Oh! What's Occurrin'?

Our friends Rob and Sally introduced us to a British TV show called Gavin & Stacey. I'll admit that a good deal of the jokes go straight over my head, but I do get enough of them that I am hooked on this show- HILARIOUS.

Background for anyone who hasn't seen it:
There is a boy (Gavin) and he falls for a girl (Stacey) through work-related phone calls. The problem is, he lives in Essex (an area just north of London), she lives in Barry, Wales. Some background I needed for the show is that there are evidently strong stereotypes associated with being from Essex; additionally, the Welsh have stereotypes of their own with which to contend.

The story goes that Gavin and Stacey fall in love and get married, except they are from two completely different worlds, and must quickly adapt to their new life together. Each have a best mate who plays a vital role in anything either of them do. Stacey's best mate is Nessa, "an incomparable woman with an extraordinary life history", whenever she shares stories of her past experiences, it just makes the audience (or at least me) go, "wait, what?" Gavin's best mate is a simple guy named Smithy, who loves food and beer, is very protective of Gavin and although he can't stand Stacey's friend Nessa, she does wind up pregnant with his baby. Gavin's parents are key players in the story, as are Stacey's mother and Uncle Bryn (which means "hill" in Welsh) and they provide just as much humor as every one else. I highly recommend it! (On BBC America and available on iTunes.)

The point of giving Gavin & Stacey background? Ben and I woke up this Valentine's Day with nothing to do. With plans like that, we went a bit crazy and decided to drive to Barry Island (an old amusement park/seaside town in South Wales where Stacey and Nessa are from.) I'm not going to lie to you, it was a silly thing to do it was, but what the heck, neither of us had ever been to Wales, and why not? It was crackin'!

There is one scene in Gavin & Stacey where Gav's mum calls it Barry's Island (to which his dad responds "It isn't Barry's Island, it doesn't belong to man called Barry.") The scene was comical in itself, but after googling it on the map, it's not even an island! Barry Island is a peninsula! Ben and I spent a good 2 hours wandering around the shoreside, playing the 2 pence arcade games (where fictional Nessa works, there was a sign saying "Nessa has the day off"), and just wandering the promenade looking for sights from the show. It somehow turned into a fabulous adventure of a day that completely shocked the both of us! (We even had lunch at a chippy and had curry sauce with our chips!)

The drive was actually quite nice (aside from some Rugby traffic once we got near Cardiff), our GPS lady took us on a rather unusual route through mid-south east England - but once we got to the M4 everything was fine until we got to the bridge. There is an impressive bridge across the River Severn (that separates South Wales from South England), that charges a toll going westbound - into Wales. There is great discussion about this toll on the show for it is £5.10. Ben and I teased each other all morning about how this trip is costing us gas and five pounds, 10 pence (we even double checked that we had the 10p)! However, when we got there, it was actually £5.40!! I know it's only 30p more, but come on! That is a pricey entrance fee for any country! (Ben's coworker says a friend of his will drive all the way around because he refuses to pay to go to Wales!) We figured the extra 30p is compensation for the toll booth attendants putting up with tourists asking "What's occurin'?"