The elephant in the room...

I woke this morning feeling a little delicate, to say the least; yesterday afternoon and evening being spent at the last day of Cardiff's Kings Cross. The Kings Cross is Wales' oldest gay bar or rather, it was Wales' oldest gay bar because as of today it no longer exists. It has closed for refurbishment in preparation for its opening as a straight gastropub.

Times move on and everything changes, I hear you say. Absolutely. However, I can't help feeling a little cheated and hard done by. Anyone who visited the Kings over ten years ago will know that it was located at the arse end of Cardiff. However, with the redevelopment of the Mill Lane area and recently with the development of St David's 2, the Kings has found itself bang in the middle of one of the best pedestrianised areas Cardiff has to offer.

I first went to the Kings in 1982; it was the first gay bar I ever set foot in. I have supported this bar for the best part of 30 years and for most of that time it has existed at the skanky end of Cardiff. Now in it's prime location, I find that my support is surplus to requirements. Times move on and everything changes, as you say.

I eventually went for a swim at 4ish this afternoon, once the pool had reopened after an event at the international pool for much of the day. Just what the doctor ordered. My hangover was banished by a few lengths of the pool, which was set at its 50m configuration. The cool water easing that nauseous hangover feeling. As I swam, I started thinking about the subject of tonight's post and I began to contemplate how you can avoid talking about 9/11 on the 10th anniversary of 9/11?

You can't avoid talking about 9/11 on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. In 2001, along with everyone else I watched the rolling news coverage of the events on September 11th with my heart in my mouth. Everyone who has lived on this earth in the last ten years has potentially been affected by the events of that day, whether they know it or not.

Let's never forget the lives ruined as a result of 9/11: the passengers and crew who died on the four hijacked planes that day, the thousands of people who failed to escape the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon when they were hit, the members of the emergency services teams that persished in the line of duty, the people killed in subsequent Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks, the thousands who have lost their lives in the subsequent wars and skirmishes that are a result of our response to the attacks and the thousands who have suffered as a result of our Western prejudices to Islam because of that day. 9/11 casts a long shadow.