BLOG # 15

25th of February 2023 Principality Stadium Cardiff, Wales.

Six Nations Rugby, the grudge match, Wales versus England. An absolutely intense rivalry, the Dragon and the Rose.

1881, the two nations faced each other in the first rugby international. The score 0 – 0.

A rivalry that mirrors the long-standing and complicated rapport between the nations. Let’s call it animosity. A history of invasion and resistance, oppression and freedom.

35 Dan y Gwyn Terrace, Pontypridd.

Two bottles of Brains Bitter, a large packet of Jones Halen Mon Welsh crisps. The wizened armchair ragged and ready. No tickets of course, though Cardiff and the stadium are close, available tickets are million miles away.

The TV ready. Dai with great expectations. Press the remote, select the BBC. A picture yes, but a picture mangled, glitched, out of whack.

A scream and then . . .

fuck.

Mel, his wife, from the front parlour. . .

what the hell Dai

Dai fuming . . .

The aerial, those damn Jones kids have been at it again, why do they need to keep twisting it, again and again

Mel exasperated, she has heard it all before. . . .

just go fix it . . . .again

Three aerials, just in case. Dai constantly fiddling, constantly adjusting.Battling also the wayward Jones kids, intent on disturbing his pleasure.

The familiar from Dai . . .

what’s is it like now

Mel half-heartedly watching the flickering TV screen as Dai twists and turns the aerial pole, searching for that fugitive TV signal.

So do it again he must. The fate of Wales versus England hanging in the balance on a barely perceptible TV screen.

The way to the fray is not always easy, their children have for some reason required a menagerie of bikes , roped together as if in a Cowboy Western. Rubbish bags are another barricade, a delayed trip to the dump and what happened to the white drawers so obviously missing? At least the ladder is at the ready, a sign of the constant visits to the pole and it’s aerials.

As he steps up he again regrets situating the bloody pole in such a challenging position. The ladder rungs slippy with ingrained moss. How he wished he had deposited the ladder in his ‘man shed’ away from the Welsh rain.

Parkour, roof hopping, has never been Dai’s particular skill however easy those French kids make it seem. Up. On the top of the back door, a consoling left hand on the pole, knees taking the strain, precarious. Unsure footing, tottering, saved by an irritable but sure right arm.

What the fuck am I doing here

Really to himself, but out loud anyway.

Mr Davies, please, that’s a very bad word

It’s the bloody Jones kids in the back alley. The bane of his life and the architects of the aerial strife. Bill about 10 and Andy, Andrew, a mature looking 12.

It’s so easy to belittle Dai, taking the piss, when he’s balancing like a nervous goat on a rock.

The red mist descends. Dai, in a moment of revenge and retaliation attempts to wallop the Jones kids although he is nearly 6 feet above them. The inevitable happens. He lets go of the his right arm, the anchor. Falters and drops unceremoniously from his perch to the feet of the dreaded Jones kids.

Astonished. Beached like a whale, the kids standing over him. They too are shocked, having seen Dai fly from his beam.

His vision from down there, two staring kids and 2 aerials, now in a wayward direction, reaching for that fugitiveTV broadcast signal.

The aerial has shifted like a weathervane, sensitive to the moods of the wind. The pole is loose!

A realisation.

So the kids innocent of vandalism or just plain mischief. A mechanical problem that maybe he should’ve fixed.

Andrew, the elder kid, clearly more of a Parkour expert, hops to the top of the back door. Grasping the aerial pole, he twists and suddenly we are back in the moment.

That’s it . . .

A shout from Mel, still faithfully watching the now coherent TV screen. Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, Old land of My Fathers, The Welsh National Anthem wafts via the back door. The TV now operational and in full voice.

The packet of crisps gratefully shared between Dai and the Jones kids, and perhaps, if we don’t tell their parents, a sip of Brains Beer. The atmosphere of the stadium engulfs them, happy here in front of the TV screen, crystal clear and reverberating.

25th of February 2023 Principality Stadium Cardiff, Wales.

England beat Wales. The score 20 – 10.

The penetrating photograph was shot by David Barnes

www.davidbarnes.info

I saw it at the magnificent exhibition, The Valleys, at the Welsh National Museum, Cardiff.