"Mama, I'm comin' home."

For my birthday this year, we decided to use the Air Canada gift certificate generously provided by my employers as a retirement gift, and pay a quick visit to the United Kingdom.  My lovely wife Karli has some Welsh in her ancestry, and as such when I suggested that we spend a few days in Cardiff as part of our trip, she was excited to have an opportunity to see a bit of her family's origins.

After a few days in London, where I picked up an autographed Joe Abercrombie hardcover and a Star Trek t-shirt at the flagship Forbidden Planet megastore on Shaftesbury Avenue*, we hopped on the train and headed off to Cardiff.

After dropping off our luggage at our hotel**, we headed out to explore, and were instantly charmed by Cardiff.  

One of the old city's noteworthy features are the seven covered arcades, home to retail outlets, dining spots, bars, coffee shops, and various other commercial locations, making for an entertaining stroll sheltered from the fall Welsh rain that we were experiencing.  As I generally do when visiting a new city, I had done a search for used book stores, and found that there was a small book shop, Troutmark Books, located in one of the arcades near the castle - Castle Arcade, in fact.   

After visiting the castle, we crossed the street, entered the arcade, and eventually made a stop at the store.  As I was browsing their science fiction and fantasy section, Karli nudged me and pointed at the used comic bins behind me, where I saw THE ISSUE OF CAPTAIN CANUCK WITH THE COVER ART FROM THE T-SHIRT THAT I RECEIVED FOR MY BIRTHDAY.

Of course, I bought it - of course I bought it!  I can only wonder at the path that this comic book had travelled to get from Canada to a used bookstore bin in Wales, but I was not going to deny it a chance at repatriation - I'd like to think someone would do the same for me under similar circumstances. 

- Sid

* Just for the record, we also saw Hamilton and MJ: The Musical, and I bought a Yellow Submarine t-shirt at the Beatles Store on Baker Street - man (or woman) does not live by bread alone, as they say.

** An unsolicited recommendation: the Cardiff Marriott hotel is excellent.  It's conveniently located close to the city centre, Cardiff Castle, and the railway station, the staff were extremely friendly and helpful, and they were kind enough to reduce our bill when we mentioned that there was a bit of a problem with the HVAC in our room.