Diary 2005

December 2005

15 December 2005
Almost the end of term - thank the Lord! I have one more teaching session, this evening and then that's it for four weeks. Magic! Only a few weeks ago I was thinking "It's only three weeks to the end of term, how am I going to fit everything in?" This week I have been thinking "End of term where are you?!".

Mum has gone over to California for Christmas. Which of course means that we now have three extra dogs. See the Mad Dog Cam for live streaming from our kitchen!

We've recently taken charge of an investment property. It is a Victorian terrace house that needs some work. For the last four or five weekends we've been steaming off wallpaper, hacking off plaster, tearing up carpets and doing other destructive activities. In all of this work I have not so much as broken a fingernail. Then in one week, at home, I managed to take a chunk out of my thumb with a pototo peeler and stab myself in the palm of my left hand with an umbrella and it wasn't even raining! Doh!

We put up our Christmas tree last weekend. "Big deal!" you might think, however, this is the third Christmas that Alwyn and I have been together and it is our first Christmas tree *lol* Anyway, it looks very pretty and so far the dogs have all left it alone.

October 2005

10 October 2005
By Saturday (8th) the puffer (Charlie) had reduced the population of the fish tank some more, despite being fed on prawns and pieces of cod. I found one of the new silver tips with only half a face, presumably having had the rest chomped by Charlie. I've got enough stress in my life without having the fish tank turned into a gently bubbling abattoir! We decided he had to go, so on Sunday we took him back to the shop.

Charlie cost us �10, so the shop said we could have �10 worth of other fish in exchange. We eventually decided upon Neons, as they are colourful and definitely not aggressive! The Neons were 5 for �6 and we had �10 of credit. Alwyn said to the shop assistant "We'll have ten neons and then we'll owe you �2." The shop assistant said "Why don't you have 12 and then you won't owe me anything." So we said "Okaaaay". There were a lot of neons in the tank and they move really quickly, so when the shop assistant went to catch them, he got a net full. He put them into the plastic bag, said "There's a few more than 12 in there", put the plastic bag into a paper bag and then into a carrier bag, handed it over and said goodbye. We laughed all the way home!

When we came to put the neons into the tank, it turned out there were 18 in the bag. I think we came out of that particular transaction quite well!

3 October 2005
Term has well and truly begun. I have a lot of teaching hours this year and lots of students. This means lots of prep and lots of marking. The time is whizzing by so quickly. Only 11 weeks to the Christmas break! Eeek!

This weekend we decided to put some new stock into our fish tank. I have been hankering after a puffer fish for a while. They are just the cutest little things. They look almost like a clockwork toy! So, we went along to the fish place and purchased 4 female guppies, 6 silver tip tetras and this little puffer fish. On the tank it said that they were South American puffers and that they were suitable to keep in a community tank. Great! I had my puffer fish!

We were watching TV later that evening when I noticed that the puffer fish had something in its mouth. Alwyn and I both got up to look and discovered that it had half a small guppy in its mouth and was chomping away enthusistically. I've sort of gone off the puffer fish a bit now ...

We did a bit of research on the internet and discovered that puffer fish are generally carnivorous (you don't say!), that they will nip other fish (completely in two?!) and that their teeth need regular trimming (WHAT?!)

I think this is one of those lessons in which we have learned that research should always come before action ....

Yesterday, we were watching the History Channel. As there was a programme about Australian wildlife. I have never spent any time watching the History Channel before. The programme we watched was fascinating but the adverts in the commercial breaks were TERRIBLE. The History Channel has my personal award for the most pants adverts on TV.

And while I am on the subject of adverts. Whose idea was the Bassett's Milky and Fruity Babies ad? That really is terrible.

September 2005

8 September 2005
The summer has gone by so quickly. It's almost the beginning of term again. Where did the time go?

The kitchen is almost complete. The ceiling took six coats to hide the stain from the leak. All that remains now are three short lengths of skirting board to be attached in the porch and new cushion flooring. Hurrah!

August 2005

19th August 2005
News Flash!
Corfu - FAB! We're going back asap - quad bikes definitely a highlight!
Home again - Leak from bathroom through to kitchen ceiling (definitely NOT a highlight) luckily the linen in the airing cupboard held a LOT of water* and prevented the kitchen ceiling from being saturated enough to fall down. The kitchen is now undergoing redecoration. This is probably a good thing.
* See, there is a good side to squirrelling away lots of towels, etc in the airing cupboard.

I HATE the "Skittles" advert with the grandparents. It makes me go ewwwww.

We have discovered that Maddy can get out of the garden underneath the new fence. Hmph. *Really* do not want a Lilah repeat.

I've been riding my bike again. Thank you to "White Van Man" who honked his horn and shouted out something unintelligible but, I think, flattering, while I was waiting behind a car (which I thought contained dead people**) at traffic lights on Manor Way. You nearly made me fall off my bike in shock, but you also made me laugh.
**Just as a point of interest, the car I was waiting behind didn't contain dead people, I think they'd just lost the will to live from waiting for a right turn filter at said traffic lights!

One of my students asked me to have a look at a laptop which they had been given but had been unable to use due to the software installed on it. Alwyn and I played with the laptop and were also unable to make it work, so we tried to format the hard drive. Much to my horror, the laptop died; utterly and completely, we couldn't even raise a light on it, let alone a beep. I gave it back to the student, apologising profusely for the lack of function. The student, a lovely lady, not only said it was not a problem, but gave me a bottle of wine for my trouble (I'd had to strenuously refuse to be paid for "my work" on the laptop). I texted Alwyn, in amazement, to tell him that the student had given me a bottle of wine. Alwyn texted me back within seconds saying "They got anything else they want us to break?!" Made I laugh!!

Another bizarre advert on the television - perhaps I should switch the darn thing off - naaaah, I like trash TV!! Anyway, this advert is about collecting "Fire Engines of the World" at a Fantastic Price of only two pounds ninety nine pence for the first installment. How weird is that? I suppose, having assidiously collected ANYTHING with a Dalmatian on it or ANYTHING with Dalmatian print on it, including having a white car with black spots, I shouldn't say anything. Aspergers, anyone? No? However, I shall, because this is my web page and I CAN!!

My e-friend, Paul, sent me the following link
Crazy eBay mom
It is a fascinating read and, whether the author meant it or not, the text is very dry and extremely amusing. In light of this example of craziness, I cleared out the bathroom cabinet. There was stuff in there that went out of date in 1998. There was also one item in there that was so old it actually didn't have an expiry date. That was quite scary! Still there's now room in the cabinet for me to store more things until they go out of date ...

I did some training for an external company recently. Being the technophile that I am, I took along my trusty laptop, flash drive and a DVD which formed the main part of this particular training session. Being also an inveterate pessimist I took along printed OHTs and a video copy of the DVD. All I can said is "Thank the Lord I did!" My laptop stubbornly refused to communicate with the data projector. I was going to use my laptop to show the PowerPoint presentation and also the DVD for the session. I dismantled this selection of technology and set up the works laptop with the data projector, (this laptop would support the PowerPoint bit but not the DVD) the works laptop also refused to talk to the data projector, despite the fact that it had happily done this on the previous day. Fine. At this stage I had started to sweat a bit. No problem, set up the works overhead projector. Guess what, this also didn't work. Great. At this stage I was going into sweat overdrive. Eventually I used a borrowed overhead projector and a borrowed TV/video combination to successfully facilitate the session. Valium sandwich, anyone? Which reminds me, I must put in a pay claim (this will help to pay for that valium sandwich!).

It's ten to midnight on Friday night and I am, thankfully, surrounded with sleeping dogs. Saffy is sparked out on my right (on the settee of course). Mickey is flat out on the floor to my left (he can't get up on the settee), Maddy is flat out on the other settee. Peace, perfect peace. Alwyn is on a night out with his work colleagues. I am on a night in with a bottle of my favourite wine (and trash TV of course).

We've really got sucked into "Lost" the new series that's being shown on C4 and E4. Wow! Great serial, I look forward to each episode. However, I seriously hope that the animals in the forest are not going to turn out to be Dinosaurs. That would be a big let down.

I'm thinking of rearranging the layout of this part of my website, in order to make it easier to read (top to bottom rather than bottom to top, perhaps) bear with me.

July 2005

26th July 2005
So much has happened in the last month! Alwyn's daughter, Kelly, gave birth to her baby on 20th July, he weighed in at 8lb 9 oz. He is to be called William and he is gorgeous!

Alwyn and I just booked our holiday (online of course). We are going to Corfu. We can't wait! I have always wanted to go to Corfu as it is where Gerald Durrell lived as a child and about which he has written a number of books, including "My Family and Other Animals" one of my all time favourites.

My bike passed its MOT with flying colours, hurrah! Thanks to PeeGee Two Wheel Centre in Caerphilly.

Mum will be coming home from her stay in the US next week. She's been away for about six weeks. The time has gone past really swiftly.

For the last week and a half, I have been teaching IT courses for Summer School. The one course is entitled "IT for the Terrified". This is aimed at absolute beginners and aims to teach them how to use a mouse and how to use Windows.

As part of this course, I encourage the participants to play Solitaire on the computer. While they concentrate on playing the game, the use of the mouse becomes automatic to them, it really works very well. Until this week. I had a class of four and only one of them had ever played Solitaire before. Doh! Twenty minutes were spent on explaining and demonstrating how to move the cards and what can and can't be done in Solitaire! Ah well, it was fun nevertheless!

June 2005

23rd June 2005
Today it is hot! In fact it is very hot, partly due to the fact that the air-conditioning isn't working in my teaching room. This room is on the sunny side of the building and contains 24 computers ... stick a fork in me, I'm done!

I took my bike out for MOT today. It's the first time in about 18 months that I have ridden it. I had forgotten how much fun it was and how good it felt! (Hope it passes the MOT!)

After lunch, I nipped over to the village. As I was parking my car in the car park, a mother duck with about ten babies appeared in the car park. I am guessing she was trying to find her way down to the river with them! I was in a hurry to get to class so I couldn't stop to find out. I hope they all made it to the river in safety, a car park is probably not the best of places to take your first steps!

We took a weekend trip to Laugharne and Tenby. Here are our photographs: Photographs from Laugharne and Tenby.

May 2005

27th May 2005
On Monday the organ and amp disappeared for a second time ... this time they did not return! Result!

Alwyn and I had a fantastic weekend in London (a fortnight ago). The play "The Woman in Black" was excellent, our hotel was great and we had a superb time sampling some of the restaurants and hostelries in London. We also managed to negotiate the tube whilst somewhat more than half cut, ending up back at the required tube station without mishap or taking the wrong tube! Some pictures of us in London.

22nd May 2005
Another interesting weekend. A friend of ours had given Alwyn an amp and an electric organ that had been in a house he had bought. On Saturday, Alwyn tried it out and it turned out it didn't work. No problem, we dragged it out onto the drive to await the arrival of the binmen. Alwyn said perhaps someone would save us the trouble and "nick 'em". We went over to Barry to spend the evening with friends - we had a great time! Thanks to Debra and Dave! When we arrived home this morning, to our delight, both the amp and the organ were gone.

A bit later on, I went over to Mum's to pick up the dogs and when I came back home with the dogs, the amp and the organ were back on the drive. I had to laugh! Someone had obviously picked them up, taken them home, discovered they didn't work and brought them back.

13th May 2005
I nipped home at lunchtime to let the dogs out. They had procured and completely annihilated a large sponge. Dogs love tearing sponge. I made the mistake of getting a foam football for Zeb and Mickey when they were pups. They got one either side of it and tore it to pieces. It took me about a week to pick up all the bits from the garden!

12th May 2005
Yesterday, Mickey had to have an operation on his eye. He's gone to stay with my Mum for the duration of his recovery because Maddy is such a little devil and will not leave him alone.

Yesterday evening, Alwyn and I decided that a trip to the local pub was in order. We were only gone for about an hour. When we came back, a scene of devastation greeted us. Maddy and Saffy had torn open the cushion in one of the beds, distributing the contents liberally around the kitchen. They had also torn the base out of the nice (expensive) bed that Maddy was given as a pup. Here's Maddy looking like butter wouldn't melt....

Going onto a totally different subject, I have been observing some graffiti recently. I hesitate to call it "Urban Art" because mostly it is the defacement of property, publically or privately owned. However, there are a few pieces of graffiti that have amused me greatly. One such piece is something I drive home past when I have been working late. It is a drawing of a light switch, situated on the edge of a garage on one of the roads bordering Cathays Cemetery. It is quite well rendered and it intrigues me as to why someone would draw such a thing there.

Going off on a tandem .... Cathays Cemetery is where Peerless Jim Driscoll is buried, a local hero! He won the Empire Featherweight Title in 1908 and also became the British and European Featherweight Champion. He died of consumption in January 1925. Around 100,000 people watched his funeral procession move through Cardiff.

And so back to graffiti ...

There is another piece of graffiti along this route. It has been there for many years and is now sadly faded. It depicts Roger Mellie from Viz saying "Hello, good evening and bo*****!" Crude I know, but it makes me chuckle!

The final piece of graffiti which used to be along this route used to totally crack me up. There is a bed and breakfast establishment which has a stone lion on top of each of its gate posts. The stone lions are painted white. At one point a number of years ago some wag had given one of the lions the most superb moustache! It wasn't a very fancy, curly moustache but it suited the lion and looked very funny. Unfortunately the lions have been repainted and both are now moustache-less. A sad day.

6th May 2005
On Saturday of last weekend, I bumped into my friend Justyn in the village. We haven't caught up for almost a year so we decided to go for a drink and a gossip. During our gossip, we got onto the subject of the local river and the weird and wonderful things in and around it. Justyn was telling me that at one stage a dead python had been discovered on the river bank. As the unfortunate creature was decomposing and it's skin had split open, apparently, it was possible to see feathers inside the snake. It must have been catching and eating birds. I said "How on earth did it get there I wonder", Justyn replied that people often dump "pets" that they no longer want and that during the 80s there had been a trend for gay men to keep snakes.

From there we went on to the turtles that have been living in Roath Park Lake since the end of the Ninja Turtle craze in the late 80s or early 90s. The conversation then meandered off in other diverse directions, as conversations have wont to do.

A little while after this, a man approached our table and said "I *was* enjoying my dinner," I thought he was going to complain because Justyn was smoking, but then noticed a packet of cigarettes in the man's hand. He then followed this up with "until you started talking about gays and all their skin coming off!" Justyn and I looked at one another, I said "Oooh, here's my stick. Would you like the wrong end?!" We both started laughing and bloke stalked off mumbling "You must be gay to know about these things." Which made us laugh even harder! Ah the delights of the pub!

5th May 2005
Today is the day of the General Election. The only reason why I note this on my webpage is that I wasn't sent a ballot form and neither was Alwyn - I am assuming they went astray in the post. I went over to the Polling Station (conveniently situated across the road from my house) and explained the situation. I was issued with a ballot paper and that was that. They didn't even ask me for ID. Although I was pleased to a certain extent that the situation didn't involve my having to create a fuss in order to place my vote, I did find it somewhat worrying that I was not asked for ID. Perhaps voting fraud is not considered to be a high profile in the UK!

On Monday (Bank Holiday) Alwyn and I went to the "Grand Slam Party" in the Millennium Stadium. The purpose of this was to congratulate the Welsh Team on their superb performances and to present them with the Grand Slam Trophy. At the entrance to the stadium there are narrow lanes marked out with metal barriers leading up to turnstiles. In the next queue to where we were standing was a boy with a welsh flag on a 3ft stick. All very well until he managed to hit me in the face with it. Luckily I was wearing sunglasses. I said "Hey!" and the woman with him (presumably his mother) said "There's no need to be so coarse!" COARSE?! Hey?! I wasn't having that so I turned around and said "Coarse? All I said was Hey! and he did hit me in the face with the damn thing!" At which she did have the good grace (sense?!) to back down. Flippin' hec! If she was after coarse, I could have done a good job of it, but I'm a laaaady! *lol* I feel she would have been better employed in ensuring no-one else was hit than making accusations to innocent bystanders!

As part of the Grand Slam Party, Prince Charles and Camilla (who is, I believe, now the Duchess of Cornwall) had been wheeled in to present the Cup. As they walked onto the red carpet, they were booed. If they said anything to the team (Have you come faar?) it was not broadcast and then they disappeared again. Not exactly an auspicious start; this was their first official engagement since their marriage.

April 2005

28th April 2005
Thursday evening yet again. At least I have students this week!

Observation for today. Driving to work this morning, I got stuck behind a sludge-green Nissan Micra. The "name" on the back of this car was "Passion". I ask you, what could possibly be passionate about a Nissan Micra? Leaving aside the fact that it was the colour of the slime that grows on my patio during the winter, I don't think I could even get remotely excited about a Nissan Micra, let alone achieve a state of passion over the thing. Dear God! And I am not even going to begin to start on making (sweeping, stereotypical) statements about the types of people who drive Nissan Micras!

Mum came home last week, so Bonnie and Chip went home on Saturday. Bonnie went bananas when she saw Mum, nearly turning herself inside out in excitement. Chip appeared to be more interested in going hunting for biscuits and almost completely ignored Mum. Perhaps he was sulking because she'd been away (or perhaps his heart is totally ruled by his stomach!).

Tonight is the pub quiz in the local pub. The "team" I belong to is called "The No Hopers", aptly named because we have no hope of winning the league! Anyway, we have a laugh and (a number of) glasses of wine, so it's the taking part rather than the winning that is important.

Today I have booked for Alwyn and I to go to London for a weekend in May. We have coach and hotel booked and I made an attempt to book theatre tickets. Well actually I managed to book theatre tickets, but due to the crappy web-site I have been issued with tickets for the matinee performance instead of the evening performance. I don't suppose it'll matter really, but it was rather annoying AND the tickets are non-changeable. Pah! Anyway, we're going to see "The Woman in Black" at the Fortune Theatre and I am very much looking forward to it.

During June we are going to try to book up a weekend in Berlin or Budapest. July is going to be taken up with dog-sitting once more. In August we might go to Eire or France. I like having holidays to look forward to!

22nd April 2005
Mum's coming home today, so I will be two dogs less! Sian is coming over with the three boys at the end of May, I can't wait to see them!

Last weekend, Alwyn and I went out with Maddy and Saffy and our bikes. On Saturday we cycled about 5 or so miles with Saffy and Maddy running with us. Maddy thinks it's the best thing ever. She did not stop! Even when we stopped to give them a breather, she was still running in circles and doing Maddy things. On Sunday we went out for about 2 miles or so, Maddy was as keen as the previous day but Saffy wasn't quite so enthusiastic! She will be nine years old this year, whereas Maddy is only just a year old.

Saffy's now back in her lampshade, having licked the bite wound until one of the marks is the size of a fifty-pence piece.

I had a new front door fitted yesterday - thanks Phil! It looks absolutely fantastic! The old door, although hard wood, had warped so it didn't fit the frame properly and I had done a real "three left hands" job of painting it. Plus the paint I chose, which was supposed to be "Warm Spice" looked more like "You've been Tangoed". This new one is coloured PVC - Light Oak - and looks marvellous!

13th April 2005
Well, quite a lot has been going on!

It was Mickey's birthday on Monday, he is now 12 years old. He celebrated by refusing to come for a walk with us. Probably a good thing as it transpired!

On Monday evening I walked the dogs in the local park. Maddy was being even more naughty than usual and has bitten Saffy in the leg. Poor Saffy has two puncture wounds in her flank. Saffy doesn't seem too bothered by them - apart from all the licking - so I have been treating them with Germoline.

On Sunday, Alwyn and I drove up to Quakers Yard and then cycled back down to Cardiff - about 15 miles. It turned out to be a glorious day, there were baa-lambs in the fields and the gorse is in bloom, gorse blossom smells like biscuits, sweet and yummy! The birds were singing and there were ducklings on the canal. Fab! Of course, we ruined the beneficial effects of the cycling by having Sunday lunch and beer in our local pub, but hey, it's better than if we had done no cycling at all and then eaten a massive lunch, isn't it?!

Mum's still on holiday, so Bonnie and Chip are still residing with us. They've been very good until this week, when suddenly we are getting a lot of mess in the kitchen - twice yesterday and on two occasions before that. Don't know what's going on there, but I am making sure they are spending a lot more time in the garden while I am at home. I can't leave the catflap open for them during the day because they will insist on going out in the garden and yapping fit to bust. It drives me bananas, so I will not inflict that on my neighbours for four hours at a stretch!

March 2005

29th March 2005
Alwyn and I are on our last day off! We have had an excllent time. Yesterday we went up to Blaenavon to view some of the places that Alexander Cordell wrote about in "Rape of the Fair Country". We visited Goytre Wharf, Blaenavon Iron Works, Keepers Pond, Govilon, Llanfoist and Llanellen. Fascinating!

24th March 2005
I walked the dogs yesterday afternoon and was lucky enough first of all to see the Parakeet that is currently living in my local park. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, having taken it out of my jacket pocket just before leaving the house - typical! I don't know much about parrots, but I *think* it might be a Rosella Parakeet. It's quite brightly coloured; red head, green and yellow body, blue on the wings and tail, very pretty. Quite a treat to see!

Next, I was lucky enough to bump into my best friend, Jen, who was out walking with her sister and two dogs. All the dogs had a whale of a time playing together and getting totally filthy, despite a dip in the river!

Today is the last day of work before the Easter break. We have five whole days off! Can't wait! This evening there is a bit of an informal knees-up going on in Cardiff organised by colleagues, that should be a laugh!

22nd March 2005
Wales won the Grand Slam on Saturday and I think I drank my own bodyweight in lager! We watched the match in O'Neills (again) and the whole place erupted on the final whistle. I have only just cleaned all the beer off my boots! Wow what a day!

I walked the dogs at 0800 on Sunday, before my hangover kicked in. Mum's on holiday at the moment, so I have Chip and Bonnie staying with me as well as our own three. I nearly lost Bonnie at one stage (I obviously wasn't trying hard enough!) I walked the dogs again at about 4 pm, whereupon Maddy thoroughly disgraced herself and me by chasing and barking at a little toddler. The poor child was very frightened. I was shouting (and coughing - horrible cold) but Maddy would not come back and would not stop chasing and barking. I gave her a huge telling off when I eventually caught up with her. She was very clingy with me for the rest of the day; she doesn't like to be in disgrace.

I was able to take Saffy's lampshade off last week. Unfortunately, she made an attempt to abscond from the garden through the unfinished fence and has cut herself AGAIN. Back on with the lampshade.

We had a skip outside the house from 9th March for the results of the demolition of the old fences. Once Wes had finished dumping the earth, old fence panels, etc, he told me I may as well make use of the skip as it was only about half full. I made a valiant attempt on the attic and then cleared out the garage. The garage was by far the best attempt. In the event, the skip turned out to be a magical one ... it kept emptying itself! As fast as I was throwing items in, people kept stopping by and taking them out!

10th March 2005
Last night we went out to celebrate Mum's birthday. After a week and a half of eating salads, steamed veg and chicken, the food was fabulous, but oh my goodness have I suffered for it! I'm really not sparkling today. I've wanted to go back to my bed since lunchtime, but as it is a Thursday I have classes in the afternoon and evening.

Speaking of which, I am currently sitting in a classroom on my own waiting to see if any students are going to put in an appearance. I've been here for half an hour so far and no takers. Still, I have managed to mark all of the homework I had in from this afternoon's class, so the time has not been wasted.

Wes has completed the clearing of the old fence and the cementing in of the new posts. The new panels will be delivered on Saturday and then the garden will look all nice and tidy! Can't wait! Clearing the garden.

8th March 2005
I have been following the South Beach Diet for eight and a half days and have now lost 8lb! I can't believe it! I was 9st and now I'm 8st 6lb! Wow! This is the kind of diet I like, quick results!

I had a new kitchen door and two new windows put in the garage on Friday and Saturday last week. What a difference! They all look great and the kitchen is so much warmer! Just waiting for the new front door to come in - it's on order because I wanted Light Oak with "stained glass" in the windows.

Wes, who built the boundary walls in 2003, is coming over tomorrow to begin re-fencing the back garden. Can't wait to see the result. I'm really excited! All I have to do now is completely de-junk the place and we'll be laughing!

Amy came to stay with us on Saturday night. Amy is Lynda's 5 year old daughter. She was great company. We watched Spongebob Squarepants until our eyes nearly fell out of our heads!!

3rd March 2005
I've made it to the 5,000 word mark in my dissertation! I had a meeting with my dissertation supervisor this week. He suggested I make a project pl*n (argh that four-letter word again!). Oh my goodness! Can I overcome my natural "headless chicken" approach to my work? My other problem with a project pl*n is that I might well spend so much time making it look good (showing off the fact that I can actually use MS Project) that the deadlines sort of get forgotten. The lunatics are running this asylum, definitely!

Alwyn and I started "The South Beach Diet" this week. I cannot imagine how I am going to lose weight as I seem to be eating more than I ever have. I have gone for four days so far without eating any carbs (surprisingly easy) or drinking any alcohol (that's the hard bit!!). If I haven't lost any weight I am going to be totally suicidal *lol*.

Saffy is still wearing the lampshade and licking her knee at any opportunity. We have been removing the collar to feed her and allow her to go out in the garden but I think we are going to have to leave it on her at all times except when she actually goes out for a proper walk.

February 2005

18th February 2005
I've made it to the 4,000 word mark (in my dissertation)!

The drill holes have been "repaired" if you can call it that, I am currently in correspondence with the company on the subject!

Saffy's still lampshade dog. I forgot to put the collar back on her after dinner one night and she immediately licked the patch raw again. Silly girl!

Last Saturday (12th February) was Graham and Lynda's wedding. The ceremony was held in Ystrad Mynach Registry office. I have never been to a civil ceremony before and it was really lovely! The wedding reception was held at the Countryman in Blackwood. We had a superb day! Photos may follow, but I often promise to put photos on this site and then never get around to it!

Sunday 13th February was Thomas James's Christening. It was a lovely service in a beautiful church with a fabulous comedy moment from Morgan (older brother, 3 and a bit) who managed to blow out the "light of life" candle! Thanks to Nikki and Ian for inviting us - it was good to see so many members of the family together for a happy occasion!

9th February 2005
FINALLY, the board was removed at about 1pm today. Of course, the drone who came to remove it didn't have any filler, so although my house is now boardless it still has two drill holes with associated plugs. Hmph. You go home for a quiet half hour with a cup of tea and look what happens!

8th February 2005
Came home for lunch today to discover that an Estate Agent (won't mention names, but the one with the adverts with the goofy black guy in glasses) had put a For Sale board up on my property.

Point 1 - I am not intending to sell my property.
Point 2 - the board was drilled into the window surround of my front bedroom window.
Point 3 - the board is advertising a first floor flat, which is actually situated in the property NEXT DOOR.

Cue one very angry telephone call, to a drone who promised said board would be removed and the damage made good, this afternoon.

On my return from work this evening, guess what? You got it! The board is still there. Cue a second very angry telephone call. Now I discover that the plebs have assumed that I own the ground floor flat and am merely making noise. I demanded that the board be removed this afternoon and managed to extract promise that board will be removed "as soon as possible" and that the damage to the window surround will be made good. "Please telephone me if there are any further problems." Ha! Any further problems will be met with a solicitors letter citing trespass, misrepresentation and wanton vandalism. It's almost 5.30 pm and the board is still in evidence ....

Apart from that nonsense I had quite a productive day at work!

Saffy's back to being "lampshade dog" again. She had a small cut on her knee from hooning about on the river bank about 4 weeks ago and she will not leave it alone to heal. She's licked it so much that it's now about the size of a five pence piece. She already has two small bald patches on her chest from doing exactly the same thing a few years ago. I don't want her to have a bald knee too!!

6th February 2005
Yesterday we went into Cardiff to watch Wales v England. We didn't manage to get tickets, so we ended up in O'Neills (an Oirish bar) with a few hundred other rugby fans. Well, what a match! We shouted ourselves hoarse. It's an excellent start to the Six Nations! Yay! WAAAAAAALES!!

We also put a bet on a horse running at Wetherby. It won and we won :o) Cool!

We spent this afternoon doing a bit more demolition gardening. We have now cleared the bottom right hand corner and the bottom left hand corner. Unfortunately this means that the terrible fence is now visible in all it's horror. It looks like a row of broken teeth!

I sold the big kennel this week. We had to ditch the old rabbit hutch/terrier kennel as it had rotted away. Another ten or so bags of garden rubbish came out of the garden today. Mum came over to help and spent the afternoon shredding everything that Alwyn had cut down. I was in charge of hacking up brambles, most of which we managed to burn, along with chunks of the fig tree and lots of branches that were too big to go through the shredder.

We need to decide what to do about the shed now. It's currently storing plant pots, fire wood, assorted gardening junk and spiders. We originally thought perhaps we could move it onto our allotment, but I am not sure that it would survive being dismantled and reconstructed.

January 2005

25th January
Today I ran a three hour "catch up" class for some students. Nine were booked on to it. Guess how many turned up? None. Big, fat zero. Zilch. Quite amazing. Still, spending an hour and a half (before I gave up any hope of seeing any students) in a quiet, deserted teaching lab meant that I got on with some work on my dissertation, uninterrupted by telephone, colleagues and - surprisingly - students. I have now managed to scrabble together 3,000 words! Yeehah!

There is a second "catch up" class on Thursday afternoon. If the students don't turn up to this one I might make it to 4,000 words! Ha ha!

Alwyn and I have just come back from a run. Well, Alwyn ran, I rode my bike. I don't do running. It makes my ankles hurt and my only thought is "I hate this and I want to go home." Anyway, Alwyn ran and I cycled 2.5 miles at an average speed of 6.6 miles per hour. It might not be much but it is a start and it is a lot more interesting than using the exercise bike at the gym - even if they do have MTV on the monitors.

24th January 2005
I have FINALLY managed to break the 2,000 word mark on my dissertation! Cause of immense celebration! (Only another 18,000 to go *groan*).

Over the weekend, Alwyn and I found a kestrel on the Caerphilly Mountain road. We picked it up and took it to a vet, but on phoning today it seems the poor thing didn't make it. Birds often die of shock and this one had a damaged wing too.

For the next two weeks, the University where I work is on "Inter-Semester Break". This means that for the next two weeks I have only a limited amount of teaching. I am hoping that by the end of this two weeks I will have everything ready for teaching in Semester 2. Ha ha! As you are probably already aware, I favour the "headless chicken" approach to most things in life!

We've decided to get the garden sorted out this summer. This is going to involve some serious demolition gardening as we have to have the fences replaced and there are quite a lot of them! We made a start at clearing the top part of the garden and trying to eradicate the ivy which is choking everything. We have spent four hours over two weekends and the difference is already dramatic - at the top of the garden anyway, the bottom part is still a nasty jumble of brambles, overgrown grape vines, mud, discarded plant pots, junk, junk and more unmentionable things that lurk in gardens when you keep dogs.

According to the radio news this morning, today is supposed to be *the* most depressing day of the year. This is apparently due to a) receiving credit card bills after the Christmas spend b) breaking New Year resolutions and c) bad weather. Okaaaaay, well, today has been lovely and sunny (if very cold); I have given up opening credit card bills and hey, if you don't make New Year Resolutions, you can't break 'em! Ha! Philosophy according to SaffySays!

17th January 2005
Random memory for today. Last September, I had a BAD DAY! I got up one Monday morning to discover that I had left my favourite glasses up at the farm (where we had spent the weekend). I got in my car and discovered that my car radio had mysteriously lost ALL its channels - this eventually took 2 days to reprogram.

When I got to work, late of course, I parked my car and walked around the front of it to see that some little darling had written "Clean Me" in the dirt - ha ha! The day was the usual bust of running around like a headless chicken. I favour this approach to my work rather than advance pl*nning as pl*n is, after all, a four-letter word.

After work I had to take Maddy to the vet. She was incredibly naughty; barking at all the other dogs and snapping at people. I was very embarrassed. After that debacle, on the way home in the car, she finished the episode by throwing up and peeing in the car. Lovely.

When I eventually got back home I decided that I was in definite need of alcohol to make the day go away. So off I toddled to "Bargain Booze" with Saffy in tow. We hadn't got to the bottom of the street when she decided to have a giant crap on the pavement. As I was having a bad day, of course I didn't have a plastic bag to clear up, so I had to scrape the turd into the gutter with my shoe. We set off again, bought alcohol and were walking back towards home when my darling doggie decides to have another giant crap. As my dogs always walk on the left (my choice, not theirs!) she was now about as far away from the gutter as she could get. This time I did have a plastic bag - but it was full of booze - so I had use my shoe again *sigh*.

The day from hell capped off with pooh-shoe - on BOTH feet! BAH!

12th January 2005
Over the weekend I was awoken in the night by a funny noise. It sounded like the "Ladies" from Little Britain saying "I'm a Laaaady". When I listened more closely I discovered it was the cooker timer going off quietly (Alwyn keeps leaning on the button when he's cooking things and changing the settings) and Saffy howling because she didn't like the noise, but also quite quietly. Bizarre!

Yesterday's project meeting was interesting but a long old drive. Got to do it all again next month. As we went through the Horseshoe Pass the rain was coming in horizontally. The Welsh invented rain.

10th January 2005
Back to work and the students are back too. I have to go to North Wales tomorrow for a project meeting. Here's hoping the weather is kind to us!

Alwyn and I have been dieting for a week. Our Christmas excesses (not to mention the rest of 2004) have really caught us up! I hate dieting (I'd sooner set myself on fire) however, neither Alwyn nor I want to be flabby, so we're being really good. Plus of course, Alwyn has no desire to be a tubby grandpa, hehehehehehe, Kelly's baby is due at the beginning of July.

We took the dogs for a walk at Cosmeston Lakes on Sunday (9th Jan). Amazingly none of the dogs ended up in the lakes although possibly it might have washed some of the sticky mud off them! It was a good walk - about 3 miles - but we will be waiting until the weather gets drier before we do it again. Far too much mud for this time of the year.

On Monday (3rd Jan) we took the dogs and walked around Castell Coch and Fforest Fawr, just over 2 miles. We all got covered in rich red mud. Maddy became a brown dog instead of a white dog. All three dogs had to have baths when we got home.

Top of Page