Well I Never 2

You can tell I am bored. I was actually writing a quiz this evening (please don't faint) and while I was doing some research (don't you just love Wikipedia), I discovered a couple of things I didn't know (yes there are a few).

You may recall from earlier posts that I love Spooks, its a great series and always edge of your seat stuff, so while I was researching a Spooks related question for my TV quiz I was surprised to discover that Peter Firth who plays Harry Pierce, head of MI5 used to be in another of my favourite shows from when I was young. Hands up those of you who remember the Double Deckers. Well it appears that Colin firth was Scooper, the leader of the gang and actually used to have hair (see pics).

He was also in the original production of Equs which recently starred Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe. Its amazing what you find out once you start looking at something.

The other thing I discovered was that Connie James in Spooks, who turned out to the the traitor at the end of the last series was played by Gemma Jones who was the star of another of those brilliant series from the 70s, The Duchess of Duke Street.

When I downloaded these two pictures you can see that she hasn't actually changed that much. Anyway now I have shared these little snippets with you I shall go back to writing my quiz which you may get to play eventually, that is if any of you still frequent AOL Pub Quiz!!

Where did you have breakfast this morning?

I had mine on a pilot boat skipping across the waves between Semlogistics terminal and sea.

I was set free from the Ivory Tower again with instructions to "go and look at the TEMBEK" - that's the big LNG ship for those of you with goldfish memories. I hitched a lift on the HAKIN and had to put a couple of pilots onboard ships first, then we headed out to the west for a close up look at the mighty beast.

To tell the truth she wasn't all that mighty close up, some of the VLCCs (very large crude carriers) we have in look bigger. I did however get offered breakfast... well toast and coffee to be exact, but it was very welcome and much appreciated. Once we got out towards the sea it was getting a bit rough and we were rocking and rolling a bit but I managed to keep my brekkie down. Unfortunately I didn't know that I was going to be sent out on "special operations" so I didn't bring my camera to work so you will just have to be content with a pic of tea and toast!

I have been very blogsidasical this month, only 10 entries so far compared with 21 last month. This most be an indication that it was been a very boring month, I have made a note to myself to try harder next month.

The past four days have flown by with nothing much to report. My Mum had her operation on her foot and wrist on Wednesday and spent the night in hospital. She is now home and sounding a bit happier than she did yesterday. My new cleaners did not show up on Monday and I have had no explanation, this resulted in me having to do h..ho..hoo.. hoov... and i.. ir..iro... (I won't swear on here).

We kicked ass at real life pub quiz for the second week in a row, beating the Foresters by 16 points on Wednesday and I managed not to poke my pen up Blodwyn's nose when she kept saying "oh I knew that" after the answer had been given.

On the down side of things Ffion had a little mishap in her car and scratched the side, but only at bit, it is hardly noticeable but if you listened to Noel you would think she had written the thing off (men don't half over-react when it comes to minor mishaps). Other than that everything is sweetness and harmony in Chez Smith now that I have got over my grump at him going to Cardiff and not getting back till late Sunday night... revenge will be mine at a later date though.. watch this space!!

Mothers Day

First of all RIP Jade, as Carol said on Facebook, love her or hate her you have to admire the courage she has shown over the last few months and her determintion to make a better future for her sons than the childhood she had.

She may not have been the sharpest pencil in the box but she was certainly savvy when it came to exploiting the media who attempted to exploit her.

How tragic for her boys that she should lose her fight for life on Mothers Day... very poignant.

I myself have not really had a Mothers Day. I did have cards and presents. The biggest card in the world from Ffion (see pic) and the cutest pussy cat one from Erin. I also had a lovely silk rose from Ffion and a box of Thornton dark chocolates (my favorites) from Erin.

As of the time of writing this (6.40pm) Noel has not returned from Cardiff!! I had a phone call about 4.30pm when he informed me that he was still in Cardiff, down the Bay and would be having late dinner with Gerwyn and Bethan before returning later tonight... nice for some!! Can you tell I'm not that happy?

I slept till about 2.30pm then popped over to see my Mum and wish her a happy Mothers Day, I stayed for about an hour and we had a good chat. I then came home and dabbled on Facebook, trying to beat the Egg Queen and the Floozy at Scrabble (unsuccessfuly). I am now back in work for my last (very quiet) night watch then 4 days off from tomorrow \0/

Well Played Ireland

Well done Ireland... first Grand Slam in 61 years! We nearly rained on their parade though but in the end the best team won if only by 2 points. Noel was at the game and I have received a few drunken phone calls but nothing that made very much sense.

As you can see from this pic the tensions were running high during the game and the last 10 minutes were incredibly exciting, if only Stephen Jones could have kicked the last penalty. But cest la vie... at least we beat the english (wink).

Yesterday's arrival of the LNG tanker the TEMBEK went off textbook with no problems whatsoever. There was very comprehensive cover on both BBC Wales Today and ITV Wales Tonight. Unfortunately the visibility was very poor so we didn't get a very good view of her coming in from Port Control, but I did find this very good picture of here making her way in

As you can see she is quite a big lump carrying enough gas to supply the whole of the UK for 6 hours apparently. This type of ship will now become a regular visitor with Milford Haven importing a third of the UKs gas supply.

Last night we went to Phil and Karen's for meal with Adrian, Rose, Richard and Jackie, it was a great night and the first time we have all been together since last July when we went to Druidston. We stayed the night, although the others didn't and finally went to bed about 1.30am. Noel was off at 8am with Meurig to Cardiff and I made my way home about 9.30am.

I pottered about for the rest of the morning then had a nap in the afternoon before coming to work tonight.

Big Day

Big day today for the port. We are expecting our first LNG ship the TEMBEK all the way from Qatar with a cargo of Liquified Natural Gas. They are expecting quite few demonstrations from opponents of the plant and high media interest... we may even make it onto the national news LOL.

For those of you don't know much about LNG this bit on the BBC Wales website explains a bit of the background. It isn't going to be a particularly busy day as nothing else will be moving when she comes in about 3pm but as they eyes of the world (well Wales anyway) will be on us here's hoping it all goes smoothly. Hopefully I can get some pictures of her when she arrives especially for the avid ship spotter Carol!!

I Don't Understand

It has been a beautiful spring day here today. Really warm and pleasant. I started well by going to Tescos and getting the shopping out of the way. I also popped into Peacocks and did a bit of retail therapy. I bought some linen crop trousers, a blouse and two t-shirts which I was very pleased with.

This afternoon I took a stroll down to the mine depot in the sunshine. It was a lovely walk which unfortunately was totally ruined by the amount of fly tipping that had taken place on the road down to there.

I really don't understand the mentality of people. Why drive to some out of the way place with your bin bags and dump them at the side of the road when all you have to do is put them out in front of your house once a week for the bin men to take them away. Apart from the general waste there were also loads of tyres (I can understand these have to be disposed of properly which can be expensive but surely the council will take them away), mattresses, old electrical wiring and all sorts of other detritous. It really spoiled what should have been a lovely walk in the sunshine.

When I got down to the mine depot I sat on the sea wall for a while with the sun on my face and the wind in my hair, listening to the sound of the waves and watching the sunlight dance on the water, it was very relaxing. I then strolled back and had a lazy afternoon reading in the garden then watching some TV. One more day of freedom tomorrow :0(

By the Skin of our Teeth

A win is a win is a win... I'm not going to complain, although basically it was a shite match which we didn't really deserve to win. Italy are finally becoming a force to be reckoned with in the Six Nations. Thank god for the final Shanklin try!!

Last night was excellent at the Cwtch. Food was really good. Fish cakes followed by roast pepper tart and lemon sorbet and vodka for me. The quiz was pretty good but as it was red nose day it was a bit specialised. Needless to say we didn't win.

Not a lot else to report but altogether now... Oh Flower of Scotland.. when will we see your like again!!!

New Toy

I bought a new toy online before I went away... and no it wasn't from Anne Summers!! We have been hooverless for some time and I have had to resort to borrowing the Mother In Law's from next door, so I thought it was about time we got a decent one.

I ordered a Dyson DC25 Animal. It's called an Animal because it is specifically for animal hair, a must in a house with four cats. It arrived on Saturday while we were away but the girls unpacked it, put it together and even used it (faint)!!

I had my first go with it today and it is brilliant, definately worth spending a bit more on. At the moment I am cleanerless. We let our cleaner go for various reasons and I am currently in the process of looking for a new one and in the meantime I am having to the the H word myself... or not as the case may be!!

Today has been horrid here, foggy, wet and miserable. I ventured out to St. Tescos, had a coffee with my mum and basically did very little else (nothing new there then). Tomorrow I shall do some cooking I think... my life is soooo exciting. I told you it would be mindless drivel.. you were warned!

I am Returned

Just to let you know I'm back.

Had a wonderful time in Bath as usual. A full report can be found on the holiday blog.

The weather was very nice, apart from the snow on Sunday night but it didn't stick.

I have had a very lazy day today just unpacking, washing and cleaning up a bit. I shall try not to be so blogsadasical over the rest of the week so expect more inane drivel shortly.

Manflu

I have manflu. I am dying. I feel terrible. Okay I have a cold but I still feel awful. I went down with it last night at work about 11pm. All of a sudden I started sneezing, my nose began to run and my throat started to hurt. By the time I went home at 7am I felt terrible and told them then that I would not be back in tonight.

I have done bugger all today except sleep and then lie on the settee feeling sorry for myself. My nose will not stop running and I already look like bloody Rudolph and it hurts to blow it. I am rarely ill so it always feels worse when I do succum. Tomorrow I start my 16 days off which is brilliant timing. I just hope that I can get rid of it by the weekend as we are going away and I do not want to be ill in Bath again. Hopefully a good nights sleep tonight and lots more paracetamol will do the trick and my personal medical advisor suggests I should smear my nose with vaseline... not sure about this one but I may try it.

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Dedwydd!

Or Happy St. David's Day!!

Nothing to report today really. Had a very quiet night Saturday night, we were in bed by 9.30pm and fast asleep not long afterwards. The excesses of Friday night catching up on us.

Today was a gloriously sunny day (as it should be being St. David's day). The daffodils were out in the garden and spring finally appears to have sprung.

All four of us went to the Ferry for Sunday lunch which was very nice and unexpected, not often we go anywhere as a family anymore. Then it was home to bed for me. Nights tonight (long and boring by the look of it) and tomorrow then \0/ 16 days off.