Monday morning. Cold and windy. On Saturday we went down to Merthyr Tydfil to buy an iron. The old one was regularly tripping the switches, which is never good, and the handle had started to get so hot, it was difficult to hold. There is a large retail park alongside the A470 with all the usual sheds - so off to Currys we went. Found a nice iron, and very happy. However, absolutely astonished by the amount of people in Merthy walking round with bright orange faces. Clearly, the concept of skin cancer hasn't got this far up the valley, or they all have shares in Fake Bake. It was hideous. And an astonishing amount of people smoking - can't remember when I last saw so many people huddled outside shops with fags. Really grim. Definately illustrated all those stats you see that say Merthyr is one of the unhealthiest places in the UK.

On Sunday, the weather was bitterly cold and wet again. In the morning, we walked the dogs in a new Forestry Commission area (new to us, not a new forest) at Garth Bank. Stunning views over the surrounding countryside, with lots of lambs and sheep baa-ing but otherwise quiet. Another horse friendly spot, this time with hitching posts near the picnic tables. Again, blissfully free from litter, graffiti and burnt out cars. In the afternoon, over to Llandrindod Wells for my monthly craft group. This time, we were making and swapping ATCs which was great fun. Next month, class is put back a week due to Easter and we will be doing maze books. Came home, several phone calls and a relaxing meal. Watched the Victorians on BBC4 - enjoyed it, but felt that JP could very well have talked at more length about the way William Morris and the whole anti-industrial ethos (e.g. Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood) has had such a big influence on the green movement's ethos and values - often, sadly, very muddled and hopelessly sentimental. I'm no apologist for 19th Century unfettered capitalism, but a profoundly anti - industrial stance does little to engage with the problems of pollution and exploitation. Interestingly, Morris chose to live in a cosy suburb of London - I wonder how his ideas would have clarified if he had had to live somewhere like the Swansea valley at the time, systemically poisoned by arsenic and heavy metals, with appalling poverty. At least Marx and Engels, to their credit, tried to engage with the problems they saw, even if their conclusions were flawed. To a modern sensibility, the Victorian Gothic movement can seem to be a childish and irresponsible flight from the uncomfortable reality of the time. While Burne-Jones was painting Avalon in a sanitised version of the Middle Ages, Britain's poor experienced horrific oppression, pollution, hunger and exploitation.