Shwmae!

Have I said we're learning to speak Welsh? We started in September last year; we're really enjoying our twice  a week zoom lessons, although after the 2 hours we feel exhausted, with concentrating so hard. As well as the lessons we do daily exercises with Duolingo and on Fridays we take part in a group zoom reading aloud with others. So you can see we are putting in a lot of effort and time.

I can remember a little bit from school when I was 7 years old, just odd words and numbers, so no real help, but what is a help I can pronounce the words. I can remember a lot of French!!

One of our lecturers said I do have good pronunciation! Strangely Welsh is phonetical, so we've learnt the sounds, and its a help us say the words.

We watch bits of the Welsh TV and laugh together and agree it sounds like a foreign language, especially if they speak fast.

We have favourite words, mine is ... archfarchnad, which is supermarket and what about... ysgrifennu.. which is ..to write.  So some odd looking words, but we are getting used to saying them. I doubt we'll be fluent at the end of the year, but we're giving it a good try. 

So I'll end with ..

Noswaith dda.

Have any of you learnt a language in later years?

Chrisxx

A really nice person!

 I stopped to look at the flower shop in town this morning while waiting for Dh, who had been to the library for me.

    There was a man with his dog in a dog pram there too.. and incase you didn't know this, dog owners chat to each other all the time. I said 'posh pram' and he explained their dog had been seriously ill and the vet had been wonderful and I agreed.. because even though they appear to charge a lot, you can get an appointment the same day as you phone, they make a diagnoses there and then and then produce the treatment too, or are able to do what ever surgery is necessary with in hours, unlike our NHS! Vets are good we both said.. 

Then he quipped tongue in cheek,  that his wife and himself had come to the realisation that dogs are better than children and grandchildren.. because...

1. They don't eat you out of house and home

2. They don't ask for money

3. And if they have children you can sell them!

I came away from that man smiling, what a treat to chat to someone who gives you a smile!  I really enjoyed our trip to town.

Aren't some people really nice, what do you think?

Chrisxx

Bank Holiday in Winter

 Today it was a sunfilled day, but there was a really cold nip in the air, it was 9°C.

                       The front promenade was crowded.

This was one of the cafes.  

People were there looking at the RNLI's craft, brought out as a fund raising activity. Our volunteer crews were called out 49 times last year; the one time to rescue a dog, which was featured on TV!

Dh and I had been to a town café and drove home via the sea front.

We were in a nose to tail line of cars as people surged across road at the crossings.

There was a huge queue snaking outside the fish n chip shop and the smell from it was very inviting, but we drove on home... ohhh I could have eaten a bag of chips!

It's not even summer and the crowds are arriving already.

Well it is a seaside town and it was Bank Holiday and the sun was shining.

Chrisxx