Bruce Baxter is researching his family history and has written to us enquiring about Station Records for Hirwaun …
My Great Grandfather Olive Hugh Thomas was born in Hirwaun on 10th January 1855 and his father was David Thomas Station Master. His Mother was Martha Lewis who may have been born in Merthyr Tydfil on 31 [...]...
Anna’s car has decided to die on us… Perfect timing as this has already been an expensive few weeks! First we’re having some work done on the house which will cost quite a bit, we’ve bought some new household appliances too I lost around £750 worth of windsurfing kit at sea and we booked a snow-boarding holiday for the New year, Christmas is coming, my car needed a new battery and its MOT and tax is due and now Anna needs a new car!
Oh well, no choice but to head off an buy her one, so yesterday we drove around to Dyfi Yard Repairs on the other side of the River Dyfi to see if they had anything suitable. It didn’t take too long and after a quick test drive of a dinky little red Nissan Micra. It seemed fine for our needs, economical, small but perfectly...
Sorry Anna, but I couldn’t resist posting this as it makes me giggle every time I see it…. Watch out Lewis Hamilton, she’s after your job!!
F1......
We spent a nice day at Powys Castle on Friday. Probably the best National Trust property we have visited so far. There isn’t much I can say about it other than the fact that the gardens were impressive, as was the castle itself.
Here are some of the many photos:
Powys Castle
Anna
Herbaceous Border
Morgan in Vine Tunnel
Formal Gardens
Gardens
I can see your bum!......
Unusually for us we decided to conform to the norm and have a couple of days away during a Bank Holiday weekend!
We drove up to the Blue Planet in Liverpool on Friday morning. Morgan’s travel sickness seems to be coming on in leaps and bounds so it took a little longer and quite a few changes of clothes to get there than normal but it isn’t to bad a drive.
It isn’t cheapt to get into the Blue Planet but we had booked into a Premier Inn for the night and got a free child ticket with that and the prics compare to most other attractions. I have to admit that I wasn’t that impressed to start, but I did used to work in an aquarium so I guess I was expecting a little more from the tanks in such a large aquarium. The big shark tank did of course impress though and that...
As part of our couple of days away, after a day at the Blue Planet we stayed in the Premier Inn Wrexham. Although close to Wrexham it is a little way out of the town and felt nice. It was never going to be a luxury night away but it was perfect for us. Cheaper than a Youth Hostel despite having YHA membership, clean, quiet and comfortable and therefore everything we needed for a night.
The room was plenty big enough we had a bath and a shower and confortable beds and a friendly enough greeting.Of course, having a proper flush toilet is always a luxury for us!
There was a pub / restaurant next door called The Beeches which is co-owned by Premier Inn so this is where we went for our evening meal and where we were to go for breakfast in the morning. Once again we have no complaints. The...
Playing in the water at Somerford Keynes
After a busy day on Saturday, the plan for Sunday was a day by the lakeside at the Cotswold Water Park.
Thankfully the weather co-operated and we had what was probably the best day so far of the summer with temperatures at around 30ºC and glorious sunshine. A little too hot really, but we are British and therefore never completely happy about the weather!
Of course, the warm weather and the school holidays meant that it was pretty busy at Somerford keynes, but we soon found a spot and set up camp for the day. The lake itself is quite large with several different areas. We had been to one area before where you can hire canoes and such like, but today we went to the area specifically for under 8’s. It has various bits of playground equipment,...
One of the things that is always missed in talking about the Hurricane Katrina debacle is the fact that for many of the people who live in hurricane-prone areas, these storms are, in fact, lots of fun. Take a look at this video of preparations for Hurricane Dolly near where most of my extended family lives and you'll see that people from the Gulf Coast of Texas respond to deadly storms by jumping into the ocean. I have never felt so much regional pride (a). My cousin, Josh, is in their midst. You can see him in his shirtless glory at 00:45 in the video. Is he panicking? Is he fleeing? No, he's surfing."Intense," he says. "That's the one word I got for it. You're out there, it's like a washing machine."On a side note, I hate Josh. Look at him. Strapping young fella. Bastard. Why didn't I...
Coastal Gardening
All gardens have a unique set of parameters that will determine whether or not a particular plant will thrive, merely survive or perish. Most of these, such as the amount of sunlight, soil type and drainage are fairly obvious and well documented. Other equally important parameters include the amount of time, energy and money you have to spend on your plot.
Living our ‘Simple Life of Luxury‘ here on the west Wales coast means we are affected by all of these parameters. Whilst I don’t want to sound hard done by (as I wouldn’t change it for the world) we do seem to experience some extremes that make gardening here very challenging.
Over the next few weeks I shall be publishing articles here looking inn a little more detail at some of the issues...
31 years ago today two 17 year-olds got together in a school dance.
They couldn’t have guessed then that 31 years later they would still be together.
And looking back on 31 years of happiness.
[Us on a bus - Barcelona, last......
It was our wedding anniversary on Thursday so although we felt a little guilty about it we sent Morgan off to nursery as usual and had a day out together.
Typically I had come down with the dreaded lurgy the night before so wasn’t feeling great and the weather didn’t look too good to start with either. First we drove to Aberaeron but as it was pouring with rain decided to continue down the coast towards New Quay. We stopped off at a little garden centre in Llanart and had a wander round then dodged the showers in New Quay before heading off to the nearby Honey Farm for some lunch.
We hadn’t been to the honey farm before and although small it was a pleasant place to stop. We had a cream tea here and a little look around. They have a nice little picnic area, a tea room, an...
We’ve just got back from a nice weekend away visiting family in the South West. We went this weekend as there was a windsurf demo day at Axbridge Reservoir. Although this isn’t the sort of place I would normally windsurf my brother moors his boat there so we though it would be nice to meet him there and play on his boat too.
As it happens there was very little wind. There was just enough for jays boat though so after he had a quick sail in it I jumped in with Morgan and went for a little sail too. I hadn’t been in a sailing boat for years and even then had only sailed one once or twice, but I soon worked it all out and did manage to sail out, backwards and forwards a few times and then sail back to where I started from all without getting me or Morgan wet!
We then sat in...
My father was taken in to hospital this evening. He’s 86 and very frail. He’s a diabetic but in the last couple of years the danger has been going hypo rather than hyper (ie his blood sugar level has gone too low). But suddenly his blood sugar level has shot up to a dangerous level so he had to be admitted to hospital. He seems reasonably well in himself so hopefully it won’t be too long before he’s home again.
And on a slightly different note, I have to take the dog to the vet tomorrow to have a growth removed from a very delicate (and private) area. He’ll need to have a general anaesthetic so I’ll have a very groggy dog to deal with tomorrow with a sore private......
Yesterday evening we went to an Exhibition of GCSE and A Level Art and Textiles at Siân’s school. Siân had work exhibited in the art and textiles section.
(Click a photo to see the details.)
She’s a very talented artist and the dress she designed and made is stunning.
Needless to say we were very proud......
We have recently been having a clear out and plan to finally get around to sorting out Morgan’s bedroom. He’s getting too big for his toddler bed and needs some proper storage where he can put all of his toys, and believe me there are lots that need a proper home.
I have been a member of the Aberystwyth Freecycle Group for about a year now and have done some good transactions through this group in both directions. It has been really useful as a way of getting rid of bits and pieceswe no longer use without just throwing things away. It works both ways though and I keep an eye on the offered ads to see if there is anything we need. The good items do get snapped up quickly but we’ve had a couple of pairs of sandals for Morgan, some left over pull-up nappies which is always useful...
It was Sol’s(climbing in the adjacent photo) birthday at the weekend and Morgan was invited to his party at the climbing wall in Aberystwyth. We had never been to it before and although fairly small (I’d call it a bouldering wall) it was nice in there and Morgan seemed to enjoy it.
Morgan never really got very high and didn’t have a go on the rope with the harness, but we’ll probably take him back soon as it was good fun and is a good way to burn off some of his energy! I had a little climb too and having not climbed for several years it was a bit of a work-out for me as well!
Anna of course didn’t have a go but sat there with the other mums having a natter and did a terrible job with the photography!! At least she took some photos I guess which is more than...
We got an energy monitor earlier this week and it has made fairly interesting reading. We’ve never been frivolous with our energy usage and do generally switch off lights when they aren’t in use (although I’m better at that than Anna), and don’t leave the TV on standby etc. but having the monitor has made us that extra bit careful.
We thought we probably use a fair bit of electricity simply because ‘living at the end of the line’ means we don’t have gas so all of our cooking and heating comes from electricity. In addition my work as a freeelance web designer means I work from home so as well as having a computer, two monitors and various hard drives etc. running all day long I’m also making cups of coffee all the time and generally using...
I thought I’d give my Dad (who is something of a master carpenter) something to inspect, and no doubt laugh at, next time he visits us in Wales. So, yesterday afternoon was spent building a pergola in the garden.
We had plenty of wood left over from the construction of our timber deck so out came the tools and with no real plan I started chopping it up and fixing it together. It actually went fairly well and although it looks a little out of place at the moment once I’ve built another flower border on the other side of it and have some climbing plants on it it should be a nice garden feature and effectively divide the garden into two.
I’m sure I’ve built it wrong, no doubt it isn’t perfectly square and I’ve used the wrong joints, but it was supposed to...
Oh what a day. I've never liked shoe shopping, not even for myself and I simply can't understand why so many women (in particular) do. Anyway, where am I going with this?Well it quickly became very apparent today that DDWT Junior is certainly following in his dad's footsteps (no pun intended) with his immense dislike for shoe shopping as well! Trouble was, it was for him we were doing the shopping.To make matters worse, we needed shoes and trainers for him - so we were going to have our work cut out. I won't bore you with the details of a marathon 4 hour shoe shopping session - where tempers flared on several occasions, but we got there in the end.My pockets are nigh on £55 lighter (for size 11 children's shoes!) but at least we got the job done and the little fella is happy with...
My parents were here for the weekend. On Friday afternoon they took Morgan up constitution hill and then on Saturday we had a family day out in Aberdovey. It always seems silly to drive for such a long time only to end up about a mile away from home, but it is a different world over the other side of the estuary and it allowed us to go crab fishing (or ‘cabbing’ as Morgan calls it).
I think my Mum and Dad were surprised at just how many crabs we caught, but it was all good fun and Morgan enjoyed it so we shall be back there soon for another go. We popped in for lunch whilst there and played on the beach for bit before having the obligatory ice-cream and heading home.
It may only be just across the water and we may be able to see our house from the beach at Aberdovey, but it...
It's not been the best of days really. Our Zanussi FL1082 washing machine started leaking big style this morning and some baby items got damaged in the process.Now you're probably wondering what the connection is there, well I'll tell you. Mrs DDWT - currently in the midst of baby 'nesting' mode - decided to 'spring clean' some baby items in the washing machine. However, whilst the wash was in progress the said baby items got jammed in the seal between the washing machine drum and door - cue a 'burnt' seal and damaged baby items. The end result was a leaky washing machine. Grrrrr.With tempers flaring - "what the hell did you want to wash x in the washing machine for?" - I decided to take solace in the Yellow Pages and find a local Zanussi repair centre. Fortunately, there was one in...
A ‘Green Weekend’ of Crafts Events at Fedw Hir Eco Centre, Llwydcoed proved a big hit with the whole family.
A range of craft activitives and displays were on show to suit all ages and interests from stick making, pottery making, wood carving, hedge laying, dry stone walling, willow weaving, and wooden toy making.
And if you [...]...
In
Entertainment,
Events,
leisure,
craft,
sculpture,
Hirwaun Gardening Society,
dai edwards,
fedw hir,
green dayz,
groundwork trust,
lisa krigel,
sculptor,
woodworking,
Environment,
Family
A Weekend of Green Crafts Events at Fedw Hir Eco Centre, Llwydcoed proved a big hit with the whole family.
A range of craft activitives and displays were on show to suit all ages and interests from stick making, pottery making, wood carving, hedge laying, dry stone walling, willow weaving, and wooden toy making.
And if [...]...
In
Youth,
Entertainment,
Events,
leisure,
craft,
sculpture,
dai edwards,
fedw hir,
green dayz,
groundwork trust,
lisa krigel,
sculptor,
woodworking,
Environment,
Family
DDWT Junior was rather pleased with himself today (as were his Mam and Dad!) as he was awarded a 'Merit Award in school for his "lovely descriptive work about his teddy bear" - the teddy bear aka Farmer Ted!As a result he wanted his certificate to take pride of place in his bedroom - so that's exactly were it'll end up when I get the chance to knock a nail in the wall.In fact he's had a pretty eventful day all round really, as it was gym day in school and after dinner him and his mates headed off to Toots in Neath for some fun. Consequently he was out on his feet come supper time tonight! Still, he's had a really fun day which is the most important thing.Thankfully, I remembered to take some cash in work today - a good job really considering I was going for a haircut straight after...
After a few non-training days, it was time to get my kit on again and go for a lunchtime run. Thankfully I managed to miss the squally April showers and trotted out a 27 minutes 7 second run along the foreshore of Swansea bay.It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful the view is from the foreshore, especially when the sun beats down across the sea and beach. It certainly helps take my mind off the sweaty, panting, plodding that I call running!DDWT Junior continues to be a bit of a grizzly bear this week and is complaining about having pains in his knees and arms - usually a sign of a growth spurt (or at least it has been on past occasions). So as a result, we decided to measure how tall he was. He now stands at 109cm and he's 3 days short (no pun intended) of being 4 years and 3 months...
Normal school service resumed today after the two week Easter break and in fairness DDWT Junior was in a relatively co-operative mood when it came to getting ready. We anticipated a rougher ride as it was a very restless night all round - as always seems to be the case before going back to school. Still he went along happy enough and seemed to enjoy his first day back - telling everyone about Legoland and beetle castles no doubt!The lack of a decent night's sleep also affected my memory, as upon getting to work I remembered that the gang were going to the Oriental Garden - Chinese restaurant on Swansea Marina - for lunch. Trouble was I was already armed with my full-to-the-brim lunchbox and didn't have any cash. Bah humbug.So what did I do, go and ride my bike instead! It was cold to...
Bloody hell has it been that long? That was one of my reactions after going on my first training session since December 17th last year!! Yes that's how long I decided to keep off the exercise due to the knee ligament problems I've been having.So my first exercise stint of 2008 was a 17 minutes 27 seconds run, which amounted to no more than a couple of miles. Thus far I haven't had a reaction apart from some slight stiffness in my right knee, but I'd expected that. The next few days will be the real indicator of how the injury has healed (hopefully).DDWT Junior has his Easter concert today and from what I've seen (and heard!) on the video recording he was on top form - and top of his voice as well! I knew he liked music and often sings along be it in the house or car, but even I was...
We thought we’d treat ourselves to dinner out last night and as the Wild Fowler is no longer doing the 2 for 1 offer we thought we’dgive the Rhydypennau Inn a go. We hadn’t been there fore a while and yet again it had changed hands since we were last there (or at least it appeared that way).
We waited a bit to order, but not too long and then ate our food which was nice. Nothing special, but there was nothing wrong with it either. We then sat there waiting for our plates to be cleared and to order pudding, but it took ages for anyone to come to us. We waited some more and eventually after an hour of waiting decided to give up and by some ice cream from the Spar instead!!
We therefore got up and went to the bar to pay, but were told to wait a second whilst they got the...
As a member of Swansea Council's Junior Park Rangers, DDWT Junior headed off to Coed Gwylim park in Clydach today for a fun session on building a beetle castle and general bug fun! He thoroughly enjoyed himself and so did all of the other kids - learning a lot about the world of insects at the same time.The club is free to join and I'd recommend anyone with kids below the age of 7 to join (which you can do online). They have events dotted around the Swansea area, so there are bound to be some near you. Besides, it's a great excuse to get the kids outside having fun and learning at the same time.The gloriously sunny and warm weather (this is what spring should be like!) made my lunchtime run along the beach all the more pleasant. Obviously judging by the number of sunbathers about...
You can tell I haven't been running for ages, as I feel as stiff as a rake after the run yesterday. People usually say you feel it on the 2nd day after the exercise, seeing as I'm a day earlier, it says a lot doesn't it!With the Swans playing at Bristol Rovers tonight and me working on the PC, I decided to try following the game online for a change as opposed to tuning into the Swansea Sound match commentary. I opted for the Soccernet coverage in the end and I must say it was great with both text and graphical information about the game - even showing where the shots were taken from and by whom! Whilst obviosuly this wasn't as good as the old radio, it made it more nailbiting ;)Whilst on the subject of the Swans, I got my Gillingham ticket today as this is the next Dieters Bar Jacks...
