London, Swansea and The Mumbles - Part 2 - Wales and a Wedding!
This is the second instalment of a two-part series on my trip to both London and Swansea back in August and September. You can find Part 1 here . I wake up even before my alarm clock goes off. Breakfast at the hotel is quintessentially English, which suits me just fine, given the day ahead, so I have a generous helping. Once I’ve got my camera bag packed, it’s off to explore the city, which turns out to be underwhelming to say the least. I know you’re not supposed to speak ill about places you visit, but Swansea honestly looks like it’s had its heart ripped out. The amount of urban deprivation and outright poverty on display is eye-opening, I haven’t seen something this bad since my teenage days back in Eastern Europe in the mid-1990s. Okay, there’s a major street rebuilding program underway which certainly doesn’t help, but from a quick glance, I’d say that 50-60% of business premises in the city centre are empty, with many of the houses derelict. The businesses that remain ...