I never really realised, until my excursions last year, how much difference a 'port' could make to a travel experience. They are so often the first and last point of reference for visitors.
I'm amazed that in this day and age of branding, touchpoints and city marketing that station and transport environments are still allowed to be the way they so often are.
Cardiff, ever the hub of innovation in public space design, is no exception.
These shots were taken by me over two days this week while Take That were in town. As you'll see in the distance of that last pic, the stadium is right by the central bus and train stations. It makes the stadium a lovely venue for people to come to for events, because it's right in the middle of everything. It's good for banter.
But it's not so great for the other 260,000 of us who wanted to do something else that day. You know, something like get a bus into town, drink out of a real glass in a city pub, drive across the city or get a taxi from the train station.
I get that 74,000 people is a lot of people. There are safety things to think about. But we've had the stadium for 10 years now, these are not one off events. Whatever we think about whether it should have been built or not, it's there and it's not going anywhere. Oasis, Take That, Bryan Adams and Monster Trucks are here to stay.
I think it would be good if, as a city, we could accept that, and figure out a way to make this work without pissing off anyone who tries to move on a major event day. Or without a new visitor wishing they'd stayed on the train.
