"Stwffiedig" at 'r Cymraeg...dwywaith

Whilst this has been a short working week, it has been noticeable for the fact that the Welsh have conspired to spoil both ends of it for Englishmen (and women) like me. Not that there should be too many English women like me, but hopefully you get my drift!

Firstly, last Saturday, they played their little hearts out in the final match of their Rugby Six Nations campaign beating France to win the "Grand Slam" and denying the English team their rightful place on the podium.

Today, I had to visit the Principality on business, and set off this morning with my Passport in my pocket to ensure that I would be able to get back into England when my meeting was over.

The first issue that I had was that I actually had to pay to get in - £5.30 it cost - about the cost of going to see a good film, and if I had been going to see a good film it would have been entitled "A dreary day in the valleys".

Having just about got over the indignation of this charge I drove into Cardiff for my meeting at Cardiff University, where, the first issue that was raised (which I can assure you had absolutely nothing to do with the business reason for the meeting) was the fact that Wales had won the "Grand Slam"! Not wanting to be churlish, I demonstrated what a good sport I was and said "Did they?...I'm not really interested in Rugby. Is that like winning the Rugby World Cup, because I think I read that England nearly did that twice in a row didn't they?"

The meeting was much shorter than I thought it would be for some reason.

I then headed back to the multi-storey car park where I'd left my car on the top level. I took my ticket and placed it in the pay-machine. Up popped the price - EIGHT POUNDS! I'd only been there in total about two and a half hours.

Reluctantly I put my credit card in the slot to pay this extortionate fee. The machine chugged...gulped...swallowed and then refused to give me either my ticket or my credit card back. I pressed the intercom that took me through to a NCP Car Park customer service (Hah!) operative and explained my predicament. I'll get somebody down to see you shortly.

"Shortly" is an interesting word! Now, I blame the fact that 'Doctor Who' is filmed in Cardiff, as "shortly" clearly has a different meaning for these "Time Traveller" influenced folk, as I had to wait in front of the now 'Out of Order' pay machine for over half an hour!

This delay was just enough to ensure that as I eventually left Cardiff, I hit the rush hour traffic and got caught up in all of the traffic jams on the way back to Sussex as people set of on their Easter breaks.

So it was that I was "stwffiedig" at 'r Cymraeg...dwywaith (which I think, and hope means "Stuffed by the Welsh...twice")!