Update

Smack my wrist, I have been very blogsidasical of late, no excuses really, I just havn't got round to it, but here I am, so this is a quick update on what I have been up to.

Last Saturday night we went out for dinner with Phil, Karen, Adrian and Rose to celebrate Phil's 50th birthday. Hard to believe all the gang are now 50 (except me of course!!). Richard and Jackie weren't there because they were off on holidays to Crete. We went to a place called the Black Sheep which used to be Bellinis but has changed hands. The food was mediterranean and very nice. I had some chargrilled vegetables to start then a white bolognese, which was a mixture of beef, lamb and pork mince cooked in a creamy wine sauce and made a nice change to the normal tomatoey bolognese.

Sunday we went to Phil and Karen's for a barbeque and spent a very pleasant afternoon sitting in the sun, drinking wine and chatting.

I am on 14 days off at the moment and Erin and I have been going swimming every day in an effort to try and lose a bit of weight... it dosnt seem to be working yet and all I seem to have done is pull a muscle in my thigh which is very painful.

Yesterday Noel and I took a spin in the little green machine to Solva where we had lunch in the Harbour House and watched the Lions match, the last 20 minutes of which was very exciting, mainly due to the fact that the team was made up of mostly Welsh men!!

Last night Dawn and Julian came up for a few drinks and a soak in the hot tub. I think I got quite drunk as I don't remember going to bed and I am still slumming around in the jim jams at 3pm in the afternoon. Erin and Martin cooked sunday lunch today which was very nice and very filling and at the moment I can't see me doing anything else all day except being a couch potato.

Leo

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before but Ffion's best friend Kirsty has been pregnant... some of you may have seen some pics of her at my party. I did say a while ago (about 7 months) that something was going on with one of Ffion's friends which I couldn't mention... well that was it.

She asked me to go with her to the hospital for her first scan as she had not told her family at that stage and I was happy to do it (thanking god under my breath that it wasn't one of my girls!!) So I was there at the very beginning.

Anyway Tuesday she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy called Leo who arrived weighing 7lb 2oz and is absolutely gorgeous. She brought him round to meet me for the first time yesterday and I must confess when I held him for the first time I cried... big soft git that I am.

So here are a couple of photos of the little man, I am sure there will be more in the future as Ffion is going to be Godmother and is already totally besotted with him and terrible protective. Kirsty is very lucky to have her as a friend as she has done loads for her over the last few months and will continue to do so in the future I am sure.

Refresher Course

As you know I arrived safely in Geordie land on Monday and settled into the hotel ok. I paid a fortune for internet access, but there was no way I was going to forego my Scavenger Hunting and let my Fairy Garden wilt!!

I did a very good impression of Billy No Mates in the restaurant on Monday night, although I did meet two of the others who would be on the same course. They invited me to have a drink at the bar after dinner but I declined and retreated to my room with a bottle of wine to promptly fall asleep after one glass while watching Big Brother.


Little Haven Hotel.

Tuesday morning the taxi picked us up at the hotel at 8.30 and whisked us to South Tyneside College where we eventually found our way to the Marine Department and our lecture room. The course was a 3 day V103 Refresher (V103 is the professional qualification for VTS (Vessel Traffic Service) employees and there are about 400 of us throughout the ports industry and coastguard in the UK.

There were 8 of us on the course, 2 from Mersey Docks, 3 from Dublin Port, one from ABP South Wales and one from the Royal Dockyard Plymouth and of course me. We also had one observer from Dover Coastguard who was learning to be a trainer. The morning was spent in lectures with lunch at the Clipper Suite in the College, served by the catering students... and very nice it was too. In the afternoon we began the simulator exercises which involved two at a time being the VTS operators while the other 5 pretended to be ships, with the excercises becoming increasingly harder as the afternoon wore on.

We finally got back to the hotel about 5.30pm and headed straight for the bar before all having dinner together, now that we all knew each other. After dinner it was back to the bar where we sat up chatting until about 11.45pm.

Wednesday was a repeat of the previous day with lectures in the morning, lunch then more simulator exercises in the afternoon. When the taxi pulled up at the hotel on Wednesday afternoon, there sat on a bench waiting patiently for me were Carol and Tracey. They had trekked all the way from Peterlee for the evening to have dinner and a few drinks with me.

It was wonderful to finally meet them and we retired straight to my room for a glass of wine and a good gossip, before having a very nice dinner during which more wine, malibu (Carol is a secret alky!!) and gossip flowed. We tried to retire to the bar for a while but as it was Karaoke night at the hotel it was impossible to talk so we sat in the dining room till they put the lights off then went back to my room. All too soon it was 10.30pm and their taxi arrived and we had to say goodbye, but as I said it was wonderful to meet them finally.

After they left I headed back to the bar to join my fellow students who were by this time well lubricated and enjoying the spectacle that is Karaoke night at the Little Haven Hotel, it should in fact have been renamed "Grab a Granny" night as the average of participants had to be at least 70. The double vodkas began flowing and I finally called it a night and headed for bed at 1am, at least two of the other boys didn't finish until 3am and the next morning at breakfast they looked like death warmed up.

The final day we had one very boring lecture on the legal structure of VTS before being let loose on the full bridge simulator to play at driving boats.

Being the only one with no practical nautical experience, my team duly elected me Captain for the first exercise then promptly ignored my suggestion that we reduce speed to avoid a collision in Dover Straits and instead left it way too late to make a large alteration to starboard to pass round the stern of the other ship, finally passing them at about a mile, which is really too close. At the wash up afterwards it was pointed out to them that my suggestion had been the most obvious and would have resolved the situation immediately!!

We did another ship handling exercise before lunch then more VTS simulation in the afternoon before I finally got away at about 2.30pm. I got a taxi to the airport and caught my flight home at approximately 1700. I like Eastern Airways, the serve free alcohol on their flights!! Noel met me at Cardiff and I was home safe and sound in Milford Haven by 8.30pm, tired but glad to be back... so there you have it my exciting three days in Geordie Land, the highlight of which was finally meeting Carol and Tracey!!

Why Eye Pet

Well I made it... here I am in sunny South Shields! My morning was a tad fraught, with lots of running around doing last minute packing, putting petrol in the car and sorting out all my flight documents, but finally at 9.20am we set off for Cardiff airport.

I hate flying... at least I think I do, my stomach was churning all the way up in the car and the first place I headed for at the terminal was the bar for a large glass of wine to steady my nerves. Luckily it was a very short flights, less than an hour in total. The plane was a twin propeller small one (don't ask me to be technical). Despite protesting that I hate flying, once we were up in the air it really was quite lovely, as long as I don't think of how many thousand feet I am off the ground in a tin can! The flight itself was uneventful and not very busy so I had a seat on my own, and by the time I had eaten my sandwich and drank my glass of wine we were landing at Newcastle,

I got a taxi to the hotel, not really wanting to tackle the Metro and once I had checked in I headed to the restaurant for some lunch, just a toasted sandwich which I ate outside in the sunshine. I now have a long lonely night to get through on my own, with just my computer and no doubt a bottle of wine for company before the course starts tomorrow morning.... hark I think I hear the bar calling....

Pastures New

I am generally feeling a lot happier at the moment. I have had a few problems at work lately which I don't particularly want to go into, but lets just say it is all sorted now and I feel quite a bit happier.

I have been a tad worried about the Other Welsh Fflwsy over the past few days. She has not been on line and her last Facebook post indicated that she was suffering from a bit of a bug, so today I decided to ring her and find out if she was alive or not. I am happy to report that she lives.. but only just, she is suffering from a very debilitating stomach bug which has confined her to bed for the last four days (I don't envy Robin the job of clearing up after her!!) but she assures me that she is off to the doctors tomorrow and hopefully will be on the mend soon.

Tomorrow I take to the skies and am jetting off to the metropolis of South Shields for a three day refresher course for my V103 (VTS qualification - VTS = Vessel Traffic Service). I am hoping that during my time in the sunny north east I shall meet up with Carol and share a few glasses of wine.. no doubt one of us will keep you updated on whether this happens or not.

This evening I have partaken of several glasses of sparkly stuff in the hot tub and then tried to introduce the younger generation in this house to the joys of The Life of Brian, I am not sure that they share my love for this classic movie but at least they sat through it and did laugh in places.

I am going to retire for the night and will no doubt update you when I arrive in Shields tomorrow.

Party

I know, I know, I have been terribly lax on the blogging front, but it has been a busy week or so.

We celebrated my birthday with a bar meal at Druidston, which was excellent and great fun, a really nice evening out with Noel, the girls and Martin (who is rapidly becoming a permenant fixture).

The rest of my watches flew by and Thursday afternoon Ellie and her children arrived to stay the weekend. We went to the Jolly Sailor for dinner and sat in the garden looking over the Haven while the children played in the excellent play area and threw stones in the water.

Friday, once everyone was up and about I took them for a tour of the North of Pembrokeshire, following the coast road around the Havens, Druidston, Newgale, Solva (the village which was left £400,00 by a wealthy widow last week) and finally to St. Davids, the smallest city in Wales, and possibly the country.

We took a stroll down to the Cathedral where I took this pic of Holly, Abigail and Amos in sitting on the wall overlooking it. Then we walked around inside and had sauntered back up the hill for one of Giani's marvellous ice-creams from the Bench.

The rest of Friday was spend lounging in the garden enjoying the glorious sunshine and partaking of a few wines, and later a Mojito and Pernod or two.

Saturday dawned bright and lovely again and the morning was spend making preparations for the party. Erin and I disappeared to Tescos about 7.30am and then I spent the rest of the morning making various salads and helping Noel set the garden up.

People began arriving from about 2pm but it was very slow until almost 6pm and once again I was worrying that no-one would come. In the end my fears were groundless and nearly everyone showed up about the same time as the band did.

They set up on the side patio and by 7pm were in full swing.

Everyone was up and dancing.

and I got to strut my stuff with my good old Dad (they don't call him Rubber Legs Lewis for nothing).

Most of Ffion's friends turned up (this is Alana, Tanya-Marie, Kirsty and Ffion) - Kirsty didn't dance too much as her baby is due later this month, something we are all excited about!

Noel mostly stood around supervising with Meurig (pictured here during a short break from cooking duties. (We went through 13 joints of pork and about 150 bread rolls, so everyone was well fed.)

We even found time to get a picture of Ellie and I together.

And this is me with Martin (Erin's boyfriend) who was well on his way to being very very drunk by the time this pic was taken.

The band played until about 9.30pm and I have been told that they could be heard from over in Milford. After they finished things carried on until approximately 11.30pm and we were all tucked up in bed by midnight (yes really!!).. But it had been an absolutely brilliant day, one of our best parties ever... and as they say "the sun shines on the righteous"..... or could it be that "the Devil looks after his own"!!

Sunday was spent mostly recovering and Ellie and the children headed home about 4pm after the worst of the heat of the day had gone and I didn't envy them the drive. Later that night I had a mishap with a front tooth (again) which resulted in my having the day off on Monday to attend the emergency dentist to get the little blighter put back in (it was a cap not a real tooth!).

Tuesday was back to work and Tuesday night Noel, Ffion and I went to Druidston where we had a delicious Turkish feast which was their buffet of the week and very enjoyable. We then sat on the cliff top and watched the most spectatular sunset but unfortunately I forgot to take my camera.

So that's it basically, again apologies for the lack of blog, hopefully normal service will be resumed now and of course a full selection of party pics is available on my Facebook page for those of you who havn't seen them already.

Another Year Older

Today is my 45th Birthday... god that sounds old.

I have had better birthdays.. i.e. those I have not had to spend in work when it hasn't been a Bank Holiday.

Tonight we are going out for a meal, to Druidston I think, I shall have a few glasses of wine to celebrate but will be saving the major celebrations for the party on Saturday.

Thanks to everyone who sent me Birthday wishes on Facebook and for my cards both real and virtual, they are all greatly appreciated.

May has been a very frugal month blog wise, hopefully I shall feel more like blogging and generally in a better mood in June, sorry if you have missed me hopefully normal service will be resumed in the near future.