Janine Di Giovanni

Recently we held a board games evening for our friends. There were seven of us in total which meant we could just about squeeze round the dining table to play the games.

Rather than cook a meal we decided to do a buffet spread which we laid out in the kitchen. This led to relaxed dining in the lounge rather than more formal dining around the table. I was pleased with how the spread looked, although I think we need a bigger kitchen!

A couple of weeks ago my school reader volunteering didn’t go according to plan. It was careers day and the flow of children dried up so I called it a day. The weather was gorgeous and sunny so I chose to walk the long way home.

Surprisingly I met very view people along the way so I didn’t have many opportunities for a cheery hello. Whilst sitting on a bench enjoying the sunshine a dog carrying a large stick in its mouth bounded over to greet me much to the surprise of its owners. One of them passed a remark to the other ‘he never walks that way’. I suspect he was showing off his stick to me. The dog certainly brought a smile to my face.

Due to other commitments and unfavourable weather it took me a while to get around to a walk after my Tuesday afternoon volunteering shift at Attingham Park. My first walk of the year was a perfect opportunity for a ‘Listening’  walk. This time of year is filled with birdsong which is always a joy to hear. I was also treated to wind rustling through the leaves and the gentle sound of flowing water.

This chapter in the book mentions a study commissioned by the National Trust. Attingham Park, being a National Trust property was the perfect place for this walk. The study revealed that the following sounds bring us the greatest pleasure; birdsong, a running stream, rustling tree leaves, silence, twigs snapping underfoot, animal noises, wind whistling through the trees, rain falling on leaves, conkers hitting the ground and squelching mud.

I agree with all of them apart from squelching mud which has a sensory element to it that I find unpleasant.

The video below shows how beautiful the sounds were.

Click on picture to view video

Henri Matisse

Today I was one of the walk leaders for the WWII community walk in Attingham Park. It has always rained when I have walked this route for the Attingham Park community walks. Today was no exception.

As we set off on the WWII part of the walk we were treated a spectacular grouping of deer near to the pathway. Despite us intruding on their peace and quiet the deer were quite calm until they were spooked by three more deer running to join them. Some of the deer got to their feet and the stag walked to the centre of his ladies and calmed them down.

There is part of this route where I have always got confused as to which path to take. One of the other walk leaders helped me to know which path to take when the pathway diverges and explained where the other pathway leads to.

I was under no time pressure to get home after the walk so I had lunch in the café. I couldn’t resist the National Trust ’scone of the month’; lemon and white chocolate accompanied by lemon curd and clotted cream.

Mr C had a good idea… We would upgrade to Fibre Optic broadband.

The process should have been completed on 9th March but do to miscommunication between the various services this did not happen. It also led to our internet connection being cut on 16th March. Despite all the internal and external works being completed on 24th March we still had no internet access.

We weren’t able to follow the lack of service up with the provider until today due to a day trip to London Yesterday (more on that soon).

Today our service provider diagnosed the problem and a simple tweak to the router fixed the problem. Later in the day after a further phone call to our service provider our phone line was also reinstated.

For now everything seems to be working perfectly…

Now I need to catch up on posting about my recent adventures and finish my posts about St Fagans.

Debasish Mridha

This is a one-roomed rural school built in 1880. By this time, every child between five and twelve years old could expec an education.

In 1900, the Headmistress, Miss Rachel Ann Thomas, taught thirty six pupils aged between five and fourteen. The lessons were in English, although the children’s fist language was Welsh. The emphasisi was on the ‘three R’s’ – reding, writing and arithmetic.

The school used to close on harvest days, as the children had to help on the farms.

The brightest senior girl would help the Headmistress as pupil-teacher. Her high desk faced the rows of pupils.*

*from a signboard next to the school

Evan Jenkins built this small commercial bakehouse in the garden of Derwen House. Thespian Street, Aberystwyth. His daughters, Catherine and Mary, ran the business. They worked from 6am to 10pm.

Home ovens were too small to bake enough bread for large families. People prepared their dough in tins and took it to be baked in commercial ovens. Successful bakehouses expanded their operations, delivering their own bread to wide areas.

The oven takes 3-5 hours to heat up from cold, and will take about 220 loaves of bread.*

*from a signboard next to the bakehouse