Well good morning to all of you out there (or good afternoon, evening to those of us in different time zones). It's been literally years since I last attempted a post. I'm sure you've heard all of my excuses by now. Never mind. Onwards and upwards.
Been quite a few years with several changes for those of you who haven't had an email from me. I've now moved out to the Valleys with my lovely wife surrounded by lots of greenery, trees and wildlife but not too much else. We're about 30 mins from Cardiff by car so not so far but then a big change from 10 mins to walk down to Cardiff Bay for a few beers. After having (almost) completed the work inside the house (in the process discovering that you can now easily get water soluble paints.), it's now time to do the outside.
Now, it's amazing how much enjoyment you can get from buying a strimmer, pressure washer and doing manly things with them. I'm sure it's not fun for all but I don't mind it (didn't get this from my dad as such things are anathema to him - however, he does have a stunning knowledge of horse racing). As I have another day of sunshine it'll be another day of getting stuck in to clean out all the crap remaining in the back garden. At least I can now see that the paving has some colours after blasting the layers of grime off last Sunday (not what most people would think of doing).
I've also managed to catch up with many friends as well, most recently in Glasgow to meet up Neil, Andrea and Stuart all of whom were good friends during my time in Singapore (now nearly 5 years ago! how time flies). The most bizarre coincidence led to Stuart being in my wife's home town during New Year a couple of years ago when we were there but as we didn't know we didn't meet. He now works in the oil industry and has met several Venezuelans in the process of working abroad. Neil and Andrea are still working on their (shared) house but doing well. And Stu, many thanks for lunch. Remember you're welcome down here in Llanbradach any time (you'll need to practice how to pronounce it!).
I've also caught up with Alexandre (Brazilian) and his wife Virginia (Spanish) who I hadn't seen for more than 5 years when I was last in Belgium for a visit. Both have now moved to close to Bristol about 40mins from us. It really is a small world. How they can survive the dark winters here I'll never know.
And congratulations to Rikki and Lisa who are planning to meet the 5 a side football team quota. Who knows, maybe they'll go for the full team 11!
My fingers and hands are now sore from all this typing. Signing off, hasta pronto!
