I know, I’ve been neglectful again, but my excuse is very good. I have settled into my apartment and am now the proud co-habitator of two cats ! Yes. I had intended only on getting one cat (Choco – previously spelled Chacko), but I knew there might be a problem in separating him from Twilight (now called Twee). When Choco came into the shelter, he was about four months old and had no experience with humans. He quickly bonded to Twilight, who is a massive, hairy guy of three years old, as though he were a littermate or even sometimes like a surrogate mother. Twilight was just fine with this as he likes kittens and young cats a lot. When I got Choco home, he was extremely distraught, yowling and hiding and whining and whimpering. He kept calling for Twilight in the special trill he uses and of course no cat answered. Then he cowered in his litter box for seven hours straight. The next morning, I knew I had to go back for the other one. When I let Twee out of the carrier, he proceeded to sneak about the apartment making pathetic little growly meows. Each one was answered by Choco who was hiding in my bedroom. When Twee entered my room, Choco leapt out of his hiding spot, trilling with his tail quivering, and full-body rubbed the other. Now, almost a week later, wherever I go in the apartment, there is a small, furry, black parade that follows me. Twee follows me and Choco follows Twee. It’s adorable. And the good news is, Choco, who didn’t handle human attention well at all, now lets me pet him and he curls up on the bed at night. Yay !

So, let’s return to my trip for a bit, since there are so many other things I can talk about. For instance, Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, has remarkably few things open on a Sunday. This presented a challenge since Gareth and I were hanging out with his sister, Carolyn. After sharing a drink with Gareth’s brother as well, who then left for more atrociously bad hockey, the three of us sort of wandered around by the bay. We did enjoy an outdoor photo exhibition put on by Oxfam about the before and after of the 2004 tsunami. The photos were brilliantly presented on all four sides of rectangular pillars through which we could walk and wander while surrounded by the hodgepodge of Victorian and modern architecture. After that, though, what were we to do? Decisions, decisions ! (Let me tell you, Gareth’s family is incredibly bad at making decisions.)

In the end, we decided to do what everyone else seemed to do on a Sunday afternoon in Cardiff. We went bowling. Yes, that’s right. The king of American leisure sports is a central attraction at the city’s main mall complex. There was also an arcade and typical American-style restaurants. This amused me to no end. Anyway, bowling is always fun, and it was this time, too. Carolyn whooped our asses – I think she’s secretly in a league – and much laughter ensued. We also discovered in this mall a small exhibit of new Dr. Who memorabilia. The new series is predominantly filmed in Cardiff, you see, so this was kind of a tribute thing. Anyway, it was my treat, I took them in to see it and we ended up being happily surprised by what we found. Particularly the button that said ‘Do not push’, which Carolyn pushed, and caused the dailek to come to life, scaring the crap out of her. Following all that, we struggled with a dinner decision, wandering around looking at restaurant menus posted in windows before finally settling on an American-style (heh) Tex-Mex place, not unlike Tortilla Flats in downtown Toronto. The waitress was lots of fun and the food was good and I discovered that Bloody Caesars are totally unknown in Wales. Incidentally, I have since discovered that apparently, the Bloody Caesar was invented in 1969 at the Calgary Westin Hotel. Neat.

I guess all this American pop-culture was acceptible having spent the previous day at St. Fagans, a stunningly beautiful 'living history' museum of country buildings dating back four hundred years or more right up until the Second World War. We got there early enough in the day that there weren't many people about (except at the bakery where we purchased a breakfast of scones with jam and the Welsh traditional bread, Bara Brith). We stroled around the entire site, in and out of wonderfully old buildings, many with thatched roofs and tamped earth floors. There was a paddock with an unusually shaped cow (imagine if a horse and a cow interbred) and, of course, sheep. The trees were fringed with pale green leaves and encircled by lush, dark ivy. The daffodils were in full bloom (the Welsh national flower), and the weather was excellent. On the site, there is also a recreation of an ancient Celtic dwelling, which was fun to explore, and a gorgeous estate house with exquisitely beautiful gardens. Sitting on the grass, watching the creek laugh its way over rocks was a serene moment that we particularly enjoyed together.