If you're one of the extremely few people who've been following this blog for some time, you'll be aware that I live in a very small village called Frynwys in South Wales. It has few places of note; a village hall, a shop, some wild land on its southern edge, a pub and a couple of small parks. Because of this, Frynwys is pretty much dead in terms of excitement or adventure. In fact the most activity we've had recently has been the restoration of a path which took shorter than expected.
That's not to say nothing of note ever happens here. I've previously mentioned the incident in which a terrapin was released into the local pond, and before that a Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey flew over my house during the NATO summit in Newport back in 2014. With this in mind, I think it's time I covered all the interesting and positively riveting goings on of Frynwys in this new feature.
So what's been happening in Frynwys recently? Let's start things off with a familiar theme. It seems the pond has become a hive of activity over these last few weeks, especially since the frogs have spawned and their eggs are frothing in clusters on the banks. Then, as I was walking past the pond the other day, I noticed some large orange shapes moving close to the surface. It took me a second to realise that they were carp of some kind, and that yet again someone had released fish into the pond. The last time this happened the fish were removed by the warden in charge of looking after the village's wild land, and a sign was put up explaining the effect of the fish on the pond's ecology and asking for the perpetrator to come forward. I wonder if they'll do the same when they discover several large carp in the pond. The frogspawn will certainly provide them with an easy food source, which will lead to an angry warden indeed.
Elsewhere in Frynwys, I encountered a strange situation by the park at the bottom of the village. I was walking past there headed to another street, and saw a woman and her two children (who I estimate were about four or five years old). The children were swinging on the swings as children that age do, but as I walked past them they suddenly started screeching the chorus to the song 'Heathens' by Twenty One Pilots. The opening lyric of said chorus startled me, but I didn't expect them to launch into the rest of the song, which they proceeded to do. I take it most people by now are familiar with the film Suicide Squad, and that 'Heathens' is a song written for and closely associated with said film. Thus the lyrics are to do with psychopaths, murderers, and is general a gloomy song which nonetheless I think is quite a good one if a bit overplayed during 2016. As I left the kids were still singing it, and their mother seemed completely oblivious. Not that I have anything against children singing 'Heathens', but I couldn't help but be surprised that the parent didn't seem to notice the song's content.
Closer to home, my street to be exact, some of our neighbours have moved out. They were the longest resident homeowners on our street, with my family not far behind in second place. Now, since one of them has retired, they decided to move with their two cocker spaniels to a house in Cornwall. It makes perfect sense; I've often thought about retiring to the coast in the future, although that is an incredibly long-term plan since I'm nowhere near retirement age. Still, their departure now leaves my family the longest-serving residents on our street, which is a bit of an odd feeling.
And finally, in the only other noteworthy bit of news I've managed to accumulate, a friend of mine is getting engaged. This is particularly noteworthy to me at least, because this is a friend I went to primary school with in the nearby school. We parted ways after I was sent to a school in Newport and he was sent to the local comprehensive, but we've kept in touch over the years. Now that he's engaged, the passage of time has suddenly become clearly evident to me. I can remember most of my school days with precise clarity, and it only feels like we were there just the other day. Funny how everyone grows up.
That concludes this first installment of Frynwys Features. I suspect there will be more to come from this segment, but given the slow and quiet nature of life in this little backwater, it might take a while.
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