General Chat

we should all be grateful we don't have to live with Cocky Robyn, or next door even - he sounds insufferable and he's certainly done no favours to the country he seems so proud of - a pillock

Could girl not have said it in Welsh when asked? Could Manager not have resolved situation without calling police? If it was a problem involving the Welsh language, were the police aware of that when they sent a monoglot? How will the Manager deal with the inevitable backlash from his lack of ability to resolve the situation?

Sue, No, not Lampeter. Bangor. Yes, deeply ashamed ;-)

Sue in Leeds. No. OH Welsh. Mother Welsh. Father from Wolverhampton. Would describe myself as Welsh rather than English. Brought up in Wolverhampton. Could speak some Welsh as a boy but when I went to Uni in 1966 in Bangor learned it to a reasonable degree of fluency. Never treated as any different to anyone who has been born and brought up in Wales.

my geography's not much cop but I know Wolverhampton ain't in Wales, although our "expert" in all things Welsh, and everything else under the sun, does apparently live in this fair land of ours :-S

I wonder if he'd have been so pedantic if faced with a strapping male shop assistant? In my experience he'd have paid up and shut up..like the sad little man he is.

Sue it just makes me wonder why he spouts off so much about Welsh speakers when if he hasn't 100% welsh blood in him and he don't even live there
Why should it concern him.

That 83yr old would have had short shrift in the supermarket where I worked.

.

ROFLMAO

Hello Lynda :-D :-D

Sue my geography is crap but last time I looked Wolverhampton wasn't in Wales ;-)

Sorry Gwynne I think we cross posted there lol

"The situation was completely blown out of proportion and left our member of staff extremely upset."

Frail old man or not.......that girl was someone's daughter or grand daughter and deserved NOT to be used as a pawn in some old man's vendetta..she was only doing her job and should've been treated with respect in any language..and if that's the way you think young girls should be treated..then I despair.

"The situation was completely blown out of proportion and left our member of staff extremely upset."

the words of Conrad Davies, who owns the Spar shop. Who sems to be surviving very well in Pwllheli so far.

Petty little man who stamped until he got his own way. I wish they'd taken him to the cells to cool off - but that's probably what he wanted.

John would you have perhaps been one of the activists who either destroyed English language signs or sprayed them with graffiti around Lampeter?

Nothing to brag about.

He went over the top and I hope he stubs his toe and goes to the local A & E ;-)

John,Can I ask you one question and get an honest answer with out a load of guff.

Is there a 100%welsh blood running through your veins.

From OP:
"Dr Lewis told the BBC: "It was sorted out by me being given another Welsh-speaking cashier whom I spoke entirely in Welsh.

"I paid and left. Honour was satisfied.

"All I wanted was an answer in my own language, in my own country.""

Where does it suggest he bullied a cashier? He is a frail 83 yo - but with strong convictions about the Welsh language. And he made a very simple request of a cashier who had spoken to him in Welsh.

If I was in charge of Spar, I would find out what training they gave cashiers in Welsh speaking areas on how to deal with nice Welsh people who prefer to use Welsh in transactions.

It is a very simple situation where a customer is unhappy with the transaction. Managers deal with several incidents like that every day. Customers do ask questions and sometimes complain.

I managed a Tesco in Hendon 40 years ago. If I was not empathetic to my Jewish customers, would I have survived? You don't manage a Spar in an area like Pwllheli without realising you are going to need to provide services in the Welsh language.

I wonder John if you would still admire his stance if it were your daughter or grand daughter he bullied in that shop that day?

There has always been a strong bond between Liverpool people and North Wales Suzanne. I was opposite to you with my best friend...she came to live near me in Wales from Liverpool in the 60's....I in turn loved going over on the ferry to her nans for the weekend and hitting the clubs!

There is a interesting book called "Liverpool to Loggerheads" we'll worth a read.

Annx

I can't say I admire him, I dislike bullies, whatever their motivation.

Spar comes out of it well,as far as I'm concerned, for supporting an assistant in the face of intimidation.

The language isn't going to be lost unless the people decide to let it go. It survived the repression of the 19th century and now is enshrined in law. My mother's family were Welsh speaking but rarely used it after the grandparents died. If it dies it will be because Welsh speakers don't want to use it any more.

Gwynne

I cant agree with you John,ive lived in wales for 40yrs,and the welsh are wingers,they go on about the welsh language dying,but they dont teach their own children to speak welsh,they complain about having to send out leaflets in welsh and english and the costs of doing that,english councils have to send out leaflets in 17 different languages,get a life.

its not all about wales, :-D

as ive said before,im a scouser,i first heard the welsh language spoken in smithdown lane liverpool in the 60s,.mum used to knit a lot of our clothes,and the lady who had the wool shop was welsh,mum used to go in to get her wool,but the lady would not sell to anyone who didnt ask in welsh(big welsh community round smithdown rd and old swan then)mum used to point to what she wanted,but was told the price in scouse.,grew up with the welsh,bestfriend was welsh,and she lived next door in good old toxteth.x :-D

It will be interesting to see if there are any winners from this incident. I doubt Spar will come out of this well. Neither does Dr Lewis, though I doubt many of the Welsh language lobby will criticise him for his stand like some here have.

As far as the Welsh language lobby is concerned (and I am not an active supporter) I would think they would argue like the Catalans. Hundreds of years of suppression of our language by our overlords (English or Spanish). We are now trying a last ditch effort to reverse that trend before our language (and 1500 years of poetry and prose) is lost.

A few people I knew lost their liberty at end of 1960's for demanding bilingual road signs and bilingual forms. I could easily have been one of them. And I felt (and I feel) it is a worthwhile cause. And (on balance) I admire the old boy's courage in standing his ground against both the manager of the store and the local constabulary.

In the 70s I worked at Butlins Holiday Camp in Pwllheli with a concession in one of their shops and they were very glad of the business and employment of loads of Welsh people who had to speak English.
If they speak Welsh at home...fair enough...it's their choice and I know a lot ofWelsh who are very nice people,but you get the odd one who has to object to the English.
It amused me when I used to drive round by some rocks near Maentwrog and someone had written.......Brits go Home...not English go home!