The Llangollen Wharf and Basin count as a single location and CRT limit stays to 48 hours. I moved out on Sunday and back Monday morning then out again on Wednesday morning with Linda walking ahead to check the single working section and Gill along for the ride.
Between the narrow section near the wharf and the the longer narrow section further out there is a sanitary station so I’ve emptied the loo each time I passed. From now on though with Linda and car available to pick me up I’ve decided to stay on the free mooring out of town. The tricky bit is that when I need water, or the WC emptying I have to turn around, go back to the Sanitary station, then turn around again.
During the day the boat movements in and out of Llangollen can be difficult and it seems some boaters try to avoid it by leaving early. I understand the motivation but did two boats really need to leave at 5.00 on Thursday and nearly tumble me out of bed as they passed?
Eisteddfod News
On Wednesday evening Linda picked me up from the campsite just below the mooring. Traveling in a car seems very fast after a month at walking speed. The ‘Saints and Singers’ billed as a celebration of Welsh music was disappointing. The two finalists from the day’s Solo Singer competition were included but the running order wasn’t well thought out making for a choppy first half with the large choir taking time to come on and go off stage to make way for the soloists. Then, rather than announce the winner immediately after the interval as planned it was held over to the end. I suspect that having the second solo just before the short interval hadn’t given the adjudicators enough time. By the end of ‘Teilo’ a lot of people had already left and many more left straight after despite the announcer’s plea for them to stay.
It’s a good idea to integrate the competitive aspect of the Eisteddfod with the evening concerts but the show would have flowed better if the soloists had come on first and the judges had the rest of the first half to consider their verdict. Much less to-ing and fro-ing with choirs and presenters.
The choice of music for the night was challenging. It’s good to hear new music, though letting the musical director perform his own composition smacks of jobs for the boys. Music is highly subjective, a lot of it can move move me to tears, sometimes I’m dazzled by the virtuosity. Neither thing happened this time I’m afraid.
After a challenge like that most concert arrangers would have given the audience something more familiar and reassuring for the second half. Teilo is neither. The story of an early christian saint from post-Roman Britain is pretty obscure and it would have been impossible to follow the plot from the words sung by the choirs as the sound was too muddy. It was helped a little by Terry Waite’s narration but he was woefully under-rehearsed and not agile enough to leap up quickly when he missed a cue.
I spent most of Thursday on the Eisteddfod field watching the youth choirs competitions (much better entertainment than the previous evening) and taking in some of the acts on the outside stages. The World Stage especially had some interesting acts.
And the curry wagon was a good as ever!