Bye bye, leaving Cardiff now! Sadly our team did not win the Celtic Nations quiz championship, Ireland prevailed. Oh well, I did my best. Until next year in Glasgow...

Me holding a lanyard for the Celtic Nations Quizzing Championship in a conference room at a hotel

Okay ready to do some quiz

Turns out drinking all day, even nice drinks in nice places with good friends, doesn't lead to the best sleep outcomes. This feels like definitely a lesson I will learn.

They're playing the Wedding Present right now, jang jang jang, so yeah must have been Steve

A half pint of St Mars of the Desert black lager next to a second hand copy of The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter by the Incredible String Band, sitting in Pops n Hops bar.

Thanks to a rec (from Carsmile I think), I've found my way to a great little craft beer bar next to a kick ass record shop. Love to travel, enjoy the local culture.

Find myself, in my head, translating a lot of the Welsh "croeso" signs I see upon entering buildings into "cash desk" or something along those lines but it turns out they are not a reference to Croesus but in fact "welcome". I am very much out of my depth with this language I fear

(also I should make it clear, I'm in Cardiff for a quiz weekender, will say hi to Ailsa for all the London crew)

Passing a big fancy looking university, almost tempted to pop in and share some best practice or something but I'm on my hols and, more importantly, it means there must surely be some record shops nearby right

I think the problem is I just don't appreciate the old artists so they all have a sameness to them in my mind. The modern stuff I'm much more comfortable with and is more interesting to me.

Just browsing an art gallery and it does strike me that they are filled with prolific and talented artists from a long time ago whose names are still too obscure to ever come up in a quiz.

A plaque on a rock that says "support Wales at Euro 2020"

You see all kinds of historical things at a castle. "Support Wales at Euro 2020" what could it mean, I'm not a historian.

A castle keep. There's like a big chessboard on the lawn to keep the kids entertained.

Keep it!

A grand hall

The so called Arab Room, fanciful golden decorations abound

Taking a turn around the Cardiff Castle, the main residential house of which seems to be like the Sam Smith's pub of castles, a fanciful Victorian recreation of ye olde past.

A can of Track beer in some cold water in a bathroom sink.

This hotel room does not have a fridge so how exactly am I supposed to chill beer?

"migrants try to cheat their way to..." fuuuuuuuuuuuck off the news sucks never watching this crap again

It's weird to hear all these politicians whose names I know from quizzes actually speaking with their voices

I'm enough out of touch with the TV news that I turned it on and was surprised "oh the guy from Mastermind does news too!"

Just a mess of brown in a box.

Trying what I'm told (via the medium of shop window) is a local delicacy, chicken curry and chips. Well it hits a spot.

Oh no, it's worse actually. This music makes me feel like it's a young person's pub but actually it's a middle aged person's idea of a young person's pub. Everyone in here is fully my age.

When I tell you this pub is playing all the music I was listening to in 2004 and yet if I do the maths, half the people in here weren't born then. I hate maths by the way. Fvck maths.

A pint of session IPA with a big Welsh flag in the background.

Next up I have gone to Tiny Rebel. I very much hope they aren't the B**wD*g of Wales. They seem good. Anyway, Wales be Walesing.

Tiny Rebel Sin Bin session IPA in their bar.

Sorry to hear that. Today my pint is sponsored by Wales. This would be easier if Bluesky weren't trying to prevent me sending a picture.

A half pint of dark mild in front of a half pint of black IPA. It's called Yma o Hyd which I gather is a patriotic song but I did not say that because I did not dare pronounce it. Turns out it's fairly straightforward. Anyway beer.

I have started out with a tasting selection of dark beers (mild and black IPA) at a local brewpub called Mad Dog. There's a big castle here. I should probably check that out tomorrow.

Oh there are a LOT of pubs here. I can get behind that

Ooh they have a Walkabout here. Not being funny but will it remind me of being back in Australia. Fairly sure no.

The map informs me this is called Callaghan Square. We see a fairly bleak open square fringed by bushes and a big statue of a lad called Bute, surrounded by roads.

A pond in a modern square with some lights in towers or something and modern buildings in the background.

Nothing says "major European city" like a big weird empty plaza in a modern reclaimed area near the centre.

Just not living my truth as a British person unless I'm complaining about trains eh. Anyway I'm heading into central Cardiff so will report back

Oh and it's backwards facing, absolutely baffling. They really have gone out of their way to make me hate them and their entire company.

So what I don't understand about GWR is why most of the seats in this carriage are unreserved but I've been assigned one without a window? And why did someone decide to sit in the unreserved seat next to me given that fact. (I'd move but most seats are now taken by people more savvy to this.)

Heading off to Cardiff. Probably unreasonably excited, but I still have two capital cities within the British Isles still to visit (gonna get another one later this year I hope).