Month: May 2012

Simon, oh Simon.

For some reason I have never really been able to work out I quite like Simon Amstell, I like the fact that he never really seems to try too hard, that he was good on Buzcocks and his mush just seems okay. I am sure he reminds me of someone I know, perhaps Peaky – not sure. Anyway I booked tickets to see him when I found out he was touring, and we went on Friday.

Started the day with a beer too many in the local pub, even though I told myself to save it for the afternoon. So three pints in I was on the train with Sian and away we went, for a night away from all children – not something that happens very often. Off at Temple Meads, we checked in briefly in the Premier Inn and nipped round the corner to the Llandoger trow, where we met up with Phil and Jess. Next stop was the Elephant, which I liked (although it stank of drains), then on to Pizza Express for a lovely Pizza before a quick pint in Colston Hall.

First bloke, the warm up came on at eight. He was foreign (Norwegian maybe?) and had a comedy accent, which made his set all the more enjoyable. It must be quite hard to be that warm up guy, as obviously everyone was there to see the other guy, but you had to do your turn anyway. I thought he was great. Can’t remember a single joke, but it did make me chuckle. 20 minute interval then the main event…

Numb it was called, which I guess is something terribly clever and meaningful – unfortunately that was how the beginning left me. As I say I like Simon, I even laugh at his sitcom, I like his effeminate stance his sad face and floppy hair – it does appear however, that I don’t really like his stand-up it. It was more like a story, that the moronic audience laughed heartily at – it must be great having followers, like Jesus they believe and laugh at anything that comes out of your mouth. Not me though, oh no. As the audience guffawed, I picked my nails and looked at the wonderful ceiling in the hall. It was all, unfortunately, a little too gay. Not that gay is not  funny (except for Graham Norton) but it was just really mincy and emotional.

About half way through – about something in Peru, it got better. I don’t know whether the material was better, or I had been lulled into the womb of humour he created. But I found myself smiling, and even did a little lol. It became more punchy, slightly edgier, and he swore a couple of times – which always makes me smile. Then before we knew it he skipped off.

So – not bad. Probably not really the type of standup I really like – last event was Jerry Sadowitz – but glad I went, and I think I would really like him as a neighbour.

After the show Sian and I went over to the The Old Duke  to listen to some live music and have a couple more beers. Really enjoyed it, although the band only played for about an hour before they left. After the band a guy just started playing the piano, and a guy from the pub played a little harmonica – it was great for a short while, until “the management” turned the piped music way up to stop them. Not HP, I can tell you. So we moaned about it for an hour over a beer or two and went back to hotel.

Thought it might be nice to get out into the county and see what we could see… I wanted to take Kate behind a waterfall, and what do you know – about an hours drive from us is Ystradfellte where there are four waterfalls – one you can walk behind…

The place is just outside of Ystradfellte, and there are two car parking areas, the better one in my opinion is the one here. Once arrived and paid your £4 parking, you can walk down from the car park to see the “caverns”. They are where the river runs under the rock and through to the other side. It would appear that there is plenty to see as a caver, but even if you don’t have your hard hat and mining light it is still a nice place to look.

Once we finished here, it was onward to the falls. The write ups on the web state about an hour and a half of walking. No chance. We arrived at 12, had a very quick break for lunch, and got back to the car at around 4. Walking all the way. Its pretty knackering, lots of up and down and not a great surface. But we didn’t know this at the time, so off we went…

First thing we saw was some rope by some rocks – this is where the pot-holers  sink into the earth, interesting to see just how small the gap they descend through is, we had a little tentative look, and threw some stones in ;o)

Walked along the river for 35 mins, until we came to a bridge (no waterfall yet), signs pointed us up the hill and after about another 10 mins we arrived at waterfall number 1. Although we had lots of rain recently, the falls were not as big as they get, but this was a quite high and made a good waterfall noise..

Very quick look here, then onward to waterfall 2.

Another 35 mins and we arrived at the next one, I liked this one, but it was a little cold. We had a small picnic here, almost dangling over the edge of the falls. Not very high, but I liked them. After refreshments we walked back up the path to the main drag, then on to waterfall 3.

This was the biggy, long steep descent (with steps), down to the mumma fall. It was a decent size, and the best bit was that you can get yourself behind it. Cool. If a little wet. If, actually it was very wet – almost too wet to take a picture… After walking around and “under” the water, we took the big slog up the steps to the top again. Where is waterfall 4?

No signs to check out where the next waterfall is, nor is there a good idea of how to get back. I then consult the words from the net. And we missed the 3rd waterfall. It was down by the 2nd one. Damn. We were not going to retrace our steps down there again, so we only actually saw 3 out of the 4.

To get back we re-traced all of our steps, right back to the car park. Just before the car park we stopped off to see the Blue Pool, which was where the river emerged from the underground caverns – it was pretty groovy. Would have been great to have a swim – but it was cold ;o) Kate managed to get her feet in without getting swept away – and then that was that. Time to go home.

All in all we really enjoyed it, tiring, and we probably wouldn’t rush back – but for the experience and the images – it was great (and only cost four quid!)