Friday 31 January 2014

Aberystwyth Braces Itself

If the predicted storms and high tides weren’t enough to worry about this small town on the west coast of Wales is having to cope with flooding of a different sort as amateur photographers pour in hoping to capture dramatic images of giant waves. Mrs Mavis Jones, (64), a local WRVS volunteer said “We have had to open up emergency accommodation for them all. Dozens arrived on the last bus yesterday hoping to find B&Bs but all the guest houses are shut and the owners off playing golf in Florida”. Local residents blame the frequent media coverage that Aberystwyth has received in recent months. One of the photographers who had come all the way from Devon said “It’s not fair. Aberystwyth has been getting all the attention. It used to be Dawlish just down the road from me. Every time there was a storm the papers would have pictures of the sea crashing over trains on the railway line. I’m a Citizen Journalist and I had a nice little sideline selling pictures but now the papers just want Aberystwyth”. A local press photographer who didn’t want to be named said “Its murder here now, I used to be the only photographer present when a new supermarket opened but now I can’t even park the car. I wish I’d never sent all those pictures of the storms to the nationals. These bl**dy amateurs have found out my name and some hang around by my house to follow me if I get a tipoff. I had a boudoir shoot booked at a bungalow in the next village and I looked around to see half a dozen lenses pointing in through the window. My client felt she had to invite them all in for a cup of tea”. After a recent incident in which a student photographer was rescued by the local inshore lifeboat the RNLI are bracing themselves for more trouble and fear that others will risk their lives for the chance of a few minutes of fame on Youtube. Hoping to discourage reckless behaviour they have been putting up ” Beware of The Sharks” signs along the seafront.