Mutterings for the Minority

Tricks and treats

I finally managed to do some training today - a 14 mile ride down to Forte’s Ice cream parlour and back around SA1. The wind made it a hard workout, but I was just glad to be out and about after the past few days of inactivity.

Considering it’s Halloween, we’ve had a very quiet night thus far - not that I’m complaining of course. But every Halloween I can’t help but remember one very eventful evening I had as a student in Pontypridd - thanks mainly to my housemates at the time.

We (5 of us) were sharing a house not too far from a pub called ‘The Forest’ (no doubt ex-Ponty students will have fond memories of the place) and rather than be on the receiving end of trick-or-treaters, it was decided that we’d go on the offense instead. So when some local kids called round in true trick-or-treat style, they promptly got covered with flour (from an upstairs window) - much to our amusement at the time.

However, 15 or so minutes later we quickly realised it was a big mistake, as our house was quite literally surrounded by some 30+ kids from the nearby area! It was like the alamo with eggs, stones, flour, fireworks and all other manner of objects being hurled at the windows and doors of the house. This bombardment continued for a couple of hours - well at least until they’d become bored of making 5 students prisoners in their own home! It’s funny looking back on it now, but it sure as hell wasn’t funny at the time.

With DDWT Junior only being 33 months old, he’s a little bit bemused with all of this Halloween stuff and spent his day making ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ cakes with Mrs DDWT. He did enjoy watching his pumpkin candle burn brightly whilst we had supper though, but comments such as “birfday cake” and “bow em out Daddy” kind of put it in perspective.

Strategic vision

I attended a course today on ’strategic vision’ or in simpler terms - how to think strategically. I left afterwards realising why I personally much prefer to actually ‘do stuff’ as opposed to thinking about ‘what we could do’.

Sessions such as these aren’t helped either when the tutor gets you to close your eyes and shake your arms for 5 minutes - in an attempt to relx the mind. The idea (if you pardon the pun) is that you are more creative when you are relaxed, which I’ve no doubt is certainly the case. But I honestly did feel like I was with a shrink when the tutor started to describe what life would be like in 2020!

The fact that we only had a 30 minute lunch - thus not enough time for me to go training - didn’t exactly endear me to the tutor either. Selfish I know and before anyone pipes up abou the rest of the day, I simply couldn’t fit it in then either. So today makes it FOUR days without a training session and I’m seriously getting narked about it!

In fairness to Mrs DDWT she went to aerobics this evening and is very much enjoying her fitness renaissance at the moment - long may it continue. Whilst the Mrs was stepping and sweating DDWT Junior and I enjoyed watching ‘Dinosaur‘ for the umpteenth time (it is a good kids movie though).

Strawberry surprise

One word sums up how I felt today - guilty. Not becuase I’ve done anything wrong, but because it was the 3rd day in succession which I haven’t done any training, which for me (in my new persona) is almost criminal.

There’s no excuse really, I’m just being lazy. The weather was great, sunny and mild and not a breath of wind. In fact it’s so mild at the moment that a visit to Nana DDWT’s meant seeing some strawberries in her garden - yes hard to believe I know but true.

No doubt seeing 16st 8lbs on the scales this morning - the lowest I’ve been all year - also contributed to my laziness. Anyway, I’ll be back on the road tomorrow that’s for sure as when I’m not training it sure as hell makes my grumpy - just ask DDWT Junior and the Mrs.

Looking on the bright side though, I did manage to get some long overdue jobs done around the house (like fixing some cupboard draws and tidying the garage) and also found some unwanted items to put on Ebay (and no they weren’t junk).

Office revamp

Not to lot to report about today really, other than me cobbling together the bits of 3 used desks and making them into my new office desk. It looks the business too even if I do say so myself.

The abysmal weather (constant drizzle and fog) was matched by the performances of both the Swans (from what I heard) and the Ospreys (from what I saw on Sky) and resulted in both teams being defeated.

Not even the opportunity for some retail therapy (bike shopping for Mrs DDWT) could lift the gloom - mainly becuase we didn’t find ‘the’ bike that she wanted. So it looks like the internet is destined for another purchase from the house of DDWT.

Talking of bikes and purchases, if anyone fancies having a pair of DHB Triple Lens Glasses then drop me a line and I’ll refer you to Wiggle - whom will give you the glasses for free (when you spend over £50 on your first order - which is easily done believe me!). I’ll also receive a 10% discount voucher for referring you - so we help each other *smile*

Close shave

It’s been a somewhat iffy day out on the road today, having experienced two very close shaves whilst driving my car (to and from work) or to be more precise with people almost crashing into my car.

The first instance - on the filter lane by the Liberty Stadium - was with Mr. White van man whom was obviously more interested in the conversation on his mobile phone than me being on the inside lane. Thankfully the horn on my Toyota Corolla is of the rather loud variety and combined with the “Look where you are f*%king going” gesture with my hands, ensured that I didn’t require any body work to my motor beloved (but ageing) motor.

Tangle number two - whilst crossing White Rock bridge over the river Tawe - was with a lovely yellow Nissan Modus (you know the one, “Test drive a Nissan Modus for your free Ice Age 2 DVD”). The blissfully happy occupants (all 3 of them) were obviously in cloud cuckoo land when I began to overtake them and once again my trusty old horn came to the rescue.

I’m just glad I didn’t go out on my bike today - as the omens weren’t good!

The house of DDWT went to a Halloween disco tonight in the local village all - with DDWT Junior decked out in his ’spider’ outfit. The place was chock-a-block by the time we got there and it was somewhat daunting for all of the younger kids that were present. Anyway, the hour or so we were there we quite enjoyable - at least from DDWT Junior’s perspective, even if he was a little bemused by all the witches and skeletons present!

Potty - in more ways than one

It’s been a potty few days in the house of DDWT in more ways than one. For some bizarre reason I forgot to blog yesterday, which wouldn’t have normally been such an issue - but for the significant events that took place.

DDWT Junior actually used a potty for the very first time! Other parents will know the significance of this event, whilst the rest of you will wonder what the hell I’m on about. All previous attempts had ended in either tears or tantrums (or both) and even - yes I know it’s sad - my attempts at er, urm, showing DDWT Junior how it was done proved fruitless. So now that he’s tried it once, we’re hoping it’s the start of many more potty visits.
Perhaps even more potty however was my lunchtime bike ride (down to Forte’s again - 11 mile roundtrip) in what can only be described as wild weather. The driving wind and rain made it extremely difficult to control the bike, let along pedal. In retrospect I was a bit daft to even consider going out in those conditions. People think I’m obsessed at the moment with training, well it isn’t that I’m obsessed, I’m merely very focussed on what I want to achieve - competing in duathlons in 2007.

In complete contrast to yesterday’s monsoon conditions was the gloriously sunny and mild conditions that faced me on my 3 mile run today (23 minutes 18 seconds). I found it tough going especially as I am training on my own at the moment - due to my training partner being unwell.

Mrs. DDWT would kill me as well if I didn’t give our 10 year ‘going out together’ anniversary a mention which was also yesterday. I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone, albeit very nice - I have to say that *wink*

Oh well it just goes to show, the older you get, the less time you have on your hands - FACT.

Early riser

I don’t normally consider myself as being a bit on the mad side, but after today I’m realy beginning to wonder. I mean who gets up at 6:30 in the morning, drives to work - in their running kit - does a 3 mile run (in 24 minutes) and then goes into work?

No doubt lots of people do this kind of stuff everyday, but it felt so alien to me. Maybe it’s because I’m used to going out at lunchtimes, but it certainly ‘threw me’ for the rest of the day. I did take a lot of strength from it though as it was only me and it certainly put my powers of motivation to the test.

In keeping with the exercise theme, Mrs DDWT went to a ‘BodyMax’ class - which is a one hour workout using dumbells. The sessions help to improve muscle tone and build strength apparently. From what Mrs DDWT tells me, it sounded like hard work anyway!

My afternoon was spent in one of the hospitality boxes at the Liberty Stadium, giving a presentation on the usefulness of the web as a means of improving your business. I find it amazing in this day and age how many people still don’t see the value of having a web presence, especially in terms of the efficiencies (and cost savings) it can deliver.

Moussaka

An historic day indeed for me as it was the first time EVER that I tried the Greek dish called ‘Moussaka‘. Perhaps it was even more notable given that it was prepared and cooked my Mrs DDWT (courtesy of Somerfield magazine’s October issue!).

Mrs DDWT started on her quest for fitness by doing 20 minutes on the step machine, which we have in our garage. I think I was more surprised that she shunned my offer of using my Sony mp3 player whilst she was on there to suppress the monotiny of it all.

I decided to take the day off from training as my sessions seemed to have improved in quality now I’ve started having more regular rest days. I still couldn’t help spending £80 plus on biking stuff from Wiggle though!

Swans v Lions

The normal mundane Sunday routine was broken up today with the Swans having moved the visit of the Lions of Millwall from the previous day - for various reasons. It turned out to be a very eventful day - both on the field and off.

The Swans were excellent value for their 2-nil win and in all honesty should have bagged a couple more, but for some poor finishing and a missed penalty by LT10. Having said that, it was easily the best performance that I’ve seen in all of the homes games thus far this season. Some might argue that a VERY poor Millwall side made the Swans look good, but I disagree with that sentiment. No doubt time will give us a true indication of which is correct.

A number of players stood out for me, but I felt that little Leon Britton was outstanding - not for the first time this season. It was good to see LT10 back to more of his old self as well, with Messrs Tate and Pratley once again playing well. Tom Williams (as seen on the programme cover) is also beginning to show signs of a consistent and quality left back - something which went a little AWOL when Sammy Ricketts left. Anyway, you can read a full match report on the Swans official website.

The atmosphere at the game seemed to indicate that something was going to happen, especially after the Millwall fans attempts to get at the Swansea fans inside the ground during the 2nd half - which I’ve NEVER seen at the liberty stadium before. I think the less said about the violence after the game the better.

Talking of things kicking-off, my day had started with the usual procession to the weighing scale, which shamefully reported me as being 16st 11lbs. Tut, tut it must have been yesterday’s pizza hut that did the damage. So shamed into action, I went for a run which lasted exactly 17 minutes and 37 seconds.

Behind enemy lines

Being a Swansea City fan, today’s shopping expedition behind enemy lines to Bluebird Country (i.e Cardiff) was fraught with danger *wink*

Joking aside, the house of DDWT were having a Christmas reconnaisance mission and I always love going to Culverhouse Cross in Cardiff just to spend lots of time and money checking out the latest stuff at Marks and Spencers - especially the menswear and food hall.

After spending nearly 2 hours plus there - and having stocked up on mince pies - we popped across to McDonalds for DDWT Junior to have a ‘Happy Meal’ as a treat. In fairness to Macca D’s (and despite the unhealthy nature of it’s servings) the £1.99 price tag is excellent value, especially when you consider you get fries, chicken nuggets and usually a quality toy as well (a ‘hot wheels’ car in this instance).

On the way home we decided to pop into the McArthur Glen designer village in Bridgend -after giving Mrs. DDWT and DDWT Junior a guide to the Brewery Field, where I used to play rugby for Bridgend many moons ago.

Somehow despite numerous visits to the outlet village we never ever seem to get any major bargains and always find the place somewhat overrated. Perhaps that’s just because I’m a fussy sod!

Anway, we decided that as time was getting on that we’d treat ourseleves to a Pizza Hut for tea and opted to try the new ‘Cheesy Bites’ pizza. It was a major disappointment. It was far too cheesy (which the name suggests in fairness) but such a variety of cheeses were used, it left a weird taste in the mouth. So we were sorry afterwards that we didn’t go for our usual ‘Stuffed crust’ variety.

I also took the unusual (or maybe not?) step today of booking my haircut appoinments for the next 3 months or so. I mean I want to look a million dollars at the Christmas parties, fashion show, awards dinner, etc don’t I *smile*