While storm Bram raged over the country I got another phone call. It was the infrared panel people. This weather had caused a delay, which was understandable. I was booked in for finally having the work, that had started in August, finished on December 18, but they wanted to move that appointment. Well so be it. It’s been pushed to January now. One day! One day it will be done…
 |
| Still not connected |
I am on the mailing list of the historical society of the valley, and from time to time they have interesting lectures (like this one). And there was one announced about mining in the Ogwen Valley. That sounded good! And on the day it was held, I had just finished a big pile of marking work, so I could afford to go. I got home, I had my shower and my dinner, and then sneaked out of the house. I was just on time!
The man who held the lecture had had a varied career, and now he was retired. And he was still interested in mines.
Spoiler alert: there hasn't been much mining in the valley if you count by how many tonnes of actual metal were retrieved, or how much money it made anyone. This valley belongs to slate. But if you count the sheer number of little scratches in the rock where people have tried, it is quite a lot!
There are traces of iron mining, and lead, and copper, and arsenic, and ochre, and manganese, and molybdenum in the valley. And that has resulted in little trials by the river, gashes in the big hills, barely recognisable remains in copses, hills with a multitude of little holes in them, the occasional passage that even seems to go somewhere, and some innocent looking scree slopes that turn out not to be natural. And more!
I recognise some of the locations, but quite often I barely know anything about them. (Posts about some mentioned locations are here and here and here and here.) I feel like I know a lot more now, even though I must admit I struggled a bit to understand the man’s Welsh. It didn't really help he was speaking into a microphone, but I was close enough to hear him directly as well, so I heard him twice with a tiny delay in between. Well worth it anyway!
I had worked on my big pile of marking for weeks. And when the deadline came close, I had resorted to working in the weekend as well. That was dull, but the result was that on the Monday I only had a few scripts left. Fortunately! I also had a guest lecture, a drop-in, a student presentation, and a fair number of emails to answer from students about other assignments. And I had to get some stuff ready for one of these assignments. Maybe more about that later. But either way; there wasn't that much time I could dedicate to it on Monday. But I did get it done! And I immediately emailed my moderator to say it was ready for her.
I had emailed her on Friday that that pile was on its way, but she hadn’t responded. That was not a good sign.
When I had finished it I breathed a sigh of relief, and went home. It was nice to have that off my back! Even though the intermediate pile of marking was still there, of course. But that deadline wasn't for a few days. It felt easier than last year, when I had turned into a marking zombie.
By the evening I had a response from the moderator. She would do it the very next day. And that meant I would probably be able to release it then. And that was within the deadline! Success!
My deadlines were a bit earlier than a few years back. And they came in short succession; too short. But at least this means now that I won't have an enormous pile hanging over me over over the Christmas period. And that is nice!
If you are ever on Anglesey, it is difficult to fail to notice that there is a big commemorative column there, with the statue on top. The statue is of the Marquess of Anglesey. It's located near Britannia Bridge, the main access route to the island. And it towers over the landscape. I had been aware of it, obviously, since I moved there. But it was closed. It used to be a tourist attraction, where you could walk an internal staircase to the top, and then stand underneath the actual statue, and have an amazing view. Lack of maintenance had put a stop that, though.
 |
| The column from the copse underneath it |
Then it was renovated. And last year it opened again! I thought I'd like to go, but it never actually happened. But now that I happened to be on Anglesey with Neil anyway, we could give it a go. He is up for that sort of things as well.
It wasn't perfect weather, but it wasn't the worst either. We decided to go for it. The original column keeper’s cottage has now been turned into an office and a café, and there we bought tickets. A young lad stood by the actual column and wanted to see our tickets. And then we went in.
The new staircase is very respectful of the surroundings. You wouldn't know that it is new! And we were up in no time. We could hear the wind howl from a bit of a distance. It wasn't necessarily very comfortable up there, but we could see Britannia Bridge quite clearly, and Telford Bridge with some difficulty. And we got a good look at the actual marquess. I thought it was worth it! And I spotted some nice fossils in the limestone of the column.
 |
| The new staircase |
 |
| The marquess from as close as you can get |
 |
| The view |
 |
| Column selfie |
After a few minutes we went down again, and had a little chat with the young lad again. Then we all together went to the café. We probably were the last visitors of the day. Not only were they closing in about an hour, but also, the weather was turning quite bad. Not very many people would want to pay to get to a very exposed location in weather like that.
The café has a bit more information about the marquess, the column, and all of that. We didn't think it said enough about the actual marquess: Henry Paget. We supplemented the information given with some googling.
It turned out that this man had been born in London, and at the age of 22 had for some unexplained reason been parachuted in to stand for election in the constituency of Caernarfon, and had been elected. That was his linked to Anglesey. In the Napoleonic war, he has been second in command to the Duke of Wellington, and had apparently lead a very successful charge on the French troops. That sounded like plenty of reason get him a statue. And be given the title of marquess.
The statue was decades younger than the column, by the way; the latter had been raised straight after the napoleonic war, but the statue had only been added to it after the Marquess’ death. Which was decades later. This probably meant he had been lucky; during the aforementioned charge, he had been hit by a cannonball, and his leg had to be amputated. That's not a trivial injury. And he was a rather rich amputee, and had been able to commission a rather good prosthetic leg. That seems to then have turned into a bit of a prototype for prosthetics for generations to come.
On the way back I briefly pointed out the blueschists the column stands on. They are special!
Altogether we had a rather successful addition to our outing to the racetrack. We had had views about as good as you could have had on that day, we had learned some local history (and geology), and we had supported the local economy. Not the worst score if I may say so!
This would be the last race of 2025. The Borders League fixture close to home. It would be on the Anglesey race track (which normally accommodates motorised vehicles), near Aberffraw, organised by the Cybi Striders.
Neil has got the race bug, and was going to come with me. So we drove up together. The track has good facilities: lots of parking, and there is a café. We even saw showers. I went to the loo, and then we went to find the other Eryri Harriers. And I did a little warmup. Soon we were asked to go to the start. Neil was surprised that so, so many people had appeared, often having travelled quite far, to run only 5 miles.
 |
| Kevin starts us |
We started. The route was one loop around part of the course, and then around the full course twice. I don't think this is very large racetrack. But I never have been to one before.
The route goes a bit up and down, so you can't run at one consistent speed. But I noticed I wasn't going at my usual borders league speed (if I have such a thing). But that was ok. I was here, and I was avoiding one set of penalty points for the club. And I did not want to run a PB anyway. Doing alright would be enough!
 |
| Approaching the finish |
I cruised along until I only had half a circuit to go. Then I sped up a bit, and tried to pick off as many women as I could. Quite a few! And when I knew the finish was close I did the final sprint, just to make sure that none of these women could overtake me in the last few meters. Success!
The first thing I saw after the finish was Neil. They congratulated me. The second thing I saw was richie. That must mean he had finished before me! Again! I really need to go and beat him sometime. There will be chances in the new year!
I then went to cheer on the other harriers. And everybody else finishing. But after awhile I figured I needed to hand in my token. Before I got there, though, I was intercepted by the rest of the club for a group picture. And then I could go and find one of the sisters who was registering my position.
Nia, our chair, and Anna, with whom I had done the handover, were there too. Nia wanted to have a little chat about how we as committee members would work together. That was fairly quickly done. Then I went looking for Neil.
He was having a cup of tea in the cafe. I said I would check out the showers. They were open! It was nice to get that sweat off me. Normally I do that at home, but today we wanted to tag on a little tourist trip at the end. That’s nicer in civilian clothes, feeling clean. And when I was done we left.
The next morning the results were in. I had been slower than ever. Oh well! And Anna, who is four months pregnant (this is not a secret), had come third! What a woman. And that stellar result meant she had clinched the club road championship. Well-deserved. Soon I will be involved in organising the event where she will get that prize. I might have another chance next year!
That pile of marking just wasn’t getting smaller quickly enough. And the deadline for the huge pile was coming so close! By the Friday, I knew things looked bad. The website said that the students could expect feedback by Tuesday. And I had several timetabled slots on both the Monday and the Tuesday! And it also needs to be moderated. I mailed my designated moderator to ask if she could moderate at the last minute. And I resigned myself to sacrificing part of my weekend.
In a way it was good that it was a bit of a gloomy, rainy day. I got started after breakfast. And I took breaks for going food shopping, watering the plants, and having lunch, but otherwise I just marked and marked.
I wasn’t even anywhere near done at the end of it. But I figured I would manage to finish it off by Tuesday. It would have to do!
At the Eryri Harriers AGM, I became the new honorary secretary. But that didn't mean I know how to be one. It was necessary for the person currently in the post to show me what to do. That person is Anna, with whom I have both raced and car-shared. And that hand-over has now happened.
On a rainy Friday evening we had a little Zoom call. I logged into the Welsh Athletics website, and she showed me how to organise club business from there. She also explained to me around what time the various important things having to do with the club are happening. It looks like that the next thing that needs to happen is the organisation of the event at which all sorts of club prizes, like for the most improved runner, or the person with the biggest contribution to the club, are awarded. These prizes need to be retrieved, so they can be engraved with the names of the winners of 2025.
It wasn't a long call, but I really feel like I am ready for it now. And I have already engaged in my first official activity: ask chair for our updated constitution. Welsh Athletics requires that we keep that sort of documentation up-to-date on their website. And soon we will have the first committee meeting. I suppose it has started!
 |
| The portal on the WA website. Some data removed. |
