Nostalgia prompts antimetabole

Over the past couple of months I've come across three websites dealing with the part of the world from whence I come - Caerphilly and the Rhymney Valley in South Wales. More than that, they cover two topics of particular interest to me - social history and industrial archaeology. Wonderful photographs - the one shown is the top of the road in Bedwas where I lived for seven years or so - and wonderful information.  Two of them are Facebook pages (search for Discover Caerphilly and Caerphilly Local History) and the third is an incredibly well illustrated compendium of long-abandoned industrial sites. So many of these were my childhood playgrounds and it is really enjoyable being reminded of them. It's hard to believe now that we used to regularly explore Roman lead mines with no more than a candle and a length of shredded conveyor belt. Or climb to the top of old engine houses. Or swim in colliery reservoirs and flooded mine shafts. 'Elf and Safety? Never 'eard of it!

What these sites have done is to stir up memories of things long forgotten and now recalled with enjoyment. Be warned - I feel a series of autobiographical blogs coming on! The old saying we had is true: 'you can take the boy out of the valley, but you can't take the valley out of the boy'. And I'm not ashamed to admit to it!

And antimetabole? That's the rhetorical term for the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed grammatical order. I may be from the valleys but I know some long words.