Heartbreak

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Standing in what used to be Cardiff Arms Park, the scene of many All Blacks triumphs, I stood in silence, surveying the wreckage of another All Blacks World Cup dream. Around me were the scenes of All Blacks fans crying, flags being broken and other fans like me, just standing in stunned disbelief. In direct contrast to the French fans who were singing and cheering their team as they did a lap of honour. I did not clap them for a good game because I am not a good loser. And I hope never to be really. Also I was a little disappointed that the All Blacks did not acknowledge their fans. There were quite a few people who had come up from London to cheer them on, and also many who had spent a fortune making this a holiday of a lifetime coming over from NZ. Granted they were devastated, but so were the supporters.

But starting back from where I left off after the exhausting and exhilarating weekend following the All Blacks up in Scotland, it was back to work for a nice relaxing 4 day week. Made even more relaxing by the fact that my 2 bosses were up in Liverpool for Thursday and Friday. Needless to say, not a lot of work was done. Unless you call scouting out for a new laptop in Tottenham Court Road work. Not many would. But I was getting paid for it, so I was happy.

The rest of the week outside of work was fairly busy as I was out to dinner with Karen on Tuesday, then on Wednesday it happened to be someone’s birthday, so I went out to dinner with Leah, Ben, Minna and the newly-arrived-from-South-America Jono and Kate. It was good to catch up with them and the location was pretty cool as well. If you hadn’t guessed it was my birthday and I’ve scraped through to the ripe old age of 24! Jeez, I know, about time I started looking at retiring…..

For the weekend, after a relaxing Saturday watching the All Blacks pummel Romania, and Fiji embarrass Wales, on Sunday, I went and visited my Aunty Esme down in Bournemouth. It has been many years since I have seen her, but we had a great day and went out to Stonehenge, Salisbury, Corfe Castle and finished off with a proper pub meal. I was most impressed with both Stonehenge and Corfe Castle actually. Stonehenge was in a really random place, even by ancient standards but had some great country air. So maybe that’s what the original inhabitants created it for. A country getaway from the nagging caveman wife perhaps? It even had a man-made moat or least the ditch where one would have been. Probably necessary after the husbands enjoyed the time away so much, they got besieged by the angry wives. Poor fellas. Anyway, big thanks to Aunty Esme for driving me around Southern England and showing me where my Mum’s side of the family grew up.

The following week went by very slowly as I was counting down to Saturday when I joined the Beige Brigade tour group heading to Cardiff to watch the All Blacks vs France. Despite that, I managed to restart Hapkido, go and see Barnet vs Wycombe with Ben, and pick up Alaina and play tour guide for her. I now feel like a bona fide Londoner!

And then came Cardiff. Enough said.

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Photos

Stonehenge
The famous stones themselves.

Stonehenge #2
Different angles.

Stonehenge #3
Different angles.

Stonehenge #4
How it would have looked back in Ancient times.

Salisbury Cathedral
Very impressive. Also very intricate on the front as you will see better in the next photo.

Salisbury Cathedral #2
Close up of the front.

Corfe Castle
And the road up to the front gate.

Corfe Castle #2
The remains of the living quarters. I would have been pretty magnificent in it's day.

Drawbridge
Over the moat and into the main castle grounds.

View from Corfe Castle
Over the countryside.

View from Corfe Castle #2
Back down over the castle grounds and over the village. Still looking very medieval as well with the thatched roofs.

View of Corfe Castle
From the train station. It's a shame about all the scaffolding, but you get used to it all over Europe as they struggle to maintain these buildings after the effects of pollution and time. But mostly pollution.

Random building
The nice ornate building that greeted us as we arrived into Cardiff.

Cardiff Castle
Me and the Welsh dragon, with Cardiff Castle in the background.

Cathedral in Castle grounds
And you can also see the Millennium Stadium poking its head up in the background.

View up to Cardiff Castle
With the Welsh flag flying proudly above.

Millenium Stadium
With the roof closed, it was the most impressive stadium I have ever been in. The atmosphere was amazing and even in the cheap seats, the view was pretty good.

Millenium Stadium #2
With the Kiwi fans all next to me.

The Anthems
The All Blacks and the French lined up as the anthems were sung.

The Haka
With the French standing toe to toe with them.

The Heartbreak
Mirroring my feelings, you can see the disappointment and dejection written on his face.