I had a nice weekend in Aberystwyth. On Saturday I drove up from Bristol in decent weather and arrived in Aber at about 2pm. Finding somewhere to park there seems to be more of a problem every time I visit, and this time I had to go all the way to the other end of North Road before I found a spot! Madness. A lot of it is down to the fact that far more students seem to have cars these days. I don't know what the percentage is, but considering that I didn't know anyone at all with a car when I was an undergrad, that might explain how tight things have got. Perhaps it is time for the university to do something like Oxford and ban cars for students? It's not like they need them.

Anyway, I met Andy at the pub and through a combination of luck and coincidence we managed to find the owner of the B&B we usually stay at (Rosendale Guest House in Cambrian Street, which I thoroughly recommend) and got a room. Unsurprisingly for the time of year, there was plenty of space. There were us and a fat man, plus a couple who seemed to enjoy noisy sex (although they didn't make it down for breakfast so we didn't see them. It is always fun to speculate about what such couples look like - they are usually rather unremarkable rather than the young sex kittens you imagine they might be.

I caught up with a couple of friends over Saturday. This involved a rather splendid hot chocolate in The Treehouse.. it had chilli in it, of all things! Sounds weird but it works. Later, dinner in Little Italy was as good as always, and the evening was rounded off with the increasingly traditional walk up Constitution Hill and back, half blinded by the massive floodlights that seem to get a bit brighter every year.

On Sunday we had breakfast at the B&B (which was rather good as usual) and headed straight off to the Centre for Alternative Technology which is just down the road in Machynlleth. I haven't been there since 1994 or so, so it was good to go again. It took us a good few hours to look around. In the shop I bought some Ecoballs - they replace washing powder and work for 1000 washes apparently. I was sceptical but the CAT works on a scientific basis so I was willing to give it a go. A quick look around the Web shows nothing but positive reviews too so I'm fairly positive that they'll work. If so they will truly be one of those wonder products that I will recommend to everyone.

Anyway, as well as excitement about washing products I had a nice Sunday. We left Aber around 2 or so and I went to see Lizzie in her house (which must be one of the most remote houses in all of Wales). The rain and fog meant that the drive was quite 'exciting', and the mountain road from Cymystwyth to Rhayader was a good bit of driving, although suicidal sheep were there to keep me on my toes. At one point no amount of beeping, shouting and gently nudging with the car seemed to convince a particularly lazy sheep to get out of the way, so I had to get out and carry it to the side of the road. Sheep truly are stupid.