St David's Day

As a child I used to get five shillings on St David's Day. My father's side were from the coal-mining Valleys of Wales. Newbridge to be precise, home of boxer Joe Calzaghe, Steve Strange once of Visage, and a half-decent rugby team. I have vivid memories of visiting the grandparents in a typical terraced house with an outside loo and tobacco hanging in an upstairs bedroom. We also spent a lot of time around Llantony where my uncle and his wife converted an old, burnt out smithy: a lovely area.

Anyway, St David lived in Wales some 1,500 years ago where he founded a monastic community at Glyn Rosin in Pembrokeshire which is where St David's Cathedral now stands. It's recorded that he died on 1 March in (probably) 588. Although less famous than St Patrick's Day, there are parades, balls and parties around the world. There was a Welsh Ball in Beijing last night (we didn't go) and this week is Wales Week in Chongqing of all places. The city is twinned with, not Cardiff, but Wales the country, possibly in a brave but futile attempt to achieve parity in population.