Trip to the Big City

That's Cardiff, by the way.
Last time we went down to Cardiff, my young man complained that I hardly went into any detail about our day out, so this time I'll do it properly.
It's pretty easy to get down to Cardiff by bus - you get the 9.30 from Hay to Brecon, and the Sixty-Sixty bus is usually already waiting. It leaves about 20 minutes later, giving a grand tour of Merthyr and other points south on the way, before leaving you at a bus stop close to Cardiff Castle. So it is fairly easy to find it again - all you have to do is look for the castle.
As this was our second outing, we had a rough idea of where things were - and the first port of call was Forbidden Planet. This is a slightly guilty pleasure for me, and reminds me of the days when I was the sort of Star Trek fan who wore antennae and blue face paint*. Mark got a couple of things he wanted - I treated him to an Assassin's Creed pendant because it's almost his birthday - and he treated me to something I really wanted. Sonic lipstick. And a 'watch' that 'scans' for alien life forms. Yes, it's very, very silly, but I want to be Sarah Jane Smith. And now I can.
Off then to the Hard Rock Cafe for their excellent pork sandwich and chocolate malts, and the bus stop for the Bay was just down the road.
We had to go to Torchwood Hub.
I'd looked at the Cardiff CAMRA website ahead of time, and found that they recommended the Terra Nova on Mermaid Quay, so we warmed up after the icy blast over a pint of Brains. The pub is named after Captain Scott's ship - he set off for the Antarctic from Cardiff - the decor is quite nautical, and the beer is very good.
Then it was back to the shopping centre to pick up the new Iron Man DVD. "St David's shopping centre is evolving" said the signs, which is slightly worrying when you're thinking along SF lines, and wondering what it might evolve into. (Remember that new space station that turned into a giant jellyfish in Star Trek Next Gen?)
Back on the bus, we found that the time table is slightly optimistic about the time it expects to get into Brecon - we were only just coming up to Libanus, and were getting slightly panicky that we might just miss the last bus home. All was well though - and Islay was very pleased to see us when we got in.

*I used to dress as an Andorian at Star Trek Conventions. I'm better now (Not much better, obviously - being a middle aged lady who wants to be Sarah Jane is only a slight improvement).