I've been researching my ancestry for several years and, fortunately, have relatives who have archives of a number of people on my mother's side of the family.

The reason I first started my ancestry tree was that I knew nothing about my paternal grandfather but, inevitably, I've done a great deal of research on my maternal ancestors and relatives too. Amongst my maternal associations are Lewis Thomas and Sir Thomas Herbert Parry-Williams, though I should stress that neither of them is…

The frustrations of producing a novel which one hopes will at least be read, if not on the bestseller charts, are manifold.

There are the physical problems: blurry eyes (from looking at a computer screen for far too long); stiff shoulders and neck (from too much typing); aching legs (from the lack of a proper desk, footrest and typist's chair). There is the anger, rumbling constantly under the surface, from the lack of faith by publishers and literary agents.

In addition, there…

Due to the inevitable recent cutbacks, one or two doubts have been expressed about the proposed high-speed rail line planned for the London to Swansea route. On top of this, we have the unwelcome new rail fares. On the one hand, we are being encouraged to be eco-conscious and abandon private transport for public transport and, on the other, the rail companies are raising rail fares by enormous amounts. Those of us who do not have cars and rely on the railways and other public transport…

I started thinking about Ryan Davies the other day and wondered whether there were any DVDs available of either Ryan a Ronnie or How Green Was My Father. As the latter was repeated on TV many years after Ryan's death, one imagines it must be about somewhere in the archives. There's a snippet of it on:

www.bbc.co.uk/wales/walesonair/database/ryandavies.shtml.

I know I'm not the only…