Considering a move to The Valleys...

moneyistooshorttomention

Moi - I'm a mongrel me.....mainly English, bit of Danish, bit of Scottish.....:rotfl:Just trying to work out what percentage pure English I am.....but then....theres' the Normans back when and the Saxons back when and....

I'll just keep it simple = English.

Davesnave

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I've been asked by one puzzled Welsh person I am friendly with "why aren't the English proud of being English?".

I think the answer for many of us who are taken to be 'English,' is that we aren't!

Go back a generation or two and you'll find Scottish, Irish, Welsh and/or overseas blood in many 'English' families. It just isn't simple once one knows something about one's ancestry, and many more do nowadays.

I honestly don't know who to support when England, Scotland and/or Wales are competing against each other, so whoever comes out tops, I'm a winner! :rotfl:

*~Zephyr~*

True Davesnave, but most Welsh are enormously proud of being 'Welsh' even if both parents are English and they only just made it over the border before the birth!

I also know someone who stamps his foot and insists that he is Welsh because his parents are Welsh, even when he was born in deepest, darkest Hertfordshire and lived there until he was 5!

OP, I'm assuming when you refer to Cardiff as crowded, you are refering to the town centre on a Saturday because I've lived near Reading and I've lived in Cardiff for the past 8 years and it is no where near as crowded as Reading! I agree that the terraces in Riverside and Grangetown are packed in pretty tight, but the suburbs around much of the city are lovely.

The commute North from Cardiff to Nantgarw is much easier than the other way around - more people come into the city to work than go out of it. And don't dismiss the problems on the A470. There is regularly an accident on it that gridlocks it for hours on end.

DigForVictory

If you can, option 1 (rent reading & buy cheap in Wales) but after option 2 (rent both, so you can learn the area)!

Learn Welsh. Every supermarket will help, even if you do find yourself carrying string or fabric bags in almost every garment.

Have another dekko at Cardiff as an abode - the Beacons are unspeakably lovely but can also be a fiend to drive in, in bad weather &/or bad traffic.

Get CADW membership? That way you've *always* got a place to go & learn & gawk at. We got ours with Clubcard points & have spent happy months castle bagging along the south coast. (Dr.Who location spotting also a fun hobby for visitors.)

Our experiences with the NHS in Wales have been uniformly splendid, but we've used their emergency services more than their day to day health care.

Have a wonderful time!

kayfaz

*~Zephyr~* wrote: »

True Davesnave, but most Welsh are enormously proud of being 'Welsh' even if both parents are English and they only just made it over the border before the birth!

I also know someone who stamps his foot and insists that he is Welsh because his parents are Welsh, even when he was born in deepest, darkest Hertfordshire and lived there until he was 5!

OP, I'm assuming when you refer to Cardiff as crowded, you are refering to the town centre on a Saturday because I've lived near Reading and I've lived in Cardiff for the past 8 years and it is no where near as crowded as Reading! I agree that the terraces in Riverside and Grangetown are packed in pretty tight, but the suburbs around much of the city are lovely.

The commute North from Cardiff to Nantgarw is much easier than the other way around - more people come into the city to work than go out of it. And don't dismiss the problems on the A470. There is regularly an accident on it that gridlocks it for hours on end.

Thanks, I wasn't comparing Cardiff to Reading when I said too crowded, I was comparing it to the Valleys

Reading has become something completely different in the last 2-3 years IMO. It took me 40mins to go from Woodley to town centre during rush hour (around 3mile trip)

One of the main reasons we took this offer, was because of the quite, countryside living with a sense of community. Hence why Cardiff, even outskirts, didn't appeal much to us.

moneyistooshorttomention

That is the problem, ie overcrowding increasing at a rate of knots on some of our "home places". I've seen a huge increase in population in my home place and its scheduled to keep growing at an enormous rate. Well...I liked it as it was thank you very much and it simply wasn't remotely reasonable to "grow it" at such a (quantum leap) pace. I was upset and angry at this being not just allowed/but downright positively encouraged, etc. It had taken away a lot of what made it a pleasant place to live.

The other one, of course, was our house prices are too dear for many of us. To stay in my home place would have meant still living in a starter house at my age and not able to have the lifestyle expected at my age (well...I've been planning to get gardening in a proper garden for quite a few years by now for instance).

The downside is "where's my facilities?" and if even one or two things shut or restrict hours it hits hard when there aren't many facilities in the first place. The other point about moving to a smaller area is, until you do, it wont occur to you just how used you are to "voting with your feet" the second you get bad service. Bad builder = find another one. Bad dentist = find another one etc etc. If you live in a fair-size place you will have this thing in your mind of "If you aren't good enough or wont do things the way I've decided = so what? I'll just move onto the next and keep moving on until I find one good enough and that will accept things will be the way I want". It's hard when instead you get "Well, its either me or my mate and that's your choice and, if you don't like either of us, then...."

That's one of the big advantages of a fair-size place - tradesmen/health workers/etc know you will have this "vote with feet....be good or be gone" attitude and have to "up their game" and respect the fact you have already made all the decisions and they wont be making any of them for you. I'm still working on how to tactfully phrase "This is the standard it will be done to" and "I have already decided...so I don't understand why you seem to have done so too!! Now my decision is =".

cavework

Poor Dad was so proud of his welsh connection via his Mum (my Granny)
She was born in Wales and he had lots of relatives living there but when I decided to investigate our family history ..Great Granny and her parents came from Stoke on Trent and Great Grandad came from Devon..
They both moved to South Wales to work in the pits and had loads of children in the 1800's

vjm63

On the Welshness aspect - I agree that people can be very proud of it - I have a son who is adamantly Welsh and quite ferocious when it comes to the rugby! Both parents are English/Cornish (to add another spanner to the conversation!).

I worked there fine for years - because I was ok with people, they were ok with me - no problems at all. I am actually from Reading (co-incidence!) and I prefer living here in Wales than back there hands down.

I agree with other comments about learning Welsh, and joining CADW - both great ideas. Bear in mind though that the Valleys probably have a higher proportion of Polish speakers than first language Welsh speakers ... you need to go west to Carmarthenshire for it to be a language that is used everyday as the norm by people.

moneyistooshorttomention

I certainly take the viewpoint that people are the nationality their parents are and certainly not the place they were born. Otherwise, 2 English parents who just happened to give birth to a child whilst on holiday in India, could have, their child calling themselves Indian. Then if they had another child who was born in England - that would make one child Indian and one English (though they both had the same parents).

The same as I was amused by a former Indian work colleague calling himself English (presumably on the grounds he had been born in England). No, he wasn't, he was clearly Indian - with both parents being Indian. Add the fact that he was living according to their culture even though he was in England (ie wearing turban/having arranged marriage/etc) then what else would he be?

I guess maybe some people call themselves by the race of the country they are living in (even though they aren't) in a bid to help fit in? That is understandable...but whats the point? Everyone will always know them by the nationality they actually are....so me personally then make that "I'm British - yes really....and not just a passport holder". I'm more inclined to call myself British now (rather than English) (ie "don't treat me as an outsider, because I'm not").

***************

and yes, do join CADW and do learn Welsh. Both those things will help a lot. I've barely been able to focus on learning Welsh yet...but can get the gist of what people are saying around me so far and even that helps.

cavework

Love the 1911 census for Wales, if I remember rightly , there is a column for ' welsh or english speaking' which can be ticked
or I may be having a 'lost' moment here..