I’ve been away on business in Cardiff; network monkeying and packet pushing. Cardiff is an interesting city- I’ve never been before, and impressioms?

Friendly people, great restaurants, “vibrant” nightlife, good pubs (though the earlyish starts, a couple of late finishes, and alcohol combine to make a tiring experience…). There’s a lot in common with other cities, of course, both good and bad, but overall a nice place, though the traffic was a nightmare, with endless traffic lights- and the roads don’t work well for motorised traffic, cycles, or pedestrians- but more of that in another post.

In between proving that “one code per device” and “you won’t be able to create your own networks” can be defeated with NAT and randomly gaffertaping cables, I managed to get a bit of time out for a visit to nearby Penarth, so a couple of drinks and a pier trip: I picked a good day: it was warm, sometimes sunny, and a Penarth had a happy, relaxed air to it.

Penarth pier is beautiful. A proper pier that actually reaches the sea, with a lovely, recently restored pavillion, it’s owned by the council, and is a public space and cinema. There’s a nice tearoom too, and everything is in good order outside too: all the planking is complete and in good order and the pier was busy with happy crowds on Easter Sunday- this considering the pier is a short way from town. Colwyn Bay take note. I took some cameraphone snaps:

but if you want decent pics, Google has loads that are better.

A short walk into town, and Penarth has some great architecture too: it’s fairly affluent now, and has been in the past too, by the looks of it, with some grand Victorian buildings and a couple of Deco gems too- yet not up itself, though the locals in one pub proffered the opinon “try living here”. There’s no pleasing some.