The Insomniac Meanderings Post : As An Atheist I've Really Upset The Sleeping Gods Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well as I start writing this it's 3:15am. Let's be clear here. I have the day off (four actually mind you I've worked the previous ten). I could wake up at any time I want but I've woken up three??!!!

The sleeping gods are very unhappy with me today.

The Brexit timetable is dominating the news as we see what clowns or perhaps even worse are in the two main Westminister parties at the moment. Few things move me away from it though one of them is what's happening March 9 when Cardiff City FC play West Ham. I have the day off (good news) but am facing the invisible timetable that I don't know when the tickets that Cardiff season tickets haven't bought will be available. So the situation as to whether I'll be able to be the quiet one amongst the bluebirds fans is unresolved.

I do hope I can get a ticket. West Ham are one of the few things that could make me forget about Brexit. Indeed it's probably the only thing that brings me to a state best described as ten year old happy (when of course they win).

In the world of Welsh Twitter the issue Brexit aside that has seen to dominate is the latest drama from BBC Wales Pitching In which I chatted about recently where people were angry about the depiction of Wales based on the trailer of the show set in a trailer park alone. Well I've seen the episode now and it's even worse than the trailer suggested.

I won't bore you by repeating myself here. Except that my theory that the casting director is English and living in England so only can hear one Welsh accent holds water (in case you wonder why I haven't checked it, well it's a bit stalkery if you ask me).

BBC Wales needs to avoid making cliché Wales productions like this if it wants to represent the nation. It's no coincidence I think that the standout drama shows from Wales (even those with English/Welsh versions) are those instigated by the Welsh language channel S4C.

Just registered for a People's Pension Webinar on February 28th. Yes I'm of an age now when it's not far away.

Am I one who is getting irritated by Kindle books on Amazon. That's to say those books that Mr Bezos promotes seemingly constantly by email etc. Am I the only one who is comfortable enough to read a book on a Kindle but disturbed when the book seems to be only on a Kindle?

Speaking of Amazon they have cancelled a subscription to Amazon Prime because the card (which was a prepay card anyway ) was out of date. Thing is I hadn't realised I clicked onto join it. Not particularly bothered except it reminds me to be careful for the future.

Alexa has just reminded me (it's 6:15 now)about Easy Yoga. An app that I downloaded out of curiosity. But as my left foot hurts I think I'll leave it for another day.....and relax.

Anyway time to go back to sleep now. Thankfully the urge to zzzz has caught up on me.

Until the next time.

Why Does The Wales On Sunday Newspaper Hate Welsh Printers And S4C?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling today.

The Wales On Sunday, for those who don't know is the only Welsh national newspaper that goes out (obviously) on a Sunday. I remember coming across it in the late nineties. I liked it. It wouldn't set the world on fire but who wants the world on fire on a Sunday. What you want is a good read and that it gave you.

Last Sunday I came across it for the first time in a long while and was stunned. It was much thinner than when I read it decades ago. Obviously newspapers have been affected by the rise of online but other than going tabloid I cannot recall one that cut the number of pages. If it was a person it would have been treated for anorexia.

As a consequence the product suffered. There were seventeen "news" pages. Of  those in a very unscientific count there only appeared to be four that occurred the day before. Yes four. Some of those were just small reports as well. Sunday newspapers are of course part news part magazine. But even allowing for that it was shocking.

No analysis for example of the news from Bridgend Ford as discussed in my previous post. A proper newspaper would have done that.

After that comes the Sport section. Here is where effort has truly been made. The best bit of the entire paper. Focuses on Wales without losing sight of sport outside it's borders. If only all of the paper was like that.

And then comes Seven Days. The lifestyle section. Full of bland puff pieces on cooking etc. But let's focus on the TV bit. There's a section called Soapdish where the weekly plots for TV soaps are explained. Is Pobol Y Cwm amongst them? No.

There is a section on TV highlights for the week. Is an S4C programme there? No. Is a programme specifically made by BBC Wales in English to be broadcast locally there? No.

You would not know S4C or specific local English language Welsh programmes exist other than the TV guide section.

Of course we know why. Presumably this is a one size fits all tenplate for Scotland On Sunday, Bristol On Sunday, Aberdeen Angus on Sunday. Trouble with tenplates though is that sometimes one size does not fit all. Whilst S4C should not demand special treatment it's entitled to expect that a Welsh paper gives a Welsh TV Channel some attention.

It's byline by the way is PRIDE OF THE NATION. If you look carefully though you will see that it's actually printed in Birmingham.

Perhaps the byline should read: PRIDE OF THE NATION (Printing not included)

Whether Wales needs a Sunday newspaper in this internet world with the likes of BBC Wales and Nation Cymru is a debate. Whether it needs the Wales On Sunday is far more questionable.

Until the next time.

Learning Gaelic Through The Medium Of Greenock Morton And Ross County

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well before we go into Gaelic let's start with this evening's FA cup victory of Newport over Leicester City. You know when Leicester equalised you thought you were about to see the sort of game where the plucky underdog got steamrollered by the top league opponent. But Newport bit back. They deserved the victory.

Just hope they're not drawn against West Ham in the next round.

Anyway earlier this morning I'd decided to start learning Gaelic by watching a football match on the BBC Iplayer. As I've mentioned before when starting to learn Welsh I would concentrate on two types of programmes, preschool and sports, for the simple reason that I'd have some idea what was going on.

Preschool programmes would teach me more on the vocabulary. Sports would be more to hear Gaelic being spoken even though I'd understand little. The point of listening at this time is just getting an ear to the language and tuning yourself in.

The match was a Scottish Championship (ie second tier) game between Greenock Morton and Ross County. Which was shown live last Friday on the BBC Gaelic channel BBC Alba. Ross County were leading the division and were the favourites for the night.

Now I must be honest the first half for the neutral was a dull affair. I know this through how much my attention was distracted by peripheral things.

Such as:

Ross County's shirt sponsors are a company called McEwen Fraser (who I learnt later are estate agents). Probably the most Scottish sounding sponsors you could get.

Greenock Morton seem a very local club judged by their advertising hoardings. For in the midst of national bookmakers you could also see hoardings for butchers, wedding and funeral services. All human life is there (and let's not forget the one for International fine Art Auctioneers).

The Greenock Morton shirt are blue hoops over a white background QPR style. Thing is as symbolism goes the fact the hoops dissolve as they go across the chest is not a good look.

Yes the match was that dull. The first half finished nil-nil. Which was consequently the first Gaelic word I learnt (Neonini).

The second half was almost as dull. But Greenock Morton scored. A poacher's goal but no matter. A goal is a goal. One - nil then. One being aon in Gaelic. Closest way I can describe the pronunciation is Un in French.

The only other bit of interest was the confrontation between a Greenock Morton player and the Ross County manager. Trust me when I say I haven't learnt the Gaelic for handbags at dawn.

So it ended One-nil. Later through Twitter later I've also learnt the word for weather "Aimsir".

The crawl in learning a language begins.

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meanderings Post : Late For Work Yesterday Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I was late for work yesterday. Why when I normally give myself twenty minutes leeway just to cover myself for the unexpected? Because a part of the journey from Penarth to a collection of out of town shops near Cardiff called Culverhouse Cross, a journey that would normally take ten minutes...took me over an hour!!

People were doing Christmas shopping. Which surprised me given that it was still a school day. But there they were. Queueing to get in.

I'm still in two minds about whether this Christmas will be successful for the shops. On the one hand I've already chatted about how the similar out of town stores in Bridgend were busy a few weeks back. On the other the quietness of restaurants in Cardiff Bay in what should have been an office party week.

With what happened yesterday I suspect the former. It was like what I said with regard to the situation in Bridgend. If people have money they could be spending it out of fear they would be unable to provide anything similar in a post Brexit Christmas.

What perhaps is telling though about yesterday is that of the shops people went to. The main one in Culverhouse Cross that had the most traffic was the big 24 hour Tesco. Perhaps people are just splashing out on the food and drink that they're unlikely to see for a while in the event of a no deal Brexit.

Had a look at the double issue TV guide yesterday. Here's the thing. For the most part it's rubbish. You'll say it's because I'm old and a Christmas curmudgeon. But leaving aside sport and Welsh language programmes from S4C there are few programmes that I say I want to watch. They exist. Of course they do. But they are less and less. More channels has actually meant less choice. Especially when channel surfing. As when you find a programme you might be interested in it turns out there's only about ten minutes left!

By the way...mince pies...ugh!

Depending on the traffic my plan is to leave early in the next few days and have lunch at Bridgend Town and wander around. We'll see how that goes.

I wrote two years ago in this blog that if there is a fault with the Welsh people it was that taken as a whole they were just too nice. If they acted like the Scots. Polite but firm they would have got a lot more. After all look at Ireland. Discounting the blip of the financial crisis we are observing a young prosperous vibrant country. The days when they had to put up with "Did you hear the one about the Irishman..." in Britain have long since gone.

Wales can be like that. No one is saying it would be instant or simple but Ireland is the example of what can be achieved. I say this again because in terms of the attitude towards Wales nothing has changed. It is the last colony and it's not helped by having Corbyn disciple Mark Drakeford the "Red Cairns" as First Minister. Being London's man does not help Wales one bit.

And if you want another symbol of declining Britain apparently beefeaters in the Tower Of London are taking industrial action. Perhaps they'll let loose those Ravens?

Random thought. If we assume Brexit goes badly it might be worthwhile buying a copy of the British version of GQ magazine. If only to see what "style" means in a long dark journey through the soul Brexit.

Twitter has just alerted me to a French radio station called "Crooner Radio". Interesting. Even the wife might like it given that it's apparently doing Christmas songs done by the crooners (of course I'm avoiding the Christmas songs - I'm definitely not dreaming of a white Christmas. Few things worse weather wise than settling snow). Will give the station a try though.

Anyway a new day is dawning and you know what I'm almost seeing blue skies....yes I know. Suspect it'll soon turn back to what it's been for the past few days.

Fifty shades of grey. Rather like my hair.

Until the next time.

Pro 14 Rugby. Out Of Sight Out Of Mind?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Tomorrow wife and daughter are off to watch a Pro14 rugby game between the Ospreys and the Scarlets with a friend and her grandson (I can't come because I'm working). It's made me think that though the season is roughly half way through I've not single game even on the TV this season.

Now the main reasons are a combination of work and coming back home to discover the result on Twitter beforehand. But the other big reason is the lack of free to air TV coverage in the new season. BBC Wales having lost the contract leaving just S4C to show one game a week.

And what is the result now? Well what I'm going to say is word of mouth, or rather lack of word of mouth. Because if my personal experience is anything to go by there appears to be just near silence by people I know on the subject. Why? Well they appear to be not that bothered.

Why? Well I would argue that it basically stems from the relative lack of support for the Welsh regional clubs for all of the areas they cover. The Valleys with regard to the Cardiff Blues (no longer called the Cardiff Blues it appears now) or Bridgend concerning the Ospreys. People were happy to watch the Friday night game on the BBC because it was there. But they do not have any loyalty to a club strong enough to subscribe to Premier Sports (the company that holds the rights).

(Of course I'm chatting generally here. The obvious exception are the Scarlets. Still chatting on a general level the point holds)

As I said at the time the focus was on BBC Wales losing the contract. But so did Sky Sports. They knew the product was not worth putting more money into it.

Actually there is another free to air channel showing PRO 14 rugby. Freesports. Owned by Premier Sports and they show one match a week. Trouble is the match appears to be the least attractive of that week's fixture. That is a mistake. It might not be the biggest game of the week but it should be one that people would be prepared to watch. That might make them be interesting in a Premier Sports subscription.

And this is serious. Less children being interested in watching rugby means less adults being prepared to watch the game which would probably damage the national team.

Better minds than mine can chat about how to deal with the future of Welsh club rugby. But those minds need to deal with the situation quickly.

So how is it that wife, daughter, wife's friend and her grandson are going to the game tomorrow then I hear you ask?

It was free.

Until the next time.

The Most Idiotic Interview In The History Of S4C

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As regular readers will know I'm a fan of the Welsh language TV channel S4C. But this week in the political programme Yn Byd Yn Ei Le it (or ITV Wales the production company involved) did something incredibly stupid.

I've mentioned before that, especially since Brexit, the Welsh language has been subject to snipings from the far right. Essentially the argument that it's "a dead language".

The latest recruit to this people to the right of Ghengis Khan point of view on a nation speaking it's native language is Katie Hopkins. Right wing mouth and woman with financial problems (a right winger who has money issues - there's a certain satisfaction in that).

Well S4C allowed this woman an interview.

So the question is why. She's not a politician. She has no obvious influence on the issue. Yet there was S4C the Welsh language channel giving her a platform criticising the Welsh language. I won't go into detail on her views, but, well, you can imagine.

I would argue that one of the reasons why BBC News is questioned more about it's objectivity is that it appears to bend over backwards to be nice to it's enemies. S4C should not fall into the same trap. After all if Ms Hopkins is against Welsh language education don't you think she has the same view on S4C itself?

And it's even pointless for Ms Hopkins herself. Who but the most thicko of right wing thickos after watching a Welsh language programme would think "You know what? She's right. I'm not going to speak Welsh anymore".

S4C should be a bastion against attacks on the Welsh language. What it shouldn't do is fawn on it's enemies.

Until the next time.

The Other Side Of Insomnia...When You Actually Do Sleep

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I've often in this blog written stuff too early in the morning because of insomnia. When you feel too sleepy to be awake but too awake to sleep. Well for those of you lucky enough not to be affected by this. Let me give you the other downside of this.

So as I've said previously I woke yesterday (Sunday) morning at 4:27am. During the intervening time I led my mother to the M4 before she drove off to her home in Essex.

Now it's the afternoon. Wife is off to a friend's for a natter. Daughter is with her friends watching a movie in the local multiplex.

I am alone.

Hooray!!

For that means I can watch Denmark vs Wales alone on S4C without either of them bothering me.

(And as a quick aside it's interesting to note that the Welsh Language channel shows more live football than BBC or ITV)

Anyway it's me, the TV and a cup of tea. The first half is mainly a dull affair. One side is dominant then the other and I get the feeling that what I'm watching is the football managed by chess grandmasters.

But then the Danes score. Erikson had too much space and there you had it. One-nil. Disappointing but still just a goal difference.

Summaries and ads done second half begins. Watching the game. Wishing Wales well. I notice the score.

Two-nil?

It was as if I was on anaesthetic. Seemingly all of a sudden half an hour of my life suddenly disappeared and there was just five minutes remaining of the game. It was as if my body just said enough is enough.

Two nil was how the game ended. Daughter and wife returned expecting me to be happy having watched a game without them hanging around found a disgruntled old soul instead.

And that's what insomnia does. Makes sleep catch you in the wrong time and place.

Until the next time.

The Eisteddfod : Another Reason Why S4C Needs A Second Channel

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I have mentioned before in this blog that the Welsh language TV channel S4C's biggest problem is not the language but the fact that it is limited to one channel stream. Thus the soap opera Pobol Y Cwm (Sheryl is dead....how could they!) could be followed by a gardening programme which I wouldn't watch.

My view was that even if it was for limited hours, say 7pm to 1am, S4C needed a second channel to provide an alternative to the viewer which other broadcasters are able to do.

Well coming up is another reason why S4C needs that second channel. The annual festival of music, literature (mainly poetry) and performing arts in the Welsh language that is the National Eisteddfod.

Now I've been to an Eisteddfod before, about eight years ago. I and my daughter enjoyed it.  There were various reasons why I haven't been to one since but we're planning to go this one in Cardiff next Friday and we're both looking forward to it (in fact to a sort of twilight zone person like me re Welsh,not fluent but far better than the cat sat on the mat, a place for the most part where Welsh is spoken without a safety parachute adds to the excitement).

As a TV viewer though my view is slightly different. For me then the Eisteddfod is exactly like my opinion of chocolate. Enjoyable in small doses but something I cannot gorge myself on.

And there's the problem. S4C provides blanket coverage of the festival. And when I say blanket if we take next Wednesday for example it broadcasts from 6am to 12:45am the following day. That's eighteen and three quarter hours. Of that time (including news and weather headlines) fourteen hours will be spent on the Eisteddfod. And remember, that's for one day.

(There are other similar festivals/shows that S4C provides similar coverage for. But as this is the next one coming up this is the one I'm using as the example)

Let me stress here. I'm not saying that S4C should not provide blanket coverage of the festival. It's in it's DNA it has to do it. But the lack of a second Welsh Language channel means that there is no option for the fluent Welsh speaker, learner or Twilight zone intermediate like me in case we'd rather watch something else. In terms of TV (as I know there is an S4C catch-up service) it might actually mean that the viewer turns to an English language channel. Irony of ironies.

So in an age when TV channels emerge for no obvious reason whatsoever. A second Welsh channel would perform a public service for the Welsh language and would provide choice. Even if it was full of repeats..

Until the next time.

The Insomniac Meanderings Post: Wife's Birthday Special Midweek Edition

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well, though it's too early in the morning, is the wife's birthday. She's asleep. As is daughter. Nothing to do until either of them wake up (or if I did do anything it would be likely I'd wake that I might wake them up). So here I am tapping away.

We are, both of us, not of an age to go out in the evenings normally. So the plan is for us (plus daughter) to have lunch in one of the pleasant pubs in the Vale of Glamorgan countryside. It is dull I'd admit but it is a plan. And let's face it Tuesdays is not the best day for your birthday to fall on.

Yesterday I wrote about the oncoming possibility of a dark hard Brexit making me seriously consider stockpiling food. I mentioned that if there were food shortages there might be civil unrest. Well let's be clearer about it. I see three possible sources of civil unrest. From the hungry, from the far right and from those angered that Brexit has not turned out to be what the Leave campaign promised. To those high profile Brexiteers I say this. Hire security guards. Because trust me you will be hated. I'm not advocating violence. But when you see the possibility of something happening you should not avoid mentioning it either.

Mind you I have a plan for Boris Johnson. Perhaps he should have straight swap with Iran for Nazarin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the journalist imprisoned there whose case he bungled. Win win I'd say. He wouldn't be missed.

By the way with regard to Boris Johnson and David Cameron shouldn't Eton apologise for their education of them given how rubbish to the United Kingdom they've turned out to be?

And according to an article in the Daily Mirror the world's Most Wanted could slip into Britain in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Economic turmoil, food shortages and criminal gangs. Brexit seems to get better and better and better!

For Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales the option of independence is there. Something not available for England. Which is why if a hard Brexit occurs England will be the country at most risk of takeover from the far right.

Listening to France Musique at the moment. Make that what you will Brexiteers. Yesterday whilst of the nation was watching Love Island I was listening to (amongst others) a song called "Reggae Cymraeg" on  Radio Cymru. Make that what you will.

This is the week of the Royal Welsh Show. A few weeks time it'll be the Eisteddford in Cardiff (I'll be going to that). Aside from the Welsh element what's the connection? That they will have a lot of coverage on the Welsh language channel S4C. Now I'm not saying they shouldn't have this coverage but that it illustrates again the need for S4C to have another channel. If you're not interested in agricultural shows (two thumbs pointed at this guy) there is no Welsh language alternative on TV. You have to go on demand instead.

Remember the posts I wrote about the dumping of radioactive mud from the Hinckley Point nuclear power station to Cardiff Bay? Well apparently the Welsh Labour government has offered to take in any nuclear waste from anywhere in the disunited kingdom. Leaving aside the implications of yet again Welsh Labour has allowed bad things to happen to Wales the first real question is Where will this waste go to? We should be told. And I tell you what. I'll be in any demonstration against it (for what my presence is worth).

Well wife's awake now....here we go..."Happy Birthday to you....Happy.." Well you know the tune.

Until the next time.

Barry's Almost Into Europe....That's Barry Town United By The Way

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

It had been last year that I went to a football game. There were various reasons. Working regularly on a Saturday doesn't help. But spending roughly two and half months in Essex helping my unwell mother recover was probably the main cause.

But this Sunday was different. Barry Town United were playing Newtown. Wasn't working. Am back in Wales and I was looking forward to watching Welsh League football.

Barry Town are, I think I've mentioned this before, amongst those group of teams that I genuinely wish well unless they're playing the team I support (and in the case of Wales that's Ton Pentre FC though I can't say that I've had the chance to follow them this season). This game was important. For they just needed one point to guarantee entry into the playoff spot for the ultimate prize being entry into the Europa league, or rather the matches before you go into the Europa league, but you probably knew that anyway.

Their opponents Newtown however had every reason to stop them. For they were only one position behind them in the league. So they needed to defeat Barry in order to still be in the running for this play off space themselves. The Welsh language channel S4C knew all of this, which is why it was it's live game of the week.

I bought the matchday programme and was shocked to discover that Secretary of State for Wales and blog villain Alun Cairns was actually honorary president of the club! So let me give Barry Town United AFC are friendly warning. Be careful. Or you will soon find yourself being called Prince Of Wales United.

Le Parc De Jenner

To the noises of cowbell, horn and a drum it all started. When I was watching games when they were the away side it was irritating. In Le Parc De Jenner it's just part of the atmosphere. Probably it's because the perspective is different. After all the artificial grass is always greener on the other side.

A couple of men were chatting about potential European opponents should Barry go through and win the play offs. Paris? Milan? Madrid?

No. Liverpool apparently. I blame Brexit.

After about fifteen minutes Newtown scored. A ball exposed a gap in the Barry Town defence and left the keeper exposed on a one on one basis. It really was no contest.

"That's OK" said the voice behind me "Last time we played them they scored first and it finished five one to us".

So that's all right then.

Then it started to rain. And heavily at that. The assistant referee was soaked. No sympathy for him. I hate all match officials younger than me. And as I'm fifty four that means all of them.

Ha Ha Ha

The referee was not popular with the Barry Town supporters judging by what I heard. However I felt they were being unfair given that he was suffering with a disability during the first half to be unable to use his arms to collect a [insert colour here] card to give to Newtown players after countless fouls. Also, from a distance the ref looked like he was wearing a skull cap.

What do you think?

More Action From Le Parc De Jenner

Towards the end of the first half there were three miracles that I need to chronicle. Firstly the sun shone (yes I know). There was a moment when it was so bright I actually had to cover my eyes (and again, I know).

The second miracle was that the Ref overcame his disability and was able to give a Newtown player a yellow card for a foul. Praise be.

And the third miracle was that Barry Town scored. But it wasn't that they scored a goal. It was truly a magnificent goal. Worthy The Barry player Jon Hood received the ball in the Newtown half, moved through to the box and then made a low curler that was too finely targeted for his opponent's goalkeeper to reach.

If this was La Liga you would have thought it was Messi who scored. Hood did a dance to celebrate. I don't blame him. If I'd scored a goal like that I'd have boogied on down Barry Town High Street.

At halftime I went to get something to eat and drink. I chose Belgian.

They like Mayonniase on their chips

In truth the second half was not as good as the first. I can only recall one decent chance per team. So that was how it ended.1-1. A fair result with regard to the game. But for Barry Town it was enough. It meant a shot at the playoffs, which. for a newly promoted side is very impressive.

Barry's nearly into Europe

Until the next time.

S4C...The Welsh Language Channel....Not The Responsibility Of Wales...Let's Pause And Reflect Here

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well Welsh Language channel S4C received the news yesterday that from 2022 it's funding will be mainly from the TV licence fee. It was also announced that the recommendations of a review of the channel would be accepted and announcements on how it's implementation would be made in due course.

This decision was not announced as you would think by Carwyn Jones in the National Assembly building in Cardiff but by the Conservative Secretary Of State for Wales, blog villain and all round political slimeball Alun Cairns.

That's right. Westminster and not Wales has control of Welsh media issues. Even though some right wing commentators would disparage the language they do not understand they seem happy that they and not the devolved administration has responsibility for it.

Now of course Westminster has responsibility for the English language Welsh stations as well. With regard to those it would not be difficult to spilt UK and Welsh parts of say, BBC Wales between Cardiff and London. But for the moment let's focus on S4C. The station is after all for the Welsh language and yet politicians living outside of Wales can have influence over it's future.

So for example S4C is to be given more responsibilities with regard to digital services (which I would hope, as I've mentioned before would include another channel. S4C suffers at having to provide a full range of programming in just one channel) however there would be no extra money provided for these services.

The National Assembly urged on by Plaid Cymru would have made sure that S4C would have got that money (the Labour Party is only a minority administration). But no. London Parliamentarians, most of whom would not be Welsh  or have never even visited Wales will make the decision.

And as a side issue. Remember the furore of "English laws should only be made by English MPs"? Yet here's a Welsh TV channel whose future can be decided by non Welsh MPs.

So you would think that the Welsh Government would want devolved broadcasting powers for Wales. Particularly in such an obvious case such as S4C? Well....err.. no. Independent AM propping up the Labour administration, Welsh Government Culture minister,former Plaid Cymru leader and Welsh Fame Is The Spur candidate Dafydd Elis-Thomas (see my previous post) says that devolved broadcasting should not be considered at this present time. Welsh Labour, with the inability to grow a pair when it really matters, have acquiesced.

S4C then...the Welsh Language channel.....not the responsibility of Wales but Westminster. Let's pause and reflect on that.

Until the next time.

Going Back To Watching The Pobol In The Cwm

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

During my roughly two nearly three months of Essex exile whilst looking after my mother many things that I used to do had to be put to one side. Watching the Welsh language soap opera Pobol Y Cwm  (People of the Valley) about the goings on in a village in West Wales on S4C was one of them. Now of course even in Essex I could have just downloaded it and watched the programme as and when I could. But I won't lie. For most of the time I'd other things on my mind and I neither really had the time or the inclination.

But that was then and this is now. Mum is better and I sit before you on a Saturday morning watching a recording of the omnibus edition I did last Sunday......as you do.

When you miss a soap opera for a considerable length of time you are conscious of the changes. The omnibus opens with a mother and her daughter (Sioned) arguing over the theft of a wallet. Something obviously happened during my absence. Also teenage Chester seems to have a girlfriend. A fellow student with multi-coloured dreadlocks. Presumably common in the Welsh Valleys. Last time I saw the soap he was in jail.

Sioned's partner. A man who she beat up and was practically bald seems to have grown a full head of hair and become a window cleaner. Did not recognise him at first

Both their relatives disapprove of the relationship. So they want to leave the village of Cwmderi? Where do they want to go to? Australia! I've written before about people leaving Wales since Brexit. Now here it is in soap opera form. Eventually they don't go. Instead there's an (accepted) proposal of marriage at the airport as the young couple are about to leave.

To get the money for the fare Jason borrows it from Gwyneth (with interest!). A woman who has turned into the local moneylender since I last saw the show. The man (Sion) who she was with seems to have turned his attentions to another  (Anita) whose niece is arguing with another character over the ownership of a cat.

When the couple do leave the village his mother and her grandmother panic. These are two characters I remember from when I started watching the soap oh those years ago. You do anchor yourself to those type of characters. A sort of soap nostalgia I guess

The new doctor came as a surprise. Bryn Fon. Actor, singer and as I remember it when my daughter was a toddler the Welsh language voice for Bob the Builder.

Sheryl the hairdresser is having a fling with Gethin the mechanic. Which is all very ironic as the man she's with (Hywel) was the Cwmderi Casanova when I started watching the soap. Gethin was living with Ffion who was the wife of the local priest years ago before as I remembered it he turned to murder. As a career change goes that's dramatic.

Interestingly in a pub scene in the Deri arms there were books in the background (?). One of them happened to be by Sue Grafton. A writer of private eye stories who died recently. Was this a subtle tribute or just coincidence?

Of course there were more plotlines than those I've chatted about. One particularly emotional one with regard to abortion.

It was an omnibus after all.

It was good to be back.

Until the next time.

Perhaps...Just Perhaps...The Lack Of Top Tier Free-to Air Welsh Rugby Might Be A Good Thing

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I am writing this, after all these months, in Wales. My mother is with me but next week I'll take her back to Essex and can leave her with a clear conscience. For whilst she's not a hundred percent she is well enough to look after herself. Barring an unexpected disaster Essex Exile has now finished.

One thing I discovered by accident when my mother was discharged from hospital but too ill to look after herself was that Welsh club rugby (shown on BBC Two Wales) was in fact available in Essex on the red button. So I had the very odd but almost comfort blanket feeling of watching it from far away.

This however is soon to be a thing of memories. Because the BBC have lost the rights to show Welsh club rugby (from the Pro14 competition) to pay TV operator Premier Sports.

It's not clear whether free-to-air top tier Welsh club rugby will be unavailable from next season. Premier Sports also own the FreeSports channel and negotiations with S4C are still ongoing. But for the moment let's assume that free to air coverage will be at the very least curtailed.

I've chatted before (whilst I'm not an expert on rugby) that I'm not a fan of the current structure of top tier Welsh Club rugby. Believing that it's greatest failure was that an assumption that because a place might be in a region's catchment area fans would automatically come to it (the South Wales Valleys and Cardiff Blues come to mind). The crowds, with or without free to air coverage have been I would argue consequentially pitiful compared to what would have been expected.

Taking away free to air matches would mean that the Pro 14 league will slowly fade away for most people. Out of sight out of mind. It will I'd predict in Wales anyway whither and die.

And for those of you who would trumpet the Pro 14 "product". I would point out that it's not just BBC Wales who've lost the rights. So have SKY. Don't you think if they really cared they would have battled tooth and nail to have kept it?

But perhaps....perhaps...it might be a good thing. S4C already and probably so will BBC Wales shows Welsh rugby games in the lower tiers. With clubs that are more connected with their community. With the focus on these clubs. Perhaps their crowds will increase. Perhaps more people will ignore the top tier and instead come together to support their local team.

Perhaps therefore there will be, all be it by accident, a return to the old values of Welsh club rugby.

Perhaps.

Until the next time.

Cheryl Gillan...Champion Of Wales? I Don't Think So

Hello there. hope you're feeling well today.

I did not expect, being as I am in Essex for the foreseeable future until my mother is well, to be writing about Welsh politics on New Years Eve ("how saddo a thing to to is that!" you will say and yes you'd be right but if I have anything on my hands for the moment it's time) but there you go.

It wasn't even the news that former Secretary of State for Cheryl Gillan was going to become a Dame under the New Years Honours List. I don't care for the system of honours but it wasn't worth a blog post. No what made me put finger to keyboard came from of course Twitter and specifically the account of the Welsh Conservatives which, whilst congratulating Ms Gillan for the "honour", described her as a "Champion Of Wales".

So let's be clear what this "Champion of Wales"has done.

1) Though born in Cardiff she is an MP for Chesham and Amersham, in Buckinghamshire since 1992 which, for those without a keen knowledge of geography is in England.

2) Rail Electrification Of The South Wales Main Line. This promised electrification of the line has stopped at Cardiff. Even though it happened after David Cameron kicked her out as Sec of State did we hear Cheryl fighting tooth and nail for Wales as a true champion would? What do you think?

3) Reduced funding for the Welsh Language channel S4C. In an age where the channel needs help in this multi-channelled age (my previous posts refers) she was quite happy to kneecap it. Not the action of a true champion of Wales.

4) She did set up the Silk Commission on future Welsh Devolution. But that would have been set up if anyone was Secretary of State at that time.

5) There was a Welsh Office Green paper in 2012 that if successful would have reduced the number of constituency Welsh Assembly members. A proposal that apparently even Tories in Wales disapproved of.

That's not even discussing the non specifically Welsh issues that surrounded her career.

So if you're looking for a Champion of Wales a Tory emigre in Buckinghamshire is really not the person you should be looking at.

Until the next time.

The Trick On S4C By It's Enemies

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

What I'm going to say I've said this before in this blog. But it's worth again chatting again about the Welsh language TV channel S4C. At this moment the UK government is conducting a review of the channel, which should be completed by next month.

But the channel (now thirty five years old) has had some bad publicity for a while now. Facing as it does falling ratings and increased repeats. It will also be moving it's head office from Cardiff to Carmarthen next year. A move that strikes me as reasonable from a Welsh language perspective nonetheless has caused personal problems for people who for example have children taking exams.

But let's chat about the falling ratings. Here is the argument used by S4C's enemies:

S4C is a Welsh language channel.

S4C's ratings are falling.

Therefore the Welsh language is no longer popular

Therefore S4C is a waste of broadcasting space and should be filled by another channel filled with American imports that have been previously been shown years earlier.

Thus the enemies of S4C use the trick that the right wing used against those who claimed unemployment benefit use:

Here are people who abuse the benefit system.

Therefore everybody on benefits abuses the system

Let's punish people on benefits by making the system tougher.

But what the enemies of S4C do not tell you is that unlike every other TV channel in Britain aside from the Gaelic speaking BBC Alba S4C has to cater for a wide variety of users in just one channel. What other channel has to produce output in just one stream which is like BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, BBC News Channel, BBC Parliament, Cbeebies and CBBC?

Therefore you might be happy to watch a sports programme but not the young person's music show after that. It's not a question of language. It's a question of your personal likes and dislikes.

However S4C, unlike any other major free to air provider cannot generally offer you an alternative without you needing to look at their on demand service.

What S4C actually needs is an S4C2. The programmes on the channel may not be necessarily new. But it will provide the alternative that the channel needs from making viewers channel surf or internet wander. Even if it's only broadcasting between say six pm and midnight it is offering a Welsh language alternative.

And the point to say here is that we're only talking about one extra channel stream as opposed to the many other broadcasters have on offer.

Without a second channel S4C will be as it is at present.Venerable to it's enemies.

Until the next time.

The Welsh Language In The Age Of Jackboot Politics

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Brexit it appears has unleashed many prejudices to those who feel emboldened by the result. For those only slightly above the IQ of a caveman it's in attacking people from Poland for the crime of being Polish. With regard to Wales this has also brought out of the woodwork those who feel that the Welsh language should slowly lay on the ground bleeding through neglect before being led away from view and shot.

You hear the arguments being rattled out again "It's an old language" "No one uses it" "I went into a shop where no one would speak to me because I only spoke English". Another argument I've heard is that Welsh is dying because the Welsh language TV channel S4C or Radio Cymru has very low ratings for some of its programmes.

But behind these arguments there is an instinctive fear. I've written before of how I believe that the Welsh are too nice as a nation and so have allowed governments, organisations and people to take liberties with it that they wouldn't do say, to the Scots. But the language is something that shows that Wales is different. That it should not be considered as a merely adjunct to England. That it shouldn't have the word "and" forever in sentences (as in .....England...... and Wales). For those who criticise the language there is as a consequence a fear of something they don't understand.

I may be an old romantic (I'm certainly old) but if the language was allowed to die then there would be a part of Wales that would die with it. I for one (even though my Welsh is in that annoying Twilight zone of not being fluent but being far better than the cat sat on the mat) will continue to learn and continue to speak it in all the occasions I can.

And you know, Welsh speakers are very patient with the likes of me with my hesitant delivery, limited vocabulary and I'm sure countless mistakes with mutations for the simple reason that I'm making the effort. Welsh is spoken more often than it's critics would suggest. If you look you will find it everywhere and not just in big cities or in the West of the country.

Also if we focus on S4C (but this also applies to an extent with Radio Cymru) the low ratings argument is a misleading one. S4C's biggest problem is not the language but the fact that, if we use BBC as the example, it's meant to be BBC1 (entertainment ,news, sport and drama), BBC2 (as BBC1 plus minority programmes), BBC3 (teenagers , BBC4 (culture), Ceebies (Pre school childrens' programmes) CBBC (School age childrens' programmes) BBC News and BBC Parliament in just one channel.

So taking me as the example whilst I'm a fan of the Welsh language soap opera Pobol Y Cwm I'm not going to watch a farming programme that might be shown afterwards. Unlike other broadcasters S4C would be unable to offer anything else as an alternative, hence it suffers.

Ironically the detractors of S4C would probably have you watching something brain dead like Big Brother. To think so far Orwell was nearly right. Big Brother is not watching us at our homes we are encouraged to watch it.....not me though.

So in this age of jackboot politics. Where I'm sure some of the Welsh language haters out there would like Welsh in the national curriculum replaced by synchronised goose stepping. Remember that learning Welsh marks you out as being different and independent of the way that jackboot politics would like you to live.

Until the next time.

Pobol Y Cwm A-Thon

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So then what do you do when you've spent Sunday morning on the early shift at work? Well clearly after you've come home, had a nap and then had to watch a Christmas TV film at the wife's insistence (as awful as you can imagine - clichés a go go) you watch old episodes of the Welsh language soap opera Pobol Y Cwm (People of the valley).

I had started to watch the soap opera in the late nineties when I was starting the long distance courting with my now wife. Every other week either I would travel to Cardiff or she London for the weekend and either as broadcast on. We would  the Welsh language channel S4C or on VHS (for those too young google it) we would watch the Sunday evening omnibus edition (now sadly axed).

This was perfect Sunday evening programming. We would follow the lives, loves, trials and tribulations of the people of the Welsh village of Cwmderi. It's great advantage was that unlike other soap operas we would be able to avoid any knowledge beforehand of what was going to happen. I don't understand why this is done with other soap operas. It's like watching a recording of a football game whilst already knowing the result.

And we continued to watch it for years. But then certain things happened. And for me that main thing was redundancy. Long term unemployment affects many people in many ways. But for me there was a gradual but paralysing depression.Things that I had a passion slowly went. Learning Welsh had been one of them. When I stopped learning the language then by and large watching programmes in Welsh stopped with it. Not watching Pobol Y Cwm was one of the consequences.

But now that I'm working my old self seems to have returned. And earlier this year I to learn Welsh again and with that programmes on the Welsh language channel S4C such as Pobol.

As an aside although my verb use has been criticised by my currently Welsh language school educated daughter (eleven o'clock last night when I insisted she went to bed...so I didn't care) being from the East End of London though make the point that it's not the quality or breath of my vocabulary that counts but it's the fact that I can speak it to a credible level. If I judge my Welsh on other parents in the school there are the fluent speakers, the vast majority who are non speakers and (as far as I can work out) me. My Welsh being currently in a very annoying twilight zone stage that whilst I wouldn't call myself fluent I'm far better than "the cat sat on the mat".

Pobol Y Cwm is broadcast twice every weekday. Once without English subtitles and once with. I record both so that the parts I haven't understood are explained. Now for various reasons I tend to watch about four in total a week. These reasons tend to be family, work, life the universe and everything with special mention for reading and TV sports. What this means, as my wife/daughter did not hesitate to remind me, was that the DVR had ninety two episodes in the hard drive. To explain that in mid December in Pobol Y Cwm time I'm on early October. So yesterday I ploughed through eight episodes.

When you return to a soap opera after a long break you're conscious of what's changed for reasons that you don't know . The local pub, the Deri Arms has had a major revamp. The previous landlady lives in the village but the previous landlord is not there. There is also an openly gay couple about to get married with a reception in the main village street.

First thing you do on returning is to cling to people you remember when you originally watched the programme. Personally I have a soft spot for the characters of Britt Monk and Sheryl Hughes. This is for the sentimental reason that (based on the Sunday omnibus episode then) the day when my wife first thought she was pregnant Britt gave birth to Chester (who in my current Pobol Y Cwm time has just been sent to jail for four months!) and when our daughter was born Sheryl gave birth to a son (who isn't there for reasons I don't think I want to look into).

Sheryl now lives with Hywel Llywelyn who seems besotted with her. This is interesting given that he used to be the Cwmderi Casanova. The list of ladies he wooed including the wife of the then vicar (who I think was a murderer unsure of that), who is now a teacher (being falsely accused of sexual harassment by Chester) / secretary of the local rugby club and lives with a mechanic who works in a garage owned by Garry Monk, Britt's brother,.....as you do.

Well I'm back to being a Pobol fan. A slow one (I'll see how they spend Christmas in February) I'd admit but still a fan. Should find out what fans call themselves ....Pobolites perhaps?

Until the next time.

In Which Nothing Much Happens...It's A Bank Holiday After All

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I woke up at 6:42am in the morning. There was no morning shift for me, indeed it wasn't a day for working at all and there it was. A bank holiday morning and I'm awake early.

Must be honest. There are advantages to waking up early. The biggest being that you can attack all your programmes loading up the DVR. Being a "Welsh" day it meant all those from the native language channel S4C.

As it was a bank holiday I'd dreaded any trips out that the wife was going to plan. Mainly as a Bank Holiday trip normally involves shopping in Cardiff either for her/daughter's clothes. A process which for me is hell on Earth which only resolved by taking a book with me, The other option is IKEA who I have mixed views of. On the one hand that there is the Scandinavian minimalist look, which I like but am never to obtain. Or a sort of weird,wacky look which makes you wonder whether the designer was on drugs.

As it happened neither was going to occur. Nor indeed was my plan for today which was to cut the grass as when I looked out of the window dark clouds hovered which soon turned to rain.

Incidentally one of the five books I've been reading has now finished. That was the biography of Alex Salmond by David Torrence. It was surprisingly entertaining and I enjoyed it. Most of all of course, it told you a lot about a public man that you didn't realise.

For lunch my wife cooked bacon,eggs,sausages, toast and beans. Cholesterol heavy but I loved it. Nothing I would argue with such an old fashioned meal on an occasional basis. It also reminded of the food my grandparents cooked in the seventies when they had a cafe in Whitechapel. I'm a man in my fifties more often nostalgia rules.

The greatest use of my labour today was destroying an old laptop before it was to be destined to be put on the tip. If only because of a fear that if it wasn't ripped up it be picked up and hacked. Yes I've seen The Net and so you can blame my paranoia on Sandra Bullock.

Eventually we as a family just rumbled in front of the television. Daughter made us watch an odd film called Holes starring Signorney Weaver and John Voight presumably because the producers were able to blackmail them into performing. The only surprise was that Eartha Kitt was in it. That took me back.

Later on there were loads of Disney Channel shows that wife/daughter like but made me listen to the football on BBC Radio 5 Live (Incidentally congratulations to Leicester City...dreams can come true). Though there is one thing you need to note about these sitcoms, which is they will always be one cast member with a really odd name.

There was eventually a bright blue sky and the sun was out but of course it was too late to appreciate it. As is life.

Until the next time...

Alone On A Sunday Afternoon With S4C

Hello there. Trust you're feeling well today.

I do not in any way have a glamorous job. But it's OK and my work colleagues are nice. Now it does involve shift working early mornings between six and two,sometimes in weekend. Days such as today,Sunday 10th April.

And on days such as these the wife/daughter might spend the day out somewhere. Leaving me on my own when I return home, soon to throw mini pizzas into the microwave for dinner. Which you might consider sad......if it wasn't for the fact that I have the chance to watch my TV recordings in peace.

Since deciding to learn Welsh again I've split how I watch television. One day it's sport. Mainly football of course but also bits of NBA and MLB thrown in (I'm a Red Sox fan. Picked because I follow the Spenser private eye novels of Robert Parker).

But the next day I would watch my recordings of programmes from the Welsh language channel S4C. The idea is as much as possible to immerse myself in the language for that day along with the radio station Radio Cymru.

There is a lot of rubbish spoken about S4C mainly from non Welsh speaking people who wouldn't want to watch it with English subtitles on (presumably they go around Wales wearing blinkers to all the Cymraeg around the place). Those detractors point to the low ratings of some programmes as some sort electronic ammunition to shoot it with. This of course is unfair. Because the biggest problem this one channel faces is that it is one channel. It's expected to be BBC1,BBC2, BBC3,BBC4,Ceebies,CBBC,BBC Parliament and the BBC News channel in just one stream. So a documentary programme about a dead poet in English thrown on BBC4 will rarely have a massive audience then a similar programme made in Welsh is obviously going to have even less than that as even if you're a fluent speaker it doesn't mean you'll want to watch it.

But as I will fight for libraries even though I will never read every book in one then similarly I will fight for S4C even though I will not want to watch every programme in it. For it is the main national promoter of Welsh and any diminution will damage (though will never destroy) its use.

And so today on my list to watch as follows:

Anita: A comedy about a woman and her daughter who moves from Cardiff  to Anglesey to be with her boyfriend and his family. It's funny warm and very amiable. It's also clever being able to combine English,South Walian and North Walian Welsh and yet I feel as  a learner able to understand most of it.

Prynhawn Da and Heno: These are magazine programmes for the afternoon and early evening respectively. They're useful for me  because they cover a wide variety of subjects in a general way. (The worst programmes for me are those that also require a detailed knowledge of a subject. These are pointless to watch. Recently there was a series about angling. Now the closest I get to fish is when they cohabit with chips on a plate before going into my mouth. Needless to say it was avoided.

Pobol Y Cwm: The long running Welsh language soap opera and a favourite of mine. I was a fan of the Sunday omnibus edition which had on screen English subtitles. It also taught me that translations may not give the correct phrase all the time. I remember "he thinks a woman's place is in the home" as a subtitle but I distinctly heard "gegin" (kitchen) and "gwely" (bedroom) being said!

Pobol Y Rhondda: A series spotlighting the people of the Rhondda Valley. A place that I've always believed is the Tuscany of Wales (should you believe that it's Italy with rain). It's a life affirming show. I've shown non Welsh speakers who live there this programme and they have become instant fans

Sport: I've a match of from the Welsh Premier Football League (yes Wales has its own leagues. Something I learnt quickly when moving here. I'll chat about this soon). S4C also shows Rugby at all levels in Wales and it's the only moment when I make the effort to watch it. There is a game with London Welsh in it today (though I can't say I quite understand London Welsh - they don't seem all that Welsh and they don't play in London). I must admit I'm not into rugby as much as football and again I'll chat about this another time.

Well I hope I've persuaded you to watch some programmes on S4C. If you're not in Wales S4C has its own on demand app and you can also watch it on the BBC Iplayer.

But if you excuse me...I've got some programmes to watch.

Until the next time....

Of Books Read And To Be Read. And Why I'm Learning Welsh Again

Hello there. Trust you are well.

When chatting to you about the books in my first post I'd forgotten in fact that I was reading three books at the same time. As all these books have now been read reckon I should start with the book I hadn't mentioned which is.....

Danny Baker - Going Off Alarming

Took this with me when visiting my mother on the Mother's Day weekend. On the London Underground it took me from Grosvenor Road to Epping and from Epping to Victoria by chuckle. I've a soft spot for these autobiographies, particularly for its first volume Going To Sea In A Sieve. It evoked a London of my youth as the mayor seems to make the present day capital a land for for Russian Oligarchs to live in. Even if his is South of the Border and mine is of the East.

Of course Iris Murdoch could not be more different from Danny Baker and that it appears includes my reaction to this Penguin Paperback.

Iris Murdoch - The Italian Girl

One thing I will make every effort to do is not to go into great detail about the books I'm reading because I don't want to spoil it for people who want to read it in the future. So let me say this. It was a disappointment having been a fan of The Sea,The Sea. What it was was arty twaddle, For a relatively thin book it was full of unbelievable characters with unbelievable traumas in an unbelievably short space of time. The most I'll say about it is that it was readable...but that was it.

I didn't have high expectations of Neil Warnock's ghost written book The Gaffer. But that didn't matter because this is best described as amiable. Essentially it was billed as an entertaining slice of a manager's life and judged on that basis you did feel cheated. If I had to choose between the Warnock book and the Murdoch one then The Gaffer wins. But both would lose when brought up against either of Danny Baker's autobiographies.

So there are new Penguins and Football books to buy. But I won't be able to do that until later this week so I went to the shelves of the great unread and picked two books. 

This was the first one....

Paul Theroux - The Pillars Of Hercules

As the cover says this is a chronicle of his travels  along the Mediterranean around 1994. I personally find travel books more interesting when read years after the actual trip. The phrase "the test of time" seemingly suited to it. My favourite travel books don't just capture a place but also a mood. That said I must be honest and say that I've never read any of his books in the genre before or indeed any of his novels. Not because of a personal dislike but simply as there as there are so many books and so little time that I've never got round to reading one until now.

Mind you I have read a couple of short story collections with an American consulate official as a central character. They were alright but nothing more (and obviously they did not inspire me to actively get seek out others in his canon). I do remember that the best word to describe these books was "professional" but writing to a reader I'd argue needs to be more than that.

I hadn't actively sought out another football book amongst the shelves of the great unread but it just turned out that this was the book came to my sight next.

Football Dynamo - Marc Bennetts

As (again) the cover explains book (this edition 2008) is about Russia and football written by a British journalist living there. One of my favourite type of books in this genre is one that mixes personal experience with general history. It probably explains why for example my favourite about boxing is In The Red Corner by John Duncan, about the relationship between Cuba and the sport.

Anyway it is I can tell you a fascinating read. How do I know this already? Because I've already started reading it years ago and am halfway through. It was bought many years ago. Remember beginning to read it but then another book demanded my attention beforehand for reasons I can't recall and so it was put back on the shelf (with the bookmark still on the point I left it) to be forgotten. If there was a moment you can go "ahhh" at a book it's now. Not now though (so you can cheer).

Now to completely change the subject I've recently decided to resuscitate learning Welsh. Now before chatting about the present an explanation as to the circumstances as to why I'd learnt the language in the first place is called for. Because it came about by accident.

Many years ago and before we had our daughter my wife had a job which required her to work on Wednesday evenings. At the time I felt at a loose end and decided to attend evening classes on that day. So looked at what was available. I'd wanted car maintenance as my stock move with any problem in that regard is to panic and call the breakdown people/go to a garage. But there were no lessons on that day. There were though lessons in Welsh for beginners.....so it began.

I always say that in a parallel universe there is a version of me proficient in car maintenance. Of course in another parallel universe there is another super me who can speak Welsh and  know his way around a car.

Anyway slowly but surely I started learning yr iaith Cymraeg.Getting to a stage where I passed the equivalent exam in O Level and had only just failed to do the same in the higher level. I found myself regularly watching the Welsh language TV channel S4C and the radio station Radio Cymru and practised the language socially in such occasions as coffee mornings.

However when I lost my job and found it difficult to get a new one I slowly became depressed and found it hard to concentrate on other things including Welsh. I performed disastrously in my second attempt in the exam at the higher level. My heart was not in it so just walked away.

So I was in a sort of linguistic limbo. Nowhere near fluent but a thousand times better than "the cat sat on the mat"

Now I have work, and slowly my mojo is coming back. So I'm returning dysgu Cymraeg. What I know in learning Welsh the first time is that experiences are introduced to you which are absent if you only speak English even if you're living in the country. My wife is from Cardiff and I know that in some respects I know more about this country than she does because I can to an extent speak the language.

What I also know is this. Whatever personal circumstances derailed me from learning Welsh I have always believed that the language has to survive. Because if Welsh was lost then there will be a piece of Wales that would be lost with it.

Perhaps I'm an old romantic...but there you go

I find that I can listen to general programmes on Radio Cymru and watch those on S4C and be able to catch the gist of what's going on which is encouraging. In another time I'll chat about these channels but you're spared today.

So the beginner's books are taken out. The old papers are dusted off and ymlaen.

The mutations are once again to be tackled (and I don't mean the X Men).

Welsh Language Action

I'll chat about how it's going on in future posts.

Until the next time.