General Chat

Sandie. That is translation alongside :-S Cnicht is Knight

aivlyS. Thanks for your interest in my private life :-| :-\ :-\ :-\ :-\

AnnC. Certainly don't know everything. We tend to think we know everything when we are 18. Beyond that age, we realise each year that we know less and less. So I only know about the same as you. And we have slightly different opinions :-D

Private life John ..?. you was the one that put it on here for all to see .

well I go with the theory that you are never too old to learn, so it follows that the older you get the more you know, the more you learn, otherwise you vegetate - and we do not have slightly different opinions - we have MAJOR differences, believe me

when I was eighteen I was extremely naive and had led a very sheltered life indeed but I've learned a lot as I have gone through life and working in a psychiatric hospital for nigh on thirty years gave me vast experience of life and people

I have experienced many traumas along the way and managed to weather them all - along with my son we are experiencing an horrific trauma at the moment, but we will come through it together and out the other side

I've experienced deaths, some expected, some unexpected, loss of babies, three in fact, I've been lucky enough to travel to many places around the world and the UK and all in all, in spite of the sad and traumatic times, I consider myself to have been very lucky indeed - good marriage, wonderful husband, first class parents and extended family, a good son and excellent daughter in law - experience of life to me is far more valuable than a university degree or a place in Mensa - common sense rules, and the ability to treat people as you would wish to be treated yourself - and never be patronising which I consider to be a dreadful flaw in a person's personality

aivlyS. Like yourself, I was happy to reveal what I wanted to reveal about myself. Never painted myself as a paragon of virtue, or something I am not.

Was not expecting people to research me, pm each other and then use that research (not very accurate, to be honest) in an attempt to make me look a liar and a fraud. Much more reticent to answer any questions now, and things I have said in private to people have been made public.

Am ok if people 100 miles away are angry with me by bashing their keyboards or punching the wall. Not so happy with - we know where you live, we know where you and your immediate family live. I can see why you reveal nothing about yourself, aivlyS. Wise girl :-) All we know about you is that you had a nice Christmas.

you can put my name in google and you'll come up with a stack of info on me if you so wish - anyone can - I have articles on my life and my father's life on the Whitchurch and Llandaff North website - there for all to see, other things that will probably turn up on google are the many letters I've had published by the South Wales Echo - I have no secrets, nothing to hide - I've always been honest - don't do lies

I regret I have to leave you all now - my bed is calling :-) :-)

John why are you surprised that people know where you live ... ? your fault so no point blaming anyone else , you are making a fool of yourself , you have no OH in your house , but you refer to her often as if she was there , no point it is not true ..your cat required a vet ... yes John she did ..the story you told on here was not true .. why bother posting lies ...?

Ahh Google is a wonderful tool :-D

The www is both a blessing and a curse for some :-0

We will only allow men we like to join the political party..lolol

AnnC I think you have had a very interesting life. And you have lived all your life in Wales, not half of it like me, so feel a little envious.

What I think I have to offer this particular thread is:
1. I have actually read a book in English written by Dr Robyn Lewis
2. By accident, I named my son Robyn after him
3. My mother was a great believer that Wales was a nation, not an adjunct to England, and should therefore be self-governing.
4. I went to Bangor University 1966-69. That was a time of great student unrest and poitical activity. My most influential tutor was the late Bedwyr Lewis Jones, who was the loveliest and most gentle man, but a total patriot. And Bedwyr achived the highest level within the Gorsedd. One of my close friends was a Plaid Minister in the last coalition government in Wales (as you know, Government is now Labour led and he is just a Member of the Senedd now)
5. I have always voted Plaid Cymru, since I was able to vote. I think I have lived outside Wales for about 4 General Elections since I was 21 in 1967.
6. I canvassed for Plaid in a Parliamentary election in late 60's in Anglesey (Amlwch area, which had few English speakers at that time).
7. Two of my Plaid friends in the Rhondda (who were both firm Labour supporters till about 20 years ago) are very active politically. I have not been able to do much since I moved down here in 2007, but hope to be more active for Plaid when I retire in a few months. But more interested in doing more churchy stuff.

Suspect that is a re-run, but I honestly think I have something useful to offer this thread.

Yes heard it all before .... and ?

aivlyS I am sure I have been to Pontypany today shopping with a lady who looks remarkably like my wife of 34 years. If not my wife, then who the h*ll is she.:-0 :-0

I think I know why one or two think I live here on my own. But you are making a wrong conclusion from the evidence. Well, I think you are ;-) Or am I dreaming and talking to myself :-D Cats are all fine, thanks very much :-D

And I can appreciate the various contributions that people have made on this thread - even those who totally disagree with me. But I am struggling a bit with what you are offering - unless it is a cat neutering service :-S :-S

No John you don't live on your own , you live with your son ... just you and your son . no point pretending otherwise .

We did live with our son till November. He has his own place now locally - but comes over most days. Drop it. I really am not bothered you are wrong. But your joke and goading is not funny to me any more. Not to me, not to many others.

Have no idea if you are married or not or living with someone. But just think - if I kept saying that you were not living with that person you live with, would you not eventually get a little bit cross? Have not shown my wife your posts - she is very mild-tempered but possibly she might get a little bit cross with you.

Hope your family research is a little more accurate, aivlyS

Not joking or goading , just stating facts ..now you have just made up another story.. and as for many others , well yes many others know the facts as well ...

John, your jokes and goading are not funny to many of us either but that hasn't stopped you. Pots and kettles spring to mind.

All I know about you is what you have posted on the boards.

This may or may not be relevant to this thread, bur re-reading Second Class Citizen by Robyn Lewis (1969) is reminding me of those days of the struggle for Welsh language survival. Dafydd Iwan (the singer and political activist) was fined £108 for painting out English-only road signs. Others were given custodial sentences for same offence. One court said that they were "the enemies of the Welsh people" Yet everything they campaigned for happened within 30 years.

It is very interesting that Dr Lewis draws attention to the Maltese situation in those days. They had no bilingual policy, yet everyone spoke Malti and everything important in writing was English only. English was a second language but official because the British had controlled Malta for 150 years by then - and imposed English on the population.

At the time of writing his book, Dr Lewis comments that Dom Mintoff's goverment has agreed that the two languages should have legal parity - in islands with an area about a third of Anglesey and with a population of 300,000 (about half the number in Wales who then spoke Welsh as a first language).

No road signs in Malti, no official documents in Malti in late 1960's. Just a law that had recently been enacted for bilingualism. Anyone know what has happened to that policy since the 1960's? I have only been to Malta once (in 1980's), but am pretty sure I saw bilingual road signs.

Dr Lewis does end that chapter of his book by stating that no rain had fallen in Malta for 6 months when he was researching bilingualism there. But he had just raised his head from his scribblings and was unable to see Yr Eifl (the local mountain) at all. Nor his gatepost even. It was snowing.

Some things never change :-( :-(

John I do laugh when you try and change tac , why do you keep posting about Robyn Lewis no one is reading it , it just proves that you are trying to change the subject or promote Wales doesnt make sense to other peoples posts , No one is interested in Lewis or his bullying but you.

as Hayley says - no one gives a toss about Robyn pillock Lewis - no one reads all the tripe you are coming out with ad nauseum

Excuse me, many on this thread have been very interested in the development of language. There is a lot of activity to secure a future for many of these minority languages. Malti in Malta, Sicilian in Sicily, French in Canada, Irish in Republic of Ireland, Malayam in Kerala. And Welsh, of course.

Some want one dominant world language. That might be English (1,500 million speakers as first or second language), French (500m), Mandarin (1, 365m), Hindi (490m), Spanish (500m). Those are by far the most popular world languages.

And then we have claims of an international language like Esperanto.

This thread began with a rather slanted article from Daily Mail about a minor disagreement in a Pwllheli shop that had long since been swept under local carpet. It has developed in several directions, but bilingual policy and the strains that causes within Wales have been interesting.

And it really is good to learn different languages. And I think bilingual countries often produce people who can easily be fluent in three, four or more languages. And they are the better for that, I am sure. :-)

exactly who has been interested? :-S :-S :-S