Mutterings for the Minority

Sleepy, Grumpy and Dopey

With hardly a cloud in the sky, it was a typical day to be returning to work. Isn’t the weather always glorious when we’re in work?

After a cracking long weekend doing family stuff and generally relaxing, my back (no pun intended) to work preparation was far from ideal. A 4am wake-up call from DDWT Junior - giving his rendition of Storytime (featuring a scary dinosaur, penguin, giraffe and monkey) - wasn’t what the sleep doctor ordered I’m afraid. Funny as it was to listen to him rambling on - complete with background noise of the birds twittering outside - it didn’t seem that funny at the time!

Consequently, I ended up in the spare room whilst Mrs DDWT and DDWT Junior had a battle of words - go to sleep, it’s morning time, go to sleep, it’s morning time - I think it ended deuce at the end. As a result I overslept and was late into work - prompting everyone to think I was on leave and had forgotten to fill in the office diary. Oh how I wish.

So with my lower back still giving me some stick I decided perhaps sensibly for once to give the exercise a rest and conserve what little energy I do have. As for DDWT Junior, well he’s off for a pre-arranged (don’t you just hate planning ahead sometimes) visit to the Designer Outlet Village in Bridgend with his Nana and Mrs DDWT. OMG, shopping and sleep deprivation - what a potent mixture.

Lego creations

Today was the start of a lovely long bank holiday weekend for me as I’d taken the day off from work.

I’ve decided that this weekend is a designated family weekend and that I won’t do ANY DIY, work or anything - it is simply about spending quality time with the family doing whatever.

This really meant having lots of fun playing with DDWT Junior and lego in particular!

So do you recognise the stadium above?  Answers in the comments please….

On the subject of Lego, I’m chuffed that my son is actually playing with the very same lego blocks that were mine some 30+ years ago - and they’re still in great condition.

I now know why lego is STILL one of the most popular kids toys out there - no matter what your age!

Backache

Oh dear, my exertions over the weekend and no doubt yesterday’s cycling have taken their toll on my body, as I woke this morning with backache - in the same postion as usual (right hand side just above the kidneys).

I have a tendancy to jar it at least twice a year and it’s basically playing on an injury I sustained from my rugby playing days. Thanks at this point go out to the Maesteg lock who thought it would be nice to kick me in the vicinty of my lower back *frown*

As a result I’m well grumpy today and not my usual chatty, chirpy and cheeky self (the girls in the office told me that). The true indication of my grumpiness was illustrated by the fact that I had a cup of coffee in work - and a Nescafe one at that.

This isn’t unusual for most people I know, but it is for me as I NEVER drink coffee in work - only at home. Its got nowt to do with the fact that they use Nescafe (the world’s favourite coffee my ar*e) in work either - which I despise actually. I don’t suppose it helps as I’m a Kenco man through and through either.

Squirrel watch

Here’s a tip for anyone who is into squirrels in a big way - head down to the cycle path through Clyne Valley and I guarantee that you will see loads of them. I’ve lost count of the number of them that have scooted across the path in front of me whilst I’m ambling along on my bike.

I went for a slightly longer lunchtime ride today - 17 miles worth in fact, taking in Gowerton and a quick loop around SA1. It was nice just to push it that little bit further and take a peek at the SA1 developments at the same time - not to mention providing some sporting entertainment for the sun bathing hoardes from the Admiral insurance office as well. For those that did see me, I hope you liked what you saw *wink*

The trampoline is already proving to be money well spent. I was amazed to get a MMS message from Mrs DDWT this morning at around 8:30 am with a picture of DDWT Junior bouncing away happily on his new acquisition. In fairness to the little fella, he even found enough energy to go swimming later in the morning and yes you’ve guessed it - trampolining in the afternoon again! Who says that all kids are couch potatoes in the making eh?

New layout

I’ve finally succombed to the new features being offered by using Blogger’s layout and you are now looking at the results! Being able to move and add content blocks in a widgets kind of way makes life far easier and I’m glad I’ve taken the plunge. You can read more about it - in a more technically knowledgeable way - here.

Seeing as I’m been twiddling with the code, I also thought I’d add a Digg button to the blog whilst I was at it. Regards and respect to this blog for the anonymous assistance. I hope you dig the new layout and stuff ho-ho.

No training for me today, as I’m far too busy trying to install a Google Mini appliance - but more on that another time.

There’s a hole in my shoe

I can assure you that this post has nothing to do with children’s nursery rhymes or Neil from the young ones (remember them?). It’s partly about my now defunct size 12 Nike Max Air running shoes.

From the rather undistinguished picture above, you might be able to see the nice little split - kindly provided by the shells on Swansea Bay - in the cushioned heel air pockets. Consequently they don’t provide much of an cushion from any impact - not good given my rather large (often cumbersome) frame and body mass.

As you can imagine it wasn’t the sort of outcome I was looking for after a 24 minute run along the beach - although I did get to have a real close up view of the jetty (it was an extremely low tide). Interesting stuff - especially the 3 different types of shopping trolley I clocked!

Man versus dog

My 14 mile drizzly cycling jaunt down to Gowerton and back today was made all the more interesting due to a man v dog race along the way.

The bulldog - very similar to the one above but a bit more brown in colour - had taken absence of his owner’s lead and had decided to give me a run for my money over a 30 metre stretch. After the initial momentum being with the bulldog (please note I was in shock) I gradually used all my leg power and experience to pull away in the last 2 metres and leave my challenger in a static panting state.

Whilst I can jest about the above now, it did remind me of a not-so-pleasant experience I had at the mouth of an alsation dog - whom decided to take a mouthful of my calf - when I was a rather naive 10 year old. In fact, to this day I remain wary of man’s best friend.

Llanelli Waterside 10K

With it being a day of rest for me today - from training - I decided to search out a cycling/running event in order for me to focus on something, rather than wait until July’s Gower Bike Ride.

A quick search on Runners World UK came up trumps as it alerted me to the Llanelli Waterside 10k in June - well June 24th to be precise. So I quickly parted with my £12 and entered the race online. My main aim of entering the 10K is to (a) focus my training and align it with a specific date/event in mind and (b) try and break my 10k personal best of 50:03 (yeah, slow I know!).

I find it extremely odd that the personal best was set during my first ever 10k race - the Aberystwyth 10k - in December 2001. I guess that just goes to show how much training I didn’t do for all of the others I’ve done (all 3 of them!!!!). Still onwards and upwards here’s hoping I do it and actually make it to the Llanelli 10k this time around - unlike last year.

With Britain apparenlt being a nation of curry loving individuals, the house of DDWT added its name to the list tonight with a home made beef dopiaza - courteousy of Mrs DDWT. It was bloody lovely and not overly spicey - a small point which my bowels are eternally grateful for. Nice. Anyway, if you’re the type who likes to dabble in the kitchen, you can check out good old Delia Smith’s recipe for some tips on how to make it. Who needs Homepride eh *wink*

Falling behind

Having been almost religious about keeping my blog up to date on a daily basis, I must confess to having slacked of late. It isn’t helped by my abusing of the ‘Save As Draft’ option in blogger mind you, as I find the time to use this feature - with bullet points in my posts - but not the time to fully elaborate on them. The result is I have 30 odd of these ‘drafts’ which I aim to catch up on eventually. Kind of defeats the purpose those doesn’t it *sigh*

Time, no wonder it’s such a precious thing.

After missing out on any two-wheeled travel in over a week, it was nice to get back out and about (and in the sunshine) today for a 14 mile ride down to Gowerton. Although it isn’t that far, anyone who has ridden the Cycle Path to Gowerton will tell you of the rather anonymous (by looks anyhow) incline up the Clyne valley - which gets a nice little burn going in your legs. Or maybe that’s just me being unfit!

Is it April or is it May?

With the deluge of rain today and over the past week for that matter, I’ve been wondering if the months of April and May have swapped places this year. I mean let’s face it, the weather is more akin to April at the moment what with all of the showers, and vice-versa the soaring temparatures and sun drenched days of April belonged in May. Is it global warming or is that just as common an excuse as the doctor describing every ailment nowadays as a ‘virus’.

There’s is one, well two good things actually about all this rain. The first being that I don’t have to water the garden (and pay Welsh Water for the priviledge) and the second being that I can go out running and thoroughly enjoy myself (as I have a liking for running in the rain - fully clothed I hasten to add!). So in an attempt to shake off the lethargy of last week (and some pounds in light of this morning’s 16st 11lb reading), I went for a 33 minute run covering approximately 4 miles odd. Thankfully the picturesque surroundings of the Swansea Valley canal were more than enough of a distraction from my sweaty huffing and puffing - not that anyone else was mad enough to be out in the bucketing down rain mind you.

Still I felt good afterwards and tucked into our alternative Sunday lunch of fajitas with some gusto.