Fort for the day (or Caerdydd) is a very bad joke, which many will not get, and they should not worry one bit. Anyway, today I enjoyed a day in our capital city. It is a place worthy of our great little nation. There is loads to see in Cardiff. Not the least being the very excellent National Museum, inspired by Caerwys' own Herbert Lewis. In the natural history section they have an enormous basking shark hanging from the ceiling.
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Outside the city hall I spotted a war memorial plaque to an unusual troop of Welsh (spelt Welch in this case) soldiers. Here it is:
The cycling regiment saw action in the Great War - it was formed in Cardiff itself. However men on bikes were no match for German machine guns, and as far as I am aware no regiments ever went to war on bicycles again.
Earlier this week I spotted the memorial in Rowen to Huw T Edwards the leading socialist in North Wales in the mid-20th century. In Cardiff they have a full figure statue to the greatest 'red' of them all, Aneurin Bevan - as the inscription reads - founder of the National Health Service.
And finally as our time in Cardiff drew to a close, I caught this image of passengers seemingly colliding on the station platform:
Unusual to see 'Neu without a traffic cone on his head! that's what i seem to remember of Cardiff on the week end.
ReplyDeletere cyclists at war I think you'll find that they were used extensively in WWII after Normandy and also I seem to recall their use by Canadians in WWI for some reason could be wrong on this point.
I enjoyed this post and am particularly interested to learn about Aneurin Bevan! In my other (non-blogging) life, I'm a medical writer and a citizen of the United States (as opposed to a citizen of the Internet?). I've long hoped that we might get a nationalized healthcare system of our own, although the prospects aren't encouraging. I know every system has its problems but I'm curious whether Bevan is well-known and whether he is highly regarded? I'm off to read more about him.
ReplyDeleteHi Juna! Thank you for commenting. On the left of British politics Aneurin Bevan (or just Nye) is almost worshipped. The National Health Service is the sacred cow of politics here; anybody who even tries to introduce reforms to is usually howled down - as is the case with the present government. The NHS is far from perfect, but folk here tend to think it is a very good thing indeed.
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