Laughing at Laugharne

Monday 12^th November to Tuesday 13^th November 2012

Holidays are for rest and relaxation and we have encompassed this for a couple of days now.

Looking out over the estuary - this a view from our lodge (virtually)

Monday we did a little more than just a little bit – managing to not use the car and confine our movement to a bit of walking and visiting some very close attractions.

In a town / village the size of Laugharne it would be expected that there should be not a lot to see and I guess you would be correct – save for the fact that Laugharne is the place that one of Wales’ famous children came one day on the bus and didn’t leave – that would be Dylan Thomas.

Just down the hill from where we are actually staying is both his home and the small hut where he worked – both overlooking the estuary – it is understandable how the view could inspire the great works.

The hut

The hut is not open and indeed it started life as a garage before being commandeered for his writing; the house, however, is open and for a nominal charge you can see around inside and read more about this most famous poet of his time.

It is interesting to note that although Thomas was Welsh he did not write in Welsh.

In an effort to be able to photograph both house and hut together – bearing in mind that the hut is some metres above the house on the hillside, Diane suggested that I move a bit further out onto the “rocks” that were exposed by the outgoing tide – softest rocks I have ever seen – the result was mud almost up to my ankles and some sniggering from the safety of the concrete path.

The house (bottom) and the hut (top) - where Dylan Thomas
 lived and worked

Mud - less than glorious mud

Fortuantely the tide will wash away the evidence of the silliness

With a bit of cleaning up in a clean water pool beside the path, shoes were again presentable (but the sniggering remained) and we were off to lunch – The Fish ‘n’ Chip café was the order of the day (can’t remember the exact name) – one serve of cod and another of faggots – both are highly recommended.

The inner side of the castle - not open at this time
of the year but we could see past the locked gates

The old Town Hall

All of this excitement was followed by a leisurely afternoon of reading and a DVD or two.

We did go out for short walk down to the swimming pool – the water temperature being around 25-30C – satisfactory for a bit of a dip and we followed this up with a spa, which was considerably hotter and then a plunge back in the pool to be completely refreshed.

A brief look see in the bar area and Diane found a person there accessing the internet with the free WiFi and instantly started chatting – he was here at present sans-wife and we all chatted for a short while – he introduced himself simply as John – and reminded us of the trivia night that evening – now we certainly love a good pub quiz – John suggested that we form a team for the night – we were on.

With the promise of free soup and bread upon the purchase of a drink over the bar we were also fed for the evening and without much delay we were ready for the questions.

As we have limited knowledge of a great many things British, save for historical and geographical information – certainly no idea about any soaps or past Briatich sporting achievements -  we are usually at a bit of a disadvantage.

As luck would have it, between the three of us we were able to fashion an answer for each question and at the end of it we had a winning score by a margin of just 1 point.

There were some lucky guesses and no use of google at all and of course the majority of the answers were from our large pool of combined knowledge (i.e. lesser guesses).

A formidable team - John is on the right

These are the answers - won't show the questions
- we don't need to show those that we didn't know

Cash prizes as well – all to be used in the bar/restaurant – we will be eating well for at least 1 day.

We all had a very good night indeed.

Tuesday morning arrived and we had a night of intermittent sleep – for the second night in a row we were woken by the sounds of what could be best described as cows outside the window – I did say best described.

The day was truly a lazy one – neither of us venturing outside – most of the day was simply taken up with reading – what a lazy life this is – and for the sake of two children (wherever they currently are) I have managed to finish a full book in 2 days – about to move onto another.

We were able to trace the menace to a seal around the window not being as airtight as it should – the maintenance person arrived and with caulking gun in-hand dispensed some of the sealant both inside and out. Here’s hoping for a better night.