Jumping and Flying

Owain still likes to wear his first item of clothing, a standard-issue maternity ward beanie. Wherever we go, parents assume he was born at the local hospital because their kids got the same hat.

It still fits but the elastic is struggling and pops off when he's in his car seat. This presents numerous opportunities to take "lets make fun of the drunk" photos. If he keeps dozing off in public like this, we'll have to start drawing a moustache on his face with a permanent marker.

He now has more furniture than us. We bought him a new bouncy chair today as he likes to stand up but can't manage it on his own, leading to aching arms for us. It's a Fisher-Price Rainforest Jumperoo which sounds very southern hemisphere. So far, he just finds it overwhelming but we have our fingers crossed.

In the past week Heather has been organising three long-distance trips: In a few weeks, she and the sprog return to Arizona for a visit. Friends and family are labouring under the belief that she is there to show off baby and catch up. I'm actually sending her back to retrieve the whiskey that the movers left behind. Next month, she flies to Alabama to watch the Oscars with Kristi. (I did them sums and it's cheaper than buying a new plasma TV.)

And finally, we've going to be in Wales for our wedding anniversary in May! We were thinking of having a party in Mexico but then we moved from Arizona to Washington and it didn't make so much sense any more. Now we'll be celebrating in our ancestral Shirenewton home which has been in the family now for almost a generation.

Grandma McFarlane

My Mum arrived this evening after a 10½ flight from London Heathrow. She met (and identified) Owain and dropped by our home to see Mac and the dogs. Then we went to Aunt Chilada's so Mum could sample some Mexican food.

I'm not sure what's happening tomorrow. We'll probably practice the famous American past-time of 'hanging out'.

Here is a movie from last month. It's rather boring but if you want to know how Owain hiccups, it's pretty informative.

Back in Wales

I'm back in The Cayo and able to make my little photo albums. Here's the first batch which I took before I got to Brighton (except the last picture). I described most of this stuff in my last post.

More to come in a little while...

Sober Again

Urgh. That last posting doesn't really make much sense in the cold light of day, does it? I shall elaborat a bit.

On Thursday, Mum and Dad headed off for France with the doggies. Spud gets very nervous in the car so I thought I'd give them a nice long walk to tire them out a bit. Hence the photos of the village.

With no way to magic up egg and bacon sandwiches, I decided to head to England to see some of the people I've left behind in the old world. First stop was Guildford for a Friday night drink with Dom. Glen turned up and later, so did Caz. Here's Dom and Caz looking bright and breezy the next morning:

On to London and a Saturday afternoon drink in (among other places) The Crown and Cusion. Here are Marisa and Jeff. (Jeff's the one on the right with the really long arm.)

More drinking in the evening with Jeff, an especially drunken transatlantic phone conversation with Heather and another hangover later, I saw the London Marathon. Jeff and Bev and I stood by the side of the road as thirty thousand odd runners pass by. Some were odder than others. Here they are outside their home in Greenwich (Jeff and Bev that is - not 30,000 runners):

And finally, down to Brighton on Sunday evening and a quick bus journey to the Sidewinder to hear Luke play. He's dangerously good with a guitar. Here are Max and Paul the Jazz Chef:

So now it's monday and my hangover's fading. No doubt I'll get up to no good again this evening. Paul is on holiday this week and has kindly let me stay over at his place. He has wi-fi. I like Paul.

In other news, I've been learning a few new tricks to do with teh interweb and redesigned my website. In particular, I've written a php script which allows you to browse my picture galleries much more easilyer. If you keep clicking 'refresh', the pictures change. How do they do that? Using magic!

Unfortunately, I've left my desktop PC at home so I don't have a convenient way to make new galleries so although I've got lots of new photos, I won't publish most of them until I get back to Wales, later in the week.

Now to do more things to write about...

The Weekend

Things have really hotted up this weekend. That isn't saying much really but I'm not complaining.

On Friday, we went to the Severn View Social Club in Caldicot to see Rob accept a prize on behalf of the Tredegar Arms pool team (RIP).

Unfortunately, the ceremony started a few hours after the start of proceedings and the beer was quite cheap (it being a social club) so it's hardly our fault we were in such a state by the end of the night.


On Saturday, The Barries came to visit. They spent most of the time tormenting the poor dog, look:

Still bored

Yesterday I learned how to make SVCDs.
Today teh interweb was down for half an hour and I nearly went mad.

Tomorrow I might go to the pub with Rob.

Bored already

When the old folks go on holiday, I'm expected to mow the field in smart stripes and top up the many bird feeders. But it's only a field and birds don't tell tales.

Some photos.

A stupid dog:

Up, up and away!

Right. My coach to the airport leaves in an hour so it's time to finish packing. It's so early here that I just managed to catch my sweetheart going to bed. That's pretty early for me.

Can I interested you in...?

Up until now, I've been getting my affairs in order - not in a morbid way although now would be a really great time to be hit by a bus. I've mostly been trying to get rid of some of the junk that I've accumulated over the years with much help from the mercenary vultures formerly known as my friends and colleagues. I've also used the services of Oxfam, Shelter and Freecycle.

Having such a major clear-out is both sad and liberating. The stuff that I don't want anymore says things about the person I was at certain points in the past... but in a really space-consuming way.

Most of it's gone now but there are still a few items left to jettison. I thought that I had managed to reduce my worldly possessions down to a few boxes but no, there's a huge amount of crap following me around. It's either too trivial or embarrassing to mention or would more suitably benefit someone who hasn't already owned it.

While I'm here, would anyone out there like...

• a Shirley Bassey Remix CD,
• a USB-powered snowman that plays drums or
• an ashtray with a picture of a woman who winks at you when you tilt it?

I find that last item a little creepy. Does stubbing out cigarettes on a woman's face sound healthy to you? Pros and cons I guess.

Collection only. No time wasters please.

And In Conclusion

My name is John (hello). I am about to go and live with my girlfriend in Arizona. Unfortunately, I don't have permission to live in the States. This means that I have to go there as a tourist and return to the UK - my homeland - within 90 days. (Do you see where the title of this blog is going now?) She and I have this cunning plan that while I'm over there, we're going to 'think of something'. Stay tuned as we strain our noodles.