Lle Llywela

I've not been around much lately. For this blog, that's not such an unusual thing, but even in my other online hangouts I've been much less present over the last six months or so than I used to be. There's just been a lot going on.

The main thing is that my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer last September, after a long summer of shuffling back and fore between various different doctors for a battery of tests. He's on hormone therapy and doing well, the oncologist is optimistic that he still has a few years left in him, but it is a terminal diagnosis and as such came as a bit of a hammer blow. We're still coming to terms with it.

In Other News, it's been just over a year now since I got my allotment (a year and a week, to be precise!).

It's been a strange sort of year, in many ways, and I find it disheartening sometimes to look at other allotments on social media and see how much more they seem to have achieved in the same timescale, so I have to remind myself that those are influencer allotmenters who all have much more resource than I do - they are working their allotments in pairs or as extended family groups, they have greater financial resources as well as manpower, easy access to transport, and admit to receiving lots of freebies from suppliers in exchange for a shoutout on social media. I don't have any of that, so everything I've achieved has been done by myself, by hand, mostly on foot, in stolen moments when my time isn't taken up with other responsibilities - and when I think about it like that, I think I'm doing okay, really.

My plot has gone from this (photo taken the day I first got the key and installed my lockbox for tools, ready to get started):


To this (photo taken last week):


Not bad, if I do say so myself. I've got leeks ready to harvest as and when they are needed, garlic and shallots overwintering and doing well, overwintering seedlings coming on in the greenhouse, fruit trees neatly pruned, thicket of self-seeded saplings all chopped down, the overgrowth has been tamed, new compost bays built, and new growing beds set up ready to be uncovered for planting.

(The plot behind mine is completely abandoned, though, mine ends just behind the black box and green bin you can see in the photo, so I'm going to have to make an effort to keep clear space between that and my plot this year, now that I've unearthed the row of blackcurrant bushes at the back of my plot from all the brambles coming over from behind.)

It's been another mild winter, mind, so let's all keep our fingers crossed we don't experience another Slugageddon like last year!

three-and-a-half years later, the blasted covid has finally got me

Had a lovely week in Devon last week with the whole family - parents, siblings (and in-laws), nieces, nephew, the whole shebang. We stayed in a big converted barn on a flower farm - the flower farm in relatively new hands and looking a bit neglected, sadly, but still lovely. We could have lived without all the flies and wasps of mid-August, but had a great time hanging out together and sightseeing around and about.

It was a Monday to Monday holiday, unusually, so after arriving home on Monday I headed off to the cattery to collect Poppy, and while I was there, the lady who runs the cattery (Angharad) asked if I knew anyone who wanted a kitten. It turned out that at the end of last week, they'd got up one morning to find that someone had dumped four kittens (approx. 5-6 months old) in a taped up bag and bin by the side of the road at the bottom of their driveway - there isn't even a pavement there and it is a busy road, so it was a horribly dangerous position for the poor little things to be in.


Two of the kittens, from the bag, were slightly injured and were taken in by the local Cats Protection League, but they didn't have room for all four, so the cattery had kept the other two, who were in good health, and were looking to rehome them. Both girls, we think, although not 100% sure.

Well, as it happened, my sister C and my parents had promised the Oldest Niece a kitten for her 8th birthday next month (how is she that old already?!?!?!), to live with Niece and my parents at their house. C had made a tentative arrangement to take a kitten from one of her flatmate's colleagues, but it wasn't definite. When I told her about these abandoned kittens, that was that, we were having one.

I spent most of yesterday morning on the phone to the cattery to discuss our interest in the kittens, and made an appointment to go and see them at 6.30. C and her flatmate K both came with me, with Dad. One look was all it took, and that was that - both kittens came home with us! One has been given to Niece as an early birthday present, to live with her at Mum and Dad's house. She has named it Emerald, because it has lovely green eyes:


And C and K have taken in the second kitten, which they have named Midnight:


Both kittens have had a good first night and first day in their new homes, and are settling already. Welcome to the family, fur babies!

There's some family stuff going on at the moment that I want to get off my chest, but it's likely to get quite long and complicated, so I'll put it behind a cut. Please feel free not to read. I'm just venting.

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just learned that my Aunt Lesley passed away at 4am this morning - she's the aunt who was moved from Cardiff to a nursing home in London during the pandemic. Her health has been deteriorating for a long time, so it isn't unexpected, but still desperately sad

my poor dad has now lost two siblings in under three months

I went back into work this week after the Christmas break, and my boss made the mistake of asking 'how was your Christmas?' Hoo-boy. Because honestly, it was rubbish.

So I told her everything that happened. That my uncle died on Christmas Eve (Christmas Day in New Zealand, where he was on holiday). That my little sister came down with covid on Christmas Day. That I had to go to a funeral mid-week (for an old lady from my church). About Alfie's sudden decline and death, my poor boy (she's a cat person herself, she gets it). That New Year's Day involved a trip to A&E because the Littlest Niece (aged 5) had pushed a bead into her ear...

Boss listened to the tale of woe and immediately told me to book a long weekend off, so I have.

My uncle died peacefully in his sleep on Christmas Day, New Zealand time, late Christmas Eve, UK time.

We were expecting it, but. We'd only been expecting it for a few days. From excited to be going on holiday to see the grandchildren for the first time in 4 years to in hospital with covid and other issues to inoperable aortic aneurysm to dead in under 2 weeks was one hell of a rapid downhill trajectory.

We're all slightly in shock still.

Also, my Lil Sis and her girlfriend both had covid for Christmas, so.

It's been a very downbeat holiday, all round

I am back with some more thoughts!

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Congratulations to my cousin J and his wife E on the birth of their 5th child, a beautiful little girl. Their older children are aged 16-25 - they are already grandparents, even - so the new baby is in the position that is usually called 'the afterthought', yet she is anything but, this is very much a planned and wanted child, despite the large age gap. Four years ago, J lost his beloved baby brother to cancer, the whole family was devastated, and the decision to try for another baby was made then. It's been a long road from there to here, they are both over 40 now and had a miscarriage along the way, which makes this weekend's news all the sweeter. May their new little girl have a long and happy life!

Okay, so now that we know for sure that the bulk of the cast of Star Trek: Picard are not going to be in the final season of their own show, having been summarily disposed of in favour of making the TNG2.0 this show was never supposed to be, I have the following alternate scenarios living rent-free in my head:

The one where season two never happened and La Sirena's little motley crew continued having random hijinks together across the galaxy. Maybe they never intended to stay together permanently, but somehow something always comes up, there's always another adventure to navigate before they can disband, and somehow that moment of separation never quite happens.

And then there's the one where we got to experience the two year gap between S1 and S2 with the characters, because those two years are definitely where all the interesting stories and character development lie. Rios and Agnes getting together properly and then trying and failing to juggle that relationship against a backdrop of Agnes being put on trial for the murder of Bruce Maddox and Rios being wooed back to Starfleet, gradually realising that their respective damage means they just aren't in the right place to be together. Raffi and Seven getting together and then struggling to juggle that relationship against the backdrop of their respective damage, plus Seven's commitment to the Fenris Rangers versus Raffi's return to Starfleet. Rios and Raffi returning to Starfleet, and everything that would have meant to both of them, exploring any misgivings they may have felt, the whispers and gossip that would have gone on behind their backs, given the circumstances of their respective discharges and reinstatement. Rios giving La Sirena to Seven - how I long to actually see that handover. Seven learning to live with the Rios holos, juggling her relationship with them against her growing friendship with the real thing. Agnes recovering from the trauma of her forced mindmeld and all it entailed, recovering from the trauma of her trial, bonding with Soji and the other synths, agreeing to join Soji's diplomatic tour. Elnor making the decision to join Starfleet Academy, the very first Romulan cadet, but not your usual Romulan, the culture shock it would have entailed and the struggles he'd have experienced having to balance Starfleet values against those instilled in him by the Qowat Milat. And Picard taking up his new role as Chancellor of Starfleet Academy and realising what a good fit it is for him, a whole new generation of cadets to inspire.

Honestly, what burns me most about PIC season two is that the most interesting stories it had to tell all happened off-screen between seasons! Just imagine what that show might have looked like instead! If the producers had only leaned into the strength of the characters they'd pulled together, instead of bulldozering over all their natural development so they could instead spend the season trailing around after a manufactured plot arc devised to develop one character only.

And then there's the other scenario where S2 never happened at all, which is basically the same as scenario#2 above, only Raffi and Rios get the same posting, they both end up on Stargazer as Captain and First Officer, and that's the spin-off show right there. Having them together on one ship would facilitate all the development mentioned above, plus we'd also get to see a Very Proper Starfleet crew reacting to their BFF dynamic, which I would honestly kill to see. Elnor could be posted to the Stargazer as well, as cadet, so we'd actually get to see Raffi taking him under her wing in actual practice instead of just being told that it happened while we weren't looking, plus we'd get some captain-cadet bonding and mentorship between Rios and Elnor, which would be good for both of them. We'd get to see the Very Proper Starfleet crew whispering behind the backs of their new captain and first officer, gossiping about the circumstances of their respective discharges and reinstatement - and then gradually being won over, because they are both very charming and good at their jobs, despite their idiosyncracies.

Stargazer could be posted to the former neutral zone to help keep the peace there, facilitating lots of contact with Seven and La Sirena, because this imaginary spin-off show has a broader focus than just one ship. Just imagine that Very Proper Starfleet crew reacting to Seven, the legend of her, realising that she and Raffi are a thing, gossiping about that, witnessing the soap opera drama of their relationship as they navigate it in real time. And just imagine the first time one of those Very Proper Starfleet officers has to visit La Sirena for whatever reason, and encounters one of the Rios holos! Comedy gold.

Then too, Stargazer could also be ordered to escort Agnes and Soji on a few legs of their diplomatic tour, so that the Very Proper Starfleet crew also get to experience the Rios-Jurati relationship through all its ups and downs.

So much potential. So very much potential. This cast and crew could have been amazing. If they'd been allowed to be. If they'd been in a show that was about them.

Oh, and one last scenario, just for the heck of it. It's the AU scenario where all these characters form a crack SHIELD squad in the Agents of SHIELD universe. La Sirena could be the name they give their Zephyr. And they would be amazing. I would do anything for this cast to get the development and focus the AOS characters had.

I'm not going to write any of these scenarios. I'm just going to imagine them, and dream of what might have been.

Yes, I am salty about how season two played out, and especially about the way most of the show's cast have been written out of their own show to make way for the returning TNG players, who already had seven seasons plus a bunch of movies. And I say that as someone who grew up loving TNG and is, or was, really excited at the idea of catching up with the rest of the old TNG cast. But when this show was first announced, the producers were very keen to stress that it wasn't going to be TNG2.0, that it was going to be a completely new show with its own identity and its own cast, we were encouraged to get attached to that cast...and then once we were attached, they turned around and stripped most of them away so that they can make TNG2.0.

I like the show. Every episode is watchable and entertaining. But the whole is very much less than the sum of its parts, and the reason for that is structural. Because the show was devised as an intimate character study of one man but was constructed as a classic Trek ensemble, and it never managed to reconcile those two facts. It built a strong supporting cast of intriguing, engaging characters, every one of whom had a really interesting story to tell...and then proceeded to not bother telling any of those stories, because the characters were required to serve a manufactured plot about Picard. The majority of the supporting characters were massively underwritten in service of making Picard look stronger, and he still managed to be the least interesting character in his own story. (Look, I like Picard, I do, I always have, but it's true, you know it is).

The cast of characters assembled for this show deserved much better. I just wanted them all to live! To live and be left on the table for possible spin-offs down the line. Is that so much to ask for? Forever sad that the show decided to go scorched earth on them instead, for absolutely no reason at all.

ETA Oh, I thought of another Alternate Scenario which is now going to live rent free in my head. It's the one where Q isn't able to get everyone home at the end, so they all end up stuck in 2024 together. Because the trio of Rios, Raffi and Seven? Absolute gold. So they and Picard all set up home together in LA - well, maybe not together, Rios would be with Teresa and Ricardo - but close enough to stick together as found family. And we'd get to see them all learning how to live in the 21st century, as a group bonding exercise. There'd be loads of mileage in that, both comedic and dramatic. Plus Young Guinan would be there! So much potential.

This season gave us just enough glimpses of Rios, Raffi and Seven working together as a team to make me want more. Lots and lots more. Forever salty that it will never happen.