Posts Tagged ‘Europe’
It was seven-ish and I was sitting in a nice-enough room overlooking the front entrance to the pub above which I had just moved in. The pub was the Pig and Whistle on Soi 7 in Pattaya. Across the way was a big hole, which they were hoping to construct a hotel in and next door to that, right opposite me, was a small bar with one lady sitting on a stool outside it. Not that there was a wall there, it was open on two sides. The Soi was nice and peaceful, I thought. I also thought that I might go and sit in that little bar and talk to that woman, if my friend was late, because I would definitely see him arrive from two metres away, the width of the Soi.
So, I went to the bar in the pub at 19:15 to await my friend who said he would come at 20:00. It was much busier than thirty minutes before but not noisy and I sat at the bar. The first thing a barmaid did was say hello, give me a menu and step back. I did not really want to eat, I only wanted a beer as I assumed we would be eating together later, but I wanted to read the menu anyway.
‘A pint of Boddington’s’, I said. It arrived and the girl began laying a setting for me. I tried to explain that I was not hungry, but it was no good. Like in Spain, most people eat and drink at the same time. All the while the girl was smiling at me. Then she said: ‘You live upstairs? My name Charli. What you want to eat?’. So, I gave in and ordered something and rice.
‘You first time in Thailand? You no can eat. Too spicy’, she said with a smile. ‘Oh’, I replied, ‘but I want to try. ‘I put only 50-50 for you’, she said and went.
I battled my way through that meal and it took a Boddingtons and a bottle of water. Charli had been correct, it was too hot for first-time foreign visitors and she had reduced the chilis by 50%. I have always heeded a Thai’s guidance on food ever since.
I moved to by the window to see what was going on as it was dark by 19:30 and I was curious. Within thirty minutes Soi 7 had transformed itself completely. I could see hundreds of girls and tourists milling about. I wanted to go out and join in or at least sit in the quiet bar across the way, but I’m ashamed to say that I was too frightened, so I sat put, rivetted to the Pig like a rabbit in a hunter’s beam.
My friend walked in on time and after we had been talking for an hour, he said: ‘Drink up, I have someone I want you to meet’. This was it, we were going into that mele. A waitress opened the door for us and the racket and the heat were tremendous. Particularly the din. Every metre at least two or three girls would shout: ‘Hello, sexy man, you want a drink’. Trying to say no courteously to each invitation was out of the question, so I just stuck close to my pal.
Luckily, we only had about fifty metres to walk and we sat down in another bar. My friend said hello to several women and then said, this a girl I have been going out with for some time. I was flabbergasted as I had never heard him talk about her, ever. She was gorgeous, but could not speak English, so I sat in the din in silence. Not for long through, as my friend said, I have a blind date for you and he introduced another girl to me who was equally beautiful, but with whom I could speak a little. She was captivating and I was captivated. The pandemonium seemed to pass away, but it was only because I was listening to my new friend. The four of us had the best time and the best food I had ever had in my forty-nine years of existence.
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Barry Castle belonged to William de Barri in the 12th. Century, but was destroyed by Llewellyn Bren in 1316. Some say it was later rebuilt and used by the Cavaliers only to be destroyed again by the Roundheads, never to be reconstructed.
The Norman invaders were thoroughly detested by the local people and they had to build large mansions to defend themselves from frequent assaults on them by the people of the valleys and the mountains. During the reign of Henry III, there were 12 castles within six miles of Barry. In Glamorgan, there were 30 castles and in South Wales as a whole there were 150 !
Porthkerry and the church to its west is said to have taken its name from Ceri, who, it is said, founded a port ‘Port Ceri’. It is believed that Ceri ap Caid, the King of Essyllwg, lived in Porthkerry before the Christian era. His bard, Corvinor, is stated to have been the first to have built a ship with sails and a rudder for the race of Cymru. Some believe that Ceri was a nephew or grandson of Caractacus (Caradog) and that he assumed the head of government in south Wales when Caractacus was sent to Rome.
John Wesley preached in the Porthkerry Church and sometimes outside in the churchyard too between 1741 and 1743. Today, there are two very old churches still in use in Barry: St. Cadocs Church in Cadoxton and Merthyr Dyfan Church in Merthyr Dyfan. One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, Cadoxton was the largest village in the Barry area: thus, in 1844 the Parliamentary register contained 25 names: 20 from Cadoxton and five from Barry. The one church was dedicated to St. Cadoc, who had been accustomed to spend Lent on Flat Holm and Barry Island. The village (Cadoc’s Town)took its name from the church, which was founded in 800 AD.
Merthyr Dyfan Church, which is situated in the north of Barry, was founded in 600 AD and the name means Dyfan The Martyr. There were two saints of this name. The one travelled to Barry to convert the local people to Christianity and the other lived in the sixth century. He was the son of a Welsh chieftain. His sister was also martyred and the town of Merthyr Tydfil is named in her memory.
The Christian faith grew very quickly in the Vale of Glamorgan and in the middle of the second century, the Prince of Siluria, Llewrwg, became the first king, of any country in the world in all history, to be baptized into the Christian faith. He sent to Rome for more Chritian teachers and was sent two monks named Dyfan and Fagan. Dyfan was martyred near the church and the Fagan was canonized. St. Fagan’s situated between Barry and Cardiff was named after him.
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