Welshness is essential to the Aberystwyth experience: why I love ‘Aber’

Along the boulevard comes the crowds: drag queens uttering one-liners, farmers gossiping in Welsh, a choir out of rehearsal but still singing, and a man rapping to himself and the sky. There seem to be as many dogs as people, and twice as many seagulls, all looking at the fish and chips. At the cable car to the cliff there is a line of Hasidic Jewish families with ice creams in hand, and the pier is full of good-humoured Brummies enjoying the snooker tables and ATMs, waiting for the Pier Pressure nightclub to open. At the ruined castle, a group ...