Shoe shopping

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 his new "shoosies".

I'll also give a mention to the Landore park and ride service, which we used for the first time today. For £1.50 (per car) it's great value and we were very impressed by the service and shall be sure to use it again - rather than get gridlocked in Swansea and then pay through the nose for parking.

It was also nice to have a rest day from the training as well. Having done 4 runs this week, I was in need of a rest as I felt leg weary to say the least. I still missed not doing any training though!

Washing machine woe

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 Morriston - 'H. Phillips'. A quick call and estimate later and our repair said he'd be with us shortly to collect the washing machine - which he duly did.

Some 3 hours or so later our washing machine returned and was thankfully now back in it's original state - i.e not leaking! The service was excellent in fairness and I'll be sure to use them again if the need ever arises (which I hope it doesn't!).

Unfortunately, the whole episode meant that a leak had sprung in my wallet.... to the tune of £75.

Gillingham v Swansea City

The Swans finally sealed promotion to the Coca Cola Championship with a 2-1 win at Gillingham and I was there!

Full details of the my day on tour with the Dieters Bar Jacks to follow soon!

Merit award

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 work. Not sure really what the going rate for a haircut is these days, but I stump up £7.50 every 4 weeks for a "number 2 on the back and sides, with a dam good trim on top please".

I had to make sure I was at my best for this party I'm going to tomorrow in Gillingham you see. It's a football party, where hopefully the Swans will be celebrating promotion to the Championship come 5pm. Whatever happens, I'll be sure to give you a rundown of the days events - with pictures and video of course.

Sea view

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 old. So he's grown 1.5cm since November 2007.

Carlisle United v Swansea

We're now on our way home after watching the Swans earn a point with a dominant performance at 2nd in the table Carlisle and in doing so take a step nearer the Championship.


Our 680 odd mile round trip started at 10:30 this morning and we quickly made time up the M4 before having a quick pop and crisps stop at Frankley services on the M5 (after deciding to give the Jack Army's usual stop at Stensham a miss!). Nevertheless we still managed to bump into a few other Jacks making the long journey north! In fact we saw quite a few other Jacks on tour as we made our way along the M5 and M6 - all with flags or scarves fluttering in the wind as they motored towards Carlisle.

After a relatively brief but expected hold up on the M6 we arrived at Carlisle at 15:30 and headed off in search of the ground. Once we acquainted ourselves with the locality, we decided on setting up camp at a Toby Carvery some 1/2 mile away from Brunton Park.

The £5 buffet option was too good to miss and we proceed to devour a voluptuous beef dinner, washed down with lashings of cider (well I did anyway, not the driver!). Somewhat ironically, we were soon joined by the same Jacks we had bumped into at Frankley services and our numbers began to swell even more nearer kick-off. The locals were in a jovial mood and the banter flowed until we decided to ground at 18:30.

The ground itself was rather dated - with the exception of the stand we were in, which was modern. The place felt more like a rugby union/league ground to be honest, rather than a football one - mainly because of the old type terracing which went the length of the pitch (a la Whaddon Road, Cheltenham).

By kick-off the Jack Army totalled in excess of 580 - a commendable effort for a Tuesday night fixture - and we certainly made ourselves heard in the 10,000 plus crowd. In fact the only noise the home fans appeared to make was the rather predictable chant of 'United, United'.

As for the game itself, well after an iffy opening 15 minutes we settled and began to play our crisp passing game and we were unlucky not to go in at half-time 1 or 2 up with Robbo hitting the post (the 1st of 3!) and Pratley having one ruled out for playing it before the ref's whistle.

We got even stronger in the 2nd half and we very professional in the way we disciplined ourselves in the face of some very tasty Carlisle tackling - I'm still amazed someone didn't get sent off. I counted at least 3 scything lunging tackles. Anyway, it remained goalless and we were more than happy with our point. I think this video clip which I took pretty much sums it up to be honest.



A brisk walk back to the car meant we were homeward bound by 22:05 and we making sound progress on the journey home until junction 16-17 on the M6, where a 35 minute jam (due to overnight roadworks!) held us up somewhat - even if it was 00:30 in the morning!!! A brief toilet stop and some dense fog on the M5 saw us finally reach home at 03:10 - knackered but more than happy with the result.

Next up it's Gillingham away on Saturday and it's sure to be another long but hopefully productive day. The Jacks ARE going up!

Return to school

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 say the least and I was glad to get back to the office after the 9.73 mile ride - which took 39 minutes 45 seconds, 18.9 mph max
and 14.6 mph average speed).

That'll teach me to forget about a work's lunch ;-)