Miles and memories - happenings in March

A dragon for St David's Day! 

Cathy and I covered lots of miles in March. I had a couple of days off work because we had an appointment at the specialist clinic in Cambridge (we have been heading over there annually for about six years now, pandemics notwithstanding). This year we decided to go via Shrewsbury and see Mum on Mother's Day weekend. I went to church with her (and most of the rest of the family) on Mother's Day and got to say hello to lots of old friends. 

Our Mother's Day dinner plans were thrown awry by the restaurant phoning up to tell us they were having a software problem so they couldn't process any food orders or payments. So we ended up with a stack of takeaway pizzas instead. In a weird way, it was a nice reflection of how resilient we are as a family that we can adapt to a situation and still have fun.

Mentioning resilience makes me think of how we have adjusted as a family following the loss of my dad. This March marked the fifth anniversary of his sudden death. I found myself thinking of him quite a bit. I went to a Wales 'C' International football match on the day itself - I think he would have liked that. 

On the Monday after Mother's Day we set out to Cambridge. We had a trouble-free journey and after checking in at our hotel we went for a little trip to Newmarket. It's a horsey place with lots of horsey businesses and also a cracking toy shop!

After our hospital appointment on the Tuesday we headed home to Cardiff. We stopped in Oxford and saw our friend Ella on the way. 

We got home about midnight. The next morning I was on the 7.23am train to London for an all day meeting. I was also incubating a cold. Gotta admit, I wasn't at my best in that meeting. 

Before I came home I met up with my baseball buddy Gawain in an American sports-themed restaurant under Waterloo Station, in a warren of railway arches covered in graffiti. 

Selfie on the way to Waterloo

Meeting up had seemed like a great idea when we made the plan. By the time I got there though I was beyond exhausted. However, Gawain is very good company and we had a great two hours chatting before I had to get the train home.

All that excitement was just in five days. The rest of the month has been a bit of a blur. I made it to my first Keep Grangetown Tidy litter-pick of the year. Fiona who organises it took a picture as proof.

I also made my first foray to the cinema in 2024, watching Dune Part 2 (which I blogged about here). And we went to our first gig of the year - to see Tony Wright at the Metropole Theatre in Abertillery. It was on Easter Sunday, so we took him some Easter eggs, which Cathy presented to him afterwards.

We even had time this month for some ice creams in Victoria Park with the Wootten family. Spring is here. Summer is coming!

October 2022 round-up and review

Well, another month, another new Prime Minister. Time will tell whether this will be an improvement. At the moment it feels like more of the same corruption and cruelty. 

However, while the news was full of politics, our personal news was that we resumed gig-going after a few pandemic-filled years. I've already blogged about the gig we went to in the middle of the month in Manchester, when we heard Counting Crows return to form. At the end of the month, we saw another long-term favourite, when Tony Wright, the singer from Terrorvision, visited Le Pub in Newport on part of his acoustic tour.

Being a very small venue we could get photos with him afterwards. We also got him to sign a copy of his new album. 

And yes, he did play some classic Terrorvision songs including a thumping version of Alice, What;s the Matter? that had the audience singing along. 

Something I first noticed when we went to see Garbage in 2015 was that the audience of gigs from bands that were big when Cathy and I were in our early 20s all seem to have aged at the same rate as we have! This was no different. We were probably some of the young 'uns. 

I went to four football matches in October, starting with Shrewsbury's game away in Cheltenham.  

It was a disappointing game for Shrewsbury fans, but I did get to sit to my old school friend Chris who was there with his son.

On the way in I also noticed this well-stickered sign bearing labels stuck there by fans from lots of different teams 

(I actually tripped on the step on the way out of the ground. Despite this sign!)

My next game was another Shrewsbury game, at home against the team from Milton Keynes that are pariahs in the game. We went to this as a belated ninth birthday celebration for my eldest nephew, Zac. The game we had planned to attend nearer his birthday, in September, got cancelled after the Queen passed away. 

Quite a gang of us went, including my mum and Cathy as well. Zac had invited some mates along and they all got to meet Lenny the Lion.

My final game of the month was in Portsmouth to watch Shrewsbury again. I drove down the morning after the Tony Wright gig and met my friend Tom who moved there last year to do a ship-building course. We took the obligatory selfie with a sign for Fratton Park in the distance. 

Afterwards I realised I knew those two cops doing the high viz photobomb. One of them, Chris, grew up round the corner from me in Shrewsbury. 

I liked Fratton Park, which was both large and somehow quite open. We were behind one goal - with a decent view when play was down our end. We saw Portsmouth score in front of us. We almost saw Shrewsbury score too, from this corner. 

And I managed to capture the split second after a Portsmouth defender had cleared the ball with his hand. It should have been a penalty but the ref didn't see it. Everyone behind the goal did though!

The game finished 1-1, a creditable draw for Shrewsbury.

The fourth game I saw was Barry beating Llanelli, which meant Barry went top of the league! Here's hoping they can stay there.