It's my Plaidaversary

A year ago today I got 'Big P Political' and joined Plaid Cymru. What a year it's been! I've canvassed in 5 different elections and Plaid have won 3 of them. 

I have celebrated with a dragon!

I saw him last month at Tafwyl, where I spoke to the artist, Richard. After I got home I decided I should have brought him home with me so I contacted Richard and thankfully he hadn't been sold to anyone else! 

Due to hectic schedules I hadn't been able to pick him up until.today, but it worked out nicely that today was the day - on my Plaidaversary!

Gobaith means hope. I love his hopeful face

I also love how the date of Plaid Cymru's historic Senedd win - the 8th May - is included in the picture!

Read my election reflection here

Richard has a website with more of his great artwork on it: Baldhead Designs 

Malaga street art

Another post about my Malaga trip - I thought it would be fun to have a post about some of the brilliant street art I saw there last weekend.

This was my absolute favourite:

I walked past this purple shark in daylight but didn't take a pic. He looks alright at night though.

Good slogan:

Down by the river:

Lots to see on this wall:

This guy looks like he's spotted something disconcerting: 

There is plenty of official street art too. Like this sculpture:

And we found a glorious independent bar called El Mura that had some great art inside.

And even on the menu board!

Long hot summer - June 2025

June is probably my favourite month of the year. Long nights. Warm weather. It's usually busy. And it definitely was this year! 

It marked the end of the football season. I saw both Wales women's and men's team playing within a few days of each other to round off my season.

One of the big life events of the month was replacing dear old Marco the Polo. I'm now droving a Mazda 3, in "soul red" (their name for it) and we've called him Vincent. 

Here's a picture of Vincent looking suave and a teeny bit sandy on our holiday in North Wales at the end of the month.

My first long distance trip in Vincent was to Swindon because the British Thematic Association was holding its AGM at Swinpex, the annual stamp show of the local philatelic society. This year we had a presentation about daffodils, but there was surprisingly little Welsh content in the display. There was some, though.

Speaking of flowers, I went along to the Grangetown History Society's talk about Grange Gardens on the park's 130th Anniversary.

It was very interesting seeing pictures of the Gardens when they were newly opened, and also when it was turned into vegetable patches during World War 2.

There was even a cake, provided by the Friends of Grange Gardens. 

I've already mentioned our week on holiday in North Wales, where we encountered butterflies on Anglesey and played underground golf! 

But on the way back we stopped in Shrewsbury. Joy, our eldest niece, had her birthday during the week before we popped in, so we were able to give her some presents.

She so big now!

We arrived back home with just two days of the month left. On the last Sunday of the month we went to a big print fair at Chapter Arts Centre. 

I really liked this big print, but decided I didn't have the wall-space to do it justice!

And then on the last night of June, I accepted Sara's invitation to an event with Rhun Ap Iorweth, leader of Plaid Cymru. He was a very engaging speaker and came across as honest and realistic. I liked him. (He was funny too. When I told him I'd driven past his office in Llangefni a couple of days before, he told me I should have popped in!)

Sara is standing as one of the Plaid candidates in her area in next year's Senedd election. It was great to meet some of the other Plaid members who will be helping her try to get elected. 

And that was a wrap for a busy month!

Ar wyliau yn yr Gogledd - Mehefin 2025

We have just had a lovely week on holiday in North Wales. We stayed in a holiday cottage near our favourite beach, Dinas Dinlle (which my Cymraeg twtor, Lynne. described as "Gothic") and had some fun revisiting some favourite places and discovering new things. 

One of those new things was climbing the hill fort at the southern end of Dinas Dinlle. 

But the main thing was just walking the length of the beach, and occasionally having a sit and being lulled by the waves. 

We weren't far from Caernarfon Airport (originally an RAF base in World War 2 and the place where the Mountain Rescue Service was founded) but it was too windy all week for us to take a sightseeing flight. Next time!

There are a couple more blog posts to follow, but in the meantime, here are some of the places we visited:

Bangor Pier is no longer Pier of the Year, but we had great views down the Menai Strait all the way over to the Great Orme.

The FAW were promoting the Women's European Championships with a giant inflatable shirt outside Caernarfon Castle, so we went along and had a photo with it. 

I was quite pleased to have a few opportunities to practice my Cymraeg. I feel hesitant sometimes, but everyone I spoke to was very supportive and encouraging. 

We went to Y Galeri in Caernarfon to watch Elio, the latest Pixar film. I went in knowing very little about the film, but enjoyed it. The central message about a little boy wanting to be anywhere but on Earth was poignant, and then when he gets his wish and meets aliens, he has to decide where he wants to be. 

We also had a couple of trips to Anglesey, including to Oriel Mon, outside Llangefni. 

I wasn't too fussed on the main exhibition, which featured work by Leonard McComb even though it included a big shiny bronze statue. 

However, the themed exhibition of Anglesey Windmills was very good, with the two paintings by Kyffin Williams really anchoring the displays. 

And I thought this political artwork made a good point.

After Oriel Mon we had a short stop in Beaumaris for ice creams. We bought them just in time for a rain squall to break over us so ended up eating them in the car as the rain battered down. That made it feel like a proper North Wales holiday!

And so, after a very lovely week, we bade farewell to Dinas Dinlle.

Wolverhampton graffiti Jedi wisdom

Star Wars graffiti spotted in Wolverhampton. Poor old Artoo getting clamped!

Yoda's advice was very timely as we were on our way to a gig!

Pretty pebble beach balancing

I was lucky enough to go to my favourite beach during our recent week in Gogledd Cymru. One night I played around with some pebbles on the beach. The sun was setting and the light added to the fun.