, Mr Wench is taking his Welsh GCSE this year and apparently that would do the job for all but the Welsh speaking schools which he has no interest in anyway.

[Nick]

I reckon that anyone can speak Welsh by speaking English without the vowels in a sing song voice. I reckon most of the Welsh speakers are spoofing anyway

[Snoopy]

I had assumed he would speak or have learned to speak the lingo ..... it was you that I was more concerned about.

Learning Welsh is not easy unless you have a "background" which he has ... even without knowing it he can pronounce place names etc correctly thus has a good start .... however Welsh obeys none of the normal language rules. Inflections are different and it is an inflective language. Get the wrong inflection and you mean something completely different even if written down it looks the same. Then there is this nonsense they have of changing either the last letter of a word or the first letter of the next word to make it possible to say the two without actually being sick. The Welsh spoken in the South is not understood by the Welsh speakers in the North and vice-versa. They are two quite different languages. Between them they have five different words for milk!
AND How can you take seriously any language where the place is full of people called Jones, Jenkins, and Jackson when there is no bloody J in their alphabet!

[Nick]

Driving down the A483 once I got a call. The voice sdaid "Where are you?"

I looked at the sign outside the town I was entering and replied "I couldn't possibly say."

[Bar Wench]

Ahhh me not so much of a worry. There are a few really big companies (multinationals) in Cardiff that don't care about the Welsh thing that always have jobs on offer in my sort of area. Failing that I just won't be able to work at all.  

[Nick]

And breifly back on topic

Berek recommends Ping Pong Pie

2 chicken breasts
1 large onion
peas
tin of Campells condensed chicken soup
potato croquettes

Fry the onion and diced chicken until browned, add the peas and soup, do not add water, put in oven proof dish, top with croquettes, cover with foil and bake for 1 hour, remove foil for last 20 minutes to brown

its really nice like..

[Bar Wench]

I'm always perturbed by recipes that contain campbells soup.  I'm not sure why though.

[Nick]

It's because it's Scottish

[Snoopy]

'cactly. Mr Wench, even if he was not raised to speak Welsh would be able to read the signs .... they all can.

I am learning ~ slowly.

If I go to Holland, Germany or even France and give it my best attempt the locals always smile gently and help me ~ they appreciate that I am trying to speak their languiage. In Holland of course everuyone speakjs English but they still appreciate my trying.
In Wales, when you try to pronounce even a place name they simply look at you as if you are something they have stepped in on the pavement and ignore your efforts to communicate.

[Bar Wench]

It's because it's Scottish

No I don't think that is it.

What could you use instead of the soup?

I now have a craving for croquettes/potato waffles/fishfingers.  

[Bar Wench]

'cactly. Mr Wench, even if he was not raised to speak Welsh would be able to read the signs .... they all can.

I am learning ~ slowly.

If I go to Holland, Germany or even France and give it my best attempt the locals always smile gently and help me ~ they appreciate that I am trying to speak their languiage. In Holland of course everuyone speakjs English but they still appreciate my trying.
In Wales, when you try to pronounce even a place name they simply look at you as if you are something they have stepped in on the pavement and ignore your efforts to communicate.

I had to order takeaway there the other week for delivery. I couldn't for the life of me get them to understand. I had to tell them that someone else would call with the address.