British

The Franks invaded Gaul and renamed it France therefore Gaul no longer exists. The fact that Britain exists is because when the Angles, Saxons etc., invaded Britain, the part they conquered became England, the unconquered British remained behind the frontiers on the western & northern fringes patiently waiting for centuries to retrieve our birthright, some say the old prophesies were realized by the enthronement of Henry Vll; in the meantime the Old North; the Britain of Glasgow, Edinburgh & Carlisle had fallen into foreign hands. It was written in the 6th century by the bard Taliesin that the destiny of the Britons was to be the preservation of our language but the loss of all our lands except Wild Wales. It sickens me today to see large chunks of our country treating our ancient tongue as though it is a foreign interloper imposing itself on the native Welsh people trampling over their rights, when the opposite is patently the case. Centuries upon centuries of propaganda is taking its toll so that Cymraeg/Welsh, like someone on his knees, hands cuffed behind his back, being punched & kicked  gasping for breath with his head intermittently pushed under water, is accused of aggression and ordered to stop retaliating. My point being that the British are still alive in their homeland to the west of Offa's Dyke, and any other use of the name is a misappropriation. 

Ideas Above Our Station

Ralph Vaughan Williams's grandfather John came from Sir Gâr, the name gives a clue to his Welshness, but you wouldn't have known it from the programme last night; he typified Englishness, his music, especially 'The Lark Rises' was an English masterpiece, the gardens were English, the weather was English, there was even an English fleet, it would have been a step too far if they'd claimed an English god, but I'm sure they thought it. We can hold on to the word 'British', they don't need it when 'English' covers everything. To an English mind 'English' means 'British' (in Spielbergs' new film the English declare war) except where it is 'Ancient British' and that's us, still alive and kicking. Which brings me to something else: a country that doesn't exist in anyone's mind outside its own population whose only 'justification' to exist is having a seat on FIFA and the IRB has global solidarity groups assisting real countries with seats in the United Nations. Are we punching above our weight or do we have ideas above our station? When a packet or delegation arrives from Wales they must be rushing to their maps, seeing that they are coming from England and wondering how a people who can't stand on their own two feet consider themselves qualified to help the rest of the world. The trouble is with putting ourselves above others on an international pedestal it shows we have an independence of mind in a dream world far fetched from the realities that can only come to fruition when we wake up to eventually decide things for ourselves, not as isolated charity groups but as a nation with its own legislative parliament.

Social Evolution

Just read a story of an American lightweight boxer who fought in 1916 against the legendary Freddie Welsh, real name Frederick Thomas but born in Wales, who had his car pinched, it brought back to mind something that happened to me a few years ago. Brittany has calmed down now and pubs are closing here same as everywhere else, but when I arrived there were six or seven bars to each village, not counting the clandestine ones in certain isolated homes with a bottle on the table inside the door and the money going into the table drawer; twenty something establishments in the small towns and nearly every village had a night-club, with six in my nearest town of Karaez/Carhaix. I'd close the bar at 1 o'clock in the morning and go down there to relax, of course it wasn't always possible, one day I was hit over the head with a bottle of kronenbourg as I was standing at the bar and only woke up with the blows of the kicks into my ribs touching a nerve; I got to my feet, started punching the person who was responsible, then I was grabbed hold of by the bouncers who asked me to leave, they having missed the source of the conflict, anyway by the time I'd gotten outside the keys to my car were missing and I caught a lift home with the newspaper deliveryman who went from village to village in my direction, be that as it may however, that is not my story; as I was saying, I went for a few pints after work to a little nightclub near the canal in Karaez/Carhaix and when I decided I'd wound down enough I left to get my car in the car park, after a good look around I decided it wasn't there, went back in and mentioned it to a friend at the bar who asked me to describe it, after which he discreetly went to see someone; about a half an hour later I was approached by another person offering me back my car keys; "sorry Byn I wasn't to know it was yours." I was relieved to get my car back but angry it had been stolen, which didn't help the situation, because he was angry that I was angry because he had done me a favour in chasing after his friends to get it back and I wasn't showing any gratitude seeing as they had stolen it in the first place, we both let it drop and I drove home to bed. In those days, 30 to 35 years ago it was like the 'Wild West', we never saw the police, especially during the big holiday feasts like Christmas & New Year. Another time in another night club in Karaez I had a gun pulled on me, I tried to imagine how some Hollywood hero would react but put it out of my mind until the situation diffused itself. All of the clubs are now closed except for one that re-opened later to a different climate. The Breton culture is the fest-noz, never any trouble there but this is the countryside, with the restrictions and the necessity to drive it's no longer guaranteed to fill the coffers of a local charity by organizing a function on a saturday night and dancing and drinking right through to the early hours; we used to be many leaving at 5am, now there's no more catering for after 2.

Welsh is Beautiful

Richard Lewis posted in Welsh native history Richard Lewis 14 January 21:46 "Welsh is of this soil, this island, the senior language of the men of Britain; and Welsh is beautiful." J.R.R. Tolkien

Welsh & British (but not in the way you mean it)

The British army under Riothamus (who may have been Arthur) fought against the Germanic hordes of Visigoths on the continent in the 5th century; in Britain itself it won a great battle at Mynydd Baddon thereby preventing the German tribes from advancing deeper into Britain, the victory even caused many of the English to  move back to Germany. Since a child I have always associated 'British' with the Cymry and 'English' with the Anglo-Saxons. The Angle invaders of Britain in the east & north east, and their Germanic Saxon brethren in the south united to form England not Britain in the exact same way that the Franks invaded Gaul to create France. The Norman & Anjevin Plantagenet Kings re-aligned themselves to British history so well that the Plantagenet branches of Lancaster & York fusioned conveniently (after the fact of battle admittedly) into the British/Welsh family of Tudors who had every right to speak of Britain, unfortunately or not the 'British' lost the throne to the Scottish Stuarts and all Welsh/British insignia went down the plughole, the dragon was ousted by the lion. In 1707 the Scots united with the English to create the new United Kingdom of Great Britain; it did not stop the Welsh from being British, but it did falsely brand the new state of no consequence as yet with an old name representing an ancient, proud & honourable line that will return to us with independence. Caradog; Buddug; Cunedda; Riothamus; Arthur; Maelgwn; Hywel; Rhodri; Gruffudd; Llywelyns; Owains; Henry - Great Britons all. To summarise: there is the usurpation of 1707 that will come to an end with the break up of the union, then there is the historical Welsh lineage which will continue long after said break-up. I have to explain constantly that it's alright to call me British but that I am not English, very few understand, but with my being a Cymro it has a deeper historical perspective, doubly significant, and before anyone says that's all very well but we are Brythons/Britons or Prydeinwyr, the Greek transliteration of almost 3000 years ago included the word 'British'.

Petition

<a href="http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/campaign-to-name-the-a470-cymru-prif-ffordd-tywysog-ow.html">Campaign To Name The A470 Cymru 'Prif Ffordd Tywysog Owain Glyndŵr Petition | GoPetition</a>

Hanging on in.

I'm watching 'The Big Bang Theory'; Sheldon has been burgled and his main worries were for his comic book collection. When I was 12 years old I had first editions of most of the members of the Justice League of America, including: Green Lantern; Flash etc., it's a pity that I couldn't hold on to them, they would be collectors' items today; but I've been burgled 3 or 4 times, losing tills, computers & c.ds; lost a lifetime's mementoes in the pub fire, and I've misplaced Welsh books, in the language & about the country, that I collected door by door to complement Welsh classes I set up. My mindset has to adapt accordingly. When I took over the bar I found that it was heavily in debt; I had to take out a large bank loan just to stay there, there were family obligations, In the end I never got the appropriate insurance cover with the result that my car is stationary, and my food is brought to me weekly by a charity. Now that I've touched zero, practically no income for 2 years, I'm looking forward to getting back to work as theoretically there is only one other direction, and no matter how I sound at the moment, I'm an optimist who believe that destiny throws me more 'ups' than it does 'downs'. The only potential spanner in the works is the escalating interest on a personal loan; It is crucial that I am back in the bar well before the summer, preferably before Whitsun now that Easter is out of the question, I daren't think of the consequences if that were not to happen. See you in the summer.

On top: the Dolomites, does it remind the Merthyr people of anything?. You won't see the Italians selling this off for roadfill. The Whitey overlooking an unculverted Nant Morlais (ex-Stinky), following the trout swimming up the valley through Penydarren to Dowlais would have been an invaluable tourist attraction elsewhere; an industrial heritage trail unequalled anywhere else in the world, wasted as with everything else that's gone. The completing of the culverting was necessary for the 19th century not the 21st.

Tolerance

@John: Racist brush tarrings have no place on any of my sites. I have been spat at more than once, on neither occasion was it by a muslim. 120 years ago Merthyr was a Welsh speaking town, it wasn't Sharia law that turned us into English speakers, and it wasn't Muslims who forced the Bretons to speak French. Being spat at when passing in front of a mosque on a friday however would be a perturbing experience, especially for young women,  and I sympathize, but it cannot be blamed on the whole Muslim world. There are idiots everywhere, there are also Christian & Jewish extremists as well as Muslim ones. I cannot speak of situations beyond my horizons, but no-one is obliging me to speak Arabic or Turkish when I go to the local post office. Multi-cultures have a lot to offer, but integration is the key to understanding, and tolerance on both sides is the key to integration. Who's complaining that curries have ousted fish & chips? Move on, nothing stays the same no matter how much we want it to. Throw a pebble into the pond it makes ripples, throw more pebbles and they make more ripples, no matter how many pebbles, no matter how many ripples, those pebbles are in that pond, you won't get rid of them because they've become part of it, but the ripples disappear and the pond finally settles. With unemployment as high as it is; with debt escalating; the numbers of homeless increasing; being governed by isolationist English Tory millionaires; and with worse to come for who knows how long, we have other things to worry about.

Death in the Middle of the Night

There was a death in the middle of the night with an instant funeral; it didn't come as a shock, there was no illness to speak of although there was evident weakness towards the end and we had a long time to prepare for it with people up all night drinking to the passing of an old friend. The situation couldn't have gone on any longer so the end when it came was merciful; there was a good sending off as we all said our goodbyes to 2011.