Swansea Beach and the Visitors on Sunday, May 26, 2019
First thing we did before we went out of the house is to enjoy the blooming of spring flowers in Phyllis’s little garden. We miss Mom and Phyllis who devoted their energy and time taking care of family and this house. We wish they were here. Please do not fight, we will all perish one day, soon or later. Please get along and enjoy each other while you can.
I love plants and beautiful flowers. Thanks, Phyllis and Mom who created a beautiful little place for us.
Swansea Library allowed us to be temporary members. As members we can use free internet for 2 hours each day. Without membership free internet is only available for 30 minutes a day. For the record, we went to Swansea city center and asked a shop the cost of using the internet. The rate was 1 pound for 20 minutes. The library and the shop are the same distance from the house we are staying in. We appreciate the help Swansea Library gives to foreigners and others who come to visit Swansea.
After visiting the library, we usually enjoy the beach which is situated right next to the library. In fact, the large library windows look out directly onto Swansea Bay.
John was eager to step onto the beach, to walk about enjoying the scenery and remembering his youth playing here every chance he could.
We visited Swansea beach about two years ago, on Monday, October 9, 2017 and I wrote a poem as follows: Swansea Shore!
A poor little bird Standing on the edge
Watching the sea roll by
My poor sick husband Trying to compose himself Breathing in the fresh air Oh, Swansea Shore!
I came here before Seeing the waves Rolling and hugging you
In and out with the rhythm of the tides
Oh, Swansea Shore! I will come here again In the sunset of my life
And you will still be here For the long centuries to come
My little Grandson Kai
Holding his hands with his parents
Walking along the shore
Another younger generations will come
Admiring you with the sunset or the sunrise
The full moon appearing in the sky You will give pleasure for all to see,
Oh, Swansea Shore!
I love you!
Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Wednesday, October 11, 2017, 4:17 am
This was one of the pictures that I took two years ago, which I posted along with my poem.
The information about the Swansea Bay which I posted when we came to Swansea last time. “Swansea Bay (Welsh: Bae Abertawe) is a bay on the Bristol Channel on the southern coast of Wales. Places on the bay include Swansea and Port Talbot. The River Neath, River Tawe, River Afan, River Kenfig and Clyne River flow into the bay. Swansea Bay (and upper reaches of the Bristol Channel) experience a large tidal range. The shipping ports in Swansea Bay are Swansea Docks, Port Talbot Docks and Briton Ferry wharfs. Oyster fishing was once an important industry in Swansea Bay, employing 600 people at its height in the 1860s. However, overfishing, disease and pollution had all but wiped out the oyster population by 1920. In 2005 plans were announced to reintroduce the Oyster farming industry.[1]” Beaches[edit] The bay is lined with sandy beaches. Each stretch of beach within the bay has its own individual name: • Aberavon Beach • Baglan Bay • Jersey Marine Beach • Swansea Beach • Mumbles Beach For more information please visit the following link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swansea_Bay
“Swansea Bay: Harnessing the power of our tides • Did you know… the UK has the second highest tidal range in the world and the difference in the range at Swansea Bay is a massive 7-9 metres! • Dave Sagan, Project Manager • An iconic, world-first infrastructure project in South West Wales • Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon will be the world’s first tidal lagoon power plant. • A tidal lagoon is a ‘U’ shaped breakwater, built out from the coast which has a bank of hydro turbines in it. Water fills up and empties the man-made lagoon as the tides rise and fall. We generate electricity on both the incoming and outgoing tides, four times a day, every day. • Due to the incredible tides on the West Coast of Britain, by keeping the turbine gates shut for just three hours, there is already a 14ft height difference in water between the inside and the outside of the lagoon. Power is then generated as the water rushes through 200ft long draft tubes, rotating the 23ft diameter hydro turbines. • The project was awarded a Development Consent Order in 2015 and is primed for construction. It will comprise 16 hydro turbines, a six-mile breakwater wall, generating electricity for 155,000 homes for the next 120 years. Its major delivery partners include Atkins, General Electric, Andritz Hydro, Le aing O’Rourke and Alun Griffiths Ltd.” For more information please visit the following link: https://www.tidallagoonpower.com/projects/swansea-bay/ I posted the above information about two years ago. I was so glad for the new pollution free project for Wales. I hoped that I would enjoy seeing this project come to reality when we visit Swansea next time. But unfortunately, the project still has not been completed. I hope that no matter what party is in control, the project will still go through. This will benefit the people, help the environment of the country, and in turn the world at large.
I always enjoy seeing the, “funny humps” on the horizon, which is the lighthouse at the Mumbles end of Swansea Bay.
“Swansea Bay: Wind plans In addition to tidal power, construction of an offshore windfarm in the Bay has been approved,[9] but construction has now been deferred owing to the costs involved. The windfarm was to have been sited at Scarweather Sands, about 5 km (3 mi) off the coast and visible from Porthcawl.” For more information please visit the following link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swansea_Bay I posted above information in 2017, when we visited Swansea last time. We saw some of the wind mills in two locations while we were on the Bus from Heathrow airport to Swansea city. Two of the large wind mills are in the photograph.
The lady enjoyed walking on the pathway along the beach.
John concentrated on capturing the action on the beach.
The fresh air and gentle breeze against these two bikers faces on this beautiful seashore will to be remembered by them.
John probably said “Got it”. One of his perfect photographs, he captured on the beach.
A little one had fun on the beach with brother and mother. I wish to see Kai and his parents on the beach with us.
I saw at least two people holding equipment for digging worms for fishing.
Some people enjoyed the cool breeze on the steps while the tide was out before the waves roll back in covering the steps again.
Riding on the path next to beach is fun, especially having a loved one hugging you by the waist.
Happiness is freedom to enjoy biking, walking, or sitting in the pleasant atmosphere on Swansea beach.
Swansea Bay, Pollution: For the last two decades of the 20th century, the bay was blighted by pollution, partly from the surrounding heavy industry and partly from sewerage outlets being sited at inappropriate locations including the main one that was located just seaward of Mumbles Lighthouse. A pumping station inside the cliff adjacent to Knab Rock brought all of Swansea city’s effluent in a raw form to this point. Adding to the problem was the natural current flow of the waters in the Bay which often did not move the polluted waters further out to sea. Ironically, the outgoing tide did not carry the raw sewage down the adjacent Bristol Channel, but instead cause it to be sucked in around the circumference of the Bay and only then out down the Channel. If not fully discharged on that tide, the incoming tide would then push the same effluent up the Channel, and once again circulate around the Bay. Efforts were made by the local authority to reduce the pollution in the Bay but care had to be taken to ensure the pollution did not move to the popular beach resorts in south Gower instead. This original sewer outlet was finally made inactive in around 1996 following the construction of a brand new pipeline which ran all the way back around the Bay following the line of the old Mumbles Railway as far as Beach Street, along the sea-side of the Maritime Quarter and through Swansea Docks to a new £90 million sewage treatment plant at Crymlyn Burrows near Port Tennant from which a new outlet was made, extending further out to sea. As a consequence of the huge improvement these works have made, it is hoped that Swansea Bay will achieve Blue Flag Beach status. Aberavon beach was awarded Blue Flag status in December 2007.[2]” For more information please visit the following link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swansea_Bay
After the tide went out, it showed the remaining evidence of the living organisms that exist on the beach.
Soft sand on the sea shore is probably comfortable for running.
I asked John, “What is this big lump of sand? It Looks like poop.” He said, “ That hole was the place where people used a pipe do draw core sample of deeper sand to find warms for fishing. The sand in the pipe get discard on the surface.” One can learn new things, no matter how old you are.
I enjoyed seeing different types of shell, big and small.
Shells are everywhere on the curve of tide waves that end on the beach. Like our hearts beating, the tide never stops its rhythmic cycle. in and out regularly like our heart beat that never stop until we no longer breath, as if when the tide never came back the beach lay dry and the organisms on the beach are vanishing.
I collected different types of shells for Kai while thinking of him, hoping that he will enjoy seeing the shells from the Swansea shore.
I wish we would appreciate the sea more than we do, so that we will keep it clean from polution that humans dump in the sea including large quantities of plastic. The earth is not only for humans use. It belongs to all the organisms that live in the sea.
The sun cast our shadow on the beach for me to capture and remember our walk that beautiful day. “We miss you! We miss you! Until we meet again!
I love this photo where John walked on the beautiful smooth sand, casting his perfect shadow at a 45 degrees angle. In front of him is a tall building reaching into the clouds and blue sky.
The wall dividing the United States and Mexico is a political problem for immigrants into USA, but not this wall.
Playing on the beach with mother and brother is fun, and happy time. They will remember this moment as long as they live.
A pretty young lady on walks alonghe beach.
The wind blows the hair while a cool breeze brings pleasure.
This gentleman is enjoying a time with no rain in the comfortable atmosphere of Swansea beach.
Millions of pictures were taken by the beach for love ones at home or as a personal memory of the Swansea shore.
I came to Swansea many times before, when Mom, John’s Mother and Phyllis, John’s sister were still alive. Mom passed away in 1996. We still came to visit Phyllis and Swansea. Then Phyllis passed away three years ago. We still visit Swansea. I miss Mom and Phyllis and said hello when I went in their rooms. Before I concentrated on taking photographs of places and monuments more than people. Lucky technology has allowed us to capture images of people, see their movements on video, and hear them talk. From now on I will concentrate on recording the stories of people rather than places. Places will continue to exist but people are here for only a limited time. Kai my grandson, who is three and a half, will look back at my photos posted on my website in ten or twenty years. Here he will see the difference time has made to the people and culture presented in my work and learn from this.
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