Thursday 22 March 2012

back home

to housework!! Dealt with with help from The Carpenter, who has been very busy!

Twins Club in Aberystwyth was good fun- only four sets this week! Two hours where they charge around a large church hall!!

The pot deliveries went well, and I returned with no pots in the car!! The next time The White Room Gallery in Harlech need stock they'll arrange to meet me in Aberystwyth, and can take work for Maentwrog too...as well as having a day out themselves.
It was a lot of driving, although only 175 miles in the one day.

I stopped in Porthmadog for a break and a wander round the town. It was good to see The Grapevine Bistro still going strong!! (good excuse for a fresh coffee!) Browsers Bookshop too and Rob Piercey's Gallery.
However when I looked at the old Flour Mill (Snowdon Mill) where I worked as a potter/designer, it was derelict again. All the money, grants, hard work gone to waste. It had been a good centre for tourist activities, a shop selling work from craftspeople in Gwynedd, a cafe, large gallery, rooms for meetings and courses.....work for local people.

Now it has been boarded up by order of the council for safety as has the mobile office of the company that was intent on converting the six storey building into flats, starting at £240,000.
A waste of a lovely building, even if they had converted them as no-one local would have that kind of money and who would want a flat in the middle of an industrial area, with the Welsh Highland Railway line right in front of the building and Maddock's original (and rather smelly) cut at the back!! (the first large ditch dug when draining the area that the town is built on)

Wednesday was a Day for Me..in Welsh, "Diwrnod i'r Brenin", literally a Day for the King!!
A wander around Aberystwyth, a leisurely lunch, a little light cleaning and...a rare beast...an afternoon nap!!! (unintentionally!!)

I started for home soon after 7.30 this morning, driving through the misty mountains with the promise of a pleasant day. In some places the water was seeping out from damp slopes above the road, but in most places little dust devils rose and swirled every time a vehicle drove past a field gate or lane onto the road. I'm not sure if the saying "Mawrth, Llwch. Ebrill Llif" ( March, Dust. April, Flow, ie rain) will be correct..we just needed the Winter rain that we haven't had.
The sun came out as I made a stop in Hay on Wye to see how the market is doing and talk to friends. Not as busy as it should be, but still going well.

Back to potting and gardening and hopefully cycling tomorow

6 comments:

kjsutcliffe said...

Sad about the Old Flour Mill, like you say all that good gone to waste.
Glad you enjoyed your Diwrnod i'r Brenin!

Zhoen said...

Sounds wonderful.

Cro Magnon said...

Shame about The Old Flour Mill. I'm afraid that's probably quite a common occurrence. Craft centres need to be well run and well frequented; not always easy.

red dirt girl said...

(xxx)

Kath said...

I have not heard that saying before. We have had a lot of mist and fog this month, I wonder what that means?

Chris said...

Good for you Gwynneth! Glad you had a successful pottery drop.

No wonder you had a nap, just reading about all that activity has made me drowsy.