Over the years I have watched as Gabalfa deteriorated. Tenants were now owners, and after a drunken holiday in Costa-del-Mucho, such was the cultural impact that Gabalfa started to display examples of white stucco. Gardens became car ports. Extensions were built. Windows were changed. "Conservatories" were built. And, of course, central heating was installed. Along with cable TV and DSL lines. That's not what I am referring to when I say "deteriorate".
What is also very visible is neglected gardens and old vehicles and oil and tyres lying around in front "car ports". Caravans looking for all the world as if they were salvaged from a scrap metal dump.
Annie's oil-lamp lit cottage and the canal disappeared and was replaced by MacDonald's and Tesco's and a garage and new flats. The castle grounds are still there. You can still walk all the way from Gabalfa, under the Western Avenue bridge past MacDonald's and past the mock mediaval lodge house and the blackweir, into the castle grounds and the gardens, and through the gate into the bustling city centre. In the opposite direction, you can walk to Hayley Park, and across the bridge and to the garden city village of LLandaff and down past the cathedral to Llandaff Fields and Pontcanna fields, through Canton, Grangetown, and all the way to the renovated Docklands.