Beaj (English / Cornish)

Well Damn, here it is July already, and me with no new post. Actually, I suspect July will be rather slim pickins, 'cos I'm going over the pond. My now nearly yearly jaunt over the Atlantic begins in a mere three days.

First I will arrive in London on July 7, around 8PM local time. I will collect my hired car and drive to Shepperton where I will stay in "The Ship" hotel for the night. The following morning I will get up at a modest hour, and enjoy a full English. Then I will drive an hour and a half westward to Stonehenge. At least twice before I have been in the proximity of Stonehenge and have not managed to stop. Since I have a whole day's delay in England, I decided to make a point of seeing it, even if the weather is foul. After I've had enough of Stonehenge and its world heritage site, I will drive about an hour and half south to Southampton, where I will stay overnight and leave the next afternoon for Rennes in Brittany.

Rennes, or Roazhon as it's known in Breton, is now the regional capital of the modern Brittany. It's traditional capital, Nantes or Naoned lays in another region called Loire Atlantique much to the chagrin of Breton Nationalists. During my week in Brittany, I'm planning on taking the oulpan course in Breton language, and at the same time I'm hoping to meet some people who are involved in the language movement there. I have not been successful in meeting activists in Brittany, eventhough I have been there on three previous occasions. The people whom I met, while lovely and extremely kind and giving, were not the rowdy activist sort.

After Brittany, I will leave for Hamburg to visit my old friend Dörthe Brißke. Dörthe and I met at East Stroudsburg University while we were both undergrads and both studying Spanish. In many of our classes, she and I were the only two non-native speakers, and we made fast friends. We've kept in touch over the years, and she has been here to visit the States a few times, and likewise I have been to see her; this will make my third visit to see her in Germany.

After Hamburg, I will travel to Manchester by plane, and then drive to Wales to spend a week visiting with Mary Jones and surveying the curiosities of the countryside. My final week will be during the Eisteddfod, and since it's only a few miles away from Tai'n Lôn this year, I will be attending it more frequently than I have in the past. Hopefully both Barbara Martin from New Orleans and my old friend Kelvin will be back in Wales as well during my stay, so that even if I don't spend much time with them at the Eisteddfod, I will still get to visit with them for a short while.

Mes wosa henna, my yu trist dhe vos dhe Europ an hav-ma drefen yth eosov vy ow predery rak an den noweth a re dhos dhymm. Ev yu pur hweg ha hir y gos, ha yowynk, ha yma ev ow leverel traow pur hweg dhymm. Nyns esov vy ow kodhvos py eus kerensa wir ona lemmyn, mes martesen eus. Yndella ny won yn-fas rak mos an hav-ma. Martesen yma kerensa ow kortos dhymm, ha vy a vydh bell a-ves...