Ava's diary

It’s been a while since my last post here on dad’s blog, so lots to catch up on.

As you can see, I’m still loving bathtime. I lie back and kick my legs as hard as I can. Dad has to hold on to me and so is in the firing line for a soaking every time.

My crawling is now up to Olympic standard, and I’m starting to explore all over the house. Its funny how mam and dad move stuff out of the way as soon as I get anywhere near. I’m starting to hear them say “no” a lot too. But I just smile and carry on regardless.

This morning while dad was getting ready to go to work, I crawled from my bedroom onto the landing. The stairgate was closed so my escape was foiled. So I had to occupy myself by throwing anything I could get hold of through the bars in the stairgate and down the stairs. Empty bottles, toys, whatever.

My new trick is standing up. I have to cling on to chairs, tables, anything I can grab to get me upright. But then I’m stuck as I don’t know how to walk and I don’t know how to sit down. So I usually end up crying until someone comes to my rescue.

There’s been a new intake at the crèche, and some new babies have arrived. As an old hand now I’ve been showing them the ropes.

On the weekend I went with mam, dad, nanna Irene and grandpa Frank to Llangoed Hall. It was very nice and everyone loved me. I stayed up late on Sunday night but was still first down for breakfast (with dad in tow) the next Morning. My high chair was waiting for me and I proceeded to litter the floor with weetabix and toast. I had great fun.

YouTube Notes

This is the video for this year's Comic Relief. It features Uncle Bryn and Nessa of Gavin & Stacey fame singing 'Islands in the Stream'. And what's occuring is a guest turn from Sir Tom Jones. Tidy, like. Simply as.

Birthday Notes

Happy birthday to sister-in law Heather, a fellow blogger and all-round good egg.

Rugby Notes

It was a glorious day. The pitch was in wonderful condition, considering that it was covered with snow just 10 days ago. Spring in the air. A day for some great rugby...

But, oh dear, Ebbw Vale didn't read the script. They went out of the cup on Saturday, losing at home to Swansea 13-23, although the score could have been a lot worse. The Western Mail’s report uses the words lethargic and one-paced, and few who saw the game could argue.

A few Ebbw players stood out, number 8 Rhys Williams was everywhere (as he is every time he plays) and centre Shaun Powell being the brightest lights although credit should go to the front row who performed well in the tight and loose.

Poor old James Lewis had a Sunday People ‘shocker’, when every time the ball went to him something bad happened. I think that even he was surprised not to be substituted at half time.

Best call of the day from the bank: “Rhys, have you got 14 brothers?”

Ebbw website’s report is here and EyeJay’s blog views are here together with some more photos.

Next up in Cardiff on Saturday. It doesn’t get any easier.

Team: Aaron Bramwell, Andrew Bevan, Kristian Owen (c), Shaun Powell, James Lewis; Dai Langdon, Llyr Lane; Anthony Lott, Mathew Williams, Marc Jones; Jonathan Griffiths, Gavin Lucas; Morgan Allen, Rhys Jenkins, Rhys Williams. Subs: Aaron Coundley, Richard Wilkes, Nick Eaves, James Thomas, Ieuan Evans, Andrew Williams, Andrew McLaughlan

Scorers: Try for Rhys Williams, a conversion and two penalties for Aaron Bramwell, clearly playing out of position and ineffective at fullback.

My man of the match: Rhys Williams, yet again

Baseball Notes

So Alex Rodriguez is a drugs cheat and a liar. I knew that my intense dislike wasn’t simply because he plays for the New York Yankees, the evil empire.

Following an article in Sports Illustrated which outed him as someone who took performance enhancing drugs (steroids, in other words) in the early 2000s, and clearly demonstrated that he lied in previous interviews when he flatly denied having taken steroids.

Rodriguez admitted in an interview with ESPN’s Peter Gammons that he used "a banned substance," then saying "I don't know exactly what, um, substance I was guilty of using," and then "I started experimenting with things that today are not legal." So what he is saying is he took something or some things for three years and didn't know what they were, but even though he didn't know what they were, he somehow knows that they were banned.

As Tony Kornhesier said on Pardon the Interruption, he clearly didn’t take the right kind of performance enhancing drugs – the ones that get you a World Series ring or even a hit after the seventh inning.

Now comes a press conference apology (of sorts), but there’s a whole lot more to come on this. And as for A-Fraud’s future Hall of Fame candidacy? Time will tell.

Website of the Week

Reminiscent of the letter to Viz which went along the lines of “I think Joe Strummer should stay since he would only be in half as much trouble” here’s the same info in graphical form.

GraphJam is a great website and a nerd’s delight. Lots of stupid, clever and funny graphical representations of songs, sayings and pop culture. Well worth a peruse if you have a spare five minutes.

Dog Notes

The Westminster Dog Show is a big deal in the USA, a bit like our Crufts.

Anyway, this is Stump, a 10-year-old Sussex spaniel, who became the oldest Westminster champion, and he did so in style. After nearly dying with a bacterial infection in 2004, the floppy-eared pooch came out of retirement to win the crown.

TV Notes

Watched Scrum V tonight, on Sky+ from Sunday.

Oh dear. What a waste of an hour. Rick O’Shea asks stupid questions of stupid people, and Jason Mohammed throws gentle lobs at the guests. No analysis, critique, insight, knowledge. Lads’ TV at its very worst.

Mohammed was just as irritating in person when I played against him in the Cardiff midweek cricket league for the Haddocks a few years ago.

Probation Notes

An occasional visit to my part-time role as a member of the South Wales Probation Trust.

The performance of each of the 42 probation areas across England and Wales is measured through a scorecard collecting scores against a wide range of performance targets.

In addition, whether an area is red, amber or green is dependent upon its performance relative to the other areas. So, as most reasonable people can see, not everyone can be green – since not everyone can be above average. Duh!

Nevertheless, this is seen by some as an indicator of failing performance, although to my mind I think that is a convenient hook on which to hang the drive for change.

Earlier this month, Jack Straw, the Secretary of State for Justice said in a speech pointed out that the Ministry of Justice (of which probation is a part) needs to make savings of £1billion over the next three financial years, and threatened to impose new structures and systems to ensure that good value for money is delivered.

At the end of the day, though, the employer organisation isn’t that important; what matters is that good quality services are provided to the local people – public protection and offender management to the local people.

Hospital Notes

There’s not a lot of progress to report.

Mum’s settled in OK at Tredegar General Hospital. Mum, of course, says "I don't know what I'm doing here". While sitting down or lying on the bed there's no problem - when it comes to moving around its all a bit wobbly. She has started the regime of physiotherapy to get her back on her feet - literally. She's walking with her stick but with a nurse holding on to an elbow.

Mum's sister Stella & Gwyn visited her on Friday (giving me a day off), and they called in at Ponty Towers on the way home to visit Ava. The photo is of Ava with here great-aunt Stella.

Ava and I visited on Saturday, where Ava was the centre of attention. She sat on her nanna’s bed and scattered her toys everywhere.

There was a mass exodus of visitors around 4:30 as everyone, me included, rushed home to watch the Wales game on TV.

Rugby Notes

Great 23-15 win for Wales over the old enemy yesterday.

Ir is nice to see that Wales can beat England without being at the top of their game. Few of the backs had the chance to shine (Leigh Halfpenny, pictured, apart) due to some good English defence, but up front Ryan Jones (Lions captain?) and Alun Wyn Jones were simply awesome. BBC report and highlights here.

Although not to many people’s taste, I like the commentary pairing of Eddie Butler and Brian Moore. The “analysis” team (their word, not mine) are completely inane. Jonathan Davies insightful pre-match comment of “now the talking ends” is clearly what he is paid the big bucks for. Jeremy Guscott is simply the English version of Davies; Austin Healey is the only one who does any analysis and he is woefully underused by self-important and self-appointed ‘one of the lads’ John Inverdale.

Didn’t see the France vs Scotland game which should have been a goodone but wasn’t.

I haven’t seen an Ebbw Vale game in what seems like months, but actually was on 17 January. But, weather permitting, there is a run of three successive Saturdays of home games, starting with Swansea in the cup and followed by Cardiff and a local derby (according to the WRU) against Llandovery.

Ebbw have already lost three games to the weather, and with the reluctance nowadays to play two games in the week I can see the season drifting well into May.

Shed Notes

The 2009 Shed of the Year competition is looming upon is, and its about time I gave a plug to Uncle Wilco’s website ReaderSheds. Shed week starts on 6 July, and culminates with the award of Shed of the Year.

This years judges include Sarah Beeney and Chris Evans, and I almost swerved off the road when I heard him talk about our own Uncle Wilco on Radio 2 last week.

As well as Readersheds, Wilco also has a Shed blog, a Shed forum and even a sheds group on Flickr. Gloriously barking - he really has too much time on his hands!

Even Ava has been bitten by the shed bug.

Video Notes

A fabulous link to a spoof ad for the latest bit of Sony technology. Picked this up from Stephen Fry’s Twitter page. If you’re into Twitter, my occasional meanderings are here. This link is definitely ‘not safe for work’.

Hospital Notes

Mum continues to be on the mend. She is in good spirits, and has even sent someone to buy a newspaper for her. Her only complaint is that she is a bit bored.

The latest position is that the physiotherapy and occupational therapy assessment are due to start, and that the hospital has made contact with Social Services.

So today mum was transferred to Tredegar General Hospital. A bit nearer home and a shorter trip for me too. The hospital is only 58 beds and specialises in physiotherapy and occupational therapy, so it sounds like she is in the right place.

The last time I was at this hospital was to get stitches after I rearranged my front teeth playing cricket on the day that Charles & Di got married – that was a while ago now.

Snow Notes

Some top photos of the recent snow on String’s Flickr site here. This is one of them, the chapel at Carmel Chapel, Beaufort.