Author: Andrew Green
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Aber, prifddinas llên
Ar 31 Hydref cyhoeddodd UNESCO fod Aberystwyth/Ceredigion wedi ennill statws ‘dinas llenyddiaeth’, gan ymuno â rhai cannoedd o leoliadau eraill ledled y byd a gydnabyddir am eu ‘ymrwymiad i ddiwydiannau creadigol a bywyd diwylliannol’. (Does dim ‘dinas’ gonfensiynol yn yr ardal, wrth gwrs, ond mae’n bosib dadlau bod Aberystwyth yn rhyw fath o ‘ddinas-wladwriaeth’, fel…
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Monarch or president? Out of the cave and into the light
It might strike you as perverse, that anyone should make the case that what we need in the UK is to establish a post of President. Across the Atlantic, Donald Trump, with every day that passes, disgraces his office and is busy turning what used to be a democracy – albeit a strange one, ‘the…
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Two (or three) naughty boys in Jesus
On a visit to Cambridge last week, the first for over fifteen years, we stayed in one of the guest rooms in Jesus College. We were free to roam the courts, and to eat breakfast with the students in the Hall. On the walls of the Hall were several indifferent portraits of College worthies, presumably…
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Heaven in Trieste
It’s unlikely, for a number of good reasons, that after my death I shall end up in heaven. But if it happens, and if – an even more remote possibility – St Peter offers me a choice of where exactly in that fine place I’d like to be, I’d ask whether he could arrange for…
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In praise of the dash
A few weeks ago the Observer columnist and internet technology expert John Naughton – one of the few columnists left who’s still worth reading after the Guardian carelessly disowned its Sunday sister – wrote a fascinating article – fascinating to a nerd like me, at least – about that chameleon of punctuation, the dash, or…
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Haf 1975: adeilad newydd, gyrfa newydd
Ym mis Medi bûm ym Mhrifysgol Caerdydd ar gyfer dathliad pen-blwydd – hanner can mlynedd ers agor Llyfrgell y Celfyddydau ac Astudiaethau Cymdeithasol (ASSL). Dathliad arbennig i mi, achos dyna le dechreuais i ar fy swydd broffesiynol gyntaf – yn syth ar ôl i’r drysau agor yn yr adeilad newydd hwnnw. (Doedd y dodrefn heb…
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Snowdonia Slate Walk, day 4: Beddgelert to Tanygrisiau
I’ve not slept well in Beddgelert. The reason, I think, is that our B&B is beside Afon Glaslyn, and I’m not used to sleeping with the constant noise of running water. Today we’re going to be following the river downstream towards Nantmor, before turning to Croesor and beyond. Yesterday’s heavy rain has begun to turn…
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Snowdonia Slate Trail, day 3: Y Fron to Beddgelert
There’s no room for doubt. The Met Office’s app shows black clouds and two black raindrops, every hour from mid-morning to the end of the day. Other weather apps say the same. But we’re stoical, as we wait for the taxi to take us back to Y Fron for a twelve-miler to Beddgelert. The taxi’s…
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Snowdonia Slate Trail, day 2: Llanberis to Y Fron
Today’s a rare day: no waterproofs needed, and sun forecast for the afternoon. We set off from Llanberis and climb up the lane towards Waunfawr. On average, each day of the Trail crosses two watersheds, and this is the first of today’s two ascents. Sheep outnumber people by some margin, as usual. Their fleeces are…
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Snowdonia Slate Trail, day 1: Bethesda to Llanberis
I’ve had my eye on Llwybr Llechi Eryri, the Snowdonia Slate Trail, ever since it opened in 2017, and especially since two seasoned long-distance walkers, Eirlys Thomas and Lucy O’Donnell, told me in 2021 that it was one of the best long treks they’d ever tried. So the three of us, C1, C2 and I,…