Cardiff Trip

Hi all!

Yeah yeah, I know we're probably sickening you with the frequency of our gallavanting of late, but we promise to settle down very soon (well after we go to Dublin next weekend ... and then ...the West End theatre the weekend after...and then... (no just joking, that's as far as we've got). But last weekend we spent the weekend in Cardiff (the capital of Wales for those of you who are geographically challenged like me). It is a really pretty city with lots of lovely old buildings and houses and a lovely castle right in the centre of it.

On Saturday we did a tour of the castle which was great. The interiors were very extravagent, with ceilings painted with intricate patterns in 18ct leaf gold. The tour guide was quite a comedian which made it all the more enjoyable. When having a wander in town we started to notice that there were quite a few rainbow flags around the place and then found out that the Cardiff Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras was on in one of the big parks nearby!! We went in and got right in to the festive atmosphere immediately. We bought a v camp yellow firefighters helmet for Col to wear (and it was clear that many of the Welsh lads approved from the looks he got!). There were some extremely tacky performers with equally tacky songs which made it even better!! In the evening we caught a local bus to Cardiff bay and sampled the local brew, "Brains Beer" and had a lovely dinner.

On Sunday we checked out the Cardiff museum which had a number of exibitions including an extraordinarily impressive display of Impressionist paintings and sculptures by artists including Monet, Manet, Cezanne, and Renoir. For the rest of the day we took it pretty easy, just wandering about, then headed home in the evening.

It was a fantastic weekend, the only thing we didn't like was their weather! It was raining heaps on Saturday, and it was that really annoying sideways rain that you can't escape from no matter which angle you put your umbrella. So we got quite soggy, which is why I now have a cold I guess!

Anyhoo... best be off! I'm back to school this week and am also starting additional evening work in the charity call centre. To start with I'll be calling on behalf of Oxfam.

Love Ang & Col, xoxo.

Rock n Roll Reading!

The weekend before last we donned our wellies and ponchos (thanks Grassie!) and headed to the Reading Festival - a 3 day music festival which is one of the biggest in the UK. Tickets were impossible to buy, but I managed to score ours free from work! It's all about who you know.
The line-up was awesome - lots of bands that hardly ever come all the way to Oz. Definatley top of the list for me was seeing Pearl Jam, who topped off the festival on the last night. They were amazing - and were one of those bands that I've wanted to see since I was about 13. Other great bands included Franz Ferdinand, Muse, The Vines, Jet, Wolfmother, Reel Big Fish, Millencolin, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Goldie Lookin Chain, The Kooks, as well as Slayer for those who like their rock a bit more on the heavy side (not Ang apparently!).

We did notice that either the poms are a bit softer at their rock gigs, or maybe the aussies just go a little bit mental. There was still a really good vibe, and everyone seemed to partake in a strange clapping phenomenon the we certainly hadn't seen at home where they all clap in time with the music.

It goes without saying that we experienced all the usual festival highlights such as getting crushed in big crowds and lining up for an hour to visit the overflowing and paperless loos, but a jolly good time was had by all!