(no subject)
The melody that brought Bran to Milliways was high and strange; it twisted about in the air and was gone as though it had never been. Months pass, and Bran still can't remember the notes.
But in Cardiff, in the spring of 1979, Bran has other things to think about: organic chemistry, of course, and biology, but not only that. The whole city has filled with political arguments, lately. In the student pubs, miners' children argue over devolution with farmers' sons. The sides line up -- English-speaking southerners against bilingual northerners who speak English with lilting accents -- and soon Bran finds himself among a cluster of students agitating for local assembly.
The Welsh and Scottish devolution votes fails in March, and Bran's friends are bitterly furious. Then comes the no-confidence vote (triggered by the Scottish nationalist MPs) and the general election that pushes Labour out of office. Bran's friends are even less happy on 4 May, when Margaret Thatcher becomes prime minister of the United Kingdom.
In all the talk, Bran nearly forgets about the other part of his life. After all, it's his duty, now, to live for the mortal world.
[Special thanks to gramarye1971 for help with historical background.]
But in Cardiff, in the spring of 1979, Bran has other things to think about: organic chemistry, of course, and biology, but not only that. The whole city has filled with political arguments, lately. In the student pubs, miners' children argue over devolution with farmers' sons. The sides line up -- English-speaking southerners against bilingual northerners who speak English with lilting accents -- and soon Bran finds himself among a cluster of students agitating for local assembly.
The Welsh and Scottish devolution votes fails in March, and Bran's friends are bitterly furious. Then comes the no-confidence vote (triggered by the Scottish nationalist MPs) and the general election that pushes Labour out of office. Bran's friends are even less happy on 4 May, when Margaret Thatcher becomes prime minister of the United Kingdom.
In all the talk, Bran nearly forgets about the other part of his life. After all, it's his duty, now, to live for the mortal world.
[Special thanks to gramarye1971 for help with historical background.]