I've been to the seaside!

[JoM]

I've been to Barry Island today! What a lovely place it is...or maybe I should say it's lush!

John's got holiday to use before the end of the year so booked today off so we - and Billy - went down to MIL's to take presents for her and the nephews...and it was actually a really lovely day. I don't know what's come over her since she moved but she gave me a kiss on the cheek when we were leaving

She's only about 20 minutes away from Barry so we thought we'd take Billy for a run on the beach. I was expecting a run-down little seaside town but it's really lovely and the beach was gorgeous. Billy had a wonderful time running around and playing with the other dogs We then went for a walk around a park in Cardiff city centre before heading back with MIL to her house for pizza before heading home. We got back and Tom was just taking a pasta bake out of the oven

[Lozzles]

What a lovely day Jo

[miasmum]

Oh that sounds a lovely day Jo. What did you think to Cardiff? My niece had a flat there with her boyfriend, before he went on a years placement to Holland. They loved it

[Diflower]

Oh lovely Jo, a typical summer day out in the winter is about perfect
And did you see Nessa? - I bet the poor people there are sick to death of being asked where she is!

MIL is obviously realising what she's missing - can't do anything but good

[Workingman]

How it must have changed Jo.

I did my tech training at RAF St Athan, just down the road, and Barry, at the time, had a Butlins - heaven. Just on the causeway to the Island was a railway sidings and it had thousands of old steam loco's rusting away.

The place was as rough as a badger's, and we RAF types were not that welcome.

[tonicha]

Sounds a good day Jo xx and even better with the mil

[cruiser2]

Like WM, I did my tech training at St Athans. There was a run down amusement park there, not a patch on the one at Blackpool. Cardiff was a great city. A good dance hall in Sophia Gardens. That was nearly 60 years ago.

[Kaz]

That all sounds great, Jo Only been to Cardiff once - daft really as it isn't that far - and it was lovely! We went to the Bay area where all the redevelopment is

Your MIL is maybe starting to realise what she is missing - "Absence makes the heart grow fonder!"

[saundra]

i first went to barry island in 1961 to meet B parents who lived in cardiff
so we went to barry for a day
and i really thought it was an island
over the years when we lived in cardiff
it became dead grotty butlins left
so im pleassed its smarted its self up these days
i loved my years in cardiff
looking back we should never have left but we did for B job
then habitat clossed in hull and we were back to square one
but we servived like you do

[JoM]

Cardiff's not far from you at all is it Kaz! It's a lovely city, and they've done wonders with the bay area. Shell, did you ever visit your niece while she was there?

Kaz, I meant to tell you - we passed BBC Wales on the way back to MIL's from the city and there was a Tardis parked outside the entrance doors

Cruiser, it was Sophia Gardens that we walked around.

Didn't see Nessa, Di...but the place seemed so familar. We parked on the front right by Marco's cafe, and just along from the amusement arcade I think they quite like the Gavin And Stacey connection, the G&S gift shop was just around the corner and the town website has a list of all of the locations used in the series.