Friday, March 26, 2010

Ice Cream - Sun dried on the steppes of Patagonia

Which is what I have just been offered by a lagubrious trolley monger on a train near Abergavenny.
He then was asked for a cup of tea,
"Tippy Assam, Chinese gunpowder, Darjeeling, English Breakfast?"
"English please".
"Lucky that, they didn't put the others on the trolley this mnorning"
He went on to regale the tale of the Welsh colonisation of Southern Argentina, setting off from Liverpool on the Minerva to escape persecution, interjecting offers of fine claret all the while.

Rather brightened the day

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now I've been to Welsh Patagonia (specifically, Puerto Madryn)... a pretty harsh, dry and unwelcoming place but apparently the Welsh did manage to eek out some kind of existance there. About 1500-5000 Welsh speakers are left.

Nick

Anonymous said...

Now I've been to Welsh Patagonia (specifically, Puerto Madryn). It's a pretty harsh, dry and barren environment, but apparently the Welsh did manage to eek some kind of existence there. There are about 1500-5000 Welsh speakers there now.

Nick

PS - the boat was the Mimosa, not the Minerva

Anonymous said...

PS - the boat was the Mimosa, not the Minerva

Nick

Gawain Towler said...

He may well have said Mimosa.

Twitter