On the beach

With buds bursting into early leaf, a clear sunny sky, and a mild morning after the night of the full moon, it felt like spring when we sat down to our pancake breakfast today. In the news, a report that Joe Biden has been in conversation with Zhi Jinping about the situation in Ukraine, just a day after speaking with Putin. China is playing the enigmatic game at the moment. 

There are unofficial reports that Putin is not just re-shuffling about purging his intelligence services, arresting some of his top people. This may be his way of shifting the blame for his error of judgement in thinking Ukraine could be blitzkrieged in order for him to install a new regime. 

Russian armies are in a stalemate situation in Ukraine with heavy casualty and equipment losses, destroying cities by indiscriminate bombing and missile attacks is the alternative strategy terrorizing the country into submission. Putin scapegoating his advisors is his lame attempt to divert attention from his own inability to grasp the reality of a world that has changed deeply since the Cold War ended. He was succeeded so far in uniting the free world against his regime, and economically punishing the Russian people. How long can he get away with this?

At the end of the morning, we drove to Cold Knap in Barry for another fish and chip lunch, though sadly no fish soup this week. I guess it depends on the supply of fresh ingredients available. After lunch, we climbed up the clifftop path and set out for Porthkerry, but by the time we got to the woods Clare's hip joint was giving her too much pain, so we retraced our steps to beach level. Again the tide was far out and on a whim, I made the precarious descent of the massive pebble bank to where bedrock and a thin layer of sand is exposed at low tide, and took photographs. 

There's nothing much to hold millions of tons of rounded stones in place apart from gravity, inertia and their irregular shapes. Each step down you take, you're likely to slip a little as stones move underfoot. Superficially it looks as if nothing grows. The occasional bunch of seaweed on the surface washes in and out with the tide. No doubt there are micro-organisms and plants in between the pebbles. The power of the tide moves the surface levels of stones around day by day, and sand gets washed in and out from between the stones. Only at the deepest level beyond reach of being moved by the most powerful of storms would it be possible for sub-soil to develop. 

Coming back up the steepest shoal closest to the top, it was safer to crawl with hands and feet spreading my weight to avoid slipping backwards and falling. The exertion was worth the risk though, as you get a different perspective on the pebble bank down there, fifty feet below promenade level.

On the return trip we visited Pugh's garden centre in Wenvoe for Clare to select a variety of bedding plants to bring fresh seasonal colour to her flower beds. We had a drink in the cafe's sunny outdoor area. There was a young couple with two small infants at a table nearby. The dad spoke Italian to one child and English to his wife. Co-incidentally the Wales v Italy rugby international was in Cardiff today, making roads busier than usual. As we drove home, news came through that Italy had narrowly beaten Wales, thus ending their losing streak of 36 games in a row. The city will be in a state of shock tonight.

There were a couple of interesting documentaries on tonight, one about the history of the Normans and another about life in Yukon the Canadian province nearest the Arctic circle, one of the few places in the world where some indigenous people still live as subsistence hunters. Inevitably, the impact of global heating on the seasonal cycle is bringing to an end a way of life in close relationship with nature which has persisted for several millennia.

For the second time this week the Cymru Du crimmie 'Hidden' was shown on BBC Four tonight, having been premiered Wednesday night on BBC 2 Wales. No point in watching it twice, but used the time to complete a few tasks and get to bed earler for a change.

After a coast walk, a thoughtful movie

Clare made pancakes for breakfast again, then late morning we drove to Cold Knapp for lunch at the excellent Mr Villa's Fish and Chip Restaurant. But first after parking above the marvellous pebble beach, we walked around the headland and back. After lunch a walk along the clifftop to Porthkerry. 

The climb from the car park up to the continuation of the Coast Path is steep - 115 steps and then a further climb up to the top, as rise of about 150 feet. I was surprised at how stiff my legs became as I climbed, despite going up and down thirteen stairs at home a dozen times a day. I had to stop and rest several times, to avoid getting utterly breathless. It made me realise that the thousand odd miles of keep fit walking I've done have all been on the flat, so there are some leg muscles which have had far less exercise, and need working on. And, I need to work on exercise that will raise my heart rate too, in order to retain as the cardiovaascular condition possible. We live and learn. If we don't we die.

The weather was overcast, and a shower of light rain dampened our return journey to the car, but we covered five miles. That's the furthest Clare has walked for some time, so it did us both some good.

In the evening BBC Four treated us to a marvellous, beautifully crafted Norwegian movie called the King's Decision, all about the role of King Haakon in the run up to the Nazi occupation of Norway in April 1940, when Quisling's coup d'etat took place. 

I hadn't realised Haakon was the first Norwegian King to be elected. He saw himself as a champion of Norwegian Parliamentary democracy. Hitler wanted him to endorse the Quisling regime, but rather than do so he abdicated and went into exile in Britain, returning only when the war ended in 1945. 

Hitler rose to dictatorship by exploiting populist sentiment. The King believed firmly that only a Parliament freely and legally elected by its citizens had the right to govern his country. Showing this film when the British Parliament is under attack from populist fervour whipped up by right wing  movements and tabloid newspapers couldn't be more timely. I wouldn't be surprised if the BBC now gets castigated for its selection and scheduling of a European movie of such thoughtful quality.