I am absolutely knackered

An extremely hard week at work with no prospect of tomorrow being any better. 3 meetings with Senior Management and two of them won't be pleasant to attend as I have to goad them into some action and they will dig their heels in and resist fiercely. SOmetimes it is a dog's life eh? At the worst meeting I have a Senior colleague who will be there pushing for the same outcome so that may help.
Got home at 7:40pm tonight after a full day and a 170 miles drive. SHould leave by 7:00am tomorrow - but not sure I can do it as I am just worn out. Worse still I will have to work either Saturday or Sunday to complete 2 monthly reports - and I so need the 2 days to recharge my batteries.
Believe me when I say I am buying a Euromillions ticket tomorrow night

This was put on display by police in Sweden. The motorcyclist died as did the car driver and passenger.

The Honda rider was traveling at such a "very high speed", his reaction time was not sufficient enough to avoid this accident. Swedish Police estimate a speed of ~250 KM/h (155mph) before the bike hit the slow moving car side-on at an intersection. At that speed, they predicted that the rider's reaction time (once the vehicle came into view) wasn't sufficient enough for him to even apply the brakes. The car had two passengers and the bike rider was found INSIDE the car with them. The Volkswagen actually flipped over from the force of impact and landed 10 feet from where the collision took place.

All three involved (two in car and rider) were killed instantly. This graphic demonstration was placed at the Stockholm Motorcycle Fair by the Swedish Police and Road Safety Department. The sign above the display also noted that the rider had only recently obtained his license. At 250 KM (155 mph) the operator is traveling at 227 feet per second. With normal reaction time to SEE-DECIDE-REACT of 1.6 seconds the above operator would have traveled over 363 feet while making a decision on what actions to take. In this incident the Swedish police indicate that no actions were taken.

Several cannibals were recently hired by a big corporation.
"You are all part of our team now",
said the HR rep during the welcoming briefing.

"You get all the usual benefits and you can go to the
cafeteria for something to eat, but please don't eat
any of the other employees." The cannibals promised.

Four weeks later their boss remarked,
"You're all working very hard and I'm satisfied with you.
However, one of our secretaries has disappeared.
Do any of you know whathappened to her"?
The cannibals all shook their heads no.

After the boss had left, the leader of the cannibals
said to the others, "Which one of you idiots ate the secretary?"

A hand raised hesitantly, to which the leader
of the cannibals continued, "You fool!

For four weeks we've been eating Managers
and no one noticed anything,
but nooooooooo, you had to go and eat the secretary!"

Argghhhhh

It drives me mad - does Blog.co.uk know when one is feeling stressed and pressured and then magic away ones post????

Some flipping Italian, not a word of English - multiple posting of same blog entry x 6.

Grr just went on Friends and deleted her

Two doctors were in a hospital hallway one day
complaining about Nurse Nancy.
"She's incredibly mixed up," said one doctor.
"She does everything absolutely backwards.
Just last week, I told her to give a patient
2 milligrams of morphine every 10 hours,
but instead she gave him 10 milligrams every 2 hours!
He damn near died on us!"

The second doctor said, "That's nothing.
Earlier this week, I told her to give a patient
an enema every 24 hours,
but instead she tried to give him
24 enemas in one hour! The guy damn near exploded!"

Suddenly, they hear this bloodcurdling scream from down the hall.
"Oh my God!" exclaimed the first doctor.
"I just realized I told Nurse Nancy to prick Mr. Smith's boil!"

I have stopped juggling and become a mermaid. My arms were getting tired

I shouldn't be but I am. Loads of things I could/should be doing but I can't be bothered

Hate Sunday evenings - work tomorrow syndrome.

Started the day well as I was in the gym by 10:15am, came home had brekkie, did the domestic chores. Enjoyed the rugby this afternoon - Ireland 61 Pacific Islands 17.

Had my tea.

Bored.

Police are warning people to be on their guard after receiving several reports and photographs of a big cat in hills above a mid Wales village.
Dyfed-Powys Police said seven different people had reported seeing a large cat-like animal in recent weeks in the Talybont area, near Aberystwyth.

Pc Pat Jalloal of Dyfed-Powys Police in Aberystwyth said the pictures of the big cat were inconclusive.

But he said there had been a "huge jump" in reported sightings.

In Wales, big cat sightings are investigated by the Welsh Assembly Government, in the form of the wildlife management unit based at Aberystwyth.

Images received by the police look very similar to a big cat

PC Pat Jalloal

"From the police's point of view, we have had a huge jump in reported cases in the past few weeks and we want people in the area to be aware of this," said Pc Jalloal.

"Images received by the police look very similar to a big cat so we are asking people to stay vigilant."

The second half is awesome

I have been having a lovely time with my daughter. Usual stuff - drinking coffee and gossippingD

Christmas shopping for family gifts, nothing spectacular or too expensive but the things one feels the recipient would enjoy and appreciate and understand that some thought had gone into the choice

Bought her a few bits and bobs too - new bedding for her little bunk on the ship

We have seen off enormous quantities of fine wine, smoked salmon and steak

We have watched a selection of films - Patagonian, French and Mexican!

She has visited friends. She has cooked and today being a little treasure she has cleared out all my kitchen cupboards

We even got to the gym twice

Then the bad news came............

My ex - he who has not contacted me since his mother sent me all those letters etc. and he said "it is not my problem" and I put the phone down on him.

Well he phoned tonight - "got some bad news" he said "the tenant has left the flat" oh and " he took the brand new washer/dryer, the fridge, the freezer, the iron, the toaster, the microwave, the iron, the kettle, the vacuuum cleaner, the vertical blinds and the lightbulbs"

This is the tenant I told him to give notice to in July! Did he - NO.

I may blog more on this tomorrow but now I just have a couple a of hours left with my daughter and I want to enjoy being with her so will waste no more time,

See you folks

Wcg xx

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington recently was faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance
man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done! She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man.
She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.

He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.
Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.
There are teachers, and then, there are educators

Another day of wild weather here

Was up in good time to listen to the Archers - things seem to be going from bad to worse at Brookfield

I took my daughter to meet my Spanish conversation partner today and we all had coffee before she wemnt off to do some Chrsitmas shopping.
So we then got 2 hours mutual language tuition which was greatD I learned a lot again today which I could never have got at my evening class, and my friend learned lots of colloquiallisms and the strange names for many minor ailments and body parts that the British seem to have! We covered "up the duff", "lug-holes", "bonce", "guts", "the trots" and other bits and pieces that had us roaring with laughter
I loaned him some audio CDs and some software that I hope will allow him to play DVD's on his laptop so the I can lend him films.
We had another hot drink before we parted him for Tescos and my daughter and I home for the rugby.
The rugby was excellent with Ireland soundly defeating the Australians at Lansdowne Road in Dublin where the weather (if is possible) was even worse than it is here
So all in all a good day and now we have the evening before us where I suspect we may have a few glasses of wine
Tomorrow I get a lie in as I have booked the morning off as I am away overnight tomorrow and won't return until 6:30pm on Tuesday but at least I then have another 2 days leave to spend with my daughter before she goes back to her ship on Friday

The child has returned from the sea and all is wellD

Warning

Wines stocks are running down

Tomorrow we meet my Spanish friend for lunch

It may be raning outside, but we are in sunshine

Blimey I am exhausted. Met my mother around 11:00 am and we started with a pot of tea in Jury’s to warm her up as true to tradition the coach which she had been on for the last 3 hours had no working heater. Then out into the rain to the shops, we are fortunate in Cardiff that we have many covered arcades of shops as wells as 3 shopping malls, so we only got a bit damp going between them. Well we visited some Sports shops looking for some cycling clothes for my dad (aged 74) who has new racing bike! Then it was into Boots – boy isn’t that an expensive shop these days – 2 toothbrush heads £24.99 – daylight robbery and various other non luxury bits and bobs. Into BHS in search of cashmere jumper for mother “must not be V-neck, no cowl-necks, no polo-necks” Guess what – we did not find her a jumper!
Then it was M&S where there appeared to be a lot of ladies in their 50’s and 60’s fighting over the Per Una Sale Rail! The mind boggles. We left there empty handed too.
Better luck in Primark – quite a new store as it relocated a few months ago, cheap and cheerful and we did manage a few purchases in there.
By now my mother was severely in need of lunch so off we went to an Italian. The food was great and the waiters all highly entertaining and friendly (Topo Gigio, Church Street).
Left there about 2pm and headed into Waterstones where I chose (mother paid) 3 children’s books – no I am not going soft in the head – they are all in Spanish. Mother armed herself with a paperback for the coming boredom of Christmas.
From there into the market to buy some fish for my father – Arbroath Smokies – which I insisted were doubled wrapped as there are other people on that coach back to West Wales you know. Sadly it would seem the specialist cheese stall has disappeared and there was no Gorgonzola to be found. From there into a posh Department store where we gazed longingly at the very expensive shoes and handbags and had an “if I won the Lotto” moment.
From there to Debenhams – it was heaving so did not stop there, instead headed out through the rain to seek comfort in the Thistle Hotel, got mother seated comfortably in a nice easy chair and wet to Reception to order coffee for two. We could still be there – waiting – after 25 minutes we did just that – left – without a drop of coffee between us – no service to be had there – you have been warned. Only one thing to do in the circumstances –

Go to the Hilton. The service was fantastic, the bar comfortable, brightly painted and nicely lit – lovely ambience. We had hot chocolates and muffins.

From there it was about 400 yards across very busy rush hour roads to the coach stop. The coach was to leave at 16:45pm sharp. I got my mum seated and her shopping sorted and collected my parcels which I had arranged to be delivered to her house (I am never here in the daytime). I bid her goodbye and told her to call me when she got home. I then walked the mile to my car, the rain lashing down for the last 100 yards of my walk.
Into the multi-storey and up to the machine to pay for my parking - just under 6 hours. The cost? £12.70 Bloody staggering. Next time I will park in a suburb and taxi in and out of the city centre for around half of that cost.

Got home just in time to hear the phone ringing, rushed in and picked it up – it was my mother – the coach hasn’t left yet (17:45). Apparently 2 people had got lost and not turned up. They had rung a relative back in West Wales to relay this information to the coach company and onto the driver. They finally turned up at 18:15pm with no apology – apparently they had been about 800 yards away but had no wit to ask for directions! The coach pick-up was alongside Cardiff Castle – an enormous structure tight in the middle of the city – how could they not find it!

So there you go folks – my day so far…….

Subject: Old but not so cold ...

Two old men feeling they are close to their last days on earth
Decided to have a last night on the town. After a few drinks they
end up at the local brothel.
The madam takes one look at the two old geezers and whispers to her
manager, "Go up to the first two rooms and put an inflated doll in
each bed. I'm not wasting two of my girls on them.
These two are so old and drunk they won't know the difference."
The two men go up the stairs and take care of their business.
As they are walking home the first one says, "You know, I think my
girl was dead!"
"Dead?" says his friend, "why would you think that?" "Well, she never
moved or made a sound all the time I was loving her."His friend says, "I think mine was a witch."
"A WITCH!!! Why the hell would you say that?"
"Well, I was making love to her, kissing on her neck and I gave her a
little bite, then she farted and flew out the window!!

It is a wild, wet and windy night here in South Wales. Crossing the Severn Bridge (2nd crossing) was not a lot of fun earlier as I felt the wind battering the car and I was wrestling with the steering wheel

TOmorrow I have the afternoon offD My mother is coming to Cardiff and I have to accompany her around the shops It will be a long and difficult afternoon as she does not walk far and has no plan of attack, list of things to buy etc. So lots of aimless meandering

But Friday will be good as my daughter is home on leave for a few days and I am so looking forward to it - even though the wine stocks will be quickly depleted and the vodka will go the same way

Normally on a Tuesday evening I would find myself dragging my feet up 4 flights of stairs at the local comprehensive school with little enthusiasm for my Spanish evening class. I am really keen to learn Spanish but my teacher is just dreadful and lazy to boot.

So towards the end of last week I was surfing Spanish language holiday sites (some courtesy of Isadora – thank you!) when I got the idea that what I really need is someone to speak Spanish with.

So I googled my request. To my amazement I found someone advertising “my Spanish for your English” With a little trepidation I fired off an email in the best Spanish I could muster and sat back waiting for a reply. I did not have to wait for long. The next day a nice email came back in very good English. We emailed each other 2 or 3 times and finally decided to meet today at 4:30 for coffee and a chat.

Well I had no need to worry at all. My new friend is an intelligent, young professional who lives about 12 miles from me. He was interesting, charming, patient and very easy to get on with. Oddly enough we discovered that we had both been in the same place a few weeks ago watching the same film (it was a one off showing). We have similar tastes in music, both dislike TV and both love red wine. So although he is young enough to be my son we think we have enough in common to share time and experiences as “language buddies”. He is going to teach me Spanish in return for me teaching him a technical vocabulary (he is in a medical related field) and everyday sayings and colloquialisms. He is also interested in Welsh culture – even after I explained it is generally drinking, rugby and gossip! I am going to try and get us tickets for an International Rugby match at the Millennium Stadium in the new year (haven’t told him this). It will be nice to plan things for our time together which will help him pursue his career with more confidence. We are also going to be lending each other DVDs each time we meet so I will get loads of films in Spanish and he will get loads in English. I am also going to hunt through my Audio Cds to see if there is anything there that might appeal to him as he emphasizes his need to listen to English spoken in different regional accents.

Any suggestions you guys have for educating my language buddy are most welcome.

Hasta luego

Wcg xx

I have not blogged since Monday. Well this is not strictly true - I did write a long piece on Tuesday whilst under pressure to have my tea and get to Spanish class - I pressed "Save" and that was the last I saw of my post That hasn't happened to me for ages - so I was furious and did not have time to re-write it. So I have been blog-sulking

In a way it has been a blessing as I always think - I will just go for an hour and then stay for about 3 hours and thereby don't do any of things I should be doing.

So what have I done instead?

Emailed some friends - long overdue.
Had 2 early nights
Watched some DVD's - need to relax more after work
SPent around 6 hours studying Spanish and working through a new book I have which is quite good and is definitely better than the language teacher at the evening class

Started some online Christmas shopping - I love Amazon, efficient, cheap and free postage tooD

Back later to catch up with everyone, maybe we will get some feedback on the Blogmeet?

BTW - I am copying this BEFORE I press "Save"

What a dreary day Crawling through heavy traffic and thick fog this morning I heard a meterological liar "Fog will clear and it will be a lovely sunny day in South Wales" Let me tell you the fog persisted all day in Cardiff and it is still out there now - I just checked!
All morning I kept expecting it to lift and the sun to peep through - I feel quite let down

A Swiss man is looking for directions, and he pulls up at a bus stop where two Americans are waiting.

"Entschuldigung, konnen Sie Deutsch sprechen?" he asks. The two Americans just stare at him.

"Excusez-moi, parlez vous Francais?" he tries. They continue to stare.

"Praat julle Afrikaans?" The Americans just look at each other.

"Parlare Italiano?" No response.

"Hablan ustedes Espanol?" Still nothing.

Disgusted, the Swiss guy drives off.

One American guy turns to other and says, "Y'know, maybe we should learn a foreign language."

"Why?" says the other. "That guy knew five languages and it didn't do him no good either."

Another beautiful sunny day. I was up early and pottering about until "The Archers" at 10:00am then I sat down and had my breakfast and my customary 2 cups of tea whilst listening in. Throughout I had the back door open and sat at a little table in my kitchen with the warm sunshine flooding in.

As soon as the Archers finished I decided I would go down to the beach for a walk , smell the sea air and listen to the waves. So peacful.
Now I am no photographer but her are some piccies I took this morningD

Knap Beach, Barry

Just had a cull of non-posters. When you go to "Friends" now it lists them in order of when they were last online making it easier to see who had disappeared from view. I just took out 8 of mine - even when they were here they posted little and commented less. Highly unlikely they will ever return. Apparently the average life online of a Blogger is 4 months - I have been here for 13 months now

A council is to remove new road signs that tell drivers they cannot leave a roundabout in Coventry.
New traffic lights on the roundabout on the A444 have No Left Turn signs to stop drivers exiting onto entry roads.

But the same signs were also put up at the correct exits meaning that once drivers were on the roundabout they could only leave by breaking the law.

Coventry City Council said it was covering the signs in the short-term before their permanent removal.

A council spokesman said the signs had been installed together with traffic lights as part of a road safety scheme that is not yet complete.

"The current advice on the installation of traffic signals at roundabouts does suggest that where the entry and exits are separate that No Left Turn signs are installed to advise drivers not to drive down the entry arm of the roundabout, however the advice is not always relevant.

"In response to the concerns that have been raised, the city council is proposing to cover the signs in the short term and eventually remove them."

What a glorious day it is, makes you glad to be alive

Had a relaxed breakfast with the back door open and the sun streaming in - was wearing my winter dressing gown mind you

Two cups of tea and then I settled into doing a job I have put off all week. A positively huge pile of paperwork which included every scrap of paper from buting the house to selling it last week, every utility bill, every receipt for every item in the house and a massive pile of solicitor's correspondence and stuff from the building society. All sorted now into groups and put in one folder and safely archived away - took about 90 minutes.

Feeeling smug I then got dressed and opened all the windows in the house. Now my window-cleaner disappeared - not seen since mid July so the windows did not sparkle and shine any more They do now though becuase I have cleaned all the downstairs ones inside and out!

That earned me aniother well deserved cuppaD

Lots of Rugby on this weekend - Wales v Australia this afternoon at 2:30pm so all I have to do now is decide whether I am going to the gym before or after the game?

Oh weightloss - bit disappointed as I have stayed the same for the last 2 weeks - nothing gained nothing lost. Bit mystified really because I am eating the same food and I am never out of that gym
Still I will keep it up the weigh will go eventually -