Pleasant Valley Saturday

Wales was the only place to be on Saturday afternoon as the Six Nations rugby finally got underway.  And if I couldn't be in Cardiff to see Ireland stuff the Welshies (which I couldn't), then a pub in Coedpoeth near Wrexham was the obvious next best place.

We Whites went to stay with our friends Tim and Louise - that's Tim in the foreground below - who are living in Louise's native Wales for two years, before returning to Australia in September.   

Our pub had it all.  We had a strange couple who were the only patrons to insist on standing to sing the Welsh national anthem.  (After the game and wearing a Wales scarf, the male half of the relationship told me in a thick Welsh accent that he'd supported Ireland last year - the same year Wales won the Grand Slam.  Very odd).

We had a very nice elderly gent who had a habit of laughing at his own jokes just before he'd delivered the punchline, before forgetting to then do so.  We had his mate, the pub fat bloke with just one facial expression.

We even had the opportunity to purchase souvenirs.

Afterwards, Tim and I staggered...er...sauntered back to see the new addition to the family, Osian (it's Welsh, like him. He's the small one).  

The pressure is already on for this weekend when Ireland play England in Dublin.  But there is a plan.