Welsh people speaking Welsh
I can concede that maybe these incidents happened as you describe. However, I am still absolutely certain that many of you completely fail to appreciate the way in which the Welsh language is used. The reason I am so sure is that I was exactly the same. I had all the same prejudices and had heard all the same stories when I first went to Valley in 2002.
Calling the Welsh language ‘Druid speak’ and pretending that it is used merely as a secret code to gossip about English people behind their backs is pretty insulting and naive to say the least.
What you fail to grasp is that Welsh people speak Welsh to each other all the time. It is their first language. Just as two French people would talk French to each other regardless of whether there were any English people present.
If some Welsh people back in the 1970’s switched to Welsh specifically when you walked in, maybe you were the problem?
Just as every local village pub ‘goes quiet’ when an outsider walks in maybe you had preconceived ideas about what to expect and simply confirmed them when some strangers in a pub spoke a funny language in your presence.
I realise I can’t change your mind. That’s fine. It won’t ruin my holiday. But just as I came to realise that I was wrong 20 years ago to think the exact same things that you describe, maybe you could at least entertain the notion that the Welsh language is alive and kicking and not just in existence to annoy stuffy old men who are stuck in a time warp.
BV