Travel with Angela Lansbury: Wales - St David's Day on March 1st And Dylan Thomas Every Day, with Welsh cakes

I celebrated by wearing yellow.

March 1st every year is St David's Day in Wales. Not yet a national holiday but lots of people voted for it to be a national holiday, even if they had to sacrifice a different day to replace it by St David's Day.

The colour is yellow, for the yellow of the Daffodil.

However, the flag of Wales is green, and white with a red dragon.

This was the flag of the first Tudor King, Henry VII, who preceded the more famous Henry VIII of the 6 wives.

I wore yellow, green, white and red, mostly yellow and green.

I hunted all over the web for yellow, then decided to check my own wardrobe.

Yellow Wrap 'Dress'

I had a yellow wrap dressing gown. I never wear it because it is too long. Time to stop leaving it hanging up doing nothing. Time to start thinking, live every day as if it were your last.

I am also getting more ruthless about taking out the scissors and altering clothes to fit whatever my size is now. I could not go out in the garment. It would get dirty, and trip me up. I was not even comfortable wearing it around the house. I had been saving it for years. I thought, I could cut it tomorrow. Find something else now.

On second thoughts, cut it now. But I needed time to cut it straight, room to lay it on the floor. Or a friend to help me.

Nope. If I folded it edge to edge twice, I could be sure it would not go diagonally. At worst, I would have it scalloped. I folded it and snipped one side, a few inches above my ankles.

When I finished cutting, it was much better. I could walk in it. I considered making it edge to edge, maybe with a zip. No time. I tied it wrap around. I could use the off-cut around the waist as a wide cummerbund to conceal the wrap-over effect and keep it tight and neat. However, I wanted it for a zoom meeting. Most of the time I would be sitting down.

The off-cut made a scarf. How about ear-rings?

I added DIY yellow and green balloon pattern ear-rings and a red balloon on my headband.

Who are the Welsh heroes? First and foremost, Dylan Thomas. His poem, 'Do not go gentle into that good night' is a favourite for condolences and obituary.

.And funerals.

Also from his classic longer poetic work, Under Milk Wood, I like to quote.

It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters'-and-rabbits' wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea. The houses are blind as moles (though moles see fine tonight in the snouting, velvet dingles) or blind as Captain Cat there in the muffled middle by the pump and the town clock, the shops in mourning, the Welfare Hall in widows' weeds. And all the people of the lulled and dumbfound town are sleeping now.

Dylan Thomas statue, Swansea, Wales.

What could we eat on St David's day, and any day? Welsh rarebit (toast with cheese) for breakfast. Maybe Welsh lamb for lunch. And Welsh cakes at tea time. I bought some on the train from Paddington station in London to Wales, and on the way back. But they were cold. Much better eaten hot with melted butter. They are small round pancakes, thick, with currants. Yummy.

In New York you can visit the pub he visited.

St David's day has gone. But -

Every day is a good day for quoting Dylan Thomas. Every day is a good day for eating Welsh cakes.