On Monday the 2nd of August, I jailbroke my iPhone 3GS. Because I could. (Also, because it’s legal now. Nice, right?)
I had some shopping to do. I needed eyebrow makeup, as much as eyebrow makeup has never really agreed with me — we determined that for television, I could use it to darken them a bit and it would look just right. And I still needed hose and a good pair of shoes to match my competition dress.
We had discussed shopping in London, until we discovered that London was easily three and a half hours away by train… one way. Then we had discussed shopping in Cardiff (which was our original choice, anyway, before I got hooked on the idea of London). And then we had discovered Festival Park, which was only ten or fifteen minutes away in Ebbw Vale and probably had whatever I needed. That was tempting, because it would be easy.
But we just couldn’t let go of the idea of going to Cardiff. Because honestly, it sounded fun.
Even the hour-long train ride sounded fun.
So Cardiff it was!
At breakfast Monday morning we met Jon and Caryl, who were also in town for the Eisteddfod. That made at least five lovely new friends under the same roof — Maxine and Graham as wonderful proprietors, and Pat being the first of the lot in for the Eisteddfod. Jon was competing in the Eisteddfod, in fact, with his folk choir. We chatted briefly and had breakfast, and Marty and I called Kev to pick us up so that we could make the next train out of Ebbw Vale Parkway.
Marty and I had great fun on the train. Trains in the UK — as far as I can tell — are truly fantastic. How wonderful it would be to have trains like this in the US! Yes, they’re exhausting when you’re carting around loads of luggage — but when it’s a day trip and all you’re carrying around is a purse and maybe a few shopping bags, it’s fantastic. The trains tended towards being clean and respectable, with people generally behaving themselves and quietly chillin’ out as they approached their destination. Marty and I were also generally well-behaved, but since there was nobody else in our car on the way to Cardiff, we had perhaps a bit more fun than we might have otherwise. And we accomplished quite a bit, too, because by the time the ride was over, we could say “I’m sorry, I don’t understand” in Welsh. We could also say “My hovercraft is full of eels.”
This video is proof of our industrious natures and determination to adopt the Welsh language:
When we arrived in Cardiff, we set to our shopping plans. We ate at a great pub (bar? grill? restaurant? eatery?) called The Yard, and we found St. David’s shopping center (Dewi Sant!). The MAC Cosmetics area in the center was staffed by two incredibly friendly and helpful citizens of Cardiff who were — as I have come to expect from MAC employees — insanely patient and awesome about helping me figure out the whole crazy eyebrow pencil thing. I rewarded them by spending money (as I do in such establishments). We found the perfect shoes for my competition dress at a Clarks not too far from there, and hose at Debenhams… and sushi at Zushi, where the entrees floated around the room on tiny boats. Delicious.
And (of course), I took a few pictures.
My iPhone ran out of juice right about the time we headed back, but we were fine; we got some snacks at a little store next to the train station and spent a very relaxing hour on our way back to Ebbw Vale Parkway. I have to say, though: It’s a fascinating experience to be in a strange new place with cell reception, because I can navigate in a way I never could when I used to go abroad before. This has been the first major travel experience where I could use smartphone data heavily to navigate a completely new (and sometimes strange) locale. In the States, we have some continuous frame of reference — but even in another English-speaking country, the cues are different. The frame of reference can quickly become unfamiliar, and people willing to give directions may still assume a certain default foundation of knowledge on the part of the traveler. The smartphone is way more useful than usual in this situation.
After Cardiff, in any case, I do believe we went home and passed out. It was quite a lovely day!
