CHAPTER 43
Mam drove us both in for the first morning, Alys having turned up at stupid o’clock in the morning, as Dad called it. Each of us had a day pack holding our first set books, pads of paper, a whole pack of pens, as well as our laptop bags. I was extremely nervous and as we settled in the back of our car, and Alys took my hand, I found her palm sweaty.

Eight hours later, I was wondering what my fear had been about. The registration had been in three stages, starting with a general session together for starting at the University, followed by separate ones for our specific course intake, and finally an introductory session with my tutorial group.

My tutor was a raw-boned man who introduced himself as “Doctor Matthew Goode, but call me Matt, please, and no, I am monoglot, sorry. Any silly questions to get out of the way, before we settle down to the formalities?”

There was a general hubbub, and he held up both hands.

“How old are you lot? One at a time. Don’t bother with introductions, we’ll do that later. Hand up if you have something to ask. You in the Think Pink antique?”

A lad with a strong Birmingham accent.

“Grit, granite or other?”

Matt shrugged.

“K1, in my case”

“Sorry?”

“I don’t climb, my friend. Kayak, single seat. I will be leading the water-based activity parts of your course”

He moved to ask another student, then caught himself.

“Actually, for a silly question, that raises a valuable and important point. I know that each of you will have at least one sport, some outdoor activity, that you will see as being your focus, your comfort zone, but this course is wide-ranging. That means there will be requirements on each of you to reach a minimum standard of competence in multiple strands of activity. We don’t insist that each of you becomes a human spider as well as getting Olympic golds for sailing, swimming and canoeing, but you will need to demonstrate competence in several fields, and above all clear judgement and application of all systems of safety. More on that later. You with the absolutely brand-new Bangor sweatshirt??”

I found myself thinking back what seemed like aeons to that climbing session on Tryfan Fach, where I had been so gently chided for my impatience, and reminded that other people had their own needs. It was a second or so before I realised the tutor had meant myself.

“Um, okay. Not done much in the water apart from swim, but I do climb. Will we need to buy our own kit for things, and in the climbing can we use our own rack and stuff?”

That brought a laugh from him, and then a cheeky grin.

“Oh dear, this is a change. We are getting sensible questions, rather than ones about the best pubs!”

“I’m a local, sir. I think I know where the good ones are already. I mean, I’m not really a pubgoer, but, well…”

“Enough, love. Short summary: all safety equipment, in fact all equipment, is provided by the University. Clothing is your job. That includes climbing boots and wetsuits. We will provide dry suits for particular activities, and you are welcome to use your own climbing kit when doing your own thing, but we have to take a lead on safety, and our stuff is inspected professionally to a set schedule. As an instructor, as a supervisor of outdoor activities, it is what you will be doing with pupils, trainees, customers, whatever you call them. Guiding is different”

I could see his point, and realised I would need to do a lot of work to become familiar with a different rack. I was racking my gear using Steph’s system by then, as it worked well, so, I thought, it shouldn’t cause any issues.

The session carried on, and when the hinted-at pub questions arrived, Matt laughed and called out for ‘Sweatshirt woman!”

I laughed, and waved at the clothing in question.

“Bangor sweatshirt, but I’m actually from Bethesda, up on the edge of the national park. And I’m Enfys, by the way. I know there are a couple of popular student pubs. Mostyn Arms, Skerries; those are good ones. For me, I’m living at home, so it’s the Spotted Cow, but I only really go there for the folk club”

A couple of other students sat up at that point. One young lad, a Geordie by his accent, asked me a direct question.

“Hi, Enfys. I’m Lee. What do you play?”

Matt laughed again.

“I will interrupt proceedings at this point, as I now know who Enfys is, and who she arrived at Uni with, which was her partner, am I right?”

As Lee blushed, and I asked myself how I had missed such an obvious pulling attempt, I just answered, “I have a harp. My other half is a drummer, and a couple of my friends are amazing on fiddle and flute”

The meeting settled into a much more congenial mixture of personal introductions and serious and semi-serious questions, and I did catch a sly grin from Lee, with a smiling assurance that “You’ve just got to try, haven’t you?” as we settled down afterwards to the refreshments Matt had ready for us in the shape of tea, coffee, fruit juice and biscuits.

“What course is your lad on, then?”

“Oh, she’s studying ecology and conservation stuff”

That brought a guffaw.

“Christ, man, am I really getting it wrong today. Lee Wardle. I’m from Gateshead”

“Enfys Hiatt, from Bethesda. My other half’s called Alys. Meeting up for lunch, if you want to say hi”

“Oh aye? So you can go ‘Hi, love; this idiot tried to tap us up’?”

His eyes were twinkling, though, so I went along with the joke, and when lunchtime arrived, our tutorial group, shorn of those living in catered accommodation, sort of collided with my lover’s in the cafeteria. Notes were compared, introductions were made, and Alys was ecstatic.

“Love, it is going to be amazing! The courses… hell. Sorry. They’re all English, aren’t they?”

She looked around the mixed group with a smile, changing over to that other language.

“Sorry, everybody, but it’s what we, what all our family and most of our friends speak. Bit rude, ah?”

A couple of other voices chimed in, saying that they spoke the same language as us, before one of them laughed, then spoke in English.

“I’m Trefor Jones, ladies. From Cathays in Cardiff, aye? When I say I speak your language, well, it would be nice if you spoke it our way! Gogs and hwntws, it is!”

To the multiple puzzled faces, he explained that there were serious differences between the forms of Welsh spoken in North and South Wales, not just the accents, and Lee snorted.

“Like Mackems, aye? People from Sunderland. They talk really odd, like, you can hardly understand what they’re saying. Course, that doesn’t matter”

‘Trev’ sighed.

“I know I am going to regret asking this, but in for a penny… Why doesn’t it matter?”

Lee shrugged once again.

“Whey, they’re Mackems. Who cares what they think?”

The mood got even sillier after that, and by the time we settled into a lecture theatre for what was described as a ‘plenary class session’ for orientation, issue of timetable, assessment plans both continuous and via examination, etc, etc, there were more than a few embryonic friendships forming.

Alys was almost silent on the way home, until Mam called over her shoulder to us both.

“How was it, then? Highlights, summary?”

I started, after a quick squeeze of my hand.

“Really good, Mam. They all seem like a good bunch, but it looks like I have some money to find. I will need a wetsuit”

“Already sorted, love”

“Eh? When was that?”

“I spoke to the faculty, and then asked Neil for some advice, so he did his usual bit of above and beyond. Put the word out through his caving club. Someone bought a suit for their partner, who used it once before deciding caving wasn’t for her”

I chuckled at that.

“Sensible woman! I mean, that cave diving thing he does—absolute nightmare material!”

“Yes indeed. Anyway, it’s coming up with him on his next visit. Alys? You OK? Very quiet there”

“I’m fine. Just a little… Just a bit overwhelmed. It’s all real, all of it! I am…”

She trailed off for a few seconds, then tried again.

“I am just going to get this out, right? Please don’t interrupt, but I love you both so much it hurts. There. That’s said. It’s back when they all thought I was a boy, I had dreams. So many of them… I thought I was mad, you know? That there couldn’t possibly be anyone else as mad, as wrong, as I was? But I still had dreams… I used to watch the nature programmes, Attenborough and all that, and it would be me, not him, but the real me, the me I knew I was, and not just another man. And today… Today, I’m there. Alys is there. In colour, with a lover, and about to get new friends who don’t need to know what they called me when I was little, and it’s all real, all like Christmas morning, but my present is already unwrapped, and…”

She tailed off, as the tears were there for at least two of us. I noticed Mam wipe her face: make that all three.

After a few quiet sniffs, Mam tried for cheerful.

“Early night for you both then, and same again tomorrow!”

Alys started laughing, and with real joy in her voice, said, “Oh yes!”