A Welsh Meditation / Zed Nelson

He doesn’t claim to ‘capture’ the place, or even describe it. Instead they may be seen as small poems, aiming to capture a mood or an atmosphere. North Wales is a strange and beautiful land, but today it confounds attempts at an off-the-cuff description. It seems like it once had a strong identity – but that has now diminished along with the slate and farming industries.

It appears to be in transition, but to where? One foot is firmly in the past, while the other foot hovers in mid-air, unsure where to land.

There are conundrums and juxtapositions everywhere. Nowhere is this more apparent that in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Here the slate mine is open for business. But instead of producing slate, it offers tourists the ‘experience’ of slate mining, by riding a tiny train that clatters through the dank and claustrophobic tunnels, once used by working men, many of whom died of silicosis.