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Not an ex-blogger yetOk, I appreciate that not writing anything for about two-three weeks, followed by an apology for not writing followed by another two-three weeks is not the most exciting of writing. I have been a little time-poor recently. Even by my standards. It might have something to do with effectively working two jobs by re-doing the lecture course (while giving it and trying to do my absolute best by the students and society) as well as trying not to fall behind in my research work. And, of course, I haven't let anything go yet. (And I've picked up another activity in child-birth classes, taking up the one night a week I got back when Welsh classes went back to 1 night per week). On the other hand, despite being very busy, both Rebecca and I still have the ability to take a longer-term perspective on things. And so it was that Rebecca found herself with some leave to use up, and we had about one weekend before the baby arrives where we had nothing on on the weekend and we had nothing immovable on one of the days either side of the weekend. Unfortunately, I have a class on Mondays, which meant it had to be a week neither of us had anything on the Friday. So, this weekend we had our "last weekend away as a couple before two becomes three". We went to Newport in Pembrokeshire (South-west Wales). Aside from being told it was a beautiful spot etc., it is supposed to be an area where there is still a lot of Welsh being spoken. Sure enough, we did actually here a reasonable amount of Welsh being spoken. Unfortunately, most of it was in contexts where they were private discussions, and I couldn't bring myself to interrupt. The only shops where we heard the staff speaking Welsh were Spar (kinda like seven-11) and one restaurant (the posh one). Even when I spoke a little bit of Welsh to them, they still responded in English. This was a little disappointing. I still want to go somewhere where the default assumption is you speak Welsh, and only if you don't or can't will they (grudgingly) speak English to you. It works for the French in France. I have, however, now ordered a beer in Welsh (I also ordered Bec a "Blackcurrant a soda", but was told they were out of blackcurrant - in English). This was in the posh restaurant, where we were in at the same time as a large group who were celebrating one of their birthdays. I don't normally eavesdrop, but I figured it being in Welsh, I was really only practising, and didn't really care what they said. But, again, I didn't feel right interrupting a birthday celebration / family get-together. We had lots of good food, the weather was sensational (I actually was down to a t-shirt during one walk). We did lots of walking both along the coast and up one of the nearby hills. It has been a while since we have had exercise and fresh air like that. It is also far too long since we have actually been out somewhere nice just the two of us. I think we are in danger of having our yuppie-club memberships taken off us! After a lovely weekend, we took an off-the-beaten-track drive back home. Rebecca got some good scenery (I concentrate on the road and was enjoying the drive). It was still light as we got home - it does make a difference having sun and nice weather. Comments |
LinksRecent entries"There's Klingons on the starboard bow" "What's verse - it's the end of paternity leave" "Mark Gerald Allen Lubansky - the birth" My favourite procrastinationsGuido's musings about soccer, politics etc in Australia The Head Heeb - Jonathan provides a balanced view on various Israeli and (former) colonial states in less developed regions of the world. The Bladder - a sports satire site. Well worth a look. Other stuffJewish Bloggers Join >> |
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