Believe me, there are not many reasons why I would post up a photo here of me when I was 19 except to make a point and no, it's not that I've aged 40 years faster than I should have done because I'm a smoker.
It is to show how environmentalists don't really give a damn about the environment when there is money to be made and the hypocrisy of those who scream "green" but wouldn't for a minute think of travelling in anything else but their own car.
This is a thought that came to me during a recent trip to North Wales where I lived between 1977 and 1986. I hadn't been back to the area since I left - except for two funerals and that's another story - and so I was dismayed to see the changes there were not for the better.
There used to be one road running along the North Wales coast and a very slow and traffic jammed road it was even though back then there weren't that many cars. For years there was talk of a new road to ease this congestion and when I visited a couple of weeks ago, the road was complete.
Conwy was one of the places I lived and so my other half and I decided to take a walk along the harbour that I remembered had a beautiful sandy beach. Indeed, you can even see it where I stand in the photo but compare that with the new harbour. You will see that an ugly digger has taken up permanent residence there and spends all day piling up filthy smelly mud up into banks. Awful.
My friend, who I went to see for her birthday, told me that the problems started with the new road. She said they had to dig a tunnel under the harbour for the road and local people had insisted it would ruin the environment. However, the (no doubt well paid) surveyor insisted this local knowledge was poppycock and no harm would be done.
As you can see from the two photos, much harm has indeed been done because the tunnel sends all the silt and shite up to the beach and Conwy's beautiful harbour will never be the same again. It really made me angry. Also the proud fishing industry that has employed generations of families in the area has died - thanks to the EU regs on fishing.
I also took a trip to Llanfairfechan. The gem of North Wales, it used to be called. I found this once bustling seaside town, dominated by Penmaenmawr mountain, like a ghost town. It's fair to say that I tried to book accommodation at a local guest house there and it was full but there were plenty of others that's weren't at such short notice. My friend told me that both Llanfair and Pen have suffered badly because of the new road which now takes passing trade away.
Not all progress is good but try telling the modernists and the green brigade. They are so obsessed with the new agenda, they really can't see the damage they have done.