What a Difference a Day Makes

Its surprising what a bit of sunshine can do to lift your mood. Today I feel much happier, I won't say the January Blues have been banished completely but I am certainly feeling better.

I also have a couple of good things to look forward to next week.

Tuesday we are going to Druidston for one of their "all you can eat" buffets (Italian) with Chris and Julie. I have turned down another overtime night watch for this, I couldn't face having another of my four days off buggered about with.

Then on Friday we are going to a themed quiz night at the Cwtch, also with Chris and Julie and several other couples. The theme is School days and it is fancy dress, so plenty of photo opportunities. The food is also going to be the Cwtch's take on school dinners, so that should be interesting.

So today the sky is blue, the sea is blue and the ships are pretty colours, my cooker is fixed, its Friday and I anticipate a kebab and a bottle of Pinot Grigio this evening with possibly a soak in the hot tub... thing are looking up when the sun shines!!

January Blues

I have the January Blues. Everything today is grey (not blue really). The sky is grey, the sea is grey, the ships are grey and my mood is grey. My four days off was buggered about by having to do an overtime night watch in the middle and I feel as if I've not had any proper time off at all.

My cooker packed in on Monday and although it was been fixed today it was been a pain not having an oven. The house is a mess, pub quiz last night was cancelled after I had trekked all the way to the Jolly Sailor for nothing and my pile of ironing is nearly reaching the ceiling with more washing piling up all the time. I feel a bit like Edvard Munch's Scream at the moment. It must be that time of year. I really need sometime to motivate me but my whole attitude at the moment is "I can't be arsed"... I hope I snap out of it soon because it is really depressing me. Sorry for the moan, hopefully I shall feel more cheerful in the near future.

RIP Bill

It was with huge sadness that I just read on the BBC News website of the death of Bill Mclaren at the age of 86.

As someone who grew up listening to his voice commentating on just about every rugby match I ever watched, he was for me, as for the rest of the world "The Voice of Rugby".

This is the man who called the mighty JPR a Jet Propelled Rhino, who likened forwards racing up the pitch to a "herd of rampaging wildebeest". He was a legend. I was priveledged to be at the final game he ever commentated on, Wales v Scotland in 2002 at Cardiff and joined in the standing ovation he received from the crowd before the game. He will be sorely missed. RIP Bill Mclaren a true great!

Incy Wincy

Noel is forever on the lookout for new ways to torment the cats. He is joined in this endeavour by Meurig who this year bought him a remote controlled four wheel drive car to chase them around the house with.

No satisfied with this, while we were in Cardiff Noel spotted one of these in The Gadget Shop. As both Erin and I have a huge phobia of spiders it was not the most popular of purchases.

Hopefully I shall get some video of him tormenting either the cats or Erin with it shortly.

Happy Belated New Year

Wow it's 11th January already, this is not a good start to a year of blogging.

We had a very quiet New Year, just Noel, myself and Meurig. We watched some TV, soaked a bit in the tub and saw 2010 in very quietly if not quite soberly. Ffion and Craig went to Haverfordwest and didn't get back till about 5am. Erin and Martin also had a very quiet time staying in together, mostly because they couldn't be certain that Erin would be able to get into anywhere.

New Year's day we had our first sprinkling of snow. I won't say too much about the snow because I am sure you are all more than fed up with it by now. It was however, very pretty.


Luckily I am on 14 days off at the moment so it has not affected me very much. Noel and Ffion however have done a lot of walking to work in the last week or so much to Ffion's disgust (she does exercise about as much as I do).

The weather moderated enough at the weekend for us to get up to Cardiff for our weekend away with Chris and Julie. We went to see Les Miserables in the Millennium Centre on Saturday night be decided to make a weekend of it by going up on the Friday. We stayed at the Mecure Hotel on Newport Road which was very nice and as we used our Tesco's vouchers, very cheap.

Friday we mostly wandered around the shops, had a leisurely late lunch in Positanos then retired to Iguanas for cocktails during Happy Hour. After a quick nap back at the hotel we returned to Iguanas for a meal which was very nice.

Saturday morning we caught a bus down to Cardiff Bay where there was still a lot of snow on the ground and it looked lovely

It was very lethal underfoot though and it was like trying to walk around on an ice rink. We had a look around the foyer of the Millennium Centre then wandered across to Mermaid Quay for a a cup of coffee. We then decided to have a look in the Welsh Assembly building, the Senedd. It was very quiet in there and we had a guided tour which was very interesting and we were able to actually go into the chamber. The building really is architecturally amazing especially the ceiling which includes a mushroom shaped dome which allows natural light into the chamber.
After we had picked up the tickets for the show that evening we returned to Las Iguanas for more cocktails and some lunch both of which were very enjoyable. We then returned to hotel via the shops to get changed for the evening. We caught the bus down to the Bay and arrived at the Millennium Centre in time to have a drink before the show. Our seats were in the front row of the Upper Circle so we had to go to the fifth floor where the bar was just inside the lettering that adorns the bronze dome of the Centre... it was quite unusual to see it from the opposite side.


The show was amazing. We have seen Les Mis twice in London and this production was by far the best we have seen. The three hours flew by and I cried buckets at the end, as well as when Fantine died and in other places (I won't say too much and spoil it for JoJo).

After the show we went to Strada on Mermaid Quay and had a lovely meal before getting a taxi back to the hotel.

Sunday morning we had breakfast then headed back west as it had started to snow again. It snowed all the way back and by the time we got to St. Davids to fetch our car it was quite heavy so we went straight home. All in all it was a wonderful weekend. I shall leave you with a little bit of Les Mis.

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.