Croeso i Gaerdydd

Ah, the wonders of winters in Wales. There is a hazard of living...

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 13:49:00 +0000

Ah, the wonders of winters in Wales. There is a hazard of living on Woodville Road, which I did for a bit in the house behind the signpost actually, in that the pavements get flooded to a couple of inches deep in some bits. Hooray for waterproof boots! Also, a bonus halls - Hodge Hall - in the background of the picture.

I met this guy in the City Centre and he was totally serious...

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 23:50:41 +0000

I met this guy in the City Centre and he was totally serious about the whole aliens thing and was warning people to watch out for them. I warned him about the dangers of the Rift here in Cardiff in turn. Also, he had no lenses in his glasses.

Someone had too much time on their hands. I think that this may...

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 20:02:10 +0100

Someone had too much time on their hands. I think that this may be one of the more hazardous bits of… graffitti? I’ve seen because it made me stop and giggle in the middle of the road for a few seconds.

shesbackintheatmospherex: #fuqdapopo #police #popo lmao only in...

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 18:48:18 +0100

shesbackintheatmospherex:

#fuqdapopo #police #popo lmao only in #cardiff #drunk (Taken with Instagram)

I love the fact that Cardiff is a place where you can see a guy...

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 08:08:00 +0100

I love the fact that Cardiff is a place where you can see a guy playing a violin on a tightrope and nobody’s even that curious. Admittedly, this guy was one of the more unusual buskers I’ve ever seen in the city centre. He was very good at playing the violin though.

The Welsh Dragon (Y Ddraig Goch) The oldest recorded use of the...

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 14:41:34 +0100

The Welsh Dragon (Y Ddraig Goch) The oldest recorded use of the dragon to symbolise Wales is from the Historia Brittonum, written around 829 AD, but it is popularly supposed to have been the battle standard of King Arthur and other ancient Celtic leaders. In the Mabinogion story Lludd and Llefelys, the red dragon fights with an invading White Dragon . His pained shrieks cause women to miscarry, animals to perish and plants to become barren. Lludd, king of Britain, goes to his wise brother Llefelys in France. Llefelys tells him to dig a pit in the centre of Britain, fill it with mead, and cover it with cloth. Lludd does this, and the dragons drink the mead and fall asleep. Lludd imprisons them, still wrapped in their cloth, in Dinas Emrys, Snowdonia.

More halls! This one is Aberdare Hall, the prettiest, oldest and...

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 04:10:58 +0100

More halls! This one is Aberdare Hall, the prettiest, oldest and only all-girls hall that Cardiff University has. They’re currently refurbishing the rooms inside but some still look like the old dorm halls you’d imagine from historical novels and stuff. Also, there’s tons of old paintings and furniture hanging around especially in the dining hall which is much loved for its cooked breakfasts and not-so-much-loved for its university refectory dinners. The music library also lives here. Out of all the halls I’ve stayed in or nearly done so (Gordon Hall, Aberdare Hall, Talybont North and now Senghennydd Court) it is my favourite. Partly because it is just so pretty.

Oh fine, I suppose I should give a mention to the fact that...

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 20:11:45 +0100

Oh fine, I suppose I should give a mention to the fact that Britain has the Olympics going on pretty soon and that Cardiff has the dubious honour of having football matches going there because of it. These rings are in the park bit in front of the Town Hall and were put up ages ago so that they’d be present for when the torch relay ran past. I don’t know how long they’ll be there for but I imagine that they’ll disappear some point after August.

triple-nightlock: weirdcitysights: The Armadillo (officially...

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 02:27:50 +0100

triple-nightlock:

weirdcitysights:

The Armadillo (officially known as the Wales Millennium Centre) in Cardiff Bay. It’s made up of shiny copper plating and like half a dozen different kinds of Welsh slate in all different colours. The bit on the front says ‘In these stones horizons sing’ in both English and Welsh.

Fun Fact: The font for the writing comes from the Roman tombstones at Caerleon Museum, which were originally found in the nearby Roman fortress, Isca. The architect for the Millennium Centre spent weeks at the museum copying the letters to do this. (Wait, sudden sense of deja vu - have I reblogged this before?)

I did not know this but this makes that building even more scholarly awesome than it already is. I’m reblogging this because everybody should know about the fun font fact.

The Armadillo (officially known as the Wales Millennium Centre)...

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 18:52:55 +0100

The Armadillo (officially known as the Wales Millennium Centre) in Cardiff Bay. It’s made up of shiny copper plating and like half a dozen different kinds of Welsh slate in all different colours. The bit on the front says ‘In these stones horizons sing’ in both English and Welsh.

Okay, so the above photos were taken in possibly one of the most...

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 14:33:12 +0100

Okay, so the above photos were taken in possibly one of the most obscure places I have ever found graffitti before. All of these can be found inside the lift shaft between the ground and first floors of the Earth Department of Cardiff University. It took me a long while for me to figure out that one had to open the lift doors (they’re manual) halfway between floors in order to get the lift to stop so you could get a proper look at this stuff.

Possibly the most important bit of Cardiff according to most...

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 12:52:05 +0100

Possibly the most important bit of Cardiff according to most geeks there. Never mind the museum, the Welsh Assembly or the University - here is where Doctor Who and Sherlock is filmed. This is as close as I’ve been because there was a big bit of water courtesy of an old dock in the way but such is the layout down in the Bay.

Ah, alas, another one that isn’t there anymore. Mostly...

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 18:40:46 +0100

Ah, alas, another one that isn’t there anymore. Mostly because the bank is now a letting agency. This used to be at the top of Park Place, right next to the university humanities bit and the first time I saw this I actually lol’d.

Okay, while this is amusing in of itself, what’s weird...

Thu, 31 May 2012 21:17:53 +0100

Okay, while this is amusing in of itself, what’s weird about it is that the garage door right next to ithad the whole thing spelt correctly. I think it’s still there somewhere in Studentville actually.

Another bit of graffitti from Anarchy Alley. This particular...

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:19:22 +0100

Another bit of graffitti from Anarchy Alley. This particular piece appears in a couple of other places around Roath and Cathays too but not always in the same colours. Seriously though, how can you not adore such an adorable thing?

Gordon Hall. One of many university residences and one of two...

Sat, 12 May 2012 18:57:59 +0100

Gordon Hall. One of many university residences and one of two that I’ve lived in during my time here. I got stuck on the third floor and I could see into my room by zooming in a lot on google maps.

triple-nightlock: weirdcitysights: So why would Barry be...

Wed, 09 May 2012 20:04:54 +0100

triple-nightlock:

weirdcitysights:

So why would Barry be awesome? Okay, apart from the whole Gavin & Stacey and Being Human stuff. Well, it does have these beautiful dinosaur footprints, whole tracks of them. They’re pretty awkward to get to from, well anywhere actually, but they’re certainly worth the trip.

There are goddamn dino footprints in Barry? Why did no one tell me this?

I am SO checking that out when Exams are over.

There are, yes. If you check out google maps, this photo is posted there at their location. They’re a bugger to get to location-wise but some of them have been moved to the National Museum at the end of the road. Otherwise, Barry has cool coral-reef and crinoid (sea-lilly) fossils around the beach too.

Okay, this has to be one of the stranger pieces of graffitti...

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:04:02 +0100

Okay, this has to be one of the stranger pieces of graffitti I’ve seen in my time in the Weird City and that’s really saying something. It was found somewhere around the Newport Road-Richmond Road area of Cathays down by the Trevithick university building. It’s not there anymore courtesy of the council doing a city-wide graffitti removal thing back in 2007/8. I don’t know the story behind why Hitler and McDonalds belong together but, being both vague political commentary and a stencil design, it’s representative of much of the designs found here.

A slight difference in weather to the first photo on this thing....

Wed, 02 May 2012 07:43:45 +0100

A slight difference in weather to the first photo on this thing. A lot of the time we have this thing I like to call ‘Stand-by’ weather where there’s just this monotone grey cloud cover with no direct source of sunlight or change in the sky whatsoever. Sometimes though, we get days like the one in the photograph which makes me just want to stop and stare. It helps that the Main Building is all types of gorgeous anyway.

Let’s be immature for a moment. This never fails to amuse...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:04:21 +0100

Let’s be immature for a moment. This never fails to amuse my family when they come and visit me and I have to admit to a double take and a snigger when I first saw it. The name does make sense where it is because in Cathays a lot of the street names are also people’s first names like Gordon or Alexander (both of which I’ve lived on in my time). All the different areas tend towards groups of different names like peoples’ names in studentville or gem and metal names in Splott. Interesting tip for people writing stuff set in Cardiff like Dr Who or Torchwood and are obsessed with details like that.