Mike Packwood

How much do you value your local Evening Newspaper.  Do you still read it.  Do you value it. Would you miss it if  it wasn't there? These are all questions the regional press has wrestled with for years. The gradual decline in press readership has been with us for decades. ( Peak UK newspaper readership was in 1946/7). Its been falling every year since.   The regional press has withstood the onslaught of commercial TV and radio, mass delivery free newspapers, 24/7 news channels, hyper local magazines and now local TV too in some places. Throughout all of this your local daily has remained steadfastly the champion of local news delivery and  they are still largely respected and valued in their communities.  But consider this. When was the last time you actually bought your local paper? The answer to that is probably some time ago, or at least less frequently than you did. The sad truth of the matter is that you don't  need to buy it anymore. Just a few short years ago

Bucknell in Shropshire A very grey day here in Cardiff Bay - so to cheer us all up here are some pictures of Bucknell in Shropshire. My parents lived here for a few years and if you're reading this in the States or elsewhere and have never visited England - this is what the best bits still look like. Just over the border from Wales it has 2 pubs, 1 great butcher 1 train a day and no Tesco within 20 miles - which makes it more of less perfect!  

Chilly day here in the bay - so here are some pics of the last time it snowed

The fabulously styled Kontokali Bay resort in Corfu

Cathays Park 2 (aka CP2 or new Crown Building) is a five-storey office building with 369,260 sq ft of floor space, including an underground car park and a central atrium housing a cafe for the office staff   The  Encyclopedia of Wales  describes CP2, completed in 1979, as conveying an impression of " bureaucracy  under siege"