Old Pikkies, the Chapel

Just browsing and found some old old pikkies

The Chapel

We stopped for a few days in the Chapel this week, officially a holiday (ha-ha)

All that's left to do now is clean and polish the terracotta floors and put up a few more bookshelves.




There will be music and books in every room and I'm in the process of transporting more than a thousand books into the place, mostly good literature, plenty of craft books etc



There are four computers there, broadband, dining for twelve

Three showers, three loos, a bathroom and non-stop piping hot water

There's Sky HD-TV with all the extra channels, and an antique bar-billiards table.

Upstair Bedrooms

There are two bunk bedrooms upstairs.

I was about to post pictures but blogger won't play.

Watch this space.

More on the Chapel

The chapel's downstairs has three large bedrooms, a bathroom and loo, separate shower-room/toilet, and opposite, two more showers, a loo and a utility-room.

The double bedroom above is the smallest. It's hard to do justice. Even with a 17mm lens I can't get a full shot! The walls are about 2-3 feet thick (and then we had to insulate them to modern standards!) so there are gorgeous mahogany cill that have about the same square-footage as my first flat. (Plenty of scope for planting your books!





Above is the seating area of Bedroom 2, There's enough room for a full-size leather sofa (a sofa-bed) so people can "escape to their room". Only formally sleeping two, this room can sleep four (Mum and Dad can have the kids in there if they want to, or two singles can have a double each...)

And there's a computer, of course.



That's the second double. And very comfy it is too!

Chapel Update

The chapel in Wales moves ever closer to completion. This week sees the finish of the cosmetics, painting skirting boards etc and next week we have the stair banister fitted and then the stair-carpet. One thing holds up completion now, and that's exhaust fans in the bathrooms (don't ask me!)



Currently there are two straightforward double-bedrooms, and three bunkrooms sleeping a total of 13, but additionally there are five sofa beds. We did that because we never know what combination of singles or couples will turn up!

The table seats twelve.



The chapel's situation is great. The village is peaceful and sits close to the foot of Cader Idris but on the coast. There's a fully operational railway line that goes North to fairbourne, Barmouth, Harlech, Portmerion, Portmadoc, Criccieth and Pillwelli.

Travel South for Twyn, Aberdovey, Macynlleth where you change for Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury.

We've built this to live-in long term but while we can't it's a fantastic writers' retreat and I place where whole groups can stop. I've started shifting in hundreds (hundreds!) of Craft and How-to books, short-story collections, many, many lit-mags, biographies and autobiographies of writers, and of course, some good literature.

There is telephone and broadband there, at least four computers, a printer.

What I really hope, though, is to run writing courses there, the BC way. We had great success running course in Berkshire at Kingfisher Barn but that was always a squeeze. Here is perfect.

Nearest Cafe Five Yards.
Nearest Evening Bistro. Five Yards.
Nearest Post Office. Five Yards
Nearest Shop. Twenty Yards.
Nearest Pub. Seventy Yards
Nearest Railway Station. 500 yards

Mountains? Yes!
The Sea? Yes!

Monday Prompts

It is eighteen years to the day

In lamb fields, on dotted slopes

I see a playground, an ant-scatter of children

How do we know we aren't already dead?

Oh I have danced the sky as feathers

The life that I have is all that I have

The Farmer's Bride

There was a steady wind and the sky was pale

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the leaning trees

This is my country!

It must have been too cold for him, his soul gave out

Love's dances, Love's retreats, advances

And I was green and carefree, lying in soft fields

He with footstep heavy, her with sunny hair

When I was thirteen or so. green

But one by one we must move on, through the valley of pain

And more!

And More!

More Capel Bethel Pictures

Latest on Capel Bethel

Capel Bethel, Llwyngwril (between Dolgellau and Tywyn) gets ever closer to being finished.

I am looking forward to running weekend and week-long course there and already the place is stocking up with literature!

Here are some pikkies

Sunday Lunchtime Prompts

Without a hero
The sound of wind at night
An awful stillness, heat
She was good at faces
You could shoot anything you wanted, for a price
Strange weather
There's a man in the house
Barcelona
This is the first thing I noticed
So when did it all start?
Gigantic, fantastic women
We could go to Alaska?
It's not that I don't like you
There's a man I know, talks only of Jesus
Sitting on the Dock of the Bay
Two strangers on the bus, Grandma
Alone
Afterwards they were black from head to toe
Voices in the dark
Filler
On his knees, scrubbing in tiny circles
A wild justice
My mother and father are dead, or in Orlando
Boneshaker
On the other hand, not
I am like a sleepy fish

Friday Prompts

A small bird is taken by a hawk
It is a cold evening
RICE
An old man sits quietly netting
Porthcawl
A child looks from a train
He puts his hand to his face, unbelieving
SAGO
The air smells of fish
The sea is heavy, swelling
It is too dark
The road that used to go there refuses now
The headscarved women
History is bunk
You have to understand the fish
Only the poor can afford lots of children
CREAM
Does night change to day?
Stealing milk from the urn, scooping cream
Uncle Jonjo
For some reason, there are too many wheelbarrows
CARD
I want a dream kitchen, a kitchen to dream in
I eat fish we caught
We have too many books
No Matter What
Jennifer Eccles' Fat Sister
SALT
Call me and I will describe it.

Thursday Prompts

His Mam loves him to bits

Blue Lagoon

At my door is a square of yellow corn

Davies the Doom has burned the chapel down

What city is this?

My father and my mother and my brother and my sister

Let's burn some books

The wink and nudge of secrets in the pub

It starts to feel like Ireland

I'd rather not be American

Piano Man

Last night I dreamt I ate wire

Why do some fat men look strong, some fat?

Resonant Frequency

Stone, Stone, Water, Wind

I see people in old photographs

Sawdust

Suddenly we are lost

If you time it right, you can get there at low tide

A place without certainty

He used to be safety officer on the Titanic

You want ice with that?

What are we waiting for?

A meteor lands tonight, we all must die

May I borrow your country?

I think I'll play monopoly, or charades

How much I love my daughter

Moon

The smell of an old railway station

My mother

Waiters on roller-skates, meals on wires overhead

Wednesday Prompts

I turned on the radio and water came out
Hatches, Matches & Dispatches
Thirteen ways to look at it
Because it dissolves
The electrician is out of contact
Riding the Yellow Trolley Car
You were being silly
He disappeared in the dead of winter
I sit in a dive on 52nd St
Knowing each other too well to talk
Out of the blue I remember. My father playing football
The brooks were frozen, airports closed
An island five miles inland
DECAY
They are living off their reputation but it cannot last
Catch 18, and it's going to get worse
That's a lovely offer, but
You were right my dear, even when you were mad
Mayfly
The best of times, the shittiest of times
If I grow up, I'm going to be a boy
The room was suddenly rich with soft light
Whacky Posters
Go tell it on the fucking mountain
TIN
Building new homes at Buschenwald
TACK
Time was away and somewhere else
I have a desert but no camel
The waiter does not come
I asked my son when was he getting married. In the afternoon, he said.
The day needs a plaster, a bandage
I stand for old values. Give the black man a fair crack of the whip
I dream of being loved by a chorus-girl
My guru says
I am old and I have too may layers of paint
There was a camp here

SUNDAY PROMPTS

Tell us the story about the little boots

DONKEY

When Saturdays were only for football

Torn Envelope

And the pit-heads baths is a supermarket now

Death by Sunbed

There was a picture made of flowers

Dogs

He worked in the steelworks

How you can push, push with your anger

Tonight, January fog

How much that dies with them

A mother moves away to birth her lamb

Let the number be learned

In a few month's time I will stop and linger

Old men like monkeys

February Streets

In clear snow like laughter

I have known too many of the murdered

BELL

Mrs Blenkinsop keeps a tiger in her cellar

DISH

You wouldn't know the place now

EAR

Old, so old, and short of wind

We went on holiday to London with Mam

We who wait

The old sad things have been forgotten

When old age came he stood up and kicked it

On the wrist, a watch

SATURDAY NIGHT PROMPTS

It was love at first sight

Mullet

All day it has rained

I am amused

Love drips and gathers

Knobkerry

Dominoes, Woodbines, Senior Service

Spangles
A most curious device

TRICK
Raking through the ashes

BAR
I have learned to dream with the sound off

Sailors Killed it

I think we need to say goodbye

It takes sixpences

With my pockets full of money

BOMB
Cinder-fucking-rella

M-T-G-G

You roll away and show me your sullen back

The Loch Ness Mobster

I was young and easy then

The window is filthy

Shall I get drunk or eat a piece of cake?

OLOLAQICI82QB4IP

Time ate my love and farted, then you departed

Snakeskin

Recognizing a red kite

Put a shilling in the gas, your head in the oven

Last night I met my father

I am preoccupied

Words are my instruments but not my servants

The Lover & Her Killer

A house with bleached-white walls

How to Kill 101

Saturday Prompts

Barely a twelve month after
Tonto
Three old shops, all in the name Jones
Do not ask, "What is it?"
FOLD
Violence upon the roads
Two dark tractors, pausing
A pale light
sawdust bars, the sounds of angry men
BUZZ
A lovely piece of slate
There is a girl standing there
Our life is changed: their coming our beginning
Prophet
It was a soft October night, summer at last
His quick body
You can cast out past the fish
The sun used to shine, remember?
Leave, then
We heard a distant tapping on the road
A sunrise like military best
Smudge
She slipped away to die quietly
ITCH
I love this, as some day a child will love it
I have mislaid the key
For I have known them all already
Only an avenue, dark and nameless
I see the image of a naked man
We did not dare go near them
The entrance is blocked by brambles
Late in the summer the strange horses came

Tuesday Prompts

I told my son about my father
There's water still in the bath
Majestic
The pub quiz: it's all about winning
Bridge
Why not be a Brain-Surgeon?
Kite Surfing 101
There's a problem at the bridge
Trying to fix a light
Big Boy
Sudoku for the damned
The boys done well
A handy electrical gadget
A quarter ton of lego
The sound of cars passing in the wet
Why she doesn't phone
Whisky without the e
In the not too distant future, if all my dreams come true
This is a stupid way to die
With sawdust, string and patches
From the hill I saw a line of snaking tenements
Bush Meat
Under an awning, talking about nothing; rain
Peonies
Is surviving suicide a success or failure?
Two rooms done and the doors closed
A three-legged hippo
It may be pretty, but is it appropriate?
Holes
Arctic elephants are the same as African ones. But colder.
Treasure Island

Bank Holiday Prompts

Pictures of old London
Undercoat
Discovered by a monk
Futurama
It torments me, this injustice
Crayon
She is big and plump and happy
If you can keep your head
Refreshed every two minutes
Shifting the furniture
Glasses, but naff
Tea, biscuits, a rest
The sound of bickering
I need to be very drunk
16:16
Oh for a muse of fire
What bells are these that toll?
Fokkers!
Do NOT close the cupboard
Anyone can use them
I wondered lonely, under a cloud
City of Angels
The thing I like is overcoming
Another Monday!
Muscle for the wing
Just at that moment, Carol came in the back door
He lifted a bowl of nuts and offered them
Deep Blue Goodbye
The Edge of Reason
I’ve come for a payment on the bed
Why the vacuum cleaner makes me angry
Out of the Sun
What I’m saying is I’m a drunk, not an alcoholic
Electric Polisher
An amazing ending
Mother, mother, where did you go?
I try not to see my sister too often
He was a sort of commando
A thousand blessings, Effendi
I claim death
The difference between clams and mussels
The café is shut.

More Prompts

I've been away a few days, but here:

When all this is over, I shall give them the finger
The weakening eye of day
I saw an x-ray of a baby
AXE
Unwearied still, lover after lover
Not even in my thoughts
I did not think death could undo so much
DANDELION
She is beautiful. I dream about her.
The rain flies down the street, flaps outside our door
BLOOD TEST
All the sun long it was running
Appointment in Basingstoke
The stove’s heat mottling her legs
Moving the books
Her dead body wears the smile of accomplishment
I know where you are
Thinking of an old lover makes it hard
JUG
We renounce everything except the self
Uzi Wedding
Her floured hands at the baking board
Show me the kitchen, the knives
Three thousand years ago they didn’t give a fuck
GUN
I would like to be terminally ill
Red and yellow, silver-back, half-imagined things
16 GIG
I kept my wife’s heart in a canary’s cage
DUFFY’S TRICK
I’m going to sail round the world
I cannot speak to you
Horses passed from dawn into the night, horses, horses, horses.
PAIRS
We come to terms with shade, the principle of grey
One or two blackmailers, a poisoner
Unnatural Acts
Every fear is a form of desire
Use the back entrance