Mutterings for the Minority

Bleeding nuisance

Today saw me visit the docs (well nurse anyway) to have the stitches removed from my leg after last week’s op. Fairly straightforward you’d have thought and it was, until the wound started to bleed after the stitches were taken out. I was bitterly disappointed as I thought the wound had healed well and was already planning on donning my running shoes for a lunchtime run-out.

The result is that I now have to go back and wear melolin dressings on my leg again until the wound heals properly. It really does make my entry into Sunday’s Llanelli 10K less and less of a possibility - in case of further ‘eruptions’.

My mood was somewhat tempered when I got home for tea though as Mrs DDWT had yet again pulled out all the stops by making a stupendous grilled chicken dish with chips. My God it tasted great and was the perfect anecdote for my rumbly tummy.

The missus tells me that the dish comprised of chicken breast, mangetout, asparagus, grated carrots, diced mushrooms, baby corn and chicken stock - cooked at 180 degrees on the middle oven shelf for 1 hour 30 minutes.

DDWT Junior continues to amuse us with his daily additions to his vocabulary and really wouldn’t be out of place in the company of performing parrots - as he mimics almost everything (much to our embarrassment sometimes). Comedy moment of the day was him singing ‘Mr. Hapus’ (the Welsh language version of Mr. Happy from the Mr. Men series) in the middle of Asda’s - after having been bopping away in the trolley to Feeder!

The bells

Mrs DDWT continued her recent run of culinary delights tonight with a lush homemade prawn curry. Now I’m not a great lover of prawns or curry for that matter, but even I went back for extra lashings of curry and rice. The garlic bread (from M&S) accompanying the dish was also well consumed. Roll on tomorrow night’s tea time treat I say!

Highlight of my working day today was a fire drill (which says a lot about work doesn’t it!) whilst it was raining (for the first time in a fortnight or more). I suppose it sticks in my mind because of our office fire marshall - who shall remain nameless - for quotes such as “I didn’t know we could get out of the building this way” and “Oh sorry, I forgot about you two next door”. Reassuring isn’t it, thank God it was only a practice drill!

Father’s Day

Had a cool Father’s Day today with my folks coming down to the house of DDWT and joining us for a splendid beef dinner - which went down a treat. It was nice to do the ‘family thing’ on a day like today and it’s at times such as this when you realise how important and special having family around is.

I also managed to see my first full world cup game - Brazil v Australia - which after a disappointing 1st half, shaped up to be a cracking end-to-end 2nd half with Brazil running out 2-nil winners in the end.

The tale of the scales today was 17st 1lb - so an increase on last week of a 1lb. I’m very pleased about that actually, as I’d feared the worst having not been able to do anything since Tuesday due to the op on my leg.

Activity table

With the warm and sultry weather seemingly in endless supply, I thought it was about time that I put up our gazebo in the garden, to give us some shade whilst we lounge around outside. I’m afraid that although I like the sunny weather - I’m far from being a sun worshipper and definately fall into the ‘Pale and Proud’ category. Boring perhaps, but hey I like my skin *smile*

DDWT Junior got treated to a Chad Valley 3 in 1 activity table today and whilst he was busy digging up sand (and splashing the water) in that, I was busy digging up the garden (again).

Am getting excited with Father’s Day being tomorrow and am wondering what treats are in store. In fairness I can never complain as I always get spoilt rotten and besides as I said to Mrs DDWT today “everyday is like father’s day for me”.

Which reminds me - I’ve got the mention the cracking bacon butties that Mrs DDWT served up for breakfast this morning. More of the same tomorrow please luv! It was also the first time ever that DDWT Junior had tried and indeed eaten some bacon - he obviously follows his dad.

Season ticket

First the 1st time in over 25 years of supporting the Swans, I’ve finally gone and bought myself a season ticket. I can now take my regular place amongst the East Stand faithful at the Liberty Stadium for all 23 home league games of the 2006-2007 season, without having to visit the darn ticket office every other week!

I felt the price of £295 was quite reasonable for a seated season ticket (not that you can get a standing one at the Liberty as it’s an all seater stadium) - especially as match day admission prices are likely to increase beyond the existing £15 a match (for the East Stand) come the start of the season.

Having started exploring the delights of ‘youtube’ over the last few days and am hoping to post a few of my Swans related videos in due course (so watch this blog!). Whilst nosing around tonight though - with the help of DDWT Junior and his search selections (lion, elephant, disney, seal, etc) we came across some hilarious home made cartoon videos of Hippos.

Fans of the classic Tight Fit song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” will appreciate the following video, featuring a singing hippo!

Flying the flag

Whilst stuck in traffic on the way to work this morning, I noticed yet another tourist (or person of English descent) with his England car flags fluttering in the wind - as shown below - which gave me an idea for making a few extra bob.

Now I don’t think for one minute it’s an original idea, but I thought I’d share it with you anyway. Being the patriotic bunch that we are in Wales, I thought about launching a campaign prior to next season’s six nations rugby tournament - to encourage all Welsh rugby fans/people to put Welsh flags on their cars - just as the English football fans have for the world cup - to show their support for Wales in the six nations competition. Good idea so far yes?

Anyway, the next bit involves me either (a) having a large stock of Welsh car flags myself for selling on or (b) getting a flag maker on board and become a reseller for them - either way it appears to be an opportunity to make a few quid.

Sky at night

Here are two cracking pictures I took from the house of DDWT the other evening, looking over towards Craig Cilhendre near Glais in the Swansea Valley.

Some of the sky textures and colours we get during the summer months really are amazing and it’s always a photographic treat to capture them.

It’s been an expensive day as Mrs DDWT took her car for its annual service and it tested our flexible friend (Mr. Mastercard) with a £145 bill. What makes me cringe more is that £120 odd of the bill was the labour charge - for some 3 hours odd work. I’m obviously in the wrong business.

Stitched up

Had a minor op on my left leg today, which means that I’ll be unable to do any of my usual training for the next 7 to 10 days. It’s hard to take as it’ll be the most time that I’ve had to be out of action since I started all of this training lark back in January. Worse still it means I’ll really have to watch what I eat now *big sigh*

It had been a while since I’d had that ‘woozy’ feeling you get from a local anaesthetic - well since I’d had my gallbladder removed in November 2004 anyway. In a weird kind of way it reminded me of the feeling I get after drinking too much strongbow on a works night out - but with a different kind of hangover of course!

With the Llanelli 10K coming up a week on Sunday (June 25th), it’s the worse kind of preparation and has put paid to any final preparation I had planned in the build up to the event. Hopefully, I’ll be back on form the the British Heart Foundation Gower bike ride a week later on July 2nd though. Talking of which, if you’d like to sponsor me for what is a great charity then any donations will be gratefully received.

By far and away the most notable event of today though was DDWT Junior reaching the ripe old age of 29 months. He is full of so much fun and energy that it’s quite an experience for a first time Dad (such as myself) and anyone who has gone through this stage of their life will know exactly what I’m rambling on about - it really is a wonderful thing. Who said blokes don’t have a sentimental side eh.

Bumble bee

Had one of the most bizarre meals today courtesy of Mrs DDWT who decided to experiment with some bits and bobs from our kitchen cupboards.

From what I’m told (as from the smell/taste it was hard to say) it was pasta, tuna and mushrooms cooked in a barbeque ranch flavour sauce. Now it sounds rather disgusting and doesn’t look too pleasant (as can be seen from the picture below), but in all fairness it tasted quite nice, especially when combined with some garlic bread.

Whilst out in the garden this evening enjoying the sunset and playing basketball with DDWT Junior, I managed to take a snap of a bee satisfying itself on the pollen from one of the few remaining shrubs in our garden.

I’m not too hot when it comes to flowers (just ask Mrs DDWT) so I can’t for the life of me tell you what plant it is - but if anyone who reads this would like to tell me, I’d be most grateful.

Landscape gardener

I was back hard at work in the garden today, continuing with the plant removal activities of the last few weeks. It’s a hard, long project but at the end of it all it’ll be worth it I’m sure. We’ll have a low maintenance (i.e. just plain lawn) and 100% child friendly garden for DDWT Junior to play in to his hearts content, rather than the paving slabbed, overly planted jungle we’ve got now.

It’s actually quite amazing how removing a lot of plants can suddenly make your garden look so much bigger. When everything is done and dusted I’ll put up some before and after pictures just for you to see what a difference it makes.

Weighed this morning and was smack on 17st again - so a 1lb loss from last week.