Cardiff, the joys of

[laligin]

Ohyes. Everything. Went. Beautifully.

Met Shadowbyrd at the station, played Rock, Paper, Scissors for the window seat, found our way on, hugged mothers goodbye and we were off. Played Lord of the Rings Top Trumps on the way down, with all three packs and nine specials (I bought them from the newsagents the day before) and by some miracle or twist of fate, I won. I don't usually, because Shadowbyrd is Queen of Top Trumps. :)

Journey down was fun. We made the connections well (same platform, easy peasy) and talked Torchwood and randomness the whole way. Including me guessing what card game a family were playing (Newmarket) from the comments one of them was making. Such fun. And Shadowbyrd drew me a picture of my characters from Chains of Gold. Even though she hasn't read it yet. ^_^ I'll finish it sometime this year.

Arrived at Cardiff on time, found our way out to the front and the right place, but Shadowbyrd's relatives were held up in traffic. We didn't panic, just called them and found that they were on their way, all was well etc etc. ^_^  

So, met the family, got taken back to their house, and found out they have a cat. Not good news. Cats... I love cats, but I'm allergic to them. I can't stay in Shadowbyrd's house for more than a few hours or I'll stop breathing (she has two gorgeous cats...) though I seem to have been getting better recently. Maybe all the Torchwood trips to Shadowbyrd's have resulted in me building up some immunity! But there was once that I was in her house for about ten minutes and started having trouble breathing... She's still angry that I didn't tell her sooner I was allergic to cats. *blush* I didn't think it'd be that bad.

Anyway. Lovely cat, they had. Pure black, which is my favourite kind... So yeah, we sat around and talked, Shadowbyrd gave out presents and received one, and I handed over a box of chocolates (always a good way to introduce yourself to people. :D) and then they decided to take us into town to meet up with the rest of the family, (ie the eldest daughter, at work, and Shadowbyrd's uncle, who draws Doctor Who graphic novel type stuff!!) and off we went.

That led to a Torchwood tour when we met up with her uncle - lots of photos! The better ones are mostly on her camera, though. Still, it was fun. Saw lots of recognisable places, stood on the invisible lift - though there was building work going on all around (repairing the Hub? Eheh) so it was difficult to get a shot that had us plus fountain in. Still. ^_^

Enjoyed all that, had dinner at a nice Portuguese place, got back after a tour of the nearby village from the older sister, whose room we were gatecrashing staying in both nights, and I checked my phone to find a message from Mum saying, "Call me. It's not urgent, but call."

So I call, and she tells me some news about Cambridge.

Which reminds me - did I ever actually mention that Pembroke college, Cambridge, turned me down and instead put me in the Inter-Collegiate Pool? Ie, available to be picked up by any other Cambridge college, for the same course, if they had space.

Anyway, yes. Newnham College (an all-girls one) offered me a place. My reaction was a swearword or two. But still.

Anyway. Went back through to the other room, watched Over The Hedge until late, got jumped by the cat (not quite literally, but it did leap onto the sofa from behind, nearly giving me a heart attack before it was seized and isolated by the family...) and finally went to bed, and talked to Shadowbyrd and her cousin until past midnight. Learnt some Welsh. Diolch (pronounce dee-ock, roughly) meaning thank-you, and two others that I have no clue how to write, and won't even try (they meant chips and good night. :D) So I can now say, "Chips, thank you. Night!" Sure that'll be helpful in the future. *giggle*

Saturday we got up quite late (though I was awake for a while before then - the cousin went to work about nine, her mum called her about eight, I heard it all...) and had a nice liesurely breakfast before hitching a lift from Shadowbyrd's aunt, who dropped us at the bus station just in time to catch the right bus. And that was where everything really started going beautifully.

Shadowbyrd's uncle had drawn us a map (which I kind of memorised as he did it) and she got us to the right stop, and then, cheerful despite the pouring rain, we managed to find our way to the Cardiff Forbidden Planet. Ooh, joy! Shadowbyrd got a manga (Tsubasa, I think it's called?) and I had a look at the poster displays - there were two Torchwood posters! Unfortunately, when I looked at the rack, those particular slots were empty, while everything else was full. Darnit, thought I - the torch_wood lot must have got here before us. :D

Anyway. Managed to find two cool t-shirts which I *had* to get - Stargate Atlantis (wearing now!) and a nice Doctor Who one with the TARDIS on, because I'm not a David Tennant fangirl. :) If they'd only had Torchwood t-shirts... So yes, bought those, Shadowbyrd bought her manga, and I asked whether there were any of the Torchwood posters left... They said they'd be getting more in later that week. No good for me, of course. So I asked if they'd possibly consider letting me have the ones in the display rack... And they said, "Sure, why not." WHOOT!

Ahem, yes. So, happy happy happy, we left Forbidden Planet (me hugging my lovely posters under the umbrella to keep them nice and dry, 'cause they weren't all plastic sealed and all, and Shadowbyrd saying, "You do realise you'll have to carry those round all day. And on the train," to which my response was, "I know, but I don't care!") and went to find a secondhand bookshop we'd been told about (I'd asked, to be honest...) It was nice. I only bought one book (oh, the restraint!) but still good. And it was in the Arcades, so we saw some more Torchwood locations (when they're chasing Bernie Harris in Episode 3, Ghost Machine... How sad I am. And I don't care. ^_^) and encountered some cool shops like a random button shop - no kidding.

So yeah. Ended up out the other side of the arcades, wandered into another snazzy bit and found a calendar shop! Half-price stuff, it being January and all. Got the Stargate Atlantis calendar (even though they're up to season three now and I've only seen season one, none of the pictures are particularly spoilery) while Shadowbyrd got herself a Harry Potter (Goblet of Fire) calendar. ^_^ Stuff! Yay!

From there we went back out and found a tourist information bit. Nicked a the Doctor Who Exhibition/Jack and the Beanstalk flyer each, came across a poster for "The Doctor Who Shop, in Jacob's Antiques" but had no clue where that was so gave up on it, found a map, and worked out how to get back to the Bay for more photos and some lunch.

Popped into Waterstones, managed to resist the temptation of the three Torchwood books, and moved on again. Except that we saw signs fo Jacob's Antiques, and got sidetracked by the Doctor Who shop! Yeah, we found it! ^_^ Had a good chat with the guys who run it (talked John Barrowman, Torchwood, Doctor Who, and randomness) and Shadowbyrd got a load of old-school Doctor Who videos she wanted. (I talked her into buying all the ones she didn't have... I think. She could have been fibbing.) And I was so tempted by so much stuff, but managed not to buy anything.

Had lunch around the Bay, had more photos (there was a big poster of Jack Torchwood up, so we both had photos (and a joint photo) there...) and went to this place called Techniquest. Kind of like the Science Museum in London, but possibly cooler. ^_^ Shadowbyrd's cousin (whose room we shared) got us in for free, and we had a go on lots of cool stuff, then were picked up by her uncle and taken on another slight Torchwood tour on the way back to their house.

Had dinner there, got ready, got driven back into town and dropped off outside the theatre. Shadowbyrd bought programmes for each of us, we found our seats, settled in, and waited.

Saw panto. Panto was brilliant. :D Doctor Who references all over the place! Briefly met the torch_wood group in the interval, too.

And after panto we went round to the stage door - and John Barrowman was there with his own pen (bless him!) in a green t-shirt, a black bodywarmer, glasses and spiky hair 'cause he'd clearly just run off stage, maybe had a very rapid shower, thrown some clothes on and come outside to do autographs and photos. Bless him, he looked so nerdy and cute. :) Unusual, see - he's normally sexy, drop-dead gorgeous, or indescribably *insert squeal/drool/wide-eyed-look-of-lust* here, sort of thing. But no. Cute. REALLY cute. ^_^

He did loads and loads of autographs and got a little annoyed at people taking photos while he was doing them, because he promised to do photos later. Shadowbyrd and I both got our programmes signed, though we missed out on the photos because he was clearly very tired and kind of shouted, "Is that it for photos? Okay, let's go!" before I got a chance to scream, "WAIT! US!!"

But he did walk right past me. About a foot away. Eyes met, and all. Pretty eyes.

Ahem, sorry. And we waved him off. And bless him, he waved back.

Still, quite gutted that I didn't get a photo. One step away from the PERFECT weekend. But I've decided that sometime this year, I *will* get my photo taken with John Barrowman. And I'll drag Shadowbyrd with me, too. :D

So yes, we got picked up, went back to Shadowbyrd's uncle's house, and watched the end of Guys and Dolls (yes, the Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra version. It's good. ^_^) and then went to bed. Except that the cousin whose room we'd taken over been sleeping in was ill and staying with her boyfriend, so we had the attic to ourselves and managed to stay up till about 3 talking. Probably not the smartest thing to do, but it's such fun to talk to Shadowbyrd for three or four hours or more straight. *glomps Shadowbyrd*

Next morning, breakfast (bacon sandwiches, mmm) and we got all packed up and left. Went to the Doctor Who Exhibition - aceness! Got in free, 'cause Shadowbyrd's uncle drew the comic strips on display on the walls, and the large Eccleston/Piper comic-book image on one of the huge information boards, and he took down some more pages for them. He's very good.

Bought m'self some TARDIS socks and a Dalek coaster, and left a message in the visitor's book saying, "Let me stay!!"

And then we went to the station and journeyed back. All went well.

And as I say. One step away from the perfect weekend. So much fun.

I'll have to go away with Shadowbyrd again sometime. ^_^ (There'll be a panto next year, right? :D)

Comments

[shirafuzzy.livejournal.com]

Sounded like a lot of fun. =^_^= -- one cat you can't be allergic to. I'm also allergic to cats, but only Siamese ones.

Anyway, what I'm trying to point out is the fact that Rie and Ru are all but [i]crying[/i], missing you so bad on LoL.

Just to let you know. ^^

[laligin.livejournal.com]

Hai, I know. I'm almost done typing things up and feel terribly terribly guilty... *blush*