Cruising the Three Seas, part 1

Dubrovnik ~ Day at Sea ~ Malta

Back in January my Mum turned 80. She said for her 80th birthday she would like to go on a cruise with her three children. We settled on the Tui Three Seas cruise on the Marella Explorer 2, which would take us to destinations in the Adriatic, Mediterranean and Ionian seas. 

And so it came to pass on the 14th May that the four of us headed to our embarkation port of Dubrovnik. Technically we hadn't set sail yet, so I'm not sure if it counts as day 1 of the cruise or not. However, we arrived at the ship, dropped off our stuff and then had some free time to take a taxi ride into Dubrovnik and visit the old city. 

Our first view of the old city was from the bus!

First ice creams of the holiday

It's a proper 'wow' experience; a heavily fortified city that oozes history. Much is made of it being a primary filming location for Game of Thrones, but as I haven't seen Game of Thrones, I just appreciated it in its own right. There is a weighty depth to the place, with the sense that those streets have seen some things, including not too long ago, a bombardment during the Balkan wars of the mid-90s. There are plaques up highlighting places of interest related to that recent, bloody history. 

After wandering around the old city for an hour or so, we went back to the port and started to explore the ship, ready for day 2, which was a day of sailing. Our luggage had been delivered to our room by the time we got back, just one aspect of a very smooth functioning system that took incredible care of us throughout. I really can't praise the service enough. 

Our sea day started with a mini-golf tournament up on the highest deck of the ship. It's the first time I have played mini-golf at sea.

It was a clever little course, and the wind added to the challenge. I also met Niamh, the member of the entertainment team managing the tournament. Niamh is from Swansea originally, and she was also running the afternoon activity that I went to with Mum - a beginner's guide to Welsh!

19 people turned up for the session, which Niamh said was a record. Most were from Wales, turning out in Cymric solidarity. There were some interesting reasons given for attending. One chap from Aberdare said his grandmother spoke Welsh but his mother wouldn't let his gran teach him Welsh because it would "hold him back". A couple from Newport said they were made to learn it in school and didn't like it, but now feel they have missed out. Another couple from Menai Bridge said their translators - their grandchildren - had left to go to university so they needed to learn a few words themselves. Another couple, from Wigan, had grandchildren growing up in Wales who now spoke Welsh, which they approved of - "as they should!", said the grandma - and they wanted to know a few words. And there was a guy who now lives in Colwyn Bay who came along because "my wife's in the spa!" A short session of Welsh clearly the more preferable option!

The evening of 'sea day' was 'Dress to Impress' night, and we so we did. Here's us looking smarter than normal! 

We then went to dinner at the Latitude restaurant and were seated at the perfect table number. (If you know, you know!)

After dinner, we went to watch the evening entertainment, a show called Musicals featuring various songs from musicals. Mum ducked the evening entertainment as she was a bit tired, so it was just us sibs. All the evening entertainment was delivered to a high standard. 

We rounded off the night at the silent disco. It was 60s,70s and 80s versus 90s, 00s, and 10s. It didn't matter which channel we were on, the songs were all bangers and it was fun switching between the channels.

FYI: Alleged footage of me dancing is a deep fake

The next day we called into our first port of call - Malta. I expected great things from Malta as people I know who have been there have raved about it. However, our excursion - a bus trip of 'Panoramic Malta' - was a bit disappointing. We went to the 'three cities', but honestly had better views of them from on board ship, we went to a very touristy 'picturesque fishing village' that we had to walk to along a road that was distinctly unpicturesque, and we went to see a very large church but weren't given time to go inside.

Three cities backdrop

The eye on the prow is a good luck charm dating
from Phoenician times

Red phone box - legacy of British government

Although the tour was disappointing we arrived back at the port with enough time to take the incongruously modern elevator up to the main part of Valletta. 

Big chrome and glass elevator!

The priest behind us was rushing to church

Playmobil did a model of a Knight of St John,
the crusader order that effectively founded Malta

We had been told that Valletta only really had two streets, so we walked a loop of them both and then headed back via the cannonade.

The crowds were too large to see the 4pm firing of the cannon, so we took advantage of the lack of queues for the elevator and headed back on board in good time for the evening sailing. On the way out I saw a crane in the port painted like a giraffe!

Next stop, Sicily!

Book of the Month: Hooked

I was in W H Smiths at Paddington Station back in March and the fish on the cover of this book caught my eye. The book was half price that week so I thought I would give it a go.

Asako Yuzuki's novel, Butter, was a breakthrough hit in its English translation last year. This is the English language follow up, although it was published in Japan two years before Butter. 

The book's Japanese title is The Nile Perch Women's Club, as the titular fish plays a pivotal role as a metaphor for predatory activity that destroys ecosystems. The Nile perch is also the focus for the main character, Eriko, who works in a major fish-importing company that is trying to introduce Nile perch into the fussy Japanese market. 'Hooked' is less relevant as a title and doesn't really fit. 

Beyond the fish metaphor, the book is really about loneliness and the struggle some people have to make friends. Eriko becomes obsessed with a blogger and engineers a friendship with her, which quickly becomes a stalking style relationship. 

Except, told from Eriko's point of view, it's not stalking, it's all a misunderstanding, that could easily be explained if only she could get her new, but distancing, friend to talk to her. The sympathetic presentation of the situation from the point of view of the obsessed stalker keeps the story fresh and helps the author avoid clichés.

The Nile perch was accidentally introduced into a new ecosystem where it was the apex predator and a hungry one at that. As it wiped out the other species of fish it encountered, it gradually destroyed the ecosystem it was thriving in. Similarly, Eriko's behaviour destroys the new ecosystem she finds herself in, and creates problems in her career and family, areas she had been thriving in. 

My only negative comment on the book is the directness of the direct speech. Conversations are more like two characters monologuing at each other, in some detail. That may reflect Japanese culture, or it may be down to the translation. Early on, there was a jarring choice of word that may have been an accurate translation of the Japanese, but just felt wrong. (Annoyingly, I can't remember the word that jarred with me!) Overall, it's a small quibble though.

Hooked is my first foray into Japanese contemporary novels. I liked it and will probably try to read Butter at some point too. 

Eat more fruit before the fruit eats you

While generally I applaud Tesco's decision to provide free fruit in-store for kids, I am unnerved by this giant fruit golem they have created to promote it:

He's obviously meant to be a big, friendly pile of fruit, brought to life by a desire to help kids snack healthier. I wonder what kids think about it. I find it uncanny enough as an adult.

Next to the giant cardboard golem you can see another part of the campaign, cute little plushies of fruit and veg. (I almost bought a mushroom.) They are both adorable and affordable, and seem a bit out of kilter with the animated fruit harvest next to them.

Like many examples I find of odd products and strange marketing, I would love to have been in the concept meeting and heard the discussions about this one. 

Another election reflection: yn dathlu yr enill

On Saturday I went down to Cardiff Bay as I heard there was a celebratory photo planned on the steps of the Senedd. You'll have seen better photos than this, but here's mine

I got there early. So did the media.

It was great being there and meeting so many people I campaigned with. It was selfie time!

A decent-sized crowd had gathered by the time the new Senedd members came out. There were loud cheers. Rhun ap Iorweth made a speech. He then spoke to the media but had to stop because the crowd started singing the anthem. 

After the big official photo and the speech, I got some photos with sparkly new Senators! (Justin took these)

Sara was soon doing a media interview.

Later that day I was very lucky to be in the Siambr when Sara took her oath and officially became a member of the Senedd. 

The celebrating wasn't over - in the evening the campaigners in Sara's constituency were having a gathering, and I was invited along.

Heledd Fychan gave the opening thank you speech and made the astute observation that "there are no 'Plaid Cymru heartlands' any more. That really struck me as a great summary of how big the victory was.

Sara also spoke and read a slightly updated version post-win version of her poem that featured on a Plaid Cymru advert during the campaign.

Looking back, a couple of days later, it's almost hard to believe I was there watching such special moments. As a way of marking the end of such a busy and unusual week, it was immense.

Election Leaflet Update 2026

I have been tallying up the leaflets that have come through my door at election time since 2007 and have just updated my graph to reflect the campaigns of the various parties for the Senedd election in 2026. We had a record number of leaflets through the door this time, and the Green Party now holds the record for sheer volume of leaflets, topping the previous high point held by the Labour party in the first election when Jeremy Corbyn was leader. 

So with no further ado, here's the graph:

The overall trend is up, with four parties distributing five or more leaflets. Admittedly, the Plaid Cymru figure this time is slightly skewed because on occasions when I posted leaflets in my street I skipped posting one through my own letterbox. But even if those were counted, the total number of leaflets we would have received would only have been 8, less than half the total we received from the Green Party. 

I haven't spoken to anyone who thought the Green Party didn't send them enough leaflets and I do wonder if the incessant leafleting backfired on them a bit. In fairness, their first leaflet landed on our doormat in November 2025 and then we had a Happy New Year leaflet in January as well. But the trickle became a flood in the last few weeks of the campaign. 

Getting so many leaflets didn't feel very "green" in the environmental sense. It also didn't escape my notice that almost all the leaflets were printed in Essex. I hope the party offset their carbon footprint for all the road miles. In contrast, all the Plaid Cymru leaflets we distributed in our constituency were printed by a printer in Splott (if we used a commercial printer). 

It is mildly amusing that with so many battles now fought online between bots and keyboard warriors, we are seeing such growth in analog paper leaflets. I'm just sad that this year I didn't have time to do a pre-election round-up. I was too busy with campaigning (ironically, giving out leaflets myself!) to do a full dissection as I have in years past, especially as we had so many!

You can read all my previous election leaflet round ups here.

Senedd election 2026 personal round-up

Well, hopefully you have seen the results of the election. Plaid Cymru won a whopping 43 seats and are comfortably the largest party in the Senedd. My constituency had the second highest total number of Plaid Cymru voters in the country and the highest Plaid Cymru majority - I'd like to think all our canvassing activity helped with that.

I've posted several canvassing pics in my recent monthly round-ups, so here are the last few from the last week of the campaign, and a few other pics from what turned out to be a momentous election day.

Final canvass in Grangetown

Back in Pontyclun

Penarth

Cathy's epic window display went mildly viral.

This is what a boot full of leaflets looks like (ready for the last week of the campaign)

Speaking of leaflets, I did my final tally of party leaflets and we had 43! I think it's a new record. The main leafleting culprits were the Green Party. We had 17 from them. Again, I think that's a new record for one party. 

The breakdown was:

• Greens - 17
• Labour - 8
• Plaid Cymru - 6 (admittedly slightly skewed as I didn't deliver any to my own house!)
• Reform - 5
• Propel - 3
• Rhys ab Owen (Independent current member of the Senedd) - 3
• Communist - 1

We didn't get any from the Conservatives or the Liberal Democrats. That's a new low - normally we get a token one.

One of those boxes in my boot was distributed on bank holiday Monday. There was a team of 7 in the morning and 5 in the afternoon. I walked 7 miles. Between us we gave out about 5,000 leaflets across 96 streets the length and width of Grangetown.

On election day I was involved in the Get Out The Vote activity where we knocked doors to remind people to vote. I walked even further - a total of 11 miles, knocking doors.

The window dragon got an update.

We went and voted during my brief break for lunch.

We finished knocking doors at about 8.30pm and then it was a case of waiting overnight. The next morning I was off to the vote count in the House of Sport. 

We weren't allowed to take photos inside the count, which was a shame because I wish I could have taken photos of the piles of voting slips. It was clear that Plaid Cymru were getting far more votes than anyone else. It was exciting to watch.

I could take photos in the lobby so I got my final campaign selfie with Anna. It felt weird not being at a train station!

We then got told the count results - and then the calculations for who won the seats, which confirmed that three of the six seats in Caerdydd Penarth would be held by Plaid Cymru. In particular, by these three brilliant people:

I got a bit emotional as news came through that Plaid Cymru had won three seats in Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr as well - meaning my friend Sara is now a Senator too! Cathy was watching at home and sent me the confirmation.

After all the excitement at the count, I went to the Plaid Cymru watch party at The Grange. There were lots of joyful hugs! It gave me an opportunity to thank so many people who joined in the work in Grangetown. It was a wonderful end to an incredible day.