Mind the Gap


I was in Cardiff the weekend before last, and while I was walking through St David's Centre I saw a large group of students studying a large mural. I wondered what was causing so much excitement, so I decided to check it out for myself.

This is what I found. (I know the photo isn't great, because I took it with my phone, but there's a reason for that.)

img_20170128_153129
It's a clever idea, isn't it? Grafting Cardiff and the suburbs onto the Tube map – that iconic piece of design which evolves as the network grows and changes – proves that someone at the South Wales Echo (where it originally appeared) has a sense of humour.

Unfortunately, it had totally confused the youngsters. A couple of Chinese students were having a very animated discussion about it; a few West African girls were equally enthralled by the idea of the Barry John Line, the John Charles Line, and the Cardiff Arms Dart. I looked at it with them for a few minutes, took a couple of photos, and then turned to them and shook my head.

'You do know it isn't real, don't you?' I said, and some of them looked quite surprised. I added, 'Some of you might live long enough to see it for real. I won't, though, unless I live to be a hundred.'

I sat down a few yards away, logged into the free WiFi, and uploaded this photo to Instagram, using both my own channel and the Plaid Cymru Cwm Cynon account.

I added the caption Mind the gap between fantasy and reality.

The Instagram feeds are linked to the respective Twitter and Facebook accounts, so I knew it wouldn't be long before my photo was uploaded to everything.

A couple of days later, I had a message on the Plaid Cymru Twitter page. It was from Neil McEvoy, one of the Plaid Cymru AMs for South Wales Central, who lives in Cardiff. He wanted to know why he hadn't come up with that slogan himself. I suggested that maybe he hadn't spent enough time in London.

We both agreed, however, that it was the perfect way to take the piss out of the South Wales Metro proposals, which take one step forward and two back every couple of months.

I should have been in marketing, shouldn't I?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Last Bus From the Cynon Valley

Image
This is the first of a series of similar entries examining the various bus routes which criss-cross the South Wales Valleys. I've already written a general preamble called The Last Bus to Everywhere . For the next few posts (barring accident or incident, of course) I want to look more closely at specific areas in turn. I've started with the Cynon Valley for a couple of reasons: mainly because it's where I live, and so I've experienced the problems at first hand on many occasions; but also because its topography makes it rather different from some of the neighbouring valleys. As well as the classic north-south ribbon development centred on the four main towns (Hirwaun, Aberdare, Mountain Ash and Abercynon), there are a couple of smaller branching valleys with distinct communities, and some sizeable villages scattered around the hillsides. It's also possible to drive out of the Cynon Valley in a northerly direction, which isn't true of some of the other valleys in
Read more

Return Journey to Swansea

Image
A few weeks ago an old friend of mine invited to me to a one-day programme of talks at Swansea University's Singleton Park campus, at which she was delivering the keynote address. I provisionally agreed to go along, depending on public transport and other factors. I did some research online first, of course, before committing myself to what was going to be a lengthy and expensive day out. As it was going to be a fairly late finish, the bus wasn't an option. There hasn't been a direct service from Aberdare to Swansea for about ten years; I can't tell you when it ceased to operate, because it just vanished without any warning one day. (Even though it's still advertised on the stops in Trecynon, good luck to anyone expecting to catch it.) It is still possible to get to Swansea by bus, but – as you'll see – it involves a great deal of fucking around en route. Because they rarely, if ever, venture over the county boundaries, buses in what used to be the eastern part
Read more

The Last Bus to Everywhere

Image
About a month ago, Stagecoach in South Wales – part of the UK's largest bus operator – announced that they would be closing their depot at Brynmawr in Gwent. 77 jobs are at risk following this decision, which Stagecoach have attributed to the cut in Welsh Government subsidies. The company are also dropping fourteen services and reducing the frequency of another eight. In a statement on the BBC Wales News website, the company's managing director John Gould said: Make no mistake, ultimate responsibility for the loss of bus services and jobs lies firmly at the door of the Welsh government following years of cuts to bus investment. We deeply regret the impact this will have on our customers and local communities. Instead of protecting and supporting bus travel, ministers' misguided decisions have dealt a body blow to the country's public transport network and wider economy. People across Wales have repeatedly warned the government about the consequences of their actions, bu
Read more