Where am I???

So, I'd organised work after my Ireland tour - needing money and all, thought it would be a good idea.

Had a list, opted for Wales, since I've not been and I'd like to get to see the place. I was told job was in Cardiff. Checked out the hospital site - didn't tell me much of anything and google maps told me it was about a 30min drive from Cardiff... I thought it shouldn't be too bad. And then dismissed all thoughts of work (more or less, mini freak out when I received timetable whilst on tour) for 10 days.

Contacted the hospital, told there's not a station near here, but there's a bus that stops at the hospital.

My earthly possessions and I made our way to Cardiff... 4 bags - duffel (heavy!) on wheels, one bag containing sleeping bag plus odds & ends (no space in duffel), laptop backpack (plus textbooks) on my back...and sling bag with all the other important randoms.

Find the bus depot, asked where I'm to catch this bus...was given a bus timetable and directions - one thing - the Welsh, they are certainly friendly. At least my experience so far. Drag duffel along, finally get to stop - read bus timetable and according to me the next bus only in 2 hours... I was like no way...back to the train station. Had a hour wait there anyway - reread the bus timetable and saw I misread it. Oh well...

So, the closest railway station is Pontyclun - pronounced 'pontee-clean' - get there, and it's just a stop. And nothing else. Two elderly ladies kindly direct me to the centre of town - 2 min walk down the road. I'd asked whether it was far - I really could not drag that bag much further - I could feel the start of blisters, even though I'd alternated hands while dragging the monstrosity with pretty much all my stuff in it.

Get into the 'town centre' - at the local chippy (fish & chip shop) get a few numbers for taxi providers, call for one, 10min wait and off to the hospital. Only about 10/15min drive - but it's along the highway so definitely not walkable - unless I want to risk getting bumped!

Pay the six quid for the taxi, get room key from reception and head to the accommodation block. Decent. Ensuite bathroom. Shared kitchen. Doable for five weeks. Pretty hospital grounds, trees everywhere ,stream outside my window. Trees on the surrounding mountains/hills (whatever they are).

All in all not to bad right?

Uh, wrong! But wrong on a more personal level. This now becomes a rant...

So, doable accommodation - but there's limited public transport. Weekdays it's fairly regular busses at like 20min intervals...about 1hr bus ride to Cardiff (found out today it's 20/30min by car) since it stops in all the dorpies...and on a Sunday the bus is every TWO HOURS!

Bloody hell! What am I going to do with myself? There are decent shops closeby - but along the highway! So, not really safe to walk! 5/6min by bus - which I can't really do on a Sunday, since there aren't enough stores to kill 2 hours before the return trip!

So I arrived on Saturday, sort of unpacked, realised no hangers, went to Tescos - forgot to buy hangers. And only realised on Sunday that the bus comes two hourly... then I was like and now what?

Add, my mobile 3G broadband, is now mobile 2G - probably cos of all the trees...who knows...but not in my room, and not in the kitchen does the signal improve. So the connection is slow. And unstable....and it frustrated me near immediately. I don't know what I'm gonna be like after 5 weeks of this!

On the upside I do have internet...but that's not the point!

No car, and reliant on an infrequent public transport service means I have no idea how I'm going to get anywhere and see anything, before having to head back to catch the last bus! Argh!

Also, in Wales, they speak Welsh (duh). It sounds so weird. And looking at the spelling of places it's completely nonsensical - all signage is in Welsh and English. Have no idea how to begin to pronounce anything.

Cymru = Wales
Caerdydd = Cardiff

The taxi driver was listening to a rugga game (I think) and the commentary was in Welsh - all I heard was a whole lot of guttural g sounding words (like the Afrikaans g).

The hospital is in a place called Ynysmaerdy (at least in the postal address) - how that is pronounced I have no frickin' clue!

Hence I have no idea where I am!
(feels like unpronounceable, but pretty, arse end of nowhere!)

No idea what I'm going to do to occupy myself!
( I could buy out Borders - it's of the shops closeby, but I don't have the space to carry all the books! Add wonky net connection and even stumbling is going to drive me to frustration since pages will all take forever to open. and online chatting is constantly disconnected and reconnected and disconnected! and then can't reach network provider. and then disabled. aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!)

No idea how I'm going to get anywhere!

No idea really!

Ranted to a buddy online asking why do I do this to myself.

It was (is!) seriously daunting getting to a place and then realising where you acutally want to be is further along and then getting there and it's like riiiiiiggggght. now what. and i haven't even started work proper yet. Today was boring Trust Induction. Work will at least occupy 8 hours a day...5 days a week... Depending of course on how busy it all is. That I find out tomorrow.

Anyway, my buddy's reply - because you don't want to get attached. Which - if I'm completely honest, is probably true! And going into that is not a good idea right now. Ever actually. Reasoning like seeing more of the UK - may be true, but that's only part of it!

In elk geval...let me try and figure out how to fill my evenings for the next 5 weeks.
:/