Valley

Working on a joint-remake at Valley on Anglesey today - my office pictured. The railway station signal box and level crossing is in the background. A little chilly at first, but a glorious day nonetheless. A good day to be working outside - I suppose one of the benefits of my recent elevation to key-worker is that I get more than one hour in the fresh air - the exercise comes free with the job: I've always said that this occupation is like being paid to go to the gym.

I never understood why this place is called Valley. The dictionary definition of the word is:

valley /ˈvali/ noun noun: valley; plural noun: valleys

1.

 a low area of land between hills or mountains, typically with a river or stream flowing through it.

The problem here I think, is obvious to any one who knows this place. There's no high ground for it to be between. Odd. So, to quote the Wikipedia entry:

'Valley, Anglesey - In Welsh it is referred to as either Y Dyffryn (meaning The Valley) or [Y] Fali (pronounced as Valley). Recent research, prompted by local opposition to the name of Y Fali, suggested that Valley may be a corruption of the Irish Bally (settlement), or Baile as it is spelled in Irish. There does not appear to be a traditional Welsh language placename for the village, and thus there has been a reversion to Valley of late. There is no actual valley as the area is very flat, although a dip in the land was created when the Stanley Embankment to Holy Island was constructed, and this may be the origin of the name.'

Tenuous, I suppose, but possible. Here's another poem, tenuously linked to this post:

As I Walked Out One Evening

As I walked out one evening,
Walking down Bristol Street,
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat.

And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
'Love has no ending.

'I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,

'I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.

'The years shall run like rabbits,
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world.'

But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
'O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time.

'In the burrows of the Nightmare
Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss.

'In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
To-morrow or to-day.

'Into many a green valley
Drifts the appalling snow;
Time breaks the threaded dances
And the diver's brilliant bow.

'O plunge your hands in water,
Plunge them in up to the wrist;
Stare, stare in the basin
And wonder what you've missed.

'The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.

'Where the beggars raffle the banknotes
And the Giant is enchanting to Jack,
And the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer,
And Jill goes down on her back.

'O look, look in the mirror,
O look in your distress:
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless.

'O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.'

It was late, late in the evening,
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on.

From Another Time by W. H. Auden, published by Random House. Copyright © 1940 W. H. Auden, renewed by the Estate of W. H. Auden. Curtis Brown, Ltd.