Wales part 3

Still on deadline… so here are more Tales from Wales.

Thursday 26 July – Bristol

Poured with rain so we went to Bristol. DH loved going over the Severn Bridge – bridges are NOT my favourite things (and whenever I’ve had to drive across Dartford on my own I’ve chuntered to myself all the way across it – it’s suspension bridges I loathe, and I really don’t think I’d be able to cope with the Golden Gate bridge. Or the one up in Scotland that moves with the wind. Nononono). Anyway, I had to be brave in front of the kids, so I took a picture.

Bristol is currently a bit of a building site, so traffic was slow and heavy. (We heard later on the radio that the traffic in Bristol is the slowest-moving in the UK – yep, we can believe that.) Spent the day at the science museum, including a fabulous planetarium show and lots of interactive psychological tests. Very interested to see how well I did on the pitch test – especially as I’m deaf! The tests for scent were also interesting (I couldn’t smell pheromones at all – but I think my sense of smell is as dodgy as my hearing!). There was a screen where you could see yourself in terms of thermal readings; and another which measured your responses to pictures (i.e. the one you responded to most made your fingers sweat more). The pics weren’t the same every time; son reacted most strongly to the pic of the busty brunette blowing a kiss (for heaven’s sake, he’s TEN!), and he hung around to watch my pictures. ‘Mum, that’s a NAKED MAN! They can’t show that here!’ (Back view, face down on bed, good fodder for romantic novelists *g* but, um, shocking to a ten-year-old.) There was a picture of someone at the dentist’s, mouth open and syringe going in – that’s what I thought I would react to, given my traumas of the other week. But no: I reacted most strongly to the picture of a steeplejack right at the top of a steeple and you could see view all the way down to the ground below. ‘So you were lying, then,’ says son. ‘You ARE scared of heights.’ No. Just big bridges and open-tread spiral stairs, which is to do with a recurrent nightmare from my childhood. Son loved the ‘virtual volleyball’ and building a train track (following in Brunel’s footsteps, and this is where DH went a bit nerdy), and Madam loved all the Alice in Wonderland illusions; DH and I both liked the planetarium best.

Read Nicola Cornick's Lord of Scandal in the evening; as usual, she never disappoints. Great plot, great characters, fabulous dialogue. Regency romance at its best.

Friday 27 July – Caerleon, Newport and Usk

We had intended to go on a boat trip round Symonds Yat (view here to the left is from the conservatory of our cottage), but the River Wye was still swollen badly by floodwater and no boats were running.

So we headed down to Caerleon instead to see the only fully excavated Roman amphitheatre in Britain. Fascinating stuff - you can really imagine what it would've been like to be on a central stage there (though I have to admit Greek drama is more to my taste than Roman farce) or being a gladiator...

We would’ve visited the baths, too, but when we’d been round the town three times and failed to find a parking space, DH had had enough and instructed me, ‘Just direct us somewhere we haven’t been.’) So we went to Newport – the local museum was very interesting, containing Roman mosaics (and part of a leather shield) from the nearby village of Caerwent, tableaux of rooms from the late 1800s (lightbulb moment for me – especially the doctor’s surgery), and a nice gemstone collection. Newport itself will probably be lovely when the regeneration projects have finished.

Daughter decided she wants to learn Welsh and Latin. ‘Mum, you can buy a book and we’ll share it.’ Riiiight.

Then we went to Usk. But there were no signposts on the way out of the car park, and we found ourselves driving through narrow, steep (as in 16% gradient) and winding roads. Fab view, but we didn’t quite end up where we’d intended to go!

Sad to be leaving the area on Saturday. We’d really wanted to go to Hay-on-Wye and also Hereford Cathedral to see the Mappa Mundi and the chained library (i.e. books were so precious in the middle ages that they were often chained to the library so they couldn’t be stolen), but given the weather problems it wasn’t possible. No way would we be disaster tourists, there to gawp at the damage and getting in the way of the emergency services. My heart really goes out to those affected by the floods. And I hope that the government’s conscience is thoroughly pricked so they do actually help the people who’ve been affected. (Despite their stealth taxes there has been a major lack of investment in areas outside London – the rural flood barriers and defences are in an atrocious state - hmm, I said no politics, so take the rants about east coast erosion and the fact that the government ignores everywhere outside London as read.)

Wales part 2

I’m on deadline and also trying not to think about yesterday’s post. Some is excellent – eg cheque, Italian copy of The Cinderella Project and apology for overcharging me and correct bill from accountant (this is the third year running I’ve had to query something – but you can guarantee if I change accountants the Inland Revenue will decide to investigate me and, although I’ve nothing to hide, I could do without the upheaval, so I’ll see how it goes next year). I also have proofs of The Doctor’s Royal Love-Child to do, and… OK. Am bricking it because now I have a date for my scary dental appointment; the stuff that came with it makes them come across as completely scary rather than kind. (Am torn between being very bolshy and very scared. Am certainly going to tell my lovely dentist on Tuesday that they are v intimidating.) So rather than think about that I’m going to distract you with more Tales from Wales.

Oh, and I nearly didn’t mention Welsh cakes. We had no ice cream on holiday (because we couldn’t find any!). But Welsh cakes… Daughter: ‘These are scrummy. Will you teach me how to cook them?’ Darling, I’ve never made Welsh cakes. What makes you think I know how to do them? ‘Because you’re the best cooker in the world and you can do anything.’ (Lovely compliment, but she’s also right in that at present I’m oven-shaped. Son and DH had the DVD camera and filmed me… so unfortunately now I know how many spare chins and spare tyres I have, and I can’t stay in denial any more. Especially as I weighed myself this morning… OK. When this book is delivered I’m going to schedule exercise into my day.)


Monday 23 July – driving through clouds
Went to the Big Pit (Pwll Mawr) at Blaenavon, the national mining museum of Wales, and on the way drove through a cloud, which was REALLY spooky – the equivalent of thick fog, narrow winding roads with a steep drop on one side, and sheep that just wandered out in front of the car. (Kids’ verdict: ‘That was fun. Can we do it again?’ DH, with very firm look at me: ‘No, Mum is going to navigate us a different route back.’) We had a tour round the coalmine; no batteries were allowed underground so we had to hand over all watches and cameras and put on the safety gear - which weighed 5kg. The lift shaft took us down 90m, and we were very squashed in the cage. The tunnels were so low we had to stoop (yes, even me), and our guide Llyn was excellent, telling us exactly how they used to do the various tasks in the mine. We could even see the seams of coal – I understand now why they’re called ‘black diamonds’ because the stuff really sparkles. (We had a coal fire when I was very young but I don’t remember sparkly coal.) Those poor pit ponies - even though the miners spoiled them - having to live and work in the dark for 11 months of the year... Am keeping politics out of this, but I do question whether closing the mines was the right thing to do. There's more than just money involved: there’s the life of the communities involved too. And given the mess our country is in right now, I believe that essential services (water and power and post) should be nationalised and run efficiently and effectively.

Read Milly Johnson's The Yorkshire Pudding Club and enjoyed it thoroughly - lively characters, made me laugh for the right reasons, and I will never look at Marmite in the same way again...

Tuesday 24 July – Raglan and Caerphilly
Went to Raglan, which must have been stunning in its heyday. There were 102 spiral steps to the top of the Great Tower, with stunning views; there was also once a very important library which was ruined by dearest Cromwell (so all the documents relating to Tintern Abbey were lost - am not sure whether I loathe Cromwell or Henry VIII most for the irreparable damage they caused: take rest of enormous rant as read) and the windows are all that remain of the library.

Then to Tredegar House; stupidly we didn't take the leaflet with us so we ended up driving round tiny villages and narrow roads with NO SIGNPOSTS anywhere to guide us - and the house wasn’t in the village of Tredegar (or even New Tredegar), it was in Newport. And it was closed on Tuesdays. Sigh. So we went to Caerphilly Castle instead. Very impressed by the leaning tower (apparently the degree of lean is 10 per cent - so of course I had to take the tourist pic of DH and son pretending to hold up the tower) and the water defences.

Read Robert Goddard's Never Go Back - enjoyed it, though had to pretend the characters were 20 years younger for it to work properly for me. Good plot, though. Also bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the way home and read it that evening - very satisfying ending. And not as much self-indulgence. Son was horrified. ‘You read HP in just one evening?’ Uh-huh. It’s only 600 pages ish. I’m a fast reader… If I’d told him that I read a book that morning before I got up, too, he would’ve freaked. Perfect way to unwind: DH brought me a cup of tea, just the way I like it (i.e. Earl Grey, very weak and milky), and I didn’t get out of bed until THREE HOURS past my usual getting-up time because I was reading, cuddled up to him.

Wednesday 25 July – Clearwell and Chepstow
Rainy so we decided to do something indoors, i.e. underground, and went to Clearwell Caves – iron had been mined there since Roman times. Interesting to read about the life of the iron miners (I think the coal miners treated the child workers rather better than the iron miners did – freaked son when he realised that had he been born in the 1830s instead of the 1990s he would’ve been working for two years now and only going to school for a couple of hours in the evenings). The caves themselves were a little disappointing, but that’s because I was expecting something more like the Blue John mines. No stalagmites or stalactites, but what you can see here is flowstone, which grows at the rate of 1 cubic centimetre per 100 years. (Yes, of course Nerdy Kate collected facts. That's where son gets it from...)

Then we went to Chepstow Castle; very interesting (and I bet it’s stunning when the river isn’t swollen and discoloured with flood water - the rivers were all the colour of melted milk chocolate because of the soil washed down off the hills and the rivers bursting their banks) but it poured with rain, and was very eerie when seagulls screamed into the gloom. Some lovely wallpaintings; also interesting to see the connection with home via Roger Bigod.

Read Adele Geras's Facing the Light - fabulous read and I'll definitely be buying more of hers. Reminded me of a cross between Judith Lennox and Robert Goddard at his best; excellent characterisation.

Wales part 1

Back from Wales - had great time despite the weather. And as the SDP will probably be delighted to know I did NO WORK WHATSOEVER during the holiday - apart from keeping a holiday diary. So this is what we did (part 1):

Saturday 21 July - travelling
Late Friday night, we discovered that the motorways on our main route - the M5 and M50 - were both closed due to the flooding. Early the next morning (and I mean early, as in about 5.30 am) the news headlines said tens of thousands of people were stranded there overnight. So we sorted out a new route avoiding the motorways and just hoped we'd manage to negotiate the floods. All was fine until we got to Banbury... where it took us over an hour to crawl 2.5 miles round the ring road. (We did see Banbury Cross, but no white horses.) Stopped briefly at Stow, then on to Marstow. The A40 was littered with abandoned cars; although the road was flooded it was passable. I really feel for the people who've been flooded out.

Finally we arrived at the cottage. It's about 250 years old, and has the most incredible view of Symonds Yat from the conservatory - a real romance writer's haven. Went for a walk after dinner; the narrow lane to the cottage was flooded, and the local tributary of the Wye had burst its banks - wiping out the campsite at the bottom of the lane. The lane opposite was also flooded, and DH wondered how deep it was… but stopped just before it overflowed his wellies.

Sunday 22 July - Cardiff
Reasonably bright start to the day. Just in case the weather turned nasty, we decided to do the bit we knew son was looking forward to most – i.e. Cardiff. Spent a while in the science museum (here’s Madam playing the foot piano – I had fun on it, too – and the drums were fab), then went for a wander in the Bay area.

Son spent the entire time telling us exactly what we were seeing and which episode of Dr Who it featured in (down to the episode name and number – and I bet if pressed he could give the time as well). He was delighted with the Dr Who exhibition; he wore his pinstriped trousers and stripy shirt in honour of Dr Who, bless.

Then we took the water bus into the city (part of it was at speed, which we all enjoyed) and wandered round Cardiff Castle. Lots of narrow spiral stairs (but they weren’t open tread so I could cope – it’s open stairs that freak me).