*** Happy New Year ***
29Dec06 - 01Jan07:
A time of festivities and merriment, this New Years celebrations didn't disappoint.
Accepting the invitation from my mate Leanne to spend time with her in Wales and then head off to Cornwall for New Years Eve was one of the best decisions I've ever made this year. This would have to be one of the best NYE's I've ever had. I spent it with relatively recent yet cool friends in the small seaside town of Looe which fully rocked the planet on 31Dec06.
But firstly, joined by fellow Gredos veteran Fletch, he and I got ourselves to Carmarthen Wales, where Leanne was waiting for us in the cheauffeur limosine :) .
Madame butterfly drove us to her relatives place in Mwnt (pronounced Moont), a small village on the coast close to Cardigan.
The drive meandered through picturesque fields, driving by overflowing rivers and period villages. Fletch and I may have been a slight distraction for Leanne as we got a tad lost. With no map handy, the only way to check for directions was...to stop at the nearest pub, have a pint, and ask the locals for directions.
Once back on the road and Leanne got her bearings back, it wasn't long before we were at the cottage in Mwnt.
The hospitality and friendliness was second to none. The small cottage where we stayed at was so quaint with a warm heritage feel, and the surrounding towns and scenery were beautiful.
Leanne being a seasoned "pub crawler" took us to a few "locals" in Cardigan. The pubs are old and have so much character, not to mention the actual locals themselves. I found listening to Uncle Ray's stories and watching the "real" locals walk in and out of the pubs quite fascinating.
Coming to a place like this and seeing the "small town" friendliness is quite refreshing from London's more reserved, if not cold hospitality. It made me miss home.
Saturday morning: After a hearty breakfast where sausages, crumpets, cereals, and toast etc were on offer, and packed our lunch for the "road trip", we had a brief walk around the area where we visited Mwnt church. The siteseeing though was cut dramatically short as it started pissing down with rain. The sprint back to the cottage of course resulted in us getting drenched, but this did not deter us from getting ready for the trip to Cornwall.
Again, a picturesque drive through the Welsh countryside, hitting Bristol to haul-ass on the M4 to Exeter, then had a brief stop in Saltash at a party hire place to get ideas for costumes for New Years Eve. To be frank, I walked out of the shop not feeling very inspired at all. We still had no idea for costumes on NYE.
We made another pit-stop before getting to our final destination - Looe, at a pub which was owned by Leannes' family's friend.
A time of festivities and merriment, this New Years celebrations didn't disappoint.
Accepting the invitation from my mate Leanne to spend time with her in Wales and then head off to Cornwall for New Years Eve was one of the best decisions I've ever made this year. This would have to be one of the best NYE's I've ever had. I spent it with relatively recent yet cool friends in the small seaside town of Looe which fully rocked the planet on 31Dec06.
But firstly, joined by fellow Gredos veteran Fletch, he and I got ourselves to Carmarthen Wales, where Leanne was waiting for us in the cheauffeur limosine :) .
Madame butterfly drove us to her relatives place in Mwnt (pronounced Moont), a small village on the coast close to Cardigan.
The drive meandered through picturesque fields, driving by overflowing rivers and period villages. Fletch and I may have been a slight distraction for Leanne as we got a tad lost. With no map handy, the only way to check for directions was...to stop at the nearest pub, have a pint, and ask the locals for directions.
Once back on the road and Leanne got her bearings back, it wasn't long before we were at the cottage in Mwnt.
The hospitality and friendliness was second to none. The small cottage where we stayed at was so quaint with a warm heritage feel, and the surrounding towns and scenery were beautiful.
Leanne being a seasoned "pub crawler" took us to a few "locals" in Cardigan. The pubs are old and have so much character, not to mention the actual locals themselves. I found listening to Uncle Ray's stories and watching the "real" locals walk in and out of the pubs quite fascinating.
Coming to a place like this and seeing the "small town" friendliness is quite refreshing from London's more reserved, if not cold hospitality. It made me miss home.
Saturday morning: After a hearty breakfast where sausages, crumpets, cereals, and toast etc were on offer, and packed our lunch for the "road trip", we had a brief walk around the area where we visited Mwnt church. The siteseeing though was cut dramatically short as it started pissing down with rain. The sprint back to the cottage of course resulted in us getting drenched, but this did not deter us from getting ready for the trip to Cornwall.
Again, a picturesque drive through the Welsh countryside, hitting Bristol to haul-ass on the M4 to Exeter, then had a brief stop in Saltash at a party hire place to get ideas for costumes for New Years Eve. To be frank, I walked out of the shop not feeling very inspired at all. We still had no idea for costumes on NYE.
We made another pit-stop before getting to our final destination - Looe, at a pub which was owned by Leannes' family's friend.
Conversation is as follows around a table in the pub between me, Leanne and Fletch (not really verbatum):
Leanne: Right guys, lets brainstorm this...I love brainstorming... let's think of what we could go as for New Years Eve, come on guys.....
Fletch: Brainstorming, right, well what we should get is paper and pencil to right down the ideas....
Me: Yeah brainstorm..."pencil and paper"...well....let's go as pencils?.....we could just get coloured cardboard, make a pointy hat etc it's do-able....
Leanne: ....Pencils (said with an inquisitive look)...yeah, pencils....
Fletch: Yeah, Faber Castells!.....
Leanne: Pencils...or crayons! We can go as crayons...Crayola....yeah! what do ya reckon?!
Fletch: Nah, I reckon Faber Castells...
Leanne: Nah, Crayola....whatya reckon?
Me: Crayons...pencils....I reckon crayons would work, yeah....
Fletch: Crayons....
Leanne: Crayons! Fuck yeah, crayons!....all right hahahaha......
.....and the rest, so they say, is history! Click here to see the pictures which tell a thousand words...and then some :) (Below are just some of the photos to give you a taste of the events).
New Years Eve town party, where we got to mix with pirates, the Flintstones, Loony Toons, Mexicans, cowboy-cowgirls, Smurfs and Jedi Knights - just to name a few characters that we brushed by in the pubs and meandered through the streets of Looe.
The icing was put on the cake when my flatmate Marina and mate Phil came to join us in Looe for the celebrations...
Leanne: Right guys, lets brainstorm this...I love brainstorming... let's think of what we could go as for New Years Eve, come on guys.....
Fletch: Brainstorming, right, well what we should get is paper and pencil to right down the ideas....
Me: Yeah brainstorm..."pencil and paper"...well....let's go as pencils?.....we could just get coloured cardboard, make a pointy hat etc it's do-able....
Leanne: ....Pencils (said with an inquisitive look)...yeah, pencils....
Fletch: Yeah, Faber Castells!.....
Leanne: Pencils...or crayons! We can go as crayons...Crayola....yeah! what do ya reckon?!
Fletch: Nah, I reckon Faber Castells...
Leanne: Nah, Crayola....whatya reckon?
Me: Crayons...pencils....I reckon crayons would work, yeah....
Fletch: Crayons....
Leanne: Crayons! Fuck yeah, crayons!....all right hahahaha......
.....and the rest, so they say, is history! Click here to see the pictures which tell a thousand words...and then some :) (Below are just some of the photos to give you a taste of the events).
New Years Eve town party, where we got to mix with pirates, the Flintstones, Loony Toons, Mexicans, cowboy-cowgirls, Smurfs and Jedi Knights - just to name a few characters that we brushed by in the pubs and meandered through the streets of Looe.
The icing was put on the cake when my flatmate Marina and mate Phil came to join us in Looe for the celebrations...
The veterans at Carmarthen Station all charged for the weekend...
...Beautiful Looe...
...crayon making and the NYE party...
...the journey home.
3 comments:
You all look like Tin Man from Wizard of OZ in your NYE. Costumes do look great anyway. Cheers Bel
What a brilliant description of the events, it made me laugh out loud!
Fantastic time hey, so glad you could all make it.
If you're free drop into cardiff sometime!
Love ya!
Love the photos!!!! Glad you had a great time! See YOU soon
Nik-olodian xx
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