Wales Euro Stars!

Posted on July 9, 2016 by Steve Morgan

Cats all over Wales have had a month of excited bewilderment, as the focus of the nation’s passion for sport took a seismic shift from rugby to football. We could be forgiven for thinking after a 58-year wait, that turning up to make up the numbers was a great achievement. But this is Wales, a land with a passion for the spectacular.

Apart from Gareth Bale, who would have thought in the heady days of early June that we would go further than the former World Champions and current European Champions, Spain; and then equal the current World Champions, Germany? Along the way we managed to send home the hosts of the next World Cup, Russia; and magnificently dispatch the so-called World’s second ranked team, Belgium! We might have scrapped a win against Northern Ireland, and lets just forgive and forget the generosity we offered England (while thanking Iceland for the non-Wales highlight of the whole tournament). All great stories need to come to an end, and for us Portugal in the semi-finals is recognised as the game too far.

The City of Cardiff decorated itself with banners and flags to raise expectations…

Then there was the reminder that we had a little matter of group games to negotiate…

But fairy tales happen (not just shit, then); and they often begin with some kind of castle in the picture…

… and just a few adoring fans lurking in wait for a glimpse of the heroes of the story…

And who would have thought that over-paid young football players would forgo the expensive cars to travel anywhere on a bus?

This was a one-way ticket to adoration, destination Cardiff City Stadium, and a rousing rendition of the Manic Street Preachers Welsh football anthem. And this was a squad that didn’t win the competition! But, perhaps the salutary lesson of the great homecoming was a sign that even Solicitors have a heart… occasionally!

Until we speak again the great new footballing super power will be recuperating in time to stride towards the even bigger stage of the 2018 World Cup. Look out world, we are coming.

[With acknowledgement to BBC Wales for some of the images used in this post].

Butetown Beauty

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Steve Morgan

It sounds like a horse entered into the Architectural Handicap at Chepstow races. There are certainly many runners and riders that should be restored to their formative days of being stallions and mares of great repute, only to have been left in the knackers yard by indifferent owners.

Butetown is a significant area of Cardiff locally known as ‘down the docks’; the part that also enclosed the famous Tiger Bay. In the last post I outlined the precarious existence of the area’s true jewel in the crown, the Coal Exchange. But what is left of this great industrial powerhouse of the early 20th century deserves to be seen as a crown, with many trinkets of architectural beauty crying out for Welsh visionaries (with more than a little cash in the back pocket).

As a nation, Wales is once again at a cross-roads challenged to define what it is. ‘Pride’ is a word that we locals like to frequently purloin when describing what it is to be Welsh. We have an opportunity in Butetown to put our rhetoric into practice; but on the surface it looks like we have been talking not walking for many years!

In developer-speak we have Merchant Place, a prime development opportunity… Aka: bring on a high enough wind to blow down the rotting carcusses that blight the sensibilities of the financial Masters of the Universe. In reality we are talking about the Cory Buildings and Old Post Office…

Corys Buildings [3]

Corys Buildings [2]

Old Post Office

On nearby West Bute Street a classic old bank has stood idle for 20 years…

Old Bank entrance

Old Bank on West Bute Street

And how more welcoming can a sight be to a weary traveller, than the eponymous Cardiff Bay Station (see previous blog post comparing this landmark to the understated presence of St Pancras Station in London)!

Tumbleweed junction [4]

Tumbleweed Junction 9

Cadogan House [2]

Meanwhile, nearby Cadogan House seems trapped in a bygone era when air conditioning was in its more experimental phase!

Until we speak again, spare a thought for all of those poor buildings under threat of being ‘listed’… a blessing or a curse… discuss.

Architectural assault

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Steve Morgan

Where was the first £1 million deal struck in the world? Threadneedle Street in London… think again. Wall Street in New York… nickels and dimes. It was right here in Cardiff, the Coal Exchange to be exact…

From the fledgling years of the 20th century, when ‘coal was king’ and the Port of Cardiff dominated world trade, the floor of the Coal Exchange buzzed with the chaotic sounds of commerce. Even beyond the age of heavy industry in South Wales this iconic location was set to become the home of Welsh Government at the end of the 1970’s.

Despite functioning as a home to a few small offices and a brief life as a concert venue, years of neglect and indifference took their toll:

References to the need to find a new purpose for an icon are difficult to accept as being anything more than a cynical cover for patient neglect to the point where the building could possibly be demolished…

It appears that the City Planning Department lacked any vision for the jewel on their doorstep. A 15 storey residential block seemed to be the height of corporate ambition! We don’t need to look far around our city to see that money lies in throwing up blandly mediocre residential and office developments, whilst simultaneously allowing historic buildings oozing character to fall into disrepair. This serves to remind me of the good decision I made to abandon a career in Town Planning 33 years ago while it was still in its infancy!

With huge acknowledgements to Nick Broomfield and BBC4 for the striking programme ‘Going, Going, Gone…’ (for the source of internal photographs used here), we know that parts of the building are far from dangerous, but those that are can be restored and put to good use…

In fact, large parts of the building appear in excellent condition, just calling out to be seen and used again…

With details to be loved as much now as they undoubtedly were by their creators…

Civic pride from public authorities means nothing in these days of corporate greed and power. We have seceded architectural virtue and the values of beauty and historic appreciation, bowing to the whims of the money-tocracy, as the privileged few profit on the backs of the many.

Rumour has it that plans are being discussed to restore the Coal Exchange building on the basis of housing a boutique hotel. This would be a welcome development by the many who appreciate the importance of this building, provided some areas are opened for wider public access. Talk is one thing, but this is an icon that is in desperate need of action… NOW!

Until we speak again lets all hope that talking is matched by walking for this beauty. Then there is the issue of halting the local avalanche of historic building neglect that could then transform the city centre and bay areas of Cardiff into a mix of historic and contemporary pride (pigs are flying as I gaze out of my window across the aforementioned areas).

How buildings are born

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Steve Morgan

Just look around you and ponder… how did all of these buildings come into being? Well, being a thoughtful kind of cat, I’m always prepared to share my insights on any topic that takes my fancy as I stroll around the city of Cardiff. Please feel free to send your questions on a postcard!

In the case of appreciating our built environment, Kate Bush once implied that it all begins with An Architects Dream…

Then there is the gestation period; and for this we can thank the Sage of Gateshead for informing our knowledge of how the pupae develop over the months of construction…

Then we come to the actual birth; and being delicate structures frequently subjected to architectural critique, a forceps delivery is the more usual method…

Then it’s a matter of all hands to the pump to pull the newborn into position…

Very soon the more mature buildings give way to their younger curvier offspring…

Until they are brave and confident enough to stand tall on their own foundations…

Until we speak again this Bella will be contemplating why the sun always shines in Cardiff!!??

An Easter Message from Cardiff

Posted on March 24, 2016 by Steve Morgan

Don’t think for one moment that I’m going to get all religious on you. This cat is a resident of the universal suburb of Agnostica! No, I’m going to share with you a challenge too far… a story they never thought could be told. A story of one man’s battle against all the odds.

Picture the scene, a place called Splott! A place where open air cinema has taken on a whole new dimension…

A place where religion is taking great strides to get back to its roots…

Splott is an area of central Cardiff where offices dare not go; so the former Maltings Building is reduced to advertising a location for virtual offices in a vain attempt to provide a veneer of economic activity…

They say that some things can only be loved by a mother; well step aside matriarchal sacrifice, because Splott is a love too far! Or is it, hang on a mo’, just when I was calling time on the place that even the Luftwaffe avoided, I am drawn to a message of redemption…

Until we speak again this Bella will remain hyper-vigilant for further miracles dressed up as religious artifice.

Degrees of difficulty

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Steve Morgan

Seems that the good burghers of Grangetown in Cardiff don’t hold out the warmest of welcomes for posh people!

But revenge looks sweet, as the owners are no doubt members of the landed gentry; and my guess is they decided if we are not getting in then nobody is getting in!

Until we speak again this Bella hopes that all of your preferred lotion is accessible!

Sex Kittens Porn Calendar 2016

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Steve Morgan

Sex: Female.

Kitten: Previous Job.

Porn: What the internet was for before kittens arrived.

Calendar: sequential collection of days, weeks and months that my ‘in-house numpty’ doesn’t share the really good food.

Miss January:

That’s the best pose you’re getting in this weather!

Miss February:

Who are you looking at?

Miss March:

Which is my best side?

Miss April:

Thinking man’s crumpet!

Miss May:

Searching for that page three pose.

Miss June:

Got it!

Miss July:

Catching some rays on the rare sunny day.

Miss August:

You looking at me?

Miss September:

Trying out a sporty pose.

Miss October:

How much more to the right do you want?

Miss November:

That’s as BDSM as it gets!

Miss December:

Go away… wake me up when christmas is over!

Until we speak again I’m Bella, and the coat stays on!

Nadolig Llawen

Posted on December 22, 2015 by Steve Morgan

It’s the time of year when Cardiff has to look deep inside itself… to find three wise men. But, if its wisdom you’re in search of just look up (no great discoveries emerged from looking on the floor all day, except unsolicited gifts from the rear end of dogs that is). Star Wars might be the ‘in thing’ at the cinema, but who would have thought that Cardiff will find a unique way of reminding you!

It has become all the rage in recent years for German Christmas Markets. At least it provides something to do with all of those surplus sheds since the downturn in the economy; or is it a sign that the modern re-constructed man spends more time in the kitchen and in front of the bathroom mirror, and less time in the shed? The monotonous selection of wood winds its way around many parts of The Hayes, but try to find anything of use in any of them?

The presence of a windmill does little to celebrate the German origin of the whole tradition…

But fear not, when hunger bites the German sausage can be relied on to come to the rescue (or is this a convenient location to offload your badly behaved children?)…

Having dumped the minor irritants in the vicinity of a sausage making machine it’s time to catch up on some of that much-needed liquid refreshment. Why not try the Moose Head Bierkeller? Provided you can navigate the Canada and Germany cultural collision you might be surprised to find a full range of non-Canadian and non-German fayre. The ubiquitous Welsh flag and Union Jack are on hand to resolve any geographical cognitive dissonance at this point!

So all that’s left to do is stagger home by the light of the understated seasonal illuminations…

Which just leaves this home-based Bella time to reflect on the true meaning of this time of year. Is it something to do with the fairy tales that emerge from the dark tower at the heart of the pious city? Or should I just practice my look of utter surprise as Santa comes down the non-existent chimney?

Until we speak again have a merry christmas, or Nadolig Llawen as a few of the locals around here are occasionally heard to say.

Mounty bites the dust

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Steve Morgan

My ‘resident inebriate‘ does bang on about how traditional pubs are disappearing, only to be replaced by swanky bars, and craft this, brew that and hop the other! Why should I care, after all, any self-indulgent cat worth their whiskers would always go for swanky whatever’s.

However, as I was prowling around the Adamsdown-Splott-Roath who-knows-whats-where boundary in downtown Cardiff, I couldn’t help but notice that the local maple leaf had hit the turf, as the Dead Pubs Crawl gets a little longer…

Until we speak again I will continue to be Bella, but I guess that’s the end of any potential twinning of Cardiff and Ottawa!

Lost keys!

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Steve Morgan

It’s another Friday in the city, so it’s time for us cats to get ready for a good night out…

The thing is, for all of your focus on the ‘being out thing‘, you also need to be in a fit enough state to get back to the ‘being in thing‘. This is why keys are such an important part of your life; or else you have some tricky navigating to do…

But it seems that on this occasion some cool cat was just trying out a prank… “wouldn’t it be good if I put my name on the side of my building so I know where to come home to after a good night out!”…

This has been a cautionary tale, a kind of Government information briefing on why you can always get legless, just don’t get keyless! But it also put me in a contemplative frame of mind… ‘where am I going to put my keys when I eventually escape from my in-house key hider?‘

Until we speak again this Bella plans to ignore the anatomical suggestions in response to that question.

	David on Searching for Lebanon
	Kirt on NOLA: UK-style
	Wanda Rusiecki on Frohe Weihnachten
	Steve Morgan on Turkish delight
	Wanda Rusiecki on Turkish delight

JUNO's VIEW

Seeing Cardiff and the world through the eyes of one cool cat

Category Archives: Cats in Cardiff