August 2026. Cardiff.
A whole day in Cardiff with no plans. No football, no pubs, no Chinese takeaway trail through Splott.
A quick look at the market, a triumph of function over form,
and a dither at the big clock facing what used to be (in my mind) a run of top Brain’s houses.
The Cottage, now restyled TC (as in Top Cat), looks a shadow of the place we used to sink six pints of SA.
Like Newport, Cardiff has some great statues, like this one of Betty Campbell, Wales’ first black headteacher.
The sun was out, we headed to the Bay, a long route via Grangetown rather than the fast one down the wharf.
The Retired Martin family like to be different for the sake of it. Mrs RM always tries to be away on 25th December, preferably on that cheap 10 hour flight no-one else wants to take as they’re waiting for Santa Claus.
In 2010 we booked five nights in for £55 (do the Math) at a Travelodge on Newcastle Quayside during the Big Freeze, and a year later beat that with Sunday to Friday in Cardiff Bay through to Christmas Eve for £9 a night. And free parking by the cinema.
A great family holiday; Harry Potter at the Odeon, ice cream, John Barrowman at the panto, Techniquest Science Centre, ice cream, the skatepark and the short-lived Doctor Who museum.
Doctor Who dominated Cardiff for a decade or more, and Whovians can still see the sites where the Suntorans fought the Slithyreeens for a pint of Felinfoel Double Dragons or something.
Today the sun brings young and old to the water,
where there’s a fun fair outside the wonderful Millennium Centre,
which is continuing the Who theme with Gallifrey Cabaret next month.
Reports welcome.
Apart from the Victorian Packet, the pub choices are bit mainstream; Spoons and Cosy Club dominate, but there is one oddity as we approach the port.
Unless you live there, you’ll never guess which cutting-edge brewery runs this pub diner.
You cheated !
retiredmartin 