Foo Fighters, Canada and a amazing surprise!

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Now then folks, just take a breath and take it all in as this is a whirlwind of an update. so much going on in so little time.

How are we all this update my lovely followers? I do hope all is well with all of you and your keeping safe and healthy and happy.

So.....It's been a long time coming but seeing the Foo Fighters in concert is almost here. Countdown is on. The last time we had tickets to see them were for Milan and Birmingham in 2022 but due to the sad death of Taylor Hawkins both of those concerts were cancelled but we did get to see them at Wembley in very very emotional circumstances at the Taylor Tribute Concert. This time its in our home city of Cardiff in the best stadium in the world with the best band in the world and the best seats. we are Sooooooooo excited for this day to come.

They're coming to town!

After that it's a quick few hours sleep and off to Heathrow the next day ready for our flight to Canada and back to our beautiful Calgary to have more amazing times. Lots going on this trip. We have Canada Day July 1st (the reason for going this time), Calgary Stampede (the reason for going last time) and the surprise is .........WE'RE GETTING MARRIED! Going to be so cool, can't wait. As you know cause you've been reading my blog for years that Sian and i are a love story years in the making which started in 1996 when we first met but circumstances weren't in our favour at that time and here we are 2 years shy of 30 years later getting married on an island on the banks of Bow River in the amazing city of Calgary. Some people have asked "why bother getting married?" Well, our last marriages weren't great if we're both being honest, we'll call them trial runs and i think we both got married for the wrong reasons, so we want to get married because this time it's for the right reasons, we love each other, we miss each other when apart, we're best buddies and we have never had an argument in the whole time we've been together and that's the truth. I think i raised my voice once in Calgary in 2020 but that was more frustration with myself as i couldn't get my card to work for a delivery meal (I was hungry OK) and i got annoyed then raised my voice at Sian so it wasn't even a row, it was just me being an idiot. I think you only argue with a partner because they annoy you or your finding faults and we've never annoyed each other or picked faults and if your partner annoys you or is trying to find faults in you then doesn't that tell you something? So yes we're getting married because WE want to.

Princes Island in Calgary the location for our special occasion. 

The decking on the bank of Bow river on Princes Island is the location where our ceremony will take place.

And our lovely wedding minister who has been so helpful, she's in the middle 😁.

I see people getting wedding planners to sort out their weddings abroad and if a complete imbecile like me can do it anyone can. I got our wedding license sorted, found our minister, Sian found our location and all is calm and cool with no help from anyone. Perhaps i should get in the game, it's ridiculously easy and wedding planners charge a fortune, just a rip off folks i'm sorry to say. We've got 2 witnesses and photo's of the day included in the ceremony and guess how much everything and i mean everything, paperwork, minister, witnesses and photos costs us.........Sorry can't tell you, if i did everyone would do it, lets just say this tight, balding, short ass Welshman is very happy. It only took us 48hrs to sort it all it

We've both done the whole big wedding thing before and for what? Just for show and pomp. You have a huge ceremony for people you hardly see from day to day or even know, families sit on opposite sides of a room or church not knowing each other, then you have a sit down meal where no one talks to each other as most are on their phones or they can't be bothered to talk to someone they don't know and in the night you have a party where both families stay apart, don't mingle, then they go home drunk, you may as well have separate events for each family as they're not bothered about meeting your second cousin twice removed, what a waste of money, time and effort.

The wedding day is just about the couple in all honesty, no one else, it's about their love and bond. Sian and i both decided before i even started to organize it that when we did get married it was just about us, plain and simple. Straight after our ceremony it's just us, shuffle board, poutine and mandarin beer in one of our favourite local bars which is all pre-booked but we have a pre-wedding meal booked 2 days before at the top of the Calgary Tower and a post wedding meal booked 2 days after at a BBQ grill house so we can have burnt brisket ends mmmmmmmm!  It's what WE like, not what OTHERS like or think we should do. IT'S OUR DAY! Then when we get back to the UK we will be arranging a party for family and friends but we know what we want for our party so just need to get all the ducks in a row to make it happen, may not be this year, maybe 2025 but again its a party that WE want so you know it's going to be something different and to do with rock music including the UK Foo Fighters hopefully. Look out for an invite 😂.

Calgary Tower

The Sky360 restaurant at the top of the tower for our pre-wedding meal, food, drinkies, shots and heights, is that a good combination? 😆

I wonder what's in the box?

Well, Sian knows as she chose the wedding ring she wanted 😄

So when we get back there will be a long, long update with everything.

Ladies......What the hell are you up to? When has it been the thing to leave the house with your face like the day you were born looking natural then make yourself up on a bus, coach or train? It's ridiculous! The other morning i saw the worst of the lot. So, a couple got on the coach i was on in Bridgend, he with a wife beater vest on and she with a tracksuit and cap, they had suitcases so they were off to Bristol airport as that was the coach i was on. He sat next to her before we started to move then he moved away from her once we set off. Out came this huge travel bag the size of your overhead cabin bag. She proceeded to put large curlers in her hair, this i found weird, doing your hair on a bus with other people around you. Then once hair was all sorted she took out of this bag a mirror the size of a 14" tablet which lit up around the edges with LED's. After that came bottle after bottle, tub after tub. Once the seat next to her was full of crap she then started to plaster on all this crap, contouring, shading, eye lashes, the lot, you name whatever you ladies do to your face and she was doing it. We got to Cardiff 30 mins later and she was still at her face and there were allot of travellers about to get on bus. Why ladies? it's absolutely ridiculous that you can't get sorted in your own home, get up a bit earlier you lazy things. That guy will be getting off the bus wondering where his girlfriend has gone she'll look so different as she did so much to her mug and he looked that dumb.  What next ladies? Waxing your bikini line on your way to a beach holiday? I may get on the bus next week, take my top off , lather my chest up with shaving foam and shave it as i couldn't be arsed to get up 5 mins earlier to do it in the shower.

Covert pic of that dreaded villain "Curler Head"

FOOD! We like food related posts.

So Cardiff had a new restaurant open up, part of the Coppa Club chain and it's called "The Cardiff Townhouse". So as a surprise for Sian i booked us a table for the opening week and by golly gosh was it good.

The restaurant area, they have 2 different seating areas for food upstairs and a bar area downstairs.

The view from our table where we saw a tramp sunbathing outside the restaurant opposite us.

Our starters, STARTERS! They're pizza sized. They're called Pizzettas so we thought they would be very small pizzas the size of bruschetta, we were so wrong.

Sian had a lovely piece of rainbow trout with truffle and parmesan fries.

And i had freshly made ravioli with edamame beans and shaved parmesan. SO GOOD!

Had to have drinkies.

NEXT! For Sian's birthday another surprise meal at a Greek restaurant around the corner from where we live, nice close walking distance.

Awwww, we miss our Greek beers.

This is our mixed platter for 2 which had so much meat and we ordered extra saganaki, dolmades and gigantes. I think we made a huge mistake.

Come on, we didn't do to bad, a few chips and a couple of pieces of pitta bread left.

And finally....Taylor Swift......uuuugggghhhh! I'm being totally honest here it's not because her songs for me are terrible BUT her voice is pretty average, i've heard better on X factor and on Karaoke. The songs are so basic that this is why children and middle aged women like them. Her stage show from pics i've seen does look amazing i will say that but this is just smoke and mirrors because if it was just her and a band on stage i'm guessing it would be pretty boring and i imagine she's nice as a person but this is the thorn that sticks in my throat......Pink has just done a sold out UK stadium tour, much better vocals and songs and not a word on the news. Bruce Springsteen did a sold out UK stadium tour, an icon in music and again hardly anything on the TV and of course the Foo Fighters, sold out all their UK stadium dates within 5 mins and people had queued online for at least an hour before in queuing system but again not a word on the news. Taylor Swift,  you can't turn a channel on without someone being interviewed sat on a pavement with a crap "Kiss me quick" pink cowboy hat on crying "she's amazing, she's my hero", GET A GRIP! Ah well, we can't all like the same music BUT Swifty's is just.........especially when she sings about "being a functioning alcoholic", i'm sure if she was or had been it would have been plastered all over the press without a doubt so how can she write about something she has never experienced?. One last word on Ms. Swift she played at Radio 1's biggest weekend in Swansea, Wales in 2018, only 6 years ago and a huge gig it was with Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, 30 seconds to Mars etc also on that weekend. This week Swifty with her knowledge and wisdom states "This is my very first time getting to play a show in Wales" (CLAP, CLAP,CLAP) WELL DONE! obviously WALES was very forgettable the first and only time she ever played here.

Serve All, Love All, Peace All......Kevlar Out!