What a fantastic weekend if I am allowed to say that myself. Weather perfect, company amazing and the location superb . The Cardiff Bash started for me on the Friday evening with the arrival of TechChick. I have probably some of the most social neighbours and the pair of us had been invited to an impromptu BBQ party which are ususally the best (we were invited to a further two BBQs that weekend but they would have got in the way of the Bash so not allowed ) As I was recovering from night duties and TC had had a very long coach journey we didn't survive that one to the end .
Saturday morning arrived and following a lovely breakfast out on the terrace of croissants and coffee what else could two good PPRuNe ladies do but indulge in a spot of retail therapy, so a journey to view the delights of Cardiff City centre was in order. Cardiff for those not in the know loves its pavements cafés and there are so many great places to sit drink your coffee and watch the world go by, who needs Paris So that is exactly what we did after spending a little bit on the plastic. A very strange thing happened when we were sitting down having said coffee a man just came up to me and told me my fortune, he was absolutely uncanny in his knowledge of a certain person very close to me and their particular life at the moment, it was spot on almost frighteningly so, but if what he told was as accurate as what he had already told me I will be one very happy lady in the future Whilst in town I had a phone call from SoulDr sadly telling us that he was unable to come because of family problems, hope to see you again some time SD Back home to await the arrival of FlyingForFun and glad rags on time soon arrived. HelenD and hubby Rob had unfortunately been mucked about by Churchill's hotel so they ended up staying at the much better Copthorne hotel just 5 minutes away from me, and as I am that one ATCO in the World who doesn't drink (much) I picked them up in the car along with TC and FFF and we made our arrival at Mermaid Quay. At Mermaid Quay we encountered our one and only problem of the evening, I had told everyone to meet outside the Via Fosse pub to find when we had arrived it had be renamed the previous week to Terra Nova DOH, anyhow no real problems and soon 11 of us boarded the Canberra Lady for a delightful Cardiff Bay cruise, the cool breeze was very welcome ands with our Blue slush puppies it started the evening off just perfectly, even though I suffered with a bright blue tongue for the rest of the evening how come Cunim managed to avoid that when he was also drinking the same drink !! Photographs were duly taken and after disembarking the evenings Drinking started with myself being the typical organizer sorting out the Kitty. Woods Brasserie beckoned and we were joined by even more folks where we sat out on a balcony overlooking the Bay for our meal which I can only say was absolutely delicious, the Lamb was possibly the nicest I have ever had, the company was delightful and the conversation flowed as easily as the many bottles of wine that were consumed. About 3 hours later back towards the bars of Mermaid Quay where a few more PPRuNers joined us and thanks to the fabulous weather we stood/sat outside enjoying the company and drinks and putting the world to rights. The evening finally coming to an end around 2ish in the morning.
Sunday morning arrived far to early, FFF had to get back to White Waltham and both TC and I joined him for some breakfast yet again out on the terrace, before he left us just after 10am. HelenD and Rob arrived just before midday to finish off the weekend with a lunchtime BBQ and after dropping TC off to catch her coach home the weekend finally came to end for me.
I had a fabulous time , the company was excellent, meeting a few more new people and catching up with some very good friends, naturally the weather helped but heres to the next Cardiff bash
PS sorry folks no pole or lap dancing at this bash , Cardiff's just to upmarket
I forgot to put in that when exchanging mobile phone numbers last night everyone agreed I had the coolest of phones, some may have had picture messaging, could take photos but they all said my mobile in its gunmetal grey was the coolest, the Aston Martin of Mobile phones hehehe
Was picked up at the coach station by flower and stayed the weekend at her lovely home. As flower has already said, we went to a barbie at her neighbour’s house. They were really lovely people, so welcoming and friendly.
I got up first on Saturday and was greeted very enthusiastically by Harry and Charlie, her two lively dogs.
Later, we went into the beautiful city for a little retail therapy and some lunch. As we sat there, flower was approached by a fortune teller who was truly amazing in his accuracy!!
We went back to the house and sat in the garden drinking ice cold diet coke. The sun was shining and the sky a bright blue, and it was so peaceful. The only sounds were a couple of planes landing at Cardiff.
I had my tarot cards read and was quite amazed at the accuracy concerning people in my life, and delighted to know that my life is changing for the better, once I sort myself out and stop being a doormat
Met up with the other people on Mermaid Quay and went on a lovely boat trip around the bay before an excellent meal on the balcony of a rather swish restaurant, the wine and conversation flowing. The weather was perfect, and, as darkness fell, multicoloured lights lit up the whole area, it just couldn’t have been a better evening. I was pleased to meet, for the first time, Helen D and her hubbie, Skyrabbit and OzExpat. All were really pleasant genuine people. The others there were people I didn’t know from online, but they also were all very nice. ( I have to apologise here, to St. Hilary, who was informed that I did not like him, simply from a short encounter in chat.. sorry, Im sure you are very nice )
Got back to flower’s house around 2am, but because of the heat none of slept very long, though we got up early to see FlyingForFun off. After he roared away in his sporty little car, we sat in the sun again, and later, HelenD and her hubbie arrived for a Barbie. More pleasant chat followed, but all too soon it was time for us to start making our way home.
Flower kindly made me some sandwiches for the journey, and I caught the coach right by the Millenium Stadium where the big Man U match was going on. I could hear all the fans howling with excitement…… Got home just after 11pm, and of course went straight into chat!!!!!!!
Thanks to all who were there for a truly pleasant evening, and a big thank you to Flower for letting me stay with her xxx
Great weekend - thanks to Flower, not just for arranging it, but also for providing me with a bed for the night after my last-minute change of plans!
Photos are now on-line Unfortunately, my company seem to have made their web access policy has become even more draconian in the last couple of weeks, without telling anyone, so I can't log on to my own site to get the link I think you should be able to get to the photos by going to my site and clicking on the link that says something like "Cardiff 2003". Can someone please check that link, though? Some time in the next couple of days I'll post a proper link to the page that will take you directly there without having to click on things on the way. (Fortunately, they haven't blocked access to PPRuNe... yet!)
Not very much to add to the Pirep - Flower and Techchick have covered the events pretty well. I can confirm that Flower's tongue really was very blue. I can also confirm that she stuck her tongue out so I could take a photo - but changed her mind before I got around to pressing the button - so you'll have to use your imagination!
I don't know how to load photos onto PPRuNe so my pictures are on Latin Flyers funnily enough under Cardiff Bash 2003 http://groups.msn.com/LatinFlyersAirportBAr/_homepage Now if anyone can tell me how to upload piccies or change the link so it takes them straight to the page I would be grateful Ta Flower x
BTW just like to say thanks to rabbit to for also organising the nights events I didn't do it all alone
Edit .. Flower, hope the following link helps; I think it's what you're after...McD
Many thanks to Flower and Rabbit for all the effort put in to making a smashing evening. I always measure the bash by the quantity of liquid and quality of participants. We were quite relaxed from an early stage due to having a chance of a boat trip where it felt soooooooo cooooooooool out on the water with my blue drink (and pink tongue He He) I was amazed at all the blue tongues surrounding me - inferior genes I reckon .
We had a good dinner with copious quantities of grape and a tadge of water since it was so hot. The noise and bustle that evening was amazing, there must have been thousands in the area all enjoying themselves - quite an atmosphere. I got dragged down memory lane back to the mid seventies by Twin Aisle bringing up a name from my murky past - hopefully I will be meeting the old reprobate in the not too distant future.
Great fun had by all on a memorable evening. But the hotel room was so hot that I couldn't
Next day I was a Mr Grumpy
PS both sets of photos great reminder of the evening
Well after the Churchills fiasco had been sorted Rob and I had a great time. We arrived early and got to Churchills to be told there was no room for us, yes they had got my booking but someone there had cancelled the room. We made them ring round for other accommodation and made them pay the difference in price. We ended up in the Copthorne which seemed a much nicer hotel anyway. Flower picked us up and we arrived at the Quay meeting up with others. It was a great boat trip and the weather was perfect - well a little too hot. Dinner was at the brassire and we ate outside on the balcony, best place in that heat. I have to agree with Flower about the lamb think Rabbit was a bit sad he did not choose it. After dinner we went back to the bar, aparrently miss Church was at the Quay too though we diddnt see her. We finally got taxis arround 2pm and went back to the hotel. Cunim was at the same hotel so the 3 of us shared 1 taxi. After breakfast and checkout we made our way over to Flowers. The directions were brilliant. We left deliberatly before the football finished though it was a shame as we had a great time. Thanks Flower and Rabbit for organising a good bash.
I arrived at Cardiff on the arvo of Thursday, 7 Aug and quickly found my way to Mermaid Quay. Here, as you might expect, I rapidly sensed the location of the Japanese resty, the Izakaya Japanese Tavern, where I simply HAD to have dinner! And several bottles of saki... Fiendishly expensive but most enjoyable all the same. Then elected to check out Wood's Brasserie... had a few G/Ts there and decided that the place would be a most acceptable bash venue! Found PLENTY of fine looking Welsh girls to ogle during this time, but was pretty much off me face by the time I stumbled into a taxi.
Met up with skyrabbit on Friday arvo for what turned out to be, in Oz parlance, "Day Zero" (ie the unofficial start) of the bash. First stop was at a Wetherspoons pub, The Gate Keeper, which is an excellent pub to be sure - made all the better by all the fine looking Welsh sheilas behind the bar! After several successful attempts at sampling their wares, we migrated to a Yates's pub, a hundred yards away.
The pub was pretty good but not as good as The Gate Keeper, due to the lack of airconditioning. After yet more ogling of the local sheilas and two more drinks, we executed our next move. This was La Brasserie, our dinner venue, where I discovered the pleasure of Spanish wine! We got thru two bottles of the stuff during the course of a long and enjoyable dinner that didn't cost the earth. The girls working there were all worth a second ogle, with a very attractive Spanish girl earning a third ogle!
We wanted to investigate a lap dancing / pole dancing venue which, contrary to what some people may think, exist in abundance in Cardiff... It was not to be however as the doorman declared my $100 Nike sandals as being inappropriate footwear within the establishment. We pressed on to a night club, the name of which escapes me, where my sandals presented no difficulty for the doorman. We were well and truly off our faces when we left there, somewhere around 2AM, but not before we'd had further ogling opportunities!
Saturday was, of course, the formal bash and flower has already provided a great Pirep, complete with piccies. I must also thank FFF for his photos - between the two of you, it's made it unnecessary for me to post my collection. I'd have done so by now but had some technical problems getting a connection to me global roaming account. Anyway, there is little that I can add to all that has been said except that all the activities and venues were great and the company was perfect... the weather was simply made to order for us on that balcony for dinner!
I, too, enjoyed the Welsh lamb but, unlike flower, I preferred to have mine cooked... If there's to be another bash next year feel free to count me in!!!
On Sunday, skyrabbit invited me to a BBQ at his place, where I met the delightful Missus Skyrabbit and the two junior skyrabbits. I have a dim recollection of the two of us being in chat at some stage that night, while helping skyrabbit get thru a bottle of Bombay Sapphire!
Monday was the fourth day of the one nite bash for skyrabbit and self. It started well with lunch at The Blue Anchor, a 623 year old smugglers inn near Cardiff airport. It was here that I found the winner of the oggling competition - she was simply deeeeelishus! The next drinks were at his place while I tried to connect my lappy to cyberspace, to upload me photos. Maybe we had one too many drinks but, in any event, the effort was a dismal failure. I'll get them online ASAP... that's a threat!
I was poured into a taxi around 11PM and up bright and early the next morning... well okay, maybe not exactly "bright"! But at least I made it onto the 7:50AM train to Birmingham, to connect with a Virgin to Newcastle... ahhh, don't I wish! I have an idea that skyrabbit compelled me to promise a return next year. Okay, mate, but only coz of all them fine lookin Welsh sheilas!!
My thanks to flower and skyrabbit for organising this bash. I had a great time, even if I couldn't find the Via Fosse, while standing right outside the Terra Nova!
What a wonderful time we had, it was great to see some familiar faces again and also to meet some great new people.
Due to the success of the event we will do another one next year!!!!!!!...............probably around August as this is when OzExpat will be in the UK.
Will post suggestions for next years bash sometime in the spring and hopefully will see many more of you for 'Bash Caerdydd 2004'.
Many thanks to all who attended for your company and conversation....look forward to the next time!!!!
rabbit mate! Many thanks for showing me all around Caerdydd... a bar-to-gutter tour that was quite unlike anything I've previously experienced!
Now then, for anyone who might still be interested after all this time, here - as previously threatened - are the scenes of Caerdydd Bash 2003, as captured by the OzExpat Digi-cam :
OzExpat - I'll try and make it next time there's a bash going on in Cardiff, if only to get those $100 Nike's into (I'm guessing here) The Fantasy lounge. It helps when you know the manager and doormen...! And the women inside are worth an ogle too!
The only reason I chose to wear the said Nike sandals was that it was a warm evening - even by MY standards! Next time, I'll use me 20-quid shoes from Pavers in Newcastle!
Cardiff Bash PIREP
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) As I was recovering from night duties and TC had had a very long coach journey we didn't survive that one to the end .
So that is exactly what we did after spending a little bit on the plastic. 
I think you should be able to get to the photos by going to 
The One Night Bash That Lasted 4 Days!
Fiendishly expensive but most enjoyable all the same. Then elected to check out Wood's Brasserie... had a few G/Ts there and decided that the place would be a most acceptable bash venue! Found PLENTY of fine looking Welsh girls to ogle during this time, but was pretty much off me face by the time I stumbled into a taxi.
