TAI CHI PLUS

TAI CHI
Thanks to the contacts of Chairmen Bob these classes will start at 10.30am next Friday 6 February in the large ground floor room of Hazel Court. For details of the location of Hazel Court or details of the buses scroll back in this blog to the repeat entry of these details in the posting dated 11 January 2009. Wear normal comfortable loose fitting clothing. The cost will be £1.50 for the early classes which Mike Hart will lead for free.

CHESS
The next meeting will be held on Monday 2 February at 10.30am in Hazel Court (first and third Monday mornings of month). If you are interested, or would like to try what is an interesting game in a very pleasant low pressure environment, then please put in an appearance because the next few meetings will be make or break for this group. Having set up so many new groups I am loath to see the very first to meet at Hazel Court fail. We have an excellent tutor in Ken Huntley.

ITALIAN
Shares the Craft Room with Chess this Monday. This group is steadily gaining new members, a healthy sign.

CREATIVE WRITING 2
They will meet in Hazel Court on the second MONDAY, 9 February at 10.15, but in the Exercise Room to avoid a clash with Reading 4/Italian. THEREAFTER they will meet on the SECOND TUESDAY of the month in the Craft Room at Hazel Court, since the Caligraphy sessions will have finished.

ANNUAL LUNCHES OF GARDENING and TRAVEL Groups


Both were held at Olchfa House carvery,Gardening last Thursday and the Travel Group the following day. A pity they were scheduled so close together as Joan and I were not alone in belonging to both groups but willing to attend only one lunch. I can thus only talk of the Travel lunch but that was attended by 32 people who enjoyed the carvery meal with ice cream and coffee/tea, in loquacious company, for the excellent price of £5 - slightly subsidised from the float held by convenor Brian Davies. This weeks photos are of that event.



GARDENING held their monthly meeting at Singleton Park after their lunch. As a change from the usual lecture Margaret Massey had borrowed a DVD from the U3A Headquarters which was displayed via laptop and projector. This is a principle well worthy of consideration by other groups. Another possibility instead of DVD source would be say a learning program from BBC Learning or Open University. Don't forget that anything which can be displayed on a computer screen can be projected onto a much larger screen. This digital age is opening up a huge range of possibilities, arguably no group should ever fail today for lack of tutors, just for lack of imagination in using this new technology.

Convenors should approach Tony Searle to arrange to borrow the laptop and projector belonging to the Swansea U3A, or Brian Corbett for the more modern laptop used as the source of slides before the Wednesday lecture.

The DVD film was about the beautiful Royal Horticultural Society gardens at Wisley, and the work of the RHS in research into plant disease and the presevation of seeds from a wide range of species. An approach quite contrary to the concentration on a small range of efficient high yield srains by today's comercial growers, abetted by the supermarkets and other quantity suppliers.

Do you know for instance that you can send Wisley plant specimens (say a leaf) or a bug for identification of disease or species? Suitability of a range of lessor known Delphiniums was judged by growing them together in a bed and ensuring that seeds of the best performing varieties were collected and made available for sale. An arboretum was developed
as a nursery to supply trees to the old estates which lost so much of our heritage in say the storms of 1987.

ARMCHAIR TRAVEL next meeting is Friday 6 February at 2.30pm in the Evangelical Church next to Hazel Court which has its own car park. The talk will be given by Tony Searle about his and Esther's trip to Peru.

CARDS for PLEASURE will start in the restaurant of the Taliesin. If there are sufficient numbers Lawmary is thinking of transferring to an upstairs venue in the Dragon.

POLITICS and CITIZENSHIP
Their last meeting which I thoroughly enjoyed, along with a dozen or so others, was a three in one offering. The last part being their annual lunch in the Dylan Thomas Centre which, as the committee found earlier, is a very pleasant and relaxing place to have a group lunch.

The morning was in halves, the first being a visit to the Synagogue where Norma Glass gave us a very informative insight into the rich Jewish religious tradition, their rituals and their symbolism, in a modern but ornate church, as befits the world's first religion, if excluding Hindu and the Chinese traditions. She obviously gives many such explanations to school parties but adapted her presentation and humour to a mature adult audience, providing us with coffee and traditional home made cakes before we rather prematurely moved on.

Unfortunately the once strong Jewish community in Swansea has decreased to the point where even their synagogue (built in the aftermath of the second world war as the earlier building had been destroyed in the bombing) is being handed over to an expanding evangelical church. An irony highlighted by the visit to another church which makes a point of simplicity.

In very striking contrast the second part of that morning was spent in the main Mosque on St Helen's Road. Nothing ornate except for a luxuriously thick carpet on the floor, but quite perfect for its purpose as a welcoming house of prayer. Muslims are required to pray five times a day.

Worldwide this religion has more adherents than any other and is particularly strong in Africa and Asia. The visit was arranged through Mr S Rahman, who greeted us at the door and led us to the largest of several prayer rooms, where they had gone to considerable trouble to produce a poster display for us illustrating various aspects of their religious traditions. Another member of the church, with a school age family and fluent English, told us a great deal about their traditions in a question and answer format. He emphasised the common ancestry with the Jewish and Christian religions through a common acceptance of the Old Testament and stressed the importance of Moses. Not until around 600AD did Muhammad (who they regard as the last of God's prophets) reveal from Allah (God) their distinct scripture the Qu'ran. He made surprisingly light of the distinction between Shia and Sunni and said there was some movement in Swansea between the sects.

I can only wish I had chosen to write earlier of this day when everything we heard was so much clearer in my mind.

I write now to say the group's next meeting is on Tuesday 10 February with a follow up discussion on these two contrasting visits, and also to consider the huge political changes taking place (in tone at least) in the USA's foreign relations. No doubt in part to reflect on how fortunate Americans are to have elected a leader who was during some of his most formative years brought up in a Muslim country. We too got a totally different view of Muslims during prolonged slow travel around Sumatra (Indonesia), being totally amazes by the fun loving, inquisitive, friendly schoolgirls in headscarves. In the end that Muslim background may prove more important than the fact the breakthrough of America's own colour bar.

SUNDAY LUNCH
The next lunch will be at 12.30 for 1pm at Adams in Mumbles (previously Knights) on Sunday 15 February.
Details from Barbara Brimfield 201274, or Margaret Winter 771725.

COMPUTERS
A second 'get started' Internet session was held at my house with the Joan accompanying the men upstairs to teach them a thing or two, on the desk top, whilst I struggled downstairs with two laptops, the U3A one in the trouble which led to there being no slides show before last Wednesday's lecture. These slides are the only way for those without Internet to keep up with the fast moving scene of U3A group activities.
Once again I thought it went well but the test is on to see who first comes back with stories about my blog and in particular how they got on with the key sites listed in the last posting.

Val Lawson gives me two other links of special interest to the bargain hunters in the membership. She warns not to try them if you object to being bombarded daily with emails giving details of which stores have sales and what is on special offer.

http://www.myvouchercodes.co.uk

http://vouchercodes.com

MORE PANTO

After the Panto

A bit of an anti-climax after the revelry of last weeks panto but the show goes on.

TAI CHI
Following the Wednesday lecture on The Pubs of Mumbles the audience were obviously elated in spite of the fact that Brian Davies had no free samples, just his best selling book to nourish us.

I say that because there was an unprecedented rush to sign lists and I now have the names of no less than 30 members interested in Tai Chi. Chairman Bob (following Chairman Mao) has decided we are going on this Long March, and will therefore thrash out some of the details with coach Mike Hart. Expect more news at Wednesday's lecture.

I am sorry that some of you thought I was being sexist from my initial headline question in Mandarin 'Women you Tai Chi ma' and its answer 'you'. I had thought I had given enough clues to allow the sentence in Mandarin to be deciphered, the five words translated in the order they appear are 'We have Tai Chi?' and the answer is 'have' implying yes. You may think that Chinese is written in strange characters, not our alphabet, and you would be right, but they also use our phonetics to write their language.This phonetic version of Mandarin is called Pinyin. It is used not just by foreigners learning the language but increasingly as a way of teaching their schoolchildren their own language and as a jumping off point for learning English and other languages using largely the same alphabet.

LITERATURE
As promised I attended this group last Tuesday pm and was duly amazed. There were eight of us and we each took a part and read through the last act of An Inspector Calls. At the end of the meeting I was duly chastised for my Wednesday slide saying the group needed someone to read for them, when what they really wanted was a new leader. In spite of the fact that one of the number has Macular Degeneration of her eyes and another has reached the fine age of 90 they all read fluently and expressively to rub in my transgression. I cannot overemphasise how enjoyable this reading was. I have heard the play many times and forgotten it soon afterwards, but this time the plot and the fine characterisation has really sunk in.

However insensitive the Wednesday Slide worked, and Lawmary Champion, our actor, offered to help out and is now enthusiastically running the group. She did not herself read a part but underlined the positions taken by the characters involved. I think the group devoted four meetings (two months) to this play, one preliminary discussion and then to read the three acts of the play.

The next book selected is Mary Webb's 'Gone to Earth', but thereafter Lawmary will be directing them towards more modern choices and obviously hopes the subsequent book will be 'St. Agnes Stand' by American author Thomas Eidson, or Paul Ferris's book 'Infidelity' about a real murder not a million miles from here. Later reverting to more traditional works like Ibsen's play 'A Dolls House', and novels by Trollope, 'The Warden' and Thackeray, 'Vanity Fair'.

From the outset in this groups' coordinator role I had a gut feeling that this group had an important place in the U3A, and this single meeting confirmed it. They need an increase in numbers and in Lawmary, Collette Robinson and Jenny Levin they have a nucleus to give this group expansion and a new lease of life. I can't be the only one who wants something beyond Richard and Judy.

MOTO (Members On Their Own)
Gerwyn is obviously doing a good job of running this group. At Jive last Wednesday he told me that 16 of them were going out for dinner in the Pump House, and another who shall be nameless said she shouldn't really be going as she had a husband at home!

A few days later Rosemary Brangwyn told me she had had an excellent evening, though she didn't normally go out at night - perhaps even that is a question of regaining confidence. She was full of praise for Gerwyn's approach which separated the men and enforced changing seats to ensure everyone had the chance of speaking to all the others. A technique he practices also at the jive lessons.

TASTE OF CELTIC
Haggis, kipper pate and whisky from Scotland to celebrate Burn's Night, colcannon from Ireland, laverbread from you know where (England), Breton fish soup from Brittany and mulled wine from the Elisabethans. You name it Lyn Holt cooks it and I nearly cooked my goose for drinking whisky like wine! Good job Joan can and will drive!
Fifty tickets sold, the most successful event yet. Watch out for touts selling on tickets for the next event, Asian food. If anyone has photos please email them to me for this blog.

CONCERT GOERS
Their first meeting this year is at the Civic Centre at 2.30 pm on 2 February. The topic is the Elgar Violin Concerto which is to be performed in the Brangwyn Hall by NOW on Thursday 5 February. Buy tickets yourselves for the actual concert. I know Cecily Hughes 363875 is hoping for a large audience for her new speaker, Dr Bernard Kane, who is coming from Cardiff.

COMPUTERS
Don Foster emailed me to say he had just saved his computer from a fate worse than death by using a clean up and repair tool called 'Advanced System Care', this program can be downloaded free from the site http://www.iobit.com though it will take a while to download if you haven't got broadband.

I was nervous about passing this news on untried. So I tried it out first on this computer which seemed reasonably healthy but it claimed to have fixed many problems not least with the program Registry. It has made some noticeable little improvements like eliminating a couple of error messages which pop up from time to time to warn for instance that .dll files are missing. The important thing was it did no harm .

So I tried it out on the U3A laptop which was showing considerable sign of trouble, for instance the Internet browser Microsoft Explorer would no longer run. Luckily I had previously downloaded another free alternative browser Mozilla Firefox so I could still surf the Net and download Advanced System Care. Running this tool in fact got rid of all but one of the the errors and I can now once more surf the Web using either Explorer or Firefox. That demonstrated that it can be very useful to cure a computer in trouble and I would recommend that you download Advanced System Care immediately for use when you do run into trouble. Now I have only to reload a copy of PowerPoint which can crash the entire computer so that it has to be switched off directly at the mains

OTHER DOWNLOADS
There are many other very useful FREE software downloads available from the Internet , including

'Mozilla Firefox', which many of us prefer in use to MS Explorer and is less prone to letting in virus problems

'AVG' an excellent anti-virus which automatically updates as new virus threats are discovered and takes corrective action against those discovered.

'Zone Alarm' which is a good firewall, though is probably confusing for beginners as its alarm messages will stop other programs running until the alarm is acknowledged. When downloading this do watch carefully to ensure you are asking for the free version rather than a short free trial of their saleable version, they deliberately don't make the free one easy to find.

'Adobe Acrobat Reader' which is essential for reading documents, eg insurance policies.

ESSENTIAL MINIMUM OF FAVORITE SITES
I have advised many to store the blog Internet address on Favorites (Bookmarks, if using Firefox) so it is easy to access. I do carry out minor mods between notifying the posting of updates and the next major update, often to correct errors in the original posting, eg an incorrect date. But everyone's Favorites should include

http://muses-of-an-ageing-groupie.blogspot.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/
http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://www.skyscanner.net/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/242450
http://www.moneysupermarket.com
http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/
http://www.kelkoo.co.uk/
http://www.energylinx.co.uk/
http://www.theaa.co.uk/
http://info.cwlfly.com/en/
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
http://www.nationalexpress.com/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/
http://www.wotif.com/
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/
http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/

Google to find other Internet addresses such as, your bank, your favorite stores, and in general store the address (http://www......) of each sites 'Home' page because from here you should be able to easily jump (link) around the whole of their website.

That's enough to be going on with. Happy Surfing. I adjudge last last Monday afternoon at my house a success and am inviting a few others this Monday for a single 'get you started session'. These sessions are not for those who already feel confident with the basics. From that point on you're better to prod, experiment and try. No need to be nervous until your asked for your credit card number - after that its serious business you're doing.

JAZZLANDS
On Wednesday 28 January at Jazzlands(originally the Liberal Club) in St James Crescent, an extremely good group will be performing at 8.30pm. They have recently toured most of the top venues in England. Jim Mullen and Stan Sulzmann are amongst the very best UK musicians on guitar and saxophone respectively and this group includes the organ of Mike Gorman with Matt Skelton on drums, which should set the joint jumping. The admission is £12, but only £8 for members and you can join at the door.
Jazzland claims with good reason to be 'The Premier Jazz Club' in Wales. It deserves to be , and usually is, well supported.

PANTOMIME and other news

HONEY BUN'S PANTOMAGORIA (otherwise known as CINDERELLA)


If you attended the Dolphin 14 Jan you had the dubious pleasure of seeing me dance in a grass skirt whilst petite Lyn Evans dressed as an American Sailor sang,' One Hundred and One Pounds of Fun, that's my little Honey Bun' (that's me folks).

After the show I was distressed to be told I was the least feminine cross dresser ever. Contrast Gerwyn, who lead the Jive troupe as the Dancing Queen, dressed in a transparent black dress and made up to kill, false eye lashes and all. He was so ambiguous that he made me wonder if he really was a lady-boy from Thailand. Well it was South Pacific.

That's only the second time in my life that I have tread the boards, and both times I have been a prancing dumb mute. Fifty years ago or so a pretty young girl decided to perform the dance of the seven veils surrounded by the whole 1st fifteen pack virtually naked as Red Indians waving axes. Now that really was worth the ride.

I would not like to distract from many other fine performances. For instance take that cat Marilyn prancing evocatively around in a skimpy dress and a big red scarf miming Big Spender as though the Credit Crunch had never happened. Or Rosemary dressed as Santa Claus and behaving like a Court Jester, something she would never dare to do in our French Group. Or Lawmary, our one paid up member of Equity, confidently over acting as one the Ugly Sisters, whilst whilst the other was so much more subtle. Malcolm Broome the leader of our Singing for Pleasure Group took a solo, a cut above the rest of us in his suit and white bow tie.

I am almost forgetting the elegant impersonation of the Prince, in jack boots, trying to outdo our Gerwyn in the opposite direction, if you see what I mean.They should get together, they would make a lovely couple!




I simply couldn't believe the sudden change from Mrs. Mop to attractive Cinderella, it's amazing what a few pins can do! Then there was Lynn a Yankee from the American Civil War complete with flag and long white hair tied back like some later-day preacher, or a hippy, trying to flag the play together. Not to forget Roly with the music. Did he deliberately fail to switch off the music so the jive ended with actors and audience drawn in until the stage was positively writhing with ancient bodies?




The trouble with tackling such a theme in my blog is that I have forgotten so many other fine performers who all contributed to a joyous afternoon. Gersom, for instance who sportingly made up the numbers in the jive group at the very last second without the opportunity to rehearse a single step.


Thanks above all to Jill Govier, leader of the Creative Writing Groups responsible for the gags, and our talented iron-fisted producer. It's difficult to over state our thanks for the effort she had put into the production. I am sure she feels it was worth while.



Oh and there was a fine cream tea produced by the Dolphin, so there was something substantial for the £5 ticket as well as humorous relief from the winter blues.

Thanks too to Mary Roberts and Marilyn Croft for the photos.











U3A SUMMER SCHOOLS
I have just learned that although I recently published details I did tell how to make enquiries. You have to approach the U3A National Office in Bromley (The Third Age Trust) by either phone or you can download full details of courses including

Application Forms by Internet.
PHONE 020 8466 6139. If you do so on Tuesday or Thursday ask for Philipa who is the administrator of the Summer School.

INTERNET click on
http:// www.u3a.org.uk
Sign in
Click 'Events' on right hand list
Click 'Summer Schools to get summary page
Click link at bottom of page to either 'Harper Adams' or Royal Agricultural College' to get full syllabus and the opportunity to click on links providing download of Application Forms or Full Details of the syllabus.
.......
( If you haven't done so already you will need to 'Register' with the u3a web site before being able to Sign In. Registering is simply a case of giving them a 'User Name' and a 'Password' and then activating your account by clicking on the link they give in their return email. Signing in opens up the full facilities of the u3a web site. If you want to download the forms you will need to install on your computer the Adobe Reader program for reading documents, this essential program is available via a free download. Simply Google for Adobe Reader, select a site offering downloads and clink and then follow the instructions for a free download.)

POSTING 1 JAN 2009
I realized when preparing this posting that the 1 Jan 09 posting was missing, having been taken off-line for editing and not restored. There were significant additions after the initial posting which are now visible.

CHESS
This group runs at Hazel Court on the 1st and 3rd Monday mornings of the month, it is meeting this Monday 19 January at 10.00am. The regulars cover the entire spectrum from absolute beginners, through people like Joan and I who last played at school to our coach who coaches schools and plays competitively.

We need more members to provide variation. I must say that Joan and I have found it a surprisingly pleasant way to keep the brain active, perhaps it is thanks to the U3A attitude to challenges. It is a board game where the sole chance assist is to win the right to first move, but every game soon takes a different path which ensures continuing interest.

LEARN ITALIAN
This course operates at Hazel Court at 10.00am EVERY MONDAY (including 19 Jan), hence sharing the room charges with Chess and the new Reading Group 4. As with Chess, French, Caligraphy and Jive these new groups are very lucky to have experienced leaders, who are prepared to work for free. Carolina taught adult (DACE) classes at Swansea University for years and makes the her lessons interesting as well as instructive.

Nick Hill, our Treasurer, joined last week and he advises me to also publicise the BBC language practice sites. They offer help with French, German, Spanish and Italian. I know several people who follow the Spanish program in addition to going to Night School. For Italian he likes the feel of their offering called Italian Steps

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian

Again we would like more members. When we find good leaders they deserve support. Without it the Swansea U3A will ossify, the tutors and I will be discouraged.

INTERNET
The hoped for facility for accessing the Internet in the Craft Room at Hazel Court has not so far materialised. However I am inviting to my home at short notice people who expressed an interest but, when signing the form, had no Internet access at their own home. The idea is to show how powerful and simple it is to get really significant benefits from this new technology with the objective of helping them to decide whether to buy a computer and get broadband service.

Obviously this exploratory meeting is not for readers of this blog, but if you know another member who would be interested get them to phone me on 424702. The first meeting, and perhaps the only one of its type, will be at my home in Mayals 2pm this Monday 19 January, where I have Wireless Internet.

CALIGRAPHY
The four week beginners class starts at 10.00am on Tuesday 20 January at Hazel Court. The four week Improvers class starts at 1.30pm on Thursday 22 January. Both classes run for just four successive weeks.

I am very pleased to say both classes are fully subscribed. They will be expertly led by Maureen Thomas who did the much praised Caligraphy on display in Dylan Thomas's house.

LITERATURE
On Tuesday 20 January at 2.00pm this group meets for the first time this year in St Mary's Church Priory, at which Lawmary will complete a reading of 'The Inspector Calls by J B Priestly. I shall be attending as part of my intention to visit groups to better understand how they operate and how they could be supported. If interested come along and help shape this years program.

JIVE
This group meets weekly on Wednesdays at 10am upstairs in the Monkey Cafe. Many have a simple lunch there before proceeding to the University for the afternoon lecture. Come along and try.

TAI CHI, Wednesday Lecture and Climate Change
Mike Hart will talk briefly about his proposals for this class at 2.15pm in the university's Grove theatre before the Wednesday lecture which is The Pubs of Mumbles by Brian Davies. After the lecture the Climate Change group will be meeting to discuss Energy The Way Forward - see also the article by Mike Wiseman in your U3A magazine Sources.

FRENCH CONVERSATION
This group meets every Thursday at 10am in Hazel Court. If interested phone Jan Phillips on 411476.

TASTE OF - CELTIC FRINGE
The first of Lyn Holt's 'Taste-Of' evening meals is at 6.30pm on Friday 23 January. Entry is by ticket only and all have been sold for this month's event. If you want a ticket for next month to sample his cooking and enjoy a social evening then phone Angela Holt on 403238.

Women you Tai Chi ma

LEARN TAI CHI
For those not versed in Mandarin the title of this posting simply says, 'Do we have Tai Chi ?', ma being a question word. To which the reply in a Asian language without words for Yes and No is simply 'you' or have, implying yes we do have. So the scope of group activities is now poised to go Chinese. Chairman Bob informs me that a teacher by the name of Mike Hart is prepared to run around six classes for free, except for the normal share of room hire. Since it seems likely that few will dare to ignore our Cultural Revolution I am putting my name at the head of the list, so you know whose side I am on! For the rest of you those lists will open on 21 January at the Grove when Mike Hart will explain his plans before the Wednesday Lecture on 'The Pubs of Mumbles' by Brian Davies.

LEARN ITALIAN
This course resumes tomorrow (12 January at 10am) for its second meeting at Hazel Court. Anyone even vaguely interested is welcome to come along and try, no prior knowledge is required, just interest.

CREATIVE WRITING 2
The very next day (13 January at 10.15) this group will meet at Hazel Court, co-ordinated by John Barber 774741 in the absence of Tony Crisp, who is recovering from a stroke and to whom we send our best wishes.

CARDS FOR PLEASURE
Lawmary plans to restart this group for 2009 at a meeting in the Taliesin on Wednesday 21 January at 1pm which will rearrange the days of card playing sessions. Be prompt or you will miss out on Tai Chi presentation at 2.15pm in the Grove.

JIVE
Will restart the regular weekly sessions in the Monkey Cafe at 10.30 on Wednesday 14 January. A team of eight will be performing in the Panto on Wednesday pm 14 January, with a rehearsal tomorrow 12 January at 1.30pm at the Dolphin.

PRE-CONCERT MUSIC TALKS
Cecily Hughes has booked the room in the Civic Centre for 2.30pm on the Monday before the following concerts by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the Brangwyn Hall. Contact Cecily Hughes 363875.

U3A TALKS,......... CONCERT
Mon 2 Feb,........... Elgar Violin Concerto, Thurs 5 Feb
Mon 2 March, ...... Dvorak 8th Symphony, Fri 6 March
Mon 27 April,....... Mahler Das Lied von der Erde, Sat 9 May
Mon 1 June, .........Beethoven Violin Concerto, Fri 5 June

She is especially pleased to have secured a well known lecturer from Cardiff, Dr Bernard Kane, for the first talk on 2 February at 2.30. Clive Jenkins will give the talk in March.

There will be a charge of £2 for the talk, but as previously you are responsible for buying tickets for the actual concert.)


DIRECTIONS including BUSES to HAZEL COURT

Information repeated now that Hazel Court is fast becoming the venue of choice for U3A groups.

I have looked on the Internet for information about First bus routes to Sketty Parklands and established that the following go past The Spinning Wheel, now under a name in Welsh 'Hen ?????' which I keep forgetting to make a note of.

A) Route 18 runs from Swansea Quadrant at 40 mins past the hour to Upper Killay

B) Routes 20, 20A, 21, and 21A between them run from the Quadrant at 5, 15, 25, 35, 45, 55 past the hour. (21 goes to Three Crosses once per hour , and the rest to Derlwyn.)

C) Route 37 to Quadrant leaves Oystermouth at 58 mins past the hour

D) Route 82A from Quadrant via University to Hendrefoilan is not listed but exists and runs frequently, though perhaps not to precise schedule.

NB The Spinning Wheel pub is mentioned because it is a key location on the bus routes. It should be possible to get off closer to Hazel Court , for instance at the junction Sketty Park Drive and Heather Crescent.

Street Map by Cecily Hughes

Please check the bus routes in detail, but this information should at least point you in the correct direction

PROMOTIONS
Vince Cable is the after dinner speaker at the Dragon Hotel on Saturday 31 January. Even Jeremy Paxton on Newsnight recognised him as the political authority on high finance and the credit crunch. He recommended nationalisation of banks long before it became Labour Policy. It is difficult to think of a topic of more immediate impact. A complete dinner is £25/head at 7 for 7.30pm, and is open to all. Tickets may be obtained from Marion Harris on 206044, who will also take menu choices.

2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR to MY READERS

Having taken a couple of weeks off over the holidays I feel out of tune as I try to pick up the thread of this blog. Perhaps it's just a reaction from being outplayed by my youngest grandchild, a mere 12 years old, on a Wii guitar. If you know what I am talking about then you're into TV electronic games, if not, you're not missing much.

Christmas was fine with the whole family (13 max) getting together for four communal dinners. Christmas Day, courtesy of daughter Judy, and then for Boxing Day at our house where Joan demonstrated that she has not lost her touch. Jim and family were here from France for their bi-annual visit to spend their unexpectedly valuable euros in our winter sales.

THE AUDACITY OF HOPE by BARACK OBAMA

Since I filled out a wish list on Amazon I got showered with books. If you're into political thinking and in need of an uplift then I can recommend this one. He writes as eloquently as he speaks and details clear comprehensive well thought out liberal views. (At our last book club meeting Jill Govier was questioning the use of Prologue & Epilogue - well he has even got that structure right and there is no need for an Introduction as he promotes himself.) He is truly a breath of fresh air, I suspect the world is going to need outstanding leadership if it is to negotiate 2009 successfully.

One can only hope that he is able to do justice to his aspirations and is not blown off-course by events. But he is not well placed to deal with his first, Gaza, since contrary to his otherwise even handed, new broom, approach to Foreign Affairs he would seem to be obligated to the US lobby for Israel.

Democracy and the US Constitution

I had always associated democracy with our parliamentary tradition but now realise its large scale practical application started in 1787 with The Constitution of the newly born USA. He claims that was the first instance of its application to something larger than the governance of a Greek City. He has written a wonderfully informative chapter about it, as you might expect from someone who taught Constitutional Law at university level, and is clearly in awe to the foresight of the founders and in particular to the powerful architectural structure of James Madison, who went on to be the fourth president. That structure provided the ‘checks and balances’ which have withstood enormous change in a country progressing from one of 13 states on the eastern seaboard and 4 million people, to the USA which is still the most powerful state on earth. It divided power into three branches, Legislative (Two (elected) Houses with separate functions forming Congress), Judicial (Supreme Court) and Executive (President & Cabinet).

But in his words it contained its ‘original sin’, by endorsing slavery and excluding slaves and indigenous Americans from the wide ranging liberties set down in the Bill of Rights. A fault not finally corrected until the 14^th amendment by Abraham Lincoln, the first President to be assassinated.

Faith

I found this a most thought provoking chapter if only because he started off in a family without religion and found his way to Christianity via the Black Church in America, whereas I started off in a very committed Christian family and have ended up a non believer. I am not too happy when he links God to the ‘Big Bang’. However I am totally with his belief, which shines throughout the book, of the imperative to understand, respect and be courteous of anothers thoughtfully held point of view even to the extent of empathising with it.

Odd Bits which Resonated

He contrasts the honour paid at the funeral of Rosa Parks, the coloured woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person, with the underclass which is still reality for many black Americans as underlined by their appalling living conditions and treatment exposed by the New Orleans floods.

The bedrock of the Republican Party is now the seemingly bizarre combination of the Evangelical and the Catholic Churches. Almost the last event of my five years in North America was the election of John F Kennedy, the Catholic who broke the religious barrier was a Democrat. The almost universally left wing young Irishmen I knew then are now said to be diehard Republican supporters of George W Bush. Funny old world!

GROUP EVENTS NEWS

CHESS
The year for the new groups will start off with chess on Monday 5 January at 10.00 at Hazel Court. Further members welcome to turn up. Ken Huntley will be providing coaching for all skill levels.

FRENCH CONVERSATION
Is next to meet on Thursday 8 January, 10.00 at Hazel Court.

LEARN ITALIAN & READING 4
Meet Monday 12 January at 10.00 (Italian) and 10.30 (Reading) sharing the Craft Room at Hazel Court. Further members welcome to turn up. the session is just starting.

LEARN JIVE
First meeting will be Wednesday 14 January at 10.30 at the Monkey Cafe with rumour that this will also serve as an audition for appearance in the PANTOMAGORIA that very afternoon.

POLITICS and CITIZENSHIP
Kick off with an interesting visit to the Jewish Synagogue 10.00 and the Muslim Mosque 11.30 on Tuesday 13 January. Contact Roger Knight (401019) if interested in joining the party.

CALIGRAPHY
Is fully subscribed for two courses which run for 4 consecutive weeks, starting, for Beginners at 10.00 on Tuesday 20 January, and, Improvers on Thursday 22 at 1.30, both at Hazel Court.

LITERATURE
Revived group meets at 2pm on Tuesday 20 January at St Mary's Church Vestry for the final reading with Lawmary Champion of 'An Inspector Calls' by J B Priestley and to choose the books 2009.

WEDNESDAY LECTURES
Start again on 21 January at 2.00 for 2.30 with 'The Pubs of Mumbles by Brian Davies.

CLIMATE CHANGE meet in the Grove immediately after that lecture to discuss 'Energy - The Way Forward'.

TASTE OF series of dinners cooked by Lyn Holt start with the Celtic Fringe at 6.30pm on Friday 23 January. Contact Angela Holt 403238.

After that it's all downhill, I hope!

PERSONAL COMPUTERS

Nick Hill our Treasurer (tel: 369232, email: hill_n_j@hotmail.com) has been investigating discounts which are available to members via U3A Head Office. He forwarded me the following information.

Software. Anyone who is thinking of purchasing software such as Office or Photoshop may find it worthwhile ringing Julie Travers at the U3A central office in Bromley and seeing what they can provide it for, as they get educational rates. The quoted price for Office 2007 Professional recently was £97.03 including 1 licence. Additional licences can be purchased at the same time or later for £55.23. This compares with over £300 for the same package without the educational discount. Obviously these prices could sensibly be checked against others, such as Amazon, if price is important.

We had thought that if enough people were interested we could get a package with several licences, thus spreading the cost. However, only one person has so far shown interest.

Anyone in the U3A can talk to Julie directly - you do not have to go through the Committee or use formal paperwork. The telephone number is 020 8466 6139.

Dell Hardware. Dell give significant discounts for bulk purchases, ranging from 5% up to £499, 10% for £500 - £1000, 15% for £1000 - £2000, and 20% over £2000. This info was given to the last Wednesday meeting at the Grove. To get the discounts, once you know what you want, the contact is Linda Kavanagh at Dell, tel no: 0844 4445254, email linda_kavanagh@dell.com

(NB linda_ kavanagh)

Once again, anyone interested can apply directly to Linda, you do not go need to go through the Committee.

So far only 4 people have shown an interest. In view of the fact that people will need to be specific about what they want when ordering, and sort out how to pay, it is suggested that those interested be put in touch with each other so that thay can sort things out amongst themselves. Nick Hill as Treasurer is willing to take names and put people in touch BUT will take no part in the specification or ordering - interested parties will need to sort out their own financing, it will not be done through the Committee none of whom can take responsibility for what you order, pay for, or get!

DELL OUTLET (www.dell.co.uk/outlet)
I used this avenue twice last year (one laptop, one desk top) to buy refurbished/returned computers (in effect unused and in new condition) at discount prices plus a special offer - often free delivery and/or say £50 further off. Prices and offers are subject to continual change so you need to watch the site in order to find the real bargains, as I write there are no special offers. You don't need to be restricted to the Home systems in both occasions I bought from the cheap end business Vostro line. Note the desk top computers are usually sold separately, ie without monitors.

Dell is a respected brand and a popular way to buy but your search should never be restricted to this company, especially in the current sales climate.