Erasmus Lewis: spad, spy, friend of Gulliver
This small corner of Carmarthenshire is new to me – the point where the Cothi flows into the Tywi, just west of Llanegwad. A track leaves the village, passes a cottage, Penygoilan, and a farm, Llwchgwyn, and then turns into a narrow lane that leads down to the banks of the Tywi and a large […]
Cwm Ysgiach
Yma ar y groesffordd yn y bryniau, ymddengys fod pob peth yn bosib. Gallwch chi gymryd unrhyw ffordd o’ch dewis: nôl i Bontlliw, ymlaen i Felindre, i’r gorllewin i Bontarddulais, dros y mynydd i Garnswllt yn Sir Gâr, neu lawr i Gwm Dulais a phentref bach Cwmcerdinen. Fy newis heddiw yw cerdded i Felindre: ddim […]
Eagle
In summer 1972 I made two happy discoveries within the Roman fortress that had occupied the centre of Exeter. One of them was human. That encounter changed my life for good. The other was inanimate. Its impact on me wasn’t as great, but it did earn a small place in the history of research on […]
Yr hen lwybr i eglwys Llangelynnin
Roedd yr haul yn dechrau disgyn wrth imi gychwyn, ar ôl swper, o hen dafarn Y Groes. Cerddais ar hyd y lôn sy’n troelli ar draws gwastadeddau Dyffryn Conwy tuag at bentref Rowen. Cymylau sirws uchel yn unig yn yr awyr glas, a dim argoel o’r glaw trwm sy wedi britho mis Mai eleni. Tu […]
Walters: gwallter’s top 10
Walter was already an old-fashioned forename in 1952, when my parents donated it to me. To be fair, they were anxious about the commonness of my surname, and eager to load me with as many other names as they could, to avoid misidentification (later, my brother suffered the same fate). By the time they reached […]
Happy birthday Michael Rosen
When I consider how the government of our country – I mean the one with the satirical name ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’ – has fallen under the control of a set of unscrupulous and heartless gangsters, who lack any kind of moral standard or basic competence, and when I consider that […]
Rhossili sunset
Three of us set off on the south Gower road to watch the sun set in Rhossili. It’s been another day of unbroken sunshine in this strange dry, cold April. The gusty wind of the early morning has dropped to a faint north-westerly breeze. The sky’s still clear, but it’s slowly losing its light. We […]
Edward Thomas in Gower
At last some warmth returned with the sun, and I took the rough path along the top of the cliff between Rotherslade and Limeslade. The sea was calm, empty and quiet, except for one thing: the bell of a floating buoy, its clear sound carried over the water by a light onshore breeze. I’ve been […]
Doethineb a dannedd
Yr wythnos ddiwethaf collais i ddant. Ffordd anghywir, wrth gwrs, o ddisgrifio’r hyn ddigwyddodd – fel petaswn i wedi anghofio mynd ag e gyda fi wrth adael trên neu fws. Mewn gwirioedd, tynnodd y deintydd y dant allan o’m genau yn eithaf treisiol, trwy ddefnyddio dull sydd heb newid rhyw lawer yn ei hanfod, mae’n […]
Billie Holiday’s last day
Billie Holiday died aged 44 in a New York hospital at 3:10am on Friday 17 July 1959. Some failed to notice. The New York Times published a short obit, but only on page 15. But for those who cared about her and her music, the news was a bitter shock. One of them was Frank […]
