I thought I had my finger on the pulse and an awareness of the zeitgeist*
(*The defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.)

To be truthful, I’d never heard the word myself until a week last Thursday when I lost a Scrabble game to someone who got 398 points with it.

As I say, I thought I was pretty much up to date with what’s going on in the world and the hot topics people are discussing.  It turns out I was very much mistaken.

It’s bad enough when you’re mistaken – believe me it’s very much worse when you’re very much mistaken.

The other day I drove to the council rubbish tip even though I didn’t have anything to take there as I’d made the appointment eight months ago and in the meantime burnt my rubbish in a bonfire.  But I didn’t want to disappoint the bloke in the hi-viz jacket on the gate who’d have my name on his list and wouldn’t have been able to put a tick next to it if I was a no-show.

Anyway, someone on my car radio mentioned that serious discussions have been going on for some time in the corridors of power (and maybe the corridors of Powys) about whether the word ‘Mother’ should be replaced by the generic “Person Who Gives Birth”.  Which was news to me.

Everyone ever born had a mother and the word is used in many contexts. Will they all have to be changed?

Will married people refer to their “Person Who Gives Birth-In-Law”?

And what about children’s stories and Disney cartoons that feature magical Fairy Godmothers?

Will they have to be re-written and re-voiced to refer to “Fairy God-Persons Who Give Birth”?

Then there’s The Beatles song “Let It Be”.  Will that have to be re-recorded somehow because it contains the line, “Mother Mary comes to me, seeking words of wisdom!”

What can I say to this other than quote and update “Line Of Duty’s” Superintendent Ted Hasting’s regular cry of despair . . .  “Person Who Gives Birth . . . Of God! What’s happening?”

Well I’ve dug out my Speedos, filled up the paddling pool, repaired the barbecue and prepared the patio area in readiness for summer in Wales.

Weather gurus Ruth Dodsworth and Derek Brockway are already optimistic, so that’s good enough for me.

Now, what we actually need for a perfect summer in Wales is our sunny days to run one after the other.

From February to November, we probably get enough beautiful sunny days to make a whole sunny summer, they are just randomly dotted throughout the year, scattered between rain, snow, hail, sleet and anything else the weather gods deem fit to throw at us.

Anyone know who I can call about this?

As more of us will be on staycation this year, I need to make sure the sunny days run without a break from now until October.

Just about anything is available to arrange on the internet now, so surely there is something the Met Office can do to make sure summers are always sunny?

Actually, I wonder if controlling the weather will be a thing of the future?

Off to make a few enquiries…

Even if you don’t recall the precise details, somewhere in the dark recesses of your memory you’ll remember the name of the Long Island N.Y. town called Amityville, where something ‘spooky’ supposedly happened in a family home that spawned articles, books and several films.

Closer to home – in fact just a stone’s throw from my place, which explains all my broken windows – something that defies rational explanation apparently occurred in Ammanford.

But let’s go back to the house at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, where just before Christmas 1974, Mr & Mrs Lutz and their three children moved in, aware that a horrendous crime had been committed in the house 18 months before.

But because the price was so reasonable they went ahead with the purchase.  28 days later they moved out and never went back.

In 1977 Jay Anson wrote a book called “The Amityville Horror” about the apparently bizarre experiences the Lutz family endured during those 28 days.  Then came the film, followed by numerous sequels, prequels and threequels.

In 2017, a Mr and Mrs Tait bought a house in Ammanford accessed through a narrow alleyway, which they intended to turn into a B&B.  Nothing ‘strange’ happened in the house until a year later when Mrs Tait says she heard unsettling sounds of women and children screaming coming from the basement.

Mr Tait made recordings of these screams and other odd sounds including men talking in an unidentifiable foreign language, a printing press and police sirens, which all emanated from a hole in the basement.

The Tait’s have never claimed these sounds were of supernatural origin and to this day are completely perplexed as to where they came from. However, you won’t be surprised to learn they moved out in 2018, bought a camper van and have travelled around the UK since.  The house has recently been bought at auction for £90,000.

Does anyone out there have a rational explanation regarding the source of these weird sounds?  Because if no-one has, when I get time I’d like to write a book called the “Ammanford-ville Horror” and sell the film rights for a couple of million…

Call me old fashioned, but I’m a big supporter of please and thank you.
It costs nothing to be polite and to appreciate an act of kindness.

Far too often I witness such acts being totally ignored.

Take last week, for instance.  I saw a young man hold a door open for a middle-aged lady in a busy shop and was shocked to see that this gesture was totally ignored.  She walked on by without even acknowledging he was there.

Fair play to him, he just smiled and went on with his day.

This also happens on our busy roads.  Since lockdown lifted, I feel that there are twice as many vehicles on the road, going twice as fast, with so many more accidents happening day after day!

Are we becoming a nation of arrogant individuals, or is it that we are so preoccupied in our own little world that others don’t matter or deserve acknowledgment for being polite and courteous anymore?

Write and let me know your stories if this has happened to you.

The best story will win an extremely popular gift from Evans HQ

Good luck and . . . thank you!

A businesswoman from Port Talbot recently celebrated her 11th wedding anniversary.  Nothing remotely strange about that. Right?

Wrong!

I can’t believe I’m sharing this with you, but the woman in question is celebrating 11 years marriage to herself.  Yes, you read that right.  And I wrote that right.

I’m not going to name the lady but when I read about her marriage I was flabbergasted.  Never, as Frankie Howerd would have said, has my flabber been so gasted.

You’d think someone marrying herself would be a story the media would eagerly cover but I don’t remember hearing about it in 2010.

The lady, who is 51 now, got married at the five star Morgans Hotel in Swansea in May 2010 in front of 16 invited guests who all arrived by limo.

She was walked down the aisle by her father who gave his daughter away…to his daughter, who read the wedding vows to herself.

While I personally find this strange, the lady in question appears to have approached it in a very cool and well-thought-out manner.  “I was nearing 40”, she explained, “And had been ready to settle down for a while. So I decided to marry the one person who I loved most in all the world.  Not in a big-headed way.  It felt like the ultimate act of female empowerment. I got dressed-up and spent the day with the people I most care about and it was all about finding yourself and finding happiness within”.

Although her family and friends didn’t ‘get’ her thought process at first, they all came around to the idea because they knew she wanted her Dad to walk her down the aisle before she was too old.  This her Dad did.  And the lady then read out the marriage vows to herself.  A decade later she is still together, believing it’s about not settling for anything less than you deserve.

Good luck to her.

But if I come across a stranger local news story, I don’t know, say, one about an alleged haunted house in Ammanford where screams are heard coming from the basement, I shall be very surprised…

When you think about it, my chances of survival during this whole pandemic have been largely dependent on the common sense of others.

Masks have now become the new norm and if someone coughs within a two-metre radius, the whole room turns and stares at them.

Yes, it’s been far too long since many of us overpaid for coffee and as the weeks go on I do miss paying £15 for a large popcorn and Diet Coke at the cinema, but in the grand scale of things it’s not important. I’ve stopped enjoying going out.

I like being spontaneous and now everything is pre planned and regimented. But, slowing things down for just a few more weeks could make a huge difference.  To be honest, I’m not sure I want to go back to the way we were.

What about you?

I know I haven’t missed the driving and fighting with lots of traffic, but we do seem to be getting back to a bit of “normality” don’t you think?

I’d love to hear how life has changed for you, what have you not missed and what are you looking forward to?

Let me know!

Just as Chesney Hawkes is remembered for his one and only hit “The One And Only” (1990), Pam Ayres. despite having written countless poems, is mainly known for one in particular.  “I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth”.

A sentiment many can empathise with.  Actually, from the photo of Ms Ayres on her website, her confident smile reveals she has indeed looked after them.

But, as perfect as they look, Pam doesn’t seem to have gone down the dental route that almost every female presenter on ITV has recently.

I’ll explain.

I don’t watch an awful lot of television, so I avoid watching a lot of awful television.  But one morning when lockdown was getting everyone down, I woke up not having the slightest interest in creating any original comedy material.

Who said, “So what’s new?”

I got up at 6.30 and sat on the sofa in my pyjamas – I never did find out how a sofa got in my pyjamas – in front of my TV set.  An hour later I switched it on.

I watched ITV One’s “Good Morning Britain”, “Lorraine”, “This Morning” and then finally “Loose Women”.  I did it so you don’t have to.

I have no memory of anything that happened on these shows because I was mesmerised by the gleaming, supernaturally white teeth of every female presenter.  It was like “The Stepford Wives” were in a toothpaste ad.

One of the “Loose Women” had teeth so unbelievably white, I had to watch the programme wearing sunglasses to avoid snow blindness.

Another had a magnificent set of gleaming white teeth that would make Shergar jealous.

Their obviously expensive Hollywood-style teeth made me wonder if a memo was sent out from the Head Of ITV’s “Look Your Best On Camera”   Department, along with the name of a Harley Street dentist and they all lined-up to have crowns or veneer work done at a price we couldn’t afford.

So, when I’m very old and 99% of my teeth are false, I might look in the mirror at my remaining tooth and serenade it with a chorus of … “The One And Only!”

Ok, I need you to be honest with me here, how many times in the last week have you complained about something?

It might have been about slow service, cold food, bad customer service, waiting a long time for something?

We have become a nation of complainers, no longer afraid to speak up when something isn’t right – and in some cases, rightly so.

Now then, how many times in the last week have you said thank you or complimented someone about something?

I bet not half as much as you’ve complained about something, but if I’m wrong, well done!

Imagine you are walking down the street and a complete stranger walks up to you and says, “I absolutely LOVE that jacket, it looks amazing on you”.

How would that make you feel? I bet you’d feel good; I know I would.

So why do we spend so much time putting each other down and being negative about things?

Let’s spread a bit of positivity, my friends.  Try it this week.

If you have great service somewhere or see something you like, say something.  Even if you see a post, picture or update on social media that you think is good, look for the positive and comment.

Let me know how it goes . . .