Garbage (thunder)storm the castle

Yesterday Cathy and I went to our second ever gig in Cardiff Castle. Three years ago we saw Bastille play there. This time we arrived shortly after a heatwave-induced thunderstorm.

We missed the opening act but we arrived in good time for the set from the main support band, Skunk Anansie. I even had time to buy a tour t-shirt and a decadent doughnut before the music started because Skunk Anansie were a bit late starting.

I really enjoyed their set. Although I said to Cathy that Skin, the lead singer, was in a totally unsuitable outfit considering the heat. She had to change out of her really heavy trousers after a few songs. 

Skin also went crowdsurfing twice, which impressed me. I discovered I liked several of the songs I didn't know more than the limited few I did know so I might well explore their back catalogue sometime.

The weather may have resulted in a few people not turning up as the performance area felt less crowded than I expected. I know it wasn't a sell out but I was pleasantly surprised at how much space we seemed to have without being ridiculoualy far back from the stage. 

Also, this is mega-gig week in Cardiff with massive concerts  every night at the Castle, Blackweir and the international stadium. There's obviously an upper limit on how many gig tickets can be sold in a week and it may be we have hit the upper cusp.

It was an interesting demographic in that the crowd seemed to skew more female. All three bands on the set list are fronted by women, which might have something to do with it. 

Garbage came on slightly earlier than expected, kicking off with the opening track off their latest album. They played several songs off that album (which I reviewed back in March) during the gig. I was surprised at some of them, including the gig finale when they played 'The Day That I Met God'. Amusingly, Shirley messed up the cue for that song and had a friendly go at Butch for leaving her hanging in an awkward silence. 

Garbage always used to be Shirley and three middle-aged dudes. Now it's Shirley and three old dudes. Shirley is still Shirley though, keeping time by fiercely stomping around in a circle during songs; amusing us with rambles and rants. 

The set list was a mix. They didn't play any of the poppier songs off Beautiful, but I was stoked to hear them play 'Control' from Not Your Kind of People. The old tunes were the bangers though. They gave 'Stupid Girl' a bit of a refresh and 'Only Happy When It Rains' was joyous. The singles off Version 2.0 are all strong songs and play well almost 30 years later. I was surprised they omitted 'Queer' from the set list and I was expecting them to play 'Witness to Your Love' but that didn't feature.

Overall, though, they played a cracking set. The new songs sounded better than I expected. I can tell Shirley really likes 'Chinese Fire Horse'. An unusual inclusion was 'It's All Over Bar the Crying', off the fourth album, Bleed Like Me. Shirley said they has never played it live before this tour, but she's a slightly unreliable historian. I enjoyed hearing it anyway and, of course, I sang along. 

Unusually, there was no encore as they played right up until the allotted curfew time. I quite enjoy the pantomime of cheering for a band to come back out but it didn't happen. It's hard to just turn the house lights on in an outdoor venue so they put up a message on the big screen about the exits. The castle keep glowed red and moody as we left.

Post-script

I know what you're thinking. How decadent was that doughnut? Well! Judge for yourself!

Cruising the Three Seas, part 3

Corfu & Kotor, Montenegro

I wasn't sure what to expect of Corfu. I had a preconception of package holiday hotels and concrete beaches. I was not expecting it to be so green and relatively unspoiled. 

Our excursion for the day was "Caves, cliffs and culture" which started with a boat trip from Paleokastritsa, a sheltered cove with glorious white beaches and azure water. 

The boat trip took us to visit three sea caves, including one that included the "blue eye", an effect caused by sunlight going through an underwater rock arch. 

Rock "face" next to St Nicholas's Cave

The blue eye

The local shop had some amusing products on sale. I was tempted to buy some and plant them in my brother's case to see what happened at the airport. 

Our coach then took us up to a restaurant overlooking Paleokastrita. They are big on kumquats on Corfu and we shared a piece of kumquat cake. 

Niamh, the staff member who hosted the introduction to Cymraeg session on our sea day was on our excursion so I asked her if we could take a selfie.

Cymro a Cymraes yn Corfu

The coach wound it's way onward up some very narrow lanes. One village was entirely traffic light controlled, which meant we had a long wait outside. But that was just as well because our bus literally had a few centimetres clearance on either side as we crept through the tight streets. 

We stopped at an Orthodox church that was part of a convent. It was a shrine for healing with it's own well with magical healing properties. However, we were also advised not to drink the water.

The magic healing well - don't drink the water!

The shrine with healing requests

Our guide gave us a brief explanation of the Great Schism between the Roman and Eastern churches. I then had a chat with her about the Cappadocian Fathers, the great saints of the Eastern Church, that I studied back in university. I don't think many tourists name drop St Gregory of Nazianzus while on these tours as she seemed a bit surprised,. 

The gift shop was full of icons. Sarah bought some candied kumquats instead. They have a very strong and lasting bitter orange flavour. It's not unpleasant, but it is persistent. 

Our final stop for the day was Corfu old town. We found a bakery selling amazing doughnuts.

Doughnuts!

There is an impressive solid stump of a castle built by the Venetians when they controlled Corfu. It's another solid-looking fortress. 

Corfu old town is a mix of Venetian, French and Victorian British architecture. Which is why they had a bandstand that reminded me of Grange Gardens!

We didn't have too long in Corfu old town and soon had to head back to our boat, which was now sharing a jetty with three other liners!

Our boat was the small one!

Back on the boat, the evening entertainment was a show called "Forever Country", a medley mix of country songs. I enjoyed it so much I went to watch both showings! (And sang along!)

Our final full day of the cruise was in Kotor, Montenegro. We got up early as we were told that the sail in to Kotor was worth watching. It was impressive as we headed up a very narrow inlet towards the port (it's actually a flooded river valley rather than a true glacier-carved fjord). However, we were up an hour earlier than we needed to be because the ship was delayed after a passenger had to be evacuated to hospital in Albania during the night. (There had been some rough swell at about 2am - it transpired that was the patient transfer.)

Sunrise over Montenegro

Cold enough for a coat!

The delayed arrival meant our boat had been overtaken by another cruise ship that had nicked our anchoring point so we had to anchor further out. This meant the small boat transfer to Kotor was longer than expected, but only a few minutes longer. All the people going on excursions waited in the show lounge auditorium until we were dispatched coachload by coachload. 

Our excursion started at the very new and shiny cable car that goes up over 1,300 metres into Lovcen National Park. 

And in the far distance, our boat!

At the top, Sarah and I rode the alpine coaster, which is like a mini bobsled that swings you over some significant drops. It was great fun.

Victorious alpine coaster riders

We didn't have very long at the top of the mountain before we had to catch the cable car back down. 

The cable car is emblematic of a country that is rapidly modernising. We passed the shiniest petrol station I have ever seen, complete with gleaming banks of post lockers outside. It felt like Kotor Old Town has had some subtle facelift work done too. It was an incredible jumble of buildings and narrow alleys, with history steeped into its stones. But it felt like the patina had been washed off recently giving it a film set feel. I loved it, but I can imagine a few years ago it would have been more grimy and weathered. 

We were hungry and used our tracking skills to follow the trail of people who appeared with large slices of pizza. It turned out there was a little hole in the wall place doing a bustling trade. 

Our return trip to the Marella Explorer 2 was on one of the ship's lifeboats that had been put into service as a shuttle boat. I suppose lifeboats need to be tested occasionally, so it made sense to use them for this purpose. It was another unusual experience to add to an epic day. 

And so that evening we set sail and headed back to where our adventure started, Dubrovnik!

Cymru in Disneyland

In my post about Disneyland Paris I said I didn't get a good picture of the Welsh characters on the It's a Small World ride. So my sister sent me a picture.

She also took a picture of me eating a healthy lunch!

It was delicious.

Big Birthday Build

As we couldn't go out anywhere to celebrate my recent birthday, Cathy and I decided to splurge on a big Lego set and spend the day building together. The set we chose was one of the Lego "Modular Buildings". These are big models (nearly 3,000 pieces) and we have built a couple of them before. 

There is always a story built into these sets. In this one, the doughnut shop next door to the police station is the victim of repeated theft. This is being reported on the front pages of the newspapers being sold in the little kiosk next door. All becomes clear as the build progresses and it becomes obvious who is thieving doughnuts and how. (They also explain it in the instruction book.)

The doughnut shop looks very welcoming with an array of baked goodies.

There are always lots of hidden jokes and extras in these sets. Like a secret tunnel under the police cell, which is one of the first things you build. It comes complete with a spoon, which is presumably the digging implement used by the tunneller.

The police station interior is very detailed. I particularly liked the "murder board" on the second floor, although I imagine this would actually be the "doughnut theft board".

The stairs are a very clever build, using pieces normally found in castle walls.

Above the doughnut shop is a little apartment with a record player.

This is also the way the doughnut thief is stealing the doughnuts!

We built the first two storeys of the building on my birthday before calling it a night.

We finished it off the next day. The third storey included the interview room with an old-fashioned reel-to-reel recorder.

In addition to the microbuilds inside the police station, there were exterior details too, like the ivy climbing up one side of the building.

And so on my 'Birthday Boxing day' we completed the build.

Now we have the fun task of finding somewhere to put it!