Rainy mini tour

Rain returned today, and after a pancake breakfast, I took Sara and Ebba down to Cardiff Bay to see the Senedd building and the Millennium Centre. There was a group of young Indian dancers rehearsing on the stage in the foyer for a Diwali celebration concert tomorrow. Unexpected as it was delightful to see.

Alongside the Mermaid Quay the frigate HMS Portland was docked, visiting Cardiff in support of this year's Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal. The last time I saw a ship of the line moored there it was HMS Monmouth, which was decommissioned in June 2021. I guess the Portland replaces that of Monmouth as the city's adopted ship's crew.

The rain eased so, we drove from there to see the Bay Barrage on our way to Penarth and visited the pier for a lunchtime drink and snack. Then we drove on to see Sully Island, By that time the sky was starting to clear a little. Evening sunlight peering through the brooding clouds was a magnificent spectacle. 

We drove home on back roads through Dinas Powis so Sara and Ebba could see a little of the Vale of Glamorgan landscape, with its roadside hedges, ancient farmhouses and churches, quite different from their island home in the outer suburbs of Gothenburg, but nonetheless suburban nowadays due to social changes in my lifetime.

After supper we sat in the lounge and chatted telly off until it was Sara's bedtime. Outdoors a succession of  exploding fireworks punctuated the night. I wonder how much youngsters know about Guy Fawkes nowadays.