Doorstep Days - August 2025

Every month I say it's been a busy month. And August was no different. The quieter day isn't coming.  

Spotted while canvassing

The first two weeks of the month I discovered how much fun canvassing was, knocking doors on behalf of Plaid Cymru in the council by-election. I continued my election tradition and reviewed the leaflets from all the contesting parties. It was a bit weird that I was giving out some of those leaflets this time. Although the result didn't go our way, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would - and the exercise did me good too. I went out canvassing or leafleting at least ten times and didn't get rained on once, which I feel is pretty good going. 

I started August with a gig on the very first night. I had some free tickets to see Catfish and the Bottlemen at the Principality Stadium, courtesy of Cathy's cousin, Adam. (He'd won them and asked if I could make use of them.) I went to the gig with Ian, which was the first time we had done something together since watching Alien: Romulus last year. I wasn't massively impressed by the headline band, but it was fun seeing Travis in their role as support act.

Pre-gig selfie

The fans got into the headliners

In the middle of the month I went on the Keep Grangetown Tidy litter-pick, on another warm morning. Litter-picks are so much nicer in the sunshine even if the amount of litter seems to be getting worse. I usually find a lost toy; this time it was a Baby Shark.

Do do do do do do do do do,
do do do do do do do do do,
do do do do do do do do do,
in the bin!

Sports-wise, I went to seven football matches, including Shrewsbury Town's opening game of the season accompanied by two of my nephews. I bought a Shrewsbury shirt because it was a nostalgia trigger. The trip to see Shrewsbury coincided with my sister and her kids being in town and we had a great time hanging out as an extended family. 

On the second Saturday of the month I drove down to Carmarthen to watch Cardiff Draconians in their first away game in the Welsh second tier. Carmarthen was a great away day. I met up with my friend Charlie, who I hadn't seen for a couple of years, and also ticked off all the ground in the Dracs's division! 

I made the most of a long weekend with three football matches and an ice hockey game on my bank holiday of sport, which included a diversion in Swindon to STEAM, the museum of the Great Western Railway. My seventh game of the month was another Dracs game, a disappointing defeat in the league cup, which is sponsored by the Welsh Blood Service and is therefore known as the "Blood Cup" (Cwpan Gwaed in Cymraeg!)

Last minute 'goalie up for the corner' excitement

Speaking of the "Blood Cup" I lost my Blood Bowl game with Bryan this month with my 'naive Norse' getting turned over by the wood elves. We have managed to get a game in every month this year so far, despite both being really busy! I still haven't picked my Blood Bowl team for September yet. But it's probably not going to be Norse...