Mutterings for the Minority

Bike Rage

Today saw me come the closest I ever have to displaying ‘bike rage’. Whilst riding towards Mumbles, I almost collided with three other riders (on seperate occasions) with them simply not being aware of me coming towards them. Obviously this resulted in us having words, along the lines of ….. “Excuse me” and the response being “Why the f*ck don’t you look where you are going!”. Those of you who are familiar with the route will know that the path is clearly marked with a lane for walkers and a lane for cyclists.

So I left the office quite chilled out looking forward to a nice bike ride and returned to the office in a strop (and not chilled out at all!). Anyway, I clocked up 12 miles which all helps in the bigger picture (losing weight and getting fit) and also gives me some decent prep for the BIG ride on Sunday.

Lost in St. Thomas

I decided to try and tackle Kilvey Hill on my own today, but only succeded in getting lost! Next time I’ll stick to the route that we went along as a group last time, rather than trying to find my own alternative way (via St. Thomas).

Anyway, I clocked up about 7.5 miles on the bike so at least I had a workout. The other thing worth a mention was the bitterly cold and strong north wind that greeted me whilst out riding was more akin to winter than summer and I do really wonder what sort of summer we are going to get this year (if we get one at all!).

25th Anniversary

We went along to the Swansea County Show today in Singleton park for the first time ever and were pleasantly suprised on what was on offer in its twenty-fifth year. Amongst the horse and dog shows were lots of marquees featuring fashion, food, crafts and even an eco-zone. There were plenty of fun fair rides to keep the kids happy as well as a visit from Shrek - although DDWT Junior was none too impressed and burst out crying!

Here are a selection of pictures from our day.

After leaving the show we spent the rest of the afternoon in the Fforestfach retail park - enjoying a starbucks coffee (in the Borders book shop) and some light reading, whilst DDWT Junior had an afternoon nap.

Gutted

I couldn’t bring myself to write for the land of blog last night after watching the Swans lose 4-3 on penalties in the League One Play-off Final against the Tykes of Barnsley. On a day that promised so much we left the Millenium stadium with nothing - except a load of if onlys. The game itself was for me (and Kenny Jackett judging by his after match comments) a reflection of the season, in so much as we created so many chances yet failed to take them. I should have guessed it wasn’t to be our day when the match programme I ordered via the internet, turned up on time - but for the wrong flipping game (nice one Programme Master - you muppets!).

In retrospect, I was bitterly disappointed but far from distraught as after all the season as a whole did (for me anyway) exceed expectations considering it was out 1st season back in League One. I mean two trophies and a play-off final can’t be bad can it. Roll on next season, the the rollercoaster ride that is Swansea City football club.

As for Bank Holiday Sunday, well I took my disappointment out on the ivy bushes that ‘were’ resident in our bank garden and continued the garden overhaul that started a few days back. I find it funny that I’ve filled the equivalent of 6 wheelie bins since I started pruning the garden - which is certainly testing the Council’s fortnightly garden waste collection service.

My usual Sunday visit to the bathroom scales showed a 2lb loss this week, so I’m not back at 17st exactly.

Nervous anticipation

Well with less than 24 hours to go now before the big play-off final game between the Swans and Tykes of Barnsley I’m getting both excited and nervous in equal proportions. Having said that, I think I’m more nervous about getting the train to Cardiff, given the shambles that is the boarding pass system.

I’m sure though that once I do get there the atmosphere will be electric with 34,000 Swans and 23,000 Tykes vying for vocal supremacy around the Millenium stadium.

Back on track (no pun intended!) with the running today as I had a ‘normal’ lunchtime, so decided on a 24 minute meandering jaunt around Swansea Marina. The knee still seems to be holding up well, so it must have been all of the beach running that was causing me the problem.

It’ll have to be back on the bike for me next week though in preparation for the 3 Valleys Bike ride a week Sunday.

DDWT Junior did a sponsored trampoline bounce today to raise money for the mother and toddler group he attends. Fair play to the little fella, he was only meant to do 10 bounces - but ended up hogging the trampoline and doing in excess of 200 and raised £15 in the process, not bad for a 28 month old toddler. It’s no wonder he was fast asleep when I got home from work at 5 ‘ish, he must have been shattered.

Green fingers

I took advantage of the glorious sunshine this evening (which has been a rare occurence during the last few weeks) to totally massacre numerous bushes that occupied our garden. I’m afraid that the previous occupants had a rather unhealthy appetite for large green shrubs, lots of them in fact. I put this down to them thinking that it saved them weeding, yeah like hell it does!!

The best part of my day (in terms of time not enjoyment) was spent on Day 2 of my performance management course, which once again involved quite a bit of role playing. I’m really getting into this acting business and I’m quite taken by the thought of being a thespian *smile*

In all seriousness though, I have learnt a great deal over the last few days - particularly about influencing techniques and interactive skills. I won’t go into detail here, but those of you who’ve done performance management will know what I’m on about. One other thing worth a mention (and related to interactive skills) is paradigm puzzles, of which we had a go at a few. This was very mind bogglingly thought provoking!

All aboard

Picture a scenario whereby the local train operator (Arriva in this case) decide to run some special ‘football service’ trains from Swansea direct to Cardiff (with no stops) this weekend for the Play-off final between Swansea and Barnsley. Great isn’t it, especially when these are in addition to the trains that will be operating the normal Swansea to Paddington route - as per every other day. Even better I thought that I could buy a train ticket online for the latter train and get to Cardiff without any hassle.

Well it was all great until Arriva decided that you had to get a boarding pass. Now being someone who considers themselves of average intelligence, I thought “no problem, you’ll only need a boarding pass for the special football trains” - well not quite. Arriva in their wisdom have decided that EVERYONE travelling on ANY train going to/via Cardiff from Swansea on Saturday between 08:00 and 14:00 MUST have a boarding pass. To make matters worse you have to queue at the station for trains leaving in your allocated time slot. Now how dumb is that!
Here is the photographic proof the source of my frustration.

Given that I’ve been on a course today looking at ‘Performance Management‘, I find the above all the more annoying and funny in the same breath. It was quite an interesting and thought provoking first day (more on it tomorrow) and I learnt quite a bit about the ‘pulling’ and ‘pushing’ techniques of leadership and management - which are obviously performance related and driven to an extent. We also did some role play scenarios which were great fun and really illustrated some of the points made about being a good listener and being assertive.

Mrs. DDWT and DDWT Junior spent the day in not-so-sunny Aberaeron visiting family and no doubt spent some time feeding the ducks on the river aeron as is the norm during any visit - regardless of the weather!

It’s organic

I hate the wind, its official. My 29 minute (3 miles odd) run at lunchtime today was bloody hard work thanks to what seems to be a permanent gale on Swansea Bay. I’m very surprised that I didn’t stop any traffic on Oystermouth Road on the way back as I was as red as a beetroot and felt like I’d run twice as far as I actually had!

Mrs. DDWT made a cracking homemade lasagne last night which was pukka (as in pukka pies - I think that’s where the term comes from?). Unfortunately she didn’t take any snaps prior to cooking it and we’d devoured it before anyone had a chance to afterwards. One top tip though which the Mrs felt I had to pass on was to use organic mince rather than your standard mince - less fatty and much tastier. In fact I’d recommend buying organic for lots of reasons. One of the main ones for me being the fact that it seems to taste so much better, which is worth the extra cost alone (in my opinion).

Finally got my 3 Valleys Bike Ride pack through the post today, together with my number (321) and a route map - which can be seen below.

The ride takes place on Sunday, June 4th and is raising money for Ysgol Crug Glas (special needs school), Ty Hafan (The Children’s Hospice in Wales), Child Line Wales, and Homes and Hope for Children (homes for orphans in war zones).

Training session #61

With my cold now clearing up I took to the road lunchtime and did a 31 minute run. The feeling of phlem in my throat/on my chest wasn’t a pleasant one and really made me realise how although you might think your body is back to normal it isn’t at all in fact.

It was also good to catch up with (albeit too briefly) some old work colleagues in the canteen today - it made me realise how much I’d missed them since I changed offices. It also made me realise that I have to make more of an effort to keep in touch with people - something which I’m very bad at doing I’m afraid.

I’d also like to say congratulations to Stuart and Jill Page on the birth of their son - Matthew James Page - on Sunday, May 21st 2006. All I can say is that it’s the most wonderful thing in the world being a Dad and I hope, like me, you cherish every minute you spend with your little bundle of joy.

Pull your finger out

Finally got around to watching ‘Ocean’s 12‘ on Sky Digital last night having taped it weeks ago, I wish I could say it was worth the wait. There’s some truth in the idea that sequels are never as good as the first movie and it proved to be the case once again. I won’t bore you with the reasons why or the plot as anyone who has seen ‘Ocean’s Eleven‘ will know the score. In fact the only good thing about the movie was local girl Catherine Zeta-Jones.

More bad news on the weight front I’m afraid with another 1lb gain this week, so I’m now up to 17st 2lbs. Time to stop munching DDWT Junior’s chocolate biscuits on the sly I think. Seriously though, I don’t know what it is but the last 3 or 4 weeks I’ve not been as focussed as I had in the previous weeks. Perhaps it’s complacency - thinking that I’m there having lost almost 2 stone since I started in January and everyone telling me how much better I look. Whatever the problem is I need to re-focus and get back on track - and quickly.