Mutterings for the Minority

Phooo wee, it’s been a long day but alas we’re now tucked up and un-packed in our humble abode for the week in sunny Broad Haven in Pembrokeshire – the St. Brides Bay version not the other one!

Without doubt Broad Haven is a popular place mainly thanks to it being great for sun worshippers and water sports lovers. It’s expanse of golden sand – which links up with nearby Little Haven at low tide – make it a great place for young families and it is widely considered as one of the finest beaches in St Brides Bay.

So eager with excitement, the house of DDWT was up at 7:30 to get ready for a proposed 13:30 departure (as we were unable to use our cottage/house before 3pm). For once we actually left on time and had a relatively easy journey with no tantrums and very little traffic, the only hold-up really being the road improvement scheme on the A40 near the Blue Lagoon Water park.

The accomodation was great and we could see why it had been given a 5 star rating. The bottle of wine provided by the owners was also a nice touch!

After unpacking, we ventured out for a walk down in order to get our bearings and check out the beach – especially with the sunset fast approaching. Although a chilly wind ensured we didn’t stay very long – but long enough for DDWT Junior to ‘fall’ into the sea and drench himself!

With the sea air still fresh in the lungs, I then had the misfortune of drawing the short straw of deciding whom was going to do the grocery shop. I ended up in the Tesco superstore in Haverfordwest – they get everywhere don’t they – and as usual lined the pocket of Tesco far too much. At least it was a short drive of only 5 miles away.

So here I am having got back around an hour or so ago and everyone is ready for bed – it’s been a long day!

Norwich City away was the longest trip the Swans would face in the League this year and so it was an obvious choice on our shortlist of ‘away’ trips to be undertaken. Here is a rundown of our little trip!

The Deeters Bar Jacks (note the new spelling in order to avoid confusion for Chris whom thought it was Dieters as in weight loss, rather than a German forename!) set off in bang bus number six at 7:15am with a daunting 616 mile round trip to Carrow Road ahead of us.

We had the pleasure of welcoming TJ to the Deeters ‘family’ although some of the lads insisted on calling him Conkers – in reference to his north Walian wine making roots as opposed to his genitalia. Anyway, his additional vocal presence was most welcome.

We made good time and before we knew it were in Reading services having an M&S stop. We were roughly half way there! Without wanting to waste valuable eating time, we left sharpish with Lance at the helm and it was full steam ahead for our pre-match lunch stop – The Gamekeeper in Old Buckenham which was some 15 miles or so from Norwich.

After a few minor navigational problems we reached our main grub stop around noon and were impressed by what we saw when we arrived. Good choice Lance! Trudging in through some bemused locals we studied the menu and ordered our liquid refreshment. We were not disappointed on either front!! I went for the Rabbit and Venison stew in dumplings, served with mash and roast courgettes, swilt down with some fine Aspall Organic Suffolk Cyder – WOW it certainly hit the spot. Don’t ask me what the others had, I was too busy satisfying my palette on one of – if not the – best away day meals I’ve had to date.

1:30 pm duly arrived and it was time to head off in search of Carrow Road and some parking. It was a bit touch and go for a while and a very long walk meant that we finally got to the ground with 10 minutes to spare!

I won’t say much the game itself as you can read numerous match reports on both the official Swans and Norwich websites.

It goes without saying that we were well happy with the result and it made the long journey home a happy one, which had we lost I think would have – well need I say more!

Talking of the journey home, you’ll never guess who we saw driving (with his son) – yes, the hamster himself Mr. Kenny Jackett!!  We did try our best to get his attention – but he never flinched,  keeping his eyes on the road and Mercedes in one piece with it. Miserable git

Not being one to start rumours or anything, but he was heading in the direction of Watford on the M25 circular – going home after the ‘Wall game maybe or perhaps off to see the Watford chairman about a new job.  Remember where you read it first

Anyway, farewell until the next Deeters Bar Jacks away trip…..

Poor old Katherine Jenkins.  How difficult it must have been for this talented multi-millionaire songstress to come clean and reveal to the tabloids that she’d done various drugs in her pre-stardom days.   Grown men and women have leapt to her defence and expressed admiration for her having the strength to come clean.

Oh come off it.  I mean really, how hard could it have been for her.  She’s well liked (as the public/media reaction illustrates) and financially secure (having recently been awarded a £6 million pound recording contract). 

Can you imagine the outcry if a lesser known/squeaky clean personality had come out about their past misdemeanours. Need I say more?

Of course there is the issue of Christmas being just 51 days away and a certain ‘Sacred Arias‘ album having been released just a couple of weeks ago – so it couldn’t be one massive marketing and media push by her agent could it?

Nah, our Katherine is too nice for that.  Surely.

Oh what a day. I’ve never liked shoe shopping, not even for myself and I simply can’t understand why so many women (in particular) do. Anyway, where am I going with this?

Well it quickly became very apparent today that DDWT Junior is certainly following in his dad’s footsteps (no pun intended) with his immense dislike for shoe shopping as well! Trouble was, it was for him we were doing the shopping.

To make matters worse, we needed shoes and trainers for him – so we were going to have our work cut out. I won’t bore you with the details of a marathon 4 hour shoe shopping session – where tempers flared on several occasions, but we got there in the end.

My pockets are nigh on £55 lighter (for size 11 children’s shoes!) but at least we got the job done and the little fella is happy with his new “shoosies”.

I’ll also give a mention to the Landore park and ride service, which we used for the first time today. For £1.50 (per car) it’s great value and we were very impressed by the service and shall be sure to use it again – rather than get gridlocked in Swansea and then pay through the nose for parking.

It was also nice to have a rest day from the training as well. Having done 4 runs this week, I was in need of a rest as I felt leg weary to say the least. I still missed not doing any training though!

The Swans finally sealed promotion to the Coca Cola Championship with a 2-1 win at Gillingham and I was there!

Full details of the my day on tour with the Dieters Bar Jacks to follow soon!