Prynhawn da everyone! Hope you have interesting weekend planned. Here’s my selection for this week…
1) What haven’t you done that you should have?
2) When was the last time you had to cut a long story short?
3) If you could be anywhere in Wales this weekend doing anything at all, what would you choose?
4) Name 5 interesting or obscure things you can see from where you’re sitting.
5) What’s the Welshest you’ve ever been?
1) What haven’t you done that you should have?
Learnt more than 1,000 Welsh words
2) When was the last time you had to cut a long story short?
I tend to find that when I open my mouth with people who know me they ensure that all my stories are short.
3) If you could be anywhere in Wales this weekend doing anything at all, what would you choose?
Looking for a derelict building to renovate.
4) Name 5 interesting or obscure things you can see from where you’re sitting.
Southwark News (newspaper), my old router in a box waiting for the recycle bag from BT, sunshine on the carpet, ‘How to learn 5,000 Welsh Words in a Weekend’ (imaginary book), recipe for tomorrow.
5) What’s the Welshest you’ve ever been?
Don’t know about the Welshest bu the least Welshest is watching Rownd a Rownd and not understanding a single word.
1) What haven’t you done that you should have?
Ooh, God, book a place to stay in Usk for next week - hang on, back in a minute…
2) When was the last time you had to cut a long story short?
I don’t think I have ever knowingly done this.
3) If you could be anywhere in Wales this weekend doing anything at all, what would you choose?
Aberystwyth seeing old friends from college days, but with the rugby on early enough for me to watch it and still be home in time for an evening with my family. 
4) Name 5 interesting or obscure things you can see from where you’re sitting.
Christmas decorations (yup, seriously).
76yyyhhhhhhqwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwr (er, sorry, that was actually, genuinely the cats)
A black and yellow wig
A buddha gradually losing his fight with the coal burner on which he sits
The complete works of Jane Austen
5) What’s the Welshest you’ve ever been?
Probably sitting reluctantly (for HOURS) in the county Eisteddfod wishing desperately that the school choir could sing so that we’d be able to get home in time for supper.
1) What haven’t you done that you should have?
Probably something related to my husband’s business.
2) When was the last time you had to cut a long story short?
In my Welsh group. Sadly my vocabulary hasn’t caught up with what I want to say so I often have to cut my long stories short!
3) If you could be anywhere in Wales this weekend doing anything at all, what would you choose?
With my family. Maybe even a trip to Ogmore by Sea
4) Name 5 interesting or obscure things you can see from where you’re sitting.
A box of stuff left by a colleague 5 years ago. We haven’t binned it in case she wants it 
A broken blind that is now causing me to have to squint from the sun. Shouldn’t complain really - we have sun!
A wall full of funny memes from my colleagues calendar.
My messy desk!
Anti bac wipes - probably now a staple in most offices!
5) What’s the Welshest you’ve ever been?
Sending my son to nursery in full Welsh Rugby kit with the book " Pan Fyddaf yn Fawr, Dwi Eisiau Chwarae Dros… Gymru". He is 2 and he goes to nursery in Oxford 
1) What haven’t you done that you should have?
Judging by the number of photos of empty supermarket shelves popping up on news sites and social media at the moment… panic buying too much of stuff I already have enough of 
2) When was the last time you had to cut a long story short?
Surely during one of my Slack hangouts - although I won’t comment on my success rate
3) If you could be anywhere in Wales this weekend doing anything at all, what would you choose?
Visiting my dad in South Wales
4) Name 5 interesting or obscure things you can see from where you’re sitting.
A pot of Tiger Balm
A tea-bag squeezer
A vintage map of Snowdonia
An instruction manual for a folding caravan
Sandbanks in the Menai Strait
5) What’s the Welshest you’ve ever been?
Singing “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau” on stage at the Faenol festival with Bryn Terfel.
…ok, so he was on stage and I was backstage behind the curtain working as a roadie, but it was the SAME STAGE!!! 
1) What haven’t you done that you should have?
Booked my car in for a minor repair. It’s one of those that needs doing but isn’t very noticeable or urgent, which is a recipe for not getting round to it…
2) When was the last time you had to cut a long story short?
That seems to happen all the time! I can’t tell a story without all the context and background 
3) If you could be anywhere in Wales this weekend doing anything at all, what would you choose?
Checking out one of the castles I haven’t been to yet (I’m a medieval history person). Maybe Harlech? That’s meant to be a good one.
4) Name 5 interesting or obscure things you can see from where you’re sitting.
A seagull doing that little dance they do to make worms come out of the lawn.
A Sonic the Hedgehog mug.
A calendar of Shakespearean insults.
A congratulations card from when I got this job months ago, which now blends into the background so much that I don’t think to take it down.
Someone’s head bobbing around enthusiastically in the window of the music rehearsal building opposite.
5) What’s the Welshest you’ve ever been?
At an event in Conwy in January, I heard a visitor make a crack about “I know we’re in Wales but I expected running water” and I felt irritated and defensive. Notable because I’m English but have evidently been here long enough to feel Welsh now.
I’ve never witnessed it anyway.
1- What haven’t you done that you should have done?
Today’s vocabulary!
2- When was the last time you had to cut a long story short?
Never happens. Rambling is two of my hobbies.
3- If you could be anywhere in Wales this weekend doing anything at all, what would you choose?
Bangor, chilling on the pier. Literally, seeing as it’s March.
4- Name 5 interesting or obscure things you can see from where you’re sitting.
A stuffed tartan elephant wearing a pink top hat.
A long list of Welsh ‘yes/no’ equivalents taped to the side of the telly.
My wife, who is currently upside-down doing a scary-looking yoga pose and who’ll probably be very annoyed that I’m mentioning her.
A little Buddha/Yoda combination statue sitting chummily next to a statue of Baphomet. It looks like they’re holding hands.
Far more cushions and throws than should ever be in a DFS warehouse, never mind a single room.
5- What’s the Welshest you’ve ever been?
Before I started learning Welsh, I was stood outside the Tap and Spile in Bangor after gwydred neu ddau having a cigarette. An old man came up to me and asked, in Welsh, if I had a light. I produced one, and he proceeded to ramble at me for a couple of minutes before ending with a questioning tone and looking at me expectantly.
I had to explain that I didn’t speak Welsh and only knew that he wanted a light because he did the universal thumb-flicking mime for it, but for those few glorious minutes I felt a bit like a local.
This interaction was definitely not one of my inspirations for learning Welsh.
1) What haven’t you done that you should have?
Should have gone to the gym on Wednesday
2) When was the last time you had to cut a long story short?
I’m a bit like Aran
3) If you could be anywhere in Wales this weekend doing anything at all, what would you choose?
We spent an amazing weekend in Tal-y-bont ar Wysg last Summer with our extended family. We went on loads of walks, played in the garden, played a murder mystery over dinner…it was just great!
4) Name 5 interesting or obscure things you can see from where you’re sitting.
A wooden multicoloured jungle gym
A stuffed version of Llew from Cyw on S4C
My cat doing that strange clicking noise they do at birds
A nappy changing centre
And…My son feeding
5) What’s the Welshest you’ve ever been?
Dinner in y Bachgen Du in Caernarfon talking family history with my wife’s uncle.
That was from my office chair.
Now I’m home I can add:
A bodhran
A mini Oscar-esque statue
An empty electric toothbrush head packet*
A different pot of Tiger Balm
A big lump of green slate
*which reminds me - an extra #1 - it’s there to remind me to buy more 'cos I’m on my last one but I still keep forgetting!
1) What haven’t you done that you should have?
Life is full of regrets of things we should have done and we shouldn’t dwell … but I think it would be easier to come up with something I’ve done and shouldn’t have.
2) When was the last time you had to cut a long story short?
I never do, I just talk faster.
3) If you could be anywhere in Wales this weekend doing anything at all, what would you choose?
With family and friends walking the coastal path.
4) Name 5 interesting or obscure things you can see from where you’re sitting.
A half eaten leftover curry that I’m currently working my way through.
A science Focus magazine.
A motorbike owner’s manual.
A Huws Gray bathroom brochure.
A carved wooden ball in a cage and chain.
5) What’s the Welshest you’ve ever been?
Standing in front of the Senedd during the Eisteddfod with thousands of others for a bit of Geraint Thomas appreciation and uncontrollably shouting obscenities at Carwyn Jones.
I assume that is a very large manual for a mahoosive bike!
So where is the motorbike if not sitting as centre of attention in the living room?
My wife would freak if I had it in the living room, imagine that!
It’s in the bedroom.
I didn’t do many things I should and done many things I shouldn’t.
Cutting my story short should be my hobby as I’m always told I’m talking too much.
Just anywhere in Wales wandering around with my husband (and my son if he’d want to come along).
Piles of empty CDs and DVDs
3D mug with face and big nose in which are all sorts of little things from paperclips all the way to mini USB card adapters.
My son’s and my friend’s daughter’s creations from when they were still little
Welsh, Serbo-Croat/Slovene and Croat/Slovene dictionaries on the pile of sticky post-it sheets
Little Smurfs and other little toys from the Kinder eggs and bonus
LEGO BIONICLE Matoran, Toa, Bohrok and Hordika figures which remind me that I still didin’t finish translating all the BIONICLE books.
and of course there’s much, much more of all kinds of mess and (music) keyboard which is resting in peace already for eternity
The whole year of 2016 was the Welshest. (Read this thread My challenges from post 49 on).
1) What haven’t you done that you should have?
Answering the postcards I received and write a few more on my own accord to the brilliant people in the postcard club. I’ll write them tomorrow, I promise!
2) When was the last time you had to cut a long story short?
Today, when I sent my dad a text message. I’ve got what my family calls a “pre-historic” mobile phone, so I have to press each button a few times to get to the right letter.
And since I’m very attached to my thumb, I try to keep my text messages as short as possible while still making sense.
3) If you could be anywhere in Wales this weekend doing anything at all, what would you choose?
That’s not an easy question to answer, because I’ve got a whole list of places to see and things to do. Far too much for one weekend! But I think I’d choose to visit Hay-on-Wye. Soooo many books! 
4) Name 5 interesting or obscure things you can see from where you’re sitting.
A crocheted little plant made by my friend, which I won’t ever have to water
6 “Doctor Who” themed cups which don’t fit into the cupboard in the kitchen anymore
A handmade plush toy portraying a soul
All of the postcards I received from people of the postcard club so far
Two framed pictures, which are still waiting to be put up.
5) What’s the Welshest you’ve ever been?
Probably that one time a colleague asked me a question in German and my brain supplied the answer in Welsh. It did take me a few seconds to sort out the answer in my native language…should I be concerned?
Camilla, I can sympathise regarding number 5. Not too long ago I completely forgot an English word while trying to describe a particular vegetable and had to ask my wife “What’s that word for food that’s good for you?”
The only word I could think of at the time was ‘nährend’. It’s a good sign, I suppose. 
1) What haven’t you done that you should have?
It’s a loooooong list…
2) When was the last time you had to cut a long story short?
The last time someone asked me “Where are you from?”
3) If you could be anywhere in Wales this weekend doing anything at all, what would you choose?
At home, doing outdoors-y stuff (which is where I was, coincidentally!)
4) Name 5 interesting or obscure things you can see from where you’re sitting.
A Bundu (Mende women’s society) mask, a pile of veg seeds waiting to be sown, the autobiography of Aneurin Bevan by Michael Foot, which my son was going to borrow but left on the table, an iPod Classic, circa early 00s, and the Christmas (now renamed Winter) fairy lights. (I’m thinking of renaming them Spring lights.)
5) What’s the Welshest you’ve ever been?
Immediately after it suddenly occured to me (only 2 weeks ago) that, having not been born in Wales, I don’t qualify as a Welsh grandmother for rugby international purposes. I immediately felt intensely and furiously Welsh (and cheated). The fact that my grandsons are only 1 and 6 years old and neither has yet shown an interest in playing rugby is entirely irrelevant!
Yes, I know others who won’t mention the fact they come from Caldicot so that conversations aren’t cut short.