As a follow up to his book In Search of Welshness I found this a less compelling work, there was some interest in the individual stories of those moving back to Wales after lives lived in England but they didn’t seem to tell a story bigger than the sum of their parts.
That most, like Peter, were moving back in the context of retirement – having moved to England as young adults decades ago in search of (white collar) career opportunities not found in Wales.
Questions of whether the Wales Government and other mostly Cardiff based employers now provide those opportunities is unclear, and does a move from north or rural south Wales to Cardiff actually differ much in term of cultural shifts compared with a move from those places to London are not really explored.
That some might have held their Welshness more strongly as “expats” living in England than they ever would if they had remained in Wales is noted, but what that means upon return, the possibility that they are “too Welsh” or cardboard cut-out in the eyes of the “locals”, is again hinted at but not unpacked.
It felt there was a much more interesting version of this book just beyond reach...
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