It may or may not interest you to hear a bit about what I’ve been up to lately. Either way, I enjoy remembering and writing these things, so it’s not an entirely pointless exercise.
On Saturday 11th March, with most people having finished their exams apart from a few over-worked medics, Cardiff Christian Union had its end-of-year beach party, ably organised by Becky Lamb. We met at 10am and bundled into a coach to head to a beach on the Gower. By the way, here’s the ultimate proof I’m dedicated to the CU and its members: I missed that week’s Doctor Who episode to be on the beach all day! (Don’t worry, I saw a repeat on BBC3 the following Friday).
Although it was initially rather cloudy, the sun came out and we were able to have a great time chatting, going in the sea (which was very cold rather than lovely when you got in, but still great fun), playing various sports and generally having a chilled-out time.
We had a sand modelling competition, and I was enlisted to help build a Viking longboat from sand! I did most of the worked on sculpting the head of a dragon as a figurehead, while Ian, Tom and the rest of the team did a great job of the body and tail of the boat. They built in seats for us to sit on so that when the time came for the models to be judged, we could sit in our boat and wave our swords and shields (well, baseball bats and frisbees!) menacingly.
There was stiff competition from the other teams, such as the sand Loch Ness Monster (shown eating a miniature version of our longboat!) and also some not-so-stiff competition, such as the half-built and tatty sandcastle that was supposed to be a “ruined castle”. Despite this, our efforts were rewarded and our boat was deemed the winner! There were also some other awards. Andrew, who I know from the Debating Competition, was very miffed that the sand Coliseum he and Emma had made, which was the first sand model, was awarded the “Dullest Model Award”.
We also had a talk about the Christian message from UCCF worker James Sercombe, who’d brought his two children down to the beach. I know him from when he came to preach at my church, Bala Evangelical Church, and from when he’s come to the Welsh CU, so it was nice to have a chat and catch up with him.
Some people disappeared a bit earlier to get back to Cardiff in time for the Students’ Union end of year ball. Not my cup of tea, and not something I’d pay £35 to go to. A barbecue on the beach is much more to my liking!
On arriving back in Cardiff, after donating some of my leftover food to the inhabitants of 14 Cwmdare Street and saying some goodbyes, I got as much as possible packed up ready for an early start the next morning, because on the Sunday I would be catching the train to go off on my Next Exciting Adventure…
