Curry on the hub

The Prince of Darkness has surpassed himself. We met up outside The Yard before the great and good of Meeja Wales gathered for a curry in the Spice Quarter. This was to celebrate the successful launch of this mega project which has turned our lives upside down.
And talking of upside down, the Prince appeared like he had been pulled through a bush backwards. It soon became clear why. "I couldn't be bothered to get up today," he admitted, "so I stayed in bed until about 4.30 this afternoon."
The Prince, Wren, Paps and myself had a couple of swift ones outside our usual haunt before braving the big curry get together, where we were met by the MD, the editors and the various Hub heads. I must admit I viewed it with some trepidation but it was an enjoyable evening, followed by the usual suspects getting together for a few drinks in Six Foot Under. Strangely, the Prince wasn't in his usual Wowy, wowy mood. "I've eaten too much to drink," said the waifer-thin executive editor, sipping on a drink which somewhat resembled the blood of a young virgin. So the night ended pretty swiftly by his standards.

I still can't get used to having Saturdays off. This weekend Wren and I went to see the new James McEvoy film Wanted. More to the point we had gone to the Odeon in the Bay hoping to see it. I had checked on her computer to discover that the film was showing at 3pm. Yeah, right. We arrived to find the place over-run with rugrats and members of that horrible group, the general public. Aargh! More to the point the film wasn't even on that day, which put me in a foul mood. In fact, there was a danger of life imitating art as I turned green, Incredible Hulk style.
Wren suggested we drive out into the Valleys (scary) to see if the Showcase cinema in Nantgarw was showing anything good. It wasn't. I can't stand it either when you have a cinema with 12 screens but about eight of them are showing the two most popular films. What's the point? Might as well just convert to four big cinemas rather than 12 tiny ones.
In the end, with the rain pouring down on another typical British summer's day, we opted for a drive through the Welsh heartland and, to be honest, it was pretty enjoyable. We went to Treorchy, Tonypandy (no sign of Fireman Sam, sadly) and then had an ice cream on a cold, rainy, blustery hill overlooking Tower Colliery. God knows what possessed Mr Whippy to open for business up there but despite the weather he appeared to be doing a roaring trade.
We then tried to find Joe Calzaghe's gym in Newbridge (without luck) and the Pot Noodle factory at Crumlin (even less luck), finally driving through Blackwood en route to Newport and home.