November saw the start of some cold weather. It started cold, warmed up a bit, then ended cold again. Huh – late autumn. The nights started getting longer, and the days shorter, as winter inexorably crept in on us.
We started the month celebrating Bonfire Night (also known as Guy Fawkes night) early, with an evening with the Barry Bergers.
Les and Ieuan
Cold and chilly, but with a suitably impressive display over the golf course. On the actual day, we went to the pub and sat in the warmth watching fireworks going off over Llandaff and Pontcanna Fields.
November was also a rugby month, with 4 international matches on at the Millennium Stadium. Woo hoo!!!!! We were offered some tickets to the South Africa match, and so of course we went. Clodey (who got us the tickets) also invited us to join him and his friends for lunch and drinks before and after the match, which were much appreciated! Kathy really enjoyed when Clodey and his mates – they are all from a prefessional choir (they are on Radio 4 you know) - burst into song.
Clodey et al, terrorisng the local populace with close-harmony singing
It was a good day, and a really enjoyable match (although Wales lost). Because it was just before Remembrance Day there was 2 minutes of silence before the match. Magic moment of the day was the shushing of idiots who were shouting things out during the silence. Not sure what the harpist was about (Men of Harlech, but as a girl at Matt's work said "A Harp!?!?! They didn't show them Zulus a thing or two using a harp!") but the band and the Goat Major (four legs, not the pub) were cool.
The Goat Major, and his orchestra
The singing at Millennium Stadium was amazing – to hear Welsh sing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau at the Stadium was a highlight (but this was trumped later in the month!)
Halftime Crowd at Wales v South Africa, Millenium Stadium
On the day that the Christmas lights were turned on (which are pretty spectacular – I hate to think what wintry Cardiff will look like when they're turned off) we went and saw Quantum of Solace. Much like the early Bond novels [and they borrowed the making of the "Vesper" – cocktail – from Casino Royale and slotted it here] We enjoyed it [Matt enjoyed it more it seems], but not as much as Burn After Reading by the Cohens.
On the 14th Matt took the day off work [6 months here, still only taken 6 days leave!]. We went to Owain Gwyndir for lunch,
Matt and Kath, preparing for a spot of lunch
and ordered a bottle of wine. Now, on the 14th, Wales were playing Canada at Millennium, so all drinks within a certain distance of the stadium had to be served in plastic containers – including the bottle of wine Matt ordered. It arrived in a plastic jug (classy). Matt said, sniffing the jug, “I think this wine is corked”. Very funny – the table next to us laughed too. Before lunch we walked through Bute Park and enjoyed a lovely autumn day. There were lots of squirrels and the last of the autumn leaves sitting in drifts on the ground. It reminded us a lot of 'Forever Autumn from Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds:
Through autumn's golden gown we used to kick our way
You always loved this time of year
Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now
'cause you're not here
as we both had a similar mental picture about those words. Very cool. That evening (after finding a funny little pub that's only open on match days) we had another magic moment in our local. We were stitting in the pub watching the stream of traffic going in to the city for the match. There was a bloke sitting in his car, car full of kids, stuck in Rugby-bound traffic and scowling. Really filthy look on his face. He looked angrily into the pub, longing for some escape. Matt raises his beer glass, the bloke grins, nods his head and waves. Magic.
The next day we went to Caerleon. Caerleon was home to a Roman fort, and the ruins are still visible, and has the only fully excavated amphitheatre in Europe outside Italy. It was amazing!!!
Matt in the Caerleon Ampitheatre
Even in spite of the stench from the cows from the farm next door didn't affect our enjoyment too much. It was a fantastic trip. We went to the Amphitheatre and walked on the walls. It was pretty amazing, walking on structures that were in use nearly 1800 years ago. We were about to walk back to town when Kathy said 'oh, what's that over there?' - it was the ruins of the barracks , all mapped out with the layout of rooms and corridors still visible – stumbling on this which was a stroke of luck. There was no-one else there. We saw ruins of the Commander's accommodation, kitchens, latrines and baths, and the accommodation for the ordinary soldiers. Brilliant.
Kathy in the ruins of the barracks, Caerleon
We'll go back in the summer and have another look around the township and go into the museum – and stay the night there in a cute little hotel we found. To get back in to town, we had to walk along a Roman road – still in use all that time after it was originally built. This just blew us away. After we got back in to Cardiff, we decided to get a taxi up to the pub, so that we could watch the Australia v England match. So, there we were happily sitting in the cab, when some dickhead walks right out in to the path of the taxi as it pulled in to an intersection. This loose link then hit the windscreen with his hand so hard he cracked the windscreen – all the while abusing the cabbie, who understandably was a bit shaken by all of this. He said that in 20 years of driving that had never happened to him, poor bloke. We eventually made it to the Halfway safely, and happily sat and watched the match with an Englishman who left the pub the moment his team lost. Not to matter, we had a good chat with the publican.
The next weekend was really, really cold (or so we thought) – in time for the Kiwis to hit town. We were so glad we didn't go to that match – we would have frozen. Mind you, the big things for that week were that we booked a trip to Edinburgh for New Year, and – drum roll please – Kathy finally got a job offer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She has a 2 year contract with Cardiff University working in the Registry doing quality assurance. Big thanks and many kudos to her referees back in Australia – Moz and Howard.
In the last weekend of the month was the match we'd been most looking forward to – the Aussies! We had a lovely lunch with Matt's cousin Linda and her hubby Phil, and some friends of theirs, then headed in to town to watch the match. We were very, very cold. We were standing at an outdoor bar and our beers were getting colder from the wind! We had some OK sort of seats – 7 rows back behind the goal posts. Not too good for seeing the far end of the pitch, but good for sitting behind the big gas flames which went off at the start of the match. It was a really exciting game (despite the result), and was the best we've ever been to in terms of atmosphere – the singing was everything we'd hoped to hear at a Welsh rugby match and hadn't up to then. As well as Land of my Fathers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNtybd7kTqo) the crowd were in full song with Cwm Rhondda (that's “Bread of Heaven”) and the Max Boyce song Hymns and Arias. (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym7d5IuRjxE&feature=related) It was spine tingling. Goosebumps. It made the effort against the South Africans a few weeks earlier seem amateur. We challenge anyone to sit through all that and not be moved. Then after bumping into Terry & Lisa (Terry said the Rugby “...was just like the 70's – the crowd, the singing, Wales winning”) we met up with Clodey, and the Cardiff Aussies afterwards and had a simply brilliant evening. The ever eclectic Old Arcade in Cardiff didn't disappoint. Matt told a story about a trip to the gents, clad in his full Wallaby regalia, when the lad next to him started shouting “Wales! Wales! ... Oh sorry pal didn't see you there...” - with a big grin. Not to be outdone, Matt replied in full voice “Once a jolly swagman ...”, at which point all the other guys at the urinal – Welsh guys mind you, burst into song and sang the first verse, and knew all the words! Following a good and long evening
Clear signs the "good and long evening" is taking it's toll:
Craig, Lewis and Matt in Queen St en route from the Old Arcade
we finished up at Lewis and Sarah's, where the boys cooked (good job, well trained) while the girls sat and talked. It was a great day, and a good end to the month.
Beers of the month:
Crow Valley Ale
O'Hanlons Port Stout
Theakston Old Peculier
Wells Bombadier
Oh, and the Halfway put Brain's Dark on the pull pump.
Thank you, Mr SA Brain
Mmmmmmm... [This is now Matt's favourite beer – plus it's only mid-strength at 3.5%, and he doesn't care!]
