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].

Ireland! Ireland! Together standing tall (OK ... just Dublin)

In July, we went to Dublin for a few days. We didn't have an auspicious start to the holiday. Firstly, Kathy was pretty crook, and probably should have stayed at home in bed. Then we encountered the horrors of Cardiff Airport. Ah, all those folks heading off for package holidays in warmer climes. Count the fake tans, male and female, and the died straightened hair. Fab. Ah, the complaints of people going through the security checks. Yes, you have to take that belt off. Yes, you have to take those shoes off. No, you can't take that liquid on the plane – I don't care if it did cost you £50. Joy. Then, to make matters even more 'fun', there was a fire alarm. There were no clear instructions on what was happening or where to go – there were no fire wardens directing passengers. Staff at a bookshop directed people down the wrong way. People were allowed to take open drink containers (glasses mainly) down the fire stairs, and then whined that they had to finish the drink before being allowed back through the security screening. (Matt: yes, I like a drink, but pints of Stella and Strongbow have a time and place - not in the bloody evacuation stairwell) Fantastic. Oh, and our plane was delayed (you have to expect that), but as a result the flight information disappeared off the flight info screen. Good one, guys. We weren't surprised to hear a week later that a family was allowed to get on the wrong flight (and the error wasn't discovered until they got to Turkey), and then a week after that that a woman was allowed through security and immigration with her husband's passport! Brilliant.

Anyway, we finally got to Dublin, checked in to our hotel, then went out to explore the city. We had a fantastic time. We walked over to St. Stephen's Green, and had a look at the poignant famine memorial. We then walked through the park and had a look at a series of Polish wildlife photos that were on display there, which were pretty cool. We then had a wander around the Georgian part of the city, and had a look at the houses. We found a sculpture of a person scaling a wall – except it was the side of a building several stories tall. We then wandered along the Grand Canal and looked at the locks. While walking along the tow path, we stopped and laughed at ducks fighting - “when ducks attack!!”. We then headed over to Trinity College and had a wander around the grounds (and endured the crowds on the roads outside the College).

We didn't pay to go in and see the Book of Kells, though – we'd seen it when it went to Canberra a few years ago, so didn't feel like lining up to see it again. Still, we enjoyed walking around the College grounds and looking at the buildings.

We grabbed a couple of sandwiches, then leapt on one of those 'hop on, hop off' buses and headed off to the Guinness Storehouse. We had a great time wandering around the visitors centre, and Matt got a thrill to see that a plaque had finally gone up celebrating one of the brewers. Maths and stats dorks will know him as the guy who invented the Student t-test. The rest of us will know him as William Sealy Gosset, Chief Brewer.

While there, we also marvelled at a huge waterfall (and Matt discovered that while you can reach across and put your hand in it, you probably shouldn't - if you don't want to get soaking wet),

and enjoyed the views from the highest bar in Dublin while first enjoying our complementary pint of the black stuff, then at one of the bars downstairs from there enjoying more of the black stuff

and the other brews brewed by Guinness. It was great. We then leapt onto another bus to go back into Dublin, and listened to the blarney being spun by the commentary guy on the bus. We got off the bus, and tried to find a pub which had been recommended to us. We went around, and around, and around, getting thirstier and crankier. When we finally found it, we were almost sorry we had – because it wasn't any good. Ah well, you get that. Still, it was nice wandering around and enjoying what turned out to be the best weather of the week. So we went to Temple Bar and found a place for dinner, had a good meal, then went back to the hotel for the night.

The next day, we endured breakfast at the hotel. It was just horrible. Everything was overcooked and had obviously been sitting around for a while. And the atmosphere in the dining room was oppressive. It was the most uncomfortable meal we've had in a very long time. We escaped as quickly as we could, and did the entire tourist bus trip around Dublin. Poor Kathy coughed and spluttered and froze until we could get under cover and into the warm, but the bus trip itself was excellent. We got to see a lot of Dublin, and checked out several places to return to later. We saw the remains of the walls of Dublin City, and saw the statue of Molly Malone. We heard about the 'lost gates of Phoenix Park', learnt that Arthur Guinness had 21 children (dude!) and saw a pair of swans out and about on the Liffey with their 7 (!) cygnets. And, did you know that when Pope John Paul II visited Dublin in 1979 1.25 million people turned out to hear him at mass? There's now a huge crucifix on the site. After the trip, we had another wander around the centre of the city, and found a bar called VAT. After an excellent lunch, we 'had' to have a couple of the whiskey tasting plates. Our attitude was that it would be rude not to! One was an Irish tasting plate, the other was a global one, to compare Irish and Scottish whiskey/whisky, and with those distilled in the US. Tasty, and educational. After that, we had another wander, and were astounded by a pair of tramps attacking each other – well, more correctly one guys was trying to defend himself from a real harridan of a 'female'. She was kicking and abusing him, hitting him, and pouring beer all over him. Lovely, and not a Garda officer in sight. We moved away quickly. We found some great pubs – it's Ireland, of course. We went to a place called Foggy Dew, which is not a tourist pub. In the bar (which is below ground level, they had Dark Side of the Moon playing, and then blues. It was fantastic, and there was a really eclectic bunch of people drinking there. We also went to a pub full of no-one (touristy), a pub full of Liverpudlians, and a pub called the Stag's Head, which was full of stuffed stag's heads. And it head really lovely black granite tables to sit at. The weather was just horrible, so it was a great way to spend the afternoon.

That night, we had the best meal of our trip. Vegetarians and squeamish diners turn away now. We were wandering around deciding what to eat when we walked past a restaurant which caught our eye. So we went in, to Olesya's Wine Bar. There we saw something on the menu which made our heart's stop – a foie gras tasting platter! We had the delicious stuff 4 ways, and all were delicious. So delicious. To accompany it, our waiter recommended a muscat de baum de veni. Yes, a sweet wine, but a dry sweet one, not cloying. He said that it was what he liked to drink with foie gras. It was an inspired choice, and was a brilliant match.

The next day was our last in Dublin. We went to the National Museum, and really enjoyed it. It was fantastic seeing the beautiful gold pieces, learning about pre-Viking Ireland, the romans and all the other invaders of the island, and got quite tired walking around all the exhibits. It was great. Not so great was our attempt to go to the Natural History Museum, because it was closed! It was pretty disappointing, as we'd heard a lot about it, and all the guides had recommended it. Ah well. So, we had lunch (mmmm, corned beef and Irish stew), bought some gifts for our nephews and niece, and went instead to Dublinia, which is an exhibition of medieval Dublin. We had to rush the last bit, as it closed at 5pm (yes, we'd been there an hour by that stage), and missed a couple of rooms, and Kathy nearly got locked into one of the exhibit rooms when a member of staff didn't check the room properly! Afterwards, we had a quick look at the grounds of the church next door and a nosey at the remains of an Augustinian priory. We then walked down the hill back towards Dublin, when Matt's pub-dar went off and we went in to a brewery bar called The PorterHouse Brewers Bar. Yummy, yummy, yummy beers. Dinner that night was at a Spanish restaurant, where Matt had pork paella and Kathy had seabass with a chorizo crust. The house white was delicious, and we finished up with the best espresso we'd had in Europe so far.

So our last impressions of Dublin were having walked 5,000 miles, damp weather, and marauding packs of Italian students taking up all of the footpath and sweeping all before them – you had to wait until they'd passed before you could move on. Our hotel was not the best, and was pretty noisy, but it was central and the price was right. But we had a fantastic time. Did love seeing this every day: on one side of the road, Liver Assurance

on the other side of the road, Heineken

Love it.

The next day we flew out, back to Cardiff. The airport was packed – people flying out for their summer holidays in warmer climes. The only thing of note was the bunch of American (of course) tourists complaining about the size of the plane. Hey – it wasn't all that small – it was a 56 seater! You fly on smaller planes going between Canberra and Sydney! I think they were expecting to go on a much larger aircraft. Now, to plan our next trip...

June Blew us Away

Weather-wise, that is. What a month! Wind nearly every day, and lots of rain. We were at the pub one day and the barman joked that it felt more like December than June! At least we know what we're getting ourselves in for.

We watched a lot of sport this month. We seem as though we spent weekends getting up early for an 8.30am kick off (our time), followed by a 10.30am match, then a 2.30pm match. It was really interesting listening to northern hemisphere commentary, particularly of the All Black matches. While the commentators were one eyed, at least they were fair. Pity the Welsh got smashed, but at least Deans is working his magic over the Wallabies. There's hope for the team – at least we shouldn't be too embarrassingly third in the Tri Nations.

Apart from that, we watched a bit of the Churchill Cup and IRB Junior World Cup, Kathy watched (or had on) a lot of the cricket which was played this month, and we attempted to see another Twenty20 match. We turned up to the game, and the heavens opened after a few overs. Apparently the game resumed after an hour or so. It was drier at the pub. Speaking of which, Kathy had a magic moment – one of the blokes Matt used to go to Voorburg Group meetings with (Tim) was there with a mate of his (another Tim), and they sat either side of Kathy and sang. In Welsh. It was fantastic!! Best moment of the month for her.

Matt's aunt Val has been over from Canada this month, staying with the family in Barry.

Val, Gaynor and Kathy

We trekked out there one Saturday for a family and friends BBQ. Mind you, the trip out there was a drama. We had a slow start to the day because of the rugby, so weren't quite ready when Les turned up in his Jag to pick us up. Turns out it was a good thing. See, the Jag drinks it's petrol as though it's drier than a dead dingo's donger – so Les doesn't take it on long trips (it takes about 30 mins to drive between our place and theirs. So when he got here, the thing was overheating more than a little. Turns out the fans weren't working, or something (the car nerds out there will be saying “so, what's surprising about that – it's a Jag”. True, but it's the sports coupe and they've apparently done many things to improve the reliability of their cars. (Apparently). After waiting for ages for the Jaguar roadside assistance folks to turn up and have a look (long enough for Kathy to watch the whole of the first half of the second test in Sth. Africa) he decided that he really can't fix it here and it would have to go back to the workshop. Les wasn't impressed – he'd just had it serviced. So, we wait while Les tries to get Gaynor on the phone to come and pick us up, then head off up the road to meet her along the way – about an hour or so after Les had originally turned up. Kathy suggested a shot gun would help Les to put the car out of its misery. Still, the BBQ was good fun and we enjoyed catching up with Grant and Sarah at lunch the next day.

The following weekend we met up with Matt's other cousin, Linda and her husband Phil. It was a really good afternoon, and we had lots of fun just sitting and chatting (and drinking – hey, this is Wales!). They're waiting to become grandparents any tick of the clock as this is written – very exciting. We haven't caught up with Matt's other aunt and and uncle yet, but it turns out that has not been a bad thing, as they've both been poorly. Linda's planning a family get together some time in July, depending on arrival of grandson.

Then, on Sunday we went to Cardiff Castle for a joust they were hosting.

Perils of jousting - shattered lances

Man, did the wind blow! Poor Matt left his hat at home (it was also sunny) as he didn't want it to blow away, so got badly sunburnt instead. This was the first time the Castle had held a joust, so some activities were a bit thin on the ground, but the kids who were there had a great time, and the jousting was a lot of fun to watch. We don't know how historically accurate it was, and we don't care – the main thing is everyone had fun, and the skills displayed by the erstwhile knights were spectacular. Most of the participants were re-creationists, so were a little, shall we say, intense, but they were quite happy to answer the millions of questions kids in the crowds seemed to keep asking of them.

The last weekend of the month saw us trek out to the St. Fagans Natural History Museum. It's huge! In 2 hours, all we saw was the house (or castle as people insisted on calling it, even though there hadn't been a castle there for centuries), most of the gardens attached to the house and 3 of the exhibits. It's important to point out here that this is a museum of buildings and ways of living – there's one similar in Switzerland Kathy's been to, and apparently there's also one in Sweden. So, we saw the wool mill and weaving house which has a huge big hand loom – they prepare, die, card and spin all their wool), a grain store and a fishing exhibition. As we'd walked there (it's 3 miles from home), we were starting to feel a bit weary (and hungry), so as it's so close and it's free entry we decided to return another day. The chap who showed us around the mill suggested at least 4 trips are necessary to see the whole lot, and said that in the couple of weeks before Christmas they have special openings where all the buildings are lit up and decorated. You have to pay for those ones, of course, but it would so be worth visiting!

So, notable meals and things this month:

• A very nice dinner at our local Italian cafe, where Kathy had cockles in her pasta sauce.

• Antipasti for lunch at a place called Signor Valentino, which is in Cardiff Bay

• mackerel (yummy fish, and cheap as)

• Tapas (again), but at pica pica (which is near the Stadium) – yummy and they do lunch deals

• British asparagus (sorry Aussie produces – these ones are better)

• British strawberries (the local ones were particularly delic.), raspberries and goseberries

• More goat's cheese than you could shake a stick at

• South African and Californian wines

Springtime in Cardiff

Springtime in the UK is damp

I reckon that Crowded House song '4 seasons in one day' wasn't about Melbourne or anything – they were thinking of the UK! One minute it's sunny and warm-ish, the next it's snowing. Go figure.

April saw us move in to our lovely little house in Pontcanna.

Tanglewood

It's a little 2 bedroom house (yes, a free standing house), with a bathroom and ensuite. It's fully furnished,

Our lounge

courtesy of Ikea, but we're not complaining. Couple of odd things, though – no cups, but plenty of glasses, and odd numbers of crockery and cutlery.

Kitchen

Not that we're complaining too hard, though.

Lounge (looking backward)

We did have to go and buy things like an iron and ironing board, and things like a caddy for the shower – there was no-where to put soap other than the floor – and pots and pans. It's a small price to pay, though. We're close to 'the village', where all the shops for the area are. There are 2 cafés, a coffee shop which roasts a wide variety of beans, a clothing shop, a laundrette, an off-license and post office, 2 real estate offices, a butcher (very good meat, properly aged and cared for), a pharmacy, a baker, a green grocer, 2 bottle shops, a take away place, a florist, a deli and the closest of our 6 local pubs. The Halfway is about 4 minutes away, the Conway is 5 minutes away, the Beverley is 8 minutes away, the Cayo Arms is 10 minutes away, the Robin Hood is about 7 minutes away, and last but by no means least y Mochin Du (in English – the Black Pig) is 11 minutes away. That's walking with intent and thirst speed. Poor Matt has to pass directly past 2 of these on his way home! Y Mochin Du is also right next to SWALEC Stadium, which is home to the Glamorgan Dragons cricket team

"I like Glamorganmorgan"

– and will be hosting the first match of the Ashes next year. Damn! What a shame!!

We're also 20 minutes walk from Millennium Stadium, so expect to be able to walk to see a lot of rugby next winter.

Kathy's really pleased she found the house. We'd been concentrating in Cardiff Bay, but to be honest the apartments there are very tiny (a swung cat would have you up before the RSPCA for animal cruelty) and a bit grotty. Matt was a bit cranky at her that she'd agreed to sign the lease on our little Pontcanna house, as she'd been dead keen on a place in the Bay. But this little house is so much better. [Yeah, it is, it's fantastic - Matt] We're so close to everything, and not having a car makes all the difference. If we'd lived down the Bay we'd have to have bought a car as nothing is close enough – and public transport is not as good. Yay for Kathy!!

Kathy spent a lot of April and May getting services and utilities set up correctly. One big problem is the address of our little house. We now think that our landlord hasn't set the place up correctly with the Council and the Royal Mail, which causes problems when service providers use our post code to select which address we're at. Tricky, when “Rear of ...” doesn't appear in any of the drop down lists. Our greatest drama, though was with Virgin Media. Because of the area we're in, our landlord refused to allow us to get satellite TV, but allowed us to get cable TV and broadband instead. You'd think that was simple. But no. The sales guy at Virgin Media said yes, no problem and signed us up. Everything was going swimmingly until the installation guys arrived. Because the landlord paved over the rear of the houses to provide parking for the tenants, Virgin won't do any laying of new cables, and the placement of a T join in the cable along the street is too far away to allow any new connections. We were also told that 'we don't do construction work for new customers, so we don't want you as a customer'. What the...?!?!?!? A solution was reached, but not without much to-ing and fro-ing, stress and bad language. Not impressed, Mr Branson. Not impressed at all. But, we do have more channels that we did in Australia, and much faster broadband – and it's cheaper, too. Here's hoping we don't have to move and go through this crap again.

Other dramas were experienced when we bought our new TV, DVD and tuner. We went to what we thought was a lovely little local shop. The guys were very nice, and even ordered us a taxi so we could take our stuff home as they don't deliver (first warning sign). The TV was in a box which had been opened (second warning sign), but we were assured that everything was in the box. They helped us get everything in to the taxi (including the very patient driver as they guys dicked around (third warning) getting everything together). We got home, and realised there was a box missing – the tuner. So, Matt walks back to the store after ringing them to pick it up. Their response was 'oh yeah, here it is'. Plonkers. With joy, we proceeded to carefully unpack the TV. It was then we realised several important things were missing, like the stand, a power cord, something to connect the TV to the rest of the entertainment system, an instruction booklet, and a remote. Back on the phone to the idiots at the TV shop. Eventually they promised to send it out by courier the next day. 2 days later, Kathy gave up and walked to the store and picked up the missing bits, after talking with the store manager. The next day (!!!!!) a courier turned up with the bits which should have been there 3 days ago.

Kathy also had “fun” setting up utilities. Canberrans – never complain again about ACTEWAGL or Telstra. Compared to the utility services here, dealing with them is a piece of cake.

What about fun stuff? We went to Cardiff Castle – very cool and the oldest part dates back to the Romans. We went to the Royal Horticultural Society's Spring show at Bute Park. There was a joint birthday party for Matt's aunt Gaynor and his cousin's wife Sarah – their combined ages are 90. We watched the FA Cup final so see how much Cardiff City FC would lose by (Kathy thinks they didn't completely disgrace themselves against a much better side). We watched [at the pub] the semi finals

Kathy in the crowd on H-Cup day

and then the final of the Heinekin Cup (“what's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster? It's a monster” was the favourite song of the Munster fans. For some reason.), and the EDF Cup (go the Ospreys!). We've watched a lot of rugby, and once we finally got the cable TV on we were even able to watch the Super 14 final (yay, Crusaders!). We went to Llandaff Cathedral, which had a religious site dating back to the 6^th century.

Matt at Llandaff Cathedral

Cool!!!! There were the ruins of a 13^th century bell-tower. There is just nothing that old in Australia. It keeps blowing us away that we're somewhere where the are structures that old.

In May we got the distressing news that our goods were still in Australia. We'd been having problems with the removalists, firstly getting an account from them for this move (we didn't get it until it was overdue – not happy guys), and then getting information from them about when our stuff would arrive. We really weren't happy – the information we'd been receiving from our only contact with them was non-existent. Our stuff is still not due to arrive in the UK until the 23^rd June – and to make matters even worse the shipping agent in London has said that once it clears customs it could take up to 21 days more for them to get around to shipping it to us here in Cardiff! Given we had been given the expectation that our shipment would have been with us by the end of May, that is an additional 8 weeks we are without our belongings. We obviously haven't brought enough clothing with us, so we're having to go shopping for more stuff. We hadn't brought any summer clothing with us, and only a couple of books each. So we've had to buy clothes, books and other bits and pieces. We're missing homely things, like our photos, and other bits we've shipped to make us feel at home. We just have to wait for July.

We enjoy going to Cardiff bay on a sunny afternoon – it's the best place we've found so far for sitting outside and drinking and eating.

The Bay

We also like going for walks in our local parks and gardens. We love walking in Bute Park, and Llandaff Field. At Llandaff there are also lots of things to look at, like families playing sport, picnicking or exercising their dog, and sports teams practising and playing.

Anyway, this blog is called Northern Menu for a reason. Here it is:

Pubs and Bars – April

• The Halfway

• The Conway

• The Robin Hood

• King & Castle (scary, scary pub)

• Cayo Arms

• The Beverley

• Dempsey's (Irish bar – good for watching sport)

• Revolution Bar

• The Westgate (handily placed between the Cayo and town)

• The Goat Major

• The Rummer Tavern

• Slug and Lettuce (could be a great bar, but not enough staff on – 3 staff during happy hour, including serving food)

• The Cottage

• The Yard

• O'Neil's at St. Mary's

• The Owain Gwythir

• Edwards

• Lloyds No. 1 (won't visit it again – bit like the Labor Club Belco)

• Y Mochyn Du

• Tair Pluen

• The Steam Bar (at the Hilton Hotel)

• The Butcher's Arms

• The Black Lion

• Kitty Flynn's

Pubs and Bars – May

• Glo Bar

• Bar 33

• Pulse (where Matt's gaydar failed to go off – he didn't notice all the mail hairdressers until he went to the gents, and found unusual things in the dispensing machines)

• Swell (very nice jazz bar)

• Terra Nova

• Prince of Wales

• The Romilly

• The Gatekeeper

• The Calcutta Club

• The Walkabout Bar

• Salt

Notable foods or meals

• Cheeses – Caerphilly, smoked caerphilly, Stinky Bishop and local goats cheeses

• Faggots and peas

• Gammon

• Herrings

• Mackerel

• Tapas

• Wines from France, Chile, Portugal and Spain (no bad ones yet. Yet). Kathy's missing her bubbles, though – you can't get it by the glass in bars, like you can in Australia.

• Suet pastry around a savoury pudding

• The great institution of Sunday Lunch (a meal bigger than your head – with peas, beans, carrots, swede, boiled and roasted spuds, and Yorkshire puddings if you have beef)

• Real prosciutto

• Real mozzarella

• English asparagus (yummy)

• Welsh spring lamb – of course

• Jersey potatoes (creamy texture, sweet potato-y flavour)

• Local beers (the Cayo is particularly good for this, as they have guest beers on every 4 weeeks or so)

• Cider (yes, we know the reputation it's got in Aus, but it's better here – trust us. Fave commercial ones are Bulmers and Magners – not just because Magners sponsors a rugby comp!)

• A delicious dinner at our local Portuguese restaurant

We're absolutely loving life. We're both healthier, and happier. We're eating better and drinking less. Despite the weather being so changeable (this is the UK after all), we don't mind it. Could do with it being a bit hotter, though. It's nice to see the rain – it's so green! Ask us again in February how we're loving it!