Carolyn Hit(t)s a False Note

What's wrong with you you spellbound easily propagandered woman, wake up, can't you see you & millions of others are being used; these are not the British games but the London games, Defeated Paris should get on the telephone to the I.O.C. and complain that London has gone way beyond its remit and broken its contract, anyone would think that it's the Festival of Britain we are celebrating here. This is a manifestation of a Great Britain in its violent orgasmic death throes, a last stand for Britishness that has been swamping us all year in the media in one form or another and you've fallen for it. I repeat These are the LONDON games, Paris has good reason to complain.
P.S. David Beckham is an over used quintessentially English quality that grates.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/need-to-read/2012/07/30/carolyn-hitt-danny-boyle-s-brilliant-olympic-ceremony-has-redefined-britishness-91466-31501919/

British?

The Welsh have been British since before the dawn of history, we lost Britain's crown to the invading Angles of Northumbria at the end of the 7th century, we thought we took it back under the Tudors in the 15th; the Scots came into the British picture in 1707. Great Britain as a term (Grande Bretagne) was coined to differentiate the Britons who moved to the Armorican peninsula and the Britons who stayed at home on the Island. The new rulers of Britain called themselves after the Germanic tribes of Northumbria -  the land of the Angles, whilst the Britons & Gaels named them after the Germanic tribes of the south - the land of the Saxons as Great Britain became Greater Germany before the name was given a political as well as a geographical sense with the Anglo-Scottish Act of Union. Ironically if Hitler hadn't been defeated our athletes today would be competing on behalf of another Greater Germany singing the German anthem of the day much as our footballers were expected to sing the German, sorry, English anthem cum anti Scottish war song of today.

Fe Gerddaf Ymlaen

Can't go to Uhelgoat today with my photos, not having protection from the rain, sold 6 in 2 days, stayed in bed, not a good sign. 29 months unemployed there's always a risk of depression, but as I'm constantly working on my photos there's not much risk of that. The big problem is the lack of money that sometimes prevents me from filling up my tank with petrol and taking to the road with my camera.
    This year after having not gone out socially for two years I've decided that a pint or two now & again can do me good, then wake up the following day feeling guilty that the money could have been better spent, notwithstanding, I'm going to make a special effort to spend 3 days in Pontardawe for their now famous festival, I was there in 1979, this will definitely do me good, but I will undoubtedly wake up on the monday with a heavy conscience.
        In september it will be my chance to be the Samaritan, I've had a call from Cymru/Wales to assist a girl in distress in the Algarve who's re-opening a bar but has no money; could I help out for 3 weeks; food, lodge & expenses paid, such as petrol to get down there, no wages, but a beach & good weather, I'm not 21 anymore, I'm 61 (in 5 days). I only came to Plouye for 2 weeks, so is destiny calling? My pub re-opening has been put back once more.
     Before I woke up this morning I dreamt I was at a Cymdeithas yr Iaith festival, back in the old atmosphere meeting old friends, I was local organizer (cysylltwr) for the Merthyr area in I think 1977. In my dream I was writing out posters for my own festival in either Plouye or Merthyr; in Merthyr I used to organize functions for Plaid Cymru, and in Plouye I had the big pub hog roast every August. As I mentioned the other day I also, off my own bat, organized the first Welsh language rock concert in Merthyr at Rhydycar, Merthyr with Injaroc. Depression comes from circumstances suffocating you, taking away your belief that you have a reason to live, I still have many things on the horizon to look forward to, and it's been a while now since I've been sitting here stemming the tears, with no food in the fridge & no money in my pocket. Fe Gerddaf ymlaen.

London Games

Some, including prominent Welsh people, appear to be under the mis-apprehension that the Olympics are the British games, they are not, London beat off Paris for the honour of holding them, and personally I think the organizers should be reported for going outside their boundaries, therefore not living up to their contract. There has always been leeway/licence for nautical sports but this is not the case here. There is also confusion between 'British Team' or 'Team G.B.' which is a misnomer because the competitors represent the U.K. and not G.B. and 'British games' which they are not. The image is that of the 1950s post war London (English) hegemony, almost as though the U.K. in its Anglo-centric form is writhing violently in its death throes, throwing (excuse the pun) up everywhere on the screen any excuse to celebrate Britishness, what, what, before the inevitable will happen, and who knows, perhaps the non- English in 4 years time will be able to sing our/their own anthems in victory and fly our/their own flags; except in team sports of course where there would be a cacophony if we sang our own, better not to sing at all.

Baa-baabel

My Welsh speaking friends would prefer me to write yn Gymraeg, my Breton speaking friends would prefer me to write 'bar' Brezhoneg, my old Merthyr friends don't get it when I put something up en Francais, but the fact is that more than half of my friends now are on the southern end of the Môr Breizh/Channel/Manche many of whom don't speak a word of English, so that my insistence on writing in Saesneg, mainly because it's the only one I can write half decently, means that the majority of my friends feel left out and that many of my messages go by the wayside anyway e.g. As it's sunny I think I'll give my photos an outing tomorrow morning at the market in Uhelgoad but closer to the lake; plastic protected = 5 euros, Glass framed = 10 euros, who knows, I may earn enough to buy a tent to take them out in less salubrious weather, but seriously: demain je pense aller au marché à Uhelgoad/Huelgoat

Not doing for their country

Football-wise we never did well in world terms historically, except for1958 in Sweden when we qualified through the back door, partly because English F.A. managers weren't obliged to release our players. Now that we have a talented but limited squad who are capable of doing things and going places, some of our players are egotistically putting our World Cup chances at risk by competing in a completely unnecessary tournament as far as soccer is concerned in the event of their succumbing to burn out and/or injury.
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/matches/fixtures.html

Testing my logic

"This is the first event of the London Olympics"!!!!!! Sorry I thought this was Caerdydd/Cardiff, capital of Cymru/Wales. My logic is being strained somewhat.

Gt. Britain/Scandinavia

For Cymru think Norway, for Scotland think Denmark, For England think Sweden, for Great Britain think Scandinavia, British Airways-Scandinavian Airlines. The Scandinavians have an ancient common culture going back to the Vikings/Norsemen, the British go back to 1707 a thousand years later, yet the main difference is that the Swedes, Norwegians & Danes, although they cooperate also act independently of each other when deemed appropriate. At the Olympics this year, if they win gold, you will be hearing the respective Swedish, Danish & Norwegian Anthems and seeing their individual flags. They are closer historically as countries than we have ever been, we ought to be able to follow their lead.
P.S. All parties being equal in mind and body (politic) also avoids that sickening manifestation' of  **** licking toadiying sycophants endeavouring to attain a social status denied them thus far by their psychological make up and accident of birth. We have examples in our sports ruling bodies and our hospital boards.

Postal Orders

I've got to sort these photos out, there's definitely a commercial potential on the best of them. I could send a glass framed A4 photo to anywhere in France & Brittany in a post office package for 20 euros. I can go back to the markets for 2 euros a time plus the monthly insurance but I need a market tent or gazebo 3m x 2m costing about 200 euros, I haven't been able to display any photos due to the constant rain and the fact that I need to print more, which I won't do to have them sitting around the house. I am able to print individual photos on order, just tell me which photo you want and I will post it on.
https://picasaweb.google.com/103071865082105641326

Landerne(au

Friday evening I went to Landerne(au where I heard Cymraeg spoken on the street, albeit with an almost indistinguishable Breton accent; I called in to the 'Keltia', discussed Breton & Welsh history with an interested party, met a member of 'Breini' (a Breton group) who used to teach at Llanharan, then, unknowingly at first, I had the privilege of chatting at the bar with the Welsh speaking former Mayor of the town who told me that the other Welsh speaker on the street was probably his son who had studied at Aberystwyth and was taking a contingent around from twin town Caernarfon. With him at the bar was a Caernarfon County Councillor from Caerffili and a singer/musician from the group 'Dyniadon' of the late 60s - early 70s. An old friend invited me to stay 200 yards from the pub, but about 5.30 am I discretely retired (Je filais à lAnglaise) to my car where I spent the night next to the river Elorn. I expected to meet another old friend Maurice, who was one of the townspeople looking after the Welsh, back in the same bar for an 11 o'clock aperitif, but not surprisingly after such a late night it didn't open. I looked for them at the festival stage where I found them ready to go to an official function, I went back to my car feeling guilty for having spent money on beer that could have been more wisely spent elsewhere, but otherwise content for my evening's experience, and away I went for an afternoon's excursion with my camera, which I wouldn't have enjoyed if I'd stayed at home.

Collective amnesia

For 17 hundred years there's been a Welsh/Breton attachment; the founding saints were Welsh; Welsh/Cornish/Breton was a common language till the early middle ages, the Breton bible had Welsh help for the translation, after the war Welsh civic leaders sent letters to the French government defending Bretons and their rights, some went to stay in Wales but were thrown out by the British Parliament; then in the 60s & 70s there was a cultural renaissance in the Celtic countries, many Parisians from Breton families educated under the French system came to Brittany searching for their Celtic heritage, the musicians amongst them had picked up on Irish music, Bretons went to Ireland to learn their dances; the Celts  were Irish, as were their Scottish cousins where the bagpipes were concerned; in the French mentality that was taking over Brittany the Welsh were English so couldn't be their Celtic compatriots, it was forgotten that their 'gwerz' is Welsh, their 'national anthem is Welsh', their language & their 'saints' were Welsh (some were Irish, but they lacked the vernacular, unless having learnt it on their studies in Wales & Cornwall as well as picking it up 'in situ'), Wales is in England, as they see it, even though it isn't, so doesn't count. I thought of this just now when I intended going out for a mid-week drink for the first time in 2 years because of my restrictions. The French don't have a pub culture, it's wine & food country, but this spectacular upsurge in everything Irish, this 60s & 70s collective amnesia on the one hand, 1700 Welsh years replaced initially in a ten years cultural phenomenon has led to the transition of Breton bars to Irish pubs; the mundane 'Bar du Coin' in Quimper became the spectacularly successful 'Ceili'; equally successful in Quimper is the 'Poitin Still'. It's taken for granted that a decent 'pub' is an Irish thing, whereas any other versions of the snob/posh tendency are English, the rest are 'café/bars, or 'bistrots' which doesn't have the same meaning or significence as across the channel. In Lorient we have the Galway, in Rennes the Westport, in Brest the Tara Inn to name but a few of the best. Because of the lack of a pub mentality, to imbibe in anything like the social atmosphere I understand to be a pub ambiance I have to travel a half an hour to Morlaix, , three quarters of an hour to Kemper, one hour to Brest, or two hours to Roazhon/Rennes. I'd set my mind on going to a Breton 'pub' in Montroulez, the 'Ty Coz', I put on my jacket, picked up my keys, then realized that I didn't have any petrol, so I sat back down and began writing this. I expect to have more than the usual amount of comments.

http://patrimoinebreton.blogspot.fr/

28/06/2012

Today Ffrancis Payne visits 'Mynachdy' an impressive house, now a farm, near Pilalau, Sîr Faesyfed; yesterday I visited 'Manac'hty' at 'Trois Fontaines', Gouezec; it's now a cluster of farm buildings, one of  them a shed that was apparently a school which has slate steps that led to the dormitory on the upper floor. Today also saw me standing on the riverbank taking photos of the weir, when on turning around there was a life's first, never read about and never seen on tv; right there in front of me was a brown stoat carrying a snake in its mouth.

30/06/2012 - 1/07/2012

Little conundrum I'll sort out tomorrow; an acquaintance brought me a book today - 'Diocese de Quimper et de Leon, Nouveau Repertoire des Eglises et Chapelles'; on turning to Plouye there was a description of the parish church of Saint Joseph when I've always written 'Saint Pierre', so I looke up the internet where it confirmed 'Saint Joseph', then I looked up the history of the Plouie/Plouye 'patrimoine' where it was 'Saint Pierre'? Three books in three weeks - Th story of John Hughes in The Ukraine; Francis Payne's journey through Radnorshire (2 volumes); and now churches & chapels of Brittany. Yesterday I saw a rabbit at the side of the road, a fish jumping in a river, a 21st century monument to a 17th century mass drowning, participated in a demonstration to return Naoned/Nantes & its region to Brittany, and drank good beer in two good pubs in Kemper/Quimper - 'The Ceili' & 'The Poitin Still'.