Deaf

Taf and I went to see the All Blacks play Wales at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. We decide to catch a train. When we got to the station, all the trains were cancelled due to flooding. So we decided to drive. We also picked up a couple of lads dressed in red and took took them too. It cost the equivalent of $15 to get across the Severn Bridge - wowzer! Then the lads told us a day return ticket on the train would be about $150NZ each (it's only about 50 miles away).
Cardiff totally rocks. It was an absolute sea of red. The stadium is huge. There were 72,000 people there (which is almost 2% of the population of NZ). The stadium has a roof and I nearly went deaf when Wales scored their try. Feisty, the Welsh. Of course, Taf is Welsh and he was full of emotion when they sang their National anthem. We were totally gobsmacked that there was no haka. It really spoilt the match. Having said that, I have never seen the ABs play better.
After the match we went down to the harbour for a feed. A lot of series 1 of Dr Who was filmed there. Also it is where Torchwood is filmed. For those poor people who live in NZ and don't get Torchwood on TV, it is a Dr Who spin off. It is on at 10pm as it definitely has adult content and is by no means suitable for children. Hopefully you will get it in NZ soon. And if you haven't had it yet, series 2 of Dr Who is awesome too. David Tennant is fabulous and the end of the series was a real tearjerker. I just got the DVD box set in a cyberman head box. VERY cool.

Don't mention the Ashes..

..just don't

Chester

I met my sister-in-law today in Chester for a spot of shopping. She is great company. We spent 2 hours in Marks and Spencers without getting bored. We also fitted in 2 coffee breaks, lunch and half a pint of lager. I've got my winter wardrobe sorted. (S-i-l was a bit ashamed of what I was wearing even though it was designer wear from Aussie! Apparently you can't wear light green in autumn in England, especially not with trainers).
Anyway, Chester is BEAUTIFUL. It has a lot of tudor buldings which are beautifully preserved. It has a million shops and they are all lovely. The architecture is magnificent. By the time we left, the Christmas lights were on - pretty. Of course, I forgot my camera, so here is someone elses picture.

Bath

Tafs and I went to Bath on Sunday. It is a beautiful city. You half expect to see ladies in long dresses and men in top hats strolling around. They have put up very elegant Christmas decorations in the street. Even the normal chainstores look olde worlde. On top of all that, the autumn colours are spectacular. One building was covered in bright red ivy. (of course I didn't take my camera). We had a lovely wander round. Almost made us glad to be back.

By the way, my Pa had to have 4 screws put into his elbow. He has the world's largest plaster cast at the moment. Still he seems to cope (under the watchful eye of my mother).

Poor Daddy - update

I went and saw the olds at the weekend. Dad is looking a lot better, but still couldn't do much with his left arm. Bit of a problem, him being a south-paw. Mum is having to be his left-hand woman. She's doing a sterling job.
They went to hospital for a check up yesterday. The outcome is that Dad has to have an operation to pin his elbow. The doctor said he should have had it done the day after his accident. Bloody national health, leaving a 67 year old man to suffer agony for nearly 3 weeks.
Mind you, my brother broke his elbow about 25 years ago and was treated at the same hospital. They decided it wasn't broken (after waggling the arm up and down to see if he had any movement). They sent him home to spend the night in agony. Next day when Mum marched him back up there, they decided it was broken and needed to be pinned. He now bears the worst scar I've ever seen.
So please can I have your good vibes again, this time for my Pa?

41

I was 41 on Halloween. I had such a lovely day. I had heaps of emails and texts and phone calls. It is lovely that so many people remembered. I also had a couple of voicemail renditions of "Happy Birthday to you". At least Wanda did it in tune!! I also had a homemade card from some dear friends with a poem written especially for me. It was so beautiful, but I didn't cry.
Taf and I went out for a Mexican meal in the evening. It was such fun, that I'm going to do it all again next year.

There'll be bluebirds..

..over the white cliffs of Dover. We went on a trip to France on Staurday. Mainly to buy booze which is half price over there. I did manage to ask for a shopping bag in perfect French (must have been perfect, she gave me a shopping bag).

We went on a coach with people from Taf's work. They were drunk and loud, but good fun.
We stayed overnight in a grand old hotel in Folkestone. I'd forgotten how much old stuff there is in the UK.
I also bought choc and Winnie-the-Pooh shaped pasta.