Mutterings for the Minority

Feed the ducks

With the end of my week’s annual leave fast approaching and DDWT Junior almost climbing the walls with boredom at home, it was definitely time to wrap up warm and head off out for a long walk!

If there’s one good thing about living in the Swansea valley - there are loads actually but that’s for another time - then it’s the beautiful natural scenery that sprawls all the way from Ystalyfera right down to Swansea, which makes going for a walk a relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable experience.

We headed up along the Swansea valley canal towards Pontardawe, facing the full force of the usual wind funnel down the valley and feeding the ducks/geese along the way.

Our destination was the playground at Pontardawe leisure centre - how else could you get a 4 year old to walk several miles!!

Our walk and usual stoppages took us out of the house for around two and a half hours and despite feeling frozen by the time we got back it was a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Goodbye Dad

Today is a very sad day indeed as my Dad finally lost his battle against cancer at 15:35 this afternoon.  Fortunately, we were at his bedside to say our last goodbyes.

The last 5 weeks or so have flown by and if the truth be known he was always fighting a losing battle against bowel, liver and lung cancer - so it is perhaps with as much sadness as relief that he is now suffering no more.

Rest in peace Dad, you might be gone, but you’ll never be forgotten.

Weight progress

It’s now been two whole weeks since set our weight loss targets and today was our first progress weigh-in.

Thankfully it was good news with both Mrs DDWT and I shedding 3lbs each - taking our weight to 12st 9lb and 17st 3lb respectively. It was a welcome surprise and lifted our spirits quite considerably on what was proving (mentally) to be a tough weekend.

After I’d spend the morning doing a bit of landscaping work in the garden - removing some lawn and replacing with chippings (in readiness for some large flower) pots - it was time for a family get together at ours.

I think it was just the tonic the whole family needed in light of the events of the past couple of days. DDWT Junior and I kept everyone amused with our water antics - which was great fun and Baby DDWT was all smiles especially for my Dad, which lifted his spirits no end.

So all in all it’s been a nice end to what’s been a thought provoking couple of days. I think that we’re going to need as many of these ‘days’ as possible over the coming months.

Focus the mind

In light of my Dad’s news yesterday, I felt it was imperative that I try and focus my mind and continue to go about my/our business in order to remain both positive and strong.

With this in mind, I decided to go for an early morning run. I opted to cover the same route as my run last Sunday - albeit it a slightly slower pace. Still the 32 minute 25 second had a semi-positive effect, even if I did feel ’shot’ after it.

In the afternoon Mrs DDWT thought it would be a good idea to get out and about, so we headed off to the Swansea Sea Festival.

Unfortunately by the time we got there - gone 3pm - most of the displays had finished. We were fortunate enough to catch the Newfoundland dogs lifesaving display, which was very impressive.

DDWT Junior enjoyed the mini-pirate ship and the shanty music was quite entertaining as well. Baby DDWT spent the whole time sleeping!! So if you wanted to see pirates of all ages (and sizes) - some on stilts - then it was the place to be

We also made yet another visit to the National Waterfront Museum, which in all fairness never ceases to amaze us with the amount of information and quality displays on offer. Here’s a tip for you, it’s a great place to take the kids especially during the summer holidays.

Whilst inevitably casting our eyes towards the sea, it was impossible to ignore the sheer height and size of the Meridian Quay development.

Looking back to a previous post I made about the development (back in April), you can see how much its come on. Quite amazing!

State of shock

As you get older and supposedly wiser you consider all the things in life that one day will inevitably happen to you - however unpleasant they might seem. Well one of those days has seemingly arrived for me.

Today, my Dad was diagnosed as having liver cancer. That in itself was an almighty shock for me, but just to compound matters further - he also has a tumour on his bowel and spots on his lungs.

The doctor said that we should know the full extent of the cancer by the end of the week, when the specialists have had time to analyse all of the scans. The wait will seem like an eternity.

The news has really come as a bolt out of the blue for everyone and it really hasn’t even began to sink in to be honest. I’m just numb with the news.

I don’t usually blog about things as serious as this, but I just felt the need to let out some of my feelings and share them.

Water pistol fight

After our busy day yesterday we were determined to make the most of the rest of the weekend and in particular the dry weather that greeted us once again.

The sunshine and showers of the past few days had given our lawns a new lease of life and with the recycling collection due on Wednesday, it was an ideal time to give them a quick once over with the mower.

With the jobs out of the way, it was then time for a water pistol fight with DDWT Junior and the new water pistols we’d bought in Toys ‘R’ Us yesterday. A word on which you should now that you can get a double pack for just £9.99 - a saving of £6. They were great fun and could spray water a good 10 feet plus - even without the pump action!

As you can imagine we both got absolutely drenched - but had so much fun it didn’t matter one bit. The fun continued into the afternoon with a visit to Coed Gwilym park for some football, frisbee throwing and of course the obligatory go on the swings.

I’m also chuffed to say that I rounded off the day with a run! So on top of all the walking of the past two days, I added a 34 minute and 6 second (approx 3.7 miles) run to the tally. Let’s hope I can keep this momentum going through the week and it’ll make next Sunday’s weigh in an interesting event I’m sure

Dick Barton’s

Phew what an eventful day I’ve had - which is the complete opposite to a normal Saturday whereby I don’t do much at all.

My first port of call was my Mam and Dad’s who needed a piece of roof fascia board replacing and a leaky window sorted. I must confess to having been a touch nervous about undertaking the task - I’m not a lover of ladders and the bit that needed replacing was literally right on the edge of the house.

After a bit of trial and error I managed to get the ladder in a safe position - the narrow pathway below was safer than the embankment further back! It was then time to start fiddling with the replacement wooden fascia. After what seemed a ‘grand old duke of york’ time going up and down the ladder - I finally got the ideal fit. It was then time to add a cement finish! I was glad to see the back of job number one, but pleased with the result nevertheless.

The leaky window fix was a darn sight easier and straightforward I can tell you. I was even afforded the luxury of having DDWT Junior supervise in his new found role of foreman!

It had been a good start to the day and my parents were happy with the jobs I’d done.

We decided in the afternoon to take a trip into Swansea to get a few jobs done rather than sit around the house and garden. These ‘jobs’ included a visit to Toys ‘R’ Us where DDWT Junior finally got another Playmobil Dinosaur which he’d been promised and Baby DDWT got a small gift for her pushchair too.

Tea time quickly arrived and as it was such a lovely afternoon/evening I suggested that we took a nice stroll from Blackpill down to West Cross - well Dick Barton’s chippy to be precise. Dick Barton’s is legendary in these parts and I don’t think I’ve set foot inside the place in over 20 years, until tonight that is.

It was actually quite nice to take the family there as my parents had done with me when I was small. So the house of DDWT can now say that they’ve all experienced Dick Barton’s - well all of them except baby DDWT.

With our tummies full it was time to make our way back to the car, but not without taking a few snaps and having a pit stop at Blackpill lido.

So all in all it’s been a busy, but very enjoyable day. I’ll have to remember days like this when I’m next lounging around at home on a weekend!

End of an era

Today was the end of an era for DDWT Junior as he went to nursery for the very last time. Come September and he’ll be school full time. He didn’t seem to mind one bit - probably because of his little trip to Funsters with his friends and the promise of a Pizza Hut for tea. I think it was us who felt it more!

I know it sounds weird but it was kind of sad really. It doesn’t seem that long ago that he was going to mother & toddler classes and we were preparing him for nursery. Yet before we know it here we are at the start of the school summer holidays and our little boy is fast growing up.

It really is true what people say - enjoy them whilst they are small and young, for the time really does fly by without a shadow of a doubt.

With the weekend almost upon us, I decided to go for a run with coach at lunchtime as invariably I switch to lazy mode over the weekend and don’t do any training!

I didn’t feel comfortable at all during the 21 minute 35 seconds run, mainly because I had an extremely irritating dry cough and I was a bit leg weary after yesterday’s outing.

Still it’s another run under my belt in preparation for the next Swansea Bay 5k on August 5th.

Target weight

Now that Baby DDWT has turned a month old - yes it’s been that long already - we’ve decided to turn our attention back to getting into our old dietary and training routine again. And what better way to do that than set a target weight we both want to reach.

Let’s face it, when you want to achieve anything you have to set yourself challenging but realistic goals - which is what we have done. So by December 1st 2008, Mrs DDWT wants to be 10st 7lbs and I want to be 16st.

We figured that Christmas would be a great time to achieve our goals and at the same time set another challenge of keeping to those weights - despite the festive season!

As things stood this morning, Mrs DDWT was 12st 12lbs - she’ll play mary hell when she knows I’ve put that on here - and I was 17st 6lbs. Don’t fret my love, after all you only gave birth to our beautiful daughter a month ago. DDWT Junior also decided to get in on the weighing act and tipped the scales at 3st 3.5lbs.

So now we’ve gone public with our aims and objectives there’s no hiding from the shame if we don’t get to our target weight and it also serves as some extra motivation!

Chain problems

Having been woken at 5:45am this morning by DDWT Junior, I guessed it wasn’t going to be the easiest of days and how right I was. With the lack of sleep making me grumpy to say the least, my patience was far from that of a saint and perhaps in retrospect I should have left putting a new chain on my bike to another day.

According to all sources that I’d read - in print and on the web - the task of fitting a new chain to a bike was a relatively easy one. Well that certainly wasn’t the case with me. It took me the best part of 2 hours, after first getting the chain length wrong and then managing to damage one of the links due to not aligning it properly with the rivet extraction tool (below).

After finally getting the chain on, I took it for a test ride. The top gears were fine, but as soon as I changed into the middle range the gears started to jump. Bloody great. It was time for a cup of coffee and a sanity check.

Having re-counted the links (again) I changed the chain length as it was 1 link out. My 2nd test ride was no better than the first I’m afraid. I was cheesed off to say the least and decided that it was now best to just leave well alone, until both my mood, patience and luck changed.

I now find that doing some further digging on the internet - via the cracking BikeRadar.com forums and Park Tools repair help website - that in fact the problem *could* lie with the rear derailleur. Having now watched a video and read about it, it seems a little tweak here and there might solve my jumping gears problem.

If it doesn’t that I fear that it could be time for a new cassette and chain ring. I hope I’m wrong though.

Unfortunately, DDWT Junior seemed to bear the brunt of my mood and now (as always) I feel guilty as hell for being so snappy with him. I’m sure that I will ‘feel it’ for far longer that he will though, so at least that’s something I suppose.

I know one thing, tomorrow is definitely going to be a better day and one which will be spent away from the confines of the house and garden. The change of scenery will do us all the world of good. Oh and a good nights sleep of course