The Cwtch Again

Finally my Christmas stint of working is over with and I can actually enjoy myself, even if all the festivities are all over with.

My two night watches were relatively uneventful, and I was glad to get to bed on Monday morning and sleep till lunchtime.

Yesterday was Chris' birthday and we headed over to St. Davids about 6pm for another evening out in the Cwtch. We had a few drinks at the house before heading across the road. There were 7 of us altogether, Chris, Julie and Clare, and some friends of their, Nicola and Simon (Nicola is the one who accosted me in the street the other day and said she recognised me from Julie's Facebook!!!)



Chris, Noel, Simon, Nicola, Julie, me and Clare

When we arrived at the Cwtch there were a couple sitting at one of the tables and you know when you think you know someone but you are not sure, well I was pretty sure it was Gerald Davies (for those not up on famous Welsh Rugby players from the golden age of the 1970's - he is a living legend!!). So I sort of mouthed at Julie "is that who I think it is?" and she nodded... apparently he has a holiday cottage in St. Davids and is often seen around the city (yes St. Davids is a city... the smallest in Wales). I was well made up seeing one of my heros in the flesh.

We had another amazing meal - rare roast beef with walnut chutney and beef dripping toast, followed by ribeye steak in red wine sauce and lemon sorbet and vodka to finish.

Once again they had made Chris a birthday cake which they brought out at the end of the meal.

Afterwards we went back to Chris and Julie's where we had a really good laugh playing on the Wii fit whilst drunk... not an easy thing to do.

This morning we came home about 10am and have spent a very lazy day lounging in the hot tub, watching TV and generally not doing anything at all. Tomorrow night is open house here and I hope we get a few people round and have a great New Years Eve.

Keeping a Straight Face

Ok you try keeping a straight face when you have to call a ship called the WILLY!!!

Aftermath

Well the little bit of Christmas I did get to celebrate was very nice. The day actually went quite quickly. I wore my Santa hat all day and it kept my head nice and warm. I cooked a full english breakfast for us both about 10.30, we had a visit from the Harbourmaster bearing a Christmas Cake for the troops and we moved about 5 ships in total (so I couldn't sing I Saw Three Ships go Sailing by!!)

I got home about 6pm and the house was filled with the smell of Christmas dinner well under way. The fire was lit in the living room and I was handed a glass of champagne and orange juice as I walked through the door so it was a very nice home coming.

We had a lovely traditional dinner but were too full for the cheesecake I had spent ages making on Christmas Eve. After dinner we exchanged presents with Noel's mum and dad, then my Mum and Wayne arrived and we did more pressies. Meurig also arrived and there were yet more presents, so all in all we did pretty well. I had Ray Gravell's autobiography from my Mum which I shall really enjoy reading (and having a little cry about). She also got me the Doctor Who Almanac which I will study in great depth and a toilet bag of lovely Sanctuary stuff. Meurig got me a bottle of Cointreau and I had a bottle garden from Noel's mum and dad. Erin got me a huge bag of smellies and bath stuff and a Doctor Who DVD (The Five Doctors) and Ffion got me the Stephen Fry America book, so I have plenty of reading material.

Eventually everyone left and we spent the rest of the evening having a quiet glass of wine and watching the totally crap evening of TV before crashing out fairly early.

Today was back to work and again its been fairly quite. I did another cooked breakfast for Brian (Noel was making whinging noises about how I never make him cooked breakfast) and we have spent the rest of the day stuffing our faces with all the goodies his wife Wendy sent in with him, including Rocky Road, homemade mince pies, coconut macaroons and homemade Christmas cake. I now feel so stuffed I'm not sure I want any tea when I get home!!

Just Another Day

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you are all having a lovely day with your families, stuffing yourselves with choccies and drinking plenty of alcohol (well maybe not the alcohol for Ellie... but the rest of you!).

I unfortunately am stuck in work for the second year running, and it just feels like any other working day except I had choccies for breakfast which is the normal thing to do on Christmas Day. Some kind soul put a tub of Terry's Chocolate Orange segments up here and I have been dipping into it quite a bit.

It was a very early start in Chez Smith this morning. The girls had been given the choice of opening their presents Christmas Eve, getting up at 5am to do it before I came to work or waiting till I got home at 6pm this evening. They chose 5am so it was a very bleary eyed family that gathered on the bed this morning to open the stockings.

We then proceeded downstairs to do the main present opening which took somewhere in the region of 30 minutes to complete... and hey presto Christmas was over with!!

Despite agreeing with Noel that we wouldn't go and buy each other big expensive presents this year the bugger still went out and bought me some gorgeous jewelry

This lovely Clogau Gold necklace which is pearls and blue topaz and the matching earrings. I was very very pleased they are gorgeous

I also had books, dvds and a Tardis keyring from Ffion which I am very chuffed with!

Ian and I are having a relatively quiet Christmas day work wise. I cooked a full english breakfast for us both at about 10am and we have just had some homemade profitar rolls made by Ian's partner Bev, but I am saving myself for my Christmas dinner when I get home, prepared by Noel's Mum and Dad with some help from the girls no doubt.

My Mum is coming over later tonight and I am going to have a couple of glasses of wine, but not too many as I am back in work again tomorrow. Roll on next year when I can have a normal Christmas again.

Once again hope you are all having a lovely one. Happy Christmas everyone xxx

Because JoJo is Nosey

Last night we went to the Druidston for Noel's Christmas "Do". Not really party time because there were only four of us. But it was a very nice meal and the place had been decorated really nicely and looked very festive . There were the two of us, Julian (the other joiner) and Nathan (the apprentice). Now for the culinary bit. I had chorizo and tomato bruchetta, follwed by best end of lamb with caramalised onion mash, followed by warm chocolate brownie with double chocolate ice-cream... and very nice it all was too.

Today and for the next two days I am going to be busy preparing for a Christmas Day I going to spend working!!. I have presents to wrap, presents yet to buy, food to shop for and preparations to do so that my Mother in Law can cook Christmas dinner for when I get home from work.

We decided this morning to change our bedroom around, as an experiment to see if it would be more practical. We have always had the bed under the window but, we decided to move it to the other corner of the room, if this layout works we will be able to put a flat screen TV on the wall at the bottom of the bed, when we finally get round to decorating and building wardrobes, hopefully next year sometime.

I just happend to mention this to JoJo this morning and she insisted I post pictures...so here you go.

The bed used to be under the window and the chest of drawers where the bed is now.

We are hoping to build built in wardrobes where the hanging rails are now and behind the wall with the radiator is the en-suite. The cats are optional.

Hammered

We were well and truely hammered at Pub Quiz last night.

Our time finally came to play the mighty Sir Charles Whetham (with one team member, who legend has it once appeared on MasterMind!!).

It was a humiliating experience. Mind you saying that we lost 98 v 67 and other teams have been beaten with over 100 so maybe we didn't do that bad.

We were at a distinct disadvantage in one round which was "Local Knowledge" and comprised questions on what some of the roads around Neyland were known as by the locals. Seeing as Ianto and Myfanwy are from Nottingham and have only lived here 8 months and I didn't grow up in the Neyland area then we were slightly handicapped.

Blodwyn continued to know all the answers after they had been given but did pull some obscure facts from somewhere to help out a bit. We did have quite a good laugh though, mostly at the expense of the guy who had set the questions and is obviously well known on the pub quiz circuit as being a "bit of a dick"!!

No quiz now till 7th January, but hopefully we can pull some games back in the New Year.

Secret Santa

Today was Secret Santa at work. It is mostly for the office staff but I always put my name in for old times sake as it is a chance to see everyone and have a bit of laugh, get a pressie and have a mince pie!!

This is me on Santa's lap getting my pressie this morning. It was a lovely print of Martha's Vineyard, which is the pub we usually go to on the Marina, so it was quite apt really. I also enjoyed my TWO mince pies!!

My Babies

It's not often I get a chance to show off my babies but tonight they all gathered in the kitchen at the same time, mistakenly thinking it was "DINNER TIME". Dinner time is that time of night (usually 9pm) when Noel feeds them all and they all come running and wait expectantly for him to fill their bowls in the garage.

Anyway tonight they got their little body clocks wrong and were all in the kitchen about 7.30pm so I took these photos.


Skittles.. the little girly tart

Chicken .. the boss cat and grumpy old man.

Henry... the handsome one.

Nugget... the gay one!

And finally all my babies together.

Lazy Weekend

Its been a very lazy weekend in Chez Smith. I slept till about 11.30 Saturday morning, then didn't do a lot for the rest of the day. Noel and I had a quiet night in watching the X Factor final. I think Alexandria deserved to win, but I don't think she will do nearly as well as Leona.

Sunday Noel lit the fire in the the other room and we had a lazy day watching TV before I cooked a roast pork Sunday dinner which was very yummy.

Today I went to Haverfordwest to have lunch with my cousin-in-law Bella. She had asked me to get some photographs from my In-laws to put on the digital photoframe she has bought her father-in-law for Christmas. We met in the Bristol Trader and had a very nice girly lunch and caught up on all the family gossip.

I also did a bit more Christmas shopping and have now nearly finished. Just the wrapping to get out of the way.

On a very sad note, today one of the boys that Ffion was in school with was killed in a car accident with a road tanker. I think Ffion is pretty upset although she has not said much. I know these things happen all year round but why do you always hear of one just before Christmas?

Wild and Windy Night (the weather not me!!)

Well it's 5am and my last night watch of my first group of four watches back is nearly over. That means only four weeks before more time off \0/. The four days I work a week actually go pretty quickly, probably because they are such long days. I am always really tired after the day watches and after the nights I just sleep lots.

Not much to tell about what has been going on really. Erin went to the Clothes Show live in Birmingham on Wednesday and spent most of the money we gave her for Christmas. I just have to wrap the things she bought now so she will have something to open on Christmas morning.

Wednesday was also Pub Quiz night and this week we were away to the Yacht Club.

We lost :0( but again it was pretty close 97 v 91. The questions were more cryptic than really quizzy which was a bit disappointing, its not that hard to guess that the opposite to Abdication Lane is Coronation Street!! There were three rounds along those lines including TV, Films and Music, as Ianto, Blodwyn and Myfanwy are all a little older and not really into TV, music and films we struggled a bit, but I did manage to pull back a few 2 pointers but I must hang me head in shame for getting Tom Jones' real name wrong, I shall never live it down!!

Yesterday was my Mum's birthday so later today I shall be going round to see her. She had her two new hearing aids fitted last week so now Wayne and I won't be able to talk about her behind her back any more!! She does say its a great improvement though, she didn't realise she had got as deaf as she was.

I suppose I had better mention a bit about the title of this post otherwise it will seem odd. It was a very wild night last night with 50 mph winds and driving rain, this meant it was pretty quiet so I managed to get all my Christmas Cards written, these will be in the post shortly so I hope you will all be standing by your doorstep in anticipation!!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Just reading Donna's blog of how she enjoyed watching Bad Santa and it got me thinking about my favourite Christmas films.

Personally it has to be National Lampoons Christmas Vacation for me. We watch it every year and I still laugh at all the same places even though you know the joke is coming.

I also love Scrooged with Bill Murray and Karen Allen.

So come on folks.. what is your favourite Christmas Film?

I'm a Survivor

I am loving Survivors! I loved it in the 70's and have that series on DVD and I am equally loving this new series.

It is one of those series that really make you think "what if that really happened?... how would I cope?"

I've always been a bit of a sucker for post apocalyptic things. Stephen King's The Stand, for me is his greatest novel and I have read it more times than I can remember, as well as also having the DVD of the serial (probably one of the few adaptations of a King novel that is relatively true to the book).

There is such a threat of menance running through this new series, I found last night's episode with the community of teenage boys very like Lord of the Flies and very menacing. Also the "eco" community run by the ex-government minister is really spooky with their rules and levels of "acceptability". The whole thing is just really great TV.

I have also really enjoyed Spooks this series, especially as you have never quite known who is "expendable" in the cast, so some twists really have been unexpected. Although I do wish they hadn't killed off Adam Carter (the gorgeous Rupert Penry Jones!!). Maybe I shouldn't admit to it but I may be developing one of those "wrong in so many ways" crushes on Harry Pierce!!

See I can do Festive

It has been a very heavy and tiring weekend. No sooner had I recovered from my hangover from Friday night, we went out again on Saturday. This time for a meal, but with another over indulgence in wine as well.

We got to Phil and Karen's about 6.30pm and had a glass of wine while we waited for Adrian and Rose to arrive. We then all went down to Stone Hall which is only about a mile down the road from Phil and Karen's house. It is a really lovely old mansion which is decorated in a very period manner and the dining room has low beams and an open fire, it is really atmospheric.

We had a wonderful meal. I had a twice baked cheese souffle, followed by Welsh lamb in a garlic butter sauce, which was cooked to perfection. For dessert I had chocolate ice-cream with Amaretto. As usual the company was brilliant and it was one of the best nights out we have had for ages.

Phil and Karen's daughter Becky picked us up later and we all went back to their house, where we stayed up talking until 3am. Sunday morning we had a long lazy lie in and didn't leave until 1pm.

When we got back we set about putting up the Christmas Tree. Personally I think it is too early and would prefer to do it next weekend but as usual Noel insisted with the excuse that we needed to get the tree early in order to get a big enough one! This year I have gone for silver and purple and I am really pleased with it. Below is a pic of it taken with the flash on.


And below is one without the flash but with the lights on. It looks very prettyful!!

I know these pictures are nearly the same as last year but I tried to be artistic again and take a reflective one in the hall mirror.

And this is a close up of some of the decorations.

Today I cleared the kitchen and had to go to Haverfordwest to run some errands and pay a pilgrimage to very big Tescos which as usual was a nightmare. When I got back I put the rest of the decorations up and embarked on a bit of a cooking marathon, making spaghetti bolognese, chorizo and red lentil soup, spinach and ricota cannalonni and lamb meatballs for tonight's tea.

Tomorrow I am back in work... yes my 16 days off is over again and my next one isnt until 14th January. I'm not particulary looking forward to it but there you go such is life.

A Tad Hungover

Wow the time is just flying by!! I'm back in work on Tuesday. I have made large inroads into the Christmas shopping and have got most of it done now. The wrapping of it however, has not been done yet. Ffion and I went to Haverfordwest yesterday and had a very nice girly shopping time which included lunch at the Moon and Sixpence.

Last night was the Port Control Christmas "do", at the Horse and Jockey pub. There were only actually 4 Port Control staff there, me, Ian, Brian and Julian. The rest were assorted management, contractors and agents, but it was a good mix and the meal was ok. Throw in free drinks and a pretty good time was actually had. I think I may have over indulged in the Amaretto hence the slight hangover this morning. I resisted the temptation of going with Ian and Julian into town afterwards and came home in a taxi with Mike and Ian Kendrick who both live just up the road from me.

This morning I woke up about 8.30 feeling pretty dire, and have just slumped on the settee watching TV and blogging. My dad just visited briefly, the girls are also slumming around in PJs and Noel has gone out to find a Christmas Tree.... yes JoJo we are starting to get festive in chez Smith!.

Tonight we are going out with Phil, Karen, Adrian and Rose to Stone Hall for a meal and we are staying over at Phil and Karen's. No doubt it will be another gastronomic feast and I shall report tomorrow!!

Home Again

Well we are back and we had an amazing time. There will be a full report shortly on my Holiday Blog. We had every kind of weather you can imagine from lovely sunshine to snow but it all added to the fun of the weekend. We chilled out in the spa, cheered Wales to victory in the rugby on Saturday and swam in the snow on Sunday. Then yesterday we called in at Bath on the way home for lunch in the Green Tree and a bit of shopping.

Got home about 5pm yesterday and started the mountain of washing we seemed to have accummulated over the weekend. I still have a week of my time off left and I really must get down and do some serious Christmas shopping. The house also needs a good sorting out before I get back to work.

I am now going to do the first installment of the Center Parcs holiday blog complete with pictures!!

One More Sleep

That picture is truely awful, hopefully I will get a better one taken soon. Today I have not done a lot (again). Ffion went to the doctors again because her ear is still blocked and he gave her another course of anti biotics, she has an infection behind the ear drum apparently. I tidied up a bit then ran some errands, mostly delivering Ffion's Avon and getting some stuff from Tescos. I also called in for a coffee with my Mum and Wayne.

This afternoon I ran around after Erin then I finally got down to doing some packing for the weekend. We are off to Centre Parcs tomorrow morning so I thought I had better put a few things in a bag.

We had duck, garlic potatoes, green beans and red cabbage for tea tonight which was very delicious and tonight is going to be a quiet night in as we have an early start in the morning. I shall be absent till probably Tuesday, although you may see me around on Monday evening. Full details for our weekend away will be posted in due course with pictures of course.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

I'm Not Sure If I like it

I've been enjoying my time off so far. I have done very little which is really nice. Sunday I slept till mid-day then had a lazy afternoon in front of the fire watching films and drinking wine. Monday I went to Tescos for supplies then just lazed about watching TV. Tuesday I had to go to the Doctors for lady stuff and I finally remembered to finally pick up my dry cleaning. As I was leaving the doctors I had a very freaky moment. The lady walking in front of me suddenly stopped, turned and said to me.. "you are one of Julie's friends from Facebook aren't you?".... she had recognised me from pics on my friend Julie's Facebook page... scary or what!!

I invited Noel's mum and dad over for dinner, basically to butter them up to do Xmas dinner for me as I shall be working Xmas day again this year. We had a really nice roast lamb dinner.

Today I went to the hairdressers and decided too have a complete change and go dark. The pic is awful as I don't seem to be able to take a good pic of the hair yet. But basically I have gone from blonde to dark brown with purple highlights. At the moment I can't decide whether I like it or not, I keep seeing myself in the mirror and thinking "who the hell is that?" I also think it makes me look older. The horrid red top dosnt help either, I shall try and get some better pics over the next few days.

Tonight was REAL LIVE pub quiz. We were playing the Oddbars at home and the Whetham were the question masters. The quiz was very very good, unlike last time but unfortunately we lost 93 v 96. And guess who got the most correct answers..... yes yours truely \0/.

At the moment Noel and Meurig are crashed out on the living room floor after spending the evening in the hot tub drinking wine so I shall have to wake them up shortly and get them to bed...or I just might leave them here!!

Roll on 7am

Ok so we lost! I can deal with that.. honest I can. The first half was magnificent I really thought we might have a chance but alas it wasn't to be. The mighty All Blacks were just too good yet again. It is no wonder they are ranked No 1 in the world.

However, I did love the way the boys faced them off during the Haka (see pic) and refused to be the first to walk away despite the Ref urging them to, it proved we meant business... just a shame we couldn't follow it through in the second half.

Today was a something and nothing day. I slept until about 1.30pm then got up and tidied the kitchen before watching a bit of TV then deciding to wash the car which looked as if I had been rallying in it, due to all the pot holes in the lane which keep covering it in mud. That done I watched some more TV, I am loving Little Dorrit at the moment, I have taped it all and am watching it bit by bit, I love period drama and this is the BBC at its best.

I am finally coming to the end of my mini work marathon and only have about 7 hours left to go before I start my 16 days off \0/... I really can't wait. Tonight is very very quiet and I am bored rigid but I keep telling myself "not long now". No real plans for tomorrow but Noel said if it is cold and horrid, which I think it will be, we will light the fire in the other room and probably have a cosy afternoon watching dvds and drinking wine.

Oh yes and England lost 6 v 42 to South Africa (snigger).. so there is a god!!

9 v 29

BUGGERATIONS!!

An Unexpected Treat

I love Facebook!! Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in work, bored to tears, browsing my friends status' when I see Julie's "Julie is looking forward to going to the Cwtch tonight"... All I did was comment "I am really jealous" and lo and behold I get a message back asking would Noel and I like to go with them if I wasn't working.

Well it just so happens I wasn't working, so after a quick call to "He who must be consulted" I phoned her back and said we would love to come too, as long as you don't mind us gatecrashing your birthday meal!!.

So when I finished work at 6pm last night I did a quick change and off we went to St. Davids. We had a couple of glasses of wine in the house with Chris , Julie and Claire then we walked across the road to the Cwtch. I've probably mentioned before but I love the Cwtch, the menu is always really interesting and delicious and last night was no exception.

(Here comes the culinary bit). I had a cauliflower and cheese soup garnished with deep fried sage leaves and white truffle oil, which really lovely, followed by slow roasted belly pork with a pork and leek sausage and black pudding. The vegetables were roasted root vegetables, red cabbage, cauliflower cheese and garlic mashed potato. Dessert was a bara brith bread and butter pudding with Pembrokeshire Cream which was just sublime but very filling.

Chris and Julie go to the Cwtch quite often and know the owners and when we arrived there was a bottle of bubbly chilling ready for us and the table had been decorated with balloons and birthday confetti, which I had great fun making into designs (see pic). They also brought out a lovely cake (see pic) for her at the end of the meal but we were far too full to eat it, so it was taken home for later.


After a coffee and the usual little tube of Love Hearts which they always give you with the bill, we headed back to Chris and Julies for a few more wines and more chat before finally going to bed at about midnight.

Noel was up bright and early this morning (grrrr) and we headed back to Milford so he could get to work. I was feeling pretty tired so after a bit of tidying up I spent the rest of the morning watching tv with Ffion who was still off work with her ear infection. She was a lot better today but her ear had been weeping gunge all night.

This afternoon I slept from 12.30pm to 4pm and I am now back in work (yes again!!) for my first night watch. Only one more to go thank god!!

Yet More Work

All work and no play makes Karen a very tired little bunny!! I feel like I have been here forever. Three night watches in a row was hard work and not something I would have done out of choice, but I didn't realise that was how it would pan out until it was too late to say no.

But I survived!! My day off on Tuesday was spent mostly in bed sleeping. I got up at about 2.15pm and did very little for the rest of the day except make some tea and watch tv. Then it was back to work on Wednesday. Today is my second day watch so just Friday night and Saturday night to go then I can enjoy some well earned time off.

The picture above was taken by Alex (our resident IT chappie) and is of our jetty with the Chevron refinery and No. 6 berth in the background. It gives you some idea of the lovely views I have at night when the Haven is all lit up like a fairy castle and bears no resemblence to the industrial eyesore it is by day.

Ffion is not very well today. She had chronic ear ache all night and when I got up this morning she was sat in the living room sobbing her heart out. I really thought something terrible had happened to one of her friends, the way she was crying, but it was just the pain in her ear. Its amazing how quickly big grown up 18 year olds revert to being small children as soon as they are ill and want their mummies. My Mum stepped in this morning and took her to the Doctors where she was prescribed anti biotics and she is not tucked up in bed. Hopefully she will be feeling a lot better soon.

It's my butterfly day tomorrow and I really must try and get to St. Tescos and stock up on some supplies, I may even venture into Big Tescos in Haverfordwest as our store is getting worse by the week, with far too many discount brands and empty shelves. Anyway only two more watches \0/ roll on Sunday Morning!!

Work, Work and a bit more Work

I'm currently about half way through this week's work marathon. This is my second night watch and under normal circumstances I would be looking forward to four days off after this but as I explained before I have another night tomorrow night (overtime to cover for John Clarke who has gone to South Shields) then a day off on Tuesday which will probably be spent mostly in bed before I am back to work on Wednesday for another four watches (a swap to enable Keith to get a fortnight's holiday). But then joy of joy I shall have 16 whole days off!!

Friday night when I got home Noel got a chinese in and we had a quiet night in watching the rugby. Wales v Canada and as expected we won, but not as convincingly as we should have. It was a poor first half and definately not what I had been expectings... especially the kit.. what an awful colour!!



The above however was a brilliant try by Leigh Halfpenny in the final seconds of the game, a moment of pure class in an otherwise poor performance. We will have to do much better than this against the All Blacks next week!!

Saturday I did a bit of shopping with Erin in the morning before getting some sleep in the afternoon for my night watch. It was a pretty steady nights with jobs right the way through which made it go fairly quickly. Erin had been to a wedding in Narberth and stayed with a friend so she made her way to work at 7am and got a lift home with me (dirty stop out). Noel had taken Meurig to Cardiff airport at 4am as he has gone to Marbella with Doctor Pete for a week.

Today I slept until about 2.30pm and it would have been longer had it not been for next door's bloody doves dancing on the roof with hobnailed boots on (well that's what it sounded like anyway). I got up, watched some tv, hunted some eggs then came to work again.

It is now 1.35am and the watch is slipping past slowly. I shall sleep most of the day again tomorrow ready for tomorrow night, but at least tomorrow I shall get paid overtime!!

Berthing Plan

Another chance to escape presented itself today with Joe being in Port Control for the morning. So come 9am once I had handed over to him I rang Murco Jetty and asked if I could come down and observe the CARRY berthing at Murco 2.

I nipped home to collect my camera (as waste of time really as I wasn't allowed to use it on the jetty), then I headed out to the jetty. It was weird driving the quarter of a mile or so along a really narrow roadway over the sea. I parked up and walked down to Berth 2 where I met Graham (the Head Operator). My timing was perfect as the CARRY was just approaching the berth with two tugs.

It was really interesting watching the lineboats take the ropes from the ship and run them to the dolphins (mooring dolphins not bottled nosed ones!!). Erin's boyfriend Martin was on one of the lineboats but no amount of waving managed to attract his attention (I shall have words with him next time he is here). Bit by bit the ship edged closer to the berth, I could hear the Pilot giving instructions to the tugs and talking to the terminal to find out how much more he needed to maneouvre to get her in exactly the right postiion so that the jetty loading arms were lined up exactly with the ship's manifold (sorry if this bit is a bit technical!!).

Finally she was in the right place and tight against the fenders so I said my thank yous and made my way back along to the jetty to solid ground. I still had some time to kill so I decided to pay another visit to the Dry Dock because they had the sail training ship the LORD NELSON in.

Last time I was down there Paul told me to come back anytime they had something interesting in so I took the opportunity and got some great shots of this tall ship laid up in the dry dock.

All too soon I had to get back and actually do some work but at least it had broken the day up.

Tonigh we are watching the Wales v Canada match which so far has not been too brilliant but I have high hopes for the second half. Not too sure about the boys playing in yellow though.!!

Winning Ways

\0/ We are back to our winning ways at the real live Pub Quiz. We hammered the Admiral Benbow last night 60 v 34... and the A team lost just for good measure. Blodwyn wasn't too annoying last night although she did still insist that she was thinking of the correct answer after it was revealed (not a lot of bloody good that really!!).

We had a really nice meal (fillet steak, chips, salad and onion rings for me) and it was lovely to all sit down together, it dosn't happen often these days. Noel and the girls then left and I got on with the serious business of quizzing. There were some very hard questions again tonight especially on our local council (e.g. who is the Deputy Leader... silly things like that.. no doubt one of the members of the question setting team works for the local council!!).

I have been tasked with producing a GK and a Film round for when it is our turn to set the questions, this shoudn't be too hard to do given my vast collection of quizzes. I don't think we are question masters until the New Year so we have a bit of time to get our act together.

Today I have started my marathon set of watches. It is grey and wet and miserable and I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. I can't wait to get this lot out of the way and have my 16 days off, during which we will be undertaking the annual Smith family expedition to Centre Parcs.

Lazy Days

I have just enjoyed a very relaxing four days off. I have done very little, which while being incredibly lazy was also incredibly enjoyable and I was making the most of it as I have an awful week starting tomorrow. 9 watches with only 1 day off in between. This is due to a nights overtime on Monday (3 nights in a row)then Tueday off and back to work on Wednesday for four days... mind you after that I do have 16 days off .

Yesterday I did a bit of retail therapy which cheered me up no end. I bought four new tops and some christmas cards. I also spent a lovely couple of hours with my Mum and Wayne just chatting and drinking coffee. I also did some cooking in the morning and made some pate and soup.

Today has been really lazy. I made some cawl this morning for tea tomorrow and Friday as I am working then I actually hosted for a while much to mine and everyone elses amazement. This afternoon I have just watched TV and lazed around.

Tonight we are all going down the Ferry Inn for a meal, which will be really nice as I can't remember the last time we went out as a family. I will then stay behind and play quiz and hope we win. Blogging may be a bit sparse in the next few days due to lots for work but I shall try my best.

We shall Remember them

I cried twice today. Once at 11am while watching the ceremony at the Cenotaph (the Last Post gets me every time). And the second time was when I read Ellie's blog. Apologies for stealing your idea Ellie but I have loved this song since I first heard it years and years ago.




My Great Grandfather was at the battle of the Somme. Thankfully he survived and lived to be 90 so I had the honour of knowing and loving him (he died when I was 15). Our generation owe his such a huge debt of gratitude, as we do to my Grandfather and his generation for WW2. With only four survivors of WW1 still alive it wont be long before no one will be alive that actually experienced it, lets just hope we never let their sacrifce be forgotten.

Oh YESSSSS!!!!!

There are some days when it is the best feeling in the world to be WELSH and today is one of them.

All hail to the king... Joe Calzaghe!!

Just not quite good enough

Wales 15 v 20 RSA - the scoreline says it all! We just couldn't quite do it. The first game of the Autumn Internationals and the Six Nations Champions v the World Champions and a great game it was too. Rugby always manages to make me come alive and I was more interested in this game than I have been in anything for some time.

It started poorly, 10 points down in the first 10 minutes and the word "Route" was beginning to flash before my eyes, but he held firm, like those brave few at Rorkes Drift we held back the might of South Africa (humming Men of Harlech under our breath no doubt!!).

Our two new caps Andy Powell (much deserved Man of the Match - see pic) and Lee Halfpenny both had brilliant debuts and I can even find it in my heart to forgive Hook Bach for gifting a intercepted try to the Boks. The last ten minutes were incredibly exciting and if we could have only taken advantage of the last line-out who knows, we might have won. I understand Warren and Sean gave the boys a good talking to in the dressing room afterwards which no doubt contained a few choice expletives, lets just hope they listen and we come back fighting against the All Blacks and the Aussies.

I am in work tonight which I am not happy about as it is Adrian's 50th Birthday tomorrow and Noel has gone out to dinner with him and Rose, Phil and Karen and some other friends of Adrians. The weather is atrocious and the drive to work was a nightmare. I could only manage 10 mph down Hamilton Terrace because of the driving rain. It appears that it is going to be a quiet night in more ways than one. I shall just sit back and savour the silence!!

Exhaust-ed

When we moved Ffion's old car on the drive the other day Noel noticed that the exhaust was blowing a bit so this morning he asked me to take it to Haven Tyres for Steve to have a look at it. He was taking her new car back to Haverfordwest to have three tiny chips on the bonnet touched up so I decided to take Erin to school and Ffion to work in the Peugeot 106 (her old car).

Now it dosn't have power steering and is a bit like driving a tank anyway. Both girls were laughing at me all the way as I tried to haul it around corners etc. We managed to deliver Erin safely to school, so it was just a case of getting Ffion to work.

All was well until we got to the new speed bumps in Priory Road (the council's futile attempt at traffic calming!!). Poor Polly the Peugeot didn't like going over the bumps one little bit. As soon as we had gone over the last one the exhaust began blowing really loudly and we sounded like some manic boy racer revving our way along Priory Road with all heads turning to look at us as we passed!!

I managed to get Ffion to work ok and she stood laughing at me as I pulled away sounding like Lewis Hamilton on the grid at Silverstone. Then halfway along Hamilton Terrace disaster struck and the whole bloody exhaust dropped to the floor and began dragging along the road behind me. Should I stop and call someone? (no mobile phone with me so that idea was no good) so I soldiered on hoping to god that sparks weren't coming off the road as the exhaust scrapped along behind me like some terrible rusty tail.

I drove slowly (a rare occurrence for me) to the garage and pulled up outside while all the mechanics came out to point and laugh. They put poor Polly on the lift and had a good look at her underneath then ordered the new part. Steve ran me home and promised to drop Polly back when she was all better (excellent service or what!).

She was duly returned at about Noon and is now right as rain and ready to be put up for sale in the next few days.... anyone want a nice 2002 Peugeot 106, only 40,000 miles and a CD player?

p.s the new Mazda is called Milo (don't ask!!)

Bonfire Night

We went down to the neighbours tonight to let off a few fireworks.

One of the big rockets

Dawn with sparkler

Noel and Julian with sparklers

Another rocket

Small firework with firepit to one side (and Julian's legs)

Some video of one of the boxed fireworks

The big fountain firework

Low

I'm feeling pretty low at the moment. I have been for some time but it dosn't seem to be getting any better. I think its a combination of a few things, one being my weight, I have put back on all the weight I lost (nearly 2 and a half stone) and I am feeling pretty crappy about it. I know its my own fault and I don't need anyone to tell me that I need to lose the weight but I don't seem to be able to get my head into the place it needs to be to do something about it.

I also seem to spend long periods on my own when I'm not working and even times like now, with both girls out and Noel off with Meurig and there is nothing but the TV and a glass of wine.

Hopefully I shall soon get my head in a better place and stop wallowing in self pity

Don't you just love it when your cats bring you presents

I opened the garage door yesterday to put some rubbish in the bin and was greeted with the sight of this!!! Had to get the Father in Law in to remove it as I am a complete coward when it comes to dealing with rodents. Not sure which of my little darlings was responsible but it obviously didn't taste that good!!

Sunday Lunch

Saturday night was a quiet night in. I was very tired, not having slept in the day. I cooked bangers and mash with onion gravy for tea and then we settled in to watch X Factor.... what a farce... how on earth did Austin manage to go out and that Ricky Gervaise lookalike stay in, I was proper annoyed!! I think Diana is going to win, she is definately growing on me and was brilliant this week.

Yesterday we went to St. Davids to have lunch with Chris and Julie. We got there about 12 and before we headed to the Grove Hotel we took a walk up to their plot to have a look at the house they are building. It is really coming on and we were able to get a good idea of the layout etc. After that we went to the Grove where we had a gorgeous Sunday lunch, roast beef with all the trimmings. After lunch we went back to theirs and watched the Grand Prix, and consumed far too much wine. Both Noel and I crashed out at some stage and didn't wake up till midnight, when we went to bed.

This morning we were up really early and decided to head home about 7am. I had to take the car into Havefordwest for a service at 9.30am and as they let me have a courtesly car I went to Vincent Davies to have a look around and a cup of coffee.. they had some gorgeous Xmas stuff there but I resisted.

The rest of today has been spend lazing around watching TV and egg hunting, before I made some Italian Liver with braised red cabbage and garlic potatoes for tea. I am now going to settle down to watch Spooks and Paul Merton in India during which I shall probably fall asleep.

Evil Pixies and New Cars

Bit of a hectic blog today. Lots to report. Firstly last night was Halloween as everyone knows. Unfortunately some of us had to work (me, Ffion and Erin) but at least Erin got to dress up to go to work. Charlies were having a fancy dress party and she went as an evil pixie (which is very appropriate as Pixie is what Gary the Chef calls her). Her outfit was brilliant and luckily she is skinny enough to be able to get away with it. She also bought some spooky contact lenses on the internet which just added to the whole look. I think she looked brilliant.

This morning there was more excitement for Ffion as we went to Haverford west to pick up her new car. She decided to buy a brand new car a month or so ago so we looked around and she finally decided on a Mazda 2. It was duly ordered but she had to wait for a few weeks to get the model and colour she wanted. Noel had a phone call on Thursday to say that it had arrived but today was the first time she could get into Haverfordwest to pick it up.

I didn't go to bed this morning after work so that I could go in with them as I wanted to see her drive it for the first time. Noel's parents gave us a lift into the garage and then once the paperwork was completed off she went in her brand new car.

It is a gorgeous colour called Spirited Green and it really sporty looking as you can see. To say she is chuffed is a bit of an understatement

Once we got home I took these pics and then she took me down to the Ferry in for a spin to show her friends who were all working then we went to my Mums to show her and Wayne. I think she is going to spend the rest of the day driving around Milford showing it off, but who can blame her its not many 18 year olds who can afford to buy themselves a brand new car, but with two jobs and nothing else to spend her money on why the hell not!!

Losers

Well I suppose it had to happen eventually but we lost at quiz last night. We were away to the Forresters (a dive if I ever saw one.. the only thing missing was the sawdust on the floor). I met Ianto and Myfanwy at the Ferry and they gave me lift to the opposition venue where we met Blodwyn. The question master's this week were the Yacht Club and they set some pretty hard questions. In the end we lost by 6 points which wasn't too bad but we were still disappointed.

Not much else to report at the moment. Tuesday I had another "out and about" day as Joe was in for a whole shift. I went to Pembroke Dock with my supervisor and met some of the ship's agents, looked at a couple of facilities and then came back before lunch. In the afternoon I went out on the Pilot boats and a couple of jobs so all in all it wasn't a bad day. Yesterday was a normal day, quite busy until the afternoon when the weather turned terrible and not much moved.

I have been to Tescos this morning, done some tidying up and am about to go to bed and have my afternoon nap before a night watch tonight.... but I may hunt a few eggs before I go.

I'm Back

I told you normal service would be resumed on Tuesday and here I am. I did actually get back last night but I was really tired and wasn't really in the mood for blogging. I worked Thursday night shift and Noel picked me up from work Friday morning at 6.45am. We went straight down to the train and away we went.

We got to Bath at about 11.30am and got a taxi straight to the Travel Lodge only to find out that they now charge £10 to check in early... early being any time before 3pm. As we didn't fancy lugging our case around town with us we decided to pay the £10 and free from the encumberance we headed straight to ... you've guessed it... the Green Tree!! We had a couple of pints of Pitchfork there and decided to have lunch, a roast beef platter for Noel and a beef sandwich for me.. mind you the sandwiches need to be seen to be believed.

After lunch we decided to go and track down our friend Paul, who dosn't go to the Green Tree now so first we tried the Pig and Fiddle, with no luck, then the Rising Sun. As soon as we walked in the first person we saw was Nick who used to be the bar man at the Green Tree. He is now running the Rising Sun. We got a very warm welcome from him and soon settled down chatting to a few of the locals until Paul showed up about 4pm. Unfortunately the combination of no sleep and too many wines had a very negative effect on me and I don't remember leaving the Rising Sun and going back to the Travel Lodge.

Now comes the really embarassing bit. Apparently after sleeping for an hour or so I got up to go to the loo (minus clothes) and instead of going to the bathroom I let myself out into the corridor where the door closed behind me leaving me naked in the corridor desperately banging on the door until Noel managed to stop laughing long enough to let me back into the room!! I myself have no recollection of any of this and only have Noel's word that it actually happened... a word which he took great delight in spreading to everyone in both the Green Tree and the Rising Sun for the rest of the weekend.

We both then slept the rest of the night and missed going out for a meal on Friday. Saturday morning we were up bright and early and decided to go for walk around the Circus and the Royal Crescent. I took a few pictures, something I don't usually do as we go to Bath so often but I was quite pleased with them, especially the one of the Royal Crescent with the autum leaves in the foreground. We had a lovely walk then a look round the shops before a couple of drinks before going for lunch in the Rising Sun where we met Paul again. We ended up playing skittles and having a really good laugh.

Saturday night we went to a restaurant called Beujolais for dinner and had an excellent meal. I had a goats cheese and roasted vegetable tart to start, then rack of lamb with ratatouille and buttered spinach. For dessert I had a scoop of vanilla icecream with a shot of expresso coffee poured over it, it was really lovely. Then being the terribly boring old farts we are we went back to the hotel and bed.

Sunday morning we were up early again and this time had a walk down towards the river, unfortunately the weather wasn't as good so we just had to go and shelter in the Green Tree and then the Rising Sun. Dinner Sunday night was at the Moon and Sixpence and was even better than Saturday's. I had portabello mushrooms with a herb stuffing and pecorino cheese then roast loin of lamb with parmasen pollenta and aubergine caviar (very posh but absolutely delicious). Again we couldn't manage a big pudding so we had lemon sorbet with a shot of vodka which was very light and refreshing.

Monday we did a bit of shopping before lunch and quite a few drinks in the Green Tree before catching the 2.30pm train home. All in all a very lazy, alcoholic and gastronomic weekend, but most enjoyable (well apart from the naked in the corridor bit!!!)

Normal Service will resume on Tuesday

We are off again \0/..... first thing in the morning as soon as I finish work we shall be catching the 7.05am train to beautiful Bath.

I love going to Bath its like a second home now, we know the city well and all the great places to eat and especially drink (i.e. the Green Tree). Last time we were there in April I was ill so we didn't enjoy it as much as we should have so I am really looking forward to going again.

We had intended to use our Tescos vouchers and go to Chester but the hotel we wanted to book was not accepting the vouchers for the weekend we wanted to go, so instead we have booked the Travel Lodge in Bath and will look at going to Chester in the New Year.

Now all I have to do is get through this very long and windy night in the Ivory Tower and pray my relief shows up at a reasonable time so we don't miss the train.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and I shall be back on Tuesday with a full report on the Holiday Blog.

I Was There!!

You know all this controversy going on at the moment about the Tory party, Russian bilionaires, dodgy donations and super yachts? Well I was an eye witness.... sort of.

While we were on our boat trip in Corfu during the cruise we sailed past the Rothschild Estate and lo and behold what did we take a pics of... only the QUEEN K, the super yacht the dodgy deals allegedly took place on.

QUEEN K

QUEEN K moored below the Rothschild Estate.

See

RIP Begs

Just when I felt I was pulling myself out of my depression of last week I get another blow. I heard at work this morning that Peter Begbie who was Assistant Harbourmaster at work for many years and who I was very fond of had died.

I heard a few weeks ago that he was very ill (secondary brain tumour from a previous lung cancer) but it was still quite a shock when I was told this morning. I have spent the whole day lapsing into tears and trying to hide the fact because I was in work.

To make things worse I will not be able to make the funeral because it is Monday and Noel and I shall still be in Bath. In some ways this is probably a good thing because I don't do funerals well, I tend to go to pieces but I really wanted to pay my last respects to someone who was one of the nicest people I knew and who over the last 26 years has been not only a colleague who I respected immensely but who I also considered a good friend.

RIP Begs, I have lots of great memories of the last 26 years xxx

Back to Work

I hate the sound of my alarm at 5.45am but I've probably told you that before! Today was no exception and now after being off for 2 weeks it is really dark when I am getting up and even when I am driving to work. Add to this wind and rain and it wasn't a nice experience this morning.

Two weeks away and it was back to the grind and nothing changes. It was an awful day weather wise and we had delays left over from the night watch some of which we hadn't managed to bring in by the time I went home.

The day went quickly thought and before I knew it, it was time to come and home and it was nearly dark again.. I hate the winter when you got to work in the dark and come home in the dark.

We had pork chops for tea tonight and we are going to settle down and watch Amazon and Paul Merton in India tonight.... life is back to boring normality.

Family Day Out

Me and him had a very quiet night last night. We watched X Factor then went to bed, really exciting eh? Managed to just about stay awake to watch the X Factor results then we watched 100 greatest scary moments before putting the light out.

I heard the Queen Bee come home sometime during the early hours although she sounded more like a herd of baby elephants than a Queen Bee. This morning I had a nice lie in until about 10am but I had to get up then. Ffion was looking rather the worse for wear, she had a real hangover, poor thing. I had to make a quick foray to St. Tescos to get a birthday card and some flowers for Noel's mum as it was her birthday.

The whole family then went down to the Ferry Inn for Sunday lunch. That was the four of us, Noel's mum and dad and his brother, wife and 2 kids. We had a really lovely meal and its not very often we all get together.

This afternoon has been incredibly lazy. Ffion and I watched the Hollyoaks omnibus while Noel lit the fire in the other living room and put a video on. I also did a bit of cooking and made an apple pie with apples from our little tree in the garden. I finally made some pate and then Ffion and Noel had a chinese for tea.

Back to work tomorrow.. that two weeks has gone really quickly. Four days work then off to Bath for the weekend... I can't wait.

The Ladybirds and the Bees

Apologies for the drunken blog last night, I was just feeling pretty sorry for myself and too much wine didn't help. Anyway I am feeling a lot better this morning (apart from a slight headache).

So far today I have done very little, a bit of egg hunting, watched Messiah which I recoreded and which was absolutely brilliant, can't imagine how I missed it the first time round. I am now watching Judge John Deed (I soooooooooooo would!!!). As Clank is addicted to the Crime and Punishment Channel I am becoming addicted to Alibi. I shall endeavour to move soon and do some clearning up and cooking (I am being hassled to make more pate!!)

Tonight Ffion and her friends are going out in Haverfordwest dressed as ladybirds and bees

This is her costume, she is a Queen Bee, Tanya is going as a Killer Bee, and Alana as a Ladybird. Hopefully I can get some pics of the rest of them at some stage.

Crap

Apparently I am a crap wife, a crap mother and a crap friend....why do I bother????... I'm probably a crap daugher and a crap workmate too..but I've not had the pleasure of their opion so I can only suppose!!

Quiz Maestros

\0/ we won again!!! 2 out of 2 now and we were rather pleased with ourselves. Our opponents this week were the Rose and Willow and a strange looking bunch they were too... mind you they probably 'thought the same about us. In all fairness they were a good laugh as well, one poor lad (who had green hair) didn't manage to answer any of his individual questions and we became used to the cry of "TEAM" as he threw it open to the others. We won 73 to 51 which was a pretty good result. The questions (set this week by the Ferry A team) were quite hard and in one round on quotations neither team managed to score one point!!

As to my team mates, I am really liking Ianto and Mywanwy, especially Mywanwy, we seem to be on the same wavelength and come up with the same answers a lot of the time. Blodwyn on the other hand is a complete nightmare. Not only does she talk insessantly but she also has an annoying habit of discussing possible answers in a very loud voice before the other team have given an answer, thereby sometimes giving the answer away. The rest of us scribble possible answers on a bit of paper until it is our turn to confer. Also when the question is thrown open to us for 1 point she shouts out what she thinks the answer is before conferring and lost us a few points last night for being wrong.

All in all I am really enjoying being in a real team.

Today I havn't done a lot and tonight Noel and I are going to the Torch Theatre to see Neville's Island which is a black comedy and is very funny (I have seen it before and seen the TV version which had Martin Clunes in it!). Full report tomorrow.

Now I had better go and make some tea so I will appear I have done something today!!

Strange Day

As the title suggests its been a strange day today. It started badly when I woke up with terrible indigestion, so bad I thought I was having a heart attack! I then had some news from Ffion about one of her friends which I am not at liberty to share yet but it wasnt good and I am having to get involved.

Then came the first surreal episode. Ffion's Avon didn't arrive yesterday as it was supposed to, she chased up the courier this morning and they said they had delivered it and left it in the "big green box"!!... we don't have a big green box. Apparently it was a new driver and I had an idea that he might have left it at 3 Castle Hall Road...instead of Drive!! So off I trot up the road to investigate, wearing just my tracky bottoms and a t-shirt. I knocked on the door of No 3 but there was no answer but lo and behold in their garden there was this big green box/garden tidy thingy, so I took a peek inside and there were Ffion's Avon boxes. I thought I had better knock again and speak to them but after four attempts there was still no answer so I just picked up the boxes and headed off down the path. Half way down and my tracky bottoms decided to start slipping down and oh dear...I had no underware on"!! I hope to god the people in the house didnt look out of the bedroom window or they would have seen this strange woman with a bad case of builders bum legging it down their path with her arms full of Avon boxes!!

I took my Mum out for lunch today, which was a nice part of the day. We went to the Corn Store in Pembroke and had a lovely lunch and a browse around the shop. We then went to a local garden centre where Mum bought some pots. She then came home with me and had a coffee and a chat before I dropped her back home, it was really nice to spend some time with her.

So you can see its been a bit of a strange day and now I am off to pub quiz again so time to paint on a smile and try and enjoy it.

Oh yes and I have 6 naked women in my hall getting spray tans.. and Noel has been banished!!

On not doing a lot.

As I suspected at the beginning of my time off I have not actually done much. Yes I have had my hair cut (why can I never get it to look like Mark does!!). Yes I have had lunch with Nicole, in fact I had lunch and a night out and was abandoned!!! I have been positively domesticated on the culinary front and have baked a chocolate sponge; a banana and walnut loaf; made tomato, celery and apple soup; homemade pate and produced various home cooked meals for my grateful family!! I have not had my garden sorted out!! and I am taking my mother out for the day tomorrow, so I suppose all in all its not been too bad.

Today I had a meeting at work at 10am which was pretty mind numbing but will provide me with £100 overtime for sitting and nodding at the right places for two hours. After that I paid a brief visit to St. Tescos before coming home and making the aforementioned banana and walnut loaf. I then retired to my favourite corner of the settee and watched a few things I have on the Sky+. The Ruby in the Smoke, some Primeval and a bit of Cranford (all things I wanted to see in the past but never got round to.)

Oh yes and I have regained my 3rd place in Wales in egg hunting and have over 3,000 eggs!!!

Holiday Complications

Every year the Smith clan and various hangers on decamp to Centre Parcs at Longleat in late November/early December. Regular readers will recall past adventures both gastronomic and alcoholic (who can forget the "Noel asleep covered in red wine" photos from last year!!). Anyway we booked this years break not long after we got back last December and owing to the success of last year decided to go for an 8 berth apartment which would mean the 4 Smith, 2 Southwells and a friend each for the Smith offspring.

First indications were that Erin would take Lal and Ffion would take one of her friends, either Tanya, Alana or Kirsty. Unfortunately it became obvious some time ago that none of Ffion's friends were able to make it. Kirsty couldn't get time off work, Alana couldn't afford it and Tanya has all sorts of pie in the sky plans of moving to London. So in the last week or so Erin as well as inviting Lal has also invited Jess (No not you Jess ).

Now for some background... do you all remember Ffion used to go out with the invisible Dan (nod if you do!!). Well you will also recall that they finshed some time ago. Well in the meantime and after a semi descent interval Dan has started to go out with Lal...... this has not gone down well with Ffion as you can imagine. This has now made the whole holiday scenario impossible. Having Ffion and Lal in the same apartment for a weekend is just not going to work, so today I had to tell Erin that she will not be able to bring Lal with her. Obviously she is quite upset about this but she does understand it from her sister's point of view. I have told her that if she dosn't feel she can tell Lal then I will do it for her but she's not too keen on that idea.... oh the joys of teenage romances!!

So the end result is that we now have a spare place in our apartment. I have told Noel that "NO" Meurig can't come with us, so it just remains to be seen if Chris and Julie can get their daughter Claire, who is just about the same age as Ffion to come. But she is in University in Cardiff and may not be able to make it.... applications on a postcard please!!

Recovery

I managed to drag myself to the hairdressers yesterday in the end but I felt pretty awful, not the best way to feel when you are about to have your hair done. A few glasses of cold water while I was waiting and a bit of relaxation while Mark play... I mean cut my hair and I felt slightly more human by the time I left. (I think the two paracetamol helped as well).

After I left the hairdressers, perfectly coiffed, I had a brief wander around the the shops but only came away with a book from a charity shop (The first in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman). On getting home I put the rest of yesterdays shopping away then slumped on the sofa and remained there for the rest of the day, just watching tv and egg hunting.

I made a simple dinner of rump steak, garlic potatoes and sugar snap peas for tea then resumed my slumped postion on the sofa until we decided to have an early night about 9.30pm.

I was up pretty early this morning... well 8.30am isnt bad for a Saturday. I cleaned up the kitchen then proceeded to do absolutely nothing except watch tv and egg hunt. There didnt seem much point in doing anything else as the weather outside was awful, Noel was in work and I had to go back to bed in the afternoon anyway.

I slept from 2pm to 4.30pm and it was a very deep sleep which left me feeling quite groggy when I did get up.

Tonight I am in work on an overtime shift which is a real nuisance as it is right in the middle of my 14 days off. So far it is pretty quiet. I sent out for a chicken kebab which was very tasty and now we are just moving a couple of ships (real ones JoJo not invisible ones) and it looks like being a steady night. Oh well just think of the money!!

Bluestone

Nic picked me up at about 12pm yesterday and we headed off towards Bluestone. First stop was Macdonalds in Pembroke Docks.. we thought we had better line our stomachs with a bit of lunch. I had one of the new "M" burgers which was really nice. Anyway we then headed off again in search of Bluestone. A good hour and several detours later we finally found it (Nic isn't the best at finding her way around, hence why we once nearly ended up in Dover when we were trying to get to Bexley Heath!!).

When we arrived we checked in and found our accommodation. It was very impressive I must admit. We each had a lodge with two bedrooms, an open plan kitchen, dining, living room and a wet room/bathroom. It was all done out to the very highest spec. I unpacked then we headed to the Blue Lagoon.

It was very nice but a bit boring to look at, not at all like the pool area at Centre Parcs which really is a tropical paradise. We went on a couple of the flumes and in the lazy river and we met up with a couple of Nicole's work colleagues who were also there for the dinner. We had three hours in the pool but there really wasn't enough to do for all that time so after about an hour and a half we got out and got changed and headed for the pub in the "village" part of the complex.

A few drinks later and Noel arrived, he was also very impressed with the accommodation and we popped into Nic's lodge to have a glass of wine before getting changed

Noel and Nic having a glass of wine.

Once we got changed we had a drinks reception at the "Yard" which was in the "Village". The wine flowed freely and the canapes were very tasty, then we were shuttled up to the sports area by minibus for the main dinner.

Svitzer (Nicole's firm) had two tables and again the wine was flowing freely (probably why I feel like crap today!!). Before the meal there was a quick speech from Rhodri Morgan (The Welsh First Minister) then we had the meal. It was very nice, a cauliflower and cheese soup (served in a small cup) then a goat's cheese souffle followed by roast welsh beef. I'm afraid I can't remember what the pudding was (the wine had taken effect by then).

The after dinner speaker was Simon Weston and he gave a very interesting talk on his experiences in the Falklands and his charity work. Noel however didn't find it very interesting and fell asleep which was very embrassing because he snored!!

Simon Weston giving his after dinner speech

At some point after the dinner Nicole must have gone off to bed because we couldn't find her and as we didn't really know any of the other Svitzer guests we headed off to bed as well.

This morning Noel left early to get to work and I was woken up by knocking at about 8.30. I got dressed and went to the door but there was no-one there. I packed and went to look for Nicole but her apartment was empty. I then saw one of the Svitzer party who told me that Nicole had gone... great she'd left me... probably thinking I had gone home with Noel. Luckily the same guy offered to give me a lift back to Milford so I wasn't totally abandoned.

When I got home I had to head straight back out again to the hairdressers where I have been most of the morning.

I am now having a very lazy afternoon watching tv and egg hunting. I still don't feel 100% so its going to be a quiet night tonight.