Christmas and All That

Well that's another Christmas done and dusted. I must admit I did enjoy this year a lot more than the last two years... probably because I didn't have to work. The run up was pretty normal. We had our Port Control Christmas do over two nights on the 16th and 18th December, to enable everyone to go. I went on the 16th and had a very nice night... the food was ok (typical Christmas dinner but very edible) and the company was fine. The alcohol was free and this is always a help. I ventured out on Black Friday but that wasn't very successful at all. Having worked all day I didn't get out until 7pmish and by that time the group I was meeting had been on the beer since 12pm so after just two drinks in two pubs they all went home. I ended up in Charlies where I had a drink with Erin and one of the boys from work then got a taxi home. I was all tucked up in front of the telly by 9.30pm... hardly something to be proud of on Black Friday.

The following night we went out for dinner with Phil, Karen, Richad, Jackie, Rose and Adrian for a pre-xmas get together. That was a great night, the food was excellent and the company brilliant and it was lovely to catch up with everyone. On Tuesday the 22nd I went into work for Secret Santa, I shall not bother again, I am so out of touch with everyone in the General Office now it really wasn't worth it. All I got was a bottle of red wine, not the most imaginative gift (especially as I drink white). I then went out to lunch with Cory Brothers Shipping Agents which was very nice of them to ask me. We had a nice meal in Charlies then I went home and got on with the Christmas preparations (i.e. housework).

Wednesday I got up at stupid o clock and went to Tescos in Haverfordwest to do the main food shop, I was home in the house by 7.30am. Christmas Eve was most spent preparing food, making pate, turkey stock, tirimisu etc and watching lots of Christmasy things on the telly.

Then dawned the big day. Not too early a start for a change. Erin managed to stay in bed until 7.30 so it was about 8am before we all gathered in the lounge in front of the open fire and opened the pressies. I was a lucky girl again this year with more Clogau Gold from Noel. This time a necklace, earrings and bracelet.

Ffion and Erin got me a lovely thick fluffy dressing gown, The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown and Series 1 of CSI NY which for some stange reason I never saw. I also had silly things from Noel such as a packed of Haribos and some Jaffa Cakes, he really pushed to boat out this year and got me a double pack from Lidel.

My Mum and Wayne came over about 9.30 and we did more presents then about 10.30 Dawn and Julian from next door came up and we all jumped in the hot tub with some Bucks Fizz and Smoked Salmon nibbles (they were on a plate on the side cos they might have got soggy otherwise.) It was a beautiful morning and it was really nice sat out there, quite a different way to spend Christmas Morning.

After that my grandparents came round and I had another large book from them, this time Stephen King's new one Under the Dome , which I think should keep me going for quite a while. The afternoon was spent preparing the dinner which we finally sat down to about 4.30pm. I was delicious and I was very pleased. There were 7 of us for dinner. Noel's Mum and Dad, us and Martin, it was a really nice family meal. After all the clearing away had been done I settled down to watch Doctor Who and promptly fell asleep so I missed it, good job I had recorded it!

I slept till about 9pm then went to bed so Christmas night didn't really happen in our house.

I was back in work on Boxing Day and am about to complete my last night after which I shall have 14 days off \0/. We shall be having a small soiree on New Year's Eve which I hope will be reasonably attended. If it is pictures will no doubt follow. Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and have a great New Year.

So Cruel

A very sad and upsetting post this morning I am afraid. I just cannot believe how cruel some people can be. Ffion's best friend Kirsty (the one with the baby) acquired a kitten a month or so ago, a gorgeous little thing apparently. Earlier this week it came home very badly injured and she took it to the vets. The vet was of the opinion that its injuries were due to it either being kicked by someone or thrown against a wall.

It was in urgent need of an operation which would have cost £600, unfortunately Kirsty could not afford this and had not got pet insurance so the poor little thing had to be put down. There isn't a lot else you can say about this, it is just too horrible.

New Additions

We have two new additons to Chez Smith. Not content with four cats, Ffion went out on Monday and bought two Chinese Dwarf Hamsters who are now in situ in her bedroom in what can only be described as a spaceage hi tech hamster cage.... personally I think she only bought them for the cage.


They are called Iggle Piggle and Haribo... I have absolutely no idea why, personally I wanted to call them John and Edward but as they are two girls that wasn't really appropriate... or maybe it was!

This is a fleeting glimpse of one of them... not sure if it is Iggle Piggle or Haribo. Ffion and Craig can tell them apart but I can't yet. The cats have not yet twigged that they are sharing their house with what to them would be a light snack and we are all under strict instructions to make sure Ffion's bedroom door is kept firmly shut... I still have a horrible feeling it will end in tears.

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas

As the title of the post says its actually beginning to feel a lot like Christmas for the first time in the last couple of years. I think its because I know I won't have to work Christmas Day this year and that makes all the difference, I am really looking forward to the festivities this year.

We put the tree up yesterday and finished most of the rest of the decorations today, I need to get a few more bits and pieces and by the end of the week the house should be completely Christmasified.

This year the tree theme is red and gold and it looks very warm and welcoming. I usually buy decoratiolns in the sales for the following year and last year I got these super spirally baubles which look really nice on the tree. I also bought this really unusual wreath which we have got on the wall in the hall.

Nickname

I don't know about where you work but where I work nicknames are rife. We have Chunky, Shenko, Yuppie, Yomper, Mad Marine, Yorkie, Clarance, Fidgit, Gunner.... do you get the gist?

We also have a new recruit who needs to be trained and as I have been on watch the last two days it has fallen to me and as a result my boss has decided to grant me a new nickname and I have a horrible feeling it is going to stick...

I am now "The Headmistress"..... oh well I suppose it could be worse... marginally!

How much worse can it get?

I truely didn't belive that my life could get more mundane and ordinary than it is. But this week it reached an all time low, when on a rare sortie to "big" Tescos in Haverfordwest I became overexcited because I found a red cabbage.

Yep my life is officially dire. It must be if the sight of a red cabbage can become the highlight of the week. It also proves that our Tescos in Milford is crap, you never get red cabbage there. The red cabbage rush was only equalled by the sheer excitement of buying a bulb of fennel... shall I just shoot myself now?

To add to my depression I went back to work last week, it was a major anti climax. Due to the high winds recently everything was delayed and it was just a case of trying to move what we could when we could and arrange overcarries/undercarries of all the others, eventually we ran out of Pilots, so nothing much moved at all.

In an effort to escape this dull humdrum existence I am slowly becomeing a "Twigh-hard"... I know they are all supposed to be 13 to 17 but I am loving the films and the books ( I have read all four books and am on my second reading of Twighlight) and went to see New Moon in the cinema last week. It was full of lots of gratuitious shirt removing which was very pleasant and pleasing to the eye.. Robert Pattinson is certainly fit... even though I am old enough to be his mother.... is it so wrong to perv???

I also bought the sound track to New Moon which is brilliant, I have it on in the car all the time... oh well I suppose it is time to head for bed with Twilight and escape my dull boring life with a little romance with Edward and Bella. Nos da xx

Randomness

Erin and I went shopping in Haverfordwest yesterday. It was a normal day out.. nothing to write home about at all. We found a nice car parking space... not too far from the shops, 2 hour limit, nothing much to shout about. We parked up, we locked the car, we strolled towards the under pass to the shops... and then there it was.... tied to the barrier... round and red and..... SCARY!!

Yes... a red balloon... not somthing you would worry about normally.... but have any of you actually read... or seen IT!!.....

Well if you have then you will realise the significance of an innocent floaty red balloon... Erin and I looked at each other, we both knew what it meant, we both felt the terror!! We bravely walked through the underpass, we held hands, we tried to be brave...me knew what it meant... then there tied to the barrier at the other end of the underpass was ANOTHER RED BALLOON!!... we knew it meant one thing and one thing only.... PENNYWISE HAD COME TO HAVERFORDWEST!!

We battled on we were brave, we knew we could overcome.... who were we to be frightened by a clown?? We ventured forward we knew we were strong, we knew we could overcome killer clowns, giant spiders and any other horrors Christmas shopping in Haverfordwest could throw at us. After all we had lived through 6 weeks of Jeward on X Factor.. how much worse could it get?

We made it to New Look, we made it to Dorothy Perkins, we crossed the bridge and made it to W H Smith and there finally outside Argos we faced IT... our nightmare personified.... a dork with a bunch of red balloons.... advertising a 99p sale.... ok so it was an anti climax.. but hey welcome to my world... everything is an anti climax!!

So the Christmas Shopping has begun.... I bought stuff.... not much stuff but enough stuff to justify saying I have started.

Last night we went to St. Davids to the Cwtch for Julie's birthday. It was the first time we have stayed in their new house and it was lovely... the house is stunning and it was a joy to sleep in a proper bed not the dreaded bed settee... Unfortunately the meal in the Cwtch was a bit disappointing, not the best we have had but still very enjoyable.. I had spinach soup, ribeye steak, and creme brulee.

Today was rugby again and we triumphed over the mighty Pumas (Argentina)... hopefully this will take us back above them in the world rankings... next week it is Australia... who are looking more beatable now they lost to Scotland... well done the Jocks.!! Tomorrow we are all going to Bridgend to the cinema to see New Moon.... even I have to admit Robert Pattinson is fit!!

Bad Behavior

I am sat here watching Men Behaving Badly on Dave. I remember it from the first time round, ten years ago or so.

Back then it was really funny.... it is still really funny. Unfortuately now it is my life!!.... I have my very own version of Gary and Tony (alias Noel and Meurig).... I would laugh out loud but I am afraid it may come out as a sob!!

We Shall Remember them

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Cheating Bastard

This man is supposed to be the best player in the world.... yeah right... hes is a high tackling cheating kiwi bastard!!!.... you might guess we lost...I dont mind what I do mind a blind South African Referee... blind lines men and a New Zealand team that gets by cheating outrageously.. major obstructions off the ball,.. high tackles and basically cheating like fuck.. I used to have some respect for the All Blacks for being formidable opponents..no more they are a cheating bunch of c**ts... sorry for the language but they are... I can accept being beaten by worthy opponents..but not cheats!

Its that Time of Year Again

So much for regular blogging.. a week has past again, I have been slack... slap my wrist!

Not much to report really. My night watches were uneventful. Haloween came and went, I was in work so I don't know if we were bothered by trick n treaters or not.

My four days off seemed to pass really quickly, I did nothing constructive apart from a little bit of the H word and lots of Facebooking. My farm is now sporting a very fetching crop circle and some green cows thanks to the extra terrestrial theme.

And now on to the main event. Yes folks it is that time of year again when the odd shaped ball is taken out of the cupboard and dusted off, the red jersey is donned and the Autumn Internationals begin. We kick off today with the hardest test off all against the mighty All Blacks. Can we finally defeat them after 56 years of trying??.... I bloody hope so but that is just my natural optimism... by 7pm I shall probably be sobbing into my wine glass yet again lamenting what should have been. On the bright side the pundits are saying that this is probably the best chance we have had in a long time as they have recently lost to South Africa twice and to France, so there is some hope.

Next week we play Samoa, the following week Argentina and finally Australia (who will hopefully beat england today!!.... yes yes I'm racist but only where rugby is concerned it no different to supporting your local round ball bunch of nancies).

Unfortunatley kick off is at 5.15pm and I don't finish work until 5.45pm earliest so Noel is under strict instructions to tape it and not start watching until I get home. Watch this space for drunken blogging later whether we win or lose... I shall leave you with some rousing Bread of Heaven to get you in the mood.

Eee - Aye - Eee - Aye - Ooh

This is my farm. I am very proud of my farm. My farm takes up a lot of my time. I plant my crops, harvest my crops, harvest my fruit tress, milk my cows and goats, sheer my sheep, collect eggs from my hens and down from my ducks, truffles from my pigs and horsehair from my horses. I also visit my neighbours (I have rather a lot), help them by clearing leaves and weeds and chasing off racoons and foxes. This all takes a lot of time, time I should spend doing h..ho...hou.. hous...... well you can see why I prefer farming!!

After my farm has been tended it is usually time to water my fairy garden, water my friends fairy gardens and visit various others to seek wildlife and diamonds... another very time consuming task. This is usually followed by half an hour or so of Scavenger Hunting, this season it is halloween items and I desperately need a haunted house. Next comes Lexulous and an attempt to out think my opponents (this does not always work) and then a bit of Treasure Mania, sometimes followed by a quick game or two of Bejewelled Blitz.... so you can see my time is usually spent in very constructive pursuits... either that or I am A VERY SAD PERSON!!

Unfortunately for two days and two nights a week I am unable to carry out these vital tasks as the inconvenience that is work intrudes, so you can see why I find it hard to find time to blog these days!!

In general gossip and news both my girls had rather eventful days yesterday. Ffion came home from work covered in blood as one of the children she looks after had run into a desk and put three of their front teeth through their top lip and required stitches.

Erin went for the first of her cervical cancer jabs and promptly passed out in the waiting room afterwards. Luckily my Mother was with her and the nurse said it was a common side effect, but it did leave her feeling a bit shaky.

Update

JoJo is putting us all to shame with her renewed zeal for blogging, I think we should all take a leaf out of her book and pull our fingers out!!...that is if we can tear ourselves away from our farms, fairy gardens, scrabble games and scavenger hunts!!... Facebook has a lot to answer for.

So following JoJos excellent example I thought I had better file some updates on life in Chez Smith.

The Pub Quiz season has resumed... well it resumed in September while I was away so I missed the first couple of games. Our team (Ianto, Mywanwy and myself) decided that this season we would also join the Milford Haven league, so we recruited my friend Angharad (again names have been changed to protect the innocent) and ditched Blodwyn and signed up to play out of the Horse and Jockey (our team name in the Milford league is The Jockeys... for obvious reasons). As I mentioned I was away for the first game so we had to forfeit it but the next two we won, the first one quite convincingly and the second by a whisker (2 points). Unfortunately I was unavailable last Sunday, as I went to see Cerys and they lost :0X I am also unable to play for the next two Sundays, but we are the question masters one week so that's not too bad.

In the Neyland league we still have Blodwyn on our team (unfortunately) and she is still as annoying as she was last year and it is making life interesting trying not to let slip that we are also in the MH league. The first week in Neyland we were the question masters so it didnt matter that I was way and we won our second match against the Benbow but last night we got hammered by the Artists. The questions were set by the Yacht Club and were truely dire... do you have any idea who played Professor Higgins in the 1935 version of Pygmalion???... no nor did we but for future reference it was Trevor Howard.

Life in Chez Smith is ticking over quite nicely, Erin is still with Martin, after a few hiccups in recent weeks and Ffion is with Craig. Most evenings it is like a conveyor belt in my kitchen as they all work different hours and each cooks dinner separately for their other half.. unfortunately they tend to leave most of the washing up for me to do!!

Work is realatively uneventful, although management in their wisdom have decided to f**k about with our penison scheme and end the final salary, non contributory scheme so from January next year I shall have to fork out 6% of my salary towards my retirement.

I still do not seem to be able to motivate myself to do some serious dieting/exercise despite all my good intentions when I returned from holidays, but without my head being in the right place there is little point in trying... one day it will click again I'm sure.

So that is just about all for now.. I shall try to be more regular and in the meantime I shall leave you with this very very funny video I found on Scary Ducks blog.

Classic Cerys

Last night we went to the Torch Theatre to see Cerys Matthews. I have been a huge fan of hers for years and one of the best concerts I ever went to was Catatonia at Margam Park in 1999... OMG that's 10 years ago and it only feels like yesterday!!!

I love her voice and have quite a few of her albums so an opportunity to see her live was not to be missed... and boy did she not disappoint. She was accompanied by two musicians she met whilst living in Nashville and she played a selection of songs from the whole of her career. The highlight for me was an acoustic version of Road Rage which was just brilliant and this one



A combination of a Galway Shawl and Strange Glue... which is one of my all time favourite numbers, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

It was a brilliant evening and we bumped into loads of people we knew, mostly from the St. David's area which was to be expected seeing as Cerys now lives in Trevine.

RIP Tufty

While Kerry just has a psychotic, cowardly cat, unfortunately I have four psychopathic ninja killing machines!!

Noel came home from work tonight to find Chicken outside the back door chewing the head off Tufty the Squirrel..... well proably not "the" Tufty the Squirrel as this one was grey not red and wasn't wearing a blue jacket and yellow trousers

Erin and Martin arrived home shortly afterwards and Erin was completely freaked out and was running around screaming and shouting about how horrible and gross our cats are. Martin found it completely hysterical and was taking photos with his mobile.. things like that appeal to lads his age obviously.

Having devoured the best part of poor dead Tufty, Chicken was then mugged by Henry who has always been a sucker for something soft and fluffy, and is currently rolling around on the lawn with his "new toy"


Apologies if anyone finds these images distrubing as Kerry told me earlier... nature is very cruel... but quite funny sometimes... or is that just my warped sense of humour!!

Waterloo - Portaloo

Sometimes I love my job. First day back after two weeks of relaxation and overeating and one of the first calls I get on the radio from the patrol launch "HAKIN"..... "there appears to be a portable toilet floating down the Haven in the vicinity of the Outfall Buoy!!"..... you just couldn't make it up!!

I am back by the way, refreshed and relaxed and a full account will appear shortly on the Holiday Blog, once I get my pictures all sorted and my arse into gear...... Did you miss me??

Sailing into the Sunset (Again)

Well if it's not in the suitcase now it isn't going with us!!

Yes it is time for us to be off again. I know it seems like we have only just got back (it's actually 6 weeks since we returned from Norway) but tomorrow we are heading south again and Saturday afternoon we shall be sailing off into the sunset... yet again.

This time our destination is the Mediterranean on the good ship Oceana. First port Barcelona, then Monte Carlo, Elba, Rome, Naples (we are visiting Capri from here), Cartagena and Gibraltar. We have been to most of them before but this will give us an opportunity to explore a little more and see some of the sights we missed the first time.. can you belive we went to Rome and never even glimpsed the Collesseum!!

It has been a bit rushed, having to work up right up to leaving, but I did manage to get the majority of the packing done on Sunday. Since then I have just been throwing bits and pieces into the cases as I find them.

Today Erin and I went food shopping to make sure they have at least some food in the house while we are away. I also bought a new small digital camera as I broke our other one when I was on Emma's hen weekend a few weeks ago, I think someone stood on my handbag because both the camera and my mobile phone had cracked screens.

There is little else to report I am afraid, life has involved working, sleeping and more working. We did go to Druidstone on Tuesday for their "Greek feast" which was very nice, but other than that we have been saving ourselves for our holiday. Try not to miss me too much whilst I am gone (I am sure you won't seeing as my blogging has become so hit and miss) and I shall see you all in October (we get back on the 3rd)... and then I suppose it will be time to think about Christmas!!!

Morning Wonders

I think I may have mentioned before that working nights can have its advantages.

This morning just as I was starting to really flag after a very long and very busy night, the dawn was just breaking and the sky was a beautiful orange colour. Suddenly out of the west flew a skein of geese in a perfect V shape right past the window of Port Control at eye level.

It was a wonderful sight, there must have been at least 20 of them and they flew east into the sun rise where they were sillouhetted against the orange sky as they made their way up the Haven. It was the perfect antidote to a tiring night and lifted my soul.

Anniversary

This blog seems to be becoming a weekly event now. I really must make an effort to do more.

Tuesday was our Silver Wedding Anniversary... 25 years of married bliss (allegedly!!). We have never particularly celebrated our anniversaries, the date seems to come and go with the odd card, usually from our parents. This year however, the cards started to mount up a day or so before hand and by the actual date we had quite a little pile to open.

We also had presents.. a very rare occurrence. Three variously sized silver photo frames, a bottle of Southern Comfort, 2 bottles of wine and a bouquet of flowers... not a bad haul really.

We decided to celebrate quietly on our own and went to Stone Hall (see pic) for dinner. It was really nice, if a little quiet (only us and another table of 4, but then it was Tuesday night).

I had a warm smoked duck salad with basalmic dressing to start while Noel went for the escargot (that's snails you know!!) which were lovely with a really rich garlic butter. For mains I had a rack of Preseli lamb with a garlic crust and Noel had a fillet of beef with pink peppercorn sauce. The vegetables were braised fennel, green beans, carrots and new potatoes and everything was superb. Dessert was a creme brulee for me and a hazelnut meringue with fresh raspberries and whipped cream which looked absolutely delicious and from the small spoonful he let me have tasted as good as it looked.

Unfortunately we had had to drive so only a small amount of wine was consumed (with soda in my case as I had volunteered to drive) but it was a really pleasant evening.

I was back to work yesterday and today and it was pretty hectic and stressful (today isn't quite so bad). The weather has suddenly decided to improve greatly, typical when I go back to work, but I am now counting down to the next Cruise which is a week on Saturday. I shall endeavour to blog again before we go.

Emotional Rollercoaster

Today has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. It was Erin's GCSE results day and she has been a bag of nerves for the last week or so, convinced that she was going to fail several of them.

She didn't need to worry!! We went up to the school at about 9.15am and she met up with all her friends. They disappeared into the school while I sat nervously in the car with everything crossed.

Next thing I knew this little whirlwind threw itself into the car, clutching her results sheet in her hand and jabbering 19 to the dozen. Turns out she got 1 A, 6 Bs and 5 Cs... more than enough to get her onto the course she wants to do at College.

There were tears (from me)... much squealing and excitment (from Erin) and numerous phone calls to be made. She then disappeared off with her friends to have a celebratory breakfast while I went off home to cry a bit more (with pride) and finally get to bed.

When I emerged about 3.45pm, she was tucked up in bed looking miserable. After ringing Martin this morning to tell him her results she hadn't heard from him again. About 4pm his work rang the house looking for him, at this stage she began to really panic because both his personal and work mobile were switched off and he wasn't at either his Father's or Mother's. I rang Nicole (who works with him) to see if she knew where he was, only to be told that he had apparently taken the afternoon off to spend with Erin... this just made her panic even more with Erin imagining (as only distraught teenagers can) all sorts of horrendous things having happened to him. By the time I went to work at 5.30 she was besides herself, crying and worrying and it was really hard to leave her like that.

I finally got a phone call about 6.30pm to say that he had been in touch and was staying with a mate tonight. The whole thing was staged, I am sure, so that she would not go to her results party.... why are men such arses!!! Anyway she is going to her party and I hope she has a wonderful time and young Martin will be getting a piece of my mind when I see him for ruining what should have been one of the happiest day's of her life......Grrrrrr!!!

Happy Birthday Dear Blog

Today is the 3rd Birthday of my blog since its inception on AOL.

I have loved doing it and really enjoyed all your comments and feedback. Blogging seems to be losing its appeal to most people at the moment but I intend to persevere.

So thank you dear readers past, present and I hope future. Keep reading please and keep passing comments and I shall try my hardest to keep entertaining you, even if the majority of the entries are pretty mundane and humdrum.

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear bloooooooooog... Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuu!!"

True Embarassment

I tend to record a lot of programmes on Sky+ to watch when I am on my time off. Things I don't think Noel will be very interested in or that I really fancy watching but are on quite late. A few weeks ago I began recording the vampire series True Blood on FX.

Today at lunchtime I decided it was time I started to watch them as I had 5 episodes taped, so I settled down on the sofa and started watching. Before the programme began a warning flashed up to inform me that the programme contained "Scenes of sexual nature and strong language"... great I thought ideal afternoon viewing.

I began to watch and true enough there were scenes of a very sexual nature... very sexual indeed!!! Unfortunately right in the middle of one such scene I heard the back door open and Martin (Erin's boyfriend) come into the kitchen, where the tv also happened to be on and tuned to the same thing I was watching... I desperately attempted to stop the tape, only to succeed in pausing it at a particularly graphic moment......so now Erin's boyfriend thinks I sit at home all day watching porn!!!!!

Normal Service is Resumed....... sort of!

Well I'm back... in fact I have been back since Monday but have been busy catching up with Facebook, Holiday Blog and worst of all housework.

The holiday was wonderful and a full account is currently being posted in installments on the Holiday Blog with pictures but just to whett your appetite here is a sample of the kind of scenery we saw.


We got back to Southampton last Friday... OMG I've been home a week, it dosn't feel like that it feels like much longer!! We stopped off in Bath for 3 days on the way home which will also be detailed in the Holiday Blog eventunally.

We finally got back to Milford on Monday about 7pm and Tuesday morning was spent unpacking and getting the washing on. Then about 1pm Tuesday afternoon I went out on a bit of a retirement bash for one of the boys I work with (well he's hardly a boy seeing as he has just retired but you know what I mean).

We met up at the Harbourmaster and there were about 18 of us (and me the only girl!!) It was a beautiful afternoon so we sat on the balcony and just drank and had a laugh all afternoon,

This is Frank (who was retiring... we have worked together for 27 years, so it was quite sad to finally see him leave)This is me with Paul Pullen (one of our Pilots).. the silly hat was a present to Frank and was being passed around. As I said the sun was shining, the beer was flowing and it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

Once it started to get a bit colder we retired to Martha's Vineyard (not the one in America) and lost all the light weights and I finally headed home about 10pm not long after this picture was taken which was just as well.

The group are Ian (Pilot), Mike (he works with me in Port Control, Frank, Niall (Frank's son), Jamie (his other son) and Rob (Pilot boats), all in all it was a great afternoon and evening and I hope Frank has a long and happy retirement.

Two more non-sleeps

It's been raining a bit lately hasn't it. I hope the boat we are going on holidays on isn't one like this!!

Only two more "non" sleeps now until we go away so this will probably be the last blog until we get back, when the Holiday Blog will be ressurected having lain dormant since March.

For those of you who don't know we are off to the Fjords of Norway to inspect the handiwork of Slartibartfast.

Today has been spent last minute shopping for a birthday present for Ffion who is 19 on Friday (and not at all impressed that we are going away on her birthday), and packing. I foolishly thought that as it was only a 7 night cruise we could get away with one big suitcase between us... not a hope, mainly due to the fact that I have no idea what the weather in Norway is going to be like so have packed for every possibility from snow/rain to blazing sunshine (god I wish!!).

The girls arrived home safe and sound on Monday. The only glitch they experienced on the homeward journey was being charged £70 excess baggage on their luggage which weighed exactly the same as on the outward trip when they didn't get charged.. Ffion was raving. Since their return the house has reverted to its normal chaos with the washing machine going into overdrive as it would appear that Martin has saved all his washing until they returned as well!! Thankfully the ironing fairy (aka my Mother) showed up again today and whisked a huge pile away.

The only thing in my garden which appears to like all this rain is my Gunnera which is thriving as you can see.

So on that note I shall bid you all fairwell for 10 days. Our itinerary for those that may be interested is:- Friday sail from Southampton, Saturday - Sea, Sunday - Stavanger, Monday - Flaam, Tuesday - Geiranger, Wednesday- Bergen, Thursday - Sea, Friday - Return Southampton and head for Bath till Monday.

Altogether now... "We are sailing... We are sailing......."

Up above the streets and houses

Rainbow climbing high

This rainbow was out to meet me when I got home from work this morning and it really made me smile.

Odds and Sods

I know its a bit late, but wasn't Torchwood brilliant!!! I only watched the last two episodes on Monday but wow what great drama. Hardly any high tech special effects but just pure menace... and not from the aliens... from the government!!

Shame they had to kill Ianto off, I liked him, although Gwen did start to annoy me towards the end and I almost found myself hoping they would shoot her in the back as she ran away with the children. But the two scenes that really got me were when Frobisher killed his family and when Jack sacrificed his grandson. I just hope this isn't the end of this brilliant programme. Maybe they could go back to Jack's early days with Torchwood, but whatever they do I hope it comes back.

Update on Erin, she is doing fine now and enjoying the rest of her holiday although the tablets they gave her mean she can't have a drink... shame (LOL!!)

Nugget has been in the wars a bit. He came in Sunday night with a sore on his side so I took him to the vet on Monday morning, luckily with no fuss whatsoever. It looks like he has been bitten by another cat and it developed into an abcess which has now burst leaving a horrid open wound on his side. The vet gave him an antibiotic injection and we have the bathe the wound every day with salt water. He didn't like it much last night at all and we may have problems doing it tonight I think.

And on a completely separate note, I have no idea when my last period was but I am sure it was a lot more than a month ago... this means a) I am starting the menopause or b) I am pregnant... I do hope its a).

Family

Oh the joy of parenthood!!.... I was woken at 3pm this afternoon by Noel to be informed that Erin had spent the night in hospital in Turkey. As you can imagine my first reaction was total panic, but he soon reassured me that everything was fine. She had suffered a bout of, what the hospital called "gastroenteritis" and was suffering from dehydration.

Apparently she had been sick a few times in the night so Ffion has woken my Dad and they had taken her to the hospital where they kept her in overnight and put her on a drip. Dad had called Noel about 11am this morning but he hadn't wanted to wake me.

Once I was up and about I immediately phoned Ffion who reassured me that everything was fine, they were back at the apartment and Erin was sleeping as she had been awake all night. This all made me feel much happier and I made her promise to get Erin to ring me once she woke up.

I then ventured downstairs to discover that the ironing fairy had visited while I had been asleep and miraculously the three huge piles of ironing that had been sitting in the utility room had disappeard and been replaced with two piles of beautifully pressed and folded clothes. I suspected that my Mother might be responsible so I called her to tell her about Erin and to thank her. She later came round with the third pile also neatly ironed and folded... I really do love her sometimes!!

Erin did ring about 4.30 and sounded a bit washed out and tired but said she was fine. Dad is now going to stick around until at least Monday to make sure everything is ok before going sailing again, which is very good to know... oh the joys of parenthood!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

How much luggage do two teenage girls need for a fortnight in Turkey? Now there is a question. The answer to which is A LOT!!

With a luggage allowance of 25kg each you would think that there wouldn't be a problem... Wrong!!

Exactly why each of them had to pack the entire contents of Boots the Chemist's hair and beauty department is a concept I can nearly understand, their Father on the other hand could not get his head around it at all.

Also being a man whose entire collection of footwear comprises a pair of deck shoes, a pair of flip flops, his wedding shoes (yes they are 25 years old but he refuses to get new ones) and a pair of trainers for work, he failed to understand why they would want to pack 5 pairs of flip flops each (surely a flip flop is a flip flop.... WRONG!!) as well as assorted sandles, wedges, espidrilles, dolly shoes... do I need to go on??

The result of all this, plus enough reading material to supply a small village library for a year, not to mention the actual clothes required to look presentable for a fortnight, resulted in Erin's suitcase being 27kg and Ffion's 29kg. After much gnashing of teeth, discarding of items and general whinging that they couldn't possibly do without any of it each suitcase was reduced to the correct weight.

So I was up at 3am this morning to wave them off to the airport, Noel and Meurig drove them up, checked them in and bought them breakfast before they went through to the Departure lounge. Its going to be a very strange two weeks with no girls around. We have never been without both of them at the same time and despite the initial thought of peace and quite I am sure that I am going to miss them. I am sure however, that they will have a wonderful time in Turkey.

Cat in a Box

Today was the annual visit to the vets for all four of my kitties in order for them to get their annual check up and booster jabs. As you can imagine it can be quite a logistical operation getting all four of them to the vets and can't be achieved in one trip.

First of all we have to ensure that they are all present and accounted for. By 8am Skittles, Nugget and Chicken had appeared but there was no sign of Henry. This was quite unusual as Henry is the laziest cat that ever lived and never usually wanders very far from his customary perch atop the Father in Laws barbeque (when switched off and covered of course). A few calls of puss, puss, puss from the back door and eventually about 9am he came galloping round the side of house and straight in through the patio door. With all four present and correct, it was then just a case of trying to get two into the cat box together.

First though I had to find the cat box which had somehow found its way into the attic of the garage along with all the other junk, so after routing around amongst the assorted rubbish I finally managed to man (or woman) handle it down the ladder and into the kitchen, only to discover that the door was broken and wouldn't lock. This meant that I had to try and hold the door shut with one hand while carrying the box with the other and hope that none of the cats had ideas of being Steve McQueen and making a mad dash for freedom.

So cat box is sat in the middle of the kitchen floor with the door invitingly open, up trots Henry, always the nosey one and walks straight into it, excellent thinks I, so Erin grabs Nugget and tries to get him into the box as well, but Henry is having none of it, hisses and takes a swipe at poor Nugget who immediately legs it into the living room. Henry in the meantime is happy in the box (strange cat) so Erin tries to insert Skittles next. She isn't too keen on this idea and puts all four legs out in an attempt not to be put in the box. After much palava she finally gets in, I shut the door, it falls off the hinges and both cats leg it across the kitchen!! This is not going to plan!

Plan B - I grab Henry, Erin grabs Skittles, I shove Henry in the box, Erin shoves Skittles in the box, I shut the door, taking care to ensure the hinges stay in place, hold the other side shut with one hand, pick up the box with the other and head for the car. Erin sits in the back seat with the cat box next to her holding the door shut and I drive as carefully as possible to the vets. Henry makes a noise that I have never heard from a cat before all the way to the vets, across the car park and into the waiting room where the presence of two dogs finally shuts him up.

The actual examination and injections were not problem what so ever, both behaved impeccably and returned to the box with no problems at all, so the first leg over with we returned to the house to pick up the other two. Now Chicken and Nugget, despite being brothers don't always get on very well together, Chicken being Top Cat of the house and Nugget being a right gay boy and general coward, so I anticipated some problems in getting both of them in the same box.

After a quick discussion Erin and I decided that bribery was probably the best policy so out came the cat crunchies, a handful of which were thrown into the box. Into the box goes....... Henry!! Not only is he lazy, he is also a pig. Henry is extracted from the box (under protest, after all there is food in there) and banished to the hall, Chicken then decides to go in after the crunchies so once he is in there Erin grabs Nugget and pushes him into the box. He is instantly pounced upon by Chicken, who objects to having his personal space invaded. There is much hissing and spitting, a few tufts of grey fur float out of the box then finally they calm down and resign themselves to the fact that for the next 10 minutes or so they are going to have to inhabit the same space.

The run to the vets and the appointment are completely uneventful, neither Chicken nor Nugget make the type of sound Henry did (being mature, grown up sensible cats). Both are examined, injected and re-inserted into their box without incident and once back in the car Chicken enjoys the trip home on Erin's lap gazing out of the window.

Thank god this only has to be done once a year........ especially as the whole thing cost me £136!!!

Hot and Sticky

It's been a bit warm lately hasn't it? I don't think we have had it as bad here as the south east has but it's still been quite uncomfortable, especially at night.

Not much to report really in the last week. Went back to work last Saturday and had a really busy watch on Sunday then two relatively quiet nights.

Yesterday was a lovely day and I spent quite a while out in the garden topping up my tan and reading. Just finished a good book called The Last Templar which was sort of Da Vinci Codeish. I am now trying to read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince before the film comes out in two weeks, not sure if I will manage it.

Erin and I went swimming this morning, I have been trying to get back into the habit of going and I must admit I do feel good once I've done my 32 lengths (half a mile). I dropped Erin at work about 11.30, went to Tescos then popped in to visit Nicole. She had another heart attack 2 weeks ago which was another shock, but she was pretty good today, if going a bit stir crazy. We will try and have lunch next week and catch up on all the gossip.

Some bad local news at the moment, an 18 year old girl from Milford died on holidays in Gran Canaria this week. Ffion works with one of the girls she was on holidays with and they are all in shock, its a horrid thing to have happened, especially a week before my girls go on holidays together for the first time on their own!!

Hayfever Relief

Noel has hayfever.... he never used to get it. It only really started when we bought the plot that we built the house on. The first time he came here to strim the grass he only did a little bit before his breathing got laboured and his neck became swollen. Every year since then he has suffered from hayfever.

Tuesday night when we went to Druidstone there was a lot of long grass with seed heads on it. His eyes were really bad, he couldn't stop sneezing and even got some lumps come up on his neck that looked like nettle rash.

Anyway today he went to the chemist and bought one of these.
"The Lloydspharmacy Allergy Reliever is an innovative and effective treatment for the relief of those irritating symptoms associated with allergic rhinitis - for example, watery eyes, runny nose and sneezing. It is safe, quick and easy to use and some people may feel an improvement after just a few treatments."

Unfortunately the literature dosn't tell you that this is what you look like when you use it!!!

Bosheston and Druidstone

Yesterday was a lovely day, too nice to waste sitting around in the house and doing "house" things or even playing on the computer, so Erin and I decided to take a trip to Bosheston and have a walk around the Lily Ponds.

We left about 11am and parked up in the National Trust car park then set off on a hike around one small section of the ponds. Almost immediately we had to decide which path to take, the long way round or the short option. We opted for the long trail and crossed the first of three little bridges over the lily ponds.

The Lillies were in bloom and the ponds looked absolutely gorgeous. During our mile and half walk around one side we saw all kinds of wildlife and flora, including some iredescent blue dragonflies, honeysuckle in full bloom, wild roses, waterlilies of course and even a Heron in full flight.

At one stage we reached an outcrop of rock from which there was a lovely view of the ponds and we sat for a while and just took in the view.

Eventually the walk around the ponds takes you to Broad Haven South beach which is one of the lovliest beaches in Pembrokeshire. We took our shoes off and walked over the hot sand right down to the water's edge where we went for a paddle. The water was cold but the day was so warm it would have been lovely to have gone for a swim.

After our bit of a paddle, we trekked back up the beach and took the shorter route back around the ponds to the car park, spotting a huge fish in one of the ponds on the way. We then retired to the Bosheston Tea Rooms for a sandwich and scone and cream. The tea rooms have been run by the same lady for the last 70 years and this year she was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday honours.... a bit of a long time to wait but she seemed pleased!!

We finally got home about 2.30pm and spent the rest of the afternoon sunbathing in the garden. In the evening we decided to go to Druidstone for a meal and took Noel's mum and dad with us as it was his Dad's birthday today. We had intended to have the Greek buffet but when we got there we discovered it was fully booked so we had to make do with a bar meal instead but it was worth the wait as there was the most spectacular sunset

We had a lovely meal (Ham salad for me followed by Pavlova), quite a few drinks (not for me because I was driving), but the highlight of the evening really was the sunset which eventually finished in a true blaze of glory as the sun sank below the St. David's penninsular proving that there really is no lovlier place to live than Pembrokeshire.