On holiday

I've been away exploring a new attraction in Wales. The Welsh Highland Railway closed as long ago as 1936 and was fully re-opened only this year after a decade of reconstruction. The route runs through fine mountain scenery. I'll post some more later. Meanwhile here is a picture that gives a sense of the experience.

 

Comments

[lytha]

WHP i thought of you today as i discovered a shop in downtown cologne, "the english shop" and we raided the american (and english) goods. (HP sauce, root beer...)

and the fact there was a camera crew there interviewing customers about what will happen tomorrow.

and the sign on the wall "watch the wedding here live"

then we wandered on through town and found the bookshop "english books and tea" and talked to another brit for an hour who played guitar for us in his tiny shop. he told us his guitar playing sent a child hiding yesterday. i told him to pick up his harmonica and he did - he played both the american and german national anthems. then we talked books (and i tried to order that w.horwood sequel to duncton wood but it's out of print in even his 1.9 million copy english book depot website!).

all the while i was shopping with a california girl who is marrying an english man next week - and in answering one of my questions she said "oh be careful, he's WELSH" and i said "WELSH!?" and she pointed to the flags that were for sale in the shop. the welsh flags. OK then.

he's eternally somber and at dinner we asked if he was ok and she answered "just english!" the mix of humor and somber is new to me.

[White Horse Pilgrim]

Years ago I saw the 'English shop' in Frankfurt. It is quite curious what expats want to buy, and what Germans want to buy in pursuit of 'Englishness' too. (In the 90s there was a Scottish craze that saw otherside sane Germans wearing kilts for no good reason.)

Don't inflame the Welsh by calling them 'English'! (The sheep jokes are quite enough provocation.) I must admit, having come back fron North Wales, that the atmosphere up there reminds me of the Balkans. The natives need an identity, and that can be just as readily defined as 'different to one's (bad) neighbour' as by any unique positives. It's a place where one never really feels welcome.

I don't think that the English are somber by nature. Dourness is more of a Celtic thing, though the Irish are a huge exception to that generalisation. There again psychological repression is a peculiarly Protestant trait and theb English are pretty repressed emotionally.

[lytha]

ha, that bookshop owner was telling us how shocked he was to move here and see all the nudity. he said "we english are pretty verklemmt" and he couldn't think of the english word and i said "repressed?"

i was surprised to see the selection in the american section. there were several items that only children eat! and they had more sweet popcorn than salty, that's backwards.

i wonder why the welsh guy calls himself english then? interesting - next time i see him i'll have to ask.