My August 2026 monthly round up

I did a fair bit of travelling in August. The month started with Cathy and I making a last minute overnight trip to Kent (via Oxford). We stayed near Whitstable, had an evening in Herne Bay, before briefly popping into Canterbury to pick up some new art we had bought online. 

Herne Bay sunset

Canterbury museum

We really liked the places we visited, and would like to return to that bit of the world for a proper holiday sometime. (And to go back to the museum when the Smallfilms gallery is open!)

I also spent a weekend in Shrewsbury, which included a trip with my mum on the Shrewsbury Town supporter's coach to Birkenhead to see Tranmere v Shrewsbury. I'm going to post a separate football review of the month, so you can read more about it there. But on the Sunday I went feeding ducks before church with my sister-in-law and an assortment of niblings.

Cathy and I had another road trip and just about stayed in Cymru this time when we met up with Cathy's aunt and uncle in Monmouth one weekend.

At the top of the Cynon valley, I went on the Tower Zipwire with Sara - my ride down was a birthday gift. I've already blogged about it, complete with video. 

There was another delayed birthday gift this month because I spent my Lego Store gift voucher that Connor gave me for my birthday. I bought the new set of Derpy the tiger from K-Pop Demon Hunters on the day it was released and built the set the same evening! He's fab. (Thanks Sara and Connor for being so generous!)

In the evening of the solar eclipse, Cathy and I went out onto The Marl (the big park near us) to experience it. You can't tell much was happening in this selfie with the sun.

In politics, our local Plaid Cymru branch is looking ahead to the council elections next year. We have started going out on some fact-finding canvassing, with sessions on the eastern and northern edges of the "South Cardiff" area. It's been fun knocking doors in the sunshine, and I hope we get good weather into September as well!

I went to seven football matches in August, but I think that's enough games to merit their own post! Check back tomorrow (or the day after).

And in case you missed it:

• My book of the month was Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
• My album of the month was Sanguivore by Creeper
• This month's Blood Bowl game saw my first ever win for the Norse Team (and some fierce snacks!)
• Our street got resurfaced - but there was a twist!
• I acquired another philatelic passport (this time from Japan) for my collection 
• I also bought some new action figures that were a homage to Action Force 

Zipwire half century

A handy day off on Friday just gone, and I cashed in my birthday promise from Sara - a zipwire at Tower Zipworld up by Hirwaun.

It's a great set up, with a long zipwire over a lake followed by the "fastest seated zipwire in the UK" to get you back down to the main complex. 

You can also get a video of the zip too - of course, this is my point of view so you only really get the evidence that Sara did the zips!

We also did the Tower Coaster in the main site. It's a high speed ride through trees and tunnels. It's also great value, as you get three goes round for the ticket price. That was handy as Sara's twins both wanted to go round with 'Uncle' Jon - so they were both able to get a turn screaming next to me.

Diolch yn fawr, Sara, for a memorable half century birthday present!

The Rodents Return - a Blood Bowl match report

I have a large number of Blood Bowl teams. If you check my list of match reports, last year I coached two different orc teams, wood elves, and Norse (humans). This year I've debuted my team of "necromantic horrors". But, however much I enjoy fielding other teams I keep coming back to my rats.

I now have my own copy of the Season 3 rules for Blood Bowl, courtesy of my sister-in-law Abby who gave it to me for as part of my birthday present. The skaven (giant rats) have been slightly 'nerfed' in the new rules because a coach can only field two gutter runners (super agile and speedy players). However, gutter runners do have a new "stab" skill (which I forgot to use) and I have two star players, one of whom is very agile and speedy.

My reserves box is just teeming with line-rats now. Including two that aren't painted.

Bryan is still figuring out the Tomb Kings that came in the starter set he had for Christmas. They are a strange side. The 'big guys' tomb guardians are very strong, but none of the team are agile. They also all have the regeneration skill, which can work for a coach but often works against them as it increases the possibility of a player having to leave the field.

I say I love my rats, but they are a bit neglected. Hakflem and Glart, the two star players are still unpainted. Hakflem got injured almost immediately and spent the first half recovering. He was lucky with his injury. One of my gutter runners ended up dead.

It was a fairly even first half. Towards the end a skaven line-rat broke free and scored a down.

The second half started similarly to the first, with a star player carted off to the injuries box. 

I was having a bad time with my dice rolls. Lots of ones being rolled and that all-time clasic, double skulls! Fumbles led to some loose play on the wing.

But my surviving gutter runner scored.

The Tomb Kings then ended a drive successfully with a down. 

From the restart, possession was regained by the rats and they were able to pivot the play, opening up a channel through the Tomb Kings defence.

That led to Hakflem scoring a down on the very last turn of the game. Not a bad comeback from injury.

Final score: Tomb Kings 1-3 Skaven

And on an additional note, Bryan and Elaine had made me a birthday "cake" out of jaffa cakes. They know me so well!

The jaffa cakes had an even worse survival rate than my skaven players!

A week in the Shire(s)

The shires in question were Shropshire and Worcestershire to be precise. It was my birthday week and with big plans to celebrate my birthday itself with rhinos, we needed to stay relatively near to where the rhinos live, just outside Kidderminster. (I've already mentioned some of what we did in my round up for March as we were away on the cusp of the month.)

We opted for a cottage rental on a working farm and horse racing stable just south of Bridgnorth. We had a couple of trips into Bridgnorth itself. It's a nice small town with some lovely little shops including Booka, a fab independent bookshop, and some historic buildings.

Bridgnorth is blessed with interesting railways. We rode on Shropshire's randomest railway (the Bridgnorth cliff railway), and also took some photos of steam engines at the Severn Valley Railway terminus as well.

Spotter spotted!

Across the county border, we went to a falconry centre in Hagley. This was exceptional value, with two flying displays included in the admission price. All the birds get to fly daily and they all seemed very well cared for. 

One of the flying displays went amusingly awry when a peregrine falcon decided to fly off leaving the presenter in the lurch. He did a good job carrying on talking to the audience while the peregrine resolutely didn't come back. 

I put some pics from the falconry centre in the March round up post. But here are some more...

I had a fun week of football, with trips to Ludlow Town and AFC Bridgnorth before a Good Friday game at Shrewsbury Town, the day after my birthday. Salop were playing Tranmere and won! The three points were a great belated birthday present.

My friend Paul had come up from Cardiff and came to sit next to me in the second half. Here we are looking suitably thrilled during the match. (Thanks to Podge and his super zoom lens from the other end of the ground!)

I also saw my friend Jim and his son, Nick, at the game. Jim is the friend I went to Malaga with back in February. I made them pose for a selfie.

After the game we had a family pizza evening at my brother's house. I even had balloons to remind me of my advancing age.

And so, after a week that went by very quickly, we departed the shire(s) and returned home to Wales.

Bucket list birthday breakfast

Hitting the big five-oh, and Cathy had a great idea of how I could celebrate it in style, with rhinos!

Card made by Cathy

And so it was that early on my birthday we were at West Midlands Safari Park meeting the Asian rhinos and feeding them breakfast. I wasn't sure how close we would be allowed to get to the rhinos. (Petting a rhino has been on my bucket list for ages.) Turns out, we got close enough to get slobbered on as we fed them cabbage and celery starters. 

We met three adult rhinos and a baby' (less than a year old). The baby was adorable although his mum would push him out of the way to get to the cabbage. Rhino mums don't indulge their kids! Got to be tough to be a rhino. 

Asian rhinos have prehensile lips, which means they can grip things like door bolts, so extra security is needed on their pens. The lips are very flexible and they caress your hands while you feed them. They are very rubbery and warm, and I felt perfectly safe letting them engulf my hand to take the cabbage. 

However, while it's perfectly fine to put your hand into the mouth of a female rhino, the males have knife-like incisors in their mouths so it's advisable to just chuck the cabbage in from a safe distance. In the wild, male rhinos use their incisors for scrapping with each other over who gets to make it with the lady rhinos, and given they can do some damage to armoured rhino hide, they would make short work of a human hand if they accidentally bit you. 

For the main course of their breakfast the rhinos have a mix of different kinds of yummy pellets, mixed in with powder that simulates the dust that rhinos naturally consume while feeding in the wild. The dust helps them poop properly. Given how much rhinos can poop in an average day, it helps to make sure the poop is as solid and dry as possible. 

After breakfast was over, we bade goodbye to the rhinos. We then went on the Safari Drive, where we saw some more rhinos, and then looked at some of the other animals in the park. I enjoyed the sealion show and the nocturnal house with free-flying bats. But it's hard for any other animals to compete with the experience of being snuffled by friendly rhinos.