The Parasitic Port of Cardiff Seen by One who knew the Proud Slag of Merthyr

Outside my own home in Penydarren the place I spent most of my time as a youth was Trevethick (sic) St., it was a long uphill cul-de-sac just up from Merthyr town centre off the road to Pen-y-darren, at the top of which, next to the Traction Yard & Morlais coaches could be seen the remnants of the old Penydarren Ironworks where the chains for Telford's suspension bridge to Ynys Môn/Anglesey were manufactured, and where Richard Trevithick's first ever steam locomotive in the world ran on rails in 1804. The last of Merthyr's 4 huge ironworks to be built and the first to close, two of them, Cyfarthfa & Dowlais respectively  becoming the largest in the world, the fourth being Plymouth. Merthyr was the Iron capital, Swansea was the Copper metropolis, whilst Cardiff's insatiable appetite made a little village previously noted only for its castle, fat, wealthy & selfish, still as selfish as ever constantly gorging itself on everything it can get its hands on while the rest of Cymru/Wales looks on in disproportionate poverty, the wealth dissipated; it even took upon itself in 1955 to get the London government to declare it capital of the country, without reference to the Welsh people; obviously an administrative error, it should have been chief town of Glamorgan, but to its inhabitants Glamorgan, and its surrounding areas, = Cymru/Wales, other lesser parts, particularly the north don't count; see cricket & to a lesser extent rugby. It began hoarding collections and building institutions & monuments applying the epithet 'Welsh national' decades before receiving its charter; losing the library to Aberystwyth was a bit of a blow though. However the arrogant foresight of the city elders means that it's now gone too far to have a choice in the matter, therefore we must put up with it, but they need to stop calling themselves the youngest capital in Europe, Wales isn't free; Caerdydd/Cardiff strictly speaking is the administrative centre of Cymru/Wales, headquarters of the regional government, the real honour of youngest capital goes to Bratislava as the capital of the newly independent Slovakia.