A full February with friends

Sunrise on the Clyde

I'm a few days late posting this review of the month, for reasons that will become apparent. It was a very busy month, prepping for a big week away with work. Despite the busyness, I still managed to squeeze in a game of Blood Bowl with Bryan - our third of the year so far! 

I also went to three football matches - two Barry Town games and seeing my friend Ben play for Caldicot away at Treowen Stars. Their ground features an impressive set of steps up from the changing room to the pitch. After slogging my way up the hill to the ground, the steps nearly finished me off!

Ben on the ball

Those three games took me to five games so far in 2025, and here are my season totals at the end of February. Treowen was my ninth new ground of the season.

Staying on the theme of football, I went with my friend Paul to an event called 'Ymlaen', organised by the Football Association of Wales. There were some interesting ideas put forward - about trying to move away from just being about football and being in the 'wellness' space. To that end, the FAW are trying to bring all kinds of football under their umbrella, and have recognised walking football as a particular growth area. 

There were also talks by the Wales women's national team manager, Rhian Wilkinson, and former Wales men's team internationals, Joe Ledley and Danny Gabbidon. 

I was very impressed by Rhian Wilkinson, who I thought was inspiring when talking about the challenges facing Wales this summer in the European Championships. Joe and Danny were funny, and I learned that Shrewsbury Town missed out on signing Danny Gabbidon as a youth because they never followed up on a promised phone call!

This month's Keep Grangetown Tidy litter pick was very well attended. It was hosted by the Salvation Army citadel on the junction of Ferry Road and Corporation Road. It was a sunny day and one of those rare occasions when I turned up on time and made it into the official photo!

On one weekend we were able to coordinate our diaries with our friend Ella and visited her in Oxford for a meal out. It was the first time we had seen her since well before Christmas and great to catch up. 

I was invited to celebrate a milestone for my friend Wendy, at a surprise party to mark her 50th anniversary of being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Wendy has been a persistent advocate for improved care for people living with diabetes and was a key ally when I was working in NHS Wales for the diabetes network. She was presented with a gold medal by Diabetes UK to mark her 50 years. 

I finished the month even further immersed in the diabetes world, as I was the lead for our team's stall at the Diabetes UK Professional Conference (DUKPC), which was held in Glasgow. I have spent most of February focusing on delivering the conference and making sure our team of young people from across the UK were featured as much as possible on the programme. The three days flew past, surrounded by former colleagues and friends from across the UK.

I had an unexpected surprise when I found my name was on a poster in the exhibition.

To make it even better, the poster was awarded second place in its category. I also had a further unexpected shout out from another presenter after helping bring together an advisory group for him. That was a very kind thing to do and I felt mildly embarrassed. 

The conference ended on the very last day of February, but that wasn't the end of my time in Scotland. But more about that in my next blog post!

Summer speeds by - July 2024

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.

With Tom and Paul at the Dracs.

With Scott when we went up to Ynyshir Albions to watch them play the Dracs.

And with Steve at Chepstow Town v Caldicot on a very warm Tuesday evening. Dig the hat!

Wythnos yn yr Gogledd, Mehefin 2023

With a week of leave to take before the end of my notice period, we booked an apartment in Felinheli on the coast of the Menai Strait. It had a view of the Strait and Anglesey and was an ideal base for exploring new places and revisiting some favourite spots.

Fave places like Dinas Dinlle just south of Caernarfon. This is such a lovely beach with incredible pebbles and lovely sand which is ideal for sandcastles. 

We were very blessed to be joined for some of the week with our friend Ella. She contributed to the sandcastle building exploits. 

We had a sandcastle building contest one night. Neither of them could withstand the incoming tide, however. (We stayed on the beach right into the depths of the midsummer evening. That's the beauty of holidaying in June!)

Next to the beach is a restaurant called Braf. I had pancakes for breakfast there. 

And Cathy spotted a great reminder of home on the wall. Almost literally. That scene is two streets away!

We had been to Beaumaris before but we hadn't done the cruise around Puffin Island. The name is apparently a misnomer as it is sans puffins for most of the year. We saw some swimming in the water though!

One bonus about having Ella with us was getting to do all the cheesy tourist things because she hadn't done them before. 

Things like going to the Smallest House in Conwy...

And posing for photos with the station sign at Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch...

And paying our respects by being suitably mournful at Gelert's Grave in Beddgelert before buying ice creams from the Glaslyn ice cream shop...

And not seeing Yr Wyddfa because it was hiding in the clouds...

And posing with a steam train...

And visiting lots of castles!!

That's me waving at the very top!

(There's one genuine castell Cymreig in those photos!)

The day after Ella had to (sadly) go home, Cathy and I went back to Anglesey and visited Newborough beach for the first time. It was incredible. 

I'm already looking forward to going back there next time we have a week in the North!