Independence Day Again

The people of Blaenau Gwent have spoken. In last year's general election, New Labour fielded a candidate from an all-woman shortlist in one of their safest seats, only to be whipped soundly by Peter Law, a traditional Labour man (who ran as an independent) and Welsh Assembly member who was popular in the constituency and seemed a natural choice for parliament. The lesson being clearly that even in a safe seat, the big parties need to listen to their constituents.

Sadly, Law died in April, triggering yesterday's by-elections for both his Westminster and Welsh Assembly seats. Both elections were won by independents, the new AM being Law's wife, Trish. Again New Labour gets a bloody nose.

There have to be many reasons for this. It is often the case that a government party performs relatively poorly in by-elections, and there must have been a significant amount of votes cast out of loyalty and respect for a dead man, but I would like to think that this might be the start of the realisation in the old Labour heartlands that New Labour is no longer the party of the workers and the dispossessed. This is a party fighting over middle Britain, assuming that the traditional support will always be there — which it won't, of course, unless its needs are addressed.

Besides, this country needs a few more independent MP's. It helps to keep the major parties honest.

Blue Skies and Barbies

Over the weekend I camped out at Southampton Kite Festival, and a very enjoyable time it was too. As is so often the case, the wind was a bit too light (and the sun too bright) most of the time but I still got to see V&K coming second in the pairs ballet competition (and top of the experienced class, which is great) and the new look Scratch Bunnies, now a six man team thanks to the addition of UK champion Chris Gough and all-round kite deities Carl and James Robertshaw who have won more kite competitions than anyone else has had hot dinners. They are already looking pretty darn good, so I'm looking forward to seeing them fly together after some more practice. Word is that they are working on an assault on the international kite competition circuit.

For me, though, the highlight was probably the impromptu barbecue that took place in the camp site. There was a big whip-around and a trip to the nearby supermarket for a nice selection of burnables and drinks, followed by a really mellow evening of eating, drinking, chatting, and looking at the flashy lights that were hanging off the small number of kites that were still flying.

I even spent some time flying kites myself over the weekend, which is a rare thing these days.

Diddley diddley di do dum!

A week or so ago, <3 and I found out about a folk music "session" in our vicinity from a colleague and as <3 used to be in a folk band and fancied having the chance to sing and blat her bodhran and I rather like listening to music of just about any sort, we turned up at the pub yesterday evening to check it out.

We thought we were playing it cool by turning up half an hour after the intended start time, but found only two others there. The others soon turned up from their respective barbecues, and the session got under way, giving me the distinct impression that Wantage is Squeezebox Central with the amount of concertinas and melodeons about. The whole evening was refreshingly friendly, with even us newcomers encouraged to take part, though I must admit I was too nervous to have a go myself — I bottled out of singing (though I did join in on some choruses) and hadn't brought any harmonicas (which I wouldn't have been confident playing folk tunes on, even with the friendly atmosphere). <3 sang a few songs though, and seemed to go down well with the others.

This was a really fun evening and we are planning to go again — and with the good natured goading from the other musicians, I now have a challenge for myself: to learn a tune to play at next month's session. I've ordered a book to help get myself started...

Project X Unveiled

I doubt there are many/any people who read this page that haven't heard the news by other means, but here goes anyway... If all goes well and there are no major problems, by the end of the year I should become a father. It still feels weird and distant, but it is rather less so for <3, who has spent quite a lot of time feeling ill over the last couple of months. She has, however, scanned our 11 week ultrasound and added a couple of annotations so you can tell which blob is which. So, without further ado, let me introduce little Asbo...

Well Rounded

Well, who'da thunk it? Today was my first Rounders game of the season and we won. Last year, despite our team doing pretty well overall and winning a few games, I don't think I ever played when we won. Perhaps this is a good omen.

Jousting and Corrupting the Young

That was a fun but tiring weekend, particularly Saturday which saw a trip to see Sister1 and family, which included a visit to a mediaeval fair near them. I managed to buy myself a good new ale mug, and sat watching assorted shows including fellers hitting each other with assorted bits of metal and wood (sometimes on horseback) and a falconry display which culminated in flying two falcons (I can't remember what they were — they were two different species and neither was a peregrine!) to one lure, which was pretty cool.

Later on I managed to have a lot of fun with my 5-year-old niece, who took an interest in my harmonica, so I gave her a spare and taught her a little bit of chugging, and in no time she was getting quite good (though she couldn't get her head around the draw notes) and we had some fun chugging away together for a while. Later, when the rest of us were doing something else, the sound of "tock-a-diddley, tock-a-diddley" could be heard from the garden. The niece tells me that she has a friend at school who has a harmonica, so I am fully expecting her to be far better than I am by the time I next see her (in a couple of months, probably). If she stays interested, that is.