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.

A Bit of a Do

I was wandering round Big Tescos in Haverfordwest thinking "why did I come here" when my phone rang. It was Nicole. She wanted to know if Noel and I wanted to go to a posh do at the new Bluestone holiday village......TONIGHT!

A quick call to Noel and we decided that we will go. The slightly awkward thing is that the dinner is being held by the firm I work for Milford Haven Port Authority and it is because they have been hosting the British Ports Association AGM at Bluestone all week... will be interesting to see managements face when I roll up tonight!!

Dashed home from Tescos, defuzzed legs, packed overnight case and am now waiting for Nicole to come and pick me up as we are going over early to make use of the pool facilities for the afternoon. We will also be staying overnight at the holiday village so it will be a good opportunity to see what it is like.

Full report tomorrow.... maybe with pics.

Indian Summer

Today has been a truely glorious day here in sunny Pembrokeshire. The sun has shone and it was actually quite warm. I dragged myself out of bed at the normal time (6.45am) and took Erin to school when she finally got herself ready (8.45am... I could could have had a bloody lie in!!). I filled in the spare 2 hours with a mixture of egg hunting and watching CSI Miami. I have been slack and lost my 3rd place in Wales... I shall have to try harder.

When I got back from the school run I came over all domesticated and b'aked a cake! A lovely chocolate victoria sandwich which probably won't last very long once the rest of the family get home.

As it was such a lovely day and I had a lunch date with Nicole I decided to be very good and walk over to Milford. I am seriously unfit.. the hill up from my house to the main road nearly killed me. My legs felt like they were on fire and I was incredibly out of breath. Once I had tackled the incline though it was a lovely walk along the front and down to the Marina.

I met Nicole at the Lilac Tree and we had a very pleasant lunch (I had a really nice steak baguette and a couple of glasses of wine). We then sat outside in the sun for a while and caught up on all the gossip... and there was lots!! I then strolled home a nice steady pace and got back just in time to go and fetch Erin from school.

Again as it was such a lovely afternoon I decided to take my book and a glass of wine and have an hour soaking in the hot tub, if anything it was a bit too hot out there. All in all it has been a lovely relaxed day.

I shall leave you with another Simon's Cat video which I love.

Simon's Cat 'TV Dinner'

14 Days Off - What Shall I Do With Myself

Believe it or not but it is 5 weeks since I got back from my holiday. I finally finished the "Holiday Blog" this morning (copied and pasted from AOL onto a new blog here). I wanted to keep it as a record of a brilliant holiday and that blog will now be used for any holidays/short breaks we take in the future.

Yesterday I could have slept all day I was so tired after my night watches but I got up at about 2pm. Of course I egg hunted.. I am now 4th in Wales with over 1,000 eggs.. but I wont bore you with the details.

So I now have 14 days off and as always am determined to be productive and do things instead of just wasting days but as usual I am not being very successful. So far today I have managed to put some ironing away, go to St. Tescos and make some Spag Bol for tea.

Some of the things I want to get done are:-

1. get my hair cut (I missed my last appointment... but I have made one for Friday.

2. Have lunch with Nicole (organised for 12.30pm tomorrow),

3. Take my Mum out for the day... probably sometime next week.

4. Get Derek round to do stuff in the garden if the weather improves, I want to plant some Daffs.
5. Do some proper home cooking and baking

6. Not egg hunt quite so much

That list should do for now. Anyway thats it for now I will leave you with a brilliant little video Dian put me on to... if you have a cat you will understand lol.

Nights

Well after all the excitment of getting out of the Ivory Tower on Friday and spending the day afloat, life has returned to its humdrum boring normality.

Went out with Noel and Meurig on Friday night for a couple of drinks and an Indian (meal... not brave!!). We went to the Nelson and the Torch and within ten minutes I remembered why I don't usually bother going out with them. The conversation was garden sheds.. highly interesting (not). But it was nice to get out of the house. I really am becoming a couch potato and spend all my time sat on the settee with my laptop looking for bloody eggs!!

Saturday I sat on the settee with my laptop and looked for eggs... see I told you! However, I am now ranked 8th in Wales with a grand total of 506 eggs since 1st October. Of course this feat is nothing compared with the queen of the egg hunt (she knows who she is.... just ask her how many she has!).

I had my usual pre-night shift sleep Saturday afternoon followed by a very long, fairly busy night shift. I thought it was going to be really quiet because of the bad weather but it wasnt. I got home at 7am this morning and fell into bed with the intention of sleeping most of the day. This however, was not to be. My darling youngest daughter decided to have a very noisy shower at about 11.30am and woke me up with a mixture of loud music and door slamming. I tried in vain to get back to sleep but it was not good, so I ended up getting up at about 12.30.

I looked for more eggs!

I watched X Factor recorded from the night before (on Sky+... not video tape.. we are more advanced than that thank you Mr. Gogs!)

About 4pm my friend Natalie called in. She is home visiting her family before she goes off to start her new job on Sunday. She has got a job working for a Jewellry store on cruise ships. Her first ship is the CELEBRITY SOLSTICE which she is joining at shipyard in Rotterdam as it is brand spanking new. She then has 4 weeks a the ship yard setting up the shop, 2 weeks sea trials in the Altantic before heading to Miami for the naming ceremony followded by 5 months cruising around the Carribean... nice for some eh? The money is pretty poor (£160 a week) but she gets all her meals and accommodation on the ship. She promised to keep in touch and let me know how she is getting on.

Tonight's watch is really dragging at the moment, I can't believe it is only 1am, it feels like I have been here days. Nevermind there are still lots of eggs out there I am sure.

Tug and Tow

Days like yesterday remind me of why I love my job. I escaped from the Ivory Tower again. Thats the Ivory tower there and I work in the bit at the top with the black windows (they aren't really black, we can see out of them).

Anyway I digress... as I said I escaped again and this time I decided to go out on one of the Harbour tugs on what is known as an escort towage job. Basically, when a large tanker comes into the port loaded they send a tug out to sea to meet it, the tug then "makes fast" (attaches a tow rope) to the tanker and comes in behind it. They do this so that if something were to go wrong with the tanker i.e. if it should lose its engines then the tug is already there and able to help stop and steer it.

I made a couple of phone calls to the tug company and with the help of my mate Nicole (who works for them.... and yes dear you can now comment on this new blog so make yourself know to everyone!) I arranged to join the tug and go out to sea with them. First of all I went on the "HAKIN" which is one of our pilot boats and took a couple of pilots off ships and put them on other ships then we went and found the MILLGARTH (the tug.. see pic) and I transferred from the pilot boat to the tug.. that was a bit hairy having to step across from one to the other but I was fully equiped with PPE (float coat, lifejacket and hard hat ... and there are no pictures thank god because I looked a right gonk!!).

Safely onboard the tug I met the skipper (Gerald) and the trainee skipper (Paul) and the deck hand (Richard) and then we set off to the first job which was to assist the tanker PEMBROKE FISHER off the berth, she just needed us to pull her aft end off the berth because of the strong wind.

That done successfully we headed out to sea to escort the tanker AKTEA. It was a pretty windy day and it was quite rough once we got out. If you watch the horizon in the video you can see how much we were rolling about.

We finally met the ship about four miles out to sea
and once the pilots got onboard (see pic of pilot climbing ladder)we went round the stern and started to follow her in. It was a bit too rough to make fast at first but once we got closer to the entrance to the Haven we were able to. While we were making fast the tug went very very close to the stern of the ship which was quite spook (see pic of how close we got) We then followed her all the way in.

Once we got to the Angle buoy we met the other two tugs who also made fast and then we all accompanied the ship to the berth where the pilot gave each tug instructions on how to push the ship onto the berth.

Once the MILLGARTH was released from the job I went back on board the HAKIN and then ashore. All in all I was out on the water from about 9.45am to 3.45pm and it was absolutely great.

Last night Noel and I went out with Meurig for a few drinks to the Nelson, the Torch Theatre and finally the indian... yesterday really was a good day!!

Welcome Welcome Welcome

Normal service has been resumed... not that it was ever really interrupted but from now on this is going to be the new home of Kaz's Komments. AOL have really cocked up this time I think and will lose a lot of people eventually.

Anyway it will take a bit of getting used to I'm sure, but so far so good. The biggest pain has been trying to copy and paste two year's worth of the old blog as I (like JoJo) do not want to lose a record of that time.

Anyway not much to report, I've been feeling a bit down lately but I seem to be coming out of it slowly.

Last night I went out to my very first real life Pub Quiz, with real live people!! It was a the Ferry Inn (where Ffion works). I am on the 'B' team and there are four of us. Blodwyn (I have changed names to protect the innocent) who is a widow in her early 60s who appears to suffer from an advanced case of verbal diarrhoea and talks continually about anything and everything, Then there are Ianto and Mywanwy, a married couple in their late 50s, both white settlers, he is a retired biology teacher and I never actually found out what she does.

Our first match was against the Ferry Inn A team so it was a bit of a local derby. We are playing in the local Neyland league and there are 9 teams. Each week one team act as Question Masters and they supply 80 questions split into 10 categories which they take to the four venues (they are the same 80 questions for each venue). Each individual gets one question in each round. The scoring is 3 points if the individual gets the correct answer, 2 if it is thrown open to the whole team and 1 if it goes to the opposition and they get it right.

WE WON!!..... my first attempt and we beat the A team \0/. We had 91 to their 88 and I don't think they were very amused. Our team seem to have a pretty broad range of knowledge and I must admit I knew most of the answers. Apparently the ones to beat in the league are the Sir Charles Whetham who according to the others are "awesome"... we shall see!!

So enough for this first entry. Feel free to comment but please have the curtesy to tell me who you are... who knows I may acquire some new readers.