DutchEnery

That was the week that was, picking up a stomach bug, giving some pretty bad cramps. The funny thing was, it seemed to coincide with something that I had eaten. Food poisoning perhaps? Or just a bout of some flu virus. I did measure for COVID but that was OK. All of the week I was bad enough not to be able to sleep properly, but hey all now back to normal. So, I can read the papers again properly and watch the news on TV. Possibly wasting my time really but hey, why not. The old game that is played in Britain has had another result. The game is called ’Who is to blame’? This game is a particular favourite of politicians and those heading organisations such as big companies. The game starts with the words – ‘It is not MY fault’, and ‘It wasn’t ME’, followed by ‘Don’t look at ME’. Ending by ‘Who can we blame’? Lovely game that, kids also love that game, a real British pastime. So, what is this about? Well, reports are coming out that says the diving expert who was taken on by the Lancas...

Reports have come in from Great Missenden, in fact from the graveyard of St Peter’s and St Paul’s. The earth has moved by 10 yards. It seemed to have originated over Roald Dahl’s grave. I am not surprised that poor Roald has turned over a few hundred times and tried to get out. The author of James and the Giant Peach (1961) and a host of other books has now been subjected to the 2023 rage of woke authoritianism. Apparently the publishers (Puffin) have decided to re-write some texts in order to remove so-called ‘affronts’. That is to say, words like ‘fat’, ‘ugly’ (Caspar Slok) and witches can no longer wear wigs because they are ‘bald’. Presumably witches must now look like beauty queens. Ooooh sorry, cannot say queens anymore either, OK then look and act like ‘Kate, in The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare’ . Perhaps they will now take Shakespeare to task next! When will this idiocy stop? Even the Church of England, and I suppose the Church in Wales will follow suit, i...

Does anyone really know much about history nowadays? I mean comparing certain periods from the timeline to other periods and noting similarities? Just take the time after the First World War, so the years 1920 to 1939. Compare this to today. The years 1945 to 55 were more or less to get out of the destruction and we were busy with rebuilding and resetting the economies of Europe. Then in the twenties, the political situation started to change. Things became more aggressive again. Just look at today's politics, virtually the same as the late twenties (after the Great Depression), a greater division between left and right streams. In the UK we have a so-called socialist party (Labour) that actually is nothing of the sort. It does nothing much for the lower classes. In fact it has become extremely belligerent to the tune of wanting to kill all Tories (Tories=Conservatives). When confronted they invariably say it is a figure of speech. Just as people like Hitler or today’s Putin woul...

President Zelensky was in the UK and also on a trip to other European states. It was heartwarming to see the welcome, and one might have thought ‘Great, now the war will be over soon what with all the new equipment being given’. The reality, unfortunately, is much different, nothing has been promised! The Germans are still reluctant to send the tanks, the French dither as usual and here in the UK we stand in our old rotting buildings applauding then go home happy we have done a good job. The reality is the war will continue and frankly the way it is going Ukraine will be forced to accept the loss of the provinces claimed or rather already annexed, by Russia. What our Western leaders do not seem to get into their champagne sodden brains is that Russia will never give up its belief in their empire. They simply want to go back to what was the USSR and more. Because their influence in those days came over Poland, Eastern Germany, all the Baltics, Romania, Bulgaria, and even half of Austria...

Heddiw dw i’n ddarllen llyfr newydd – Cysgod y Cryman (Shadow of the Sickle) gan Ffowc Elis. Mae’n stori am t eulu’n byw ar fferm. Hefyd, mae gan y llyfr lawer o eiriau Gymraeg newydd i ddysgwyr. Ac idiomau fel hyn – ar fy llw (by golly), dim o’r fath beth (nothing of the sort), ac geiriau fel eiddigeddus (jealous), diawc (you know, as an expression ), tyrd ( c ome!). Gwych yn wir! Dw i’n dal i ddysgu Cymraeg ond dal angen cyfieithu â Ap Geiriadur o’r Prifysgol Bangor. Y broblem fwyaf yw mai ychydig o siaradwyr Cymraeg sydd o gwmpas yr ardal. Dw i’n eisiau‘ r cyfle siarad â siaradwyr rhugl. Efallai, gallai defnyddio’r Rhyngrwyd fod o gymorth. Yn y cyfamser fe fydda i’n barhau darllen llyfr Cysgod y Cryman. Yn ffodus, mae’r llyfr yn cynnwys cyfieithiadau o’r geiriau anodd. Arfbais (Coat of Arms), a beth am anghynaladwy? Ie, gair am ein triniaeth o’r blaned a’r defnydd o’i hadnoddau! Unsustainable! Un cwestiwn, pam ydy bobl yn drio newid yr iaith? Defnyddio fformatau fel dw i yn lle ...

Dw i’n gwerthfawrogi byw yng Nghymru ond nawr dysgu’r iaith dydw i ddim yn deall defnyddio geiriau fel j ô cs (jokes), joio (enjoy), dreifio (drive), ac hyd yn oed weithiau wso (use). Mae’r rhain gyfieithiadau gwael amlwg o eiriau Saesneg! Stoppo! Gair arall eto! Y gair Gymraeg i stoppo neu stopio ydy atal (prevent), neu aros (wait) a hefyd gair arall feindio ! Feindio? Beth yw hynny? Wel, dim does gair Cymraig cywir am ‘find’. Gallwch defnyddio ‘dod o hyd’, neu ‘canfod neu darganfod’. Darganfod ydy ‘discover’ a canfod ydy ‘detect’. Felly, stoppo wso neu joio ydy geiriau Saesneg! Os dymunwn achub Cymru fel gwlad â ’i hiaith ei hun, atal defnyddio geiriau Saesneg. I ddysgwyr ‘r iaith – joio ydy mwynhau, dreifio ydy gyrru, wso ydy defnyddio, wrth gwrs. The above is a observation I have made a few times. The use, especially here in the southern part of Wales, the use of English words. To make these more like Welsh they then put io at the end. So, to stop has become stoppio or stoppo,...

Mobile phones – a curse or a blessing? Well, frankly speaking it just depends how each and everyone of us who have one, use it. For a start I believe most people do not use the available security methods. For instance if you have a VPN this can work on multiple (usually about 5) electronic devices. My phone automatically switch es to the VPN. You ought to switch off Bluetooth and NFC (Near Field Communication) if not needed. Apparently Apple Pay does not allow NFC to be switched off. Google Pay does. Most important don’t forget to set a proper password. Use the three word or more system and perhaps intersperse the words with a symbol as well! If you are afraid you will forget your passwords, look at a password manager. The best free one is Bitwarden, there is a paid for one as well but the free one is more than sufficient for most users. Bitwarden will need a master password so use one you will remember as it is the ONLY one you will have to. Insofar as Google use is concerned I ...

It really surprises me to note how thoughtless the human race actually is. We seem to simply accept we are the only thing that matters on this planet. We, without any thoughts at all, use it for our own ease and disregard every other living entity. We use the land to plonk our mostly substandard houses all over the place. We disgorge our wastes and other effluents into any available watercourse or just use the sea. Not so long ago a small seaside village on the Welsh coast had a lovely beach. Unfortunately close by was a large sewage outlet. Swimming there you would notice the usual rubbish. We called them brown trouts! No prizes for guessing what they were! Fortunately that has been remedied but even today large amounts of sewage still gets into our waters. The river at the back of my house also carries sewage because our Victorian sewers are by no means of the standard you would expect in 2023! All of it is without any regard for other living animals, fish, or birds. We just pay lip-...