Post Op

I’m back home recuperating from my operation to sort out my shoulder. The op was yesterday afternoon at the Sancta Maria Hospital in Swansea. It’s a private hospital, which the NHS is using to help reduce waiting lists. And very nice too.

The staff all had time to talk through the procedure – I saw five or six different nurses and doctors in the first hour I was there. I had a room with views over Swansea Bay; the hospital has even won awards for its food. Consultant Mark Pritchard and anaesthetist Dr King were very thorough, and the op seemed to go OK.

My arm is in a sling today and I’m dosed up on painkillers, but the fact that I’m writing this must be a good sign. Definitely off work the rest of this week, and then I’ll have to see how quick the recovery is.

Music Notes

There are some brilliantly tongue-in-cheek customer reviews on Amazon for A Whole New World by Katie Price and Peter Andre. Check it out before Amazon takes down the reviews page. Here’s just a taster:

“When I first put this CD on I dropped to my knees and wept. They were strange tears, full of both the sublime melancholy of the knowledge that I would never hear music better than this again.”

“After listening to this, I feel different. A different person, a better person. Colours are sharper, sounds are clearer. It's like this album has opened window to my soul and exposed it to the world!”

“If a half plastic model with below average looks/talent and a greasy Aussie with severe nasal problems can come up with a gem of a CD like this then there is hope for all of us!”

Proud to be British

Only in Britain can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.

Only in Britain do supermarkets make sick people walk all the way to the back of the shop to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

Only in Britain do banks leave both doors open and chain the pens to the counters.

Only in Britain do we leave cars worth thousands of pounds on the drive and lock our junk and cheap lawn mower in the garage.

Being British is about driving in a German car (in my case either Japanese or French) to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then travelling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Chinese on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American and Australian shows on a Japanese TV.

And the most British thing of all? Suspicion of all things foreign!

Rugby Notes

Alex Codling sums it up rather well as reported in the Western Mail report of Ebbw Vale’s 28-17 win at Llangennech in the Cup. The players seemed to be distinctly lacking in motivation and played the first half like they would rather be anywhere else than there.

Ebbw struggled to control the game, had some poor control in the tight and some optimistic passes amongst the backs, and consequently spent most of the game trailing. It was only in the last half hour that strength and pace started to show through, and an 11 point win flattered us somewhat.

Scorers: Three tries for the wingers (two for Matt Jess and one fro Simon Hunt), a penalty and a conversion for Sam Mills and two penalties and a conversion for replacement stand-off Dai Langdon.

Highlights: Solid first game for permit player Dafydd Owen and reasonable debut for newly signed hooker Rhys Williams from Glamorgan Wanderers. Nice to see a couple of players coming back from long term injuries – Jon Hawker had a good game, although looked lacking in match fitness, and Matt Griffin played well after coming on to replace Neil Edwards,

Lowlights: It is pretty obvious that the club doesn’t have a great deal of strength in depth, the pack was nothing like as dominant as usual. The death of hooker Darryl Williams’ young son during the week clearly had an effect as well.