review and roundup

I thought I should give more consideration to 2012 and round up some of my reflections and observations:

I now know to open my windows in the winter to get rid of the condensation inside (from cooking, laundry, breathing, etc). Even though originally it seemed to go against common sense, I have found that the fresh air and circulation dries the indoors out and thus actually keeps it warmer when I turn on the heat (and my walls aren't dripping wet!).

I am always finding better places to shop (though prices on basics such as eggs, bread constantly rise) -- a seesaw battle.

Megabus is a fantastically cheap way to travel to London (£7 one way for a three-hour trip). Travelling the London Tube, however, from the coach station to the St. Pancras train station is exorbitantly high (almost £5 for a 15-minute ride). If you want to travel by train in Europe check out the amazing site 'the Man in Seat 61' -- it helped me learn about the Eurostar and showed me how to pick a seat and will probably answer any question you have about rail trips on the continent.

I obtained my Key to the Castle, a passcard available to anyone working or living in Cardiff and which allows free entry into the Cardiff Castle grounds, discounts on food, beverages and the gift shop. I really enjoy this as the grounds are lovely and quiet and the grounds are open to exploration with the audio phones. Last year they opened a tunnel depicting a World War II bomb shelter and it is eerily evocative with benches along the walls and music and bomb sounds echoing the hallways.

I discovered Chapter Arts Centre. Unfortunately it is on the other side of town (an hour's walk); if I lived closer I would be there all the time. I've never seen anything quite like it. Paul Harris had mentioned it before, but not until I picked up one of their free monthly magazines did I realize that it was the place for which I had been looking. It is open seven days a week, until late in the evening, has an excellent bar and cafe, art museum, cinemas, live theatre, gaming and jazz nights (free) and a neighbourhood vegetable garden. It is always buzzing with children and families, older people like me and creative types of all ages. The air is charged. It is a good place to meet people. I went one Sunday to sit and read and enjoy a stout before taking in a discounted film. Weekends are probably not a good time to go there to read. Table space was at a premium and by mid-afternoon I was enjoying the company of two strangers who asked if they could join me. A couple of hours later and the number had increased by another two people who were friends of the original pair. I received a tip about a possible vacancy at the tourism bureau (not quite right, but it led to my application for the ticketseller job at the castle) and had a thoroughly engaging afternoon.

If you read Yann Martel's Life of Pi, don't give up on it. It is quite slow-going in the first third of the book, but it opens onto the whole universe and is full of beautiful writing. I began to read the book by the Canadian Booker Prize winner not realizing it was being made into a film by Ang Lee. I saw the film on this New Year's Eve just passed, and it recreates the novel quite exceptionally and in some small ways improves upon it.

I found out how very, very painful corns on your feet are. It is one of those truisms that if you've never experienced something you probably cannot imagine it properly. I'd gone almost 60 years without a corn and often thought people were exaggerating the pain that they caused, imagining them to be like hard blisters or calluses. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It is like a hot needle being twisted into your toe and they are very difficult to get rid of, considering a person is generally walking all the time. They appeared rather quickly, one on each foot between my fourth and fifth toes, one in particular forming a corn on top of a corn on top of a corn. I walked around Paris and can attest that cobblestones are not helpful when trying to pretend your foot is not on fire. It has been several months and the last corn is almost gone. I'm so glad that they are not permanent. I was afraid they would be.

I recently picked up a  box of 10 jigsaw puzzles that are well-made and not impossible to do and discovered that they were made in Canada. This was after finishing several puzzles over the course of the year that were more infuriating to put together than they were challenging or fun. I never realized before how badly some puzzles can be cut or made and maybe that is because most of the puzzles I've ever done must have been made in Canada.

OK, I think that's it -- I'm stretching now. I know I'll think of something more interesting later. Til then.