Cardiff #Psychogeography 4

The Size of Wales

I don't understand how you can be a Welsh Nationalist (small or big n) and not be a British Republican first. Of course you can be a Welsh Republican but if you diss and dismiss the land mass next door wot conquered us then you are living in a bubble and you will fly away in it and pop over the Irish Sea somewhere and land in the Gaeltacht and realise that it isn't all 'man gwyn man draw'. Take a breath. I like to write blog posts when the wind is battering the hatches. There is something end of the world about it and haven't we all been living an end of the world script over the last two years with Covid 19 and the threat of another War? You can read some of my storm inspired posts at the bottom of this one. 

Wales is a ridiculous size and shape to be an Independent nation but that is what we yearn for, those with Welsh names, the aps and the Owains and the Llywelyns among us. Those names tell of a Welsh Royal Family and the blood and soil nationalists want to get back to that. Another blydi hierarchy mun like wot they've got down the Job Centre or down Porth y Teigr where the cyfryngis and the crachach play their middle class game of accumulating wealth through the medium of the Welsh language.

I don't want a Sovereign Nation. I want an Independent Republic. I want the House of Windsor gone and a British President sat in Buckingham Palace. Who knows the first one could be Huw Edwards of the BBC. Perhaps he's playing a brilliant game of Shoni bob ochor and when the shit hits the fan and we person the barricades up the Mall who knows Huw might come up there in a Pony and Trap and announce his Presidential Manifesto. He might end up wrestling Michael Sheen for the title, the not for profit actor from Port Talbot. He'd make a great first British President having played both Brian Clough and Tony Blair in the films.

Middle aged men like myself have to have a certain amount of restraint when talking about the Queen because our parents were alive when she was at the top of her game in the 1950s having just been crowned in multicolour on the telly. Who can ever forget the anecdote about Queen Salote of Tonga?

There's no sound on this so you can keep reading as you look out for the all smiling Queen Salote. That is what made her stand out in drab, austerity post war Britain. She was smiling. Don't forget there was still rationing until 1954. Were the Royal Family subjected to rationing like their subjects or would they have had grouse and caviar as per usual? Who knows? The flys on the wall of Buck House have long since shifted off their mortal dung pile. 

I make light of things in my usual cheery British way but I am deadly serious about wanting rid of the the House of Windsor. We in Wales had to sit through the Investiture of the 'Prince of Wales' in 1969 at Castell Caernarfon and like good little boys and girls we had to wave both flags and accept our subjugation as a Principality. This event, not 34 months after the Aberfan Disaster. 

Some did not acept the subjugation and some never will but while the House of Windsor still rules the waves the patronising man above is to be our future King, possibly any day now. He got rid of one wife or rather 'the Firm' did with the assistance of Parisien Paparazzi and now his new Consort, the soon to be Queen Camilla, once described by the Queen as that wicked woman is ready to rock and roll.

Then we have King William and Queen Catherine to look forward to and all their spring offs while Harry and Meghan try and behave like common people over in the States. I could go on and on. You get my drift?

For the disparate tribes of Wales to unify as one. For the Gogs and Hwntws to get together for something other than competing against eachother at the Eisteddfod and roaring on a Public School game of Rugby at the oh so aptly named 'Principality Stadium' wearing the Prince of Wales feathers over their hearts. The tribes of Wales must unify to rid themselves of the British Royal Family. To do this they/we must follow a step by step approach.

• Don't vote Tory at any election ever! The Tories are the Hand Maidens of British Monarchy. They are in place to keep the antiquated and oppressive British Class System alive. By voting Conservative you are voting for the British Royal Family.
• Don't vote Establishment Labour. Of course Welsh Labour is the option that most people go for as there is very little choice otherwise. They have now gone into a pact with Plaid Cymru who used to talk about Welsh Independence many years ago in smoky filled rooms above a pub in Merthyr Tydfil.  
• Show unity with British Republican Movements across the Dis-United Kingdom. Just because you are Welsh doesn't mean that you can't talk and break bread with others who are not Welsh. 

How somebody can write about Abolishing the Monarchy without mentioning Prince Andrew I'll never know.

Storm Inspired Blog Posts

https://sharkfishinginwales.blogspot.com/2015/12/syriza-cymraeg.html

https://sharkfishinginwales.blogspot.com/2014/01/barddoniaeth-y-storomstorm-poetry.html

Yer Mum/Dy Famiaith

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-forgiving-life/201807/what-is-the-difference-between-being-offended-and-harmed

Dwi'n cysidro rhedeg gwersyll esgid neu 'boot camp' i Gymry Cymraeg sydd yn cymryd rhan mewn pentwr 'pile on' ar drydar ar ôl i'r iaith Cymraeg neu hunaniaeth neu ddiwylliant Cymru cael ei thramgwyddo mewn unrhyw ffordd. Y drwgdybir arferol sydd wrthi yn trotio allan rhyw ymosodiad cas oherwydd 'llinell gyntaf amddiffyniad ydy ymosod.' Mae'r croen mor denau ar sgerbwd Cymru erbyn hyn fel bod y cyffyrddiad ysgafnaf yn gadael briw enfawr. Ydy o rywbeth i wneud gyda pharch a diffyg parch tybed? 

Pan yn athro yn ysgol Uwchradd yn Ne Ddwyrain Llundain un o'r ymosodiadau eiriol a ddefnyddiwyd gan y plant ar ei gilydd oedd 'Yer Mum!'. Sarhad ar y person trwy ddefnyddio rhywun annwyl iddynt wrth ddisgrifio mewn ffordd hyll neu anghwrtais. Wnaeth wneud i fi feddwl tybed allwn ni gasglu bob sarhad am y Gymraeg, am genedlaetholdeb Gymraeg ac am ein hunaniaeth a rhoi dan derm ymbarél 'Dy Fam Iaith!'.

Mi wnaeth broses dad sensiteiddio am y Gymraeg digwydd i mi trwy sgyrsiau gyda fy nghymydog yng Nghrangetown. Dyn pendant ei farn am y Gymraeg ac yn ddi-flewin ei dafod yn ei datgan. Yn y dyddiau cynnar mi roedd 'na ambell i gwympo mas/allan ac ar un achlysur mi wnaeth o godi a gadael ar ôl i mi fwrw nôl yn erbyn ei ystrydebau. I ddod i nabod o'n well mi sylweddolais fod ei farn â'i safbwyntiau am yr iaith Gymraeg yn dod o glwyfau emosiynol. Mae o wedi disgrifio i fi sut mae brodorion cynhenid Caerdydd fel y fo yn teimlo am y mewnlifiad o Gymry Cymraeg i'r Brifddinas. "We (Cardiff) didn't vote for the Assembly but they are all working in there on big salaries", "We had a perfectly good English Medium School in Llandaff North until they decided to turn it into a Welsh Medium". Mae ei glwyfau emosiynol yn dod o'r ffaith ei fod o (yn ei farn o) wedi cael addysg sâl yn Nhrelái oherwydd bod yr athrawon i gyd wedi dod i mewn o Orllewin Cymru i ddysgu nhw ag rhain yn mynnu siarad Cymraeg. Roedd rhaid iddo adael addysg yn bedwar ar ddeg oed ag mae o'n ddug am hynny. Efallai'r clwyf fwyaf di'r ffaith iddo fod yn briod a Chymraes o Sir Gaerfyrddin ag mi wnaeth hi ysgaru ag o ac mae o yn ddug ac yn chwerw am hynny. Dwi yn dallt ei gefndir yn well ag dwi yn llai beirniadol ohono fo hyd yn oed ei fod o yn feirniadol am y Gymraeg. Bob tro rydym yn cyfarfod am baned dwi'n disgwyl iddo agor y sgwrs gyda "'Dy Famiaith" a dau fys yn yr awyr. Dwi'n mwy goddefgar efallai oherwydd bod y cymydog yma yn ei wythdegau ac yn anabl. 

Rhai o'r sylwadau ar drydar mewn ymateb i Jeremy Bowen, y brodor o Gaerdydd a wnaeth datgan ei fod yn teimlo dan fygythiad gan wleidyddiaeth yr iaith, yn disgrifio fo fel hen agwedd o'r 70au. Mi roedd 'na agweddau fel yna yng Nghaerdydd ac maen nhw dal yma pa bynnag swigen dych chi'n digwydd byw ynddi. Ydy o'n ddigon i'r Cymry Cymraeg ei iaith y Brifddinas i obeithio bydd yr agwedd yma yn marw allan? Ydy hyn yn debyg i obeithio bydd y mewn llifiad i weddill Cymru cael ei atal?   

I Gymry Cymraeg ei iaith ddysgu fod yn 'gyfiawn' ac yn aeddfed mae rhaid i ni ddechrau ymateb yn llai amddiffynnol ag yn llai ymosodol yn erbyn pobol sydd yn ddigon twp neu gul i leisi farn am yr iaith. Dechrau deall a chwestiynu pam ydynt fel hun yn lle saethu off ein trydaron 'clyfar' ystrydebol ein hunan. Mae o'n gêm all neb ennill. Efallai fod o'n ddigon i ffeilio dan 'Dy Famiaith'.       

The Eton Grifting Song

Adapted for stage and screen by Guto Gaynor

Jolly boating weather,

And a hay harvest breeze,

Blade on the feather,

Shade off the trees,

Swing swing together,

With your bodies between your knees,

Swing swing together,

With your bodies between your knees.

Skirting past the rushes,

Ruffling o'er the weeds,

Where the lock stream gushes,

Where the cygnet feeds,

Let us see how the wine-glass flushes,

At supper on Boveney meads,

Let us see how the wine glass flushes,

At supper on Boveney meads.

Thanks to the bounteous sitter,

Who sat not at all on his seat,

Down with the beer that's bitter,

Up with the wine that's sweet,

And Oh that some generous "critter",

Would give us more ducks to eat!

Carving with elbow nudges,

Lobsters we throw behind,

Vinegar nobody grudges,

Lower boys drink it blind,

Sober as so many judges,

We'll give you a bit of our mind.

"Dreadnought" "Britannia" "Thetis",

"St George" "Prince of Wales" and "Ten",

And the eight poor souls whose meat is,

Hard steak, and a harder hen,

But the end of our long boat fleet is,

Defiance to Westminster men.

Rugby may be more clever,

Harrow may make more row,

But we'll row for ever,

Steady from stroke to bow,

And nothing in life shall sever,

The chain that is round us now,

And nothing in life shall sever,

The chain that is round us now.

Others will fill our places,

Dressed in the old light blue,

We'll recollect our races,

We'll to the flag be true,

And youth will be still in our faces,

When we cheer for an Eton crew,

And youth will be still in our faces,

When we cheer for an Eton crew.

Twenty years hence this weather,

May tempt us from office stools,

We may be slow on the feather,

And seem to the boys old fools,

But we'll still swing together,

And swear by the best of schools,

But we'll still swing together,

And swear by the best of schools.

https://sharkfishinginwales.blogspot.com/2021/04/eton-elite.html