The past few months have been bad for Capitalism. In one of the latest major examples of how globalisation seeps into every section of our lives, a global protest under the name ‘Occupy’ has grown in scale to accommodate demonstrations in no less than 1000 towns and cities worldwide.

Photographers have been drawn to beach for decades, drawn by the propensity for the British tourist to leave their inhibitions at home. Walk along any seaside resort and you’ll find ‘Mr Nine to Five’ has ditched the suit in favour of some uncharacteristically flamboyant floral shorts and a pair of oversized flip-flops.

So I know most of you will have had it up to here with with all this Royal Wedding coverage so I will forgive you for possibly wishing death upon me for inflicting more on you, but please give me 5 minutes of your time to tell you about my day covering the street parties in Cardiff on Friday. I came up with a plan late on Thursday evening to attempt to cycle round 22 street parties in 11 hours. I had been suffering with acute back pain all week and, as hindsight would have it, it was a bit of an ambitious proposition that I had laid on for myself. This was my hastily assembled, Blue Peter style plan of action:

A selection of photographs taken over the last few days in Cardiff City centre. This is going to be a continued theme throughout the year so this is a first peek, and draft, of something much bigger. I’ve decided to work in colour this time – last years can be viewed here.