Twickenham humiliation
Oh dear what a pasting our boys took at Twickenham today. 62 points to 5 against the old enemy is unacceptable to say the least - second string or not. It also couldn't have been worse preparation for the world cup and there's little doubt that it has posed Gareth Jenkins with more questions about who should be in his final squad than before the game. This was the last thing he or the faithful Welsh public wanted at this stage.
Now isn't the time I know, but I still question the wisdom in appointing Gareth Jenkins to the role of national coach. For me he has always been the nearly man of Welsh rugby - how many times were Llanelli so close to European glory under his belt - yet they seemingly always fell at the last hurdle. I have no doubt that in terms of passion, commitment and loyalty he is up there with the best - but I'm not so sure he has the rugby experience at such an intense level as international rugby to succeed. Still, whatever I think - I hope he proves me wrong come September.
Thankfully with the bushes in the garden in need of a trim, I was able to exact my rugby-induced frustration out on them with the aid of some garden shears. One full wheelie bin later and both the bushes and I were in much better form. Oh if only I could say the same about our national rugby team!
With Nana DDWT returning from a 2 week jaunt to Center Parcs Eleveden, it was time to do some visiting and with that came the customary gift for DDWT Junior (who was spoilt rotten as usual). Perhaps unsurprisingly, we have yet another dinosaur to add to the already vast collection. This time is was a large Stegosaurus - or steggy as DDWT Junior calls it (after the Stegosaurus in 'Harry and His Bucketful of Dinosaurs').
After having a successful day in work yesterday putting together an Ubuntu 7.04 LAMP server - complete with Nagios installation and tried my luck at home with the desktop version. Once again my efforts proved in vain as my Cisco Aironet 350 series wireless card simply refuses to talk to my Netgear DG834N router with any form of encryption switched on - yet works fine with it off. Grrrrrrr
Felling trees
Before anyone gets over excited and bends my ear about tree preservation - let me just put the record straight and say that I'm referring to 3 - already dead - trees in my garden.
How do I know that they're beyond repair, well quite simply they've not grown or blossomed in over 2 and a half years - which for a plum and apple tree is not good (I'm sure you'll agree). So armed with my trusty garden spade and tree clipper I pruned the trees back and dug them up. They are now on their way to the garden recycling depot for use as compost and bark.
On the bright side, we now have a bigger 'play area' in the garden and DDWT Junior can no longer use the trees as make believe catapults!
Sunshine and Swansea bay
With the sun blazing down lunchtime I simply couldn't resist taking my bike for a spin down to Limeslade once again. I was on my own for the 11 mile ride today, but the pace was blistering - probably due to the keen breeeze which accompanied the return leg of the ride.
Still you simply can't beat Swansea Bay on days like today and with this in mind, perhaps when politicians talk about Swansea being a European City of distinction by 2020 they're not talking through their backsides as much as we think.
After finishing one shift, it was time to head off home and start another - the lawns, hedges and trees needed a cut. How the hell do they grow so quickly? I can only assume it must be the warm weather and sporadic showers having an effect on them. With this year having been so mild to date, one can only assume this is a sign of things to come. Still with the job now done, everything does look a lot more pleasant on the eye and I can now look out through our living room window (whilst supping a cup of kenco) and enjoy the un-obstructed via of my front garden!
