Long time ago I was offered a place to do A-level at a place called Aberystwyth. At the time we do not have internet searches and the best I could do was to locate it in the Encyclopaedia Britannica which I happened to have a copy at home ( being a “kampong” family my late father had the foresight to invest in 2 encyclopaedias, the Britannica and World of Knowledge – If I remembers right)
Guess what, I couldn’t find Aberystwyth.
Then I tried the World Atlas and found it located in mid
Aberystwyth (earlier I had difficulty spelling the name) was a small resort town facing the
The shops were along North Parade and had stores such as Tesco, Virgin Record (selling vinyls- here was the first time I saw “single” discs, the sales of what determined the singles chart, Currys (selling not briani or masala but audio equipment) and other outlets that I have long forgotten. It also had banks such as National Westminster and Barclays towards the end of the street.
After Baclays towards LLanbadan Fawr, if you turn left it will take you to the sea front or the pier. I have forgotten the street but it had stores such as WH Smith (bookstore) and Woolworth. The beach is mainly covered by pebbles and stones and normally very windy. We would spend a lot of time at the amusement park at the pier playing space invaders, pinball machine and one arm bandit. Aber did not have much choice for entertainment but for those who like slow pace of life it's a great place to stay.
We once landed a fish fishing at the seafront and we immediately have it grilled and it was the best fish I have ever tasted.
At the end of the beach there was a hill and the view from the top was breathtaking. We regularly climbed the hill at weekend and often see para gliders launching themselves from the top of the hill.
Towards the other end there was a castle which was very well preserved. I have forgotten the history of the castle but we always took a walk in the castle as it was near our house, No 8 Vulcan Street.
The way I understand it, not many Malaysian students went to Aber for studies (probably less than 200 to-date). Aber has a university called University College Wales, Abertsywyth which offered mainly art courses and there was also an
I had a great time in Aber and the Welsh were very nice people. Then they still speak Welsh and the elderly were very friendly and always good to us, the foreign students.
I still remember some of the signboards, “Dim Mssmygu” - which means “No Smoking”, Cymru- Wales, Dim Pacio- “No Parking”
To the others Jaflus, Azam, Ainul, Ramlan, Azhari, Rosli, Azmi, Roslan, Rahim, Azlan, Azizul, Kamarudin, Yaakob, Halim and Tahir (note that we were all boys), all of us have done the college proud by breaking the A level results with straight A’s and few of us were mentioned in the local newspaper (sadly we do not have a copy)
To the 2 private students, G and Nora, thanks for filling up where the boys couldn’t...
To the Phd brothers and their families, Najib, Zaini, Zainal, Osman, Wahab and others, thanks for inviting us for big “makan” every now and then, and their small children that we used to carry around in our arms must have now be grown up adults
To our beloved lecturer Ms Thomas (maths), Andrew (maths), Morris (Physics), Evans (Principal), thanks for taking us in and for being great mentors
To Mr Keele the house owner of
To our friend Phil Robin from Chadon, Eggesford in
With all the great memories of Aber behind me, I intend to go back one day to see how the place has changed (hopefully with my family) and till then I am.......
Johan dari Aber
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