If you've been following my you tube channel you will know that I have been on my travels this past week to Stratford upon Avon, to Warwick, to Leamington Spa to Hay on Wye to Caerphilly and then on to Bath.
A random collection of places to visit in a hire car. I have itchy feet since returning from Japan so after Ireland and the North of Ireland 2024 has been a year of travels and jaunts.
Coming back in to Wales on the Prince of Wales Bridge I booed at the sign. Criss crossing the border from Hereford to Brecon I didn't see the sign that said Wales just one that said Radnorshire. I'm sure you would have numerous examples along the border where it's not clear where England ends and Wales begins.
What's the big deal daddyo?
The big deal is that English/British Royalty have done a number on Wales since the investiture at Caernarfon Castle in 1969 and before that with Lloyd George being the Liberal (Democrat) Prime Minister of Great Britain. He has two statues, one out on a limb on the Maes in Caernarfon and the other under the trees in Museum Place, Cardiff, where many walk passed not knowing he's there. They are isolated. They give the vibe that "I once was a thunderous orator" but now they have put me in these remote places.
The 'Royal Welsh' show continues this patronage where the Welsh peasantry and from beyond know that after paying a King's ransom to enter the showground that they are the 'little people' and that they are there because of the Royals.
Cymru has ostensibly been pushed back to the West and North West where Plaid Cymru holds the four parliamentary seats. Imagine if they had tried to build Caerphilly Castle in Carmarthen or Aberystwyth? These would now be Labour or Reform UK strongholds.
What Wales and England have in common is how rough the towns have become! Leamington Spa and Warwick can now compete with Caerphilly.
Gentrified, Regency, posh as hell Bath is being held together by tourists and the well to do. I am not sartorially elegant and I have never pretended to be believing that fashion like theatre and golf are the pastimes of those who have too much time and money on their hands. Even I in my rags felt well dressed compared to some of the citizens of englandandwales towns that had just fallen out of bed.
Caerwrangon/Worcester was a disappointment. The town was evidently run for the benefit of car drivers. In Warwick, Leamington Spa and Worcester I had to ask ordinary citizens who were pleasant and helpful where the town libraries were because they no longer appear on the little signposts. The three were housed in buildings that had other uses, one for the Council, one for a museum and tea rooms and the other a University.
Libraries used to be refuges for the old boys reading newspapers. Now I am an old boy myself there is nowhere left to go. There are no third spaces where you can just be without arousing suspicion. You cannot be alone in a park or a library. There must be something iffy about you. You can sit there but you will have to pay for an overpriced latte. Your wifi isn't working? Well f**k you, it's free!
There was a big statue of Queen Victoria outside the town hall in Leamington Spa
.jfif)
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