Mike Riversdale

Was wild, windy, and absolutely beautiful ... but I'm glad we were driving away from that cloud. Also, we were higher than the hills, that's not how it's meant to be, funny what you get used to eh. Day 1 Monmouth - Crickhowell - Brecon - Llandrindod Wells - Elan Valley - Bishop's Castle

The most well known actress of her age, the first of a new class of people we now call "celebrity", and a Brecon born lass. As the plaque above the inn door says: Sarah Siddons 1755-1831 Fe'i ganed yn y dafarn hon, yn blentyn hynaf i Sarah (Ward) a Roger Kemble, ac yn actor-rheolwr yn Theatr Drury Lane am y tro cyntaf yn 1775, ac wedi hynny, bu'n teithio drwy'r taleithiau. Dychwelodd i Lundain yn 1782, gan sefydlu'i hunan fel actores drasiedïau heb ei hail yn theatrau'r Georgian a'r Regency. Fe'i claddwyd yn St. Mary's, Paddington. Born at this Inn, eldest child of Sarah (Ward) and Roger Kemble, actor-manager in a company of Strolling Players. She first acted at Drury Lane Theatre in 1775, and then toured the provinces. Returning to London in 1782, she established herself as the unrivalled tragic actress of the Georgian and Regency theatre. She is buried at St. Mary's, Paddington. Shoulder of Mutton Inn Great name for an inn eh 😁 It goes t

"You're not in Monmouthshire anymore Mr Riversdale"* Solid, stalwart buildings of a typical Welsh town was Brecon . Nothing so far had been too different to Monmouth and it's surrounds, but this was about to change. * My use of a Kiwi saying from the soap opera Shortland Street, "You're not in Guatemala now, Doctor Ropata." Day 1 Monmouth - Crickhowell - Brecon - Llandrindod Wells - Elan Valley - Bishop's Castle

It hit me right between my nostalgia blades and up into my wobbly brain. The Last Laugh (short film) from Evolution Productions on Vimeo . Written and Directed by Paul Hendy, this award-winning short film stars Damian Williams, Bob Golding and Simon Cartwright. Three legendary British comedians, Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse sit in a dressing room discussing the secret of life, comedy and what it means to be funny... Thanks to all the comedians over all the many many decades that have, and still do, make me laugh, you've been true life savers.

Off we set to do a round Wales car trip from Monmouth to Monmouth via all the best bits of Wales. Our first stop was Crickhowell for a spot of breakfast and a wander around the town. Day 1 Monmouth - Crickhowell - Brecon - Llandrindod Wells - Elan Valley - Bishop's Castle

Laughter from the dinner party was coming to an end, the night was ending. Nails skittered across the stones, intoxicated creatures outside were waiting.

It had some ropey moments, Miss Marple struggled remembering her lines, at one point a scene from Act II was accidently played out in Act I, and a couple suddenly remembered they should be in the other side of the stage. Meh, irrelevant though. It's Agatha Christie and  A Murder Is Announced , a corking story, a great twist, and a classic comfy murder. Shout out to the actor playing Mitzi, Miss Blacklock's foreign housekeeper and cook - absolutely nailed it.

No filter, no editing, this is what we saw when we looked out of the window. Dark dark cloud hanging ominously in the sky waiting for punch Monmouth into some sort of Biblical storm. (if I recall it didn't even rain, made for a great photo though)

It's an almost common phrase, "We live better than a king of old!" Ok, let's do some a lot of searching and see if that's true in any sense at all BUT first ... Some definitions ... "We all" Almost exclusively this is white, middle-class / middle-level, in the top 10-15%, sort of people. Also, European or of European descent, i.e. those that think being a medieval king is a thing to emulate. "live" Doing our general stuff but not one-off things like wars, marriages, and deaths. Think of it as the life we live on a Tuesday afternoon. "better" Hmmm, I think this is a combination of ease, ability, availability, and cost. "Medieval" The medieval period , also known as the Middle Ages or the Dark Ages, began around 476 A.D. and ended between 1400 and 1450. The term was first used by 15th-century scholars to describe the time between their own time and the fall of the Western Roman Empire. "royalty" Absolutely thinking

Like JRR Tolkien, Dame Judi Dench, and Liam Gallagher, I am a committed and passionate dendrophile. “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”- Robert Louis Stevenson

Graveyards eh, we are all drawn to them for a multitude of reasons. I like them for their gothic charm, their memories of people I used to know, and for the peace and quiet. It took me a little Googling to find where Nanna and Grandad Boyle are buried but luckily I had some 2006 photos to help me. Dad is now dead, my child is no longer a child, the horses are probably long gone. The church entrance is exactly the same, those trees are still there, and Nanna and Grandad's gravestone is as solid as ever, but changing with time. IN LOVING MEMORY OF A DEAR WIFE & MOTHER SUSAN BOYLE WHO DIED 5 NOV 1978 AGED 56 YEARS. REST IN PEACE IN LOVING MEMORY OF A DEAR HUSBAND & FATHER MAURICE BOYLE WHO DIED 6 MARCH 1989 AGED 70 YEARS. REST IN PEACE Wow, Nanna Boyle was a year younger than I am now when cancer took her 😓

I had a car, I have a mate near Shipton Oliffe, my grandparents are buried at North Cerney, and I wanted to go all Miss Marple for a day. Off to The Cotswolds I went, forgoing main traffic and blatting around tiny country roads in search of Midsomer Parva. As you must know me by now (🎶) I am willing and able to take a metric tonne of photos on such a trip and so let's leave this to represent all of those from Upper Slaughter to Broadway, through Chipping Campden and Bibury. [ The Cotswolds (England, UK) photo album ]

New(ish) podcast that I absolutely adore. You know what, I think I would love to be Richard Osman as everything he touches turns to gold ... seemingly. Then again, he works incredibly hard at it so maybe I'm not cut out to be Mr Osman. The Rest Is Entertainment podcast talks behind the scenes of entertainment with a weekly Question (and Answer) session and a general 'gossip' session, it's true to say: The Rest Is Entertainment pulls back the curtain on television, movies, journalism and more with Richard Osman and Marina Hyde using their years of knowledge, enviable contact book and wit to bring you what’s hot, and what’s not in the world of entertainment.  Learning whilst having a laugh, is there any better podcast approach, nope, and these two are brilliant at it.

I took so many photos of Goodrich Castle that I bamboozled myself this morning and just couldn't decided which one to use. So here's a glorious tree in a field outside the castle itself. If you're ever thinking of going to Goodrich Castle , and why wouldn't you as it's a damn good castle, then check out this first:

Cheap, I assume, but effective way to make your newsagent feel solid and like a permanent member of the community, cover it in signs of products you might've sold "back in the day". So says the cynic. I, of course, love old shit like this. And it says it's been around since 1872, so deserved. So, what have we got ... Smoke PLAYER'S TOBACCO AND CIGARETTES . Beautifully Cool and Sweet Smoking LYONS Coffee and Chicory EXTRACT Drink TIZER , The Appetizer THE LARGEST Weekly Paper. NEWS WORLD OF THE WORLD . THE LARGEST Weekly Paper TUG-O-WAR PLUG . It's made by the 'MICK MCQUAID' people PALETHORPES . Royal Cambridge RUB IT IN! GODDARD'S White Horse Oils EMBROCATION . Sold Here in Bottles 6d 1/- & 2/- Maynards By Gum They're Good WINE GUMS R WHITE GINGER BEER . Luncheon, Dinner & Supper FRY'S High Class CHOCOLATE Black Cat Pure Matured Virginia Cigarettes THE BIG SUNDAY DISPATCH . 24 Large Pages. Free Family Insurance PARK DRIVE FOR

I'm (in)famous for not wanting to ever be suckered into the property game. I've only ever once bought one house, didn't want to at the time and couldn't wait to get out of it. But. If I was living in the UK, this ( 23 Bookend St, Ross-on-Wye ) is the sort of place I would have a long serious think about. This has character, it's got stories to tell, history creaks through it's bones. I would love to live in a place like this, I'd even consider owning it.

It's the most twee, civil, comfortable, colourful, progressive, effective, quiet, Nanna-esque type of civil disobedience known to the Western world. I ❤️ it!!!

A blast from the past with Dad's small collection of club and restaurant cards from Wiltshire, London, and Malta. My favourite is definitely the Bamboo Night Club, check out that phone number, evocative or what! I've tried to find each of these places and: Shah-Noor Restaurant : 54 Rochester Row, London. It's searches up as the Indian Diner, but I suspect it's been closed since late 2020. Bamboo Night Club : 114 Stuart Street, Malta. Now apartments, and it looks fairly new as well so not even the building has survived. The Carribbean : Birżebbuġa, Malta. Bugger me, there's still one going. Who knows if it's the same one as there's no address on Dad's card. Wilts Curry Centre : Sidmouth Street, Devices. No longer a curry house, but there is one, Dedar, next door. Unfortunately they went bust in 1977 . Also the restaurant was actually called trading under the name Taj Mahal, I have no idea how Dad got a card with their actual business name. [source: London