Judith Johnson
  • Blog
  • About me
  • Poetry
  • Travels
  • Projects
  • SWM Extra
  • Miscellanea
  • Pen Portraits
  • Contact/To Buy

I Loves the 'Diff!

10/5/2014

3 Comments

 
Picture
For many years, I regularly travelled to South Wales with my husband to visit his family near Swansea. We all had wonderful holidays with my in-laws, and when my son came along he quickly grew to see Gramma and Dycu’s bungalow as a second home. We nearly always included a trip to Robertstown, Aberdare to see the elderly aunties, and then there were jaunts to Aberaeron for ice-cream, Llangranog, the Gower beaches and Manorbier for swims in the glassy green waves, Carreg Cennen for a climb up to the ruined castle stronghold, and Llanelli for walks along the seafront and a bag of boiled sweets from the market. We rarely ventured as far east as Cardiff itself, except for Porthcawl for a ‘blow’ and a Fulgoni’s ice-cream, although we had many happy days out at St Fagan’s, the superb folk museum just outside Cardiff.

We’ve really missed Mam since she passed away, and our regular trips to Wales. Over the recent Easter weekend we booked a few nights in Cardiff, and met up with some of Martin’s cousins, not seen for many years, for tea and cake, a catch-up chinwag and a trawl through family photos. We also enjoyed a tramp around different parts of the city.

Cardiff is uncommonly friendly! Almost everyone we came across was kind and courteous, generally giving an impression they’d been pleased to help.

Like every city, there’s a lot to explore, whether you’re interested in history, art, music, dancing, sport, or shopping. The parking’s awfully expensive in the centre, but the public transport is brilliant – buses galore and regular, at £3.40 for a Day-to-Go ticket which you can use all day on as many buses as you like. You can of course get to a lot of places under your own steam, if, like us, you’re fond of using Shank’s pony. We had a little wander round Llandaff; red-robed choristers singing beautifully at the Good Friday service in the Cathedral, whose doors had been left wide open for all-comers; a plaque outside a Chinese takeaway, once the sweetshop where Roald Dahl bought his boyhood treats; a stroll through Pontcanna Fields (full of ball-games, picnics, dog-walkers, paperback-readers); then popped over to Canton for a cup of coffee at the Chapter Arts Centre.

We had breakfast the next day at Crumbs, a great little vegetarian café in the Morgan Arcade, from where we could see a genial crowd of youngsters (and not-so-youngsters, no ageism on this blog!) queuing outside Spillers Records, which claims to be the oldest record shop in the world, for new music releases. I love life’s enthusiasts! We caught a bus to Roath Park – which to me looked reminiscent of New York’s Central Park – another Park constructed in the 19th century for the proletariat to take the fresh air and to recreate. It has within its boundaries a botanical gardens, a stupendous playground which was full of jubilant children, a boating lake and a café where friendly girls served a boisterous queue. The houses fringing the park, built around 1910 I believe, were obviously made of the best quality materials: 100 years on, the decorative arts and crafts tiles in their porches are in astonishingly good condition.

Of course there are inevitable casualties of neglect and the march of time, of things going out of fashion, of recession etc. On the City Road is the old Gaiety cinema, opened in 1912 and latterly the home of bingo, and ‘Bar, Bowling, Food, Music’, now for sale. But some places, like the Central Market, are still going strong. Cardiff has changed a lot since Martin worked for the Welsh Drama Company in the late 70s – it’s jumping, mun! If you’ve never visited the Welsh capital, I recommend it for a weekend away and an opportunity to exercise your joie-de-vivre!


3 Comments
Sharon
10/5/2014 11:34:38 am

Shank's pony! That was a new one on me!
Lovely piece on Cardiff; made me nostalgic for my year there.

Reply
Wesley link
10/6/2014 12:43:52 am

I love the dragon on the wall amazing.

Reply
Wesley Travels link
3/7/2014 12:08:41 am

Love the pictures they look amazing.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Lifelong bookworm, love writing too. Have been a theatrical agent and reflexologist among other things, attitude to life summed up by Walt Whitman's MIRACLES.

    If you would like to subscribe to my blog, please click on RSS Feed link below:

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Arts
    Books
    Family Matters
    History
    Miscellaneous
    My Fantastic Five
    Natural World
    People
    Running & Walking
    Travel

    Archives

    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    November 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    October 2010
    April 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    September 2009
    July 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009

    RSS Feed