I’ve just had a clear out in order to fit some new toys in the shed…. There was more in there than I was expecting, some of it will be going on eBay – Two kitesurf board and at least one sailboard, there are a few old sails and booms that will be going to the tip – Quite why I had 18 sails in there I don’t know! Despite the clear out, there still isn’t much more room in there than there was before.
I need a bigger shed!
Shed clear out
Morgan seems to like his birthday presents so far. We haven’t been out with the metal detector yet, but he has played with all of the accessories that go with his ‘pirate castle’ and seem to like those. The Monkey character that protects the rainforest hasn’t shut up since he got it and he’s had fun with his lego fire-station too…. As did Anna and I when we built it for him!
Lego Fire-station
It may have made sense to have vacuumed the floor before taking that photo though as Morgan was eating a Pop Tart whilst playing with it this morning.
Hopefully he’ll get into Lego and before we know it he’ll have a whole city of the stuff!
Morgan and I made use of our new RSPB membership and went for a cold winters walk at Ynyshir this morning.
Lots of Canada Geese about but Morgan was a little cold so we couldn’t sit and look for birds for too long. I did manage a couple of photos of a bird that I think is a juvenile Robin.
Juvenile Robin
Robin
Morgan has always wanted to go on holiday in a caravan. Don’t ask me why he has this ambition, he’s nearly 5 and I have no idea why he does half the things he does!
Me in a box
For example he spends lots of his time running around thinking he’s a Power Ranger, obviously he’s not, he just thinks he is! If I did that people would think I was mad. He can also spend hours on end sat in a cardboard box talking to himself. Again, even if I wanted to do that I couldn’t get away with it without people thinking there was something wrong. Although, come to think of it I am currently sat in my little office blogging, which isn’t far from sitting in a cardboard box talking to myself!
Anyway, we haven’t had a proper holiday this year and whilst my parents were here at the weekend they wanted me to book a holiday online for them. It was a caravan holiday in South Wales at Trecco Bay, booked through some vouchers in the newspaper that looked pretty good value for money. Not wanting to be outdone I decided to book one for ourselves as well.
4 nights in a caravan at Trecco Bay. The cost of which with service charges came to £64, plus an additional £25 for the use of the pool and leisure complex on the park. Not too bad really and it should keep Morgan happy as he finally gets to stay in a caravan.
There is plenty to do in that part of thew world as well. Windsurfing, Surfing and Mountain-Biking, Swimming Pools, Theme parks and ‘Techni-Quest; for the family and some nice bits of scenery and walks along the coast too. Not a very exotic holiday but it’ll be nice to get a way for a few days.
Anna and I don’t have too many secrets from each other, we tell each other everything and that leads to a happy, successful relationship. Or maybe I should rephrase that and say as far as I know, we don’t have any secrets – I don’t at least!
However, now and then you find out things about your partner that you never knew before. Last night for example I discovered that Anna once wrote to Jim’ll Fix It asking if he would ‘Fix It’ for her to play football with Supergran!
Excellent, I have no idea why she wanted to play football with Supergran, but obviously she did and it made me chuckle.
What with that, the strange Manx thing about ducks and aboretums and a few other things I’m building up a nice little supply of embarassing stories to tell about Anna!
Sometimes I wonder if humans go a bit over the top with spoiling their pets and I have to ask myself if our efforts are appreciated.
For those that don’t know, we have a very neurotic cat. We didn’t plan to get a cat and rescued her when she was a young kitten. That is a whole other story though.
A temporary home turned into a permanent home when we had no joy from the RSPCA or Cats Protection League at the time and she has always been very nervous around people.
That was nearly 10 years ago so
Robbie
Robbie (named after Robbie Naish the famous windsurfer!) is getting on a bit now.
Recently she has looked like she has a sore paw. I took her to the vet the first time this happened. This is very stressful for her and they couldn’t see anything wrong. They did give her some anti-inflammatory tablets which may or may not have worked but won’t keep giving them without seeing her. A trip to the vet is very stressful for Robbie so we try to avoid it if we can.
Therefore, we got her a nice weather proof box for her to use when she is out in the garden. This has been a big success. I often see her sat in there during the day and it looks warm and cosy. I have lined it with sheets of polystyrene so it is nice and warm. As it is made from moulded plastic there is no where for the wind to sneak in so she is free from drafts as well.
Since her paw has been bothering her again (mainly during the cold weather) I have bought some joint care for pets liquid to put on her food. Again, this seems to have been quite successful and she doesn’t seem to mind the taste and always gobbles it up. I think we need to give it a few months and see how this helps, although as the weather gets warmer I don’t think she’ll have any problems.
I also bought a microwavable heat pad which stays warm for 10-12 hours. I am quite impressed with the pad. 6 minutes in the microwave and it is nicely warm without being too hot and it does stay warm for hours. However….Robbie doesn’t seem very impressed. I put it on the chair she usually sits on and she sat on a different chair. I put it on the end of the bed where she sleeps at night and she refused to set foot on it at all! I put it outside in her box to keep her warm during the day and she has refused to go in the box at all since I’ve put it in there!
I’m hoping that by next winter she’ll be happier about the heat pad as I think it will make things much more comfortable for her. We are also planning a ladder type thing to help her jump up to the window sill to ask to be let in and even maybe a heated pad into a shed outside.
Of course she is allowed in the house whenever she wants but she rarely comes in before dark and goes out as soon as she has had breakfast in the mornings. She is much better than she used to be and will now come in even if Morgan isn’t in bed and will even sometime let him hand feed her a bit of ham! We have looked at a cat flap into the house but I don’t think she’d use it and it is quite tricky to fit one into a new, double glazed property so we’ll try the shed and see how we go.
Whatever we do she won’t be grateful but we’ll do it anyway!
Morgan went to a swimming party yesterday. As it was a private party I thought I’d give my underwater camera a try out and get some shots of him playing in the water.
It seemed to work quite well, even the video quality was OK. Shame about my videography skills, but I was only messing around.
Morgan seemed to have a good time though.
No, not mine or Anna’s, but Morgan’s. He seems to have several parties to go to each week at the moment. A party in Borth hall last weekend, a swimming party this afternoon, party in the Rugby Club on Sunday afternoon, a party in the soft play area next Thursday and his own ‘Cinema Party later in the month.
If only our social life was as interesting!
We went to see the pantomime at Aberystwyth Arts Centre yesterday. It was Jack and the Beanstalk and I was pleasantly surprised.
The pantomime is put on by The Wardens Dramatic Society who have been producing shows in Aberystwyth since Jack and the Beanstalk in 1983. The productions are directed by Richard Cheshire, who also plays a leading role in them and this year played the Dame. You can find out more about The Wardens Dramatic Society here – although their website could do with some updating – maybe that could be a website design job for me!
It was pretty funny at times, the kids and adults all seemed to love it and it was a very professional show. Obviously as a pantomime it can’t be too serious or ‘too professional’ but it was slick, funny and the cast all seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was the last show of the season which may have helped matters and I’m sure the cast were playing a few tricks on each other as well which made it good fun.
Being Aberystwyth it could have been a very amateur affair, but it wasn’t and I’d highly recommend it. I’m sure we’ll be going next year.
It’s going to be a busy day today. Despite having my car serviced and MOT’d just before Christmas, on Christmas eve it decided to break-down meaning I needed the recovery service to come out to meet me in Morissons car park so that I could get home for Christmas. Since then its been sat on the drive waiting to go to the garage for a new starting motor.
Today is the day it is due to go in. So, the first task is to see if I can get it going. It’s then off to the garage whilst Anna does the school run. We then have to juggle cars so that I can come back home to do some work and hopefully a Turbo Trainer session before heading back into Aberystwyth for the afternoon school run.
I then need to hang around in Aberystwyth with Morgan until Anna finishes work. I might take him to the climbing wall. If my car is finished by then I can collect it while Anna brings Morgan home. If not, I shall bring them both home in Anna’s car before heading back to Aber for a circuit training session and a swim session.
Somehow I’m not really expecting things to go as planned. Getting the car started in the first place could well put a spanner in the works. It could start snowing heavily which may change things. But, the real questions is, can my (no longer 20 year old) body really cope with 3 training sessions in one day?!
Whatever happened to a ’simple’ life of luxury?
