Contemplating

Went to the brewery this afternoon to sort things out for the re-opening, everything o.k. Had a meal with friends in Scaer, decided to drive on to Kemperle (Quimperle) to finish the evening, lost button off my trousers, first time for years that I haven't worn a belt, trousers kept slipping, drove home early. During my meal I heard something interesting, never really contemplated it "if the Breton communists had their way Stalin would have marched on to Brest". France was in a mess, the government allied itself to the Nazis, De Gaulle the self appointed saviour of the French nation called the country to arms, it was mainly the Bretons who responded, other Bretons saw their opportunity to liberate their country, Brittany that is; the free French fought against the French army in the Middle East, Far East & North Africa, De Gaulle from his offices in London tortured his unbelievers, other French who didn't see him as their leader; he was thought by Churchill & Roosevelt to be a megalomaniac not to be trusted while they worked with other French generals active in the field, in Brittany there were patriots wearing German uniforms, communists killing the perceived enemy, the Maquis bombing the German army and on every Breton village square the German reply was the machine gunning of the local male populace. The allies defeated the Nazis, De Gaulle marched in to a liberated Paris, Bretons were jailed, the more extreme either executed or became 'persona non grata', they had their citizenship stripped from them that ironically they never wanted, but their couldn't look to their own 'country' for help, it was left to the Welsh to bombarde Paris with letters on their behalf, some went to their Brythonic brothers in Cymru but were forced to move on to their Gaelic cousins in Ireland. Algeria was given its independence, much against the will of the military right wingers who saw Algeria as a constituent part of France much the same as Brittany etc. De Gaulle said that where France was concerned he was neither left nor right but above, and he never forgot his countries liberators, Churchill was vetoed out of Europe and the Americans were kicked out of France.

The Re-opening

I didn't want customers choosing their music, I wanted a free flow so I'd tell them that it's not a juke box, I preferred to let it roll as with dice, guaranteeing something new everytime, but on a shuffle, not knowing which was coming up next, but after the re-opening I'll allow access to possibly the largest juke box in Brittany. http://www.last.fm/user/BynTyElise?utm_s Tavarn Ty Elise, Plouye, Breizh/Llydaw/Brittany An uncommonly large amount of Breton, Welsh & Irish music together in one collection, but otherwise very eclectic and getting larger every day. It will be re-organized into categories and sorted for the pub re-opening as not every track here will be suitable for a convivial pub atmosphere. On the other hand, as previously mentioned, if it's anywhere in the collection and you want to hear it it will be played for you. When is the opening date? http://www.facebook.com/events/328239657292001/ Tavarn Ty Elise, ail-agoriad/eil-digoradur/re-opening/re-ouverture 1 March 79 people are going

The Merediths

By the 15th c.the Welsh were on the cusp of choosing the English form of surname, one of the earliest examples is 'Tudor', chosen by Maredudd ap Tudur for his son Owain; on moving to London he decided to change his son's name from the Welsh form of Owain ap Maredudd to Owen Tudor, jumping back a generation to Owain's grandfather, Owen was Henry VII's paternal grandfather so if he, Maredudd, hadn't made that decision then the English wouldn't have had that most famous of 'English royal dynasties - The Tudors, but would have been ruled over by the Merediths, can you imagine Mary & Elizabeth Meredith queens of England?

Jag

Watching 'Jag' on this St. Dwynwen's day, I doubt that the programme planners knew the significance but it was very apt and fitted my mood perfectly.

Happy! St. Dwynwen's day

For the girl of my dreams who has been imprisoned for life inside my brain, my consolation is that she can never leave me, BUT I wake up everyday without her by my side. Who knows, I might be doing the dishes or pulling a pint in my newly refurbished bar, I look up, and in she walks framed by the doorway with an aura about her, she joins me at the bar and catches my hand to take me with her on a long & pleasant journey, I look back and there I am lying on the floor motionless. It's been a long wait but we are together forever at last.

Fleeting Visit

Yesterday the sun called by fleetingly, first time that she's deigned to give us a visit since early October as far as I can recollect. I thought I'd go out today to thank her for her efforts and to praise her virtues, but too late I should have done it yesterday as she must have been in a hurry to carry on to farther climes, she's left without giving us any idea of when she'll be coming back. The last time I saw her was in Portugal where she seems far happier to spend her time annoyed less by her cousin rain who in turn appears far happier to spend his time amongst us in Brittany & Cymru (Wales), so much so that on occasion he asks his kinsman snow to join him.