Llandaff Carol Service (2)

Wow!

So, it is has a family feel when you do a holiday function a second year running :) Tonight was the Llandaff Carol Service, coordinated by Llandaff Rotary and held at Llandaff Cathedral. This event is always followed by mulled wine and mince pies, which is fantastic! (I am so relieved it is mince pie season again, and so can pork out legitimately. It just doesn't seem like a reasonable thing to buy a box of mince pies in, say, September. Esp. since this might mean not that the pies are early but are instead left-overs -- the severe price reduction also contributes to this snobbery on my part.) It was really lovely to see some of my Rotary friends from almost all of the Cardiff clubs and they claim to be pleased that I am still around. I may even have a speaking engagement soon to an Interact club :) Unfortunately, no one there works with immigration and/or Work Permits UK. hmmmm.

So, I toddled off into a windy, rainy, blustery night (which does make my face feel a bit raw at the moment), caught my bus, successfully bought my ticket, , actually changed busses by myself (well, actually, missed the 122 bus I was supposed to take since it apparently was tired and couldn't make it out of Central Station. So I stood at the stop attempting to look like I was reading the bus schedule and understanding it instead of thinking, 'Do WHAT?') and then was fortunate enough to catch another bus (the 136, I believe. Or was it the 62A?) with one of the few nice bus drivers in Cardiff, who did not bite my head off when I guessed about where I ought to be getting off and asked if mine was the next stop, The Black Lion. Indeedy, it was!

Llandaff village is quite small and has narrow streets with little sparkley shops (which were closed) and several cosy restaurants. There are also four pubs -- hee hee. But they are lovely Ye Olde Worlde Pubbes, so that is grand :) Roald Dahl attended the Cathedral School and Charlotte Church (not a great favorite of the Welsh people I have discussed this with) attended Howell's. Charlotte Church lives in Llandaff.

As was there a little early, attempted to take some pictures of the glorious clouds and the outside of the church with the lights shining through the windows. My hands just would not hold still, even when I propped the camera against something. Then, Graham and Jane came around the corner and caught me and started ribbing me for the bloody camera :) So was torn away from looking like a loitering oddball.

My neighbor upstairs really needs to do something about that sneeze. He goes, 'Raaaaa...-SHOOOO!' and it is almost like we know each other and he is in fact in my room. Fortunately he is not, as his cologne stinks up the front hall well enough.

Despite being hurried along by Graham at the end, got a really excellent shot (although still shaky) of the front of the cathedral in the dark. However, since my cable seems to be flitting about the room hiding from me and is not in its Proper Place in The Electronic Section of the Top Right-hand Drawer, I do not appear to be able to share this with my readers (who have sent me emails of inquiry whether something bad happened between me and Elvis). Yet. All will suffer my pictures eventually.

Ooh! Now the neighbor seems to have dropped his anvil on the floor....