Dr Claire

 I had taken the Monday off. I looked forward to not going to Menai Bridge. And then an email came: my former colleague Claire would have her viva that day, and I was invited to celebrate with her afterwards in the pub. And I like Claire! She covered for my colleague Mollie when she went on parental leave. He interrupted her PhD for that by a year. She did a fine job. We also hung out socially. We did a memorable walk just after a race, when my IT bands were not collaborating at all. We also had done a walk with my other colleague Katie. And she had a whole bunch of us over for a games night. So I wanted to come. Even on my day off. 

I decided to bike. I don’t like biking to almost work (the pub is some 600m from the office) but now that the weather was finally good for biking again it would be a pity to drive. 

I got to the pub and didn’t see any of the celebrants. When I checked my email I saw that there was an update: everyone was in the coffee area, having cake. Oh dear! It was my day off. I hadn’t brought my key card. How would I get into the building? 

I phoned the person who had sent the update, but she didn’t answer. I tried three more. One answered, but he was at home. Finally, the first person saw she had a missed call, phoned me back, and let me in. Success! 

Now I could go and congratulate the new doctor. (Yes I know, she still has to do corrections.) I was also introduced to her partner Tom. And soon we went to the pub. ‘We’ included her external supervisor and external examiner. Excellent! 

We sat outside, because we could. Claire was clearly feeling a bit strange. That’s normal after finishing something that big! And someone had prepared shag stickers. Her PhD was about sea birds, and she are a good candidate if you want to get some light relief out of them. After one drink we relocated to a nearby pizza place for dinner. British vivas take hours; I bet she was hungry.

My ‘Honk if you love a shag’ sticker! 

It was funny that in the restaurant there was a bit of a buzz about Effi. A lot of people either had already seen it, or were really keen to see it. I have never experienced such excitement about a Welsh film!

I was quite aware of having to bike home again, so after that pizza I said my goodbyes and left. Claire is staying at the University, be it on main campus, so we will be able to keep seeing her!

Poo problems

There was a time that a big blonde dog did a lot of shitting in front of my house. I did not appreciate that. Neither did Dilwyn, the manager of Neuadd Ogwen. I once caught sight of dog and owner in the act (hence knowing it was blonde), but I saw that from the office, and I had to run downstairs to run out of the house to confront them. Of course, the front door was locked, and the key was in the kitchen, another flight of stairs down. By the time I got out of the house there was no trace of them. So I never confronted them. But then they suddenly stopped coming.

Then, shitting dogs came back. This time it was a young lad who would come from the car park, walk a dog that looked a bit like a Shiba Inu, let it shit in front of my house, pick up the shit, and then only minutes later come back with a much more short-haired dog, with which he did the same. He did pick up the shit, but he never got all of it. And I had the strong suspicion he would throw the shit in my bin. It is not a public bin.

I do understand; it's better in a bin than right by my front door. As this is not a dog walking area, there are no dedicated dog poo bins. But I don't produce much non-recyclable waste, so my bin doesn't get emptied very often. If it's once a year it's much! So I don't want endless dog poo bags accumulating in there. Imagine the smell. 

I spoke with Dilwyn and he wasn't happy either. There was a lot of dog shit residue right by the loading bay of the Neuadd. He didn't find that very inviting for his visiting bands.

Then one day, when Neil was busy painting in the garden, I saw the young lad approach again, and I went out of the house to kindly ask him if he could perhaps go somewhere else. If he would just walk in the other direction from the car park he would end up in some woodland. If you take the dogs off the path then they shit away from where anyone goes. And the woodland has dog poo bins. Wouldn't that be a better idea than to piss off both me and Dilwyn? And loads of bands?

As my unfounded assumption was that he was local, I asked him in Welsh if I should speak Welsh or English to him. He had no idea what I was talking about. Then I asked him the same thing in English, and he preferred English. I said that I had noticed him letting his dogs poo in right in front of my house all the time, and that I knew he picked up the shit, which I appreciated, but that he never got it all, in I didn't like that much residue straight by my front door. He was very apologetic and said he would go somewhere else. He was so much more timid than I would have expected! This is Bethesda, after all. You might get a lot more assertive response from a young lad with a big dog.

Since I spoke to him, I indeed haven't seen him. I think he meant it when he said he would go somewhere else. I didn't think it was going to be this easy!

I am not taking anything for granted, though. The previous time it didn't take long for one supply of shit to be replaced by another. But I hope that there will be a bit of a quiet period now. I don't have a dog and I don't want to live can a dog poo landscape!

Lots of paint work

I have stairs, a shed and fencing, all made of wood, in my garden. It all needs maintenance. I aim to paint it once a year, but I must admit that I don't always manage that. And sometimes you've painted them, and then not get the impression that it made an awful lot of difference.

The state of my wood was a bit of an issue to Neil. He had been dreaming of painting it with different (better) paint, and of just how much satisfaction that would give him. So after two busy days with his family, he was quite happy to pick up a paintbrush in the weekend and get to work. He didn't mind at all that I did entirely different chores, and wasn't helping.

We had bought a 5 litre can of paint especially for the occasion, and he finished it all. The shed and the stairs look amazing! He didn't do the fencing. But he did do the garage door. I had never painted that. Everything looks amazing, and he is satisfied now! I would say that's a success…

Freshly painted shed and stairs

Effi o Blaenau

I had only been to the movies recently; Neil and I had gone to Madfabulous. But shortly later, another film would hit the theatres: Effi o Blaenau. I saw the trailer and was immediately interested. A film about a girl living in dead-end Blaenau. Sounded up my street! Not so much Neil’s, so I thought I would go alone. 

The film was really well received by the critics, and got a lot of media attention, and that piqued Neil’s interest. So we went together after all. He had never been to a Welsh film, even with subtitles.

I was a bit taken aback by the title. Grammatically correct it would be “Effi o Flaenau”, but maybe the marketing department wanted to keep the town name intact for those who don’t speak Welsh and don't understand mutations. 

We went to Pontio this time, as they had the most convenient screening time. It wasn’t sold out, but quite busy! And they made us sit through half an hour of commercials and trailers. Then it finally began. 

Effi is a young girl who seems to not work or study but lives in a house with a friend. She has a grandma who cares, but she doesn’t appreciate that. She is rude to the lady living opposite. There is a bloke called Kev she has some sort of involvement with. And she gets wasted every weekend. That sort of seems to be her life.

Spoiler alert

One night she goes to a nightclub to get wasted and meets a handsome stranger, and has a one night stand with him. This time she is really smitten, and really hopes it will lead to something more. But he doesn't answer her texts. And, of course, soon she realises she is pregnant. She goes on a quest to make him acknowledge her, but she finds out he has a wife and a child and gives up. And feeling quite alone, she reaches out again to her grandmother. Who accepts her back in her life. Kev thinks the baby is his, and welcomes it. He is not well pleased when she tells him it's not his. 

With her grandmother on her side she decides to have the baby. And Kev gets over the fact that he's not the father, and is supportive as well. But disaster strikes again. At 28 weeks, she goes into labour. She phones 999, but they tell her it will take quite a while for an ambulance to get there. She just takes a taxi. And she is taken in, but the place is terribly understaffed. They also make a point of portraying the hospital as in a terrible state, with exposed wiring everywhere, and abandoned repair work, and whatnot. The hospital initially tells her that all is well, but when the evidence becomes undeniable that that's not true, they decide she has to go to a hospital that has a neonatal space available. There are two options: Birmingham and Aberystwyth. They send her in an ambulance to Aberystwyth, even though it is snowing, and the roads are a bit iffy.

Needless to say that on the icy road, the ambulance crashes, and the paramedics have to deliver the baby there and then. It's too young to survive in an ambulance, and dies.

Kev figures there might be an opportunity to sue the hospital and claim compensation. A local lawyer thinks their chances are good. Effi has a problem with financially benefiting from the death of her baby. Later, at a hospital check-up, she meets the midwife she thinks should have been there with her in the ambulance and saved her baby, and confronts her. The midwife tells her that the problem in the first place was not enough neonatal spaces, and that having to pay off a bereaved mother would only lead to fewer spaces and more deaths. Effi decides not to sue. But she is not at peace. 

At some point, the lady living opposite where she initially lived finds her passed out on the street, and in spite of everything, helps her out. To be honest, everyone who didn’t see coming that there would be some redemption here had their eyes closed. The next thing is that the grandmother does some babysitting for that lady. And encourages Effi to engage with the kid. Of course they soon have rapport, and go swimming together. And it ends with Effi stating that life in Blaenau is hard, but that the people there are resilient.

We both really enjoyed it! The acting was fab. I really enjoyed the scenery as well. They make a lot of the very empty landscape a bit east of Blaenau. I was trying to work out where the two houses are Effi lives in over the course of the film. I thought there was a bit of a thickly laid on moral, with the not suing the hospital story, but that is not a major thing. Aspects of the story were a bit predictable. Obviously, she would make amends with the lady across the street somewhere along the way. Also not a major gripe. We recognised the actor she has a one night stand with from Madfabulous. Wikipedia told me that even the lead actress had been in there, but I hadn't noticed that. Maybe the pool of Welsh actors isn't huge! And we wondered what Effi lives off. 

I supposed the film paints a bleak picture of Blaenau. They make sure to give it bleak weather at all times, and they emphasise boarded-up houses and fly tipping. Effi’s main calorie intake comes from vodka. The lady opposite can barely feed her kids, and doesn't dare go to the swimming pool because people treat her badly there. And I suppose all of that is real. But they do plant positives. The forgiving grandmother, who takes her in even though she has a badly paid job at the chippy, and a small house, and is willing to see past the abuse Effi has given her before. The kindness of the lady opposite the street. The friends who are there for each other. The young lad who seems to live a life quite like that of Effi, but who manages to buy her a pram for the child that isn't his. I suppose all of that is real as well. 

I think the film is quite a hit in Wales, and it might even be quite successful in England. The day after I happened listened to radio 6, and found Cerys Matthews interviewing the lead actress. It might even make it to the continent. Blaenau might become famous! In its Blaenau way…

Hanging out with Neil’s family

Neil is from a rather close family. To me it felt like they had visited only 10 minutes ago, but they were going to visit again. That's great! They are really lovely people and it is nice to hang out with them. And we had agreed that I would join them on the Thursday evening. We would go for a quick meal in town, and then do a guided walk over the Orme, looking at wild flowers. I was a little bit hesitant about the weather, as it was the hottest day of a heatwave, but at least it would be evening.

I drove up to leave my car in Neil’s street, and then walked down to the pub through the shadows. We had a nice meal, and then we said goodbye to Neil's mum and stepdad. They didn't fancy the walk. With his sister and brother-in-law we made our way to the Orme. When we approached the meeting point, we didn't really see the throng we expected. Neil checked his messages. About an hour earlier, it had been cancelled because of the weather! That was a bummer.

We decided to walk back with a detour, enjoying a bit more of the Orme. We went past Bishop’s Quarry, and saw some chuffs. And we had a cup of tea together before the others went back to their accommodation. 

I hadn’t intended to join them again night after, but they were so inviting I changed my plans. I did have to work on Friday, and look after the cat, and water some of my plants because of the weather, but aside from that I could just be away for another night. In this kind of weather, my cat doesn't sleep in my bed anyway, so I think she misses me less when I am away.

This time we only did dinner, and a cup of tea in the garden of the hotel where the others were staying. That was enough for me! I had had a good opportunity to get to know them a bit better, but I also hadn't been sleeping excessively well recently, and was tired.

Me, Neil’s sister, her husband, Neil’s stepdad, his mum, and Neil himself

The plan is a bit that in the not too distant future, Neil and I will go to Manchester to visit his mum and stepdad. I don't know when I will see his sister again. That might be Christmas. But it was great to see them! I am very happy to have been accepted into this family.

Bethel 5k 2026

A few weeks after the Llanrug 5k is the Bethel 5k. I seem to have a tradition of doing rubbish in Llanrug. Last year, I did better in Bethel. Maybe I could do that this year as well?

When the day approached I figured that the answer was probably going to be no. We were still in the heat wave. During the day, I had been ok, but running is a different kettle of fish. During the day I had barely done anything more than between buildings to have meetings in. 

I got to Bethel, parked up, and got my race number. I went for a little warmup with my fellow Eryri Harriers Mike and Tony (a track mate; not Welsh Castles Relay Tony). I kept a T-shirt on over my race vest, as I was trying to protect my vulnerable skin from the sun. I also made sure to really lather on the sun cream after I took the T-shirt off. In this case I was glad the Eryri Harriers vests don’t leave that much skin exposed. 

Team pic

We set off. It always takes a while for the field to settle. I ran along with my track mate Sion for a bit, but he pulled away from me. He was also faster than me in Llanrug. I didn’t think I would be able to catch up. And in this weather, I am not going to be ambitious. Then I found Tony (the track mate I had done the warm up with; other Tony is way too fast for me) behind me. He is an Eryri Harrier. Not that that matters; if Sion wants to hang behind me he is most welcome too. But it was good to have Tony back; he hasn’t been to track in ages. 

Sweatily running along with Tony

As it was so hot there were several water stations. The first was after one mile; I ignored it. The second one, two miles in, I accepted. I drank some, and threw the rest over my head and into my shirt. I was so hot! It was a bit of a shock to feel the cold water on my back but it was good. By that time, Tony had overtaken me. But he did not run away far. 

Water but no Tony

At 4 km, there was a man with a garden hose, spraying everyone who was up for it. I think that was everyone. And we were in for the last push. 

I overtook Tony again. Shortly before the finish I looked over my shoulder. Tony said “go for it”. I knew I was faster than in Llanrug, but slower than in Bethel last year. And then we finished, me a second before him. 

Almost at the finish

I got out of the sun again. It had been good! Too hot, but I clearly didn’t have heat stroke. And I didn’t know what my time was but I was happy with it. And after some socialising with Harriers and track mates and the combination thereof I decided it was time to go home. 

The next day I found out I had done it in 22 minutes sharp. In my world, a good time in that heat! And I had my category win. Only three women over fifty had competed, so it wasn’t the hardest-fought victory ever, but I was glad anyway. 

I am starting to accept that the shorter distances are not really my thing. I come into my own on the five mile onwards. But I still want to break my 5k record. I think I need a cool morning for it. There is a thought to go run the Newborough Parkrun with Chris one day. That is another chance! 

Heatwave

The weather is all over the place. We tend to have heat waves with cold, rainy weather in between. There was a heat wave I was in the Netherlands. It was cold and wet when I ran the Llanrug 5k, hot when I ran with Jacko and in Deganwy, cold and wet when I was marshalling the Tuesday race on Gyrn Wigau, et cetera. We are back to hot. And not just a bit!  The Met office has issued amber and red weather warnings, and they expect us to break the British record for the hottest June day ever recorded this week.

In the weekend, it wasn't very hot yet. On the Monday, I stayed at home and did cool things. Cool in the sense of not at high temperature, obviously. I kept a lot of curtains closed and (selected) windows open in order to keep the heat out. And I have been sleeping upstairs, behind the very thick walls of the old part of my house. Not in the extension, with its thin walls and south-facing windows.

My house in heatwave setting

On the Tuesday, I had a lot of meetings. That was a bit trying. In the morning I was in a meeting room that was too hot by everyone's standards, and in the afternoon I had all my meetings online in my office. These are all about academic integrity, and for privacy reasons, and in order not to be disturbed, I keep my door closed when I have them. That means my office doesn't ventilate. It gets unpleasantly stuffy.

On the Wednesday, I was back at meetings, but that day it was actually surprisingly cool in the morning. My office was quite bearable, and so were the rooms in which I had my meetings. This must have been a perk of North Wales, as in some of the rest of the country it must have been unbearable 

The Thursday would be the worst, with initially temperatures forecast of 35°. It was later adjusted to 33°. It really was super hot. In England, the record of the day before was easily broken already.

The Friday should be the last they where it was really too much. On the Saturday things should be ok again. I came through locate. The temperature in my living room went up to 25°, which is a lot more modest than what some other people were experiencing. Given that it is not term time, I can work from home if I want. I have double glazing, and a north facing office. I also have a standing fan. My office on campus is not that suitable and/or adaptable.

I didn't bike for the entire week. On Tuesday that wasn't a choice; I just suddenly thought at 8:45 that I had a meeting at 9. That was not true; that meeting was on Wednesday. But as I believed it was true I jumped into my car and went to campus. On Wednesday I would go to Bethel straight after work. On Thursday I worked from home. On Friday again I had to go places straight from campus. But anyway I was glad to not spend an additional 80 minutes or so in the unforgiving heat. And having got sunburnt on Sunday, I was quite happy to not expose my fragile skin to the sun, not even through clothes.

I also barely ran. I only did a race on Wednesday (blog post to come). My skin was not grateful. But I did enjoy it. I skipped the track for reasons of heat and sunburn, and I would have skipped the Thursday Hill run anyway for similar reasons, but I was also otherwise engaged. Not much exercise for me this week.

We will have to be ready for more of this! I suppose one thing I should change is be more careful and not get sunburnt. I might invest in a fan for my office. And I might try to think of something that is more efficient in keeping the heat out of my conservatory than the improvised curtain I have now. It is a conservatory, though, so although I am sure gains can be made, keeping it anywhere near bearable wouldn't be easy.

I'm sure there will be more times like these even this summer. I'll be OK! But I can't say I'm enjoying it…