Croeso y Gymru...

Bore da!

(There seems to be no Welsh word for Hello, so Good Morning will have to do...)

Anyway, brief weekend away to Caerdydd to see Gina. Not much time for sight-seeing, but did get to see the Wales Millennium Centre (Canolfan Mileniwm Cymru - don't know whether Minnellium is easier to spell in Welsh or not...)

It wasn't finished last time I went and looked a bit like this:

(That was in 2003 - it's the big thing in the background with the scaffolding. All the people were there because Sinead Quinn off Fame Academy and Marc Almond were performing...



...people didn't know who Sinead Quinn was, and they threw bottles at Marc Almond, so it was a classy crowd...)

Anyway, back to the point...

It is finished now, all made out of slate and rain. As is so much in Wales. It is also five years late to have anything to do with the Millennium, but I guess they think they can get away with it here. It looks impressive...



...featured in Dr Who...



("Never mind Cardiff, it's going to rip open the planet!!!")

...and the inscription on the front isn't actually an inscription, it's windows. They say...

Creu Gwir Fel Gwydr O Ffwrnais Awen
In These Stones Horizons Sing



It's a symbol of the Welsh culture, its beautiful language, its history of music and song...
What's on? Saturday Night Fever, Harry Hill, The Wizard of Oz and, next year, Jerry Springer -The Opera.

Also saw the new Welsh Assembly building...



...not yet fully assembled, but assembled thus far of slate and glass.

(It's obviously some kind of law that all new building of any consequence in Wales must be made mostly of slate - as if the weather didn't make it grey and depressing enough...)


And just before I came back to England. This is SALT in Mermaid Quay...

Allegedly, Charlotte Church falls out of here in the early hours of the morning, three sheets to the wind, with great regularity. And once, Gina saw Noel from Hear'say there too. It all happens.

Mae f’ysbiwyr wedi dweud wrtha popeth amdanat...