@henddraig clearly, 4.5 is a score only for the select few. We are obviously special! I’ve always jokingly compared myself to a pigeon (having read somewhere that pigeons discern between what we would understand as 1, 2 and three, but it all gets a bit fuzzy after that) and it seems I’m right. I know where the three dots in the test go, and after that it’s all a blur! But then, during the challenges it feels as though you only have to remember three blocks of language, even when the sentences get long and tricky, eg (Do you think)+(I should)+(wait for them), or (He told me)+(that she wanted)+(to tell me what to do). My pigeon brain says that’s ok!
I like the idea of a tangled brain! What might be hiding in there? The Answer To The Universe And Everything?? 
The wild round here is a bit leafy Oxfordshire. I don’t seem to bump into Welsh people very often! There’s not much in the way of just jumping in and trying it, and it is fearfully difficult to manage actually searching speakers and learners out with three small kids at foot! I have a friend who is learning and we speak every week which is fabulous. I tend to bark Welsh at unsuspecting bystanders!
I, too, only scored 4.5 and, like Marvin in Hitchhiker’s G.T.T.P., I have a “brain the size of a planet” 
We know we have vast clusters and tangles of neurons so I dare say, if only we knew how to get them all working on the problem anything might be possible! Meanwhile, the weekly Skype sessions that @ramblingjohn organised are on holiday for the summer! Maybe you might like to join in when they start again? I am terrible at keeping in Welsh, so tend to stay quiet and then let loose confused utterances stopping suddenly for lack of a word!
ps the difference between a genius and most people is how well the brain works, not its size!
I think there’s a Welsh learners’ group in Oxford, as it happens… (Used to meet at a pub that no longer exists, so I don’t know where they meet now.) I think @ramblingjohn might know (and I see that I’m not the first to tag him in this thread!)
My eldest lives in Headington at the moment - if I’m going to have any free time next time I’m over I’ll drop you a line 
This was published 3 days ago in Oxford Welsh learners group. Appearantly it’s downstairs in the Jericho Cafe.now.
You also might be interested in Oxford Walks thread where they posted 6 days ago organizing the “Welsh walk” and their next walk according to this post in the topic will happen on 10th June.
@johnwilliams_6 is the right person to tell you more or go through just mentioned topics.
Hwyl!
Tatjana 
I did the Courses first and am now most of the way through Level 1. I would say it is definitely worth doing the Courses. You will find a lot of it easy, which is still good review, but you will also learn new things.
@hewrop and @henddraig - I am in jolly good company I can see!
@hewrop - I’m going to have to read everything you write from now in Marvin’s voice!
@sarapeacock - I did see about the Oxford group, and as soon as I can organise the three headed wild beast that is my small family into some sort of order, I will be there, but it’s SO hard to get time off when they are still little! Please DO come and speak Welsh to me when you come this way - that would be utterly amazing!
I know what you mean - when I finished the Courses, I was so glad to know I still had the Levels to do. I would have been really sad otherwise!
Diolch, Tatjana!
@cat-1 yes, please do come and join us when the time’s ripe. If you’re based in Oxford itself, do you think a meet up in a park from time to time might help, i.e. allow you to keep a watchful eye on the kids but still join in the chat?
Hwyl, John
Absolutely it would @johnwilliams_6 
although I actually live out of Oxford - to the wild North!
But perhaps one day, if you wanted to organise one of the walks in the Kirtlington area? We have a quarry… and the odd dinosaur here and there - how’s your Jurassic Welsh? Personally I can only offer broken modern contributions but it would be lovely to join in!
That sounds like someone ready to gallop forwards - nothing more important than hunting down the pain… 
Well done - huge congratulations! And the good news is, we’ve got 4 more Level 3 lessons in post-production at the moment, and we’ll be building more very regularly from now on…
That’s me @aran - gallopy, gallopy…ouchy, ouchy! Actually, I worked as a polo groom for years, so that train of thought is not as foreign to me as all that… 
Good news about more challenges! You lot are brilliant! 
Oh, excellent, so you’re used to being casually chewed or stamped on by horses that just happen to feel like it… that certainly should have you well-prepared for the joys of the SSi Method…
@aran Perhaps that was why I felt right at home here - there’s a distinct possibility of being knocked out, and I’ve already had to work weekends and bank holidays. The similarities are spooky!
The perks are WAY better though! And there’s no swearing in Spanish! 
(edited to add - if you’ve never watched a polo match, you can learn a LOT of the more flowery end of Spanish that way!)
@henddraig - that would be me in English. It’s a shame that when it happens in Welsh, I can’t just roll my eyes and tut at myself and say ‘My brain fell out.’ like I do in English.
Who’s going to tell me the Welsh for ‘My brain fell out!’?
See if anyone can improve on Syrthiodd fy ymennydd allan
Yes indeed @cat-1 - we did a canal-side walk from Tackley a while back which worked very well and a Kirtlington-Bletchingdon area walk is one of the possiblities I’ve been thinking about on the northern side of Oxford. I didn’t know about the quarry though - always good places for wildlife, so definitely a plus! ( No Jurassic Welsh I’m afraid, though - it’s floating somewhere between Pre-Cambrian and Cambrian )
Sat 10th June is the next walk and we could fit a Kirtlington walk in then, but if that doesn’t work for you we’ll go for one of the other possibilities and keep the Kirtlington area walk in hand for a later date.
Hwyl, John