Y Rhwyg

I woke this morning realising that my mind is English and my heart is Welsh. I think in the English language and I translate into Welsh. The first seven years of my life were immersed in the Welsh language and you know what those good ol boys the Jesuits say "Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man" They probably didn't mean to be sexist or maybe they did because they were a religious order.  In less than a month I will be walking/trekking/skipping the metaphorical 'rhwyg' between two nations. I call them nations even though a large number of the Welsh have been subjugated to such an extent that they refer to themselves as a Principality, they invest their money in the Principality Building Society and they go and watch their sport in the Principality Stadium. As in other countries of the world, money talks and the nation has sold its soul for a bag full of coins. We worship businessmen and economists as if they were Gods because they give us work. "Coda dy gap i Mr Springman". 
My journey in june will be 'siwrne shamanaidd' I will be like a cat marking it's territory. In the first three days of the journey I will be walking passed the school where I was educated and immersed in an English Language, Public School culture, an environment which has certainly tainted my heart and which makes me more cerebral and cold on occasion (hence the T shirts). It was a long time ago but I wonder what my reaction will be to looking down on that prison where I did a six year stretch from 1977-1983. I am physically ready for this journey but whether I am psychologically and emotionally we will have to see. The rhwyg/split in my psyche has to do with the trauma of splitting between two very different cultures. Some do not see such a difference between Wales and England hence the donning of the cloak of Principality with such enthusiasm and the reading of the Western Mail by its subjects but a seismic shift has begun in Cardiff Bay and perhaps by the time I get to Chepstow the gap in Offa's Dyke will have got bigger. My heart wanted to write this blog post in Welsh but my cold cerebral head got the better of me.