Folks,

Dux:

Yet another holiday? Sounds like a wonderful idea to me. May your seas be calm, your horizons clear, a warm sun across your shoulders and a strong breeze ever at your back. Going to Wales, eh? Will you have Internet access in this veritable Eden? If not it will be so tediously expensive calling you collect every day...

I seem to recall that Anglesey has that village with the longest place name in Britain: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch The name, when translated into English, means "The church of St. Mary in a hollow of white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and near St. Tysilio's church by the red cave". The name was actually coined in the nineteenth century to attract tourists to the Island. It is abbreviated to Llanfairpwll or Llanfair P.G. by the locals.

Wales. That's a fair walk from Derbyshire. Will you be wading over again or perhaps, having learnt your lesson, you'll be using some type of public transport this time? Anglesey, ok, it’s a whole island we know, so in actual fact you'll be sloshing about in/on or near “Porthdafarch”. This ideal little bay is just down the coast from the main Trearddur Bay. I understand that it is absolutely ideal for SCUBA diving as it is well sheltered; easy to navigate and not effected much by tide or current. How cold is the water this time of the year? Don't forget your mask and fins.

It is delightful weather here these days. We have higher than average temps. Some days we've seen temps up to and even past 29 C. (85F.). This is extra warm even of north eastern North Carolina in March or early April. All the trees are greening up and many such as the Bradford pears or Dogwoods are in full bloom. Spring has sprung here in Carolina. We've needed heat only one or two nights in the past 2 weeks and all our windows have been open most of the time. It is very pleasant. Of course we pay for it with clouds of pollen and some violent storms like that hail storm last week.

We have lotsa trees and plants so the pollen is beginning to color everything a bright yellow. A pollen count in the low hundreds is considered very high, some areas of the south have recently been up into the thousands. Of course those strong thunderstorms tend to wash that away and besides it only lasts a few weeks.