The Battle of Christmas

Posted on December 27, 2015 by Steve Morgan

It’s the time of year when families get together and try desperately not to beat the crap out of each other, or so I’m told; as mine is brimful of decorum.

‘In-house numpty’s’ Junior 2.0 has just left after a visit across xmas, so now we can return to drawing our usual battle lines… they don’t share enough of the good food, and I might just miss the litter tray on the odd occasion!

Must remember not to go so far as to make it look like some serious disease-thing though; otherwise I might be dragged off to the vet in that strange cage thing left out in the passageway as some kind of humanoid threat. Is that the best they can do?

Anyway, I digress with these deliciously wicked thoughts and future plans of retribution. “Tis the season to be jolly” they keep saying on the talking box in the corner of the room. What was more interesting on my recent visit to the local mega cultural centre (aka the Millennium Centre) was a true recognition of the challenge this time of year presents for so many people. It seems that one of the key messages in Cardiff this year reflects a sense of reality… seasons greetings are reserved ‘Only for the Brave’!

Until we speak again this Bella is puzzling over what the overhead spectre in the Millennium Centre in Cardiff is meant to represent. Any suggestions welcomed on the back of a postcard.

Unforeseen dangers

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Steve Morgan

I knew they shouldn’t have shown The Towering Inferno at Splott Cinema recently!

Though it didn’t look the most inviting of places in recent years…

After the secret showing some even had the temerity to suggest there was little difference!

Until we speak again I’m going to be a cautious Bella about what I watch in the cinema!

Greggs appeal

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Steve Morgan

My ‘resident gastronome’ frequently warns me to curb my inner sausage roll! Strange conversations we have at times, and despite giving the hard look I’m suddenly finding reasons to change my opinion…

I was strolling near a Greggs baker’s in the city centre just the other day when my attention was immediately drawn to a worrying addition to the queue (or is it the latest delivery of the new filling recipe?)…

Seems it’s not just the luke warm grease ball effect for holding flaky pastry in place that I should consider then. Until we speak again this Bella is listening to the sound of “I told you so” from the Michelin dude (until I crap in the corner instead of my litter tray!).

Today’s menu

Posted on May 23, 2015 by Steve Morgan

Juno always had an eye for lunch…

She could often be found on the dock of the bay, sacrificing so much of her valuable time in order to inspect the catch of the day…

But nothing satisfied her more than a good quality pie filling…

Even the challenge of foraging for your own food was not beyond her wit or wisdom. She always believed in the play dead tactic as an element of surprise…

Until we speak again I leave you with a thought you would never hear from Juno… don’t forget to add some vegetables!

The Juno’s 2015

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Steve Morgan

You can never have too many awards. The arts have their season across the early months of the year, and football and rugby are deep into their trophy and award winning season as Spring progresses towards the summer recess. Juno was no stranger to posing for award status confirmation, usually the ‘I am waiting for more food award’…

: Come on, it’s dinner time

: Hey you, stop ignoring me

: I’m starving here

: Do I have to hunt for my own food?

But, when not demanding food she also had an eye for the absurd. So here are the posthumous Juno awards for 2015:

The Award for Having No Shops Anywhere in Your Locality goes to Atlantic Wharf in the old Cardiff docklands. And still the City Council give permission to relentlessly build more residential units.

The Award for Sweeping It Under the Carpet goes to an alleyway next to the University of South Wales. It’s a Sunday morning and the streets are suspiciously clear of litter just a few hours after the late night/early morning weekend celebrations have subsided. Good of the revellers to place all of their detritus in one place (or was it just the wind patterns around the University building?).

The Award for Gift Wrapping a Building goes to Peppermint Bar & Kitchen on St. Mary Street in the city centre. Located on a prominent junction it can only be the attention-seeking hub for attention-seekers.

Until we speak again I am sure Juno would have wished that all of the absurdities in your life are award-winning!

In the moment

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Steve Morgan

Juno may be gone but one of the great things about blogging is that an ex-cool cat still has the opportunity to share cool cat stuff with those that consume such things. She was a cat that always had her eyes on the unexpected…

… so I know she would have appreciated the opportunity to spike the moment for a former politician and ‘Friend of Freedom’, John Batchelor, as he stands commemorated in The Hayes, Cardiff: “LOOKS LIKE SNOW AGAIN.”

As Juno always used to sign off… ‘Until we speak again I…’ will be relying on my in-house numpty to keep the eyes and ears open on proceedings in Cardiff (and occasionally elsewhere); and in the meantime may all of your snow be as thick as my nom de plume!

Off yer trolley

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Steve Morgan

Just as another year draws to a close I was meandering along the canal side near home, pondering the shear magnitude of life, as many cats do. When I was suddenly accosted by a metaphor, illuminating my very thoughts at that moment… that art truly can imitate life.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I have heard about a shopping trolley being spotted in places where shopping trolleys shouldn’t ought to be. Having said that my favourite was the apocryphal tale of the trolley found half way up the Sydney Harbour Bridge just at the time when the Bridge Walk was opened in 1998 (attributed to a student prank of alarming audacity before the walk was officially opened). Yes, my intrepid litter tray cleaner was one of the first few hundred to make the official climb (though apparently sans shopping trolley), and was dubiously supplied with the aforementioned tale.

So, my particular insight for you to take into the unknown of 2015 is that shopping trolleys have a habit of installing themselves into many places, and now thanks to the arbiters of taste in Cardiff you can add municipal art installations to the list…

Until we speak again I aim to be Moderation Juno trying not to get off my trolley.

Ton Up

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Steve Morgan

Who said cats can’t write? Welcome to my 101st post in the last 15 months. To celebrate the milestone (or is that millstone?) I have reviewed those moments represented across the first 100 posts. Here are some of my highlights, but who would blame you for summoning up the spectre of Room 101 in which to consign my reminiscences.

Eating al fresco, who doesn’t love it? My favourite meal…

Then there are those moments of personal contemplation. But it took a trip to Southend for my favourite philosophical musing (particularly reminding me of the resident numpty)…

I hear that health & safety has gone completely mad in your human world, but even I was taken aback by the locals need to restrict the age-old childhood rite of passage… tree-climbing:

The cultural history of Wales has apparently been partly shaped by the fire and brimstone oratory of the Baptist Minister, but my favourite religious moment has to be the shock declaration that even Jesus elaborates on the truth from time to time…

But there is no denying that Cardiff has established itself on the world music map, as its many venues play host to top quality talent. My favourite girl band (Pecker and the Birds) played a surprise concert at the little known Bute East Dock venue…

But while the masses were enjoying themselves at the free concert my favourite burglar was quick to seize on the opportunity to check out any potential opportunities for plunder…

The penultimate word has to belong to the guy who never stops giving; so tell me Sean, how successful do you think my blog has been so far?

Always the harsh critic… in the meantime until we speak again this has been Thespian Juno wishing you many more moments of literary and visual enjoyment.

Requiem for peace

Posted on September 6, 2014 by Steve Morgan

Since being dragged from the maelstrom of London life to the comparatively slower paced Cardiff, by the one who strangely believes themselves to own me, I have come to consider my home as a place of tranquility and peace by the sea. Little did I realise just how much the face of peace was dramatically changing. It seems to me that peace used to be achieved slowly by degrees; but now it is commanded by decrees! Cardiff Bay has played host to a gentle sign of peace since March 2012, when the World Harmony Peace Statue was unveiled, with particular recognition of Cardiff’s role as one of the first multicultural centres in the UK…

Listening in on the radio to daily news reports suggested to me a world out there, beyond Cardiff, that was altogether less calm… known to many as Newport! Then there has been the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), a symbol of post World War II peace, coming to places near me and radically shifting my picture of what peace looks like as the 21st century progresses (if progress is the right implication!). Who would have thought it… that a bunch of world leaders could come to Newport and Cardiff and create even more wind and hot air than the usual incumbents of Cardiff Bay down at the Senedd (Welsh Government building)?

So, what does peace look like in this contemporary world of ours? For a start, the World Harmony Peace Statue now appears to need protective fences and security personnel of its own…

And just in case that isn’t enough, the Bay plays host to water-based hardware from around Europe, with the UK warship HMS Duncan and the French warship La Motte-Picquet, among many others, providing the neighbouring Dr Who Experience plenty of reasons to maintain a lower than usual profile…

Those pesky shoppers in the city centre also seem to need a bit more control exerting over their more exuberant tendencies, completed off with some new high profile ‘retail flow management systems’, and something approaching a personally allocated police officer for every individual shopper…

If you hold any concerns that peace and harmony might just be the type of ethereal concepts that can easily slip from your grasp… no such problem anymore. There is nothing like a few hundred yards of shiny metal for corralling peace and harmony into more easily manageable geography…

But even a brave cat like me wasn’t going to point a camera phone in the faces of these guys, brought in specially to smile and chat with the locals as they were going about the usual business of strolling around a city centre [With thanks to BBC News Online and Flickr Images]:

Armed police in Cardiff Then you can always instil a little peace into the grumbling locals with a colourful display of Red Arrows like hardware. Nothing like a pretty distraction for contemporary camera-phone society, giving the local residents something to bore the world of social media with for an attention span approaching a few seconds, until the next snippet of inane celebrity gossip hits the airwaves [thanks to Mike Griffiths on Twitter for the image]:

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So, my prospective war-mongerers, until we speak again this is President Juno offering you the international feline salute of peace, and instructing you to be harmonious and peaceful.

Key to a kiss

Posted on July 19, 2014 by Steve Morgan

This adopted home of mine has a seemingly insatiable capacity to draw out the most unexpected of emotions from time to time. Take the other day, there I was minding my own business, gently sashaying along the boulevard… a cool cat in shades with a gentle breeze through the whiskers, when I am arrested by a heart fluttering vision. Being in the heart of the renovated old industrial docklands my first thought was of a site of romantic antiquity, a monument for the demarcation of a long forgotten industrial love story… thoughts drifting to the romantic melting pot that was Tiger Bay, a mere palpitation away across the railway tracks.

Curvy, groovy, and altogether suggestive of tender moments spent with the cat you love. A reminder that us cats may spend time in territorial seclusion, but thrive most when we are lost in thoughts of others… particularly those with the special quality of occupying almost every waking moment. Step aside Paris, take a break Venice, the capital of romance has found a new candle-lit table to gaze across. As the warm sun bathes my coat I am left to ponder whether this is a clue as to why my ‘in-house failed romantic‘ decided on a return to their spiritual home of Cardiff… was it a search following love lost for the potential to be re-ignited by some unexpected magical tryst. Nope, I guess it was just the pure romance of economics, and a pint of Brains SA!

So, my message from the heart of Cardiff to all you cats who decide your lives from the head, is to occasionally listen from the heart… you may just be surprised by what could change and transform your bowl into a banquet.

Then again, if you can’t spare a kiss for the one you love, I can offer you the alternative of my furry rump, along with a cut-throat razor for re-shaping some of your thinking!

Until we speak again this has been Romancer Juno, and sick bags will be provided on request.

	David on Searching for Lebanon
	Kirt on NOLA: UK-style
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	Steve Morgan on Turkish delight
	Wanda Rusiecki on Turkish delight

JUNO's VIEW

Seeing Cardiff and the world through the eyes of one cool cat

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