2. 1972 Wales. Here Comes The Rain
Trip Start
Jun 17, ????
1
2
36
Trip End
Ongoing
Mumbles,
United Kingdom
Sunday, July 22, 1973
As you could probably guess, we experienced somewhat extreme weather. What you won't guess is that was a heatwave. No joke. Apparently, it was so hot that I got sunstroke. Well, they say that it was the heat - given that we were in Wales I'm tempted to suspect that they left me too near a heater of some sort and all this talk of Wales being sunny is nothing more than a feeble ploy to cover up poor parenting. Maybe I should check the Met Office records. All I need to find out is when we went - oh - and where it was. I've put Mumbles as a holding title as I do recall that my parents went there for their honeymoon. I'm pretty sure that this legendary trip was somewhere else in Wales, but having gazed at a Google map of the Welsh coast, none of the names are ringing any bells. Just so long as no-one gets out the cine-camera when I ask....
[Update: having consulted my mother, she says that, yes, it was Mumbles, so all I need to do now is verify the weather. Except, I forgot to check the year. Or did I? A vague memory is appear of a discussion about my brother in nappies. Hopefully that was framed around the early 70s and not one of his drinking games). It doesn't say much for the reliability of this blog if I'm striggling with a conversation last week. I'm pretty sure that Mum said he was 6 months. That makes it 1972. right. Met office site //ends]
Naturally, I have been to Wales since. It was in the mid-eighties, and the rain came down in so many buckets, we were almost trapped there by the floods. So, a more authentic experience that time. We stayed in a youth hostel, and I have vivid memories of lying in a cold, hard bed while Claire - the daughter of another family recklessly holidaying in Cymru - listened to the ever-falling rain and repeatedly cried out "we're all going to die". You can't buy experiences like that.
Having narrowly escaped death-by-slow-cooking and death-by-drowning, I left it some years before taking on Wales for a third time. This was a business trip last year ('06) - I had to get up at 0500 to get to the Milennium stadium in Cardiff by 10.00, so frankly I was more than little bit grateful to find the weather mildly sunny. I am happy report that I made it back unscathed and who knows, I may even go there again one day.
WALES - A foreign country??
This web site, along with all too many others, puts all the nations of the United Kingdom together in one lump. However, I am English, not UKish, and I consider both Wales and Scotland to be clearly separate countries. Full of foreigners eating funny food. (e.g. haggis / rarebit). I have counted them both on my list as separate nations to visit, dspite the fact that we have a common government, for some things at least. The status of the various parts of the UK is a thorny issue though. Whilst Wales & Scotland are easy - and may I suggest that anyone who doesn't see these as obviosuly separate nations should take it up with a Scot or a Welshman/woman. Good luck with that. Other areas are more problematic. How should I classify Northern Ireland, The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands? Needless to say, I have some thoughts on this matter, but I shall save them for my next entry.......
