Catching Up

A thousand apologies, my fault entirely, I lost my internet connexion through every fault of my own by going above and beyond that which I understand; it meant my losing the means of wishing you all a happy new year at the moment it mattered, therefore I now belatedly wish you a contented, prosperous and healthy future. To catch up on the latest happenings; this year sees the 25th birthday of the Coreff brewery, the first in Brittany for 200 years, and as you could say that I was a founding member, together with Roger le Jan of the Ty Coz in Morlaix, who, sadly is no longer with us, the other day, I, with the two founding brewers, Christian Blanchard & Jean-François Malgorn was interviewed by Paul Begot, one of the new owners, for a book on the history of the brewery to celebrate its first quarter century; Claire, a friend of long standing, having passed her nursing exams (her doctor's studies were taking too long) has found a job near Nice and doesn't know when she will be back; an old customer from Carhaix called in for a drink before flying back home to New York the following day, where he has helped to set up a Brittany/New York cultural association, 'BZH/NEW YORK, info@bzh-ny.org. Website: www.bzh-ny.org; Sandrine, when a student 15 years ago hitch-hiked from Rennes, a two hours drive, every friday to help me at the bar over the week-end and returned with her father on the monday morning, is now living in Avignon, but brought her family to see me during the holiday period. The icy roads are putting many people off, but on the 27th, Dic Banovich entertained us for a good part of the day with his guitar picking folk/blues, preceded by Glenn le Merdy on the drums with the musicians from Kentañ, Jean-Marie Lorans playing the bombarde; Riwal Jego, the Biniou Kozh & Saxophone; Emilien Robic, Clarinette/Treujen Gaol, and Samson Dayou playing bass. The musicians I was expecting yesterday contacted me to say that they were wary of the state of the roads, as was everybody else who didn't turn up. Christian Troadec was in here yesterday, to have a drink with his friends in one of his old haunts, on the election trail, he reminded us that the largest open-air music festival in France, 'Les Vieilles Charrues' had its genesis in this very bar; he's recently come under fire from the U.D.B. for allying himself with the 'Parti Breton', whom they claim have former U.M.P. members within their midst; his reasoning is that he is using the list system to facilitate the election of more autonomists. Most political strategists allow a little leeway on the borrowing of talent from the other side, or, cynically, of changing sides to make political headway, of which there are many examples, most famously, in France, the right wing Mitterand becoming a left wing President, and vice-versa, Jacque Chirac; of course our Benjamin Arnold was the very talented and capable Elystan Morgan, but his change of mode of transport quickly ran out of steam, not even taking him on a short hop, let alone to the terminus. It's always been a dodgy one arguing left over right when you have to put your Country first. Where I come from in the valleys, as many people knew the 'Internazionale' as 'Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau',and a miner in Wales was felt to be no different to his comrades in picks and shovels in China or Poland. In fact, claiming Welshness was deemed a useless luxury and the height of selfishness, even though we had nothing ourselves, Irishness and Englishness were respected, and we were in the forefront of the fight for minorities elsewhere. Difficult to credit it today, but for Aneurin Bevan, the most famous Welshman of the immediate post-war generation and one of the most important of all time, there was no Welsh perspective and no Welsh question, although for Lloyd George, an equally famous Welshman of a generation earlier, there was. Interestingly a letter has just appeared in the Western Mail written by a proud Welsh civil engineer living in Bristol, where he is respected for his Welshness, in contrast he says, to how he was made to feel at home in Wales, I have to add, within the local Labour Party.