We have had a fantastic couple of days with Hopkin and the Morgan clan.
Hop woke up with a sore head after a biggish night and no memory of talking to his sister .We finished the night at their local 50 meters down the road and by the sign est 1400 on one sde and 1500 on the other. C had an Amaretto on ice which she said was like drinking liquid xmas cake icing.
We went into Bridgend because the local regiment was getting the freedom of the city and they marched through the streets led by a goat .Then a commemoration to local boy who was killed
in Iraq last year.C was intrigued by the Sgt Major barking out orders and adjusting the kit of the poor hapless buggers who may have had a slightly dull button.Sian Jo lipread him saying to one look at these fooking medals they are a fooking disgrace.He was apoplectic with rage when one of them fainted on parade and marched him to the side,this was at 15c so you did wonder about him under stress at 40c +.However the whole thing was very moving with the family of the dead soldier there.
After that Nicole Cook who won the gold in the female road race is a local village girl and there was fete in the village to celebrate her achievement ,the weather by now was very warm ,the best they had had all summer.There were masses of people and spirits seemed to be visibly lifted.
Then on to village house to see dear Gwyn ,David and his family.Hop and Sian left us there so we could have look around the farm.David milks 60 cows raises bullocks and lambs and grows grain,so a real mixed farm.He has also converted every olde barn and shed into flats and homestays and they are very popular .One flat has been occupied by the same person for 15 yrs and another for 3.I also know why Hop has to go to church on Sunday ,he has just sold for David an old stone shed on a corner with very small foot print for 100 thousand pounds.I will include photos later. David also runs down to the sea and old couple sit in a kiosk selling drinks and welsh cakes etc and clipping the ticket for him for parking. It was very moving going to the old church and seeing the old Morgan names and then seeing Sue ,Davids wife and Gwyn Davids mother all died in a short space of time and of course Trish.David took us back so we could have 2mins rest before heading out in Gwyns to meet a lot of the relations together.
In the mean time Sian Jo had done a family tree for me to keep the gaffs to minimum .
Gwyn lives on the farm and has cows around his house ,he actually still goes down at 7 every morning to help milk and other chores.At 82 he is as sharp as a tack knows all about our family and every thing about the farm business.We had a great time catching up with people that we had met and others that we hadn't. Rhys who was out 30 yrs ago remembered going to Freemans woolshed party .
Will finish later we are at Stratford upon Avon C has a neat brandy to warm up and we need food