This is a sort of an “aren’t I lucky” post more than a useful one I think but it struck me today how lucky I’ve been in finding Welsh speakers and and around what I do every day anyway.
Indeed my largest circle of Welsh speaking friends outside of the actual Tŷ Tawe Welsh cente is at, of all places, the airfield. I noticed it today when there was a gaggle of us at the annual BBQ which is the most likely time to see everyone together. We were blathering away about propellor modifications one of them had done and weather and runway alignments and landing performance and all sorts of things I’d have never thought once I’d have the ability to discuss in this loved second language of mine.
One or two of them bless them seem to have also taken it as a mission to make sure every Welsh speaker they know who comes to the field knows that I’ve learned.
At one point someone new joined the conversation, he knew the others but not me and greeted them in Welsh then apologised to me in English for butting in, only to get to get informed at once, “No no Leia speaks speaks Welsh.”
And it’s lovely.
And for some reason the whole “swapping languages” thing seems to have been largely seamless this time arund - one or two of those people I didn’t know were Welsh speakers until recently and vice versa but Welsh was totally the default language today.
And for some reason it made me smile more than usual.