29th July, Still in Cardiff

We’re still in Cardiff – but that’s not a problem – we’ve been made very welcome at the Cardiff Yacht Club ( http://www.cardiffyachtclub.org/ ) and have had a great time visiting relatives and friends in the area. The weather has been a bit wet (in general since arriving at the Scillies) so that has curtailed some of the days out but I suppose it is us taking a bit of time to get used to the British weather again after having been spoilt in the past with a higher number of days of blue skies in France, Spain and Portugal.
It was also a bit of a change for us to be in such a vibrant city as Cardiff after having mainly been in quiet places during the last couple of months. The centre is buzzing with people and the huge shops are very busy, the old docks area has been developed into a modern tourist attraction area since the Barrage was finished and is now ‘The Bay’; it has the feel of a very modern, active city. One of the events in The Roald Dahls Plass one evening was a fantastic aerial display performed by a French Circus team which (in the main part) were suspended 60 or so feet in the air from a crane in a contraption similar to a giant chandelier and incorporated their musical instruments and trapeze artists. I will try to pick a couple of the better photos to give you an idea of what it was like.. The evening finished with a fireworks display ( and a couple of pints in the ‘Packet’ ).

The main reason for visiting Cardiff is to visit as many of my Aunts, Uncles and cousins as possible ( from my father’s side ) because we very rarely get down to South Wales and it has been a number of years (too many to mention) since we have seen them. The photographs, cine film and stories from the distant days of childhood holidays were fantastic to see and hear. Another good thing was the visit of a distant relative ( 3rd cousin of my father’s from his mother’s side) that had contacted Carolyn while she was researching the family tree. The young lady ( young 80’s ! ) in question had driven up from near Heathrow airport to stay with her half-sister near Cardiff which also allowed her to meet up with us and put a face to the sender of the family-tree emails.

It’s going to be difficult to move on , not just because the weather is not suitable – we’ve had a great time here and would thoroughly recommend Cardiff as a city / area to visit or have a holiday. May be the weather will be better for heading West by the weekend or early next week – watch this space…… In the meantime we will try to select a few of the ‘better’ (less compromising?) photos to post up on the next instalment.