Those of you who are regular readers may have noticed that I have a penchant for the seasonal- well, I’ve done New Year and Valentine’s Day, so here’s a few thoughts on Wales and the Welsh for the record.

Wales has been somewhere special for me for most of my life- growing up in the Wirral, expeditions to Rhyl and Llandudno were practically obligatory during the summer months, although I think it was only ever our main holiday one year. North Wales, for those who’ve never been there, is a land of contrasts. Majestic mountains soaring up from the sea, misty valleys, spartan houses of flint and slate- and a number of static caravans which seems to increase exponentially every year. There are miles of the buggers, especially between Prestatyn and Colwyn Bay, although I suppose we mustn't begrudge folk their weekends away from a stressful existence, living in a tin box with rain battering down on the roof like machine-gun fire. And I was always conscious of the difference- Welsh language signs (really just starting up in the late 70’s-early 80’s), little dragons, leeks and Prince of Wales feathers everywhere. When I was about eleven I persuaded somebody to buy me a Welsh phrasebook because I was so fascinated by this other culture so near to us. It’s a good thing I wasn’t born in Luxembourg or I’d have had a nervous breakdown by twelve.

And then there was discovering the south when I went to university in Bristol- Cardiff at the time was a down at heel and stroppy suburb of Bristol rather than the lively European capital it thinks it is today, but it was cheap to get in at Cardiff City. My one old flame from this period was a native of Swansea and I once spent a weekend over there, catching sunstroke in the process. And a couple of years ago I was able to join the two bits up by spending a week travelling around Wales- from Shrewsbury down to Swansea, then around some of the Dylan Thomas attractions, moving on to Cardiff then across country to Aberystwyth. What I found was a nation increasingly at ease with its past and present, looking forward to a future which is increasingly in the hands of its people. There seem to be an endless supply of young Welsh bands emerging from the shadow of Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey, Charlotte Church has replaced Harry Enfield’s Kevin as Britain’s favourite rebellious teenager and devolution has enabled the people of Wales to make more decisions about their own future and choose their own leadership. The reintroduction of universal Welsh language education over the last thirty years has started to bear fruit, as the first bilingual generation starts to take its place in public and commercial life, so that signs and announcements in Welsh are a recognition of the equal status of both languages rather than an affectation.

Cardiff itself looks more like a capital these days- I first discovered Cardiff Bay on a hot July day and was captivated immediately. The past is honoured- the Norwegian church where Roald Dahl was baptised has been reconstructed to bear witness to the city’s tradition of welcoming incomers- the present celebrated, with an interpretive centre following the proceedings of the Welsh Assembly, and the future keenly anticipated with shopping, residential and hotel developments. The city centre has been spruced up in the last few years and crucially, one of the unquestioned benefits of the Welsh Assembly has been the edict restoring free entry to the national museum, so the people of Wales have free access to their own heritage. There’s something in the air in Wales these days, and for a change it isn’t the smell of chips.

So this is kind of a love letter to a part of the world which will always be dear to me- I only missed out on being Welsh by about twenty miles and to anybody who has ever heard Mae hen Gwlad sung at the Millennium Stadium, that’s one of those regrets that you can never do anything about. But I want to go back, I want to learn some Welsh and I want to inhale the fresh air of a country embracing its future (and let’s be honest, subsidies from Westminster) with open arms.