It has been almost 50 years since Rod McKerlich settled in Cardiff – but there is no sign of a Welsh accent when he speaks.
Even after all these years he still retains his Perthshire tones.
And he remains a regular visitor to the region he grew up – if not in these times of COVID-19.
“I have family still in Perth,” he tells the Perthshire Advertiser.
“When my mother and father were still alive we made a habit of coming up and spending time there.
“It’s such a lovely area with many lochs, rivers and mountains.
“Maybe you don’t appreciate it when you stay there.”
It has been quite a journey for the former Perth Academy pupil.
In November, Rod (76) was confirmed as the new lord mayor of Cardiff – the capital city of Wales.
His new role has seen him become the figurehead for Cardiff City Council with the responsibility of representing Wales’ largest city and chairing vital committee meetings.
It is a far cry from his days growing up in the Fair City.
“I stayed right in the centre, on the old High Street,” he says.
“It was very close to where Brian Soutar and Ann Gloag grew up. They lived very close to us.
“I went to Caledonian Road school and Perth Academy and went on to university. After that I drifted south, first to London and then I moved to Cardiff.”
Rod settled in Wales in 1974 to follow his career in the paper and packaging industry. He eventually became a director in charge of a group of companies in what is now a large multinational company and one of the biggest recyclers of paper in the world.
He became heavily involved in his local Radyr community, taking on prominent roles at hockey, cricket, golf and tennis clubs.
He also served as a governor for Radyr Comprehensive School and is a current governor of Radyr Primary School.
When he retired in 2006, he decided to pursue a new path and in 2008 was elected as a councillor for the Conservatives, winning the seat from Labour.
The culmination of his political life was his selection last year as lord mayor.
But parts of his role will be very different from many of his predecessors due to the pandemic.
“It would normally be a very busy time with lots of events to go to and lots of people to meet,” he says.
“But none of that is happening. I just have to hope that some kind of a normal life comes back in five or six months time – or at least, comparatively normal.
“As a Conservative the chances of becoming a leader of the council here is fairly unlikely, Wales is strongly Labour supporting.
“So I guess becoming a lord mayor is the highlight of my political career, but I have had careers other than politics.
“Councillors get a bad reputation. People only contact councillors when something is going wrong.
“The council provides 780 different services to the people so there’s plenty of scope for things to go wrong, whether it’s a street lights that’s out or a hole in the road.
“As a councillor you see people when they’re fed up, but as a lord mayor you get to meet them in circumstances they are happy to see you.”
Although arriving on the political scene comparatively late in life, Rod was no stranger to the intricacies of politics.
As a student at Edinburgh University he debated the likes of Malcolm Rifkind and Robin Cook.
As lord mayor he must remain politically neutral, but he still has his own views on the political landscape in his native Perth and Kinross.
“I’m a neutral now but I started off as a Conservative,” he said.
“I actually broke with the family tradition – they are all staunch Labour supporters.
“Perthshire always had a reputation that, if you put a cow up in a blue rosette for the Conservatives, it would be elected, but they have managed to spoil their position.
“They put up some eccentric MPs like Nicky Fairbairn and that opened the door to the Nationalists.
“When I was young, the SNP were a joke, but it’s very different now.
“I’m interested in politics in its entirety, including Scotland because of my family background and the fact I still have family there.
“The UK as a whole did an extraordinary thing with Brexit and [independence] would be Scotland’s version of the same lunacy.”
The next 16 months are bound to be interesting times for Rod.
His role will help him support the Alzheimer’s Society, with the lord mayor able to nominate a charity to help raise funds for.
His father died from the disease and he has watched others suffer over the years.
And he will be in a great position to watch Cardiff grow and, hopefully, recover from the COVID-19 nightmare.
But he admits there are not too many similarities between his current home and the city of his youth.
“Cardiff is a city of 360,000 people but it is still growing quite rapidly,” he says.
“I’d say it is more like Edinburgh. It has access to good education and universities and is a commercial centre for the whole of the south east of Wales.
“It’s very important it keeps developing and leading the whole country. It has an important role as a capital city and needs to be the economic engine.”
Once retirement comes, Rod will have plenty of time to spend with his family, including three children and seven grandchildren.
And although he cannot wait until they are together again, there might be a few light-hearted debates when the rugby is on.
“When there’s rugby on and Wales are playing England, they probably regard themselves as Welsh,” he says.
“The two girls are married to Englishmen though so their children probably regard themselves as English.
“But the UK is a small country and there’s no need to get tribal about it.”
