Author: Andrew Green
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Wales and whales
Last week several very unusual sightings of long-finned pilot whales were recorded off the coast of Wales. Pilot whales rarely leave the deep sea, but cetologists think that these examples were following food – they eat squid and small fish – that have also wandered on to the continental shelf. Today whales and other sea mammals…
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A curious traveller in north Wales
There’s an excellent collaborative research project in train at the moment, led by Bangor University, called European travellers to Wales. Its workers are busy unearthing accounts by tourists – writers and artists – from the Continent who visited Europe between 1750 and 2010. At the same time another project, Curious travellers: Thomas Pennant and the…
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A small room in south London
An early morning in late summer. Light from a cloudy sky falls evenly into the small room from the window on the left, under a partly closed roller blind. No particular object inside is highlighted, each is democratically equal. The floor is made of narrow, carefully fitted wooden boards. There’s no carpet, no rug. Opposite…
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THP-W allan heb ei het: ‘O’r Pedwar Gwynt’
Yn y gwynt a’r glaw ar faes Eisteddfod y Fenni y dydd o’r blaen prynais i gopi o Rifyn 1 o’r cylchgrawn llenyddol newydd sbon O’r pedwar gwynt. Mae O’r pedwar gwynt wedi codi fel ffenics o lwch y cylchgrawn hynafol Taliesin, a fu farw yn y gwanwyn. Roedd Taliesin yn gyhoeddiad mor wylaidd a…
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Triniaethau
1 Majestic ‘Majestic! Dacw fe, ail dro ar y chwith.’ Gadael y car, dilyn troli â’i olwynion gwyrdroëdig ar hyd yr eiliau gwydr. Dyma ti’n sefyll wedi ymgolli rhwng Merlot a Malbec, yn cyfieithu Ffrangeg y labeli llawen i iaith y claf. ‘Digon imi allu cynnig ichi set o wydrau, rhad ac am…
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Swansea art now
Set alongside Cardiff, its ancient rival, Swansea wins no prizes. Or so it seems. Political and financial power has long been concentrated in the capital. Cardiff’s economic magnet increases its force year by year. As a shopping centre Swansea has steadily lost ground – even Carmarthen has more to offer these days. Jobs tend to…
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The debate about Mytilene: a short footnote on Brexit
In 428 BC, three years into the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies, the city of Mytilene on the Aegean island of Lesbos decides to secede from the Athenian empire. The oligarchic rulers of Mytilene fear that what independence they still have – unlike other states they had retained their navy…
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Wales Coast Path, day 65: Llanengan to Aberdaron
Same journey, same start point, but we’re now down to three, C, H and me, for our last day in southern Llŷn. Llanengan seems a bit busier than yesterday, though it’s a quieter place than it was when lead was mined here (a chimney still stands above the village). We walk down to Porth Neigwl,…
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Wales Coast Path, day 64: Abersoch from Llanengan
M has arrived from Yorkshire to join the three of us for today’s almost-circular clifftop walk. We start with the same introduction as yesterday, train to Pwllheli (same affable guard), and the Berwyn bus towards Abersoch (same wild career along single track roads). But this time we get off early, in the small village of…
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Wales Coast Path, day 63: Pwllheli from Abersoch
The heavy rain is back. By the time C and I have walked to Cricieth station we’re already drenched. No one else’s waiting for the train to Pwllheli. Birmingham International, the destination in the other direction, seems a more sensible choice today. The boarded-up station building carries murals of children on the beach, butterflies and…