David's blog

Well, the weather is very cold right now a bit premature in relation to winter but its dry which I guess is the most important thing. I have been watching sport most of the evening, and that means watching Chelsea playing Spurs and they won and were I guess a bit lucky to win they managed to carve out a win.  It seem Wales won the rugby game too, which does happen very often against South Africa. I have still not heard about the benefit thing, I guess the result will be that I have to go to a tribunal, and apparently that is year off, which is a long time. I have spoken to a few people in my a similar situation to me and there are all of the opinion that this system is not doing what it's suppose to do and that it support the sick and disabled people.

Well its the tradional village fair today again, like most things these days, it seems to come around quicker every year a sign of getting older I guess, I wonder if time speeds up when you are younger and when do you notice it starting to speed up, at what point, or does it happen at different times to different people? The fair has been getting smaller for many years now but it still keeps going, I guess this year it probably clashed with other markets or fairs somewhere else. There was hardly anyone there this afternoon but it seems to have picked up this evening. I am not sure what I think about the fair really, I guess I have other things on my mind at the moment like this constant pain I get every day/

I acheved a musical ambiton on Saturday night, I heard the above song beng performed live and I did,'t have to go too far to achieve it, only to the local pub.  I had heard the song many times and think its one of the best pop songs ever written in the Welsh language.  Its just a feel good tune from beginning to end and it must be great fun to play it and see people jumping up and down to it.  It is just a very catchy tune and you can't help but smile while listening to it. The version on Saturday night was not performed by the band who originally did it who were Anweledig, but by ex members of that bad, who are now called Brython Shag, this version sounded good anyway.  When I was growing up I was as bit snobbish about Welsh pop music I looked down on it a bit but now I regret this as I did not go and see the band who performed it I did have plenty of chances but didn't take them I will not make this mistake again and look down on Welsh pop music  or look down on

This is just more on my mistreatment by the Dept of Work and Pension regarding the Personal Independence Payments fiasco.  Last week I spoke to friend who is visually impaired, but otherwise fit and healthy.  He made a claim for this PIP and was awarded three hundred pounds a month due to his disability, great you might say, he his getting help with this disability.  Well I guess he is getting financial 'help'  Now its hard to get work in this day and age in this country and the statistics prove its much much harder for visually impaired person to get work, primarily due to ignorance on behalf of the employers, but I believe also that its due to the benefit system. Visually impaired people are as if people didn't know and it seems a lot don't, are human beings, so, I believe if you give them enough money they won't want to work and if they have enough money and are struggling to find work in the first place, they have an incentive not to 'try harder' and

I am still pissed off with the PIP situation, I haven't heard anything regarding the appeal. I spoke to friend last night who has had his result and is 4 times better off than me, I don't think his situation warrents such difference. I know that his eyesight is quite a bit worse than mine, but we are both registered as blind. It just goes to show that this PIP is a bloody farce thought its not funny in relaton to the pain it causes but it seems it a lottery where if you turn up on the right day you get the 'jackpot; it stinks really.  They took the money off me even though I had been through the humiliating process.  The whole thing makes me very angry really, maybe I should tell them to shove their money these people are vile.  The way they are behaving is no way to treat people who are disabled and sick, they really stink.  I never asked for this benefit in the first place, I was given the chance to apply and did and was given a life time award, well that's what I w

Well its been a tough time lately, health worries, money worries and wretched neighbours and now some bad news about a friend, well maybe I was not that a close friend, as this person died alone in their flat recently, I heard today.  In a close community such as Blaenau Ffestiniog you don't really expect to hear about about people who have been dead for a few weeks before no one finds them.  I think this kind of thing is common in impersonal places like big cites but not its a bit of a shock to find it happens in small rural towns. I knew this person was not well and had been unwell for a long time, and if he did not check himself into a care home or someone else do it for him it I feard the worst really.  The last time I saw him he was very uncomfortable, he had a multitude of problems.  His passing will relieve his pain but it is a shame that it was in such circomstances, this guy was very independent and maybe that is one of the reasons why it did end up like it did.  I thin

Well its the Olympics so I decided to get active, so I decided to try a bit of wils swimming yesterday.  The place where I went was a lake which is on now a closed down golf course.  When the golf course was open, people use to lose their balls in there all the time and some locals used to go swim in the lake to find the balls and then sell them in the golf shops around the area.  My brother was one of those who went golf ball hunting. he used to go with a friend and his canoe, my brother use to dive for them.7 When I got to the lake yestday, which is known locally as llyn Pencefn, I was a bit apprehensive as, the media is full of old or middle aged men diving into things other than the municple baths and coming a cropper or even worse just ending up dead, probably due to their age and the condtions, no fool like an old fool I guess.  Anyway I had come prepared so I thought I would first dip my toe in like you do, in most things in life, in doing this I felt slippery stone at the bot

The danger of the internet came to the fore again this week.  The girl who probably tweeted about the Welsh language did not want everyone to see it. I am sure she will not make the same mistake again or maybe she will.  Its quite easy to forget that what you write on here is there for the whole world to see sometimes this mistake can be classed as naive, but I guess when you are not thinking, which I guess you should always do really when posting on here, it is very easy to make a mistake.  I know I did it a few years ago and suffered the consequences.  On here the printed word can be taken out of context and lead to backlass as happend to this BBC researcher.  I had a go at this BBC person whihc was wrong I guess in hindsight as I have done the same thing so I suppose I ahould have had some sympethy. I blasted some people for the way I was treated in relation to something, I blasted them on here, the mistake I made was that they were local, I did not in my my naievity think anyone

This week the Welsh language seems to have been picked on a bit. I obviously speak Welsh so am a bit protective of my culture.  Last week the media wer having a go at the Eisteddfod for the fact that the they were not honouring the Welsh football team and were putting down to the fact that that the team, though some do, do not speak Welsh,  I am sure the  Welsh football team were not that interested in getting something from the Eisteddfod anyway.  The next episode was a woman on a programme about Pwllheli, who did not want her child being taugh through the medium of Welsh, she seemed to want it treated like the French language is treated, in basically an area where Welsh is gpoken by most people, and where the culture Cymreag is alive and well though it would nto be if were for idiots like this woman. What chance does the Welsh language have it even inhabitants of the area do not respect the language and the culure.  The third episode of the language being picked on happend yesterday,

Well the weather has been appalling for the last couple of days so been couped in here really, too wet to go out.  The summer seems to becoming a total washout at the moment, this is sad we are getting too much rain as it is, it seems to be increasing every year.  I know there is nothing I can about it, only complain and I guess there is not much point in that, as no one will listen. I do it I guess as it gets rid of the frustration of having shit weather all the time which is annoying, but I suppose I should not let it get to me as there  is nothing that can be done.  The weather does affect people though, people are generally happier in the sun than a drab rainy day. Today I download a synthesiser called Dune 2, it is the demo version so a lot of the functions do not work on it and I guess not all the presets are there either, which is understandable as they want you to pay for the thing.  It is the foot in the door method selling I guess.  I do like the sounds though, it is an FM

I spent a large part of this afternoon, giving answers to questions to someone who was filling in the PIP for me.  I was doing this as they have decided to stop my DLA for some reason, therefore I have to reapply for the disability benefit which is now called PIP. The questionaire was not very nice as I had to tell them how, show them how disabled I was, basically prove that I was worthy of getting this pittance I get every month.  I have received this pittance for over 20 years and have relied on it for that length of time, they said I could have it for life but they have reneagedc on that deal surprise surprise, its very hard to take anything that people say today, as honest and this is very sad state of affairs. Now that I have filled in the form, I more than likely will have to  go for medical test, to 'prove' my disability I will feel like a performing seal.

This game tomorrow in Lens, a small stadium in comparison to most football stadium, feels like the most hyped sporting event of all time, its everywhere, and the words used are 'cup final', battle of Britain and many more.  Gareth Bale, has not been helping matters, he is enjoying way too much the winding up of the English. the English press and management are biting like anything.  I do understand why the Welsh players are behaving in such a way as they are just full of joy just to be here, and regardless of whatever happens tomorrow, Wales will still be buyant as they have achieved so much so far. In the end though this is just a football game and there is no need to run riot, which I guess the English are the best at, with the hype.  I am a bit gutted that I am not in France to be honest but maybe its best to stay away due to the trouble, but given the chance I would go I think.   Back to the hype, if this carries on I will not be able to last the month of football I wil

Well, it has started, Wales's first appearance at a big footie competition for the first time in 58 years. I watched the game at home, and it was a good game for Wales as they won, it seemed to be a long game though, I guess, it was the tension, I did enjoy celebrating the goals though, even if they might have been a bit lucky, I guess they deserved the win as they had worked so hard for it, I think I put comms here and there when I right as I do like pauses I think Well its on to the next game now against England this game will have a different slant, due to the rivalry between the two teams.  Hopefully Wales will try their best again like they did last night, but it will be  a nervous affair for all concerned I reckon.  I will watch it at home as per usual I guess.  Going back to last night, when I got to the pub it was very lively in there were some lads from Liverpool staying up the road and had come down to the pub to watch the game, they made a lot of noise anyway but were

Been umming and arrring about getting myself a bike, this route my motivate me to get on at last, and the exercise might stave off the perirls of old age which I came across today, this woman tried for about 10 minutes to put her coat on, while sitting on the bus, she had patience I give her that, I would have thrown the damn thing out of the window, in the end she needed a hand to do, and anyway, she did not need the rain coad, it dried up by the time the journey came to an end, it was sad to see really, how the ravages of old age affect people.  A while later, I went for lunch and this elderly man was having some food in this cafe which I was in and when he tried to get up from the chair and leave the table, he got himself tangled up in the chair somehow and I got up to help him but he had freed himslef bv that time, the chair was lodged against the chair behind and the legs were blocking him, and he was stuck between the legs and the table, how a simple day to day thing can get

I bought a digital audio workstation a while ago, problem is my eyesight has trouble seeing colour, and contrast, and for many weeks now, since getting the daw, I have been trying to find a way to make the contrast of the channel strip easier to see, then I will be able to see the mute function properly which at the moment is difficult and therefore I do not know which channel is playing, my friend who is an experienced audio engineer says I need to learn to distinguish the tracks, to know which ones are playing and which are not, this takes practise much longer than it takes to use the mute button.  The program I use is Studio one and from the help guide, information, there does not seem to be a way of changing the channel strip colours, I have messed about with accessibilty functions on here but they have come up with nothing as yet, I guess I will keep trying I do not want to spend money on another daw which is more accessible if don't have to, so I will persevere with this one

I went swimming this morning, and had the pool all to myself, usually there is a group of disabled people in there, maybe they had week off, so they gave me the week off too, a week off of trying to swim around them.  I am having trouble with the goggles though, they keep steaming up, I have tried a couple of things to no avail, I will try something else next time, I read something on here, that liquid soap is good, so I baught some of that today, I eventually found some in tesco after going round and round the shelves a few time, I bought hand wash, which I assume is the same thing as liquid soap. After the swim like I said, I went to tesco and while there I baught a jar of beetroot and a couple of other things.  On the way from tesco, I could feel the bag slipping off my shoulder, as it was heavy, so I jerked it up, this was outside the computer shop, the next thing I heard was the jar of beetroot falling on the floor, I had obviously not closed the rucksack zip properly, so there

Well I have started to 'read' or is that listen to audio books, its possible now to download an app which will read the book while its on your phone, which can be handy for long boring bus journeys, the only problem I see, is the limited selection, I put in loads of serches and the book was not there, maybe they will beecome available in time, which I guess will be good for other users. I guess also the selection is limited as reading a book is much more popular than listening to one.  I have also used ebooks the selection is limited there too but not as limited as audiobooks, I guess the change from the paper version of a book will take time, but the sooner it happens, I guess the trees will be glad.  There will be no need to bookshelves then, and there will not be a library as such I guess, though the day when books are not in print will still take a while to get here I reckon. The main issue with audiobooks is staying awake I find, especially if the person reading the thin

Its been a bad day on the sporting front today.  The football team I follow, which is Chelsea, could only manage a draw against a poor West Ham Utd side, I guess it typifies the season the team has had, how far it has fallen in just a few months really. Also the England rugby team managed to win the Grand Slam with the help of a Welsh referee, which is ironic really, maybe he was trying too hard not to be bias, I guess he is only human. There was a very interesting documentary about Michael Jackson on this evening, though which was showing his journey from Motown to the place he ended up in.  I was a fan of his music, well I still am I guess, I remember geting the album off the Wall for my 18th birthday, from this girl, who I had been at school with and I guess fancied to some extent, I told her I loved the gift, she reckoned I was just creeping she did not believe me how thrilled I was, but I really was, I guess that's life. I am still a bit pissed off with tutor at the coll

A bit of shit day all in all, I guess it didn't help that I had broken the mobile phone so was in a hurry to fix it, which proved a bit tricky in relation to finding someone to do it.  I phoned around and some did did fix phones and others didn't.  The ones who did wanted a large amount of money. Anyway, I decided to take the phone to Bangor, on the bus.  When starting from Porthmadog, I got the urge to go the loo, but I was too late to had to hold on for another 15 miles or so, and the driver was driving like he was in funeral.  After being to the loo I need to get another bus to Bangor, I eventually go there, hoping the guy in the shop could fix the phone today, no chance, the part has to be ordered on, so will take few days, I have to go back there in a few days therefore and not looking forward to that journey again On the way back, the bus I got, did not connect with the bus it was suppose to, so this pissed me off too, and I ended up walking the 3 miles home, as I did

I spent today, recording a piece a music, that a friend and myself had come up with a few years ago, we gave it the title of In the Park.  It started out just me playing a couple of chords on the guitar, namely G and D7, and then my friend joined in witht he saxophone.  I just play those two chords over and over and he plays tunes over the chords. Anyway, I have recorded it before, but thought it would be interesting to let the people on the course I am on, reocrd it.  I thought it could be a projet where everyone could have a go at getting involved, doing percussion, and singing. The first thing recorded was the me playing the guitar, and playing the piece for about 5 minutes just over and over, on a guitar which was available at the college.  There were 2 microphones in place for the guitar one directly on the guitar and the other an ambient one.  It was done in one take, the saxophone was then recorded with one mic.  It was then decided to have some percussion so a little dru

Well, the big crack in the rendering has finally been fixed after a lot of fuss and bullshit, from when they told me that the thing had been fixed to so, the latest bullshit, that the house was going to be put on some scheme and that it would have had the whole lot rendered, this I think was said, as they were annoyed or not too pleased to be harassed by the citizens advice bureau. I had kind of got one over on them, well they should not mess me about I guess and be honest in their dealing, they are suppose to be there to help people who can't afford anywhere else to live not take the fucking piss.  I am sure the rendering will break again soon enough, and that its the building that needs doing again.  Anyway, its done now and hopefully I can paint a little bit of the living room now when it dries out from the damp. Damp is what it has been today all day, it has been vile weather all day, just wind and rain from the snow in America apparently, I don't know, just have to go by

Well another year is underway, hopefully a couple of health problems I have will improve or get sorted out this year.  They have been long standing which is very worrying, I am still waiting for the results from a specialist, though not holding out much hope he will do much but I guess you never know.  The weather here is very unseasonally mild, the supermarkets hand shops have winter stuff in them understandably but there is not sign of winter as yet, its the warmest winter so far on record apparently, the weather seems to be topsy tervey, its an interesting stubject really , well not until this year anyway, there has been loads of rain though, I am glad I live up in the hills so to speak as I am away from the floods which have been bad, I saw some sand bags outside some houses today, I guess they are still worried we will get more rain and there is no sign of it ending really I guess. One of the issues that's gets me down is the benefit trap,  A  welfare trap  is a situation