Rugby and Opera in Cardiff

Its not often that I have to take account of the sporting calendar, apart from checking if Chelsea are playing at home before traversing that part of London. But we decided to go to Cardiff to see James MacMillan's new opera The Sacrifice at the new opera house there. The fact that they were doing a performance on 6th October, D's birthday, was an added incentive. We booked tickets without any problem (top price £35!), the cast looks fabulous (Lisa Milne, Christopher Purves, Sarah Tynan, directed by Katie Mitchell), the story is based on one from the Mabinogion. What could go wrong.

Well, we ran into difficulties when trying to book accommodation. After doing a quite web search I discovered that there is a pretty serious Rugby match on that afternoon at the Millennium Stadium. Humph! After much research I did manage to find rooms, at the special event price of £390 per night - thanks but no thanks. So we are staying in Bristol instead. Luckily the opera is not too long (3 hours). Next time, perhaps I'll remember to check the sporting calendar.