In Vino Veritas

[See this picture at a larger size in the Dead Things section of the gallery]

So, I meant to mention last time about the best comment I've heard about my band. We played in Nottingham some time ago, and afterwards Ellen overheard someone in the pub talking about us: "I didn't stay to see them play - they didn't even look like a band!"

I think that's our new motto.

Anyway, this is a pic from a quick trip to Northwest Wales - I mainly wanted to go in order to visit Portmeirion, about which I'll probably post something later, but also visited some of the old slate mining towns in the hills of Snowdonia. At times it did remind me of some of the old Gold Rush settlements I saw in the US, but a big difference was the extent to which the landscape had been altered - around Blaenau Ffestiniog in particular every hill was covered with shattered slate scree, all directions mined out. Seeing the abandoned slate workings - with workbenches and tools signed by the last people to work there in the 1960s - was very atmospheric and melancholy.

Also had a little time to explore the Llŷn peninsula, which is truly beautiful - just as much so as the much better known Gower in South Wales which I visited a while back. It's one of the bastions of the Welsh language too, which I do love to hear but really have a hard time wrapping my tongue around.