North Wales - June 2010

On Tues 15th & Weds 16th June we spent two days driving along the North welsh coast. Over the 2 days we visited a number of contrasting towns in North Wales. Firstly the resorts of Rhyl & Prestatyn still recovering from the 1970's to the dereliction of Colwyn Bay Pier. As a teenager I used to visit Rhyl on a regular basis and it was the best place on earth.

I've not been since the early 90's and I now realise why. It seems to me that they have tried to turn Rhyl into something it will never be the plush new apartments contrast with the boarded up arcades and guest houses. In the early 80's Rhyl had the best T Shirt shop in the world you could get any band logo or football team shirt you wanted. I guess some things always seem better remembered? Pretty good Donuts though and the smell of Fish n Chips is still there. Not as many arcades as I remember and was really sad to see Ocean beach Funfair was no more the first Roller Coaster I ever rode was there.

Colwyn Bay is somewhere I've only visited a couple of times with the last visit being in the late 1970's. I do remember the Pier though and it was sad to see it in such a poor state. Colwyn Bay Pier in its time was quite an important live music venue for the area with bands such as Madness, Motorhead, The Damned and Siouxsie & The Banshees playing there.
Now though it is at the centre of a long running legal battle while the structure is decaying. These buildings should be treasured they are part of our heritage but sadly as has been seen at many resorts as tastes change Piers are left to decay and eventually its too late. I really hope its not too late for Colwyn Bays Victoria Pier.

Llandudno is the Jewell in the North Wales crown with its grand promenade and magnificient pier which contrasts starkly with the dereliction seen at Colwyn Bay. In contrast to Prestatyn, Rhyl & Colwyn Bay Llandudno certainly gives the impression of afluence and it struck me just how clean it was. It reminded me of Eastbourne a resort aimed at the more mature members of society while still offering attractions for families. We walked the full length of the Pier I remembered the Vintage Cars and Ghost Train from my childhood now both sadly gone along with the Pavillion although behind the arcade you can still see where they were.

After spending Tuesday night in the Bangor Travelodge on Wednesday we set off for Abersoch.

A new place to visit I've been near but never actually visited Abersoch. In recent times this area of Wales has become popular with surfers as well as hosting the up and coming music festival known as Wakestock. For our visit we were blessed with clear skies and sun. The beach at Abersoch is golden sands and it was nice to be able to lay back and relax.

After soaking up the sun for a few hours we headed off to Portmeirion the Italian style Village designed by Sir Clough William-Ellis and made famous as the location for the 1960's cult series The Prisoner. Whilst there I couldn't resist shouting "I am not a number I am a free man" We had a nice walk into the woods surrounding the village and some of the views are simply breathtaking.

Finally on our way back home we paid a fleeting visit to Caernafon and its beautiful castle. We walked the perimeter before heading towards the A55 and returning to England.

North Wales is an area of extreme contrasts but also an area of outstanding natural beauty I don't think we will be leaving it so long before visiting again.

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More pictures from the two days can be found on my Flickr page

3 Years - How Life Changes

I was thinking should I twitter and then I realised I can't even blog!

It was 2007 when this was last updated so this might just be a long post.

In 2007 I was Logistics Manager for Saica Packaging but unfortunatly by December 2008 they had decided to make me redundant. To be fair the company had changed quite a lot in the 2 years I was there and while the job had become very stressfull and I could if provoked be very bitter about it all, now 18 months later it all seems to have worked out very well.

After redundancy the outlook was to say the least bleak. The country was in recession and the news was as bleak as I've ever known it. I was lucky McVities (United Biscuits) Manchester were looking for a Team Manager and with the help of an excellent recruiting agency I started at McVities in March 2009. I now work 3 on 3 off 12 hour shifts Managing the production of Jaffa Cakes after spending the first 3 months looking after the Chocolate Digestive line.

Well I've been to quite a few gigs since 2007. Queen + Paul Rodgers a couple of times. The Damned just a few times. My best gigs though of the last couple of years have been PIL in Manchester Dec 2009 & Skunk Anansie in Wolverhampton in November 2009. However the best song I've seen live in the last 3 years has got to be Bad Company by Queen + Paul Rodgers at the MEN in Nov 2008 Brian May might be in his 60's now but he still is the main man.



August 2007 I gave up smoking and I'm pleased to say I'm still a smoke free zone! Since giving up the dreaded weed though i have aquired an appitite for Red Wine.

My Girls have left school now Claire will be going to Uni in September and Stacey will be going to College.

For holiday photos, gig pictures and anything else I might find interesting to photograph take a nose on my Flickr pages

www.flickr.com Go to Kev Ruscoe's photostream

So will I keep this place updated? Maybe...........................................

Gigs, Holiday's & Other Stuff

I really should up date this more often I have had a busy August and September with holidays and a couple of gigs along with continuing to establish myself in my new job.

Its not been the easiest time at work with some restructuring and a lot of investment in new equipment but its exciting and challenging and after 6 months I am still enjoying my new job. I still have loads to do and many hills to climb but the nature of life and work that will always be the case.

I had my first break from work at the end of August we went away for a week to New Quay in West Wales. What a beautiful part of the world that is. We were lucky to have an apartment over looking the harbour, sitting on the balcony each morning watching the dolphins at play was a great way to relax. Managed a few days out exploring the area and the weather was pretty good too.

September saw two great gigs The Damned were first up making there debut in Crewe, the shortest distance I think I have ever travelled to a Damned gig. As always it was an excellent show met up with drummer Pinch and had a long chat about his new drum kit and life in general. Nick my next door neighbour came along for his first Damned gig and he seemed to enjoy it a lot I think it was a little bit of a culture shock for him though! The second gig was in Nottingham, my first visit to Rock City to see the Misfits. Again an excellent gig enjoyed support band Drongos For Europe and the Misfits played a full set of classics laced with a certain amount of menace!

I have put photos up on my flickr of the gigs and some holiday snaps

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kev_inr/sets/

October & November are shaping up well I've got SLF in Crewe on the 10th of October and The Sex Pistols at the MEN on November 17th celebrating 30 years since Never Mind The Bollocks!

Crewe Alex v Liverpool

Took the girls to the Crewe v Liverpool pre season friendly today. Liverpool won of course 3-0 with goals from Lee Peltier, Peter Crouch and Ray Putterill. Most of the big names got 45 minutes, Reina, Riise, Hyypia, Finnan, Gerrard, Crouch, Voronin, Agger, Kuyt, Carragher, Pennant & Alonso.

The Girls were very keen on a young defender Michel Roque. We all had a really good day I met former Liverpool Manager Roy Evans who was there working on the new LFC TV Channel.

I managed to take 248 photo's I think I was working on the theory that if I took so many I might get a couple of decent ones.

Live Earth & The Skids!!!

Didn't watch a huge lot of Live Earth but I did see The Foo Fighters and they were awesome I really have to make the effort to see this band one day!

Recorded the concert through the night and it was pretty dire apart from Roger Waters "Another Brick In The Wall" and The Police, well until Kayne West joined them on stage and ruined "Message In A Bottle" one of my favourites!

Back in my school days The Skids were the band that always got the floor full at School Disco's 15 year old lads throwing there arms and bodys around trying to be Richard Jobson. The Skids reformed for two shows only and I saw them on the T In The Park broadcast all of a sudden I wanted to throw myself around as I did when I was 15 trouble is like Richard Jobson I'm slightly (?) older these days. Just wish they would do a full tour now but it looks highly unlikely. Anyway if you are reading this and wondering what the hell I'm going on about there is some video at the link below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/tinthepark/channelt/video/4453121

Sunnny Day

At last Saturday was sunny! Managed to get outside and tidy the Garden it was starting to get just a little overgrown!

I like pottering about on my own in the garden I let my thoughts flow through my head and if anything is playing on my mind I can usually sort it in my head while dead heading. Its also a good way of letting you mind wander and relive some memorys.

I managed to spend 7 hours out there, I just completely lost track of time! Ached a bit after though, I really need to get myself fit.

British Summer

Well this is my new blog!

Its the last day of June and it hasn't stopped raining for what seems like weeks. I had two days off work this week to paint the outside of my house what a waste that was. I don't know about global warming but with all these floods its certainly freakish. I'm lucky not been flooded here but feel sorry for all those affected.

Looks like this weekend is a washout too so out of boredom I've started this :o)