O Fangor

[draigbach]

x-rated? really?? well...I wouldn't want to be expelled from the forum...I just got here. anyway, I prefer subtlety...

[Pete-Arr]

oh...I can't wait...I can't wait! ten more days until I go ...erm, but who's counting?

I think draigbach may be enroute to our little country now! Must be exciting!

Warm clothes packed, passport, phrase book Hope you have a good time draigbach.

p

[welshfreak]

I lived in Bangor a few years ago for 6 months, and didn't enjoy it as much as I thought due to lack of welsh. I found the people unfriendly and xenophobic (even though I'm from Cardiff) and had situations with people switching languages deliberatly when I was around. But don't get me wrong, that only accounts for a small minority of people I met, a majority seemed lovely people, and of course, the scenery was and is breathtaking!

[suzieb]

i have several people tell me of the same thing that they have had a very cool reception in the north. i am not really sure whether is a strong 'anti' feeling myself as i have never experienced it myself. i can understand people wanting to use only their natural language after all you would not go to a european country and expect everyone to speak your language, although i realise a lot of people do, in this instance when really all they are looking for is a slice of england with better weather i am not really sure why they bother to go in the first place. still there is always going to be prejudice of sorts where ever you go , you do not have to cross the borders, you only have to look at the north/south divide. quite a few londoners look down on anyone the other side of the watford gap, still as in all cases you can not paint everyone in the same light, there are good and bad where ever you go and someone will always have a gripe , best to put it behind you and find the nice folks out there. suzieb

[Arwen]

We had just the opposite experience. Found the people we met were quite nice. Of course we didn't meet many as we were on a driving tour, basically. And we weren't in Bangor. Maybe it's just a Bangor thing.

[suzieb]

do you think being able to communicate in welsh majes a difference.suzieb

[Sionned]

On our previous trip (not the most recent one) we had a cottage across the lake from Llanberis (at Dinorwic) for a week, which meant we went into Bangor fairly often during that time. We found the people there to be like most places - occasionally preoccupied with their own concerns, but generally nice to us and willing to help us out as needed. We were not using Welsh at all (Jim doesn't know it at all and I was still too shy to try). I think, in part, it must be how you approach people.

Sionned

[Hazel]

People are the same the world over. Yes?

[suzieb]

it has always been my opinion thet you reap what you sow, and i am a person who prefers to be civil to everyone, after all a smile and good manners cost you nothing, i have moved home several times and always became well known in the community mind you it is quite difficult to miss me, very few people have a large family these days and people tended to notice me in the street taking my brood yto school etc, i dont suppose being a chatterbox hurt either, my husband always said i could talk the leg off a table, put me in a bus stop and i always new everyone by the time the bus came, i think a woman with young children is easy to approach, the elderly especially seemed to drawn to the children, i have lost count the number of times i was asked when they were young if they were all mine. suzieb

[Hazel]

Lovely, Suzie. One day at Target Store a woman had four young children in a very special stroller. I must have cost a fortune. All the seats were taken but there was another spot for purchases. I told her that she had room for one more. She patted her tummy with a big smile and said "it will be here soon. She loved those children and was quite obviously proud of them. That always does my heart good - seeing a happy family.

[suzieb]

my defining moment was when a photographer approached me and asked me if i was interested in allowing my children to model his next sentance to me was, yuou dont often see a large family of goodlooking children, they usually look like they have been hit with a bag of spanners..............humph.........suzieb

[Hazel]

I trust you said "nac ydw" (NO)?

[suzieb]

i did indeed, i wanted to raise free thinking individuals who were not obssesses with therir looks or anything else. i must have done something right my two eldest daughters 18 and 16 have been approached several times, they are tall blonde green eyes with perfect figures, the thing i am most proud of is their intelligence and attitudes. i am very proud of them, you would probably never guess beauty and brains i wonder where they got it from, not me or my husband i think they are genetic throw backs, lookwise anyway. suzieb

[Hazel]

Green eyes? Bound to be a hit says this green-eyed person. I know you are proud.

I must tell you this. When I was at university, a social sciences professor was talking genetics. He said, "Some people think they have green eyes but they are wrong. There is no such thing as green eyes." After class I walked up to him and asked, "What color are my eyes?" He looked and said, "Well I'll be d................d!" End of that.

[suzieb]

i have one brown and one definately green, noticeably so i am told, so does that make me odd, wouldn't that be a surprise, my husband has those deep striking blue eyes, the boys have bright blue eyes and blonde curls, they were like little cherubs as babies, i have very dark hair, no blonde in either families, still thats genetics for you no curls either strange suzieb