1997

So Lady Di was already dead by the time that her ex husband's country became devolved. I had forgotten. I remember where I was when Wales became devolved. Clwb Ifor Bach! I was with an Irish Socialist Republican from Tremorfa who I don't even know whether he is alive or dead today. Dead I would imagine but I am so glad that we didn't say goodbye. I think that night was the last time that I saw him. After the result from Carmarthen came in, John Meredith's cherubic, angelic features lighting up the night sky. We legged it over to the Welsh College of Music and Drama. The people I was with were voting for Independence! I was holding an old fabric 'ddraig goch' that I had bought in Siop y Pethe, Aberystwyth, a flag that had celebrated Cynog Dafis victory in Ceredigion five years previously and a flag that had been tied to the bonnet of a car that drove past Cayo Evan's Glandennis, stopped, and whose owner had the honour of shaking the great man's hand. Dafydd Wigley, Ron Davies, Richard Livesey, Win Griffiths, Peter Hain the architects of the Yes Campaign were all outside on a very good morning in Wales. Wales, Bipolar Nation! 1997 was the year that I went to the GP and said "listen buster I am fucking depressed" A devolved Wales couldn't stop my descent into a depressive slump. At this stage I was unipolar! Down all the time with occasional flashes of anger! I had lived for ten years in Grangetown, Cardiff. That might have had something to do with it.
The doctor told me that I wasn't presenting as ill enough to be seen by mental health services. I had my degree in humanities from the University of Glamorgan but I didn't know what the fuck to do with it. Like Wales I didn't have a plan and look at the pair of us now, twenty years on. We are both in a similar position! I am now bipolar because I went high, really high, touched the stars but the problem was I was still depressed. Just depressed with a smile on my face. Many of those I knew at the time have done well for themselves. Some of them are actually in the Senedd Chamber itself as elected representatives. One is in the Media reporting on such matters! What of the Senedd? What would my Socialist Republican friend think of the fact that 7 UKIP members were voted in, in 2015? Were they even around in 1997? Cardiff, the Capital City of Wales didn't vote for a devolved Wales yet they have the building in Cardiff Bay which was Cardiff Docks before this! Souless and sanitised Mermaid Quay throws illumination on a Norwegian Church which has already been moved once and is now threatened to be surrounded by new developments. Butetown, Tiger Bay but is the Assembly a toothless tiger? Yes, of course it is! On the weekend, the new kids on the block of Independence met up in Caernarfon and Cardiff and the best of luck to them all. I feel that it is going to take a seismic kick in the balls to the Land of my Fathers to push us towards Independence. Another Tryweryn God Forbid? We didn't vote in 1997 for 'Little Britain' but this is what we have with the Assembly. Carwyn and his Labour cronies pretending to be friends with Corbyn. Tony Blair gave us a big toy to play with and we're still playing with it twenty years on! It appears no one will get bored with this soother if they are earning £60,000 a year minimum. I nearly lost my flag that night to someone who had taken a shine to it. (ironically Cynog's son in law) He obviously didn't realise that it had a history. I wrapped myself in it and trudged back to Grangetown wondering why I was still depressed. Today I realise why!