28 January 2011 Travel Journal

28 January 2011 - Prestatyn & Conwy, Wales UK

Welsh rock - it's what we came for!

Mitch, Kelly, Emma, and I got up and drove to Conwy to see the castle ruin there. After stopping in one cafe for lunch where the overwhelmed young server said he "wasn't taking orders" right then, we moved to a small cafe that we assumed was good because it looked crowded but actually just had a large group in that was running the staff pretty ragged. It wasn't bad though--I had a full breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, fried bread, toast, tomato, tea, and sometimes beans, but not this time). You really can't go wrong with a full breakfast in the UK.

Emma tries on the plastic helmet.

Back at Pontins, just as I was asking one of the Scottish guys if he knew Doug Watson, Doug appeared on the lawn below the balcony where I was standing. Hooray for perfect timing. He was duly showered in Broncos gifts (an oven mit from me and some cups from Kelly) which he received joyfully.

Doug & me

Singalong - Every Friday night at the Gathering, Mike Peters comes out and does an acoustic set in the round which every sings along to at the top of their lungs. (That's me on the bottom right of the screen--please refrain from dancing jokes.)

Mitch & Emma at the sing-along

This year it was a bit different. The whole band joined in about halfway through and they did most of the Strength album. The new drummer Smiley played with the Skids and a couple other punk bands that I'm not cool enough to know. He seemed like he was having a great time and definitely lived up to his name.

Singalong in the round - note scary dude dead center has made his own t-shirt of himself singing with Mike and worn it to the show. Real or Photoshop?

Big Country - was fun but the sound could have been better. Mike did a great job fronting the band (the original front man Stuart Adamson died in late 2001) and there was a lot of energy in the room.

Most Americans don't realize how many hits they had in the UK, but there were two busloads of Scottish men in the front that sang louder and pogo'ed higher than the rest of us. (Later they nearly got expelled from Pontins and turned over to the police for their late night party with their own light system, sound system, dj, and bonfire by the gocarts but Jules Peters intervened on their behalf.)

Don't think this rule got followed.

Kelly & I didn't even get a chance to visit before they got shut down. Instead we stayed up talking until 4am. I like Kelly--for not knowing each other very well prior to deciding to be roommates, we had an easy time talking about anything and everything. She's very cool.

Me & Kelly in flannel for Big Country.

PS - It was on this day that I met a real live soccer hooligan who has not just been ejected from games, but literally banned from the entire country of Luxembourg. He seemed like a teddy bear to me.