July is called Gorffennaf in Cymraeg. Literally "finish (gorffen) summer (haf)". But as we ended July in a mini heatwave it feels like summer has actually kicked in, at last.
Something that did finish rather spectacularly was the Tory government - unceremoniously subjected to an epic battering in the General Election at the start of the month. I've already blogged about it, but I forgot to include the customary polling day selfie!
We had some visitors all the way from Scotland, with my sister and her three kids in Cardiff for the day. After living in Cardiff for almost 30 years I have now finally been to Techniquest!
I enjoyed a visit to the annual model railway exhibition in Penarth. As is often the case, the most interesting lay-outs are the small ones, like this one that was built in a pizza box and themed on the book 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'.
The same modeller had built a lay out in a suitcase as well.
The level of detail on some of the exhibits was truly outstanding.
I went to my second gig of the year - Frank Turner live in concert at The Tramshed. It was our first gig there since before the pandemic.
Cathy and I have both enjoyed listening to Frank a lot over the past year or so and we were both excited to see him live. I intended to write a post about the gig, but didn't get to it, so here is a mini-review.
I have had some poor experiences at gigs - usually because of the behaviour of other gig-goers - and I often feel apprehensive in the run-up to going. But I'm pleased to say we didn't fall foul of any idiots this time. Frank tells the audience the first rule of being at his concert is 'Don't be a dick' and considering the defiant nature of many of his songs, people went along with the rule.
(The Tramshed was still the same old sweatpit but they had enough staff on the bar for once and the floor wasn't already sticky when we walked in for a change.)
Frank was just great. He played most of the songs off his new album. We got an explanation for the new song 'Letters' and how it was about a penpal he had in Llanelli when he was a teenager. He had lost touch with her over the years, until she heard the song on the radio and contacted him to ask 'Was that about me?'
He also played the songs we all wanted to hear. Everyone in the crowd - and I mean everyone - seemed to sing along as loudly as possible with the songs that need to be sung along to. I suspect a correlation between everyone being there because they appreciate the music and a lack of annoying people ruining it.
It's worth mentioning punk duo The Meffs, who were a decent support band, as well. They did their job of warming up the audience far more capably than most other support acts I've seen.
And finally, football is back. I watched the European Championships final and felt a bit gutted that England came so close to winning, only to lose late on. They did set an unfortunate record, becoming the first nation to lose back-to-back European Championship finals.
But the new football season had already begun before England's defeat. I went to one pre-season friendly game this year - Barry Town away at Oxford City. Sadly Barry got hammered 9-0. But I did get to see our friend Ella and she even came to the game.
The lower league teams in Cymru started their campaigns at the end of the month so I made it to another three games before August rolled around.
I'm not going to do a monthly round up of all the games this season, instead here is my current season stats on Futbology at the end of July. I'm pleased with the percentage of new grounds visited.
And some selfies!
With Ella and an ox in Oxford.
No comments:
Post a Comment