Today’s mutterings are all about a magic tyre valve cap on my car – which bizarrely ends up on a different tyre each day! I’ll set the scene, about 7 days ago the front drivers side tyre valve cap went missing and was presumed stolen. I forgot to replace it and certainly wasn’t going to ‘lift’ one from someone elses car – although in a ‘what goes around comes around’ moment of thought I did consider taking this course of action. Anyway, upon returning to my car today I find that now the rear drivers side tyre valve cap is missing BUT the front one is now back. Now is that bizarre or what? The only explanation I can think of is that someone is playing a prank on me.
I spent this evening continuing with the garden overhaul project and I have to say that finally things seem to be taking shape – although there is still loads to do. When the job is finished it will mean that we would have effectively doubled the size of our garden and in particular lawn – so there’ll be plenty of room for DDWT Junior to run around to his hearts content. It’ll also mean we won’t have to keep telling him to keep away from the plants, shrubs, etc every 2 minutes!
Well my world cup sweepstake entry came to a cruel end tonight when Germany beat Argentina 4-2 on penalties. Although judging by the after match reaction, I think Argentina won the handbags at dawn contest *smile*
I decided to venture up to Fendrod lake for my lunchtime ride today and avoid the crowds that flock along the promenade to Mumbles when the weather is this hot and sunny. Perhaps unsurprisingly (given the nearby enterprise zone) there were loads of people walking around the lake, so it was still pretty much a case of avoiding the pedestrian traffic. Anyway, another 10 miles were added to the tally.
I took a few snaps of Fendrod lake when we visited there back in March of this year and it really is a pleasant destination for a walk or jog and well renowned for its coarse fishing (if that kind of thing is your bag).
I seriously considering biking into work as a matter of routine from next week as the traffic situation in Swansea seems to be getting worse by the day – and the various road improvement projects obviosuly aren’t helping in the short term. Still, you can’t have change and improvement on any road without disruption – so I guess it’s worth the hassle in the short term.
Quote of the day goes to DDWT Junior with “Ows bout dat” and “Or maan” – he’s obviously been watching too much Dora the Explorer as that’s where the latter phrase comes from. He’s such a character though and a continous source of amusement (and frustration sometimes!).
I started reading Terry Yorath’s autobiography today – “Hard Man, Hard Knocks” and it certainly grabs your attention in the first few pages by describing how he saw his son – Daniel – lose his life in front of him in their back garden. I have to say it touched me deeply. Being a Dad myself, and parent for that matter, it really does make you realise how precious life is, especially that of your offspring. Yorath always played football wearing his heart on his sleeve and I’ve no doubt his book will have the same frank expression of feelings.
Did another lunchtime ride down Mumbles today and added another 9 or so miles to the total amassed so far in 2006 (if only I’d managed to keep count!). If I get a few spare minutes and the inclination, I’ll try and tot up my total mileage from my bike riding blog entries. I love stats and always have done – even though I was/still am crap at maths!
DDWT Junior mades us all laugh at teatime tonight with his request for a “Git Gat” (AKA Kit Kat). I’d asked Mrs. DDWT to pass me one from the cupboard (to accompany my lovely large cup of kenco coffee) when in true mimic style his “Git Gat” interpretation came out – classic.
I finally got back in the saddle today after an enforced absence and thoroughly enjoyed the 9 mile lunchtime ride down to Mumbles. Suprisingly I didn’t feel rusty and it was great to give my legs a workout in preparation for the upcoming 29 mile BHF Gower bike ride on Sunday. I’m still on the lookout for sponsorship if anyone would like to donate something to the British Heart Foundation. My sponsorship total is currently £42 – so please help a worthy cause and boost this total.
It was an eventful day all round actually as I also moved offices and changed line manager – the result of which means that I’ll be moving from managing operational issues to strategic ones. Scary stuff indeed!
DDWT Junior was in full verbal flow today with numerous new words being spoken – “Notodike” (motorbike), “War bout dat” (what about that) and ramblings of “Itsy Bitsy Spider”. He really going to be quite a chatty charlie if his current mutterings are anything to go by.
After several months of reading Piers Morgan’s autobiography – “The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade” I’ve finally finished it. It’s an interesting read which at times made me shudder to think that certain people (i.e newspaper editors) have such easy access to the powers that be. In Morgan’s case the prime minister – Tony Blair. The book also makes you realise how powerful the media are in this country – which given the people in the media driving seat is scary stuff.
Enjoyed a day off today and made the most of the time with DDWT Junior and the Mrs. Not even the continous rain could put a dampner on what was a good, fun day all round. In fact it was like being back in play-school with the amount of time we spent drawing, painting, making all sorts with play dough.
I finally treated myself to a new mobile phone this morning after months (yes months) of thinking about which one to get. I finally parted with £39.95 of my hard earned cash in exchange for a brand spanking new Sony Ericsson K300i which I thought was an absolute bargain price for all of the features it has. It’s a camera phone which can also record video and plays MP3′s as well and I’m chuffed to bits with it. It’s certainly far better than the bottom of the range Nokia 1100 I used to have!
After being on the receiving end of some pukka nosh from Mrs DDWT over the last week or so, I decided to resume my cooking duties today (seeing as I had the time) with a ‘ranch’ barbeque beef dish. I diced up two sirloin steaks (I know that’s criminal) and added them to some sliced potatoes, mushrooms, ringed onions, carrots, spinach, a dash of herbs and added a ranch barbeque sauce on top.
Some 1hr 45 minutes later (middle of the oven at 200 degrees) I served it up with some microwaved baby corn just to finish it off. It was very tasty and well worth the effort.
Back to work tomorrow and hopefully back to training as well – so watch this space.
