Land of my forefathers

Ok, it turns out that there "was" a security threat last night; a hoax bomb threat to the plane next to the one due to fly out to Amsterdam to take us to Cardiff, which required the evacuation of lots of planes. Or something. Either that, or BMI Baby persuaded the local Cardiff newspapers to run the story to throw me off the scent. Humph! We landed in Wales at just before 1 a.m. local time, and got to the hotel at 1.30. In bed and fast asleep by 1.40.

It was worth it. This is a lovely city. The developed Cardiff Bay area is stunning, particularly when you get bags of sunshine and blue skies, as we did today. The city centre is less impressive -- too many malls, too many "super"clubs -- although the civic buildings developed in the late 19th century as part of Cardiff's bid to become a city are wonderful. Long, graceful boulevards with classical domes and columns, topped off with Welsh dragons, all set in rather nice parkland. Just lovely. Our hotel is very modern, great views of the Bay -- and of Harry Ramsden's fish 'n' chip restaurant, where we had dinner tonight -- and a spa area with pool and gym; we've walked miles and done some exercise today.

Again, apologies for the lack of photos. We looked into buying a USB to miniUSB cable today, but 20 quid seemed extortionate. You'll just have to hold on till tomorrow evening.

Off to Carmarthen tomorrow on the world's slowest train -- well, with the obvious exception of last Friday's 18:20 London-Norwich service -- for a day of family fun. And if there's no fun, we'll move on to Plan B -- getting hammered.