Travelling Man

Been doing a bit of travelling around in the last couple of weeks, mostly to do with work. Last week there was a trip to London and this past Monday and Tuesday I had to run some training courses in Mid and North Wales.

With that I mind…

Travel Notes

Aggravating – the London Underground is a shambles. Overcrowded, no air conditioning, and poor time-keeping makes for a hugley unpopular and unreliable service. I left home in Pontypridd at 9:45 for a 2:00 meeting in London, allowing an hour from Paddington to Westminster. Didn’t get there until 2:15. Four and a half hours of misery. And the same coming back. I finished off the day trip by getting home at 10 at night.

Enjoyable – driving around some of the wonderful countryside around Snowdonia. The road from Machynlleth to Dollgellau brings some magnificent sights into view, as above. The strangest sight of all was a herd of bison roaming the fileds near Bala.

Restaurants

Its been a while since I put any restaurant notes up, so here’s a quick update.

Thai Edge in the Brewery Quarter of Cardiff (where the Brains Brewery used to be, in other words) does some really good Asian fusion food. A good range of scoff, and very reasonable prices too.

Tiger Tiger is a bar,club and restaurant on Greyfriars Road in Cardiff. And very trendy it is too. The restaurant was just about far enough away from the ‘club’ to not prove too annoying. Clearly its te hip place to go to in Cardiff. So Cath and I blended in effortlessly when we visited with Jon and B. The food got variable reviews but my fillet steak was perfectly done. I’d say its wort a visit.

The Hall Inn appears to be nothing more than a village pub in Gwehelog, between Usk and Raglan. But the main reason for visiting is the food. Until recently a chef from the Gleneagles Hotel was there, but his apprentice clearly learned well and has carried on the good work. Excellent value if a bit out of the way.

Internet troubles

Updating the blog has been a bit hit and miss ove the past few weeks as our broadband connection has fallen a couple of times. Talking to a call centre in India doesn’t exactly help either. Anyway having done through the same steps (“Have you tried switching everhting off and the on again?” “Er, yes, several times.”) we seem to have normal service again.

Squirrel Notes

They’re back. After a whole winter of being squirrel free, the furry raiders are back at the bird table. A couple have been spotted wiping the bread we put out for the fledgling birds. Evil buggers.

Cricket Notes

Glamorgan were scheduled to play their first game of the season at Sophia Gardens on Friday with the first of the 20/20 games. There’s been a huge amount of redevelopment going on, and the latest photos are on the Glamorgan website. Of course, the game was rained off without a ball being bowled. They’ll try again on Tuesday, weather permitting.

Rugby Notes

Lots of notable changes in personnel at Ebbw Vale RFC this off-season. You can read about them all in very small font on Ebbw Vale’s website.