Tales from Wales

 We were sad to only have a few days in Cardiff; the difference with Swansea was palpable from the moment we arrived. The town centre we walked through felt like a smaller version of London, with charming arcades and lots of happy people strolling down wide cobblestone streets.

We couldn't check in for a few hours, so Tamar resourcefully used Stasher and found a Spar that would take our bags for a few hours. While there, we decided to get a slushie (it was an extremely hot day). Tamar considered getting a large, but opted for a small. The cashier eyed us, then poured her a large, then four smalls for the rest of us. Thanks to this generous man, we walked out with litres of neon red icy sugariness. We hadn't really wanted more than one small, but it was a sweet gesture (haw!) and we appreciated it.

As the brainfreeze set in, we wandered into the Geek Hub. Truly a paragon of geekiness, it was a big basement full of geeks playing D&D and board games. All the guys had ponytails, none of the girls did. We ended up coming back twice and playing more games, including a D&D campaign that Zoe ably ran. Zadie spent three hours colouring a picture with only a graphite pencil (it was solid grey by the end) and struggling to understand the LGBTI support posters ("Trains in Wales, you're not alone? Are there trains here?") 

The most surreal moment of our stay began with a sprained ankle in a park. Zoe couldn't put weight on it, and after a busman kindly drove us three blocks in the wrong direction, we accosted a random Libyan driver. He was Uber but off-duty, and readily let us pile into his car. Tamar went to give him a five-pound note, but suddenly discovered she'd lost the bill somewhere - we had no cash! Looking around helplessly, she suddenly noticed a ten-pound note just lying on the ground outside our apartment. We gave it to our saviour, then sat around talking about how unlikely that was while Zoe elevated her leg.

Our neighbourhood was very ethnically diverse, so we scored lots of freshly baked Afghani bread, haloumi, hummus and olives. We watched The Princess Bride, and Aurora was outraged at how much was cut out of the book. There were rainy walks discussing our clouded plans. We even made it to Joe's other ice cream franchise, which was just as good as Swansea's. 

After seeing Zoe off, the four of us spent a day in Bristol en route to Ireland. It was rainy and gray, and our moods weren't the sunniest. But the cathedral was lovely to see, and Aurora is quite fond of her Church Mouse button. Our departure from England ended in tears, as a stone-faced guard confiscated both of Aurora's beloved knives at airport security. Our flight was delayed, we only got to Dublin around midnight, but things went uphill from there - and that's a story for next time.