Blog Entries

FOOL'S GOLD

alf

Well, it looks like here on the St. David's Peninsula we've finally killed the golden goose - by which I mean that the very thing that people used to come here for is now dead.

The quiet beaches and coves, sea cliffs and dunes, hills and estuaries and undisturbed wildlife that are the reason the region was given National Park status sixty years ago are largely now a thing of the past - at least through July and August.

Whatever word you want to use - packed, crowed, jammed, cram [...]

LEAVE US TO DIE

alf

The insidious and hideous march of Health & Safety continues like an unstoppable swarm of army ants - I see that Freshwater West, a beach I surf from time to time, is now patrolled by lifeguards.

One of the great joys of surfing at 'Fresh West' in the past was its wildness - totally undeveloped and with no commercialisation bar an ice cream van, just a lovely environmentof waves, sand and dunes (with the occasional bang! from the nearby Army firing range -&nbs [...]

HANGING ON THE LINE

alf

In recent years it's become the norm to charge or fine the ‘great' British public for just about everything that a human being can be charged or fined for - we get hammered by excessive taxes on fuel, shafted whenever we try to park anywhere and nailed if we creep a few miles above the speed limit or inadvertently drop litter thanks to - get this - being the third most surveillanceobsessed nation on Earth, after only China and Russia I believe.

But much as I think e [...]

SELLING OUT

alf

I note that Gillian Duffy, the pensioner who Gordon Brown last week called ‘bigoted', has recently pocketed £80,000 from upstanding organ the Mail on Sunday for, one presumes, the full low down on how Mr Brown's remarks so devastated her that only eighty grand from the scummiest newspaper in Britain would help her overcome the associated trauma.

(I say ‘one presumes' by the way because, to coin a phrase, I wouldn't even wipe my arse on the Mail on Sunday let [...]

THEY AIN'T MEANT TO BE THERE

alf

I was watching the estimable Ray Mears on TV recently, tracking wolves in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, a place I know quite well having worked there for several months a few years ago.

At the time Ray was there wolves were just about to be removed from the endangered species list after being successfully reintroduced to the region in the 90s, although during filming some cretin hadjumped the gun and already poisoned a young bitch a few days before the ban on wolf hunting and ki [...]

GETTING BORING

alf

Yesterday was a 'five-star' day on the Severn Bore, meaning the biggest and longest wave(s) of the year would be beetling up said river thanks to the larger tides of the equinoctial period.

These days such things attract hordes of 'surfers' for the bore is no longer the bizarre surf experience it once was - as you can tell from the newspaper pics of literally dozensof people riding it.

Loads of longboards, crockfuls of canoes and kayaks, barrel loa [...]

Simonseeks - to rip you off

alf

The worrying times for freelancers continue. Last year I made the mistake of contributing a few articles and pics to a new website, Simonseeks.com (which rather disturbingly has just won some website of the year award - presumably awarded by an organisation that considers it perfectly legitimate for freelance travel writers to be paid next to nothing for their work).

The way the site worksis that you contribute material, for free, go through a tedious and time consuming editorial proces [...]

TINSEL TOWN

alf

Last Saturday saw Hollywood come to West Wales - well, that's a lie actually, it was far better than Hollywood.

Theatr Mwldan in Cardigan saw the penultimate stop of the Banff Mountain Film Festival's UK tour, and a fine night of outdoor film action it was.

From free climbing to kayaking, powder skiing to mountain biking, we saw a collection of award winning films from the 2009Banff Mountain Film Festival that were variously inspirational, amusing and heartbreaking.

[...]

NO PAY NO WORK!

alf

I'm realistic enough to know that this blog receives about the same number of visits as Ian Brady, but for those of you who might be contemplating a career in freelance journalism, here's a tip - DON'T WRITE FOR NOWT!

Whilst rates for articles in the print media stagnate or even drop, there's an increasing tendency of the editors of many websites to offer payment based onlyon the number of hits your article receives (if any) - this effectively means you let them have a t [...]

GOING FOR A BRAZILIAN

alf

I recently sent a feature proposal to the editor of a Swiss based internet mag that goes by the awful title of 'Gatsby Magazine'. It's aimed at the kind of high flyers who wear too much jewellery and appear to have bodies made of soft matte plastic so I thought there might be some money in writing for it - mistakenly it seems as readingbetween the lines it seems it may be going under.

Should this be the case I dare say the worl [...]

SUFC - YOU'RE CRAP AND YOU KNOW IT

alf

Football - the beautiful game...

My arse. And here's why:

I'm planning a reunion weekend in Sheffield with a couple of old (in every sense of the word) mates. We all went to uni there and thought we could re-enact old times with a visit to Sheffield United FC as they pit their dubious skills against QPR, followed by a gallon or so of ale and a curry.

One could reasonablyask if a finer day out is known to mankind? I think not.

However, this simple pla [...]

DARK STAR?

alf

According to a press release I received today Galloway Forest Park in SW Scotland has just received a 'Dark Sky Award' from the International Dark Sky Association (no, me neither...) for the - well, as you might guess, for the darkness of its skies.

This makes the new 'Dark Sky Park' a prime spot for star gazing, and with so much of the UK suffering serious 'lightpollution' this is of course a GOOD THING; apparently less than 10 per cent of the country& [...]

THE LAND THAT TIME - AND THE SURFING TRIBE - FORGOT

alf

I'm part way through Roger Mansfield's fascinating book ‘The Surfing Tribe', a history of surfing in Britain, which I'd recommend for both the words and pics, but I have noticed that the book brings out an interesting and unexpected similarity between Cornwall and London.

London, of course, sees itself - particularly the media that are based there - as being representativeof wider Britain, which is clearly nonsense but nonetheless true. As an example I once [...]

NEWQUAY v BOURNEMOUTH

alf

Fame beckons - after writing this I'm off to be interviewed for BBC Radio Four's ‘You and Yours' programme (Mon 19 Oct Mid-day since you ask) on the conundrum of Bournemouth's surf reef and the impact it may have on Britain's self-styled surf city Newquay.

Now assuming the reef is ever finished there are some who say it will attract surfers away from Newquayto Bournemouth and who feel that Newquay's surf business owners are being somewhat complacent [...]

So What?

alf

Apparently the more a writer blogs the more chance their is of their blog/website coming up in search results.

The only trouble is it seems that the more a writer blogs the less they have to say. It's a bit like the Facebook/Twitter conundrum - the more time you spend telling people what you're about to do/have done the less time you have to actually do it.

So I'm off todo something - although I'm not sure what.

Twattering at the Bookface

alf

Facebook. Twitter. Possibly the biggest waste of time in human history?

If it's worth informing your friends about it deserves more than 140 characters or a nudge, poke or whatever on Facebook; and if it's not worth more than an entry on Twatter of Boookface then it's probably not worth the trouble of making the entry or anyone else reading it.

C'mon, haven't yougot anything better to do with your life than switch on your pc, log onto Smatter or Arseface a [...]

Are You Using Your Brain?

alf

Regular newspaper readers will perhaps have become aware of how much more reader input is encouraged these days - reader's tips, reader's pics, even reader's articles in some cases.

This can on rare occasions result in something worth reading or viewing, but on the whole it's a bit like Nissan offering 'customer's mechanical tips' in their garagesor your local plumber asking for 'client's advice' to put on his website - neither&nbs [...]

Get a life...

admin

Like most people I get regular requests to become someone's 'friend' on Arsebook or Twatter, often from people I've never met, and for various reasons - invariably business related - I've had to sign up to both these sites.

God help me. What a quivering waste of space they both are. Why would I want to 'poke' someone or write on their 'wall'? Why would anyone on the planet give a rat's arse about what I or anyone else is doing in less than 1 [...]

Oh, Canada!

alf

I'm currently enjoying a few weeks skiing and other outdoorsy stuff in Canada (it's work actually...), and y'know, apart from the thrill of zooming down snowy hills, one of the great joys of being in this country is meeting the 'locals', who almost without exception love living here.

Ok there are some complaints about politicians, local government and the like, butcertainly none of the endless moaning and whining from people like me who are sick of the venality, [...]

AN OPEN LETTER TO ARRIVA TRAINS

alf

Letter sent to Arriva Trains after refusal of refund on unused ticket...

16/2/09

Your ref. 266335

Dear Miss Mills,

Thanks you for your recent letter. First, please do not take the comments below personally since they are aimed at the overpaid individuals who are in charge of the shambolic operation that calls itself Arriva Trains (perhaps Non-Arriva would be a better name?).

Anyway... I see that you have decide [...]