Blwyddyn newydd dda -- Happy New Year!

2010 has been an eventful year. It's hard to believe that in January I was just beginning the research to apply for my U.K. ancestry visa. And now I'm in Wales.

This is a short post as the library's almost closing and I'm getting hungry. The libraries are closed around January 1st for several days as they were around Christmas, so the next post will be in 2011.

No special plans for New Year's Eve. I was supposed to have tomorrow, New Year's Eve day off, but am working instead. That's OK, but it will definitely mean a quiet New Year's Eve. That's OK too, because New Year's to me is best as a quiet, reflective time.

I have big expectations for 2011. I hope to make several easy day trips around Cardiff by train and bus to spots like Bath and possibly the West Coast of Wales. My brother and his family are planning a family bike trip to Ireland in May, so hopefully I will see some of them then. Also, at some point, Paris beckons -- and Amsterdam ... and ...

Europe, so close and yet so far.

Nadolig Llawen (Merry Christmas)

Merry Christmas from Wales!

After an eight-day stretch of working I am off for two days, work Christmas Eve day and then off Christmas Day. Definitely sleeping in tomorrow, or as they say here, having a 'lie-in.'

Today the hotel had a very nice turkey dinner with cranberry sauce and roast potatoes for the day staff at noon. It was quite festive with Christmas tunes and flashing lights and our supervisors, dressed as Santas, served us. I was impressed. It's been a long time since a workplace of mine has followed through on the spirit of the season. Dinner was a bit rushed (for me) as we still had rooms to clean afterwards, but nonetheless, it was quite nice. And that is not even our main fancy dress gala, which takes place at the end of January at another major hotel.

The U.K. is being hamstrung by consistent cold and snow. Our hotel had a group of 40 cancel yesterday. Cardiff received about six beautiful fluffy inches a few days ago, but the country isn't used to it. No one has shovels, salt, or snowploughs so everything has ground to a halt, a week before Christmas. But the snowfalls here have been picture-perfect with the snow clinging to the trees. I have realized that despite the cold and wet feet, the snow makes me deliriously happy.

nativity play

On the pedestrianized Hayes in downtown Cardiff, in the midst of the shopping arcades and across from the large shopping centres, a rather grand but laid-back building is easy to pass by. It is the Tabernacle Welsh Baptist Chapel and, like many churches I've seen here, doesn't fit the traditional bell tower image -- though those churches abound as well.

This chapel often has signs out front advertising choral groups, which sadly, I haven't heard yet. But this Christmas season, they've done something that I think is rather remarkable. Every day until early evening volunteers have been putting on a nativity play every forty minutes, 20 minutes long, rotating through six teams of players inside a makeshift theatre. The wise men, very grand in velvets and cloths and a life-size camel puppet stand in the Hayes and simply let people know when the next performance begins.

I attended it one night after a long day at work. Sitting on wooden benches in a semi-heated room, the simple story unfolded with the actors in pantomine and a voice telling the story. It was very well told, admirably acted and performed, with large puppets used imaginatively throughout. I will probably attend it again. It is welcoming and refreshing with no preaching, no philosophizing and no quest for funds -- a reminder of the reason we celebrate Christmas.

I haven't regularly attended church in a long time, and in Toronto, I only went into my neighbourhood church to light candles on special occasions. But I grew up Catholic with all the pomp and majesty of beautiful ritual. At my flat in Cardiff I regularly get free flyers from churches and congrations in the area and last weekend attended a Carols by Candlelight service at Highfields Church down my street. Again, a non-traditional church in my view, it is situated in a solid imposing structure that looks like an old union hall to me, but apparently was a former Presbyterian church, and now seems to be an open congregation.

I had walked by that building before and seen people in the lit rooms, gathered for I didn't know what, at the time.

The Carol service was a very pleasant experience shared with people of all ages and several nationalities, reminding me how churches build communities and communities build churches.

watchin' the telly

I wouldn't be able to live without my TV. Simple as that. After work, and because I live on my own, it's the perfect way to unwind. And British TV is both superb and mingboggling ridiculous.

I've never had cable, and I believe some of the shows I'm watching have been available in N. America for years, but they're new to me here on the free channels. I particulary enjoy the shows which show couples buying houses and flats in the U.K. and in Europe such as Relocation, Relocation and A Place in the Sun: Home or Away? It's amazing how many people have so much money. Also amazing how much more the British can get for their pound in Europe.

Grand Designs tracks people, many architects, but not all -- as they build their dream homes. (People with even a LOT more money.) This show is fascinating for the trials these people put themselves through as well as the logistics of doing a show over a span of several years. The homes and struggles for the most part are inspirational -- sometimes headscratching -- and in many cases true works of art.

Coast is an amazing show highlighting the coastal areas of Great Britain and Ireland. Fascinating, well done and beautifully photographed with Scottish historian Neil Oliver an engaging host.

Corrie Street celebrated 50 years on the air last week. The Manchester-based soap outdid itself with a week-long celebration of all things Coronation. I won't be a spoiler here. In N. America the show is more than a year behind. Prepare for changes next year, Canadian audiences.

And, lots of cooking shows, Simon Cowell and remarkable talent on the X-Factor, multiple quiz shows that are really platforms for multiple comedians, and I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here -- which I can't watch (I tried), but is very popular.

Carry on.

Tiger Bay

On Sunday, a rather frigid day, as winter has struck Wales and the U.K. with a hammer blow, I walked down to Cardiff Bay as I hadn't been there in awhile and it is one of my favourite places.

I wandered into the Pierhead Building, a striking, imposing red brick structure on the waterfront and encountered a little museum that answered a lot of my wonderings about the building and Cardiff's industrial past.

Before shipping and coal collapsed and before the Bay was rebuilt as a stunning tourist destination the Docks and the area surrounding it were known as Tiger Bay.

I remember that name from an old British film with Hayley Mills that I saw as a child, one of the first of the wave of British gritty 60s films which also included A Taste of Honey. Those movies, in black and white, reeked of grey, industrial Britain. I only realized a few years ago that the Tiger Bay in the film was a real place, part of Cardiff.

The museum had first-person recollections from a vast number of Cardiffians and Welsh, but the ones I found most striking were from two men.

One, a man of colour, spoke of the 'heaven' that was the Tiger Bay in which he grew up. Everywhere were sailors and merchants from the four corners of the Earth, and anywhere you went you could hear people talking in their various native tongues: Chinese, Spanish, Welsh, English. Many of the men settled in Cardiff and, as the man said with pride, "All of our grandmothers were Welsh girls." Families, he said, were like rainbows, and he wished he could show you the Tiger Bay of his youth.

Another man, a Somali, told a sadder story. He spoke about how hard it was for the Somali sailors away from home, often only able to bath once a week, staying in squalid conditions and spending all of their money on clothes, just to feel good.

Tiger Bay has been demolished and the area gentrified, but the sense of it still tugs and pulls, not unlike the tides on Bristol Channel.

Wayulles, Wayulles, Wayulles ...

A couple of weeks ago I went to my first rugby match -- ever -- at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. Fantastic!

I wasn't planning on going and had walked to the city centre to just be around the buzz and heard a scalper 'buying and selling' tickets on the street for the Wales-South Africa game. I knew they averaged £65, but it was a glorious sunny afternoon and I didn't know if I'd get a chance in the near future to try and see a game.

"How much for a ticket?"

"How many do you want, luv?"

"Just one."

He showed me a ticket for £65.

"Make me an offer."

"£20."

"I thought you would give me a serious offer!"

"Sorry, I just thought I'd give it a shot," I said, shrugged my shoulders and walked away.

"Luv." He called me back. "Because I like you, you can have it for £30."

I still wasn't sure, and walked away again, thought about it for two minutes and decided it was a pretty good deal.

"I'll take it," I said.

"I thought you would."

Right on the centre line, only 14 rows from the field, only three seats away from the entrance the players use to come onto the field. It was a single ticket too, as I was surrounded by people, which explains the great price I got on it.

Live sports in an arena can't be beat. The stadium holds close to 70,000 and there were about 58,000 on hand. As well, games are not blacked out here, so the game is available live at all the pubs and in people's homes on television.

Red and green, the Welsh colours everywhere, dragons painted on people's faces and the Welsh flag draped over shoulders. People wear giant yellow daffodil hats (the daffodil is the national flower). Before the players enter the arena, large flames shoot up high at points around the field, like a dragon's hot breath. I can feel the heat in my seat.

The game is crushing and fascinating. Wales leads handily by half-time and when they come back, it is as if the two teams switched in the dressing room. South Africa takes the game by mere points with Wales on the verge of breaking through again in the final minutes.

I don't know why anyone would play this game. It is brutal. It makes N. American football players look overprotected with all that padding they wear. But it is fascinating and requires passing and throwing skills from nearly all the players (as well as an ability to give and take crushing blows.)

After the game, the hordes step out into an early clear evening, with a pink sunset blushing the sky. The stadium is downtown and everyone spreads out through the streets, hitting pubs, stopping at cafes and restaurants, filling up on some street grub. I head for some chips with curry sauce, the perfect food on a cold night, and eat it sitting in the city centre.

This Saturday, Wales meets the much-anticipated New Zealand team, the leaders in rugby.

And that's the last International game until the Six Nations teams play in the New Year.

Wayulles, Wayulles, Wayulles ...

workin' hard for the money

The jury is still out on whether or not my room attendant job is going to pay the bills.

Be kind to your chambermaids, folks. This is one tough job.

Since beginnning about six weeks ago, my body has been dealing with one adjustment after another. Of course, much of this has been due to my weakling status as a longterm desk jockey, but also the job is physically demanding and time expectations and conditions challenging.

I haven't stepped on a scale recently, but I am pretty certain I've been losing any flab I had.

Sore shoulders and arm tendons at first, followed by a left thumb that almost stopped working (from flipping pillow cases), followed by tightening back and ab muscles, followed by hands that cracked raw and bleeding from linen changes. Throw in a few head colds on top of this and the picture isn't very pretty.

On the bright side, my knees are taking on shape again and I am more flexible than I've been in years.

The time and pay restraints are challenging. Yesterday and today are the first two days I can say I finished within my time frame -- that is, approximately half an hour per room. For the first month I was getting paid for 6 hours work a day (as part of 'training'), but since that time I get paid by the room. Twelve rooms = 6 hours work: if you take longer than that time, you only get paid for the 6 hours. It has generally been taking me 1 to 2 hours longer than the goal, so I have been technically working for free to finish my rooms. Apparently others in the past have had the same problem getting their times down, and one co-worker, who is speedy now, says it took her six months. (It won't take me that long.)

The problem, as I see it, is that management treats all rooms as equal, when obviously they are not. Some rooms have one double bed, others two doubles; rooms visited by business clients are barely used while rooms used by families with children or partiers are obviously well-lived in. A stayover room needs cleaning and making the bed(s), while a checkout requires cleaning as well as stripping the bed(s). Add to these time restraints the necessity to restock your trolley (up to four times a day) and hunt down evasive supplies, waiting for service elevators and a daily staff meeting and the half an hour required per room is actually cut down to about 15 minutes.

Stripping and changing the beds is still a challenge. I am getting close to half an hour on the more difficult rooms.

But on top of the time and physical challenges, I'm not sure the hours I'll get will be enough. When I interviewed for the job I was told it was 30 hours a week, 6 hours for 5 days, with the possibility of going full-time. But the room numbers fluctuate. It is near Christmas and on some days, like today, I only had 8 rooms to clean (only four hours pay). I was just told yesterday I may have '4-5 days off around Christmas' (though I'm working Christmas Day). Many of the women have been at the hotel a long time and the camaraderie is actually excellent. Management has not been totally upfront about the terms of pay or hours, but on the other hand they are very fair, keeping lines of communication open.

It's a challenge on many levels, and one I'm not completely averse to, but the money concerns will ultimately decide if and when I find something else.