Author: Andrew Green
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Nicholas Roerich: archaeology and ‘The Rite of Spring’
The BBC National Orchestra of Wales’s concert on Friday in the Brangwyn Hall had a well-matched programme: Stravinsky’s The rite of spring, preceded by Prokofiev’s Scythian suite and Ravel’s piano concerto in G major. All are brilliant works, written within twenty years of one another, and all feature the strongest of rhythms and cross-rhythms. Prokofiev…
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R. M. Lockley, coastwalking pioneer
Preparing for a talk about coastwalking in Plas Brondanw in a week or two I’ve been thinking about the origins of the practice of walking around the coast of a country, and specifically Wales. When, I wondered, did coastwalking start to become a conscious mode of walking for travellers and tourists? Rebecca Solnit, in her…
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Broke down engine blues
The story that follows isn’t unusual, or dramatic, or life-changing. But it says something about the country we now live in, and what an historically abnormal attitude we have towards it. I needed to go to London for the day for a meeting. The train left Swansea on time at 8:29am, and most of the…
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Staples RIP
Glancing across Parc Tawe after finishing the food shopping the other day I saw a shocking sight. Staples was no longer there. It took a while for the eye to confirm that it really had disappeared, and a while longer for the brain to absorb the meaning of the disappearance. The truth was that some…
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Llygad crwtyn, llygad dyn: David Jones yn Rhos
Dair wythnos yn ôl cerddais i heibio i gapel bychan S. Trillo yn Llandrillo-yn-Rhos, heb sylweddoli mai’r llecyn hwn oedd y cyflwyniad cyntaf i Gymru i’r bardd a’r artist David Jones. Daw’r wybodaeth hon mewn llyfr mawr newydd gan Thomas Dilworth sy’n dilyn bywyd a gwaith David Jones. Cymro oedd ei dad, Jim Jones, argraffydd…
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Wales Coast Path, day 90: Conwy to Llandudno
We’re quite a crowd, today, six of us. Enough to cause anxiety, with our clompy boots and bulky rucksacks, to anyone encountering us on the Coast Path. As well as M we have two other guestwalkers, Ca, and M-A, who’s waiting for us at Conwy station. A misunderstanding in the café nearby gives us one…
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Wales Coast Path, day 89: Llanfairfechan to Conwy
Guestwalker M joins the three of us today. Together we walk down to the railway station at Pensarn and wait for the train. It’s a cool, dark day, with a threat of rain. A few yellow-jacketed workers make sporadic attempts to relieve the glumness and dereliction of the place. We catch the train, change at Llandudno…
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Wales Coast Path, day 95: Flint to Chester
In sunny Flint C and I make for a recommended café in Church Street, Yr Hen Lys. It deserves the praise. The coffee is good and the bara brith even better. Back over the railway line, we make for the castle, only glimpsed the day before. A silhouette sculpture – Flintshire has dozens of them,…
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Wales Coast Path, day 94: Talacre to Flint
Today is industry day. We’re back in Talacre, after a pair of slow bus rides, and plan to reach Flint. It’s even colder this morning – it sleets for a time later – and we’re dressed as if for the Norwegian Arctic. This time we do call in at Lola and Suggs for a coffee. …
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Wales Coast Path, day 93: Rhyl from Talacre
Rhyl in the rain is no fun. We’ve arrived from Abergele on the no.12 bus to find the connecting service has just pulled out of the bus station, five minutes before it should have. We take to the depressed streets in the hope of finding refreshement, and just as hope fades and we’re beginning to…