12 June - Barry

It looked to be another nice, if chilly, day so we decided to take the bus to Barry, a town on the north coast of the Bristol Channel. It calls itself a seaside resort, but I'm not sure that most Americans would view it that way. It's a resort in the same way that the Jersey Shore is a resort: lots of fast food places, games arcades, amusements park rides and cheap souvenir shops. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. We exited the bus and walked down the hill toward The Knap Lake and Gardens. We stopped at Watchhouse Bay

and watched as a man I can only guess was insane, left the water. I was wearing a raincoat over a sweater over a jersey over a tank top and was cold. He was wearing a towel, presumably with something under it. Dogs were swimming in the water, too, but they have fur coats.

We walked on to the The Knap and were greeted by the welcoming committee.

One of the committee members was asleep on the job,

The little lake is said to be shaped like a harp, but it was a bit difficult to discern. What a shame I left my drone home.

There was a park which would make a good place for a picnic in better weather.

We retraced our steps, walking along the sea front. I saw a blue bench that had this little plaque embedded into the sidewalk next to it. How sweet, and something I can't imagine seeing in the States.

On we went till we reached Barry Island. Now, if you're American and not a total Anglophile, you're probably not familiar with the sitcom Gavin and Stacey. (Bruce wasn't familiar with it, so we watched a couple of episodes on BBC iPlayer the night before.) You will, however, most likely be familiar with James Corden, who is one of the writers, along with Ruth Jones. The BBC describes the show as follows: "Essex and Wales collide when Gavin and Stacey fall in love, bringing their friends, family and baggage with them." That doesn't begin to capture the essence of the show which is sweet and insane simultaneously. I mention this because everywhere you look there's a reference to the show: T-shirts and tea towels with quotes from the show, and t-shirts galore. I resisted temptation, though I had to get this shot.

We walked along the beach, the wind blowing, me shivering. It was probably around 50 degrees without the wind-chill factor and the beach was full.

Yep, there were people in the water. Lots of them. I concluded that they're sturdier souls than I (not a big surprise).

We stopped at a pub for what was probably the worst meal we've had in the UK. They didn't even have any beer for Bruce because the keg was empty. Bruce wandered off to find greener pastures or at least better pubs. The sun came out as I wandered off to find something called Goodsheds.

It's a really trendy collection of shops and restaurants. It's split into three parts: the Urban High Street is a collection of shops housed in old Gatwick Airport railway carriages, the Sidings houses bars, restaurants and a business or two, and Container Village, constructed entirely of repurposed shipping containers contains businesses, shops, salons, restaurants and bars. It skews to a younger demographic, but I loved it. There was one little store in the Urban High Street that had wonderful merch that made me smile.

As I was walking back to the bus stop, I encountered a man with his trio of dogs, one in a baby carriage, and two on wheels. He said that the one on the right has been on wheels for eleven years now. What a lovely guy to choose to share his life with these three.

I met Bruce on the bus and we went past our stop to the shopping center that contains Tesco and M&S so that we could get some groceries. I loved this sign on the side of M&S.

Do you suppose these are dragon eggs?

As we left the store it started to rain. I had to agree with one of the morning news show commentators who said we're having three seasons of weather in one day. Okay. I'm ready for summer now.