Advertisement
My Hosts
They even put a cardboard sign with 'Julie's Room' on the spareroom door. Aren't they luverly! Well I have now been in Gregoryland for three weeks and time here has gone so quicky. Over the three months since February I have been so busy cramming in the sights that now it is a little weird to suddenly have time to just sit and do nothing. Not something I am used to and I almost feel guilty for sitting on the couch watching DVD's while the others are at work. (Note that I did say almost - I have spent at least one morning cutting down the hedges in the front yard to feel slightly less almost guilty)
As well as already fitting in Barcelona and a weekend in London, Shani has been taking some flexi days off work and we have been amusing ourselves by wandering aimlessly around shopping centres looking at lots of stuff we don't really want to buy! As well of course as lots of stuff we have bought (completely justified as I now have more room in my backpack from sending some stuff home) And since i'm staying here with little sis till october we have also been planning some short trips away over the next few months. Our requirements are small
London
Finally saw the view from the London eye. and simple, somewhere that is warm, has a pool, within walking distance of a beach, good looking blokes to bring us drinks from the bar................
So anyway, local haunts in Wales. Well last week we went to a local 'Barn Dance'. Not so much the cultural occasion we thought it would be than the local welsh dancing team fundraiser. There was a slight breakdown in communication when discussing that one!! Athough in the end I must say the demo dances they did were very good and they are heading to Spain soon to represent Wales at a huge folk festival. We ALL got dragged up to try some steps during the evening but since I can only upload photos and not movies (thank god!!) if you really want to see all the action you will have to send me an email - and i'll send you the movie file without me in it!
Shani and I spent two days driving through the magnificent countryside of west Wales. Through Pt Talbot (hometown of Anthony Hopkins), Swansea (hometown of Catherine Z Jones) for coffee, Tenby for lunch (where there were people sunbathing in 20 degree weather-brrr), and then north where
At the Clifton suspension bridge
Just outside of Bristol, i'm guessing the samaritans don't like people jumping off the bridge!! we stayed in the seaside 'resort' town of Aberystwyth. A bit quiet at the moment as it isn't yet school holidays but very pretty. It was way too cold for us to go swimmimg, and the beach is black gravel anyway, so we played 'house of the dead' in the pier amusement parlour instead. In the morning we took the Vale of Rheidol steam train to Devil's Bridge and the scenery was fantastic over the valley. The train originally opened in 1902 for the lead mines in the area but has now been renovated just so you can go look at the view! Train lovers can look on the website www.rheidolrailway.co.uk
Back in town we found a wine shop where they told us ''If you don't like the wine, bring it back and you can either exchange it or get a refund.'' Righto! First time i've ever been told that when buying alcohol! Could have been quite dangerous and we wondered how many bottles we could swap before they said no. Will have to go back with someone who drinks wine and find out!! Any volunteers??
Aberystwyth is also just a short drive from Llanddewi-Brefi (all the Little
Britain fans will know what I mean) where according to a report done in 2004, there aren't actually any gays living in the village but we went in search of Daffyd Thomas anyway!! We didn't see anyone wearing brightly coloured spandex -thank goodness- and we also couldn't find a pub to order ''a bacardi and coke thanks Myfanwy'' either!!
Speaking of pubs, I have found yet another very nice local - The Maenllwyd. This one is a 400 year old former farmhouse (also former bakery) at the end of one of those quaint country lanes bordered by hedges that only one car can fit between. The beer garden overlooks a sheep paddock. It even comes with two resident ghosts that we are yet to see. The waiters also have a quirky habit of bringing to the tables an empty salt shaker with the full one. This is so when you get your meal they know to come and ask if all is ok, then they take the empty bottle. Sound like a good system?? I guess it works really well when the tourists don't hide the empty bottle to cause confusion!!
So what to do now?? Well
until I find the previous mentioned sun,sand,pool etc. and until Shani gets her holidays from work I have decided to take myself on a trip for my birthday. So tomorrow i'm off to Scandinavia for three weeks. And how to see as much of Scandinavia as possible in such a short time? Contiki of course!! Yeah yeah I know, I can hear some of you laughing already, but I do still meet the age bracket (just), and it is my last chance to do the 18-35 thing!! I am just so hoping its not a full bus of 18yr old pissheads!! Hmmm, now i'm showing my age!
Things I love about Wales:
Last week it hit 31 degrees in London. It was also 27ish degrees here in Cardiff which for some strange reason seems to mean we are in the grip of a major heatwave!! People in the street are seriously saying things like ''Gee, what a scorcher!'' , the evening news is telling us ways to keep cool....And we're all still wearing jeans!
We went on a shopping trip the other day to get new garden chairs which I thought would be fun, and it
Trains
Travelling through the Rheidol valley was, but it also ended up being my introduction to a catalogue shop! Absolutely no actual mechandise in the store at all- nope not a garden chair or bbq in sight- just a few tables with catalogues on them. You find what you want, punch in a number, pop in the credit card, and wait till your number is called to pick up your stuff from the counter! Completely takes all the fun out of window shopping.
Being a bilingual country all the street and government signs are in both english and welsh. I have picked up a tiny bit and even went to a class with Shani but still most of the welsh to me just looks like badly spelt english! You just say it with a welsh accent!! For example: meddyg=medic, traffig=traffic, fferm=farm, ambiwlans=ambulance. And those with the following names had better watch out because here beth=what?, pam=why?, ken=dandruff!! (although technically you spell that one 'cen'!)
I really like staying in a house that has one cupboard dedicated entirely to beer and another dedicated entirely to chocolate!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.064s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0349s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb