{"id":557,"date":"2020-08-21T20:08:42","date_gmt":"2020-08-21T20:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=557"},"modified":"2020-08-21T20:08:45","modified_gmt":"2020-08-21T20:08:45","slug":"wind-street-waltz-2054","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wind-street-waltz-2054\/557\/","title":{"rendered":"Wind Street Waltz 2054"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Punting down Wind Street, Jess’s thoughts turned to the Wales On-Line\u00a0 headline\u00a0 2nd August 2020,-\u201cThe areas of Wales set to be underwater in 30 years due to climate change\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWAY too long.\u00a0 My choice:-\u00a0 Climate Catastrophe;-Wet Wales Underwater in 30 <\/em>\u00a0and include a virtual reality video.\u00a0 But out by 4 years only, –\u00a0 pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back then aged\u00a0 23,\u00a0 it was the imminent re-assignment surgery rather than a career in politics which excited the trainee multi-media reporter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOr floated my boat!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

 Jess, always one for the absurd, could not restrain a virtual chuckle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSelf-deprecation equals self-confidence. Use humour as a weapon.\u201d she had instructed the speechwriters. The stream of consciousness musings continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c Vast sums of campaign funds ushering celebrity \u201cinfluencers\u201d <\/em>on board had been a game-changer. Endorsements from rap artists, film stars, Mrs Hinch – of cut-price cleaning tips\u00a0 fame – and Childline.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 There was never any doubt that Mx Jess Davies’ candidature as the first trans Swansea mayor could be other than victorious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c <On board.> There I go again!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sea Cadet training at the Boy’s school was coming into its own now. She steadied the pole in anticipation of the bend ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWind Street certainly does wind.\u201d The effort of steering had reconnected tongue and thoughts, startling Pookey the white Pekinese, perched on the bow.\u00a0\u00a0 Concentration on his role of figurehead jarred, he tipped overboard as the mood of the flood changed. A growing stench of foulness preceded the drumming crescendo of the advancing surge. On-lookers,- had there been any,- would have seen the 57-year-old ex-Mayor,\u00a0 grey ringletted\u00a0 tresses buttered to her scalp, back-paddling furiously; seen the paddle strike something metallic glinting in the afternoon sun; seen Pookie struggle out of the foaming waters to totter precariously on what seemed to be some dislodged signage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back Kim could just make out  a lack of \u201cg\u201d on the No Si..n Bar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWould\u00a0 Dylan, Swansea’s beloved son, have been amused in this favourite haunt being so re-named?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As these thoughts floated past so did a befouled Pookie. Swept up in the torrent of oxtail soup he zig-zagged crazily back and forth, then  back again  across Wind Street, his waltzing partner the entanglement of branches caught in the \u201cg\u201d….. until indistinguishable  on the torrent’s crest<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPlease let me make it\u00a0 to the Marina\u201d Jess silently prayed,- to her own skill rather than any specific deity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWaters there are protected by the loch-gate so should be calm and home’s just around the corner \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The moon was rising\u00a0 as mission accomplished, she placed the\u00a0 punt coracle-style\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over her head and waded through the open front door.\u00a0 And who should be dog-paddling towards, tail oscillating but Pookie!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cwtched up with Pookie in bed, safe from the flood-waters downstairs, Jess offered up thanks.\u00a0 \u201cDidn’t turn out too bad after all.\u201d Tomorrow… well that’s another day!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Punting down Wind Street, Jess’s thoughts turned to the Wales On-Line\u00a0 headline\u00a0 2nd August 2020,-\u201cThe areas of Wales set to be underwater in 30 years due to climate change\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWAY too long.\u00a0 My choice:-\u00a0 Climate Catastrophe;-Wet Wales Underwater in 30 \u00a0and include a virtual reality video.\u00a0 But out by 4 years only, –\u00a0 pretty good.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A new flash fiction from SWANSEA WRITERS: \n\"Wind Street Waltz 2054\"\n#FLASHFICTION #FICTION","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[121,284],"tags":[296,297,81],"class_list":["post-557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-121","category-august-2020-the-long-and-winding-road","tag-street","tag-waltz","tag-wind"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-8Z","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":559,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557\/revisions\/559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}