Peaceful Cymru

I awoke at around 7:00 AM on Friday morning. I had some songs in my head and decided to download some music and charge my Ipod. I went out to the lounge room and said good morning to everyone. Ella had apparently been naughty this morning. Kellie told me she was working from home this day and would worry about breakfast a little later.

I went downstairs for a cigarette and it was lightly raining. I came back up and gave Marcus my USB stick with all my tickets and reservations so he could print them for me. I was going to stay with Kellie's mum, my Aunt Sue, in wales. Paul was coming to pick me up at 2:00 PM so I started to pack my stuff up. I had made a huge mess in Kellie's spare room but once I packed, it would be tidy. I got hungry at about 10:00 AM so I made a bacon and egg toasted sandwich.

I wrote a little then walked to some nearby shops to buy some cigarettes. It was about a 15 minute walk. The are Kellie lives in is very quiet. It is everything you would expect from a quiet English town. Old cottage style homes with brick walls running the length of the streets and lots of gardens and trees. There's not much traffic in the streets. Jamie Carragher who plays football for Liverpool lives nearby and it tends to be a suburb where the more well to do live.

I found an off license and entered. An off license is kind of a convenience store which sells alcohol. I grabbed a Red Bull and headed to the counter. I asked the store owner if he had Marlboro Reds. He said, "No, sorry mate". I said "Do you have anything similar?". He looked bothered by the question and then pointed out a few different brands. I decided on 'Stradbroke Blues' and as he scanned the pack he asked me, "Is that Australian or New Zealand?". I said, "Australian". He told me he was supposed to emigrate to Australia 5 years ago. I asked, "What happened?"

He told me how he and his friend were both going to move to Australia but his wife didn't want to leave her family because she was too close to them. His friend ended up moving and was quite successful. His friend is the chairman of Perth Glory Football Club. I said, "Wow, he is doing well then". He said "You must be very anxious to get back there where it's warm". I said, "Yes" and left to walk back home.

I got home and wrote for awhile. At about 12:30 PM, I decided to finish packing my stuff. I packed my stuff and chatted with Miss C for awhile. Paul arrived to pick me up at 2:00 PM and about 2:30 PM we left Kellie and dropped by the office to pick up all the tickets that Marcus had printed out. We left there then drove to Kirkby to pick up my Aunt Sue from Joanna's house. On the way to Kirkby we stopped at an Asian grocery store as Paul wanted to buy some ingredients.

Paul is a great guy, very friendly and genuine. He's very smart and funny and easy to talk to. We got to Joanna's house and I saw my Aunt for the first time. She greeted me with a big smile and said exactly the same thing as everyone else had, "You look just like our Donald".

Paul drove a small van which had 2 seats in the front and none in the back. My Aunt was going to sit in the back but I couldn't allow that and sat in the back as we drove to Wales. Aunt Sue is fantastic. She is always smiling and happy. She is very nice and funny and Kellie was right when she said "My mum will be your favourite Aunt".

The drive to Wales was full of conversation and laughs. The Welsh border is only about 1 hour from Liverpool. The scenery once we'd left the city was amazing. There were mountains and rolling hills with lots of sheep alongside creeks and rivers. We arrived in Towyn, where Paul and Aunt Sue live, it's about half an hour from the border. They have a nice little 1 bedroom cottage not far from the beach. There is a loft where I am sleeping in which they have a double bed. It's a nice place. The neighbourhood is very quiet.

Paul had made a Lamb curry for dinner. Kellie had told me that Paul likes to cook and when I walked in the smell of curry really hit me. It smelt very good. I took my things up to the loft where I would be staying and Paul gave me the password for the WiFi on my phone. We had dinner and the curry was the best curry I had ever had. I am not just saying that, it really was amazing.

After dinner I connected my laptop to the WiFi and Paul asked if i wanted to go out for a pint or 2. I said, "I never say no to a pint". We watched TV for awhile and about 8:30 PM, Paul and I walked to a bar called 'The Morton Arms' and had 2 pints. There were only a few people in the bar. Towyn only has a small population of residents, but there are many caravan parks and in the summer apparently the streets are filled with holiday makers.

We had 2 pints at the Morton Arms and then walked around the corner to another bar owned by a friend of Paul's. James, the owner of the bar is from a travelling family. Who settled here in Towyn. His son works behind the bar. There were about 5 people in the bar including James and his son. We had 3 pints here and talked to a few people. James' son continued the trend of people saying they wanted to go to Australia. After the third pint we walked home and I went to bed, it must have been around 11:30 PM.