Choc Ice

This week’s picture is of Choc Ice, probably the greatest cabaret band in the world. They are a four (occasionally five) piece band, featuring Duggie Deuxdrop, Joe Ely, Jim, brother of Joe, Ely, and Tony Porc. Elvis Shapiro sometimes can be bothered to turn up. You can read much more about their particular brand of mayhem on their website at http://www.chocice.net/. Pictured is Joe Ely, brother of Jim. Or is it the other way round?

Infamy

There’s a distinct pecking order (if you pardon the pun) at the bird table. The small birds, dunnocks and tits, are told to clear off by the finches. The finches in turn lose out to the blackbirds and magpies. These get scared off by the squirrels.

Now the next in the food chain ought to be Marv barking at the squirrels and the squirrels scurrying away. But Marv is in the living room and the squirrels just pause to look at the commotion through the window before continuing to devour everything on the bird table.

Here’s a photo taken this morning. Wanted for crimes against bird tables throughout the greater Pontypridd area.

Movie Notes

So there’s going to be another Carry On movie, eh? It will be the 32nd in the series. No prizes but lots of kudos for knowing the names of the other 31. The first was Carry On Sergeant. Carry On London will star Shane Ritchie (in the Sid James role), Vinnie Jones (Bernard Bresslaw) and Victoria Silvstedt (Barbara Windsor of course).

In honour of this new movie, here are a few of my favourite Carry On lines:

Carry On Up The Khyber
“I’ve never been in a cart pulled by oxen before”
“Bullocks”
“No, honestly I haven’t”

To get a snake charmer to go away – “Fakir off!”

Carry On Cleo
“Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got in infamy”

Carry On Don’t Lose Your Head
“I’m Camembert! I’m the big cheese!”

If you have any favourites, email them in and I’ll use the best next week.

TV Notes

Just about coping without my weekly dose of The Apprentice. Just have to make do with spotting all the same dysfunctional work types at the office. We definitely have a Syed, a couple of Badgers, and a Tuan.

For those with an interest in American sports I have to recommend NASN, the North American Sports Network (www.nasn.com). It’s available by subscription on Sky and shows extensive coverage of baseball, basketball and hockey (ice not field). Occasionally it broadcasts some of its shows free to air (freeview). Well worth keeping an eye out for.

The best programme for a general cath-up on American sports is Pardon The Interruption, which features the genius that is Tony Kornheiser.

five

Morning everyone! Yep, test cricket is back, even earlier than ever. Whilst Sky’s wall to wall coverage continues, my viewing is usually confined to the highlights package.

five (not Channel Five or even Five or 5, but five) is now showing highlights of the test cricket. Is it me or is it the same coverage as Channel 4’s last year, minus Richie Benaud? Its good, but its hard to watch cricket without Richie.

England made a pig’s ear of a great batting display and a reasonable bowling effort by fielding like drunken giraffes. I lost count of the number of catches that were put down, enabling Sri Lanka to have 30 wickets instead of the usual 20 and so enabling them to bat on for the draw. Andrew Strauss in particular had a ‘mare, including several drops which bring to mind Boycott’s comment that “my mum could have caught that in her pinnie!”

Travel Notes

Aggravating – the announcements on London underground trains such as “This train is for Paddington.”

No its not. It’s not for (or against) anything. It’s a train. What you mean is “This train is going to…” or “This train’s destination is…” Sorry, this is the pedant in me having a rant.

Also, they have taken to announcing that there is a “good service” in operation. Let me be the judge of whether its any good or not!

TV Notes

The Apprentice – there was disaster in the Veale/Janes household when a thunderstorm caused a power cut and the final of The Apprentice failed to record. Got to see the show on the interweb instead though. In the end I’m not sure if any of this was open and honest, since there didn’t seem to be a lot of questioning before the final pick. Michelle did exactly as Sir Alan suggested, showed no imagination and struggled to run her team, yet seemed to win comfortably. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want the badger to be working for me!

Rugby Notes

The season’s over for Ebbw. Safe in mid-table mediocrity, our best result for years.

As predicted here, Craig Cleaver duly won player of the year, whilst Simon Hunt had to get in on the act somewhere and was named clubman of the year. Jack Lydiate, Ebbw and Dragon’s U21 flanker got most promising player. Roll on September for the new season. We’ve already signed an outside half, Sam Mills from relegated neighbours Pontypool.

Elsewhere, the season carries on though. Saturday sees the playoff between Maesteg (third from bottom in the Premiership) and Bonymaen (champions in Division 1) to see who goes up or stays up, if you get my drift.

There’s also the small matter of the Heineken Cup final at the Millennium Stadium. Biarritz versus Munster. Should be a cracker, with The Fields of Athenry echoing around Cardiff.

Frank's 60th

Sunday saw the big surprise birthday bash for Frank, my soon-to-be father-in-law. The pic shows the in-laws Irene and Frank with Father Michael (in the middle), whose friendship with Frank dates back to 1959. Yikes.

Haddocks

Spent the weekend chilling out in London. Did a bunch of the usual tourist things. Went to Harrods and the Science Museum on Saturday. Greenwich on Sunday was wonderfully relaxing seemed miles away from the bustle of London.

New cricket season about to start, quite possibly my last. I turn out for the Haddocks (www.haddocks-cricket.net) in the Cardiff midweek cricket league. It’s a 16 overs-a-side competition, where the aim is to be OK, but not good enough to be promoted so that you have to play good sides. We languish in the 3rd division of the League. There isn’t a 4th division.

Rugby Notes

We’re safe! After soundly beating Llandovery on Friday night Ebbw are guaranteed Premiership rugby again next season. And deservedly so too. We were by far the better side. Llandovery survived too. Carmarthen, Maesteg and Pontypool ended as the bottom 3.

After the lord mayor’s show tonight. Ebbw went down to Pontypridd 14-36 in a game that could have been a lot closer. Good job it didn’t matter.

A minute’s silence was observed for Clive Burgess before each of the last two games. There are lots of obituaries and comments on the Ebbw Vale RFC supporters’ forum (supporters.ebbwvalerugby.co.uk)

Cricket Notes

Watched Glamorgan during a couple of lunch breaks last week. The new import Mark Cosgrove looked good, getting a century in his first at-bat. But he’s likely to have to go back to Oz for an “A” tournament for the next couple of months. Their other overseas player James Franklin is due to be joining soon though. Glamorgan are allowed to replace Cosgrove & will need to.

Simon (sicknote) Jones, Harrison & Wharf all injured at the mo.

Travel Notes

Aggravating – Yikes. Where to start?

I – What is it about people on the underground that makes me want to pull a gun? Is it because everyone is in such a hurry to catch his or her train, even though the next Bakerloo service is in 3 minutes? Is it that as the train door opens people barge on regardless of people trying to de-train?

II – The train to London on Saturday morning had a selection of Swansea City football fans. It was 9:30 and they had clearly been on the beer for a while by the time we boarded in Cardiff. Yes, the preconceptions that people have about soccer fans all came true.

TV Notes

The Apprentice – In a shock, Paul and Ansell went, leaving Ruth the Badger and Michelle to battle in the finale next week. Paul had not been to the boardroom at all, but didn’t interview well, to put it mildly. “There’s four like him down the local Peugeot showroom, and three of them will have nicer suits.”

Revelations in the Sunday papers were that both Michelle and Ruth already work for Sir Alan Sugar’s companies, and questions about whether its all fixed have been raised.

Running Notes

Lunchtime runs in Bute Park in the spring are really enjoyable. There’s always lots of other runners, dog-walkers & cyclists. There’s also a new addition – a woodland sculpture of what appears to be Shrek. Bizarre.

Chimps

Happy birthday Emma. Six years old on Thursday. Hope you get lots of pink presents!

Another bank holiday eh? This one was a pretty lazy affair. Ventured out on Sunday though. Went to the Primate Sanctuary near Abercrave (http://www.cefn-yr-erw.co.uk/). It used to be an extended farm with rare breeds, but has taken over the monkeys from Penscynor Wildlife Park when it closed down something like 10 years ago. As a result the place is a hotch-potch of ducks and chimps, pigs and lemurs.

There’s lots of development work going on, and they are doing sterling work in rescuing abandoned chimps and other primates from closed-down circuses and zoos. A good cause and well worth £5 for a visit.

Picnicked at Craig-y-nos Country Park (www.breconbeacons.org/visit_the_park/craigynoscp). A great place for walking and picnicking in 40 acres of national park, all of it seemingly on the riverbank. Some beautiful scenery too. See pic.

Rugby Notes

Just heard that Clive Burgess passed away this week, aged just 55. One of the best players I ever saw and truly a local hero. He won just 9 caps for Wales (4 in 1977, 2 in 1981 and 3 in 1982) and scored his only international try on his debut against Ireland in 1977. Not one to ingratiate himself with the establishment, he spent three years in the international wilderness before being called back to the Welsh team and promptly being named man of the series in the 1981.

Ebbw performed well on Saturday and saw off a useful but ultimately less determined Cross Keys side at Pandy Park. After going 5-0 down “early doors” & Ebbw trying to score tries from 100 yards metres out, we settled down & climbed back into the game. Four tries in all in a 35-10 win. Cleaver & Bowd in the back row were immense. The backs ran Keys ragged, and both wings bagged tries.

If Player of the Year is even close I’ll want an official enquiry. Craig Cleaver has been man of the match so many times this year that nobody else should even be close in the voting.

Two games left – this Friday at home to Llandovery and then next Tuesday home (or in my case away) to Pontypridd.

The final placings may turn out to be academic as the WRU have said that the ground criteria will be taken into consideration when deciding who is related. Apparently we pass these criteria. But let’s assume everybody else does as well. In that case it’s 2 down & the 3rd from bottom gets a play-off game with the top of division 1, Bonymaen.

OK, bear with me here as I go through the permutations. With just one win we get up to 31 points, which is higher than Pontypool can get to with their last two games. If the win is over Llandovery then we will also leapfrog over them since that’s their last game. 31 points is the maximum that Carmarthen and Maesteg can get with their two games left, but only one of them can since they have yet to play each other. We also hold a try count advantage over Carmarthen and Maesteg of 14 and 5 respectively.

We should be safe if we win on Friday, but I wouldn’t put it past Maesteg to somehow come up with 20 tries in their last game at home to Aberavon and pip us at the post. The message is this – win them both!

Cricket Notes

Watched Glamorgan during a couple of lunch breaks last week. Not off to a great start. As Eye-Jay said, it’s either block it or smash it. There were very few attempts to work the ball around and rotate the strike, even when they had lefty and righty batting together.

They won their first C&G Trophy outing against Ireland yesterday in front of a god natured bank holiday crowd – I couldn’t be tempted. The new Aussie import Mark Cosgrove seems a bit handy: 75 off 57 balls just 24 hours after getting off the plane.

TV Notes

Syed is gone. Hurrah! How did that egotistic salesman survive into the last 5 on The Apprentice? It doesn’t really say a lot for the ones who fell before him, does it? Badger looked shaky for the first time though.

Season Two of Lost starts tonight on Channel 4 and E4. Id love to tell you the plot, but it would take forever. Suffice to say there are more red herrings than you can shake a stick at.

Trail notes

Happy birthday, Cath. I love you.

C had a great birthday card from her mum and dad: the front read “We’re smiling because your our daughter” & inside “and laughing because there’s nothing you can do about it”.

Things I saw on my run dow the Taff Trail last night: 2 white cows, several horses (one wearing a coat), 3 rabbits, lots of sheep and little lambs, dogs of all shapes and sizes being walked by their owners (also all shapes and sizes) and 2 cyclists (one going very slowly and jovial, the other very fast and surly).

Excellent Sunday lunch at the Newbride in Tredunnock near Usk (http://www.thenewbridge.co.uk/). Beautiful setting on the banks of the Usk river, and great food too. Worth the trip.

Ebbw Vale First Responder is a great volunteer service which provides support to emergency ambulance services in critical cases. They do a superb job of supporting the scarce ambulance service in the area – Aberbeeg, Tredegar and Neviil Hall in Abergavenny. (www.evfirstresponder.co.uk)

If you want to download music to you iPod, MP3 player or just your PC and are tired of paying 99p or so for each track, here’s a cheaper alternative. AllofMP3 (http://www.allofmp3.com/) is a site which offers a huge selection of music at a fraction of the price. I just downloaded new CDs from Van Morrison and Donald Fagen for under £1 each.

Random thought – there are some great pig-related words: porcine, suckling, rasher and, of course, bacon.

TV notes

Boston Legal on Living TV is great fun. William Shatner (yes, Kirk himself) is on top form as Denny Crane, the slightly deranged lawyer.

The Apprentice – Tuan got the heave-ho this week. He really was a useless waste of space as a leader. If the others are even half-good, then Sir Alan has the opportunity to get rid of Syed. But no, someone goes & messes up so badly that he has no choice & Syed survives to give the great British public another bout of BS.

Travel notes

Aggravating I – The dualling of the Heads of the Valleys road (the A465) is moving on slowly. One stretch has been completed, between Merthyr Tydfil and Tredegar. Well, I say completed. The last half mile near Tredegar was open for a whole week before the ubiquitous cones were erected around a small landslip near the Tredegar junction, until remedial work could be done.

No problem, I hear you say. Except that these cones have been in place for almost 2 years! When traveling to Ebbw Vale this week I notice that even more cones have sprung up. Does this mean that the repairs are finally going to be done? Don’t hold your breath.

Aggravating II – Mobile phones being used in the quiet carriage of the train to/from London. They need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Cricket notes

Amazingly, Glamorgan’s Sophia Gardens has been added to the “A” list of UK cricket grounds, and are scheduled to host a Test Match between England and Australia in 2009. A bit like holding a Wagner opera at a Womens Institute hall, reckoned The Times. The current capacity is around 7,000 and they are aiming to expand up towards 20,000. So this is all subject to lots of improvement works around the ground and getting planning permission past the Pontcanna residents.

That might be tricky. They successfully saw off Glamorgan’s plans to build an ice rink at Sophia Gardens to host the Cardiff Devils franchise, and seem to have some influential contacts in the Welsh media. We’ll see.

Rugby notes

Another good win for Ebbw Vale against Pontypool in midweek. They have raced up the table to 12th, and would appear to be one win away from safety. We were down to 13 men at one stage, with bizarrely a wing and fullback yellow-carded.

Three good tries for Simon Hunt. I would heap lots of praise on him, but I met him in the clubhouse after the game and he doesn’t seem to have any problems with self-confidence! Collectively the team played their hearts out and they were out on their feet for the last ten minutes. Nevertheless, a stout defensive line kept Maesteg out.

The scheduling of the two remaining home games (Llandovery and Pontypridd) is yet to be resolved. There are issues around access to the ground with the cricket taking precedence after 1 May. So rumours abound that the games may be played at Abertilery Park. Let’s hope that Friday night games at Eugene Cross Park can be organised.

Close game on Saturday at Dave Parade where Ebbw narrowly failed to turn over the old enemy, going down 21-22. Augers well for the remaining three fixtures, starting with a visit to Cross Keys on Saturday coming.

Garden notes

The patio is now complete. C finished the planting around the pond on Saturday. See the photo post below.

Garden Note

After days of blood, sweat and tears the patio is finally complete. Hurrah!!

Maldives

This is the view from the water bungalow in the Maldives that I will be chilling out at come October. I'll be packing light - trunks & snorkel!

Great Train Robbery

Good natured bank holiday crowds gather, as they always do, at Easter-time. The crowds were something to behold. There were traffic jams on the streets leading to their church. The church of DIY - B&Q. Why do they all believe that DIY can only be started at Easter?

The boys of summer are back. Saw my first Red Sox game yesterday on NASN. They won it with a walk-off home run to beat Seattle. Nice to see David Ortiz helping my fantasy team again.

Cricket season also kicks off this week. Glamorgan’s home opener is against Essex on the 26th. What a great way to spend a lunch break away from the office.

Haven’t seen much of the endless cricket coverage on Sky this winter. This is the problem when there is wall-to-wall coverage; you don’t know what to watch so you don’t watch any. If the swallows of Capistrano flew past my window every day it simply wouldn’t be a big deal. Sometimes less is more.

Another funeral last week. You know you are getting old when the priests start looking young.

Travel notes

I noticed last week that the old benches on the platform at Pontypridd station were no longer there. They were so old that they had “GWR” molded in the ironwork on the end of the benches. I asked one of the guards why they had been taken away. “They were nicked” he said, “even though they were bolted to the floor.”

How do you nick a small collection of 8 foot cast-iron seats from a train station in the middle of the town and nobody see you? These masterminds are wasted on petty theft. They should be robbing trains, not train stations.

Rugby notes

Best not to loiter too long on Ebbw’s short trip (and even shorter trip for me) to Sardis Road ten days ago. Could have been very different if early chances had been accepted.

Magnificent win for Ebbw on the bank holiday weekend. 52-25. All you could want from a game – some really good tries, lots of local derby niggle, one red and four yellow cards. Another huge game tomorrow night when we take on Maesteg & their collection of 40-year-olds, Kevin Ellis, John Deveraux and Allan Bateman. Another win could see us race up the table to the heady heights of 12th place.

TV notes

Dr Who is back. Hurrah! David Tennant makes a good Doctor, and seems to be from the cheeky-chappie Tom Baker school of doctoring. Have you played the game of spot the Cardiff landmark? In this week’s pile of escapist tosh, the interior of the new Wales Millennium Centre was used as the set for a futuristic hospital.

The Apprentice – Trevor the useless salesman went acouple of weeks ago, followed by Sharon last week. When Sir Alan was given the choice between a liar, a whinger or a planner in the boardroom, amazingly, the liar stayed and the whinger went. The Badger’s looking like a tough cookie to beat.

Grumpy Old Men – yep, that’s me.

Running notes

Got in a one hour run last week, but all spare time since has been taken up by the big garden project.

Garden notes

The holiday weekend was lost to the “lets build a patio” project. Ingredients: 50 square metres of bluestone from a quarry in Swansea, 2 ton of stone dust, 15 bags of concrete, a new frog pond, and lots of blood, sweat and tears.

The new concrete was of course christened by Marv’s paw prints almost as soon as it was laid.

Another bird feeder bites the dust. If the squirrels can’t take them apart (I’ve taken to taping & gluing the feeders together) then they simply eat though the plastic until there’s a hole & then all the seed falls out. Little furry buggers.

Birthdays and baseball

Happy birthday to our brother, 46. OMG, 46.

As well as birthdays, April also brings the start of the baseball season. NASN & five will get well-used in the coming months I’m sure. Go Red Sox!

Of course with it comes fantasy baseball. My Ponty Red Sox are facing off against 11 other teams run by guys who live in the US and know what they’re doing. Never mind, it whiles away the odd lunch break.

A few evenings out this week. Wednesday night was a lovely evening spent at Lorna and Wilco’s. Wilco runs the Readers Sheds website in his spare time, bizarre but brilliant (www.readersheds.co.uk). Thursday was quiz night at the Cwm Conservative Club. Jon’s tough questions were interspersed with chips, scrumps and tinned salmon sandwiches.

Travel notes

Enjoyable – a leaflet landed on the mat this week for the summer sailings of the Waverley, the last paddle steamer operating in the UK. Went on a trip last year from Penarth to Minehead and it was great fun. The average age was around 60, and flasks of tea and sandwiches in cling-film were in plentiful supply. I’m sure I’ll be getting a picnic ready sometime this summer for a trip to nowhere in particular on the Waverley. (www.waverleyexcursions.co.uk)

Rugby notes

Scrum V again provided the entertainment again this week. David Moffat (ex-chief executive of the WRU) laid into Eddie Butler pretty well, and the boys at the beeb didn’t like it. They can dish it out but they don’t like it up ‘em.

Magnificent ending to the Leicester/Bath European Cup quarter final on Saturday. With Bath up 15-12, Leicester camp on the Bath line. A series of collapsed scrums lead to two yellow cards for Bath props. Bath play the last ten minutes with 13 men, and through a combination of their determination & Leicester’s inability to use an overlap somehow held on for an amazing victory. 32,000 stunned midlanders looked on in shock.

TV notes

My Name Is Earl – top comedy from the US. In a complete change from the usual trendy apartment dwellers of sitcom-land, this is set amongst redneck trailer trash. Earl’s task is to make amends for all the bad he’s done in his redneck life. Karma, he says. Some extracts from the list of things he has to atone for:

Had garage sale while house sitting for neighbours
Faked death to break up with a girl
Replaced birth control pills with tic-tacs
Snatched a kid’s Halloween candy when he came to my trailer to trick-or-treat

Planet Earth – OK, I know I’m a bit late in getting to this since the run on BBC1 has just finished, but I know that the beeb will rerun it and when they do – watch it. I’m not normally a big fan of natural history programmes, but Planet Earth is in a different league. The photography is absolutely amazing. It is simply the best thing on TV. The episode that had the first ever TV footage of snow leopards in the wild was breathtaking. As was footage of half a million bats in a cave in Indonesia.

The Apprentice – haven’t got around to seeing it yet, so it’ll be a double review next week.

Running notes

Scamp on Monday, but aching like heck (it’s a family website) after gardening work on Sunday.

Garden notes

Now that spring is well and truly here, its time to widen outdoor issues away from the squirrels (furry-tailed bastards that they are) to all manner of garden issues.

The big project at the moment is to lay a patio where the lawn is. I say, lawn, it’s a collection of weeds and dandelions with grass interspersed. Spent last weekend digging all the grass/weeds up, and trying to level the ground. Tricky when you are perched on the side of a mountain in Pontypridd. Nevertheless, it’s not a bad approximation to flat right now. Upcoming weekend job is to get stones for the patio; trips to quarries have been scheduled prior to the Ponty game on Saturday. The big push to complete will be the Easter weekend, which is a five-day weekend thanks to the generosity of the civil service.

Ding dong the bells are going to chime!

OK, not in the morning, but sometime. Yes, the big news this week is that I proposed to C, & in a moment of weakness/madness, she said yes. Bling has been purchased & there’s no going back now. Not that I’d want to.

Went to the Jewelry Quarter in Birmingham to pick the ring (www.the-quarter.com). There’s over 100 jewelry shops there, and the choice was mind-boggling. I went expecting car salesman tactics and obsequious staff and was very pleasantly surprised. They are clearly used to people wandering in with no real idea of what they’re after. After changing our minds several times, the final product is a rather fabulous 9-diamond cluster on an 18ct white gold ring.

First thoughts are for a small winter wedding. Watch this space for further news.

Back to more mundane matters. In cube world, it’s all change. A major reorganisation kicks in next week. Lots of new staff and new responsibilities. So it’s the perfect time for the Finance Director and the head of the business unit to up and leave. And as for succession plans? Well, let me know if you hear any. The FD job has been advertised, but a successor isn’t likely to be in place before September.

Its euro millions lottery rollover week, so if the numbers of my office syndicate come up then there will be even more vacant posts. Just to be on the safe side though, I’ve made plans to be in work as usual on Monday.

Travel notes

Aggravating – It’s the commuter rush hour on the Valleys line into Cardiff. I usually catch the 8:15 train from Abercynon. It’s usually 4 carriages long and is completely full by the time it gets to Cardiff.

So on Tuesday, they (I can’t call them managers because they don’t) decide to run a 2-carriage train. Its standing room only from Abercynon and by Cardiff it’s like a tin of sardines. Great planning Arriva Trains Wales. It costs them money too, since the guard can’t get through the train to sell tickets, large numbers get a free ride.

Rugby notes

Lashing rain & a muddy field meant that points were hard to come by against Glamorgan Wanderers last Saturday & the only winners were the people getting paid to wash the kit – and they had to earn their corn this week. The two teams in brown drew 5 each. Very disappointing since Ebbw are definitely on the up and must have fancied this game.

It wasn’t for lack of effort though. The withdrawal of makeshift out-half Jon Hawker during the warm-up followed quickly by a nasty injury to scrum-half Alan Lake (dislocated shoulder – out for the season) meant that a radical reshuffle. That said it was always going to be a battle of the forwards, and Wanderers’ pack, including a couple of Blues “ringers”, were a real test. The pack fronted up (© Mike Ruddock, OBE) well but at the end was out on its collective feet after three games in eight days.

They’ll get a rest now, since there’s no game this week. It’s the Principality or Konica or something else cup this week, and having lost a close one to Aberavon in the last round, we’re watching from the sidelines.

Next game is on 8 April, a home one for me since its Ebbw Vale at Pontypridd. I suspect I might get a bit of stick off the boys on this one, wondering who I will be supporting.

TV notes

The Apprentice – Jo the nutter has finally gone. The show will be a weaker for her departure, but she was a complete liability in everything that she did. I predict a future for Jo as an all-England gurning champion.

As you read here last week, Syed teetered on the brink. “Would I buy a second car from you? No!” says Sir Alan. Got to be favourite to be gone next. If it’s the girls it’ll be Sharon, the Scottish lecturer with no leadership skills whatsoever.

Running notes

Hour went forward last weekend and the evenings are light. But it has lashed with rain all week, and I’m not yet sufficiently into a routine to go out in all weathers. One 5k in Bute Park is all I have to show for this week. Tentative plans call for a summer 10k before the usual Swansea 10k in the autumn.

Squirrel notes

Amazingly, the industrial strength, metal peanut feeder has lasted well thus far. Famous last words, I know.

Ebbw wins!

Happy tenth anniversary to our Brother and Heather over the pond in Shrewsbury, MA.

And Helen, good luck with the new house. Hope you have some great times there.

Spent the weekend in west Wales. Even though it’s called the Cwmwennol Country House Hotel, it’s not much more than a big B&B. Perfectly adequate as a base for Saundersfoot and Tenby though.

Saturday afternoon on Saundersfoot beach the challenge was to stay upright in the face of a howling gale. The sand dunes were piling up in the High Street – you start to realise how Egyptian temples can be lost for thousands of years when you see sand dunes up against parked cars.

The chip shop on the front was the perfect place to revive ourselves. Milky coffee and chips all round.

Despite living in Wales for all of my 40+ years, Sunday was my first visit to Tenby. What a pretty place. Helped by a cloudless sky and winds a bit less brutal than the previous day.

Went to a funeral on Tuesday. Huge turn-out: the people of Merthyr really are the salt of the earth. Everyone adjourned to the upstairs function room of Aberfan Constitutional Club where chicken legs, sandwiches and sausage rolls were laid on, all washed down with a few lagers. Mid afternoon there was a disco. Honest.

Travel notes

Enjoyable – The Metro has been launched this month as a freebie paper in the Cardiff area. Nice to see it being handed out at Pontypridd station this morning. Clearly Ponty is part of the metropolis after all.

Rugby notes

After an encouraging performance at Bedwas last Friday, Ebbw Vale finally came good on Tuesday night with an excellent win over Aberavon. Some key players coming back into the side after long absences – Andrew Bevan showed up well, Chunky seems to be back to his form of old, Jon Hawker had a great game at outside half, and the whole pack performed well – especially in the line out.

After a drought of rugby, it’s a torrent now. Another big game this Saturday when fellow basement dwellers Glamorgan Wanderers visit. I’ll be there.

TV notes

The Apprentice – if Manny is a world class presenter then I’m Donald Trump. Doesn’t Jo get it – she’s in the boardroom despite putting in her best showing to date. It’s a matter of time for her and Syed.

Running notes

Now that the evenings are getting lighter, it’s possible to get out running after work instead of lunchtime. Good run yesterday with C around the Common. Will have to get back into the running habit.

Squirrel notes

Another squirrel-proof bird feeder bit the dust this week. I didn’t realise that plastic was a staple of the grey squirrel’s diet. Moved on to metal feeders now. It’s a matter of time before the oxy-acetylene torch is out though.

Rugby season?

The saga goes on of trying to get a rugby match played at Eugene Cross Park (home of my beloved Ebbw Vale RFC). Last home game – 14 January, a full two months ago. The club treasurer must be crying in his beer at the lack of income through the turnstile and over the bar.

In the last two weekends, the home game with Aberavon was snowed off and then Pontypridd cried off with just two days notice, citing international call-ups to the various international games going on.

There are just 7 weekends left in the rugby season, and we have 10 games left to play. There’s a blank weekend in that lot too – the cup still gets priority and as a result our 1 April game with Llandovery has been postponed. Looks like the season will run into June at this rate.

Travel note of the week

Enjoyable I – Beautiful drive through mid-Wales up to Llangoed Hall on the weekend. It snowed heavily on Saturday night/Sunday morning, and the views around Storey Arms were spectacular.

Enjoyable II – Seeing ducks take to flight as they flee from Marvin. A wonderful sight. The ducks, not Marvin. He’s on a lead at Llangorse Lake but the barking is aggravating the birds all over Powys.

Aggravating – When I go up to London (thankfully not that often) I tend to stay at a Travel Inn near Kings Cross. Its modern, spacious, reasonably priced, but most importantly, its quiet. A bolthole away from the madness out on the streets. This time I got a room directly overlooking said madness. Asked for a move & then ended up next to what seemed to be the extractor fan for the whole hotel. So much for peace and quiet.

Rugby note of the week

The international weekend didn’t really surprise – Italy were robbed of a win over Ireland earlier and Wales were there to be taken. A poor Italian out-half saved Wales’ bacon. Was cheered by France’s demolition of England though.

TV notes

Top shows in the VJ household right now – House on five and The West Wing on More 4. Top well-written dramas with characters that aren’t all super-heroes. Honourable mention to The Apprentice: OK, so Alan Sugar isn’t Donald Trump, but it’s enjoyable nevertheless. But if that bunch of whack-jobs is the future of British industry, heaven help us all.

Movie notes

OK, I know it’s easy to be wise after the event (in this case the Oscars), but the best movies I’ve seen in recent months were Crash, Brokeback Mountain and Walk The Line. Crash was a good thought-provoking film. As a ensemble piece no characters really stood out, but I can’t argue with its Best Movie award. If Reese Witherspoon wins an award for Walk The Line, then Joachin Phoenix should have got two. He's in almost every scene in the movie and acts everyone else off the screen.

Went to see Syriana last night. Top movie, although I’m not entirely sure I understood what everyone was up to. Let me summarise: USA oil people and CIA bad, Arab infighting, Clooney podgy, Damon nerdy, don’t use the pliers in the bathroom.

Guernica

Rob and Amanda, good luck for a wonderful life together. You deserve it.

Happy 40th birthday, Big D. As for me, I put that one astern a few years ago.

The major event of the past week was a long weekend in Madrid, which got off to a spectacularly bad start. We were mugged.

Travelling on the Metro from the airport to the hotel we must have stood out as tourists, laden as we were with holdalls & rucksacks. It was a busy and rainy Saturday night, and it seemed as though every Madrilèno was on the platform. As we got on to the train, so did a very agitated and pushy guy. He proceeded to grab at me and as I bent forward to work out what he was up to, I felt a hand trying to nick my wallet from my back pocket. The first guy was a decoy. I turned and grabbed the guy behind me and as we tussled he dropped my wallet. He fled, along his accomplices – there must have been five all told in the gang including the decoy. The moment of relief at saving my wallet was short-lived; C’s handbag was opened and her purse stolen during the commotion.

All this happened in the time it takes for the Metro doors to open and close at the station. Not a great start to a holiday.

It improved though, as it had to, and high spots were visits to the Prada and especially to the Reina Sophia museum with its Picassos and Dalis. Guernica is simply stunning.

Travel note of the week

Aggravating – Sorry EasyJet, delays are one thing, but keeping everyone in the dark about them is quite another. The flight back from Madrid was scheduled for 9:25. At 9:15 there’s an announcement of a one hour delay, followed quickly by another setting the delay at “around two hours”. Now, I don’t know much about flying planes, but I do know that if the plane isn’t getting into Madrid until 11:00 or later, then they must know that it didn’t leave Bristol on schedule at 7:30, the same time that we are checking-in. Why isn’t it possible to tell everyone when they check-in that there is going to be a delay? Why the big secret?

Bristol Airport has to cop some grief too. Apparently we "took them by surprise" when we landed. We had to wait 10 minutes for steps so that we could get off, and for another 20 minutes before the bags were unloaded. This when there was not another plane in the place. Still, the roads are nice and quiet and 3am.

Rugby note of the week

9 weeks left of the rugby season, and Ebbw Vale have 10 games left. A couple of rearrangements have been fitted in, with the ill-fated Maesteg home game yet to be re-scheduled. Check the fixtures on the official website - a link is on the right. Its still up to the players and coaches to turn this thing around. Leaving aside all the politics of relegation criteria, just winning a fistful of key games is going to be everything through March and April, starting with Aberavon on Saturday.

How many do we have to win to stay up? Who knows, but Bedwas, Pontypool, Llandovery and Glamorgan Wanderers are all beatable. Graham’s website has all the info. (http://www.ebbw-vale.co.uk/)

Squirrel notes

Quiet in the garden with a soft layer of snow blanketing chez VJ. Our garden looks as nice as everyone else’s when they’re all covered in snow.

English Nature (http://www.english-nature.co.uk/) has stacks of useful advice on nature-friendly gardening. Me though, I just put out the birdseed, shoo the squirrels and follow instructions from C.