A lazy final full day in the north east. Despite not doing very much at all over the past few days I am feeling a little jaded and looking forward to returning home tomorrow. I guess the first time away from home post-operation has been a bit stressful despite the fact that it has all gone very well.

The only real task of the day was helping Lesley send out an email to all Rugby Green Party members. This is to advertise the AGM which was originally scheduled for August – 2 days after my operation. This is not an onerous task as it is pretty much the same notification that was sent out in August.

I am reading Leslie Shore’s book on the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company called, surprise, surprise, The Tredegar Company!  It is interesting to see that the dilemma regarding the economic viability of producing steel (as opposed to iron) in Britain was an issue as far back as 1869!

Apparently the problem revolved around access to cheap low-phosphorus metal ores. In many cases they had to be imported so if you were going to build a steelworks, it had better be on the coast. In the end a steel plant was built at Tredegar in 1881-2 as the iron market dried up. Nothing new under the sun and running counter to the simple narrative of the industrial revolution presented to us.