Northern Menus: April - springtime in Wales

April saw spring upon us with intent. The trees started changing, the days started to get longer, and we started getting more fine weather. Hooray.

At the start of the month was the local derby in the football. Cardiff City v Swansea. There is a lot of bad blood between the 2 teams, especially when the fans get a few pints in them. To try and counteract this the game was scheduled to start at 11am, which is before pub opening time. So what did some enterprising landlords do? Why, apply for a special licence to open early, of course! Oh dear. We walked in to town to do some shopping and could hear the crowds. The police helicopters were going overhead from 8am – but rude for a Sunday morning. There were police everywhere. This just brought it home to us (again) just how different rugby and football crowds are. We so much prefer the rugby crowds – lot more companionable and good natured. There's something wrong when you have to segregate fans.

Not to worry, it was a beautiful day, sunny and crisp. Magnolias are in bloom, and Bute Park was an oasis from the football crowds.

Spring Blossoms in the sunshine

The week following was National Cask Ale Week, so we did the honourable thing and went to the pub every night. Unfortunately the Halfway had their deliveries stuffed up, and so the ale didn't have time to settle properly before the week began – so the yummy beers didn't come on until later in the week. Even then it was mainly Milkwood. Sigh. I think Bob, the landlord was rather disappointed as well.

On Maunday Thursday Matt had a half day, the rat. The pub was surprisingly quiet when we got there for the Cheese and Ale evening (mmmm, cheese and ale....). Easter also saw the Blues play Toulouse in the Heinekin Cup.

Matt wearing his Cardiff shirt, before the game

Ah, French rugby supporters. They came to town early to make a weekend of it, and brought their picnic style with them. On Easter Saturday there was a group of French in Bute Park who had set up their picnic – trestle tables, piles of wine, bread, cheese....

Tres bon!

Some of the party were sitting in the sun near the cherry trees with their plates singing. It was fantastic. That day we also 'found' a little dragon, in a rugby ball shaped egg (well, he is Welsh!). In an effort to get our nephews and niece more involved in what we are doing we've set up a little blog, starring a little Welsh dragon named Owain Glwyn Dragon. Follow his adventures on http://owaingwyndragon.blogspot.com/.

So it was match day, and naturally we did a wander around our favourite match day haunts. Tair Pluen was busy, but there were equal numbers of Welsh and French. We then went to the Old Arcade, where it took Matt 15 minutes to get served!! We don't stand for that sort of malarkey, thank you! So we went to the small O'Neil's, which was comparatively quiet. We then headed to the game via the Central Markets to get something to eat. Matt got a turkey drumstick, which released his inner cave man – Grrrrr. We also tried pork scratchings, which were salty, tasty and fatty. The game was dour, and the last 20 minutes were the best part of the game. Cardiff were lucky to come away with the win.

Cardiff (in baby blue) v Toulouse

The fans, though, had a great time. The Toulouse fans put the Welsh to shame with their enthusiasm and singing. Some of them seemed to spend no time in their seats at all.

Enthusiastic Toulouse fans

Brilliant. The queue in the gents at half time were so long that for once Kathy got back to the seats before Matt did! This match was the first time we'd been to the stadium when the roof was open.

Clouds through the open roof at Millennium Stadium

On Easter Sunday we went for a walk do the Riverside Markets in the sun. There were swans on the Taff, and ducks fighting. There were the sounds of birds singing their little hearts out, so it's definitely Spring. Matt did his thing for the local political scene by signing a petition to stop the Council from putting a road in Bute Park with some permanent cafes. If it was a European style cafe, people wouldn't complain, but we know it's more likely to be the type which has deep fried everything.

Do we need to say any more?

Guess what was watching us on the way home one afternoon...

The weekend after Easter the Royal Horticultural Show was on in town. Unlike last year when Kathy bought tickets in advance, we gave it a miss this year because the queue to get in was about 30 minutes long – at the minimum!

Queues. We're from Canberra. We don't

We instead went to a memorial garden which sits behind the Town Hall, and opposite the main building at the University. It's quite a pretty garden, with memorials for both World Wars and the Falklands, but lots of graffiti. And kids sitting on the memorials drinking and smoking. And our pants are up by our armpits! As we were walking back in to town we walked past a bright yellow Lamborghini, and Matt's jaw was dragging along the ground so much he tripped over it! Right in front of the Lamborghini. It was very funny.

Our big expedition, if you could call it that, was to a pub called the Vulcan,

which is due to close soon. It sits all on its own in the middle of a car park. It used to be surrounded by other buildings, but all the other buildings have been demolished. It's a little sad – it has been a pub for most of the last century and was the oldest pub still in operation in Cardiff, but I suppose time moves on. It's now this sad little pub, with regulars surrounded by shipping memorabilia. We were talking to someone who said that is used to be pretty rough. Now it just looks sad. After that we re-tested Matt's gaydar. It's still not working right. We went in to a pub we see from the train line, called the Golden Cross. It's a gay bar. The rainbow flag and the disco ball should have given it away. The best part of the pub was a huge painted mural on one wall of the Castle, which was fantastic.