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 28th, 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.
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