Mutterings for the Minority

Commuting observations

I spent my working day in Cardiff today - which made for a refreshing change - but I couldn’t help but think that when people complain about the car parking problems in Swansea, they should try Cardiff, it’s worse!

The other thing that struck me was how relatively a straighforward commute it was both there (1 hour 15 minutes) and back (45 minutes). Before anyone has a pop at me, I didn’t go over 80mph in either direction honest officer. It was in stark contrast to my days in Ceredigion, where you’d have to travel at least that amount of time to reach civilisation.

The reason for my visit to our capital city was that I’d been invited along by the Local Government Data Unit (Wales branch) to sit on an ICT panel for a project which they are currently running for rolling out a Peformance Management system across Wales. All very interesting stuff and a good opportunity to meet some new faces on the Welsh local government scene.

On a totally different matter, Mrs DDWT and I are really looking forward to Jan Leeming (AKA Jan Lemming) enduring yet another bushtucker trial tonight on “I’m a celebrity“. Her constant moaning and groaning (not in a sexual way I hasten to add) is getting rather grating and she is currently favourite in the House of DDWT’s sweepstake for eviction (to coin the Big Brother phrase). It’s no wonder our Jan has been married 5 times!

Sion Corn Sunday

We had planned to go into Swansea this evening to celebrate Sion Corn Sunday and the switching on of the Christmas lights, but the rather windy and wintry (i.e. wild) weather put the mockers on that idea.

It isn’t that we mind getting cold or wet or that we were being grumpy - it was just that as the house of DDWT is still recovering from it’s last bout of illness, the last thing we wanted was to make things worse and get back to square one. No thanks.

The weather somewhat matched our moods really and it was certainly a day when we patience was in short supply. It’s quite amazing really what a lack of sleep can do for you. I mean who’d have thought that people can turn into a short-fused, ratty, miserable, moaning monster just becuase they didn’t get enough sleep (and that’s just me!).

A bad day at the office was compounded when I went on the bathroom weighing scale and it reliably - but regrettably - informed me that I was 16st 10lbs. A 3lb gain and it wasn’t what I wanted to hear today. Although having said that, I haven’t trained all week, have been ill and have been ‘feeding’ my cold as they say - so I can’t really complain can I.

Dishwasher destruction

Our Candy CD950 dishwasher gave up on us the other day, in a rather load bang, smokey, trip switch, no electric in the house kind of way. Today I finally had the opportunity to take a closer look at what went wrong.

Upon removing ‘Candy’ as I shall affectionatley call her now, I found the blast remains of where the obvious bang had originated. I promptly gave ‘Candy’ a lift up and I could immediately see the somewhat black, sooty and splintered mains suppressor which had obviously given up the ghost.
Once I’d removed the suppressor, I began to contemplate how on earth was I going to get a replacement part. However, much to my surprise a quick search on google for a Candy CD950 and spare parts, prompted me to visit eSpares Ltd and hey presto there was a suppressor for the sum of £9.48 including delivery. I was most impressed and pleased. I’ll give you an update on the repairs as soon as I get the part.

It was turning out to be a very DIY orientated day as I also managed to arrange with a local builder to come and collect ALL of the spare wood we had stored in the shed - which resembled more of a bonfire stack than a shed. It helped us both, as I now had my shed back and he had some spare wood for his log burner!

Completing the hat-trick of DIY jobs was the removal of DDWT Junior’s stair gate from his bedroom doorway - as in all honesty it has now served its purpose, and especially as there is one at the top of the stairs now anyway (which wasn’t there before!).

So all in all it’s been a good day and apart from the wood removal, a great day to stay indoors. The weather has really taken on a winter feel and there were numerous heavy hailstorms today - which made the road and garden white on one occasion. Oh how I look forward to winter the a deluge of the proper white stuff. I still live in hope of having a white Christmas *sigh*

One out of two ain’t bad

Personal disappointment at the CIPR Awards last night for myself unfortunately as my little ‘project’ failed to win an award, but alas at least my butties in the PR team won the ‘Gold’ award ‘Newsletter, Newspaper or Magazine’ category. Nice one guys!

Cardiff’s Marriott hotel was the venue for the awards and it must be said that it wasn’t nearly half as good as the Belfast City Hall effort. The company wasn’t great either with the world of public relations and journalists vying for prominence over each other and the tension being almost tangeable. Funny though if neither is “your bag”. I also came to the conclusion that if you’re relatively tall, leggy and blonde (and female preferably) that you stand a damn good chance of making it in the world of PR. But hey what the hell do I know, I’m a web developer.

To add insult to an already bruised ego, the £11.20 car parking charge (for all 4 hours 45 minutes odd) made me want to vent my spleen once again - but this time in the direction of Cardiff City Council. I shall never ever complain again about the cost of car parking in Swansea.

Nowt much else to report really thus far today really - a disadvantage of blogging during the lunch hour really, as opposed to being out training and blogging later as is the norm on non-flu infested days.

I thought I’d share the remaining bits of my lunchbox (oo-er) with you though, in the form of a fruit sculpture - which office colleagues tell me looks like a lady with a walking stick!?!?! I’ll let you make your own minds up about that though.

Return to routine

Back to work today and thankfully I hit the ground running having dealt with several bits and bobs whilst at home - aaahh the beauty of having a remote office connection. I think it was more of a shock to the system getting up at the usual 6:45am slot, having a shower, munch a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice, clothes on and out the door (having kissed Mrs. DDWT and DDWT Junior goodbye of course). Phew, what a contrast to when your off ill - i.e you don’t get up, you eat lots of junk (and drink too much coffee) and you don’t shave for a week!

Anyway, having taken the difficult (for me) decision not to train this week, I still had to get some fresh air lunchtime and opted for a gentle stroll along the promenade outside County Hall. I took a couple of snaps on my mobile. Oh how I wish I could mob-blog in the UK with Blogger *sigh*
I even found the time to be cross-questioned by an oldish chap - high on a ‘cheap as chips’ flagon of cider. “Where did you get your crombie mister?” - obviously referring to the abercrombie coat I was wearing at the time. “M&S” was my belated bewildered reply, his response was a thumbs-up and a “Me too” and that was the end of our exchange.

I’m off to Cardiff tonight in search of a CIPR Award which we failed so miserably in obtaining in Belfast back in September. A full report and hopefully glorious award winning picture to follow tomorrow. Bet you can’t wait.

34 Months

The ever evolving world of DDWT Junior reached the 34 month mark today and his rapid development never ceases to amaze me. Watching your very own child develop day to day is something quite unique and amazing, and most definately something so very special that it is hard to capture in words.

DDWT Junior is currently at the stage of stringing little sentences together such as “I like that a lot xxxxx”, “See you later xxxxx” or even “Come on xxxxx, let’s do jigsaw”- replace the x’s with Mammy, Daddy, Nana, etc. Yesterday, even saw the very first “No” with a facial look and stubborness which for the first time actually was in defiance (rather than automated reponse).

I treasure each day I spend with him at the moment and it saddens me to think that he will soon be out of this phase - never to return again. But I suppose that in itself is the wonder of life, each phase or stage you go through brings it’s own unique brand of feelings and tribulations.

Thankfully there’s been a big improvement today after my bout of flu and I’ll be back in work tomorrow after a 3 day absence. In a weird kind of way, I’m quite looking forward to it as I like routine. Having said that, my training routine is going to be taking a back seat this week as I’ll look to get things back on track next Monday.

Making comparisons

For anyone who has ever had to upgrade files but are left wondering (and very frsutrated) at the differences between the old and the new version - fret no longer, for today I came across the perfect solution ‘Winmerge‘.

This nifty little peice of open-source software (need I say more) is a visual differencing and merging tool which runs on Windows and better still is free. I’ve used it quite a few times already and it’s a very useful addition to anyones software catalogue.

My cold is slowly getting better but as is the norm with me it seems to be going in the direction of my chest - which is the last thing I need or want, primarily as it will mean a visit to the doctors and the dreaded Amoxycillin capsules. Cue tummy trouble…

Mrs DDWT went along to the fashion show tonight and reports that it was a much improved effort on last years shindig (despite the non-appearance of my goodself). JR opened the show with a lone walk down the catwalk and some rather bond-esque comments from the compere “Whether it’s a party of the casino, you too can get a Bond look of your own”. Fair play to all those who took part - my embaressment at being unable to attend was compounded when I saw my name in the programme, ahem.

Disappointed and drowsy

Unsurprisingly I wasn’t in work today and have been consigned to the bedroom with what is a really stinking cold. It also means that my debut (or rather one and only) appearance on the catwalk tomorrow night is also out of the question - unless they’re looking for rudolf of course.

I’m disappointed to say the least, but there is no way on this earth that I’m going to be right as reign - I can’t even make it to work. I’ve spent most of the day curled up in bed either sleeping or feeling as if I’m walking on air, which is mainly due to the day/night nurse combo I think (as I don’t do drugs - well not the other kind I mean).

At least tonight saw the start of the one and only reality TV show I watch - “I’m a Celebrity get me out of here”. The first installment is usually a low key affair and this evening followed the same pattern as the previous series - as the contestant always seem to show their goody-two-shoes side. Well until they get hungry, dirty and smelly of course and then things really hot up. Unsurprisingly (given his manner to date) David Guest was the first one up for a bush tucker trial.

I also took the plunge this evening and upgraded to the NEW version of Blogger and I’m hoping I don’t run into some of the problems that other bloggers have experienced.

What a stinker

Today my cold started with a vengence and it’s a real stinker. With a nose that’s flowing like a tap and eyes that are streaming like I’ve been watching ‘Kramer v Kramer’ all weekend, I’m in a real state.

Copious amounts of day nurse, night nurse and halls menthol lyptus are being consumed in an attempt to dry things up, but it looks like I’m in for the long haul this time around unfortunately. Thankfully Mrs. DDWT is almost fully recovered otherwise I think we’d be struggling big time, especially with DDWT Junior being such a livewire.

The tale of the scale was a high point of the day though, with it once again reporting me being 16st 7lbs.

Just chilling

Another quiet Saturday for the house of DDWT, which after the week we’ve had is most welcome.

Other than me having a haircut and us doing a bit of window shopping in Swansea (and some more shopping on the web) for Chrimbo presents I hasten to add, we spent the rest of the day at home wathing TV and generally chilling out.

Talking of chilling, the rumblings of my cold are getting greater and I think it’s just a question of time (isn’t that a Depeche Mode song?) before it gets a hold. Obviously I’ve decided once again to not do any training this weekend in order to give my body a break - which I’m afraid it’s crying out for at the moment.