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.

Hallowe'en

After a nice late breakfast, I drove up to the Travellers' Rest pub on Caerphilly Mountain to meet a couple and prepare a funeral service with them for Monday. As they live in the Valleys it was the most convenient thing to do apart from meet at the funeral parlour, something I am reluctant to do, preferring to meet on neutral ground, and not at our house now I'm retired. Unfortunately the pub hadn't yet opened, so we had to sit outside at a picnic table. Fortunately the rain stayed away until our business was completed.

Then, Clare, Rhiannon and I went to Penarth and had a fish and chip picnic lunch on the beach. It was such a grey day. With the tide right out, some of the photos I took were almost devoid of colour apart from shades of grey, and converting them to monochrome for comparison, it was fascinating to see the differences.

Later in the day, Rhiannon went out with her little friend Anwen on a 'trick or treat' expedition, and returned with a bag of various kinds of junk sweets that parents are no longer keen for the children to eat. We had only a couple of little visitors, and they got little boxes of Smarties. Just as bad really. Rhiannon doesn't much care for sweets, apart from chocolate, and is good about keeping stocks and rationing herself. Admirable restraint for an eleven year old. It's amazing how she's grown since the summer, and the start of her first year in secondary school.

Another penetrating Arne Dahl episode on BBC Four this evening, all about teenage sex trafficking and child pornography, with a little web hacking thrown in. All very current issues, and interesting to see how they are represented from a Swedish perspective. Much more haunting than all the fantasy horror we're exposed to at this time of year, as it's that much closer suburban ordinariness.

Bank Holiday weekend

We drove to Bristol Friday to visit Amanda, who's in hospital again, and to give James some support. Caring for his mother this past month or so has led to him missing school and examinable assignments, so now he's not going to be able to complete his A level year. We took him out to his school at Thornbury, to find out what options might be available to him. His head of year and head of sixth form were delighted to see him as he has recently been the subject of their pastoral concern. They took an hour with him, mapping out the options for next year, encouraging him to come into school while he's free from having to care for his mother daily, and use staff expertise to write applications, once he's clear what he wants to do next. It's very pleasing to see that he has so much understanding and support there.

Saturday, we took the bus to Penarth and had lunch in the 'Cafe des Amis'. Then we went down to the sea front to inspect the recently renovated and now open buildings on the Pier. It's an impressive restoration and adaptation of a landmark building. 

Part of the upper level of the old ballroom is now a cinema. Underneath it there are function rooms and exhibition space. On the sea side is a stylish restaurant with deck and balcony level dining areas. The pier was busy with bank holiday weekenders enjoying the warmth and Spring sunshine. 

I had a fit of geekiness and took all three cameras, (Sony Alpha 55, HX50 and Lumix DMC LX5) along with me, aiming to take the same photo with each of them, in select locations for comparative purposes. It was an interesting if fiddly time consuming exercise. The wide angle capability of the Lumix lens in comparison with the others is impressive. The telephoto capability of the HX50 and the quality of output is quite remarkable. I used my 28-200mm lens with the Alpha, and found its performance disappointing. Maybe that's my inexperience at using it, even on auto settings, but it could also be a matter of quality as an entry-level priced lens. Some of the photos I took are here. 

We walked back to Cardiff Bay along the beach, as it was low tide, and then along the Barrage to the Millennium Centre for tea. We bumped into Canon Aled Edwards, the CYTUN executive officer in the foyer and chatted for ages. He was on his way out after an Open University Graduation ceremony - one of the many events hosted by our wonderful operatic auditorium.

Penarth Pier's Makeover

Clare was busy in the morning with the school summer fair, so I lazed around at home until she returned, enjoying the superb warm weather. Late afternoon we drove to Penarth, walked along the coast path and walked on the shore not far from Lavernock Point, looking out towards Flatholm and Steepholm.

We'd parked the car near Cioni's restaurant up on the cliff above the promenade, and when we returned, we decided to walk down as far as the pier in search of a drink before returning home for supper. It must be a good few months since we came here last. I was surprised and delighted to discover that restoration work on the pier is progressing at a pace. In fact, there's an open day on the twentieth of this month. The roof has been stripped and re-clad with stainless steel tiles and the walls are painted white. Gone is the horrid green paint which made it look institutional and dated. It's strikingly attractive, or at least it will be when all the scaffolding is down. The pier is open as usual to strollers, consumers of ice cream, fast foods and drinks. I had a decent cup of fresh coffee, and Clare had a herb tea. It's becoming quite classy again - a well thought out uplift for a much loved 20th century social landmark. This is how the pier looked before renovation started.

And this is how it's going to look from now on, all silvery and white.

Hearty congratulations to all who have fought to keep the pier, and raise funds for the makeover. I can imagine that it'll once more be well used as a desireable venue in this age of leisure.