and here they are:

here are the australian cousins, becky and claire (the short one is becky). they looked absolutely gorgeous, and while there was much huffing and puffing (literally, for the most part) over the effects of welsh cuisine on inactive holidaying torsoes, their dresses (though snug) looked delish.

i know this photo is giant: i’ll try to fix it later. i’m running out of time.

and today was the wedding

i took very few photos of the bridal party: i figured there’d be heaps of those by better photographers than me. so i focussed on family. here we are:

that’s me in the middle in the red dress. doing my best to stick my belly in. it’s only one of two with me in. the other has only the bottom part of me, which, while an interesting study of shared genetic features in the carroll family, isn’t actually all that excellent. but i’ve got lots more of my family…

itineray

until the 4th i’ll be here in wales. then i’m down to england to visit english family.
then i go to london on the 11th, where i’ll hassle london swingers.
then i’m out to herrang on the 17th.
back to england on the 29th for camp savoy, then i fly out on the 3rd of august, to arrive on the 4th.
all done.

i have new shoes

and that’s important, as i’d meant to get some before i left, but ran out of time (and inclincation). cardiff is much like hobart in its facination with outdoorsy/camping shops, so i totally scored in one opposite cardiff castle. no doubt a total tourist trap, but the brand was good, and the price was comparable to australia. and waaa-llah! new shoes. i am now tres chic. and will be tres sorted for much hiking through english village next week.

i do as the bridal party instructs

the wedding’s on saturday (my cousin owen and his wuzza lucy), and there’s a massively full household here in cardiff. there’s some low-level wedding jitters in action: how to fit champagne, favours for guests and bouquets in the fridge? how to do bridesmaids’ hair without any bands or bobby pins? most important (to my mind, anyway), is how to fit all these loud welshies/australians in one little welshy house. answer? some go elsewhere. it’ll still be 8 adults in a small 3 bedroom house. 3 beds. 8 adults. mmm-mm. luckily this adult (who’s thankfully an inessential part of this endeavour) has been relocated to another relative’s tiny studio apartment just around the corner. i will take the laptop and my freshly repacked backpack and set up house round there. i’ve been instructed that i must return for all meals and outings, though. hokay. i do as the bridal party instructs.

st fagans: welsh life museum

i went to st fagans (pronounced “saint faggans”) yesterday, and it was mighty fine. and mighty big. it’s a lot like port arthur in tasmania: the grounds are basically historically accurate recreations of houses and their contents. but st fagans pisses all over port arthur as it covers about 90 million more years than port arthur. the central feature is st fagans castle. or rather, the big house built on the site of the former castle. dotted around the landscape are a range of houses from different historical periods.

there was a fair bit of walking involved, but it was nice walking… this pic is of a couple of buildings (whose names i can’t remember or figure out). note the green expanses.

Continue reading “st fagans: welsh life museum”

Caerdydd

p>

that’s cardiff in not-welsh. i’m facinated by welshie talk. full of w’s and andy’s dd’s and ll’s. i like saying words with ‘ll’.

that photo there is of Castle St in Cardiff. it’s one of the main tourist spots, and runs perpendicular to st mary street, which the markets are on. there really is a castle. it’s right there, on the left, behind that big stone wall. i will go there later this week.

Continue reading “Caerdydd”