Bobby's visit

The August Bank Holiday weekend heralded the arrival in town of one of our friends from Australia, Robert Clark. He was over in the UK attending a couple of conferences.

We picked him up from the railway station on Friday evening, and Bobby and Matt spent a lot of time talking. Kathy left them to their geek speak.

On Saturday we headed off for breakfast at Cibo, and were joined by fellow Aussies Jo and Brian, and Craig and his girlfriend Martina. After a typically tasty meal we all walked in to Cardiff. Craig and Martina went and did some shopping, while the rest of us went to Cardiff Castle. The Castle has recently opened a new interpretation centre and have a new audio visual tour you can do, and now entry to the Castle includes the tour (you now can't just wander around the grounds on your own). The audio visual tour was, to be honest, pretty lame. It started with a 15 minute mess of a video. I don't know what it was supposed to tell us, but there was no clear narrative and the vertically split screen didn't help. I think it was supposed to show the change in the Castle and it's uses over the century, but it's not clear. It was pretty crap, and could have been done a lot better. The little hand held audio players we picked up later were much better. More of the Castle wall walkway has been opened up since we were last there, so that was pretty good, and the tour of the Castle buildings has changed since we were last there, too, due to renovations. The best room was actually the plainest. One of the rooms in the oldest part of the residence was left alone by the 3^rd Marquis, and remains in it's original Georgian condition. It's a lovely juxtaposition to the overblown and gaudy Victoriana in the rest of the residence. We really enjoy going to the Castle – this was our 3^rd visit. We get something different out of it every time, as we get a different tour guide every time.

Robert and Brian at Cardiff Castle

Kathy and Rob on the top of Cardiff Castle Keep

After a couple of hours at the Castle, we headed off to the Owain Glyndwr for lunch, and to meet back up with Craig and Martina, and then went to O'Neils – to experience the pre-football and pre-Madonna concert crowds, and the bucks and hens night parties, and the post shopping groups. It was uniquely Cardiff. After a couple of drinks, Jo and Brian went off to the concert, and we went down to Cardiff Bay for dinner. We went, on Martina's recommendation, to Strada Restaurant, which is a nice Italian restaurant, and which is very popular with big crowds. After that we went for a couple of cocktails, and were home before midnight.

On Sunday the boys spent the morning playing games on the Xbox (while Kathy did shopping for dinner), then we had lunch at the Halfway. After lunch we went up to Llandaff to have a look at the cathedral. We hadn't been inside the cathedral on our previous visits, and really enjoyed it. It's the chapel for the Royal Regiment of Wales, so has commemorative plaques up for things such as the 1812 war in America (including battles in Miami and Detroit), and the Boer and Crimea wars. The cathedral itself is really interesting to look at. Apparently there's been a building on that site since the 10^th century, and the first Bishop of Llandaff was appointed in the 5^th century. It of course fell in to disrepair after the Dissolution of the Monastries and the Reformation, and some of the stained glass is post 18^th century, but a lot of the glass had to be replaced after WWII, as a German landmine fell next to the cathedral in 1941. It was a really great visit.

The bell tower at Llandaff Cathedral

Part of the graveyard behind Llandaff Cathedral

After visiting the cathedral and wandering around Llandaff for a bit, we headed back towards Pontcanna, walking along the Taff and and past Swalec Stadium. We stopped in at Y Mochyn Du for a couple of drinks, and scared Bobby. There was a bucks party which stopped in not long after us – they were a bunch of blokes from a rugby club, and it was the bucks night for 2 of the guys. They were playing pub golf. Y Mochyn Du was the 4^th hole, and it was starting to get a little messy already. I don't think Bobby felt too comfortable around a bunch of very boisterous blokes. Never mind, they were pretty well behaved and we left before they did.

Monday, Bobby headed off to Southampton for his next conference, and we had lunch at Cibo. We had a great weekend, and it was really good to see Bobby, and to catch up with some of the goss from Canberra.

August - what a sorry sponge of a month

Phew – August in Wales 2008. So, where's the Ark and the animals coming two by two? It was wet. We saw more rain in 1 month than we had for at least 2 years (prior, of course, to coming to the UK). If only there was some way of shipping it to the folks back in Australia.... There was even one day when the Taff broke it's banks by Blackweir, and flooded right up to where the Eistedfodd had been.

Early August was dominated by the National Eistedfodd. For Aussies, this is nothing like the one the high schools do. Instead, it is a 'celebration of Welsh culture' – so it's music, craft, poetry, and so on, and gives out prizes for Welsh language skills and the like. Apparently it's open to everyone, but proceedings and signage is predominantly in Welsh. We didn't go. From what the local media said, it went down well and was successful despite the appalling weather.

August continued to be Southern Hemisphere Rugby as well, with the highs and lows which are part and parcel of being Wallaby supporters. Hopefully they do well during the Autumn tour here, and don't disgrace themselves at Millennium Stadium (yes, we bought tickets....). We went to Y Mochyn Du and watched the AB's beat South Africa (again), and Matt tipped over, for the first time in the UK his beer. Some poor bloke wore some of it, but most of it went on the table. Well done, Matt! What a waste of good bitter. That'll teach you for reaching around behind you to pick it up from the table. We enjoyed seeing the Wallabies win in South Africa for the first time in 8 years (Huzzah!!), and are disappointed that they couldn't repeat the efforts the following weekend.

We started the month with a Friday out with some of the folks from Prices at the ONS. It was a great evening, marking the departure of one person to another agency and the birthday of another. Until we left the last pub. We were standing outside, deciding whether to catch a taxi or not when some plonker went racing down St. Mary's Street colliding with anyone in his path. Including Kathy. She was seriously winded, but otherwise unhurt. First fears were that she'd been knifed (no, Matt, it wasn't that sort of pain) or had her bag snatched, but fortunately it was only being winded. The bouncers on the door just stood there and watched, even though they knew we'd just stepped out of the bar. Thanks guys. Bad ending to a good evening. Mind you, it says something about Cardiff late at night on a Friday and Saturday (also why we tend to avoid St. Mary's Street after 10pm).

The next day we decided we needed a 'quiet' Saturday. But, we got a phone call from Les and Gaynor saying they were coming in to town for some festival thingy (the Big Weekend, it turns out), and would we like to join them later in the afternoon? So we did. So much for our quiet day. We stopped in to the Goat Major for a quiet drink before finding some lunch. Matt said 'can you hear that?', to Kathy – it was drums in the background, getting louder and louder. Next thing we know, coming down St. Mary's and High Streets was a huge parade of steel drums, dancers, performing artists, martial artists, and dragon puppets (of course – this is Wales after all).

Dragon puppet on a performer

Dancer in costume on High Street, Cardiff

Another dancer in costume - but what is it supposed to be?

Steel band on the corner of High and Castle Streets in Cardiff (yes, that is a castle in the background)

It was fantastic! We didn't expect to see that at all (and thank goodness it was a fine day). We trotted off to have a look at the Big Weekend, which was mainly a fun fair. We didn't go on any of the rides (too timid, and a 'bit dusty' as the saying goes), but enjoyed wandering around and looking at what was going on. There was also a performance stage, but we didn't hang around and watch. We eventually caught up with the Barry Bergers, and enjoyed a quiet drink or two with them before the 'kids' decided they were tired (these are 'kids' in their 20's) and wanted to go home. Also, one lot needed to relieve the baby sitter, to that's a reasonable excuse.

That evening, not wanting to go home, we found a great Indonesian restaurant, right on 'chippy alley'. We'd passed this place a couple of times before, but thought it looked a little dodgy. We were feeling a bit braver this time, and we're glad we went in. Turns out this place is not on the ground floor, but on the first floor, so it's above the noise and nastiness. It was sooooo good! We got our S.E Asian fix (mmmm, mee goreng....) and have been back there again.

What else did we do? We enjoyed a documentary shown on the BBC by Richard Dawkins, on Darwin and evolution and creationism. It rained. A lot. We, very importantly, decided on rugby teams to support (no, we're not going for the same team!) We did the Canton Mile (see separate entry for that one), in the rain, with the crowds from the first Cardiff Bluebirds home game of the season. Oh, and Bobby was in town – see the separate post about that. We got our Council Tax demand notice. We have to pay how much!?!?!?!?! Ouch. Unpleasant. The pool skimmer box back at our place in Australia finally got fixed. It's only taken 8 months. Do you suppose they'll mind if we take 8 months to pay?

We went for a walk through Bute Park one weekend. We think the security guys at Cardiff Castle have to try harder. On one side, there's a big wooden door, which looks really impressive. In front of it there's this piddling little fence, with a padlock.

Try harder, guys! (but we're sure actual security is heavier - it just looks funny that's all)

Matt also is fascinated by bumble bees, which aren't in Australia, but of course are abundant here.

Matt worked from home several times during August (hold me down from the excitement.) as he got ready to go to Mexico at the end of September to attend a Voorburg Group Meeting. For the first time, he's getting stressed about work in the UK.

We went to the Halfway for a drink after dinner one night towards the end of the month (the 28^th, to be precise), when we saw something really unusual. It had been overcast and rainy all day (it was August), and the sun had set. All of a sudden, or so it seemed, the sky started turning a really unusual green-y colour, and we could start seeing the outline of chimneys and buildings. We worked out later that it was the effect of the moon rising. Most freaky (and no photos - night pictures don't come out well on our phones).

We had a nice meal out at a place on St. Mary's Street one Friday – Porto Due, which does Portuguese style food. It was nice, and we'll probably go back there again, but we enjoyed seeing the massive skewers of meat coming out, and watching one of the waiters flirting with the single female customers.

The last weekend of the month we went to a cocktail party at Les and Gaynor's, made memorable because Les had tried to burn the kitchen down earlier that week! Kathy finally got to go in Les's Jaguar, and wonders why Jaguar even bothered to put rear seats in that particular model. The party was fantastic fun, but we're really glad that not only we don't drink like that much any more but also don't do cocktails any more either. We were a bit dusty the next day, and were much relieved to head up to the pub for Sunday Lunch and a quiet day all round.

We're still enjoying the food over here, especially fish and the meat Kathy gets from the local butcher (all free range and organic, and sourced from Wales where possible – extremely tasty). We even had saussison and le Chalet de Vevy Comte cheese (French) which were bought at Tesco(!). Memorable wines this month were (and please no criticism of our choices – we're still exploring, and these are probably good beginner wines):

• Bodegas Faustino, Faustino V Rioja 2007 (Spanish)

• Dona Dominga Old Vines Sauv Blanc 2007 (Chile)

• Maison Louis Latour Ardeche Chardonnay 2006 (French)

For all that, autumn is undoubtedly on it's way. There are trees which have started changing colour already and towards the end of the month the local hoards of squirrels were getting more active as they pack on the pounds before winter.

The Canton Mile

So, there's this pub crawl called the Canton Mile. It's close by us. We had to do it. So, one wet August afternoon, off we set. This is our record of that afternoon.

RULES

1. one drink in each pub

2. half pints only

3. stick to bitter (it's mid-strength) or soda water

4. enjoy ourselves

http://www.cardiffpubs.co.uk/Region.php?Region=Canton

PUB 1

Ty-Pwll Coch

Nice pub. A Worthy pub (we think - brewery) Black painted floor. There was part of a wedding party in the beer garden, and the kids were playing pool. The staff would join the regulars at the bar for a drink. There was a tortoiseshell cat sitting in a window upstairs from the pub watching the street in the rain.

PUB 2

The Victoria Park

Brains pub. Busy (we discovered that we had done this on Day 1 of the Football Championship, and the Bluebirds were playing at home. Ninian Park is in Canton), with only 1 staff member behind the bar. Crowd was pretty eclectic.

PUB 3

The Clive

Belhaven Best. Aussie-style beer garden (would be great on a nice day). Absolutely huge pub. Order got stuffed up.

PUB 4

The Maltings

Worthington. Everyone was drinking lager, and the bitter was stale. Very hot, and a really bad vibe. 80's wine bar gone bad. Couldn't wait to get out.

PUB 5

The Insole

Brains pub. Packed with football folks. Older looking pub, and looks as though it would be really comfy to go to on a non-football afternoon.

PUB 6

The Corporation

John Smiths. Really young floor staff, and they were really quick to tidy up after the crowds left to go to Ninian Park. The TV was really loud, but the crowd were good and cheerful.

PUB 7

The Canton

Brains. Freshly painted, and the watercolours on the walls seemed to be originals rather than prints. Very nice touch. Directly over the road from The Corporation – how convenient!

PUB 8

The Old Butcher's Arms

Brains. We sat in the lounge bar with the older customers, and watched one of the barmaids ringing through bets for customers, along with the Men's gymnastics at the Olympics. On our way out we discovered a side area with leather lounges, and which looked new and a bit clubby. Must give that a try some time....

PUB 9

The Goscombe

Wye Valley Bitter. We saw a kid in the rain (it was cold) with an ice-cream. Dammit – it's summer after all! There were huge double front doors, and it all looked fairly new. Matt reckons the beer is a good session beer.

PUB 10

The Canton Cross

Didn't write down what we drank. Odd mix of patrons, and the staff wore pink shirts. Not unpleasant, but Kathy reckons 'meh'.

PUB 11

The Ivor Davies

Not to be confused with the Australian musician, Iva Davies! A Weatherspoons pub, and we drank Bishop's Finger. Lots of different beers on tap. Has a beer garden which would be a sun trap. Were here as the football crowd came in after Cardiff won 2-1.

PUB 12

The Admiral Napier

Brains. Full of football supporters, and the vibe was edgy – eeep! Give it another go on a non-match day. Not much else to say about this one, but another one we couldn't get out of quick enough!

PUB 13

The Forresters

Unlucky 13, all we can think of about this Brains pub is eeeeep! Get us out of here! Again, because of the football crowd.

PUB 14

Robin's Bar

[we didn't get a photo of this one]

Brains. Matt had heard bad things about this pub, but it was OK, and the crowd were pretty good and fun. And there was something about pissing off the Severn Bridge....?

After all that, we stopped – we'd had a good day, so don't spoil it was our maxim. We gave the Kings Castle a wide berth, as we'd been there before and didn't like it, and there's apparently another one or 2 we missed as well.

Highly recommended!

July - So, was that summer then?

July was, looking back at it now, pleasantly sunny and very summery. We even got sunburnt while watching Glamorgan play at Swalec Stadium on a whim (the joy of season tickets).

Matt's aunt, Val, had her last week in the country at the beginning of the month, so we joined the family in Barry for a lovely lunch one Sunday. We really enjoyed the time we spent with her, and hope to get over to Canada while we're in this hemisphere to visit her. That week was also our wedding anniversary, and we had a lovely dinner out at one of the local cafe/restaurants – Cafe Brava this time. It was lovely. Matt gave Kathy a much desired Global brand knife (mmmm, sharp... She later bought the appropriate sharpening tool to keep it appropriately edged), and Kathy gave Matt 2 cigars and a half bottle of whiskey. Matt cracked open the bottle and had the first cigar when we got home after dinner.

The people involved in naming food festivals in Cardiff need a talking to. We went to something down at Cardiff Bay which was called the Cardiff International Food Festival. Guys – try harder! There was about 4 stalls for non-UK based food suppliers [Matt: I counted zero!], out of over 20 tents (with about 4-5 suppliers in each). Hardly international [Well it was if England counts - M]. Mind you, the way some North Wale-ians react to the rest of the UK the 'international' epithet could be apt. We had cockles, which were really nice (with the obligatory vinegar), but the rest of it was pretty lame. Still, we'd probably go again next year to see if they've picked up their standards.

The weekend after we went to Dublin (see our separate entry) we spent most of the weekend in the pub. Because it was wet. And to get out of the house. That's not to say that we drank a lot. [No we didn't – dear lord, what is happening to me? - M] People who know us in Canberra would be surprised to learn that, given the way we were spending a lot of our weekends back there. We now go and have a meal, and sit over a couple of drinks for a couple of hours reading the paper, or watching sport on TV, or talking. Very respectable.

The Tri Nations kicked off this month as well. The matches in Australia and New Zealand are breakfast affairs for us, so we drag ourselves out of bed, put coffee on and watch the Wallabies beat New Zealand (so exciting – we thought the whole neighbourhood could hear us screaming and yelling!), or New Zealand beating South Africa, or (sob) Australia being beaten by New Zealand. After that wonderful victory over New Zealand by the Wallabies we went to the Halfway for lunch. Sitting at the table next to us was a bunch of lads, and at another table close by were 2 guys – one wearing a Wallaby jumper, the other wearing an All Black jumper. All were talking about the rugby. Then the antipodean pair left – and the bunch of lads started bagging out the Wallabies! Poor form guys, very poor form.

We went to the Big Cheese festival in Caerphilly.

Kathy at Caerphilly Castle

We went there thinking that it was a cheese festival, because of it's name, and while there certainly was cheese there at the food stalls, most of it was a big fair and market, and there was a medieval exhibition on as well. It was great!

The Big Cheese Festival

The weather was fantastic, Matt tried jellied eels (bland without the pepper and vinegar, but pretty tasty nonetheless [They have very large bones that cut mouths - M]), and we bought Caerphilly cheese in Caerphilly! Gotta do it, don't you? There were heaps of family at the festival, and apparently it's the big thing to do in the Valleys. There were heaps of things for the kids to do, including trying their hands at various medieval weapons, and watching displays and talks about weaponry and life in medieval times. There was also free entry to Caerphilly Castle, and we really enjoyed wandering around that, too.

Caerphilly Castle

One of the fallen towers at Caerphilly Castle

Caerphilly Castle across the moat

We want to go back when the festival isn't there and have another wander around – we didn't go inside the castle itself much, but wandered around the grounds (and looked at the siege weapons – very cool {Trebuchet and a ballista – coooooooooooool - M]).

Siege weapons, aimed at the Castle

And besides, Caerphilly is only half an hour away by train. Can't wait for the Big Cheese 2009!

The most exciting thing to happen all month was – drum roll – our stuff FINALLY arrived!!!!!!! We now have different clothes! Our photos are up! Kathy's finally got her recipe books! (not all of them – just a select few) We've got kitchen toys! Matt's got his XBox! Oh, the joy of it all. It took long enough, though, and we weren't impressed with Grace Removals for their lack of communication with us about the bill for uplift and shipping, and about when we might expect things to leave Australia. But, we've got our stuff and that's what matters.

[Matt here: I thought Ireland was more exciting]

What else of note? We saw Batman - The Dark Knight (and thought it should have had a different classification as it's not really a movie I'd want to take kids to see). Matt rang Sheeds. Matt picked a football team. Kathy enjoyed buying summer berries, especially those you can't get readily in Australia, like gooseberries – mind you, she still doesn't quite know what to do with red and black currants, so if anyone has any good suggestions... After going to the Big Cheese we sat and enjoyed pints of Magners cider at the Kings Arms in Caerphilly (lovely pub) in the beer garden. We went to Dempsey's Bar one day and there were guys doing a pub crawl, or a buck's night, or something – and they were all dressed as superheroes. We got cranky at our landlord for not advising Cardiff Council that the house was built, so when we tried to pay our council tax we experienced no end of dramas. Upshot of that is that we now have a new postal address (complete with new post code), we should have our address turn up on databases everywhere eventually (which will make things like purchasing insurance on-line much easier), and our place has been rated in a tax band higher than what we were expecting. Ouchy. Ah, you can't win them all, can you?

New pubs this month include Callaghan's, the Old Arcade, Copa (which is a bar, really), and Zero Degrees – a newly opened brewery bar [Wanky - M].