Thursday, November 19, 2009

Aber, where brollies threaten shoot 'em ups

The "website credits" page of the fresh-faced Cambrian News is blank.
That's a shame because the site is a brave take on what a local paper's online presence should be. The printed Cambrian retains a consistent, trustworthy feel albeit clearly suffering a worryingly visible resource-depression.
But the website tries something a little different and, although imperfect, is to be cheered.
Top left on the home page - http://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/ - is the journal's splendidly traditional Telegraph-style masthead. Laid beneath it is an admittedly insipid evocation of the mountains that shield this delicious West Wales area from the rest of the UK like a referee's blind spot protects Thierry Henry.
Brightly coloured modules carry story and index texts. The colours are moderately complementary in the way that X Factor finalists loosely embellish Dermot O'Leary's stage.
Rather thrillingly there's only one story at the head of the home page at any one time. Yes, there's a rolling menu of three tales from the top of the Aberystwyth agenda, but to see just the single yarn at any one time is refreshing. In this age of info-overload, too many newspaper websites slam the reader with a panoply of stories and attention-grabbers that simply have our trigger fingers dancing straight back to Google.
Cambrian News Online becomes busier as the page scrolls down. But the ads are kept neatly to the sides, there's a prominent plug which makes it easy to buy an e-version of the latest print edition and there's a splendid submitted photo which captures a lightning strike over Machynlleth.
Throughout, the headline font's a tad '90s, the video content seems restricted to the Stereophonics' latest bit of rough-with-smooth-edges pop and there's a depressing proliferation of ads bigging up the paper's own services.
But the navigation's simple, the speed's quick and the words are given plenty of room to breathe. Moreover, the stories are great! Check out: Man who killed wife in sleep was dreaming of boy racers and Did umbrella spark armed police siege?.
So, don't be shy, Cambrian ... get the names of the web team's bright boys and girls on that credits page. And give 'em a nice bright purple.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Fish and chips - no puns necessary

Just when things were looking up, out popped another name-shame blow for a traditional treasure.
Thursday lunchtime was spent with a bag of chips on Penclawdd seafront, the vast grassed lowlands of the Loughor Estuary my cinematic backdrop. I say "bag" but, of course it was a little white polystyrene foam tray. That, however, didn't detract from the excellence served up by the lady proprietor of the Gower Sole chippy.
She's only been there a year but has created a neat, tidy, welcoming corner plot that should do well. There's even a comfy leather sofa for goodness sake - a la Arthur Llewellyn Jenkins.
Her speciality is a spectacular range of fresh fish, with pleasing departures from the normal cod, plaice and haddock.
However - and it's a big however, this one - the latest South Wales Guardian reveals that nearby Glanaman has a new chippy too ... The Codfather.
A new food gem in a great Valleys town is always to be celebrated – but, please, not with an allegedly humorous name which harks back to a movie (albeit a good one) that first hit our screen almost four decades ago. What next - a pasta haven in Capel Isaac called The Italian Hob?
Chippies have suffered from jokey names for too long now - A Fish called Rhondda, Oh My Cod, A Salt N Battered, Codrophenia, Battersea Cods Homes, Al’s Plaice. The madness must stop.
All we want is good, honest cod, chips and mushy peas served from a finger-scorching range in a no-pun environment. If Ronseal ran an upstairs tea shop would they call it Room with a Brew? No!
A Google search of Scarborough, that queen of fried potato destinations, reveals the following chippies:
  • Winking Willys,
  • Mother Hubbard,
  • Lifeboat Fish Bar,
  • Wackers,
  • Silks Fish & Chip Shop,
  • Smallfry,
  • Hanover Fisheries.
Hats off to the Lifeboat, Silks and Hanover. Having not crossed your thresholds for many years I can’t attest to the quality of your grub – but the names of your businesses are top quality.
Martin Jones, owner of Glanaman’s The Codfather, take note.
And, while we’re at it, perhaps the South Wales Guardian headline writers could spend more than 10 seconds thinking up headlines in future – Chippy off to a Fryer indeed!