I learned my lesson from April and bought premiere league tickets way in advance. It was still hard to get tickets, so I chose to drive a few hours to get good seats and watch a great match.
The day started perfectly as a Scottish comedian was on the radio making fun of the election. His opening joke was "you can tell from my accent that I'm Sc...British", and it got better and better from there.
I mentioned my plans to a brand new colleague at work and she went out of her way to give me lots of recommendations. She lives somewhat close to Swansea, which was where I was going to match the match. Such kind people at work, and in the whole area!
I took some of her recommendations plus I googled some ideas. I started at a place called Caerphilly Castle. Good luck pronouncing it, it's a welsh word. That was the most shocking part of driving through Wales, they truly have their own language it's like no other language I've ever seen before. Lots of interesting combinations of consonants, and of course the pronunciations are a whole separate story.
Then I had just a couple hours to hike the "four waterfalls trail". The southern part of Wales is known for it's waterfalls. Sure enough, they're beautiful!
The biggest waterfall is one that you can walk behind. I'm pretty sure I've never walked behind a waterfall so I was exited about that. I got my camera settings all set, made some friends by the falls and asked if they'd take my picture. I made my way up to the waterfall, which was (shocker) very wet and slippery. As I got behind the falls I saw one other couple there and they seemed so happy. I thought that was cool but then they said "hey mate, I just proposed and she said yes !". Fun! So I took their picture and shared their joy for a few minutes, then I had to run back and get my camera :)
At that point, I knew I was going to be a little late for the game, so I jogged back to the car. I drove the hour to the stadium and parked right at kickoff. I could hear loud chanting as soon as I got out of the car. I walked up to the stadium and it was like a ghost town outside. Security had to let me through huge gates (like 15-20 feet of steel). Then I walked through a tiny little portal to get into the stadium itself. The portal was so narrow I had to turn sideways to fit it. These are all crowd control measures, I'm sure.
I walked up to my seat, with very nice help from guards and security. I was right behind the goal, front row of the upper section, nice! Stadium held just over 20,000 people and every seat was taken. They sing and chant the entire game, quite an experience. When I booked the tickets it was the #2 vs the #8 ranked team (realising they do points, not ranks). By the time the game day arrived, it was number 3 versus 4, nice! It was nil nil most of the game until Southampton (rank 4) scored right in front of me!
I was near the visitor section, but not quite in it. You should see the number police in bright yellow vests , and the number of "response stewards" in bright orange vests.
I've been watching baseball my entire life and I realise now that I see layers and layers, and nuances in the game. In soccer/football, I'm lucky to know the rules, let alone see the strategy and mistakes. I think it's like that in busibess for people in different functions and projects, which is why there's such value in verbalising/sharing what you see. I find it's hard to choose the words to speak to an expert I'm a field, when I'm such a beginner.
After the match (yes, not called a game), I took my colleague's reccomendation for a tiny village for dinner. The village was called Castle Combe and wow was it quaint. It looked exactly like a storybook village. Google it and check out the photos, or I posted some on Instagram too. Those tiny villages have such a special feel to them, I ate at a pub and the bartender was so great.
Loving Wales, I'll have to come back soon!
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