Wales - Part II: Barry goes to Barry

I'm a huge sitcom fan and, with my friend Ben, still hold out hopes of getting my own efforts on screen some day. (We're currently one "memorable scene" away from finishing the draft of our first pilot which we then intend to submit for consideration. Sadly, it's been that way for about three months - but soon, very soon... almost certainly).

One of my favourite sitcoms of recent times is Gavin & Stacey. As fans of the show will know, it has a split setting of Billericay in Essex and Barry Island in Wales - the latter just a short drive away from Cardiff. So obviously, on Saturday, we had to go along for a look.

And what we found was perhaps a little on the "expected" side i.e. it's a bit shit.

Don't get me wrong, I love the seaside ("I do" - as the locals might add) but that's because I was brought up on the Causeway Coast in Northern Ireland which, if it had the weather, would be an even more attractive proposition than the already very attractive proposition it already is. It has the beaches, it has the rugged scenery and, in Portrush, it has some fairly decent rides (or "amusements," as we Ulster folk still like to call them).

In contrast, Barry undoubtedly does have a coastline and it also has views - but sadly not of the standard that made me feel compelled to take photographs of either (which is saying something if you've seen some of the rubbish I often display on this site).

But I did take a shot of Vanessa and John standing beside a "prize every time" stall thingy (Jamie's having a kip behind the umbrella).

I then asked John to take a picture of Vanessa and me on the rather pedestrian Waltzer...

...(not a natural photographer, our John).

I then took a snap of a typical Barry Island menu which seemed to based around something of a theme.

And then we left - having pretty much "done" Barry Island in the space of 40 minutes.

Needless to say I was a little disappointed not to have bumped into Smithy or Nessa or Uncle Bryn or, indeed, anyone from the cast of Gavin & Stacey which is currently filming its third and final series - although clearly not on Barry Island on this particular day.

That said, the journey did give me something of a necessary kick up the whatever to get back together with Ben and see our own little project through to completion, for better or for worse.

So now, in cyberspace, I hereby declare that we will have our script completed before the calendar shows September. It might be awful -but it will be finished.