Picnic at Roath Park Lake

When the unlikely happens...

I am starting to realise that some of the things on my list are going to be a bit difficult to achieve. Such as the brewery tour... incidentally, there is no brewery tour. Or a night in St David’s Spa...as if I could afford that. Some of the things that I didn’t think were possible, have been unnervingly possible. Take a ‘night out with Cardiff Celeb Royalty’ which was initially on there as a bit of a joke, but cue a night out with Matthew Rhys off of Brothers and Sisters, Brian Fortuna off of Strictly and Joe Calazaghe, off of, well you know where. Although, that is a story for another time.

However, one that I thought was a bit unlikely was a picnic in Roath Park Lake and to row a boat on said lake. What are the chances of the weather being good enough for a picnic, and for everything else to come together? Not so easy. On Saturday I managed to complete half of the task. Sun, tick. Spare time, tick. Friends, tick. A bag full of M&S deli goodies including wine, tick. Boats....negative. I think however, as I have rowed on the lake before, that I’ll take the task as completed, although if the opportunity presents again before I go, I’ll be sure to get a-rowing.

I’m a bit fond of these picture video thingys now, so here’s another one of our lovely picnic featuring the lovely Lynsey May, and the man himself who is stealing me away.


Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Bucket List add-ons

Not time to say hello goodbye, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late…

I am starting to panic slightly how quickly my time left in Cardiff is going and how much I have left to do. In fact, I am purposely refusing to name a date for leaving, blaming a four consecutive hen parties and weddings on the weekends preceding my last day in work. The thing is, rather narcissistically, I feel like I need to leave after a proper send off so I can close one chapter and open the next with clear defined lines. I don’t want to half move, come back for a party, and leave again. I’d like a big send off.

Anyway, I’ll deal with that in due course. More importantly for the time being is The Bucket List. I have had some great additions from my Twitter people, and also following an impromptu thought shower (wtf! brain storm suited me just fine), I have some more.

Here they are:

Eating and Drinking

Moksh in the Bay
Eat a Clarkes Pie

Experiences
Watch Cardiff City play in their new stadium
Cycle along the Taff trail to Castle Coch
Walk across the Cardiff Bay Barrage
See a live band in Clwb Ifor Bach AKA Welsh Club
Watch a cricket match in the Swalec Stadium in Sophia Gardens

People
See ‘Ninja’ drum on the bins in Queen Street

Afternoon tea at Waterloo Gardens Tea House

Lazy like Sunday morning...

If you are feeling down, if you would like a treat or if you just want to do something nice and proper, this is the place to go. And as a wise person once said, a picture can tell a thousand words – so here are the pictures of my Waterloo Gardens Teahouse experience, featuring my girls Jo, Suffiya and Julia. Yum.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Check them out at http://www.waterlootea.com/

My first tick off the list

A spot of football

I have some great new additions for the list. A really obvious one that got left off was to watch Cardiff City play at their new stadium, and that, funnily enough is the first thing to be ticked off.

Now, I am not a football follower so much of the game was lost on me and I won’t be able to impart much information on the highlights of the game, but I do know that the atmosphere was great and it is well worth a visit for even the most reluctant of sports people.

With a ticket kindly supplied to me by a friend, we rocked up dressed in something perhaps more suited to a day at the shops and with her two toddlers in tow. Luckily she had done some research before hand and could fill me in on some important footballing details, such as who we were playing  –Derby, which way we were scoring and who some of the main players were including ‘The Beast’.

I was told it was an important match to win after a bad March, which meant the fans were on the edge of their seats, expectant and buoyed up by the glorious sunny weather. The Bluebirds didn’t disappoint and scored within about seven minutes of the game starting, setting the scene for the rest of the match and putting the fans into an excited frenzy. The atmosphere was electric with a lot of singing, chanting and clapping. In fact, it was more like being at a pantomime than a football match...there was even booing, which the kids loved.

We spent half-time inside filling the children with hotdogs and confectionary, and ourselves with wine. In the second half I started to wonder if we really were in the theatre with some of the acting I saw on the pitch. Is it really necessary to throw yourself on the floor clutching at a leg when the player on the opposite team so much as looks at you? One player even got stretchered off, when I am sure he could have limped off and looked a bit more manly? Nevertheless, it did add to it all.



The match in full swing

Cardiff continued to play a convincing match winning the game 4:1, a Derby goal in injury time did little to dampen Cardiff City fans’ spirits, especially as the win put them ahead of their rivals over in Swansea.

All in all, I don’t think I am converted but I really enjoyed my visit, and for my remaining weeks in Cardiff I will be a little more tolerant of the increase in traffic on match days.

I'd give it a 9/10 for great experiences unique to Cardiff and would recommend it if you are stuck for something to do on a Saturday afternoon.



Thumbs up for Cardiff City