The second day of the New Year took me back ten years... in the early hours of the morning I roused myself from a deep slumber and made my way out of my flat into the dark winter morning. With reports of a northerly Arctic blast coming to the UK over the weekend, it seemed like the perfect time to embark on a road trip back to the South Wales Valleys where I undertook both my undergraduate and postgraduate studies between the years 2015-2020. The September just gone marked ten years since I started university at the University of South Wales (USW), where I spent my formative years.
As I made my way towards the M20 down Detling Hill from Sittingbourne, snow had fallen in this part of Kent. While I went on a holiday to North Wales a couple of years ago with my parents, this would be my first gaunt to "the Valleys" since evacuating with my parents in March 2020, just days before the first Covid lockdown. A lot had changed since then - I was a young man in my early 20s full of hope and idealism. This year I will turn 30 and I am slightly less hopeful and idealistic than I was. My dreams of becoming a young coaching prodigy in the rugby world were dashed and I quickly learnt that a degree and some volunteer experience doesn't actually get you as far as they claim at university open days. Alas, I probably wouldn't have had the experiences I had or the friends I made or in the position I am today because of it. Everything happens for a reason, as the cliché goes. To quote Heraclitus of Ephesus, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
My arrival into Pontypridd, the old Welsh mining town where I studied at USW coincided perfectly with my best mate Fred's arrival who would be joining me on this trip, driving into the Sardis Road carpark minutes after me. We soon cantered down to the local Wetherspoons, The Tumble Inn, where we had spent many a drunken night out, for traditional breakfast. At 11am, while we enjoyed eggs and bacon, some of the locals were getting shots of vodka in already. Glad to see nothing changes.
Not long after, we were joined by Gav at Costa Coffee down the road - local to the Welsh valleys but who was also a good friend here during our time at university. It would be my first time seeing Gav since September 2020 when we all met up at Reading services during easing of Covid restrictions, because nothing says superspreader like three people from three different parts of the country driving two hours to a service station for a catchup!
We reminisced, took the piss out of eachother, and discussed friends and coursemates new and old - who had babies, who made something of their lives (unlike us), who was dead, and who was probably in the Epstein files. When some local riff raff decided to make the High Street Costa their next target, we decided it was a good time to move on and went on a walk around the town centre, which had not changed much in the past few years, apart from a building knocked down here or a building built up there. Like most towns in the Welsh valleys in the years since the mining industry collapsed, economic and job opportunities are limited and growth in the area is slow, although improving.
When Gav left for an appointment, Fred and I continued our journey down memory lane. We drove down to the Sports Park where our lectures and practicals were held. Then it was back up to the Treforest Campus where we stayed in Halls in First Year. We were dissapointed to see that the Student Union had renamed the iconic student pub from 'The Randy Dragon' to 'The Coal House'. Randy Dragon was far cooler. It was also clearly shut as it was outside term time to our dismay, as we were both looking forward to a cheap meal.
Ten years ago, it all seemed so much newer and cooler and exciting. The buildings now looked drab, dilapidated, and weathered. It all needed a good power wash and new paint. Maybe I was looking back on the past with rose-tinted glasses.
After checking into our hotel, The Blueberry, in Pontypridd town centre, we made our way to Cardiff for one of our favourite activities during university - casino and a Five Guys burger. Back in the day, we would take out £20 and try to win a few quid on Blackjack to pay for our Five Guys and the train home. With our newfound age was more money to lose and certainly no more wisdom with both of us walking out down on our money and our tails between our legs. The House always wins.
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| High rollers |
On return to the hotel in Pontypridd, we decided we couldn't end the night there. So quickly turned back out and headed to one final stop, the (in)famous Uni Takeaway. It was (and still is) notorious for being not only extremely budget friendly but also decent in quality, especially when absolutely blotto from a night out in Pontypridd! We were skeptical on what it would be like sober. The quality was pleasantly surprising - Fred's cheesy garlic bread was loaded with cheese and my 7 inch hawaiian pizza had enough ham, cheese, and pineapple to feed a small horse. After being used to prices in the South East, £5.50 for pizza and £4.50 for a cheesy garlic bread is extremely good value. I fear a similar meal back home would set you back £15-20 at least.
Like two old weirdos, we went back to the university, found an empty wall to sit on, and enjoyed the delectable meal as international students still at the university walked past with side eyes and hurried footsteps. It was the perfect way to end our little jaunt in our old stomping grounds. Old memories resurfaced, and new ones created.
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| Takeaway on a wall, it doesn't get much better than that. |
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