Been a while since I mentioned a pub here, hasn't it? Went over for lunch today to the Pantmawr, that most hidden of hostelries. Until I came here to the northern leafy Cardiff suburbs I didn't even know it was there. Then there was some kind of threat to close it and build 36 flats, which now seems to have passed. In fact on a grey chilly February day like today it was warm, friendly and very reasonable.
I had some gammon with Billy and Rita, my friends who organize our September pilgrimages. Good food, good beer, good company - excellent. You can find the Pantmawr in Tyla Teg off Caer Wenallt, itself a turning off Pantmawr Road in Rhiwbina. I hope it's a long time before it has a makeover - but I gather that my local, the Three Arches, is to have exactly that in the near future. It's good to have a smarten up, of course, and pubs need doing up like any building, but I think their place in the community is quite a subtle thing, and depends on people feeling "at home". That can be easily lost, as I saw at an Old St Mellons pub I used to visit with some chaps from the parish when I was in St Cadoc's.
I was glad to learn from Billy that our Krakow pilgrimage this year is right on track. Unusually, we have had no cancellations since our usual sell-out back in November. There is a very healthy waiting-list, and Billy told me that eleven people have actually put themselves on a list for 2011, even though we don't know if we will be going, let alone where! Today we were firming up where and at what times to celebrate our daily Mass, which forms the centre of our daily timetable. Our churches will range from the Divine Mercy shrine to the chapel in the salt-mines (pictured left), so variety is assured...
I paid the next instalment for the trip, which brings me up to date, and noticed that in seven months we'll be there!
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