Parents Evening

Last night was Erin's last parents evening before her GCSEs later this year. It went very well. All the teachers we saw were very positive and said she was doing really well... mind you she hadn't made appointments for us to see her RE and Welsh teachers (her two worst subjects!!).

First was Science. She had a C in her mock exams and is predicted a B in GCSE. Next was IT she has already got an A and has been put in for a second exam which she is also predicted an A in... I wonder where she gets her love of computers from??

Art was next. Last year she was pretty negative about it and didn't try very hard on modules she was set, but this year it was a completely different story. Her teacher said her attitude had changed completely and she was working really hard and doing well.

In Maths she had a B in the mock but the teacher was sure that she was capable of an A with the right amount of revision. I was dreading seeing her English teacher as she was the one involved in the incident last year when she got excluded, but she couldn't have been nicer, she said Erin was working hard and her attitude had improved 100%. She had a B in her Language mock but and E in the Literature but she is very capable of getting a much better mark than that in the actual exam. All her teachers commented on how much she has matured in the last 6 months and how her attitude has changed... maybe Martin is a good influence on her!!!

I'm off to bed in a minute ready for my night watch tonight. The Management in their wisdom have restored Facebook BUT...... and it is a very big BUT..... they have issued a memo saying that Port Control staff are NOT allowed to use it while on duty.... I would have preferred they had just left it blocked... knowing its there and not being able to use it is TORTURE!!!....... THE EGGS, THE EGGS THEY ARE CALLING!!

Sweet Sixteen

My baby girl was 16 yesterday!! Where did all those years go? Unfortunately my scanner is kaput at the moment so I can't embarass her with baby photos so I will have to make do with this pic I took of her last night when we went out for dinner.

She was not particularly amused at having to get up at 6.15am in order to open her birthday presents before I went to work, but set about the task with her usual enthusiasm. We bought her Guitar Hero World Tour for the Wii, some clothes and perfume and a bottle of Jaegermeister for making Jaeger Bombs with (her favourite drink!!).

I was back in work yesterday, my 14 days off over with again. It was a pretty quiet uneventful day. When I got home it was a quick change then we all went to Druidston for a bar meal to celebrate Erin's birthday (all of us being the family and Erin's boyfriend Martin who appears to be allergic to having his photo taken so you will have to wait till I can sneek up on him to see what he is like).

We had a lovely meal (Noel and Martin had beef and mushroom pies, Ffion and Erin Celtic Chicken (chicken wrapped in bacon and cheese with a mustard sauce), and I had a beef stroganoff and rice. All this was followed by two banoffee pies (Erin & Martin) and two sticky toffee puddings (Noel and Ffion) and I had a Tia Maria coffee.

And just to finish off a lovely picture of my other gorgeous daughter.

Did you miss me??

Just a quick post to let you know I have returned. We had a very enjoyable weekend in Chester, a full report of which can be found on the Holiday Blog. Thanks to Carol for my eggs and to Jane and Carol for feeding my pets. Tomorrow will mostly be spent washing and shopping and trying to catch up on things.

Oh yes and while we were away the cats seem to have disposed of yet another of next doors doves, judging by the mass of white feathers in the garage.

I've Started So I'll Finish

Last night it was our teams turn to be quiz masters. I was tasked withe going to the Jolly Sailor to provide the questions for the mighty Whetham vs the Yacht Club.

I headed off into the wet and windy night armed with my set of 100 questions vigourously researched by Ianto and Myfanwy with contributions from Blodwyn and myself (I wrote a GK and a film round).

It was not an auspicious start. I arrived at the Jolly and assumed that the quiz would take in the public bar rather than the restaurant/lounge so I open the door, stick my head in and ask "is this where the quiz is". The room was full of men... men taking part in drinking competitions and rather the worse for wear, despite it being only 8pm. They weren't the quiz teams, but they asked me to come in and quiz them anyway... I declined... polietly and retreated to the lounge bar instead blushing like a teenager (honest!)

It got worse. The barmaid informed me there was not quiz there tonight. Their own team were playing away and no one had told them that the Whetham were using them as their venue for the night. (The Whetham act as gypsies and roam from pub to pub each week as their own pub is in Milford and this is the Neyland league). By this time I was starting to panic a bit so I rang Ianto who assured me that I was in the right place and the Yacht Club at least were on their way.

Eventually both teams turned up (Phew!!) and once drinks had been purchased and tables acquired the quiz began. It was really good fun being the question master (I think I might have a power fetish!!). After the 10 rounds the Whetham emerged as winners (no surprise there then) with a score of 97 vs 85. I was complimented on the quiz \0/, had a couple of sandwiches then headed back to the Ferry with the score card and entry money. I had one quick drink there with Ianto and Myfanwy and headed home. Unfortunately the next time we are question masters in May I shall be working which is a shame because I really enjoyed the experience.

Today I have loads to do as we are off to Chester for the weekend tomorrow. Normal serivice will resume on Monday or Tuesday with a full report on the weekend on the Holiday Blog. Hope you all have a great weekend and don't miss me too much..... and Carol don't forget my eggs!!

Hail to the Chief

Today I watched history being made, along with probably most of the people on the planet.

I don't know why but as I get older I am getting much more emotional about all sorts of things which years ago I wouldn't have even contemplated getting teary about.

There is no rational reason that I should cry because a black man has beome President of America but for some reason seeing the hope and expectation on the faces of the crowd reduced me to tears.

Last year Erin did an RE project on Martin Luther King and all I could think about was how only 40 years ago the very thought of what was happening today was only a dream. All I hope is that Barak Obama can live up to the expectations of his nation and not be an anti-climax or that the comparisons drawn between him and JFK don't prove to be too true!!

On other notes, Noel's mum was supposed to go to hospital again tomorrow for her gall bladder op, but they have cancelled again!! It is really getting to both his parents and his dad is on tablets from the doctor because he is so stressed.

Today I took my mum to fetch her pension and do some shopping. Their car is off the road so I am doing what I can to help out. While we were out we also went for a coffee and cake at the Lilac Tree which was nice.

Tonight I did a lovely roast lamb dinner and now I am chilling with a glass of wine.

Eat Your Heart Out Nigella!!

This weekend I have been a veritable domestic goddess. I don't get many weekends off so we try to make the most of the ones I do get. We invited Chris and Julie over for a meal and I decided to do "Italian".

So out came all the cook books and a menu was devised:-

Assorted Canapes
Garlic King Prawns
Beef Meatballs and Rigattoni Pasta
Tirimisu

A quick visit to "big" Tescos for the prawns then I set about a whole day of cooking. The night before I had made some "moonblush tomatoes" for the canapes. We had these with black and green olives and mini bruchettas toppped with homemade black olive tapanade and cream cheese, we also had bread and dipping oils. These were served in the conservatory before we retired to the dining room for the main course.

The dining room all laid up ready for dinner.

The garlic prawns were delicious and so simple to make and seemed to go down very well. I made far too much meatballs and pasta but what was left was put into containers and frozen for a later date (always handy for my night watches). These were accompanied by grated parmesan and garlic bread.

Finally came the Tirimisu (homemade of course)


After dinner we sat around, talked and drank copious amounts of wine before we all finally crashed out and went to bed. All in all it was an excellent night. I do enjoy a good dinner party.

Some Night Thoughts

Yet again not an awful lot to report. All I have really done is work since my last blog.

I did forget to mention that the first match of the New Year in real life pub quiz was a complete wash out. We all turned up ready for the frey. Ianto and Myfanwy had even found a replacement for Blodwyn (who was away visiting relatives), only to find that the team who were supposed to be setting the questions hadn't shown up. Not only had they not shown up for our quiz, they had not shown up at any of the other venues either. I am not sure what the result of this will be. Whether they will be penalised for not, but it was very disappointing. We are question masters for the next round on 21st January and I am quite looking forward to asking the questions.

Tonight is should be my last night watch before 14 days off (yes its come round that quick again), but I have to do a overtime night watch on Thursday which is a nuisance, but with Christmas just gone I could really do with the money, so I shall bite the bullet and just think of the dosh.

Tonight I have been re-reading the blog since it moved to this site. I definately prefer this site, although it would be nicer if I could make the actual text area bit a little wider (any tips please tell me). I also noticed that at the beginning there were lots of comments from lots of different people who don't seem to comment anymore. Made me wonder if they still read but don't comment or if they have just drifted away.

Red Sky in the Morning

I think I've said it before but working the hours I do does have some advantages, such as this beautiful sunrise this morning. I only took my camera on the off chance, but I was really glad I did. The old saying turned out to be true as well, by mid-day it was a really horrible day with gale force winds.

Luckily we managed to sail this quite large ship the "VIGDIS KNUTSEN" before the weather got too bad. I must admit there can't be many jobs where you get a view like this from the office window!

Nothing to Report

I suppose I better blog before I'm accused of being blogsidasical again. Trouble is nothing much has happened to blog about. My four days off have been relatively uneventful. I did some cooking for the freezer, caught up with some housework (due to lack of cleaner again), and today I went to Haverfordwest for a spot of retail therapy.

I bought some new jeans, some work trousers and some reduced Christmas decorations. Unfortunately the handbag I had had my eye on before Christmas had gone so I was a bit disappointed. I stopped for a cup of coffee and a chocolate muffin in the Moon and Sixpence coffee shop before heading home and visiting my Mum for another coffee and a chat.

Tomorrow I am back in work. The management in their wisdom have decided to block all social networking web sites, so no Facebook for me tomorrow. If anyone would care to water my fairy garden I would be very grateful (and no Jess that isnt code for something else).

As I said nothing much else to say so I am going back to egg hunting and watching the new series of QI and Celebrity Big Brother.

Odds and Sods

Apparently I have been "blogsidasical"... I love that word. This has been because I have been working. Work has been pretty busy. There have been a lot of big ships lately, this is good for everyone... bigger ships, more dues, more money... shame we probably wont see any of it!!

A few things have been happening. Noel's mum was due to go into hospital on Sunday for a gall stone operation. She has known about it for a couple of weeks and it has been playing on her mind, as these things do. It has also been affecting his dad, who gets very wound up about things like this. Sunday morning the hospital rang to say they didn't have a bed for her. They are both now really upset and have to go through the whole waiting game again until the hospital come up with a new date. Sometimes I think they forget they are dealing with real people with real feelings.

Today Erin got her school photo. The last one from "big school". She hates it but I really like it. She will be 16 in 12 days time, my baby girl all grown up. I shall find some suitably embarassing baby pictures to post on here at that time.

I phoned my Grandparents tonight to make sure they are ok and have not attempted to go out in this cold snap. The last thing they need is to have a fall at their ages. I also told them if there is anything they need they must ring me to get it for them as it would be suicidal for them to attempt to go out in this weather, apparently Tesco's car park is like a skating rink at the moment. My mum also has the flu at the moment so she can't do anything for them, so while I have four days off I shall do my best to go down and see them.

Also today the documentation for Ffion's new number plate came back from the DVLA. She had to send for a new tax disc and a new Registration document. For those of you that don't know we got Ffion a personal number plate for her new car for Christmas. We were very lucky and managed to get a really good one. Noel fitted it tonight and it looks brilliant, she was really pleased when she opened it Christmas day, its just been frustrating having to wait before it could be fitted to the car legally.

Of Course it had to be a Smith

Well I for one am very happy with the new Doctor!! I know poor Jess is gutted its not a woman (one day Jess I'm sure). But personally I think he will be a very good Doctor... if a little young. He has something about him that reminds me of David Tennant a bit so the transission shouldn't be too traumatic.

I enjoyed him in the Ruby in the Smoke with Billy Piper but hopefully he won't have quite such a thick Cockney accent as the Doctor.

I just hope that the storylines leading up the regeneration are good. I was pretty disappointed in the Chirstmas episode. It started really well but ended up terribly silly at the end, it reminded me a bit of Wild Wild West.. really naff!!

So here is to Matt Smith the 11th Doctor Who... and "who" knows maybe the best yet (although John Pertwee will take some beating).

Happy New Year

Well here it is the first post of 2009... Happy New Year to everyone, I hope you all had a great night (those of you who weren't ill that is). I thought that my New Year was going to be really awful. Having worked the last two New Years Eves I was really looking forward to celebrating this year with a big party but by 7pm I was resigned to it just being me, Noel and Meurig.

Adrian and Rose had rang to say they were ill and our neighbours the Thomas' were off out on the town so we poured some wine, cranked up the jukebox and headed for the hot tub. We had only been there about 20 minutes or so when we had surprise visitors.


My friend Michelle, her boyfriend Tim and her son Dan. I was so pleased to see her, as we had not seen each other for nearly two years and I thought that our friendship might have pittered out but they came round and we had a brilliant night.

Here we all are toasting the New Year, well not quite all of us, I was taking the pictures!!

Michelle had turned up in a very fetching fur hat with which much fun was had as the night worn on.

As you can see Noel looked very nice in it (I think I may buy him one).

It also doubled as a very good merkin (google it if you don't know what a Merkin is!!)

As the night wore on we got very drunk and about 3am the Thomas' turned up after their night on the town and had a few more drinks with us and we finally got to bed at about 4.30am.

We didn't emerge until about 11am when we had

bacon sarnies and lots of paracetamol. The rest of the day has been spent recovering and just lounging around on the sofas and for me egg hunting as I was hoping to reach the magic 30,000 eggs before the reset tonight, but I fear I am going to fall short.

Anyway that is enough for now I have eggs to find and I am back in work tomorrow. A review of the year will appear shortly no doubt but for now HAPPY 2009 to you all, may it be a good year for you and yours xx