1412 at Grindelwald Station Baby Onesie

The Swiss railway clock says 1412 at busy Grindelwald Station. An 800mm track gauge rack railway train sits at platform 11 bound for Grund and Kleine Scheidegg. That is where passengers change for the route through the Eiger to Jungfraujoch. On platform 1 sits the train for Zweilütschinen (The confluence of two rivers named Lütschine), Wilderswil and Interlaken Ost (East). Why is platform 1 next to platform 11? As a matter of interest, the yellow and green train runs from Lauterbrunnen to Grindelwald via Kleine Scheidegg, and is the world’s longest rack railway. Ink and watercolour painting by Dai Wynn on 300gsm Arches paper. 29.7 cm high by 42 cm wide by 0.1 cm deep approximately.

Some of my friends wonder why I have changed my name from David to Dai. The short answer is that I haven’t. My parents, sisters and immediate family always used Dai (but pronounced “day”) as a short form of David — a nickname if you like. However, it appears that the Welsh adopted the name "Dai” (pronounced “die”) as a short form of Dafydd (pronounced “Dahveth”) the patron saint of Wales and also known as St David just across Offa’s Dyke. Why Wales? Well the name “Wynn” means fair-skinned or white in the Welsh language and my ancestors were certainly from around those parts (others were from Ireland and Cornwall, but paid full fare to sail to Australia. None was transported in chains I might add). Dafydd, being the Welsh version of...