Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

  A WISE man once declared, “You can live to be a 100 if you give up all things that make you want to live to be a 100.” OK, I’ll pause there, as it wasn’t a very wise man. It was film director Woody Allen who said it – and he doesn’t get into the Top Three of Wise Men in my book. But . . . that doesn’t mean I don’t agree with the essence of what he said, particularly as I am now in the ‘pensionable age’ bracket. You name it, and I’ve got it – free bus pass, senior railway card, a stent in the ticker, a multi-tiered pillbox for all my medicines, dodgy knees and arthritis in the ankles. With the discounted travel cards, I could hatch an escape plan, but I suspect the legs would let me down and I wouldn’t get very far. Sometimes, I think the travel option may be over-rated as the world seems to come to me, via unsolicited mail and publicity flyers through the letterbox and unwanted emails through the electronic inbox. For example, this week started badly with two flyers. The first su...

  TIME was when I was young enough (and twp enough!) to talk about making a ‘fox pass’. As a young cub reporter, I even committed the cardinal sin of scribbling ‘fox pass’ in a news story. My editor at the time stopped short of a sharp rap across the knuckles with a metal ‘em’ ruler, but the verbal dressing down in the newsroom was enough to make sure I got the message that a ‘fox pass’ is a ‘faux pas’. Faux pas literally means ‘false step’ in French, and that’s a great description of what you do when you make a faux pas. Some dictionaries describe a ‘faux pas’ as meaning a significant or embarrassing error or mistake. In other words, a blunder, a gaffe or a mistake. In 50 years of scribbling, I’ve made several blunders. In fact, during just the last fortnight, I’ve managed to make three. So, if you do that maths, I reckon my faux pas career tally may well be approaching the five digits mark. My three ‘faux pas’ (if that is the correct plural of the phrase) included making an eight...

YOU’RE going to have to trust me on this one – it won’t be bad luck if you read this column today . . . honest . . . promise . . . cross my heart. Yes, it’s Friday the 13 th  (only the second Friday the 13 th  in the 2024 calendar). It’s a fair bet that if you survived the one in September, you’ll manage to get through today – even if I take a little bit of delight in reminding you just how superstitious us human beings can be. There is a medical word for the fear of Friday the 13 th . It is paraskevidekatriaphobia – a word which just sent my spell-checker into overdrive. The word paraskevidekatriaphobia was devised by Dr Donald Dossey, a California-based clinical psychologist who had a sideline as a folklore historian. Dr Dossey would tell suffering patients that they had paraskevidekatriaphobia – but he would cheerfully add, “when you learn to pronounce it, you’re cured!” As it happens, Friday the 13 th  doesn’t bother me that much, but I did take the precaution of writ...

  YES, folks, it’s that time of year again – Pantomime season! One of the most eagerly-anticipated pantomimes in west Wales is the show staged by Theatrau Sir Gâr / Carmarthenshire Theatres at The Lyric in Carmarthen. This year, it is the turn of Beauty and the Beast, which will run from December 12-29. The festive favourite promises to be a spectacular show filled with magical moments, plenty of laughs, and all the panto fun that families have come to love. Following on from the success of last year’s pantomime (seen by nearly 8,000 local people), Beauty and the Beast will be produced in-house again by the Theatrau Sir Gâr team, in arrangement with the renowned pantomime producing company, Imagine Theatre.  This year’s Beauty and the Beast cast includes three Carmarthenshire-born cast members. The line-up includes Steve Elias as the hilarious and larger-than-life Dame Sylvia Scrub-it, Carwyn Glyn as the lovable sidekick Sammy Scrub-it and Ceri-Anne Thomas as the beautiful and...

THERE was a time when I was regarded as something of a ‘stickler’ for dress codes. In the days when I sat in the editor’s chair, it was a case of woe betide any male trainee reporter who turned up for work without a jacket and tie. Female journalists were excused the jacket and tie regime, but they had to be smartly dressed. And some of my old trainees are still dining out on the tale of how I once sent a photographer home after he turned up (in the middle of a heatwave, it must be said) in a pair of khaki shorts. Today, of course, I take a more relaxed approach to dress codes. Whisper it, but even my Rotary Club in Llanelli, no longer requires collar and tie for dinner. The ‘less stuffy’ approach is being adopted (gradually) by politicians and civic leaders, many of our male leaders choosing (on appropriate occasions) to ditch the tie. The ladies, of course, have more scope when selecting their fashion statements, so it was interesting to see the fallout this week from Neath and Swans...

  THE annual Llanelli Rotary Club Young Musician of the Year competition saw singers and instrumentalists battle it out at Greenfield Chapel in the town centre. The competition was the first stage in a national competition to find the Young Musician of the Year in both vocal and instrumental categories. Llanelli Rotary Club President Cerith Owens said: “Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland believes it is highly important to encourage and develop creativity in young people and the young musician competition is one of a number of ways in which we can nurture talent. “The young musician competition in Llanelli has been running for nearly 10 years, with a short break for the coronavirus pandemic. During that time, we have been hugely entertained and impressed by the young talent on display in the two categories of the competition. “This year’s competition was of a very high standard and we would urge schools and music teachers across the area to pencil next autumn into the...

  SINGER Aled Jones will be making a welcome visit to Carmarthen to perform at The Lyric Theatre on Thursday (November 14). The show is billed as Aled Jones - Full Circle. Aled Jones was the boy treble who captivated the world with his angelic voice. Selling more than seven million albums, Aled was the original, classical crossover star. His recording of Walking in the Air, from the animated film The Snowman, firmly established him as a household name and he has become an integral part of the nation’s festivities. Equally at home on the classical stage, or starring in musical theatre productions in London West End, his credits include lead roles in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. As a singer, Aled is in demand globally and has performed in the world’s most iconic venues, from London’s Royal Albert Hall to the Sydney Opera House.  A favourite with the Royal Family, he even gave a private performance to ...