Wheels and Wales

In gratitude for two significant days in one

Hello my lovely readers

An unexpected extra – but still brief – letter this week. With extreme thanks for your kindness about me being beleaguered by mosquitoes, I’m aware that my last few newsletters have been, if not exactly negative, then not quite positive either. But I’m redressing that balance today, as I’ve recollected that 1^st March is both St David’s Day (commemorating Wales’ Patron Saint) and International Wheelchair Day.

I’ve always been struck by that coincidence.

Why?

Well, I may not be Welsh (not to mention that I’m not even currently in the UK), but the Welsh people in my life (some of whom I know do me the great honour of reading this newsletter – diolch yn fawr iawn!¹) are all wonders. They’ve also, without exception, both individually and collectively had as much of an impact on me as any of my trusty chairs.

And some of my favourite wheely adventures have been in Wales as well! (Though those are a story for another day.)

So, in gratitude for all of them (friends, adventures and wheelchairs alike), I thought I’d pop up to wish all of you, Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus², and Happy International Wheelchair Day – from me and my cadair olwyn³.

(Sadly I haven’t got anything particularly relevant with me here in South Africa to go in the photo as an emblem of “Welshness” alongside my chair.)

Love and solidarity until next week

Jx

Image description: A photo of Jessi (a white person with short brown hair and brown eyes) in their (invaluable) powered wheelchair, which they feel very grateful to have. (Thank you, NHS!) They are sitting in their chair on a verandah, wearing a two-tone dark and light blue long-sleeved top, long grey trousers and denim Converse shoes, as it’s quite chilly for South African summer today. Behind them is the green expanse of a garden. They are grinning at the camera.

PS: On an entirely separate note, it’s also one of my godsisters’ “second”⁴ wedding, so I guess there’s actually a third positive reason for this day to feel particularly significant this year.

1. Welsh for “Thank you very much!”

2. Welsh for “Happy St David’s Day!”

3. Welsh for “wheelchair” - one of the words I like to know in each language I learn, for fairly obvious reasons!

4. “Second” in that it’s the second, South African, celebration - after she and her husband got married in the UK last year.