Cymro yn Austin, Texas
That's about the only thing I miss about boring old Ipswich - the 21 pubs between our house and the town center. They're either gone or coffee shops now. In Wrexham I had an even bigger advantage - my Nain and Taid were the managers of the Wynnstay Arms.
Yeah the docks are Cardiff Bay now. Still no amount of nostalgia can disguise the fact that the redevelopment is one hell of an improvement ( for the most part ). I used to live in Penarth Rd ( town side of the bridge ) ....back of the Brains Brewery and Railway Station. My place was a two storey apartment in a corner property in the last Victorian Terrace in Butetown. One of the attic rooms still had hooks hanging from the ceiling where joints of meet ( or maybe veggies I dont know ) used to be hung prior to sale in the corner shop downstairs. Great on match days....5 minute walk to the stadium...door to door pubs all along the rote in St Mary St. I miss that place.
Mark:Yes, thanks. Not only do I have a bicycle, but I just did the CapTex Tri on it on Memorial day - I'm still recovering! When I did three years ago I trained a lot on the Veloway, but these days I train by riding down to Deep Eddy and back or up to church and back, as well as hill rides in the NW Hills neighborhood. For other bicycle stuff go to my web site www.johnlberry.com and hit the BikerBerryBlog button (trip to Labrador 4 yeears ago) or go to www.johnlberry.com/blog/blog.html for the report on a trip from Alaska to Austin last summer.
John,Do you have a bicycle? If so, you might enjoy the "Velo-Way" there in Austin. Take Mopac Expwy. to LaCrosse.
John,She isn't in this network, but my daughter Helen lives in South Austin. Around Slaughter and Manchaca.
I walked part of that two years ago. Was in London for a conference and decided on the spur of the moment to go to South Wales. Had never been there before, my mother was always "I don't know if I'd want to do that, they're all sort of funny down there, you know" (You'd understand that if you knew about the generations-long feuds on the Welsh side of my family). Arrived in Cardiff on a Thursday, and found out that I'd have to get out after one night because Wales was playing Oz at the Arms Park on the Saturday, and the Treorchy Male Choir was going to be in town the same day. Two of the things I've wanted to do in Wales for 50 years and nowhere to stay and no tickets left for either event. Shows what happens if you don't plan ahead! So I went to Hwllffordd and rented a bike and hiked and rode around the coast from Llandewi to Abertawe and went sea kayaking and buggered my lower back so bad I couldn't walk through the airport on the way home - had to get an invalid chair. What was even worse about Cardiff was I'd always wanted to see where Shirley Bassey came from, and it had gone! Vanished! Bulldozed, filled in!
I used to run half-marathon distance between Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch up the riverbank along the Taff. A distance of about 10 miles I think but I'd always throw in a few circuits of Pontcanna Fields to make up the distance.. That was a few years back. Doubt I could manage more than 3 miles now but I miss it and one of these mornings I'm gonna dust down an old pair of trainers and get back into it.Ive had that sensation you describe once or twice....the hair standing on end. Happily I plan to get back home this year, probably September or October. Should afford some temporary relief for the 'hiraeth' .
Yes, er, well, sort of. At age 67 I run some of it and walk some of it - more running at the beginning, and more walking at the end. The Austin course is a bit of a bugger: you go up 450 feet at the beginning, then back down, and then the next 9 miles are all up with a few downs just to make you work harder. The Triathlon last weekend was easier.Thanks for all the URL's. I recently met a Welsh couple, Dave and Diana Philips from Llanelli. I was sitting eating a breakfast taco on Whole Foods' patio when this peculiar speech rhythm and strange consonants broke into my consciousness, and made my hair stand on end. Pretty soon I realised that it was a mixture of English and Welsh being spoken, so I introduced myself.I had the same experience years ago when some music being played on Public Radio while I was driving to work also made my hair stand on end. Didn't know what it was so I sat in the parking lot till the announcer came on at the end and gave the title, "Mylecharane" by Henry Wood. It's an old Manx tune he orchestrated, and I must have heard it dozens of times as a small child but had totally forgotten it. Funny how these things from out of the dim and distant will have a very powerful effect. In both cases it would be more than 55 years since I had heard the tune or the language being spoken in conversation.
Thanks, Hwyl.
Were you running in the marathon?
Heres Texas generally http://americymru.ning.com/profiles/members/?q=Texas and heres TX:- http://americymru.ning.com/profiles/members/?q=TX Certain amount of overlap and I know Texas is a big place so some of them are a long way from Austin. Anyway hopefully that will help some.
Are there any other members of the group in Austin?There was a house on 46th Street flying two huge Welsh flags during the Marathon in February, but under the circumstances I couldn't stop to introduce myself!
updated by @john-berry: 11/11/15 10:37:22PM
updated by @john-berry: 11/11/15 10:37:22PM
