Category Archives: Cats in Cardiff

Dockside posing

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There I was minding my own business just chillin’ down the docks, when yet another photographic genius thinks they can creep up behind and choose me as their artistic muse…

Well, come on then social media tyrant, wrap your pixels around this…

So you think you will hoover up all of those meaningless ‘likes’ on the back of my majesty? I’ll just try a nonchalant turn of the head…

Well that’s enough; even though beauty comes naturally to some of us, I’m out of here.

Until we speak again, it looks like the cool cat has been flipped the bird!

Culinary Brexit, anyone?

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Okay, so it’s time for us self-respecting Brits to take back control of our cuisine. Who would really vote for mandatory imposed quantities of Brussel Sprouts anyway? As for Frankfurters and Sauerkraut flooding our customs union…well!

Whatever happened to the sublimely sweet Marie Rose Prawn Cocktail of 1970’s Britain? Would you seriously prefer French Asperges (Steamed Asparagus with a soft Poached Egg and Hollandaise Sauce)? Well, judging by the following example, that would be a definite ‘yes’…

Asperges starter

So, for the sake of dear old Blighty, let’s just say that was a one-off fluke occurrence.

Who is going to deny themselves the sovereignty of choosing Boiled Beef and Carrots, with a side of tripe? Would you seriously prefer to keep open our borders, so that we may be subject to the invasion of Entrecôte (9oz rib-eye steak) with a side of French Beans and Coated Almond Flakes? Well, perhaps the answer to that one is a resounding ‘yes’ again…

Entrecote rib-eye

There is one consolation to this culinary xenophobia… we do know how to make the best chips! Pomme Frites can happily be repatriated back to their place of origin, once and for all.

In the continuing negotiations, stand firm and say ‘no’ to all of this fanciful European cuisine. We are on the threshold of making a whole new nosh exchange with the world… open up your collective oesophagi to Chicken Kiev… to Chicken Korma… and even to Monkey Brains…

On the other hand… seriously people! What do you think you have voted for? I, for one, can definitely recommend an indefinite extension of a customs union with Pierre Le Bistrot in Cardiff’s Brewery Quarter… and, if I’m not mistaken, the following picture suggests by way of Spice Quarter that we might just already have access to worldwide cuisine.

Outside [2]

Until we speak again, why exactly do we need Brexit? [Answers on a postcard… address withheld!]

And the Oscar goes to…

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… Cardiff, for the Shape of Water! Starring:

  1. Roath Park Lake…

Roath park lake [3]

2. The River Taff…

Millenium Stadium 3

3. The Dock Feeder Canals…

Roxby by water

4. The Bute East Dock…

Bute East Dock [2]

5. Cardiff Bay…

Penarth Head

6. The Mud Flats out into the channel…

Flatholme and Steepholme [3]

Until we speak again, if asked, a non-plused Bella would probably say the shape of water is rather ‘fluid’!

Water [2]

 

 

 

Quite white!

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Cardiff doesn’t do snow… does it? Quite white… it’s better known as the rain capital of the UK (Seattle with history!). So, I must be safe from all the news-based armageddon messages. Quite white too…

Roxby and Bridge

It’s a Friday lunch time, when the city is at its busiest, so lunch might be a stressed event, where bottle-neck traffic needs to be negotiated…

City Centre rail bridge

Where blinkered, single-minded, aggressively determined shoppers will obliviously cross your path, engaged only in the modern day irritation of walking with eyes glued to mobile screens…

John Lewis

Where the tourist masses flock to see a historic castle…

Castle

And office workers escape the 9-5 drudgery, by flooding to the central restaurants and bars, in order to start the weekend a few hours early…

Library frontage

Alas, I might just have to wait my turn, just in case all those in the know have reserved their tables in advance…

Coffee#1

As John Batchelor once said: “It looks like snow… unless that damned Cardiff seagull has had a curry induced mega dump!”

Hayes statue

Until we speak again, just once in a decade Cardiff can be Quite White!

Brexit made simple

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First there was a hard Brexit…

Seagull on binstore

But where exactly has that one gone?

Cat at start

Then there was a soft Brexit…

Squirrell [3]

Which is proving to be just as elusive…

cat at corner

So, just when everything appears to be going arse over tit…

Swans face down

… look for Juno or Bella when you need an answer?

Looking to Juno

Plotting an escape

Until we speak again, Juno reckons it will  be a hard fought draw, going to penalties… which the Germans always win!

Pondering cat

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I often wondered what Juno was thinking while she gazed out over all she surveyed…

Plotting an escape

Probably too fast…

Squirrell [2]

Definitely too slimy…

Snake Temple 2

Could be too much trouble…

Foxes fighting

Just too late for that quick snack…

Now I'm off

I hear the brains are the tastiest part?

Monkey at Penang Hill

But there is always one defining thought… lunch!

Chicken at Key Lime Inn

Until we speak again, enjoy that loving moment while you share an intense gaze with your cute and cuddly homely psychopath!

You talking to me?

Hidden in plain sight

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Ever wondered “What is in there?” as you glance up at shuttered windows; or you see most lights are on, but one room seems to be bathed in the mystery of darkness.

It would hardly be a thought worth thinking as you gaze over at a city centre Burger King joint, as late night revellers are acoustically invading your alcohol-infused imagination…

Outside at night

But, thanks to a recent ‘Hidden Cardiff‘ TV documentary, by the adventurer/writer Will Millard, the secrets of the 300 year old Green Dragon pub are briefly revealed. The building now largely occupied by a Burger King hides the only remnant of a bygone past… The Mahogany Room.

Inside [1]

Apparently, this ornate delight is obscured from public gaze for health & safety reasons (personally I think that could be more to do with the other current occupier!).

Inside [2]

Here is where the alcohol-infused imaginations of Cardiff’s former great and good discussed the pressing civic matters of the day, and made the decisions that would shape the growth of the would-be capital city of Wales.

Inside [3]

Alas, the premise of the ‘Hidden Cardiff‘ TV programme was that the city, unlike many of its English and Scottish counterparts, has not been very good at valuing its past history and architecture. It prefers to give an outward impression of the new and shiny, either destroying or hiding many of its gems. And The Mahogany Room is a classic example of such a cultural crime…

Inside [4]

Until we speak again, if your gaze is halted by closed shutters or images of darkness surrounded by pools of light, Juno and Bella would have reminded you to summon up your alcohol-infused imaginations!

Messing about in boats

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News reports of Bank Holiday traffic chaos are simply music to my ears. No, I really don’t care. There are too many cars clogging up and polluting our planet, with most car drivers firmly of the belief that they own the road and have exclusive rights to travel and park wherever they want whenever they want. Audacity reigns as a response to the merest slight against their pre-eminence.

Combust all thee engines; and may your occupants become gasket-challenged! I personally have my own advantage in this scramble for serene holiday bliss. A whole 15 minutes of walking brings me to a place of tranquility…

2017 [2]

As the Cardiff leg of the International Extreme Sailing Championship takes place right on my doorstep on the August Bank Holiday…

2017 [1]

2017 [3]

So, for those of you recovering from the experience of boiling over with the raging curses of the tarmac, here is a peaceful few minutes to contemplate the rush of the breeze, the chop of the water, and an elegance of movement…

Until we speak again, chill out people!

Innovative pie fillings

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There was a time when I suspected that Juno used to spend time plotting her escape…

Plotting an escape

But, with a Science Plan diet, that she experienced as being no more than a bowl of crunchy rocks…

Science plan      … I came to realise, that all she surveyed, was indeed an imaginative fantasy of pie fillings that could have been!

Juno was a lady of fine taste, so I have no doubt that fast food would be out of the question…

Squirrell [2]

Then again, anything that looked too oily was best left out of the pan, and would be safe and slick in the local canal (or dock feeder, as I am occasionally reminded by local aquatic aficionados)…

Bird in canal

Some of the potential fillings might be a little on the tough side. It might be a little difficult to have a stomping meal, if the meal is doing the stomping…

Seagull on binstore

While other ingredients just might require a larger oven…

Heron @ Atlantic Wharf

But, just once in a while, a game of hide and seek will provide an entertaining appetizer to the main feast. This morsel thought it was carefully camouflaged from the prying eyes of predators…

Can't see me

Until it decided on the old head above the parapet technique…Now you can

Maybe some of the best meals were the ones that just got away!

Now I'm off

Until we speak again, don’t forget to spit out the beaks… the crunching puts off your fellow diners!