cheese race!

there is a famous cheese race in wales where a huge wheel of cheese is rolled down a hill and people glamorously run after it. there are often broken arms, legs, other limbs (?), well at least other body parts and other casualties in this race (later on i also heard that once every ten years or so, somebody actually dies, urgh...). when i heard that there was a group going to a cheese race friday, i was quite excited, i mean, run down a crazy slope with a chance to catch some cheese, who would not be exctied! who wouldn't want to dangerously chase cheese down a hill, following and being followed by a bunch of crazed welshies!?

unfortunately, i found out that the race we were going to was not the famed one at gloucestershire (look it up!) but rather a smaller one at a city just north of cardiff known as caerphilly. the city boasts a beautiful castle, well known in the u.k. - and, well, nothing else. this is their big yearly event and everyone in town was up for the occasion, quite excited, and some dressed up. in fact, people working there all had purple polo shirts that said in excited yellow letters - the big cheese!!! (packer fans anyone???)

so the race at caerphilly centers around (and through) the castle. this was pretty sweet cause usually it costs money to go into the castle, but this time, it was free. when we got to the fair, it was already quite happening. full of booths for young and old, games, amusements, etc., but as soon as we found out about the race - i wasn't going to 'not participate'. so we quickly formed a team. of course, we were the only team that was not prepared, i.e. not dressed up, not shoe-d up , and we needed to come up with a team name... we tried initially The Big Cheese, only to be told that that was the name of the fair. Last Cheese Rolling it was! we lined up with firemen, a sombrero wearing, mustache sporting group, four teenagers numbered 118, and some other groups. with hundreds of people watching, excitedly, the mayor gave some prepared speech (couldn't understand a word. and no, it wasn't in welsh). but soon it was over and wam - the mayor, well decorated in a variety of medals and gold linings, gave us the sign. joe and i waited (joe is a very nice lady from near london... full name, joanna) while alex and anna (my office mate joaquim is married to anna, they are the sweetest couple from barcelona, and whenever i ask them a question about why they do this or that, the answer is - well, that's the barcelona (read catalan) way...) started of. our goal, stated in our name, was to be last, you know, keep expectations at a minimum. anna and alex left joe and myself in a good position to accomplish this, coming in literally a second before the last group. we did a switch-arroo and five seconds later, we were last... people were quite nice, encouraging us, cheering us on in their funky accents. one 9 year old girl told us to move our knees higher, you know, good practical advice. we came in last, of course, and dropped the pretend wooden cheese down and prepared for a photo with the mayor...
in case you are wondering, the firemen (but of course) took first.

the evening culminated with a beautiful fireworks show shot from within the castle. electronic music accompanied the rockets to make sure they were on beat... it was quite astonishing, the castle lit up in different colors, sparkling in the dark sky. i of course provided my harmonies to the setting, oohing and ahhing along.

for those keeping score:
h 0 - cheese race 1
h 0 - cardiff housing 1
h 0 - cardiff girls 1

but one day...