July 9 lunchbox
Breakfast:
Sing songy bowl of Cornflakes with semi-skimmed organic milk
Walk to Work:
It was down Cowbridge East Road in my new slip-on black shoes purchased yesterday from M&S. They were pretty comfortable, but with any new pair of shoes there is usually a bit of pain, before the gain kicks in.
Just before 10 am I caught a bendy bus down to Cardiff Bay and the Welsh Assembly for a chat with Minister for Economic Development _ and not racecourses!_ Dr Brian Gibbons.
Okay so Brian might be out of a job this week, but he was in fine form. Quite a number of civil servants and a special adviser _ and I mean really top draw calibre people here _ were also in Brian's office with me:
They were James Price, the affable Gareth Hall and Jeff Andrews.... and oh yes Andy "So be it" Phillips.
Half an hour in and Ian Courtney and Simon Gibson entered the room.... oh dear oh dear!
Lunchbox
4 ham and tomato sandwiches
1 Rachel's organic yoghurt
1 banana
1 apple
1 nectarine
2 chocolate digestive
RANDOM THOUGHT
Limited audience this one:
A man from the Valleys of South Wales talking to a citizen of Cardiff.
Valleys man: Listen my friend, if it wasn't for the Valleys there wouldn't be a Cardiff. Our coal powered the world!
Cardiff man: Listen Taff any monkey can dig coal, but we had the skill to sell the bloody stuff!
NOT TO BE CONTINUED
Comments
The Valleys rock!
T Davies, Ystrad
The tension between Cardiff and its Valleys neighbours has been well documented and one that does need addressing. For instance, where else in the UK have such disparate accents evolved in such proximity. That disparity between accents is a tangible example of the conflict that exists between the two regions.
The undeniable fact is that without the iron and coal from the South Wales Valleys, Cardiff would not have grown into the international port it became and, subsequently, the capital city of Wales.
Sion's fictional conversation between "Valleys man" and "Cardiff man" is one that is consistently repeated when representatives of each community meet.
However, it is perhaps time to dwell less on the how and more on the why if Wales is ever to move forward from its stagnant cultural and sociological condition.
Professor R Hughes, University of Wales, Aberystwyth