Short bits about Cardiff:

It has a drinking problem, and a bit of trouble containing itself in the streets. Convenience stores sell two liter bottles of hard cider and something called "White Strike."

Cardiff's cars are tiny, except in the most wealthy neighborhoods, where it seems a few American vehicular monstrosities have crept in.

All of its houses, and I mean all, are built onto the ones next to them. We had to walk a long way to see a freestanding house. (PS this is also true in very small towns. It's incredibly space efficient and probably why an island this small with this many people can still have so much agriculture and manufacturing. Which leads me to: You can buy most things manufactured in Britain. When's the last time you saw a can opener made in the States?) It also means that rural landscapes are never far away.

Wherever you are in Wales, there is a pub within walking distance. You can bring your kids and dogs to these. Mushy peas with dinner is always an option and if there's a game being played anywhere in Britain or with British players, it's on the telly. In Cardiff, pubs are all exactly the same and are clean and modern, something like I think people in the States call a "fern bar," though I've never been exactly sure what that means.

Cardiff's inhabitants appear mostly to live for beer and Indian curries, which you can buy at the 15 takeaways on any given street. And that's a lot of them, when you consider that addresses are generally given by saying, "It's on _____ street." The streets are very twisty and every little new curve is given its own name, so you can always find something just by knowing what street it's on. So yeah, a lot of curry shops. And then there are those places with fish-n-chips, pizza, doner kebobs (yeah, I don't know either, but I think Santa's pretty upset about it), and fried chicken. Jason noted that the only places that sell pizza also sell everything else, so it can't be good. For about the first week, every time we'd pass one, he'd say, "Pizza and socks." Needless to say, we have not eaten at these.