Scorchio!

Today is the hottest day EVER in the UK since time began. Well since records began. It reached over 38º, which I personally think is quite crap for a 'record' but hey. Meanwhile, I'm working in a tin hut on a building site, roasting away like a Christmas Turkey, with an oscillating fan on top speed in my face.

This little Valley town of Merthyr Tydfil used to bring the iron down on the railways to Cardiff and Barry Docks for export around the world, until nobody wanted it anymore. Now it is famously the sick-note capital of the UK, with an incredible rate of unemployment and an outrageous illness record. In fact everyone I've met here so far is from somewhere else. All the builders and site managers are Scousers or Yorkshiremen, and then there's me. A lady I met on a park bench at lunchtime the other day is from Sheffield and says she doesn't know what she's doing here.

A few interesting facts about Merthyr Tydfil:

Sir Clive Sinclair built his crazy C5 disaster vehicle here in the Hoover washing machine factory.

Researchers testing an angina treatment here stumbled upon an unexpected side-effect that would later form a new drug known as Viagra.

The Gurnos Housing Estate is located here, and at the time of building was the biggest social housing project in the world; now the most notorious, with a violent reputation and more recently was the scene of a murder hunt leading back decades. The 'babies in the attic' search was instigated by local police after repairs being done to one house by the council uncovered a suitcase containing a tiny skeleton, and more were found after tracing the owners' following addresses to the present day. The estate is due to be demolished.

On a positive note, I managed to sneakily download Dizzy Prince of the Yolkfolk today and get as far as the castle and collect the harp. Yippee!

On a down-note, I think Tesco has boycotted Pepsi Max forever, so I'm making do with cold water and aforementioned oscillating fan.

Love... Vix! x x