A Nice Surprise

My four days off go far too quickly for my liking. No sooner am I getting used to being in relax mode when there goes my alarm again at the ungodly hour of 5.45am and when that is a Saturday or a Sunday it just seems to add insult to injury.

Friday was basically a "potter about" day. The plumber came to fit the new shower door in the main bathroom only to discover that when it broke on its hinges it cracked the shower tray. This means that we will have to get yet another new shower tray, the second in 6 months... this is getting expensive!! I just hope that Noel manages to take this one out without damaging any of the tiles which is what happened last time and meant we had to re-tile the whole shower area!

The new cleaners also turned up on Friday and seem to be doing an excellent job (and for less money than the old cleaner). Friday evening I made a fish pie for supper which was very yummy, then Meurig came over for a few glasses of wine. The boys retired to the hot tub about 11pm which was far too late for me as I had work in the morning so I went to bed about 11.45pm.

Yesterday was a very very quiet day at work which in itself is a good thing, but when the sun is shining outside and you are stuck in the Ivory Tower it can be very frustrating. When I got home Noel suggested that we go to Druidston for a meal so I wouldn't have to cook. As it was a beautiful evening this seemed like a really good idea, so we headed off cross country in the little green machine (one of it's first outings this year).


We had a lovely bar meal at Druidston, mediterranean stuffed aubergines and salad for me and tandoori chicken and rice for him, followed by sticky toffee pudding and fresh cream for both of us. Unfortunately it was too chilly to sit outside but we did catch glimpses of the stunning sunset through the patio doors.

Today I am in work again, and it is relatively quiet. The TEMBEK will be leaving this afternoon, with much less fuss and nonsense than when she arrived. I have no plans for this evening apart from a nice rib-eye steak for tea and a catch up with all my Facebook thingies.

Mmmmm Cream Tea

I have been a good and dutiful daughter today and taken my invalid mother out for the afternoon. She is apparently going stir crazy being stuck in the house and not able to drive, so I picked her up at 1.30pm and headed for the coast. It was a beautiful afternoon so I thought that a nice cream tea in the garden at Druidston would be just what the doctor ordered.

As you can see it was lovely, fresh scones warm from the oven, topped with strawberry jam and lashings of fresh cream, eaten sat outside in the walled garden away from the cold wind but still with the sound of the sea just over the cliff.

As you can tell, Mother enjoyed hers!! You can see how bruised her hand is after the operation to remove her ganglion, her foot is equally as bruised.

After tea we drove back along the coast road via Newgale and Simpson Cross getting home about 3.15pm. I have promised to take her out again next week when I am off.

Oh and by the way well done Ellie and Julie for spotting my April Fools. Poor Jess had to ask if it was true so failed miserably. Sorry Jess but there will be no Blowynetta in the near future.

An Artist in the Family

Erin and her art group have been involved in a community programme this week to paint a mural on a bit of wall on the Mount Estate. They were at it Monday and Tuesday and she came home covered in paint on Tuesday. The result is this

I think its great, Erin did the group of figures holding hands in the bottom right and this bit of an oil refinery in the top left corner.
I just hope that it dosn't get vandalised as they put an awful lot of time and effort into it.

Today there has been great excitement next door and I missed it all when I was shopping at Tescos. The house across the road from us was raided by Police. They were all dressed up in vests and had dogs with them and everything. Not sure what they were looking for but my guess is drugs. Noel and the girls watched it all from the bedroom window and must have been spotted because the police waved to them!!

Ffion and I went to the Ferry for lunch today and had a very nice steak and onion baguette with chips. I shall be back down there again tonight for real life Pub Quiz.. that's three weeks in a row, I just hope we can make it three wins in a row.

Oh yes nearly forgot..... I'm pregnant!

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.