Skype (PAYG): 0.041 GBP/min

Google Voice: 0.026 GBP/min

Prices above include VAT and were taken from the Google and Skype websites on 27. August 2010.

Limitation with Google Voice at the moment is that they let you add funds to your account only by $10 ONLY exactly.

Pen-y-fan je najvišja točka gorovja imenovanega Brecon Beacons ki pokriva večji del južnega dela Walesa in skupaj z malo nižjim dvojčkom z imenom Corn Du tvorita čudovit razgled, ki bolj spominja na površino lune, kot pa na zeleno valežansko hribovje. Malo ob poti na vrh Brecon Beacons boste našli manjši obelisk, ki so ga postavili po končani iskalni akciji izginulega dečka Tommya.

4. avgusta daljnega leta 1900 se je oče, po poklicu rudar, odpravil skupaj s svojim petletnim sinom Johnnyem na obisk sorodnikov na kmetijo nekaj kilometrov južno od  mesteca Brecon. V Brecon sta prispela z vlakom okoli šestih zvečer, do kmetije pa ju je vodila šest in pol kilometra dolga pešpot. Okoli osmih zvečer sta prispela v danes podrto vasico Login, kjer je bila v tistem času nastanjena vojska, ki je imela višje v dolini strelske vaje.

Zgodba se zdi močno oddaljena in življenja takratnih prebivalcev so že dolgo pozabljena. Prav tako se zdi, da na večer 110. obletnice Tommyevega izginotja njegovemu obelisku delajo le dežne kaplje in ovce na paši.

Bila sta namenjena v še danes obstoječo majhno kmetijo z imenom Cwm-llwch. Od Logina do kmetije je bilo le okoli pol kilometra rahle hoje navkreber. Kljub temu, sta oče in sin za nekaj časa postala z vojaki in se okrepčala. Čisto po naključju, pa sta takrat v Login prispela še Tommyev dedek in 13-letni bratranec Willie John. Willija so poslali nazaj domov v Cwm llwch, da družino obvesti o skorajšnjem prihodu sorodnikov, za njim pa je stekel tudi mladi Tommy. Pot je bila za Tommya kar strašljiva, saj sta morala prečkati dve brvi postavljeni med gosto pozidanimi stavbami. Ena od brvi ni imela ograje in vse skupaj je bilo preveč za Tommya, ki je planil v jok. Želel je iti nazaj k očetu v Login. Dečka sta se zato ločila: Willie John navkreber po dolini proti kmetiji, Tommy pa nazaj navzdol v Login. Willie je v kmetijo prispel okoli petnajst minut potem, ko je zapustil strica in dedka, mladi Tommy pa v Login nikoli ni prispel.

Sam sem bil v tej dolini v mesecu, ko je Tommy izginil in v večernih urah, okoli osme zvečer. Dan v Walesu traja precej dolgo in ob osmih je svetlobe še veliko, se pa sonce hitro spusti za zahodnim grebenom Pen Milan in stemni se precej hitro.

Ko sta oče in dedek tudi sama končno prispela na kmetijo in ugotovila, da je Tommy izginil, sta ga začela takoj iskati. Po kakih dvajsetih minutah so se iskanju pridružili še vojaki iz Logina. Iskanje so prekinili ob polnoči, a ga že tri ure kasneje nadaljevali. Iskanju so se ta dan potem še pridružili še policija in sovaščani. Tommya nikakor niso našli in tako se je nadaljevalo iz tedna v teden.

Vsak dan so sistematično preiskali dolino in okoliške travnike, porezali grmovja, in prečesali gozdove. Porodila se je celo ideja, da bi preiskali tudi dno jezera Cwm llwch, vendar je prevladalo mnenje, da petletni deček zagotovo ni uspel priti tako visoko v dolini. Predvidevali so, da se je ob poskusu vrnitve v Login izgubil in šel predaleč v dolino ali pa je celo ob prečkanju brvi padel v vodo. Iskanje so zato osredotočili na dolino in celo do mesta Brecon. Ker dečka še vedno niso našli, so se porodile ideje, da so ga ugrabili – to je bilo za svojce tudi zadnji up, da bi Tommy še našli živega. V tistih časih so bil glavni osumljenec za taka dejanja okoliško Romsko prebivalstvo. Tudi preiskave njihovih naselbin niso obrodila sadov.

Zgodba je seveda prišla v medije in časopis The Daily Mail je ponudil nagrado, njihov predstavnik pa je tudi aktivno sodeloval v iskalnih akcijah. Po tednih iskanja je bil Tommyev oče primoran zapustiti dolino in se vrniti domov v Maerdy, vendar se je uspel kmalu vrniti in sodelovati v nadaljnih iskanjih. Bil je tudi eden redkih, ki so se pri iskanju povzpeli na vrh Pen-y-fan.

Ravno približno v tem času pa je imela gospa Hamer svoje razsvetljujoče sanje, kjer je v njih videla mesto, kjer leži Tommy. In tako se je okoli mesec po izginotju – 2. septembra še z nekaterimi drugimi svojci podala na iskanje visoko v dolino Cwm llwch in na greben nad njim.

Trupelce maldega dečka so še isti dan prenesli v dolino.

Obelisk, ki je bil postavljen na mestu, kjer so našli Truplo Tommya Jonesa kaže kako zelo blizu so morali biti iskalci, ko so prečesavali greben. Leži skoraj čisto na poti do vrha Corn Du in Tommyev oče je bil verjetno le nekaj metrov stran, ko ga je iskal. Iskalci so verjetno videli le nekaj podobno skali v visoki travi.

Sledil je sodni postopek, kjer je bilo kmalu potrjeno, da je deček umrl zaradi izčrpanosti in podhladitve. Nihče pa ni mogel jasno razložiti, kako naj bi tako majhen deček uspel priti tako visoko, ko pa je bil namenjen dol v dolino. Trupelce je bilo najdeno na nadmorski višini 700m, ker je pomenilo 400m višinske razlike z vasico Login, okoli tri in pol kilometra hoje čez strm in težko dostopen teren in to v precejšnji slabi vidljivosti. Najverjetneje se je Tommy potem, ko sta se ločila z Willie Johnom, izgubil, ko je prečal prvo brv nato pa namesto, da bi prečkal drugo brv skrenil na levo in se potem “zahodil” v zahodni greben Pen Milan misleč, da se dejansko vrača priti kmetiji. Dečka je povrh še najverjetneje zajela panika in skupaj z vedno slabšo vidljivostjo je nadaljeval pot proti grebenu Cwm llwch. Danes žal vidimo, kako dolgo je zdržal in kako daleč je uspel priti.

Dečkova družina je več let hranila črtasto obleko, ki jo je takrat nosil skupaj s piščalko, ki jo je imel na sebi in bi mu verjetno rešila življenje, če bi jo bil uporabil preden je omagal od izčrpanosti.

Porote so v tistih časih dobile nezanemarljivo denarno nadomestilo za svoje delo in porota, ki je sodelovala pri preiskavi Tommyeve smrti se je plačilu odrekla. Denar, skupaj z drugimi prispevki okoliških prebivalcev (ga. Hamer se je prav tako odrekla precejšnjemu delu nagrade, ki jo je ponudil The daily Mail) je šel v postavitev obeliska, ki so ga postavili julija naslednje leto – 1901. Obelisk so morali zvleči gor s posebnimi sanmi in konjsko vprego.

Od takrat je obelisk spomnil na tisoče planincev na dečka, ki je v rokah hribovja Brecon Beacons podlegel izčrpanosti in podhladitvi.

Obelisk z dolino Cwm llwch pod njim

Napis na obelisku:

This obelisk marks the spot where the body of Tommy Jones aged 5 was found. He lost his way between Cwmllwch Farm and the Login on the night of August 4th 1900. After an anxious search of 29 days his body was found on September 2nd.

Vir:

1. Victim of the Beacons
2. Wikipedia

I have heard bad things about the Ljubljana EMT from various people and it was all from years ago. With all the political will in the background you would have thought that would have improved by now. It turned out nothing could be further from the truth.

Despite the EMT waiting room being relatively quiet she had to put in agonizing three hours of waiting before being seen. Now I do understand that some cases need priority but to leave someone in so much distress for such a long time and not even a proper apology is in my opinion professional misconduct. It was blatantly obvious that the EMT department was under-staffed but a lot of employees that were there just simply didn’t care!

In our desperation we asked some nurses that were in the EMT corridor about how long we would have to wait and they in a sarcastic manor told us they are from a different department. Not a hint of compassion or understanding. It all seemed like a big joke to them that we asked them in the first place.

After she received an injection of pain relief she was told to wait in the waiting room for half an hour in case of any allergic on anaphylactic reactions to the drugs she was given. This was also supposed give the staff time to write a report called an “izvid” that you are supposed to give to your GP. Instead of half an hour we had to wait another 3 hours and would probably would  have to wait even longer if we wouldn’t have left.

I work as a veterinary surgeon in a veterinary practice for companion animals and I can assure you that if I dared pull a stunt like the Ljubljana EMT did with my relative, I would very quickly have found myself in front of the RCVS disciplinary committee. I can assure any reader of this article that we treat our patients much, MUCH nicer with tonnes more compassion and professionalism.

If I was a patient in such a situation I would probably would be begging to be euthanized but I would probably get a faster service if I flew to Switzerland straight from the waiting room.

The previous day I climbed the “horseshoe” and the next day Snowdon via the Pyg trail.

Sunset over Snowdon	Llanberis pass
The Pyg track to Snowdon	View from Snowdon
Snowdon from Y Lliwedd	Snowdon (Llyn Llydaw)
Snowdon	Snowdon
Snowdon (from the Miners track)	River Dwyryd in the sunrise
Above Llyn Ogwen and Tryfan	Llyn Ogwen from Y Garn
Llyn Idwal	Llyn Ogwen and Llyn Idwal
Glyder Fach	Glyder Fach summit: notice the relative size of the rocks compared to the climber (highlighted)
Tryfan

If you are living in the UK you probably know about the very well known and advertised car windscreen repair company. You know the one, I you watched 30 seconds of telly you probably saw one of their adverts.

I was on board with the thought that if you have a chip in your windscreen then you should have it repaired before it turns into a crack.

Well today I found out that sometimes fixing it can turn it into a crack – a 17cm one.

As a small chip on the left side of my windscreen was repaired today it cracked and the repair guy stopped the procedure straight away. It was recommended to me to have the whole windscreen replaced. Am sort of sorry I had it fixed now as I am quite sure the chip would be quite stable for a while. Good news I have fully comp insurance so it only costs me the £75 excess and they will come and do it at my home on a Saturday

This is marked as the toughest walk in the Brecon Becons & South Wales book and it turned out to be living up to its name. The most difficult part was trying to not get lost on Bryn Rhudd at the same time as not loosing interest in the walk as well. The views on there are almost desert-like, nothing but dried grass and boggy moors. Even the sheep are sensible enough not to stray that far from the valleys.

The day of the walk also happened to be the hottest day so far in 2010 and the humidity was excruciating. Despite it still not being a complete sunny day I managed to rack up quite a nasty sunburn and don’t forget we are talking about Wales of all places – go figure

This walk also takes you to some very remote areas of Wales and in the 6h 20min it took me to walk it I didn’t see a single person until reaching the Glangwesyn farm when I asked for directions.

After the walk I took a drive in my car up through the valleys of the man-made Llyn Brianne reservoir that was completed in 1972 so the same young age as I. Some nice views there so definitely recommended!

Valley above Afon Gwesyn – Cwm Gwesyn	Cwm Gwesyn
Cwm Gwesyn	Cwm Gwesyn
Cwm Gwesyn	Afon Gwesyn / Cwm Gwesyn
Afon Gwesyn	Cwm Gwesyn
Afon Gwesyn	Afon Gwesyn
View of the small stream Nant Fedwen fawr from the Gwesyn valley	View of the small stream Nant Fedwen fawr from the Gwesyn valley
Cwm Gwesyn (view N->S)	Afon Gwesyn waterfalls
Afon Gwesyn waterfalls	Southward view of the Gwesyn valley from Bryn Glas
The cairn on top of Drygarn Fawr (641 m)	Westward view of Drygarn Fawr and the cairn on top of it
The track below the Eithaf or Ganol ridge	The track below the Eithaf or Ganol ridge
Irfon valley	Brianne reservoir
SW view of the Brianne reservoir from the viewpoint above Carreg Chlochdy	Brianne reservoir
Brianne reservoir	Brianne reservoir at the dam
The Brianne reservoir spillway	bottom of the Brianne reservoir dam
Brianne reservoir dam spillway
Brianne reservoir at the dam	Brianne reservoir at the dam
Valley above Afon Gwesyn – Cwm Gwesyn

Last year it started to bleach/overexpose all outdoor photos. Defaulting to factory settings did not work. I finally called the Olympus UK support line this morning  and they told me that for that model they charge £90.77!!! to repair any kind of fault. Does not make any sense at all. That is just over £73 less than the price for when it was new.

Sort of reminds me of the story of inkjet printers with their high repair costs and overpriced ink cartridge prices.

External links:

• Olympus µ700 on Wikipedia
• Olympus µ700 on the Olympus website

Ti ovratniki se v večini primerov uporabljajo za odpravljanje neželenih vedenjskih navad pri psih. V skupščinski debati so utemeljili pravilnik s tem, da so ti ovratniki nepotrebno mučenje živali in pogosto ostanejo orodje lenih in brezbrižnih lastnikov, ki ne znajo odpravljati neželenih navad pri svojih hišnih ljubljencih na noben drug način.

Storilca, ki krši ta pravilnik lahko doleti zapor do 1 leta (51 tednov) in/ali denarna kazen do £5.000 (~€5.700)

Wales je prva država/pokrajina znotraj Velike Britanije, ki je uvedla takšno prepoved. Organizacije, ki se borijo za zaščito živali, se zavzemajo za takšno prepoved v celotni Britaniji.

That these collars are no gentle persuasion tools can be discovered by watching people trying them on themselves. In this video the guy tests it on himself and it starts at about 3.30 min, but you can watch the whole thing, I don’t care. This other video is shorter and its tested by a girl.

Both the above videos are actually very funny as they are done under consent, but it does have a serious back tone as dogs probably wouldn’t be so prepared to wear them.

Aja, pardon, sem šele zdaj opazil, da sem gornji del začel pisat v angleščini. Se mi ne ljubi zdej spreminjat.

• Uradno sporočilo za javnost valežanke skupščinske vlade: http://wales.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountryside/ecnewsevents/ralatestnews/walesbansshockcollars/?lang=en
• Po dolgem iskanju na straneh Valežanske skupščinske vlade, sem pravilnik dejansko našel na OPSI strani: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/wales/wsi2010/wsi_20100943_en_1 (različica v PDF)
• Novica na RSPCA strani: http://www.rspca.org.uk/media/news/story/-/article/EM_ElectricShockCollarBanInWales_Mar10
• Kampanija v Kennel Club: http://www.banshockcollars.org.uk/
• Novica na BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8584028.stm

This time I was also returning a book to Amazon at the same time and I only later realised that I was given a »certificate of sending« for the book I was returning and not for the letter. I went back and received a hand-written “copy”. OK, thought nothing of it and forgot all about it …

.. until I received the letter back through my door saying:

There isn’t enough postage on this Airmail item so we are returning it to you. To resend it, please take it (with this label still in place) to a Post Office branch and pay the missing postage, or contact us on 08457 740 740.

Aaaargghhhhhhh #$%&/(!!!

Calmed down and called the Royal Mail, they told me I will have to resend the letter, but I am eligible for a £5 compensation. I just presumed the letter was not weighed correctly. If its under 20g it costs 56p, more if its over that weight. Instead of going to DHL (by the way the documents inside were relatively important) as I should have done, I went to the main Post Office in town and they said it is 56p as it is weighs only 15 grams!!!

Aaaargghhhhhhh #$%&/(!!!

I didn’t even realise anything was wrong until I tried using the phone this afternoon. Called TalkMobile and they told me that their fraud department reported fraudulent activity on my phone. What exactly that meant they either couldn’t tell or chose not to tell me. They did however instruct me to go to my nearest Carphone Warehouse shop to have the SIM card unlocked.

So I went and the very kind and understanding manager there had to wait on the phone for over half an hour to get it sorted. For reasons still very unclear to me the phone number was on a list of suspicious numbers. The number was quickly reactivated and I hope from now on it stays like that.

In my humble opinion I think there was just a cock-up at MobileWorld. First they had problems transferring the account to MobileWorld and then there was a problem with on-line topup. Despite me informing them of my current address they still had the old one on the system.

Good luck to anyone else this has happened to.

Update 6-Apr-2010

While I was travelling round Snowdonia and staying in Beddgelert where there is absolutely no Vodafone signal I thought that was the reason I wasn’t seeing the mobile operator “TalkMobile” displayed on the phone. It turns out they barred me AGAIN after 3 days after the first time. At least this time I had to call back the next day to sort it out and didn’t have to waste my time by having to trot my way to downtown Haverfordwest

Woody Pines (woodypines.com)

What a great night. Never though I would like country & western music. Funny thing to hear it in the heart of Wales.

The guys played great and made a great atmosphere despite the hall not being completely full.

As a fellow guitarist I was impressed and did appreciate how quickly the vocalist and guitarist Woody recovered from a broken guitar string.

By the way, I thought the name of the band “Woody Pines” came from an association with the local North Carolina forests. In fact that is the name of the apparent leader of the group Woody (last name Pines, of course).

They are currently touring Scotland and they come very warmly recommended!

http://woodypines.com/

http://www.myspace.com/woodypines

Taken from Google StreetView

Google StreetView’s coverage has been extended to about 90% of the country and that now includes Haverfordwest and Pembrokeshire. The images are pretty high quality. I have heard there is a bit of an anomaly with the High Street in Pembroke Dock as part of it was filmed in once season and the other part in another, with Christmas decorations still visible.

Taken from Google StreetView

As I did and most of the people I showed this to, also did, we went and had a look where we live and where we used to live. So go on, knock yourself out.

http://maps.google.co.uk/

Photo: The Sun

This was the first time I have gone to a headlining stand-up comedy show. The one in the comedy store in London was similar in ways very very different. This was in a proper theatre and there was no intimidation or any kind of boo-ing coming from the crowd. In fact there was a fare bit of very well humoured picking of certain members of the crowd from Dara’s side.

I have seen Dara on many TV shows, primarily on Mock the Week. By the way, I hope to see his former colleague from that same show Frankie Boyle, next month in Swansea. The show itself was great and the seat I had was very good, quite close to the stage, but not close enough to be picked on – or spat on: In some of Dara’s exuberant verbal outburtsts there was some obvious salivary discharge being made and very visible from the angle I was seeing it from (sorry Dara .

As I am reading his wiki page I see he is only 8 months older than me. I feel quite humble, but I do beat him in the hair quantity department At least something. As many will know he actually is a very tall fella and as he stands on the edge of the stage he looks even more imposing. You wouldn’t want to be in a fight with him, he’d probably beat you in a second flat.

His tour has only just began and it will be going on all over the country. See Dara’s personal website for more info.

Today I was here. Took me a while to get here and find it. Had to give up the whole trek round the mountain ridges as I was going to run out of daylight by the end of the hike.

A bit of trivia:  The Aber Eiddy Blue Lagoon was also used as a filming location for the video for the techno anthem Silence by the Canadian group Delirium (Featuring Sarah McLachlan). By the way the video was also filmed at Newgale beach.

As I entered the lagoon I saw a sheep on the cliffs about halfway between the top of the cliffs and the lagoon floor. I though it was a ledge that the animal accessed to get to some grass and didn’t think much about it. A few days later I overheard a colleague at work saying how her dog got fixated on a sheep on the cliffs while walking and it transpired that she was walking the dog in the Blue Lagoon and that was quite probably the same sheep. I went to check as soon as possible half expecting the sheep to be gone or even worse, dead. To my surprise she was still there and I took these pictures:

The problem is the rocks are vertical and very slippery below. Above, from the top of the cliff, there is a very steep slope. I managed to report about the stranded sheep to the RSPCA and they confirmed they have already received reports about this incident and that there is also a farmer that is checking it daily. This all happened yesterday, Saturday January 3rd. Today I went and checked it again and it is still there, alive. This makes it at least 9 days since it has been stuck on that ledge.

Does anyone else know anything more about it? The RSPCA call centre mentioned that a rescue is considered but also mentioned health and safety which fills me with a bit of a worry. I don’t want to start an upset but I don’t want to see an animal suffer further and am quite willing to go and get the sheep myself. I have tried out rock climbing a couple of times and this should be an easy climb/descent with the proper equipment. The only problem would be restraining the sheep and convincing her that I its supposed to be rescued and should not feel threatened.

I have also tried contacting the local newspaper to get them involved. So far no reply. I would appreciate any suggestions or help. Will post any updates as they arise.

Update Monday, 4th January 2010 at 13.15

Checked on her again yesterday at about 2pm. Was still looking relatively OK. Just spoke to the RSPCA inspector. A rescue is planned this week. The farmer who is checking up on her is the owner so if all goes well she should be back with her hers by the end of the week unless she has any medical condition that needs to be treated first. Apparently sheep often get stranded in those parts and a lot of times will get themselves out of trouble.

Update Tuesday, 5th January 2010 at 19.20

Sheep still OK, were a couple of people from the RSPCA that were trying to get some food down to her. The problem today were very strong winds and icy snow. The snow was only up on the junction with the Abereiddy road which is where I had to leave my car. When I arrived I though the snow would be on the beach as well – there is a rather steep road just above Aber Eiddy. The B4330 was quite slippery on the way there as the snow was just starting at about 13.40. I left Aber Eiddy at about 14.40. This was a photo of the road:

The Abereiddy road after the snow on January 5th

I came home at about 18.40. That is 4 hours later!!! The trip should have taken me about 45 minutes!. This was the route I took and my average speed was 5 miles per hour. The problem wasn’t the very icy B4330 – that part took me about an hour to the Ford roundabout. It took the rest to get from the roundabout at Ford to Johnston. Nuts!!! That part had an average speed of  1.7 mph (3 hours for 5.3 miles).

I have received some news from a journalist from the above mentioned local newspaper. She received information that the rescue was planned for tomorrow but due to the adverse weather conditions I doubt this.

Update Thursday, 7th January 2010 at 19.30

Received a call from the Western Telegraph newsdesk this afternoon. The reporter had learnt that the sheep was successfully rescued yesterday, Wednesday, January 6. I was just trying to get some feed arranged for her for tomorrow but it now wont be necessary. Great!

Update Thursday, 8th January 2010 at 19.35

Talked to the RSPCA inspector today who told me the sheep was so cooperative that it didn’t need sedating and lifting it up was not such a problem. There were also another two sheep further along also on the cliffs but they could have possibly got themselves out of trouble but they helped them out non the less.

Danes, 30. septembra 2009, se izteče rok za oddajo vlog za gostilniški netačaj, kjer je glavna in edina nagrada – gostilna sama. Cena za vstop v natečaj je bilo 20 funtov in število sprejetih vlog je omejeno na 30.000.

Kot rečeno bo zmagovalec natečaja postal lastnik gostilne The Plash Inn & Brewery Cottage, ki se nahaja v majceni vasici Llanfallteg v Carmarthenshire-ju v Walesu. Skupna vrednost celotnega objekta je 300.000 funtov. Če torej prodajo vse karte potem bi lahko trenutni lastniki lahko dobili celo dvakratno vrednost nepremičnine. Število kart, ki jih je lahko kupil posameznik, ni bilo omejeno in tako si je lahko vsak še povečal možnost za zmago.

Več na www.winapubinwales.co.uk

Posodobitev:

Gostilno je zadel g. Borley iz mesta Swansea.

When I arrived in Ljubljana there was loads of snow around and still snowing as I was getting home and the outside temperature at a very chilling -10°C.
Took me a few hours to get our drive and parking area cleared of all the snow. I should have just left nature take its course as a few days later the higher temperatures came to about 13°C. The snow almost instantly disappeared.

I was half expecting signs of spring showing up.

————–

At home now – took me much less to get to Wales from Stansted – only 4 hours 35 minutes and that meant an average speed of 64.4 m/h. The time actually included  a couple of stops.