Bath, Stonehenge, and a little bit of Magic!

I'm back from my weekend is Bath and I have loads to tell about!

Arriving in Bath is magical. The city is unbelievably beautiful and has such a rich history! I found my hostel with ease, right in the city centre...took a bit of a walk around the city, got some food in a pub...steak and ale pie!

Saturday I spent shopping and exploring Bath, taking dozens and dozens of pictures, had tea at Sally Lunn's, the oldest house in Bath! The best cup of tea I've ever had and home to the famous Sally Lunn bun, which is prepared a dozen different ways. Went to a theatre production at the Theatre Royal, headed back to the hostel. Met a really nice guy from Scotland, who had been living in Bath, playing his fiddle for tourists in the square during the day! That's how he had been making his earnings! We had a nice chat until late in the night, before I headed up to bed...

Now here's where the bad hostel experience comes in...the night before I hardly slept due to the loud drunken people in the streets, who sounded like they were shouting right next to me! Well Saturday night was even worse! I think all female dorms may be the worst. I think I'll stick to the mixed dorms, as I think I've decided that sharing a room with males is more pleasurable. So this lady in the dorm comes in really late and switches on all the lights...which is totally unnecessary due to the light coming in the huge windows, and proceeds to make a ton of noise going through her things. So another girl in the dorm says, "Could you please shut off the lights?" and the rude lady replies, "Yeah, I'm just trying to see where I'm going!" in a really harsh tone. So she finally gets settled and everyone goes back to sleep...well at 4:00am I was awoken to someone getting increasingly louder, shouting, "Excuse me! Excuse me! EXCUSE ME!" and the same rude lady replying, "WHAT!?" The other lady then says, "Could you roll over or something? Your snoring is keeping everyone awake!" I seriously thought there was going to be a fight! Well the rude lady went back to sleep and continued to snore, and now that I was awakened I couldn't get back to sleep!! Half the dorm then vacated the room in the middle of the night. I ended up putting my headphones in, blaring music, over which I could still hear the lady snoring! It was unbelievable! Then I forgot all about daylight savings time and checked out an hour early! I could have slept or not slept more like it for another hour!

Sunday was the fun day! I booked a tour to Lacock Village/Stonehenge on a little minibus. The drive was beautiful and scary all at the same time. The road was two-way with only about enough room for the minibus. The driver said, "These are the times when you hope no one comes the other way!"

So Lacock Village is 1000 years old, which is amazing in itself. Lots of movies are filmed there, due to stepping into the village and literally going back in time. The driver said all they have to do is put some dirt down on the streets and any sign of modern society is virtually gone! So here's the exciting bit for the fellow Harry Potter fans and the disappointing bit! So Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince began filming last week on Wednesday in Lacock Village! They finished a mere 36 hours before my visit to Lacock Village! How sad!! They've also shot many scenes in the halls of Lacock Abbey and used the rooms there as classrooms. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to go inside. This village is also the home to Harry Potter's parents house as shown in the second movie...such a cool place to visit! Apparently the residents of the village were all paid 200lbs for the inconvenience of the filming, which was only going on from 5p to 5a daily, then the residents whose houses were used in filming were given an extra 500lbs for the inconvenience of the lights being shown on their houses at night, and an extra 100lbs to park their cars around back, so the movie crew didn't have to request that they move them every time! That is equivalent to about $2000! I wanna live there!

All in all a great weekend, minus the bad weather and lack of sleep! Enjoy the pics, they're tacked onto the bottom of the album.

Cheers!

Bonfire Night...

Borrowed from Wikipedia...Traditionally known as Bonfire Night, Guy Fawkes Night is an annual celebration (but not a public holiday) on the evening of the 5th of November primarily in the United Kingdom, but also in former British colonies New Zealand, S.A. vigo, the island of Newfoundland (Canada), parts of the British Caribbean including the Bahamas, and to some extent by their nationals abroad. Bonfire Night was common in Australia until the 1980s, but it was held on the Queen's Birthday long weekend in June. It celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot in which a group of Catholic conspirators, led by one Robert Catesby, and including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in Westminster on the evening of 5 November 1605, when the Protestant James I of England (James VI of Scotland), his eldest sons, and the majority of the English Parliament were within its walls. The conspirators were later tortured and executed.

The celebrations, which in the United Kingdom take place in towns and villages across the country, involve fireworks displays and the building of bonfires, on which "guys", or dummies, representing Guy Fawkes, the most infamous of the conspirators, are traditionally burnt. Before the fifth, children traditionally used the "guys" to beg for money with the chant "Penny for the guy", although this is now rarely seen. In recent years the night is becoming increasingly known as "Guy Fawkes Night". (For more on Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night go HERE, interesting stuff in the pop culture references section)

Anyway, the reason for the educational info about bonfire night is due to the fact that next weekend I will be traveling to Manchester to hang with my friend Craig and will be celebrating my first ever Bonfire Night at a bonfire party! There will be plenty of sparklers, fireworks and wine for everyone! I'm really looking forward to this and will hopefully have nice shiny new pictures to share!

Out of the comfort zone...

Well it's Monday again and time is flying by at unbelievable speeds...

The weekend was one filled with hilarity for many different reasons....starting on Friday. I went into Pontypridd to pick up a ticket to "Meeting Joe Strummer," a stage production about the legendary frontman of The Clash, which is here for only one night in December. I also did a little shopping and grabbed some take-out to take home with me...so I walked back to the bus station and returned to the stall that I had arrived at, hopped on the bus, and went on my way...

Well it should have dawned on me that the stall I had arrived at would be continuing on to other towns beyond Ponty, not returning to where I had come from....the return bus would have been departing from a different stall!! Oops...so I went about an hour out of my way by the time the bus worked through traffic and I caught the return bus in the next town. The bus driver was probably thinking I was completely mad when I presented my ticket, but he failed to tell me I was boarding the wrong bus! I won't be making that mistake again!

Saturday I had a really nice day in Cardiff Bay after perusing the Cardiff Central Market. The Central Market houses Kelly's Records, which had an amazing collection of vinyl! I will be going back to collect the albums I hid in the back of a bin! I took some amazing photos in Cardiff Bay and took a waterbus into the water. I could hang out by the docks for hours! The photos are included in the slideshow to the left, or you can follow this link and check em out! There are some inserted towards the top of the album of my office and such and the rest from Cardiff Bay are at the bottom!

Saturday night was highly entertaining...after watching the Rugby World Cup, one of our weekend houseguests, Shikai, told me him and I were going to take a taxi into Ponty to go to a nightclub...so he called the cab and we headed to town. Upon arrival at The Tumble Inn...Shikai told me I had no choice but to dance with him! For those of you that know me at all, you know that I'm no dancer...I really don't enjoy dancing...but I sucked it up and I danced with Shikai for an hour before the rest of our group arrived and I was able to sneak off the dance floor! My knowledge of crappy pop dance music is going to be so vast when I get home, I'm going to have to lock myself away for weeks listening to rock music to return to normal!

In other news...I have ordered a new camera, which hopefully will be here before I go to Manchester in two weeks. I will be able to take plenty of mullet pictures for your enjoyment pleasure!

Today it's back to work, patiently awaiting my travels this upcoming weekend to Bath...

Mullets, asymmetry, and a relaxing weekend...

Hello...just got done with a busy day at work! I'm getting a lot accomplished and I received much praise for my work today, which is always very nice to hear. I've finished one small project so far, which was to find potential authors for a book that is in the works, and was told it was BRILLIANT! I don't know about that, but it was nice to hear! Still working on a big literature review project for another forthcoming book, but it's going very well!

The weekend was fairly quiet and relaxing, which was nice after my night out on the town Thursday night! Went to the pub before the seminar. Attended the seminar in this beautiful building at Cardiff University (it was like a museum!), where there were more drinks being served. Went to another pub. Then went for Indian food before we caught a taxi home very late! Needless to say, Friday was a short day. It was a lot of fun to get to hang out with the rest of the people in the department though, and to meet a number of people from the department in Cardiff.

Other interesting observations...so Friday night we went out bowling to this place called Bowlplex. Well they also have like a club inside, with a huge bar area and dance floor, loud pop music, funky lights. The girls may as well not be wearing any clothes at all and the guys all seem to have what I'm now calling "EuroMullets". This may be the actual term, who knows? Anyway, it's not attractive in the least bit! If you'd like a peek at what I'm refering to click HERE! I'll try to sneak some better photos the next time we go out! They're everywhere!! As for the ladies...asymmetrical hairstyles seem to be very popular! I have a really hard time with anything asymmetrical, so they're driving me mad! Maybe I'll get my own funky euro cut/color, but it won't be asymmetrical!

Oh, I've also picked out my new camera...yay!

One small addition...

So just a small addition to the previous posting of my address....sorry I thought this seemed obvious, but it's not really I suppose!

19 Glyn-Dwr Avenue
PONTYPRIDD
Mid Glamorgan
CF37 5PD

UNITED KINGDOM

In other news...my email is not currently working for some unknown reason, which Yahoo! can't seem to find time to check into...this has caused much frustration and hopefully will be resolved today! So, if you've written and I haven't responded...that's the reason.

Tonight I'm attending a lecture/seminar in Cardiff, presented by a guy that was formerly in the Secret Service. It should be really interesting and afterwards my colleagues and I are going for drinks!

No crazy weekend plans as of yet...I'm looking to plan a couple of travel weekends soon though. Probably up to Manchester and maybe to Bath. I've really got to get my camera issues resolved!

Cheers for now.

Bits & Bobs...

I can't tell you how beautiful the day is today...the sun is finally out and the sky is so blue! The clouds are casting the most amazing shadows on the hills/mountains...

This photo is essentially the view from the top point of the university, just on the other side of the building which houses my office...it's very peaceful, not very conducive to getting any work done!

Anyway, just a few bits & bobs, interesting tidbits of essentially useless information:

First, if you like ketchup on your "chips" carry it with you...cause you're charged between 10-20 cents per packet! However, if you prefer salt & vinegar you'll be just fine...

It really is a meat and potatoes culture...potatoes served with most everything and you can get a baked potato filled with just about anything you can think of...chili, tuna, corn, casserole, etc.

There's a phrase/word here that most everyone you run across says as a sort of farewell, see you later, goodbye...and I can't figure out what exactly they are saying! It's driving me mad! I'll let you know when I have the courage to ask someone what the heck it is that they're saying!

Beer is for sale at the campus store...which is called an off-license. Off licenses can sell beer and wine, but you may not consume it on their premises, hence the "off" part. On licenses are bars and such that can sell beer, wine, & spirits, which you may consume on the premises...Apparently at age 16 you may purchase beer or wine in a restaurant or pub, if accompanied by an adult, only if ordering a meal; as well as at the supermarket. You may not purchase spirits until 18 years of age....this explains why I was confused when asked how old you had to be in the US to buy alcohol at the grocery store...

That's all I've got for now...if you have your own interesting fact or piece of useless information you'd like to share -- LEAVE A COMMENT! or send me an e-mail!

I feel a bit like a freshman...

Well, my first day at the university has come and gone...and while I have status as a "researcher," essentially a staff member, I felt so much like a freshman, wandering around lost on campus on the first day of school! I'm glad to have my bearings a little bit now. Tomorrow I will get settled into my office, with my computer all set up, and I should blend in a bit more maybe??

Today was really cool though. I got to make corrections to a manuscript getting ready to be sent off for print. I had lunch with my colleagues! And attended an orientation of sorts for new staff members...I was by far the youngest person in the room! I'm looking forward to finding out what the rest of the week has in store for me...

In other news, I went into Cardiff on Saturday and went to the OLDEST record shop in the WORLD!!! Spillers Records was established in 1894! It's small, but has character beyond imagination and the staff was very friendly! If anyone is in search for something a bit rare or an import of sorts...let me know! It'll give me an excuse to go back there, not that I need one! I'll take requests for souvenirs from there too...they have t-shirts and coffee mugs! Super cool experience!