We were up at dawn. I\nwas so excited I was nearly sick, but I still managed to eat a bowl of\nporridge. This was our Christmas trip we were embarking on \u2026 to have Christmas\nwith my grandparents and my uncle and aunt in Cardiff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Come on, Glynis,\u2019 my\nmother shouted. \u2018What on earth are you doing?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I came downstairs\nwearing my pink fairy dress which I insisted was the proper outfit for\nChristmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
My dad was so proud of\nhis new Ford Prefect. He drove onto the main road stopping at \u2018Williams the\ngarage,\u2019 who filled the car with petrol. \nAt last we were off!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The A470 weaves its way\nthrough the heart of Wales from Llandudno to Cardiff. Each mile passes through\nthe most wonderful landscape. From the lakes and crags of N Wales, through to\nthe rolling velvety hills of mid Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wet slates shone as\nthey lay scattered on the ground, quarries looming out of a typical North Wales\nmist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Across from Ffestiniog,\nthe newly-built nuclear power station squatted next to a cooling lake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Up on the hills after\nDolgellau, there was a pass where we looked for the \u2018Gwylliaid Cochion\u2026\u2019. the\nwild red ones.<\/em> My mother wound me up\nby encouraging me to look out for these brigands: \u2018Look Glynis! Look, look!\u2019\nAnd I was certain I saw one peeping from behind a rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We had our first coffee\nfrom a flask, in a lay-by on the other side of the pass. Dad said, \u2018It\u2019s good\nto stretch your legs y\u2019know. Come on Gwyn,\u2019 but my mother was dozing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Builth Wells,\nfarmers were buying and selling cattle, leaning against cold iron gates,\nlooking in detail at the animals and signalling to the auctioneer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The River Wye out-ran\nus as we drove on, parallel to the swift bubbling water, on our way to Brecon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Near Merthyr, the\nvalleys ran dark and cold. People had lined faces The Wind in the valleys was\nreally cruel<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we drew nearer to\nCardiff, in the dark, I was star-struck by the brightly lit hoardings\nadvertising anything from vacuum cleaners to Gone with the Wind \u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n We were nearly there,\nthe anticipation almost too much to bear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At last, the car\nstopped and we all jumped out to be greeted by my grandparents, aunt and uncle\n– my grandmother, planting lipstick kisses on our cheeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Opposite the house,\nHeath Park was laced with fairy lights. Christmas trees glowing in the windows\nof the surrounding houses. The air was icy against my face and my fairy dress\ngave me no protection. Then, we went into the house, where there was the smell\nof polish, sausages cooking and port and lemons. Christmas had started.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We were up at dawn. I was so excited I was nearly sick, but I still managed to eat a bowl of porridge. This was our Christmas trip we were embarking on \u2026 to have Christmas with my grandparents and my uncle and aunt in Cardiff. \u2018Come on, Glynis,\u2019 my mother shouted. \u2018What on earth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,101],"tags":[102,12,11],"class_list":["post-230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2","category-december-2019","tag-christmas","tag-my","tag-was"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-3I","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions\/231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}