A Simple Life of Luxury

We had a nice family evening out on Saturday to visit the Halloween / Bonfire Night lantern procession in Machynlleth. We drove there with Dave and Sarah and met Sarah, Simon and Josh there.. We also bumped into a few other Ynyslas residents including Mike, Rachel, Jamie and Cameron, Chris, Margi and Amy as well as a few other people we knew… It seemed as though everyone who was anyone was in Machynlleth for this event!

The lantern procession itself was nice and there were quite a few people we knew in the procession itself. After the procession there was a light show, but at £4 per adult and £3 per child we decided to give this a miss and get some dinner in the form of kebabs instead.

Morgan and Josh were enjoying running around like mad men anyway so a light show would simply have been a distration for them and they didn’t know what they were missing and were having a good time anyway simply because it makes a change for them to be out after dark…. Mind you, these days it makes a difference for us to be out after dark as well!

Anna and I aren’t particularly into fireworks so a lantern procession was a nice evening out. Although as usual we forgot the camera so you’ll just have to imagine what it looked like!

As you may have already read, we had the first ever Ynyslas Fun Day here at the weekend. A low key affair, but you have to start somewhere.

One of the events was a ‘Treasure Hunt’ arranged by Anna and myself, which we think went well Everyone set off with their instructions sheets, and had to complete a few puzzles at a puzzle stop at our house before continuing on towards the dunes, over the boardwalk and then back along the beach. On their way they had to answer various questions about their surroundings and also collect various items such as a feather, a bag of rubbish (to help keep the beach clean), a bivalve shell, a gastropod shell and a few other items. There were a few more questions and some things hidden along thew way and a tricky little crossword for them to complete based on the housenames of Ynyslas. Everyone put quite a bit of effort into completing it so I think they enjoyed it.

The other big competition of the day was a sandcastle building contest on the beach. Thankfully the weather co-operated and some artistic sculptures were created. We were pleased with ours but I think we were voted down as adults had helped in the construction, and the prizes went to those built solely by the children… Mind you, it has to be said that ours lacked any originality or artistry, as it was just a simple castle, as opposed to the lizards, Highland Cattle, Sea-horses and moles built by others.

We had the first ever Ynyslas Fun Day yesterday here. It is an idea we had been talking about for a while as Anna and I along with other ynyslas residents always felt that the Borth Carnival was really aimed at the tourists and wasn’t for the residents of Ynyslas and that we would like to have a ’show’ in much the same way as other rural villages do.

Of course, as this was the first Ynyslas Fun Day we kept it as a rather low-key event with just a few simple competitions. No giant marrows or perfect runner beans for us. I’ve always liked the sillier categories in country shows so suggested an ‘Animal Made from vegetables’ category. As it was mys suggestion I thought I had better enter it so created a Giraffe from a potato and a carrot… When I turned up with it and saw everyone elses entries my giraffe suddenly looked a little silly. Everyone else had put in loads of effort and some of the entries were really good (as usual I forgot to take photos of them though). My personal favourites were the snails and the crab. Thankfully Sarah turned up with a pig made from a potato which which meant that my giraffe didn’t look completely outclassed.

Strangely though everyone seemed to like my giraffe and I took the prize for the best animal made from vegetables…. Amazing, I wonder if the votes were in pity for the poor little creature.

Other categories that were hotly contested in the show were the flower arrangement, the crafts and the artwork of a local scene. There was also a treasure hunt that kept Anna and I busy organising it last week and everyone else busy doing yesterday morning, and a sand-castle building competition on the beach. All interspersed with a ‘picnic’ lunch and a BBQ in the evening.

We had fun and I think everyone else did too.

Elvis Spotted at Ynyslas….. Yep, it’s true, he was here enjoying a party on Saturday evening along with a few other diodgy looking characters.

The party was in aid of Sarah’s birthday and the start of her new life free from the confines of a 9-5 job. Thankfully the weather held off so the garden was put to good use for football, Giant jenga, unicycling and plenty of other activities.

Quite a few people were there and as far as I know a good time was had by all and much food and alcohol consumed

It’s not often that anything news-worthy happens around here, but there was an armed police raid in Borth last night.

We knew nothing of it but apparently there were around 20 police officers including dog handlers, polic in full riot gear and even some armed police called to a house in Borth to arrest a man on charge under the telecommunications act…

Exciting stuff!!.. BBC News article here.

Everything went well for Morgans Birthday Party. having it in the comunity hall was a good idea and it gave the children loads of room to run around and play with all the toys. The little bouncy castle was enjoyed by all and the big tube-maze thingy was well used too.

Not only did the children have fun but I think the adults did too. All in all a roaring success.

Just a quick note to say that I’m in the process of building a little website aimed at promoting the ’sport’ of geocaching in the Aberystwyth area. Aber-cachers.co.uk will be a comminuty site where local and visiting geocachers can plan trips, ask for advice and generally get to know each other. As well as covering all aspects of geocaching in the area anyone interested in walking, hiking or simply enjoying the outdoors around here will be welcome to join in.

It is very early days with the site at the moment, it hasn’t officially gone live yet and I still have lots of work to do on it, but I thought I’d give readers of ‘A Simple Life of Luxury’ a sneak preview. So check out the geocaching forums and photo galleries. Feel free to register and join in the fun. It is a nice bright site that should liven your day if nothing else

Photo: Last Years Successful Hunt!

We’re off visiting family this weekend. It’s that time of year again when we go to my parents to exchange Xmas gifts and partake in the annual Christmas Tree hunt. I actually quite enjoy it, but I think I’m the only one who does. We’re going on Sunday this year to the usual location of Fountain Forestry in Brockley Coombe and the weather looks as though it will be on our side. Not quite a frsoty as I would like but at least it should be dry.

It is quite a trek from my parents house these days, and no doubt we will all stand around in the car park waiting for Jay and his family 9they are always late)… Whilst milling around we will all ‘discuss’ which was the best way to get there… My way is without a doubt the best and they always agree with me in the end. We’ll then wander around in the mud trying to find the perfect tree each, before cutting one down, and then deciding that the ones already cut by the entrance are actually better and we’ll get one from there instead!

Hopefully we’ll have time to get some venison from the nearby venison farm too before heading off for a meal together… The perfect family get together.

The Wales contingent of the Cole family (Anna, Morgan and me) are also hoping to get some geocaching in on the Saturday. We are halfway through the Wildcat geocache and hope to get the next stage completed, along with a few easy ones near my parents house. It should be a busy weekend but I don’t think we’ll make it back in time for the Ynyslas Xmas gathering.

Last night we travelled all of about 10 metres to the now annual bonfire party at our next door neighbours. Now that they live here full time and are not just weekend visitors, the bonfire party seems to be growing in stature with more and more members of the local community coming together for an evening of food and fireworks. Last night was probably the largest gathering so far and as usual the fireworks were good (although anna and I aren’t that keen on fireworks oursleves). It goes without saying that the food and company was top notch too.

One thing has changed though, in the early years of this event most attendees were either staying with Dave and Sarah (the hosts) or didn’t have children so the event used to go on until the early hours with people drinking and chatting around the fire. Now that most of the people their have children things tailed off pretty quickly after the fireworks were over at about 8pm. We headed home soon after as well in order to get Morgan off to bed, but I’m sure a few people hung around to help the hosts finish of the alcohol! I doubt they sat around the for too long though as not long after we left it started pouring with rain.

All in all a good night that helps bring the community together and it seems as though most of them enjoy it as there are now plans for an Ynyslas Community Christmas party.