Politicians condemn Hill closure

The chorus had been for many years a familiar part of the barbershop scene in Monmouthshire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. In the last two years though, despite the heroic efforts of director Paul Mills, membership dwindled and at a meeting before Christmas 2008 the membership voted to wind it up.

Some of the membership have joined Synergy, a chorus based in Abergavenny.

This was the view this morning from the Kymin, the big hill behind Monmouth, looking towards Abergavenny, the Blorange and the Skirrid. I’ve never seen it so clear.

The witness describes the two objects as “low enough to hit with a stone… There were several lights on them, arranged symmetrically on the underside and there were white lights on the three points of each triangle.”

Moving “slower than 5 mph” they took at least 15 seconds to pass over the dual carriageway. They were “absolutely silent and there were no other cars on the road at the time”.

The witness provides a sketch showing craft very similar to the ominous black triangles that have featured in so many UFO sightings in recent years.

The article appears to have flushed out others who have seen similar craft. The 17th October edition has a front page article reporting similar sightings in Westbury last winter and Whitchurch in 1994.

Perhaps it was all a big fib.

Perhaps it looked a bit like this triangle filmed over Florida in March:

But then they spoil it by cycling on the pavement and expecting pedestrians to get out of their way!

This has come to my attention recently on the Wye Bridge in Monmouth where cyclists regularly push past me on the pavement (for American readers, the sidewalk) heading into the town centre. These aren’t just kids who should know better either: these are foursomes of hard core übercyclists with their fancy skin tight shirts and helmets, decked out in the proper gear for a day out on their bikes.

If you are one of those cyclist who doesn’t bother to obey the Highway Code and get off your bike when on the pavement you shouldn’t be surprised if you begin to lose the respect of other road users.

Monmouth from Buckholt Woods

Originally uploaded by Monnowman.

Went for a walk here today as I hadn’t seen the countryside on this side of town. Picture is taken with my mobile phone so very wide angle too much foreground!) and panorama stitching a bit iffy.

I had to push my daughter in her pushchair into the road to avoid these two cars parked on the pavement recently in central Monmouth.