One Man's Valley: Parking on the Prom

Nov 1 2007 David Edwards, Cynon Valley Leader

I knew it would happen!

Bridgend Council is planning to put a stop to camper vans parking along the Porthcawl prom overnight.

Although I am a born-again camper van owner, I could see it coming in the Sandy Bay stars.

Me and the brood regularly park our Volkswagen camper on the prom for a few hours on a Sunday and swig coffee looking out over the donkeys on Coney Beach.

The first time I parked up on the prom I got chatting to another camper van owner.

“Arrived here this morning did you?” I asked.

“Nahhh..I’ve been parked up here for the past three weeks,” said he.

“Do you mean three whole weeks?” I asked disbelievingly.

“Yep.”

See what I mean?

Lucky old Ron

I just can’t help believing how lucky Ron Bundock and Tamsin Lowrie are to have won an all expenses trip to Memphis Tennessee after winning a raffle during the Elvis weekend in Porthcawl.

Apparently Ron, who is 89, said ‘It’s Now or Never’ when he bought the lucky ticket.

I reckon they’ll have a great time. I can well remember the first Elvis record I listened to, which was a 78 called Let me Be Your Teddy Bear, which I listened to on my pal’s radiogram.

That reminds me, I’ve still got some 78s up in the attic somewhere.

Final misery

If England won the Rugby World Cup final, I knew I we would never hear the end of it.

England lost the final and we still haven’t heard the end of it.

Why can’t the England rugby team accept that, like Wales, they are a bunch of losers and move on? That’s too much to ask, I suppose.

I mean to say, I lost out on the office draw on who would win the World Cup but I haven’t kept on about it. So there!

Bracchi lost

The closure of Strinati’s cafe in Treherbert means another Bracchi has disappeared from the valley’s landscape.

When once the valley teemed with Italian cafe owners steaming pies and stirring Vimtos, there are now just a handful left.

There’s nothing quite like sitting in a Bracchi. As Dean Martin once sang...Memories are Made of This.

Double up

Here’s a quote from Hollywood comic Jerry Lewis.

“The doc told me I had a dual personality and then he gives me an 82 dollar bill.

“So I give him 41 bucks and told him to get the other 41 bucks from the other guy.”