A Tale of Two Placards

I have returned to the bosom of the family in Ceredigion for a tour of duty and on the 9/4/2016 it is already a 'tale of two placards' in the hedgerows of the County. It looks like it's going to be a two horse race here on Grand National Day with Elin Jones, the incumbent Assembly Member, there since the 'Siop Siarad' inception in 1999 being pushed hard by Liberal Democrat hopeful Elizabeth Evans. Both ladies live in the quaint, Georgian seaside town of Aberaeron where by chance the Conservative candidate still has a home. The booming Felix Aubel, Congregationalist Minister who doesn't give anybody else much of a look in when on the Welsh version of Question Time 'Pawb a'i Farn'. A very able man and somebody who would bring some much needed life and colour to Cardiff Bay. It's just a shame about his politics. In the Cambrian snooze this week Elizabeth Evans says "the roots of liberalism are in Ceredigion, the roots of Nationalism are not". Well I'm wondering how far you want to go back. I was campaigning in the 1991 General Election for the Plaid/Green candidate Cynog Dafis. He overturned a huge majority held by the standing MP Geraint Howells. I was more Plaid then but I am more Green now and a major reason being that Plaid Cymru sanctions its members to go to the House of Lords, that bastion of the British Class system. I don't think you can call Plaid Cymru Welsh Nationalists any more, indeed they don't like the 'n' word because of it's historic global connotations. They have started emulating the style of the British Parties in wearing sharp suits with padded shoulders. We have to remember that the Cambrian Snooze is a newspaper that was started by Liberals so they are biased and at the moment if the roadside placards are anything to go by, Elizabeth Evans is pipping it on size alone. There are some huge triangles in the hedgerows and laybys. In 2011 Elin Jones took 12,020 votes and Elizabeth Evans 10,243 so 41.34 % of the vote to 35.23% of the vote. Between then and now we have had a General Election where the Liberal Democrats returned Mark Williams to Westminster, one of the few UK wide left in the place. My sympathies are with Plaid because I am still a Welsh Nationalist but I fear that they may get pipped this time and it will be interesting to monitor the Cambrian Snooze between now and May 5th for out and out bias because the hatchet job they did on Mike Parker, Plaid Cymru candidate in the last General Election was unforgivable.  Plaid Cymru could do with the Green vote who took 1,514 votes last time and a coalition in this county seems sensible but at the moment the possibility of that appears further away than ever. As you might have ascertained by now, my big concern is for the Welsh Language even though I am remiss in its use. Plaid Cymru have distanced themselves from the image of being the party of the language but if anywhere needs life blown back into the language, it is in Ceredigion where like Carmarthensire, its use has declined to the same extent as coastal erosion, yearly biting into the cliffs. Through a combination of laziness by native speakers and not wanting to appear rude to the visitors, who like the area and then stay, the language's fate appears to mirror the 'Broc Mor' featured in the archive footage above.