A busy month

Good to read about everybody's comings and goings!

We've been keeping busy over this side of the world too. I can't believe that it's been more than a month since Mum went home, and I've had over two months of being forty. The week after we waved goodbye to Mum, Bruce spent a week in a tent. No, we didn't have a barney; he was working at the Green Man Festival making solar cells, batteries and woollen molecules. In the end, the molecules were made out of pom-poms rather than crocheted (but thanks for the prototypes, Mum!).

Bruce making a water molecule

The weekend after that, we enjoyed a very Welsh weekend - beer, bogs and Brecon. We spent Saturday evening tasting local ales at the inaugural Cardiff Brewfest.

Cardiff Brewfest

Then on Sunday morning we headed into the Brecon Beacons to watch some of the International Bog Snorkelling Championships.

Bog snorkelling championships

After a picnic lunch (in the car because it was starting to rain..) we headed across the hills (through Ministry of Defence land, around a rally and along some very winding single-track roads) to the Llandrindod Wells Steampunk Weekend. Apparently they'd had a whole "Victorian Week" (the era, not the place) and this was the final weekend. It was disappointing - no activities, only a couple of people in costume, and the heavens about to open. So instead of staying around for a few hours (for the music and fireworks), we drove back towards home and watched the latest Mission Impossible movie instead. :-)

The next week was fairly non-eventful, I took some leave and did nothing (ahh... doing nothing.. although I feel a bit guilty for not sorting out the photos from mum's trip..). B had to work as normal.
The weekend of 11-14 September our friends, Vicki & Steven, visited us in Cardiff. I collected them from Bristol airport on Friday afternoon and we had a lovely evening in playing Killer Bunnies.

Killer Bunnies game in progress

We had a relaxed start on Saturday - brunch and a few games of Forbidden Island (the game that Glenn introduced us to when we last visited). Vicki and Steven's visit was well-timed - it was the Millennium Centre's 10th birthday celebration, so we headed to the Bay for Ar Waith At Daith - A journey of Welsh myth and magic. The outside performance told the story of The Birth of Taliesin using puppets, storytelling, music, projection and pyrotechnics.

Ar Waith Ar Daith at Cardiff Bay

We explored Waterfall Country on Sunday. We packed a picnic, drove into the Brecon Beacons to the Waterfall Centre. We decided to take the shortest waterfall walk, the Elidir Trail - a trail past four waterfalls with a round trip distance of 4 kms. It was beautiful weather.. right up until we'd finished our picnic back at the car! Score!

Waterfalls on the Elidir Trail

Before Vicki and Stephen headed home on Monday, we popped over to Weston-Super-Mare to experience Dismaland - the depressing arty exhibit curated by Banksy. I'm hoping to get my photos sorted soonish so you can see more of the exhibition. It was such a busy (and fun) weekend!

Stephen & Vicki outside Dismaland

After another week of work, we drove up to visit B's folks - we were going to visit Grandad in the care-home but a number of the residents were ill, so no visitors were allowed. We still had a good visit with John and Gwen, so it wasn't all a waste.

As a belated birthday get-together, Vicki, Steven, Bruce and I travelled to the Black Forest in Germany last weekend to catch up with Angelika and James. Vicki, Angelika, James and I worked at Manchester University together seven years ago. James and Angelika moved to Waldkirch a few months ago, and with two small kids it seemed sensible that the rest of us would visit them.

We were only there for a long weekend, but still managed to pack a lot in. All of the things you'd expect from the Black Forest - beer, hiking, and Black Forest cake. In Waldkirch we ate home-made spatzel (a type of pasta), read books to the kiddies, went hiking on Kandel, drank champagne (for my belated birthday), and explored the lovely little town.

Waldkirch

We spent a day in Freiburg, wandering around the market and the Minster.

Freiburg

And on our final day in Germany, we went to the tourist-town of Triberg - cuckoo clocks, the highest waterfall in Germany, and tasty Black Forest cake. Yummo!

Triberg

What a great weekend!
So that catches me up.. Sorry for taking so long to get there!
Who next?

Yay for Bruce

Today B had an interview for his (next) job at Swansea University (how it came to this is a long story..) and I'm very happy to say that he got it! His post will continue until September, at which time there should be an extension for a year or two!

Needless to say, we're out celebrating with a tasty meal! We're also going to see the Woman in Black at the theatre (edit: Not as scary as i was expecting.. Apparently you have to be down in the stalls for the full effect, we were above that in the circle).

Hope everyone is happy!

Happy Birthday Bruce

Or: My belly-dancing debut


Once again it's been a long spell between posts. Since Mum's New Year wishes we've been keeping busy.

We've had a holiday in Germany (Frankfurt and Darmstadt to be precise) including setting off some fireworks for Silvester (New Year). Ooh eer (it's not illegal in Germany but I was scared by some of the antics we saw in the street!). Technically, we were on holiday before Mum's post but I didn't think anyone would be too picky. :)


I've travelled the country for a multitude of job interviews. I am extremely happy that one of them came through for me - even if finishing and moving is kinda stressful right now.

And then last weekend we celebrated Bruce's birthday (3rd February - just for the record). He'd booked a table at Zorbas Dance - a local restaurant that sounded a bit strange. Every Friday and Saturday  they have Party Night with a 3-course meal, belly-dancing, plate smashing and more.

Bruce and his dad picked me up from the train station. Happily this meant that I didn't have to take my backpack to the restaurant and I  didn't have to walk far in my party shoes. ;) Our waiter for the evening was fab - he started the night with "The soup is minestrone, the cheesecake is strawberry and the service is appalling." (It wasn't - although the MC was a big scary man!)

Food was tasty; I had halloumi, vege moussaka and cheesecake while Bruce had pork and mushrooms, lamb and mushrooms, and cheesecake and mushrooms (without the mushrooms).  After food the crazy began - or as the MC put it: "Action time!"

Although it was Bruce's birthday, I'm sure I spent more time doing silly things! Highlights - dancing on the table, dancing out one door and in the other, the in-house belly-dancer making Bruce join her for a wiggle (I have video!) and, of course, being a Zorba Girl.


As far as I can tell, the only requirements for being a Zorba Girl is that you're a girl and you're at the restaurant. :)  After a few 'moves' on the dance floor we were shepherded into a side room and allocated costumes. It was up to us whether we put it over our clothes or not, so Georgie and I decided to follow Bruce's philosophy: if you're going to do it, do it properly! We shimmied, we wobbled, we had a good laugh. It made me think it could be fun to find a class. And maybe next time there'll be less belly to wobble. :-)


T'was a good evening and definitely strange. I spent more time on my feet than I expected but the party shoes were surpisingly comfortable - at least until midnight. ;)

Bruce enjoyed himself, that was the main thing.


What's everyone else been up to?

*hugz* from us

Shopping and Dad

Hi all,
Dad has been driving and walking so much improvement. On Friday we went into town and he drove. We visited the Marketplace, then decided to get our printer cartridges refilled at Cartridge World. They can't be done because they have a chip that so far can't be reset. Since by then we were inGolden Square, Dad suggested a visit to Lansell Plaza. We had a coffee and two donuts as a rest stop after we'd bought some fruit and veges , NQR goodies and checked out Sams. We called to see Nana on the way home. She was very pleased to see Dad so mobile since just last Tuesday he wasn't well enough to go to Probus and he didn't make it to the funeral on Wednesday. Today we walked down the street inEaglehawk, where we met Nana and then came back here for coffee. After looking at the labels, he also bought a ticket for tonight's Lotto draw. Uncle Ron called in on Wednesday and suggested a product he uses called Alpha Lifeline. he and Mary returned on Thursday with the tin that should last a month.Dad has had two doses of that now. It's supposed to be good for digestive health.It contains colostrum. If it works we'll be getting more and may try the capsule version since Dad isn't fond of the taste. It tasted fine to me.
Glad to hear Dayna has drawn an update for the header. I look forward to seeing it.
Do any of you want to play Wordscraper on Facebook? I play with Lisa, Damien and Val at the moment.

round 4

Hi all. Dad has now finished round 4 of the chemo. He's been feeling strange so they checked his blood pressure, which was a bit low and decided to skip the metawhatever that was meant to stimulate his appetite but which had wiped out what little appetite he had. Now we wait and see for the next week. It would be good if he didn't get diahorrea, an elevated temp and become dehydrated. I guess we're more ready to treat the symptoms if they happen than we were the first round. Only one more round to go and that's not for three weeks. Don't think we'll manage Adelaide this school holidays since that final round is the last week of term and I don't want to travel if Dad is feeling unwell. We'll see how he goes. He's started grumbling about my driving again so I think he'll be back behind the wheel by next week. If only he'd start eating more. He still has at least two cans of 2cal a day to keep up his nutrition.
Dayna looking forward to hearing about your holiday in France.
Glenn and D, thank you for the photos you left on our computer. We had a voucher for 25 prints in May and we haven't taken any since the last batch of developing. I used some of yours and some of Dayna's. I'll pick them up when I get to town next.
Thinking of you all.

My dad is a pirate, what's yours?

Scars, tattooes -- our Dad is turning into a pirate! Perhaps we can get 'im a parrot for his birthday? Argh.

I've heard lots of anecdotal evidence that ground apricot kernels (in the appropriate amount) is good for healing/avoiding cancer growth. One of our friends in Melbourne has gone into remission (I almost said recession -- that's the financial climate over here!) from lymphoma. He had chemo, then super health diet (nothing processed, all fresh) including apricot kernels and mananuka honey. Actually, I'm on the mananuka in tea for a cold at the moment.

Us, we've been quiet because the only access to the Sillyweb we have is from work or on the phone -- so silly Facebook statuses have been updated from phone whilst walking home or at lunch or in a boring meeting or on the bus. Although I must confess I think it was a taste of how parents must feel when their child comes home with e.g. cybernetic implants (or a mobile phone, or a hologram for a friend) to hear that my Mum is reading about me on Facebook.

Well, it's a bit quieter at work today, so here goes. The move went well, because we were more organised and prepared this time than ever before in history. The weekend before we packed almost everything into boxes and put them into Colleen's room -- she'd already moved out. The following Saturday Chris, Andrew (Chris's girlfriend's brother) and I picked up a small van, while Dee and Tina (C's girlfriend) cleaned the new apartment.

The three men loaded the van, drove to the new place, and unloaded. It was regular as clockwork -- complete with roles: I unloaded from van to door (to keep an eye on the van); Andrew from door into elevator (he hates lifts); and Chris unloaded from elevator at the top. Two van loads and we were done by about 3pm! In fact, the only two hiccups were waiting an hour for a van (some mixup in their system) and a bookcase which was slightly too big for the elevator ... and had to be walked up (in shifts) 10 flights of stairs!!

The new apartment is smaller but with more usable space: We've got the desk in our room, the piano in the lounge, and are looking for a shelving unit to put in the kitchen. A few problems, mostly with our estate agents being "pants" about replacing broken stuff -- we've been there almost two weeks and they still haven't replaced the worn out mattresses, nor sent a sparky 'round to fix various lights and sockets. We suspect the last tenants were dodgy -- things have been thoroughly broken, then gingerly put back together to create the illusion of repair. The coffee table, for example, rested on four entirely broken legs, whilst the condition report listed it as "wobbly". The report now looks like a Grade 5 school essay in which the student didn't use spell-check -- it's covered with additions and corrections. I stopped short of giving them a C-minus on the front cover ...

So we're slowly but surely settling in. The boxes are all unpacked now, and today we had the phone-line connected (here comes broadband). Phone number, apparently (haven't tried it yet) is:

+44 207378 1204

The address for postcards is:

1004 Antonine Heights
City Walk
London
SE1 3DF

Here's a map showing the place, and where we work. Takes me probably 20-30min to walk to work:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=100294927689049556522.000463d02ac0f2411c4ae&ll=51.531387,-0.111237&spn=0.071441,0.154495&z=13

I'll get some photos up when we finally get online.

christmas is coming

Looking forward to seeing you all soon. Dad's next appointment is next Tuesday in Bendigo where we hope to find out what treatment is recommended and when. He has gained an extra kilo (73) but still has problems with some foods. Otherwise all is well and we're keeping on keeping on. Carolynn called today on her way to confirmation class. Tamara rang since she is organised enough to be buying a present for Carolynn. I'll consult with Dayna when she gets here. Maybe we can buy a joint gift. Lisa said there is a google diary with itinaries for our overseas visitors. I've asked her to send it to me. I'm just sorting what I have to buy for whom. Is it December already? I'm not ready!