Dog mess, buried treasure, fag ends and skeletons

The press office in County Hall have had a very thin time of things recently, with little else to do than run stories about dog fouling, people dropping cigarette ends, cardboard cutouts of Dai Greene and the like. As Caebrwyn has discovered, the office even does its bit for recycling by attributing word-for-word identical quotes to different people at different times.

There must have been real relief, therefore, when Estyn published its report on education in the county and gave the authority an overall rating of "good". If it had not been for a few minor trivial problems with school attendance, performance and financial planning, the county might have been awarded a top rating of "excellent".

Undeterred by such considerations, the council's spin machine trumpets,

"This report confirms that Carmarthenshire’s education service is one of the best in Wales."

Anyone searching the Estyn report to see where the inspectors actually delivered that verdict will search in vain.

Sadly for the press office, this one little ray of sunshine turned out to be a brief respite from the continuing downpour of stories about dog mess, cigarette ends and general litter (three new stories yesterday), but summer is upon us, even as we wait for the next flood alert, and thoughts turn to how to keep the kids entertained during the long school holidays.

The press office is inviting us to head for the County Museum in Abergwili (the one they want to close), to take part in a "dig" for "buried Roman treasure". Perhaps the kiddies may even unearth the Dai Greene cutout.

The county's bloggers, meanwhile, will be heading for the forbidding confines of County Hall, with a much more realistic prospect of unearthing pots of gold, skeletons and mouldering remains as they prepare to comb through the council's accounts.

Why not join us for a really fun day out?