01 06 2010 (365-152)

Wow it is really difficult to get my head around the fact that I have been blogging systematically every day for what now is entering the sixth month ( 152 days!). I  personally didn't think that I possessed this degree of dedication. I truly believe that it is due in part to my wonderful blog365 friends that you see on the left hand panel of the blog that have sustained me, in fact we sustain each other in this task.
Once you begin a task such as this there is an initial burst of enthusiasm looking to the challenges of the task ahead, this is then followed around three weeks later by that blog block moment where you ponder on the wisdom of the task and its rigour. I know that I for one began to doubt:
a) That what I was posting had any intrinsic value to a wider community.
b) Whether the somewhat tedious minutiae of my daily life was really of interest to anyone ( I do still have this concern) even my own family who consider me somewhat deranged in undertaking the task in the first place, find that hard to fathom....... there are after all so many ways to describe a latte!!!
This point is of course the do or die point for such a project as this, however the spirit of having started something and wishing to follow it to its logical (!) then kicks in, some may call this stubbornness or even pig headedness. I would have sympathy with these views.
As for all of us there have been days when blogging was furthest from my mind, such as when my grandson was rushed into hospital back in February..... however the messages of support received during that time actually made me and the rest of the family very glad that I had taken the time when things were difficult to post. I must say thank you to all who had us in their thoughts at that time..... it helped in very large part towards recovery.
Moments like that and other times where a post sparks interest make the whole process worth the effort, the connection of bloggers around the world each one adding a small stitch to the tapestry of life as it is lived in 21st Century makes for a great social record of 2010.
For me either blogging from my mobile phone or laptop everyday has become a daily ritual, there is not always time for reflection like today, it would be difficult for me to sustain that level of navel gazing!

Momentous events are afoot here in Maesygwartha as our youngest ( she's a baby!!!..... of 20?) Laura leaves home on Thursday this week. She flies off to her summer camp in Minnesota from Heathrow followed by a short visit home prior to heading off to university in Liverpool. After 24 years Debbie and I will actually have the house to ourselves...... this could be either scary or hugely exciting.... I am unsure which is true.
Today was my last opportunity for a while to go to the cinema with Laura - we do so love a bit of escapism, this time it was The Prince of Persia a delightfully jolly jape with some very interesting clipped English dialogue.

Our cinema of choice is the Baker Street Cinema Abergavenny, I think that you will agree the most un-cinema  looking establishment that you would expect in 2010, you can follow its transformation from a Drill Hall to a cinema here.

The Drill Hall as you can see has been a feature in the town since 1896 when it was built for soldiers a local regiment. 4th Volunteer Battalion South Wales Borderers

The Battalion would see action in the South African Boer War three years later ( 1899-1902 ) the building has undergone a transformation now to battles on celluloid...... today The Persians!