Although this wasn’t a typical week it does give some
insight into life in Cardiff.
On Tuesday we went to a friend’s 30th birthday
party in Dinas Powys and, no, we weren’t the oldest there. We met a fascinating variety of people
there. One woman we met, with a strong
welsh accent, asked where we were from, and when we told her she told us she
was born in Vancouver and shortly thereafter her family moved to Kidwelly near
Llanelli. Dinas Powys has an interesting
history. It was closely linked to one of
the oldest Christian communities in Wales at Llandough and was the location of
a Roman Villa and is now a sleepy little town with some pubs with
fireplaces.
On Thursday Cardiff’s “Winter Wonderland” opened with a
Santa parade and all sorts of street shows in the city centre. The advertisements said that there were 90
things happening. Until after Christmas
a market will run on St. Mary’s street, a whole plethora of kiosks on The Hayes
including crafts, mead, sausages, beer and anything you can think of. Queens street has its usual “midway’
atmosphere and over at City Hall, in Gorsedd park, there are rides, more food,
and an outdoor skating rink.
On Fridays I finish at 11:20 so I met Carolene at St. John’s
church (built in 1180) for an organ concert, right in the middle of all that
Christmas Winter Wonderland activity (we were almost the youngest). St Johns has an organ recital once a month
along with other special activities.
Friday night Cardiff Blues rugby team played Llanelli. The teams were even so it was a nail biter
with Cardiff winning in the end. There
are four professional teams in Wales representing four zones. From these the national team is selected. Cardiff has an amateur team called the Blue
and Blacks who play the other city and town teams throughout the UK. I enjoy watching them but the professional
game was more intense.
Saturday morning a friend from England joined us for
breakfast. Two of her children were in a
swimming meet at the aquatic centre. Afterwards
we did some Christmas shopping in the Christmas market and watched the huge
rugby crowd. In the evening we went to a
free concert in Tiger Bay. The Milford
Haven brass band gave a fantastic concert.
We sat next to a band mother so we found out all about the band. At the end she advised us strongly to visit
Milford Haven. The bus dropped us off
outside of city centre as the rugby crowd was still clearing out.
On Sunday after breakfast with our friend from Bewdley,
shopping at the Riverside Market, and declining a post church invitation for
lunch we went back to Tiger Bay for another free concert at the Millennium
Centre. It was the launch concert for
“Cwlwm Celtaidd” which will run in Porthcawl at the end of February. There was Welsh Dance as well as some great
Welsh music. The band was called ‘dros
dro’. I looked it up and it means
temporary. Cwlwm Celtaidd is a Celtic
festival involving music and dance from all six Celtic nations. Last year there were dance workshops put on
by a number of the nations - I might try one.
Sunday night curry supper for charity. We each paid fifteen pounds for a fantastic
curry meal to help support a cause that our sixth form is championing. A lot of students, parents and teaching staff
were there and a couple of students supplied excellent music followed by a
pub-quiz. I didn’t know the answers to
any of the questions except what ocean sockeye salmon would be found. Kind of close to home, eh?
Tuesday night I tried out Brotherhood MMA down the road. And
you can see by their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BROTHERHOODMMA
they specialise in training MMA fighters.
I was made welcome and we had a good training session. A lot of the moves I am used to are grappling
moves or BJJ moves so the instructor corrected me. He was Welsh so when he said to pin the
persons yur I wasn’t sure if I was to pin him here (yur) or bight off his ear
(yur) or go away and come back next year (yur).
This weekend?:
striking for MMA; harp concert at St. Johns; birthday party at Ty Mawr;
carol service at St Johns; choir at Tiger Bay; Wales vs All Blacks across the
street; stir-up at the Welsh museum in St Fagans; and Sunday night hockey at
the Bay. Monday I have an eight and a
half restful day at work.
