Out with the old, and in with the new: Happy New Year and all that

So that was 2007.

Here's my personal highs and lows.

Highlights

• An early break in February at Center Parcs (Longleat) - terrific
  
• Seeing my niece (and God daughter) get married in May - a great family wedding
• Another great holiday in Majorca, in Puerto Pollensa
• Playing for my cricket club (Dinas Powys CC) against an invitation Glamorgan XI as part of our 125th anniversary celebrations.
• Seeing my (then) 12 year old son in his first proper senior cricket match take 4-13 with his legspin against Blaengarw
• A brilliant family weekend break in early September in the Gower as part of the celebrations for my in-laws 60th wedding anniversary
• Watching City put up a great performance against Liverpool at Anfield in the 4th round of the Carling Cup

Lowlights

• Exacerbation of the arthritic problems with my knee, resulting in me being listed for an operation - if I was a horse they'd shoot me
  
• Noticably deteriorating eyesight - need my glasses more and more
• Haven't won the lottery (yet) - well not enough to retire on
• Seeing Michael Chopra go to Sunderland for £5m
• Watching Cardiff City underachieve after a great start to the 06/07 season.
• Watching Cardiff City underachieve in the first half of the 07/08 season
• The rainy summer

So there we go - I'm sure there are more in both categories, but that's what I can think of now.
Into 2008, and let's hope it's a good one for everyone.

Naturally I have a couple fo New Year resolutions

• Lose weight (I've been saying that for about 8 years)
• Take my good lady out more - never seem to have the time - always in front of the PC, playing cricket or skittles etc etc
• Be more tolerant......well maybe two out of three!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy Birthday Palmblogging

Us bloggers like to tip a wink in each other's direction now and then, and so it's only right to congratulate David over at Palmblogging on the first anniversary of the blog. The posts are mainly on or about Palm related stuff (as the name would imply), but bravely, almost all his posts are made on his Palm device (currently a Treo 680), which is no mean feat. Although I post to my site on my mobile devices, I must admit that most of them are done on the PC.
I drop by theblog most days, and always read any posts I've missed.
Happy birthday Palmblogging. Keep up the good work.

7pts from 9: Preston 1 - 2 City

I said (to myself and my son, and a couple of the lads down at Ninian Park) before the Christmas that I'd be satisfied with a return of 7 points out of the possible 12 on offer over the Christmas and New Year period.
Well, after today's great win away at Preston we've got those 7 with a game in hand - Plymouth at home on New Years Day, and we must be favourites to get all three there.
As usual, City didn't make it easy for themselves. Conceding inside the first 5 minutes, it took another Roger Johnson goal (how good is he!) to draw us level early in the second half, before Joe Ledley, one of City's most prized assets scored the winner. Those three points plus other results mean we're now 12th on goal difference, and only 5 points off Plymouth (who we play on Tuesday) in sixth spot. Looking better. Much better.
C'mon you Blooobirds!

Post Christmas anti-climax

I've hit that lull which comes after the hype, excitement and chaos that is a family Christmas but before the New Year celebration - although to be fair, our New Year is likley to be a quiet night in front of the telly watching Jools Holland's "Hootnanny".
So much for the 12 days of Christmas. Round these parts it generally appears to be business as usual apart from not being back in work yet. What we really need is about 4 foot of snow. That would make it seem more "Christmassy" for a bit longer - out sledging with the kids and building snowmen. Instead, the sky's blue, the sun's out and it's quite mild out.

Benazir Bhutto

I'm not by nature a political person, although I keep a weather eye on things naturally. I'm just so glad that I live in a country where (by and large) politics are settled in a democratic way, and not by the gun and bomb.
The assasination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan yesterday is a stark reminder that we are in reality a long way from the notion of (what at least I think of as) a civilised world. Sad though it is, I think it was only a matter of time before someone tried again to assasinate her, and probably the odds were that eventually someone would succeed.
I can't imagine what it must be like to live in a society like that, and for that I thank my lucky stars.
I just wish the people of the world, especially in places where there is so much turmoil could recognise that and settle politics, disputes or whatever else needs settling in a more considered way.

So close: Watford 2 - 2 City

Well City travelled to Watford for their Boxing Day clash, and I have to admit I wasn't expecting them to get anything out of it. My first text told me that City had scored first through the superb (my view) Roger Johnson, a lead they held until after the break when the Hornets equalised. A third text tone suggested to me that Watford had taken the lead but no! Peter Whittingham had put us ahead again! I waited and waited for the final result text, and when it came it wasn't....ex City boy Jobi McAnuff had equalised with what must have been the last kick of the game. So a point, but it was more than I'd been expecting, and would have taken it before the start. But to only draw when you've been ahead goining into time added on is gutting.
Preston now on Staurday, and more points I hope. Again I'd take a draw with Plymouth visiting City on New Year's Day, but 3 points at Preston would be superb.
C'mon City!

Was that it?

Well I hope you all had a good one. We certainly did. Father Christmas was very kind to us all here. I got a shiny new 'puter with more RAM and GB than you can shake a fist at - well more than my "old" one anyway!
It's got Windows Vista on it, so a bit of a learning curve although first impressions are good, though loads of "security" type messages which are probably great for a novice but irritating for me - I'll no doubt find out how to turn them off later!
It came with a 20 inch widescreen monitor as well - that's nearly as big as my telly downstairs! I'm trying out now how to configure my home network (actually this one and my old one) together using wires rather than wireless as they're both in the same room and only about 6 feet apart, and I want them both to be able to access the internet independently via the Netgear router. Hmm...more googling methinks.

Parenting

We reached a watershed moment with our son today when he went off "into town" with his mates on their own for the first time.
Three of them, aged 12/13 were dropped off in Cardiff for a couple of hours, armed with a few quid and their mobiles to give us the call when they were ready to be picked up.

I'm sure there are some people out there whose kids have been going out and about on their own for a long time at a much earlier age than ours, but I don't hold with that. We don't mollycoddle him, (wrap him up in cotton wool, but neither do we let him do whatever he wants to. And nipping round the corner to see his mates isn't the same as spending several hours in a big (and today, very busy) city centre. Despite the fact a couple of them are actually quite big (my son now takes the same size shoes as me!) they're still children. there's no getting away from the fact that times have changed. When I was his age I used to disappear for the day to go fishing - quite often on my own, but that was 30+ years ago in a quiet and rural part of Lincolnshire, not in urban South Wales.

It was therefore a slightly nervous couple of hours, but of course they were fine, had a great time and now will probably do this regularly. More taxi servicing!

Festive Cheer: City 1 - 0 Sheffield Utd

The Christmas footy programme is often said to define a teams season. Well, we've started this one well. I've just got back from seeing the Bluebirds hammer the Blades 1-0. And it was a hammering, even though the 1-0 scoreline wouldn't suggest it. City could have been a goal down inside the first minute as the Blades missed a sitter, and could arguable have had a penalty later on the half, but City were looking as good as they've done for a long, long time. They passed the ball on the ground with pace, and Paul Parry in particular caused havoc down the right side.

Peter Whittingham who I think should have been starting long ago, oozes the class the McPhail should, and brings some composure, vision and occasional touches of brilliance to the side. It was one of those touches whilst running at the defence that slipped a pass through to the irresistible Parry who slid the ball under the keeper to make it 1-0. JFH then flashed one just wide about a minute later.

1-0 at half time, and thoughts were turning to dour defence for the next 45 minutes dropping deeper and deeper as usual.

But no - we kept pushing and as they tried harder for the equaliser, the left space at the back forCity to exploit, and how they never got a second I'll never know. Schmeicel didn't really have a save to make, although one last free kick flashed only just wide. Special mention too to Kevin "Naughts" McNaughton who had a great game, and Glen "The Loovenator" Loovens who's looking back to his best in central defence.

That's the first 3 points out of the 12 on offer over the holiday period. Next up, Watford away on Boxing Day. That'll be tough, but City can take the confidence from an excellent performance into that game.

Come on you Blooobirds.....!

It's a mad mad world...

Nearly there. It's been a looong slooow day at work as the great wind down (or is that wind up) comes ever closer. Frankly no-one wanted to be in work today, but if we'd have finished yesterady, or last week no-one would have wanted to be here either.

I'm just about to embark on my journey home, and have heard that the roads in and around Cardiff on which I need to drive home are gridlocked because the whole of South Wales apparently has a sudden urge to go to Asda / Marks & Spencer / Tesco Extra (delete as applicable).

Why though? It's not as if they didn't know Christmas was coming. In fact they've had 52 weeks to think about it, and now everyone needs to go shopping at 4pm on a Friday?

And it's even worse, because it'll be like this for the next 3 days, and we'll have the big day, and then all the shops will be open again and the sales start.

People are mad.

Me, I'm going to go home, do what my wife tells me to do, when she tells me (it's safer that way), enjoy Christmas Day & Boxing Day with the family and then put my feet up. Sales? I think not.

5 more sleeps to Santa

OK I'm getting excited now. It's taken me a while to get the festive cheer going, but with just one more day in work to come, I'm getting in the spirit and looking forward to the big day.
Ho, ho, ho!

Flaws in the OS - Who's worse? Mac or Windows

Here's an interesting post over at the Daily Gadget, which is a very neat blog in it's own right. It looks at an article about serious flaws in the Mac and Windows OS's (Operating systems), comparing the two.
A real chance for the Mac v Windows debate to get heated (wot - it isn't already?).
You might be surprised at the results though.....Murray, you read this?
Thanks to sixpacktec for the image.

Memories of Mum

It's a poignant day today. It's 5 years to the day since Mum died. The picture of her here is her relaxing on one of our many holidays to Pembrokeshire in West Wales in the early 90's (that's the year not her age!).
We all miss her desperately of course, but she'd give us a good ear wigging if she thought we were moping around about it. I rang my Dad tonight, as I always do on this day, and vowed to raise a glass to her memory.
Here's to you Mum.

Darfur Crisis Appeal

I'm doing something a bit different this year regarding Christmas cards for work colleagues. Usually I send one to everyone - or at least every department in the building where I work. There's actually quite a lot of people, so that's a lot of cards - not that I mind, and I hope they've been appreciated in the past, but this year I decided I'm going to take a different tack and give a donation to charity in lieu of writing all the cards. I will wish everyone a happy Christmas anyway - probably via the dreaded email, and let them know what I've done.
There's hundreds of worthy causes, and choosing which one is difficult - I have given to several charities over the years and don't have any preferred one.
However, this time, my money is going to the Red Cross Darfur Crisis Appeal. This crisis has been well documented, but it's still unbelievable that such things should go on. I think we in what we like to think of as "first world countries" can often easily put the shutters up or ignore what's going on elsewhere, and very few of us ever really understand what it must be like to live in regions such as these.
I hope my donation makes a difference, however small. And getting back to Christmas cards, I hope those that get my email rather than a card this year, will understand that I think that this action is done in the spirit of traditional Christmas values.

Nice lunch!

We had an enjoyable day today. My wife's side of the family have a tradition of going out to lunch a weekend or two before Christmas. Today 16 of us went to the Manor Parc, a rather nice hotel on the outskirts of Cardiff
This is the second time we've been there in a couple of months, having recently attended a lunch for my in-laws 60th wedding anniversary. We liked it so much, we came back today. No "traditional" or should that be "typical" turkey dinners on offer here, but a really nice 3 course meal for about £19 a head, and I have to say the food was brilliant. Service is also top class.
(Proprietor's - if you read this, I'd happily accept a free lunch for two for the plug!).

Smartphone update

I know I have a couple of regulars who like me are gadget minded, so I thought I'd provide an update on where I'm at with my smartphones. Dad, if your'e reading this you can skip this post (he's a luddite!).
Basically, I've been torn between my Palm Treo 680 and my most recent acquisition, the HTC S710 or "Vox" (pictured) ever since I got the Vox back in the late summer. I couldn't quite bring myself to ditch the Treo altogether in favour of the Windows Mobile device, and found myslef swapping between them on an almost daily basis. However, a couple of months ago I decided I had to make a choice once and for all, and decided to stick with the Vox. There are a few reasons for this, not all of which are necessarily good or rational ones!

• It's smaller than the Treo
• It holds a signal better than the Treo
• It's battery is awesome compared to the Treo (2-3 days at least even with heavy use)
• It can do most of the things I want, albeit often in a more convoluted way than the Treo
• Palm support is waning, and Palm itself may disappear if it doesn't remove it's head from it's jacksy and start delivering
  

There are a couple of things that I frequently miss though

• The touchscreen - a year or so ago, many WinMob sites were saying the touchscreen is dead, long live "true" smartphone devices with non-touchscreens. Now, what devices do people rave about? Iphone (touchscreen), HTC TyTyn II (touchscreen), HTC Touch/Dual (touchcsreen). Hmmm.. seems a bit two faced to me...
• The hard keyboard. The Treo's keyboard is better than the Vox by a country mile
• Palm OS - quicker than WM6 (on the Vox at least) and far more intuitive, although I agree it does look well past it's sell by date and in major need of a facelift.
  

I still haven't got rid of the Treo. It's sitting on my desk, charged up and ready as my backup. I have to say I'm getting used to the Vox, but it's been sheer perseverance rather than the joyous union I felt when I got my Treo. When I use it, it's atool and it feels like a tool. I don't experience the same sense of - fun - I guess, that I do whenever I pick up the Treo.
I think if I won the lottery I'd switch from the Vox, but what to? Do you know what? I think it might be an iphone. Or I might buy Palm out and get them to produce an updated smartphone worthy of the Palm name.

Derby woe: Bristol City 1 - 0 City

Just as we thought City had turned the corner, they go and lose, and to Bristol City, who after Swansea are probably the side we would hate losing to most.
I don't know many details yet, but clearly Steve Thompson's early sending off in the 15th minute (noted as "controversial" on the BBC web site), was a factor.
Luckily apart from Crystal Palace, sides around us also lost, so no terminal damage done, but to lose to the wurzels.......

Big matches over the Festive period then starting next Saturday with Sheffield United at home, then Watford away on Boxing Day (can't see us getting anything out of that one), Preston away on 29th (maybe a draw) and then Plymouth on New Years Day. I reckon if we get 7 points out of the 12 on offer we'll have done OK.
After that, it's the big one. Chasetown away in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. I have to admit, before the draw was made, I'd never heard of Chasetown. we haven't struggled against no-league opposition in the cup for a few years, so let's keep it that way please.

The NHS: aka Nasty Horrid Stuff

The NHS is a funny organisation. I should know. I worked for it for 19 years.
As regular readers may know, I'm on the waiting list for an op on my knee - well actually it's not my knee, but it's the knee problem that the operation will cure (allegedly) - strange I know.
I received a letter this week asking me if I still wanted the operation. What a daft question. "Actually no I don't want it thanks. Since I last saw you everything's miraculously cleared up and I can run up and down without any problems thank you very much!".
This is done under the guise of "waiting list validation", and I suppose it's to check you haven't run off and got the job done on private care (if you could afford it) and forgotten to tell them.
Still, I suppose it lets me know they haven't forgotten about me.

Lovely drive

My new (old) car hereafter known as the "Mondy" had it's first serious outing today as I had a meeting in Birmingham. I wasn't in a rush, and knew exactly where I was going, so didn't even need to break out my Treo's sat nav.
I pootled the 220 mile or so round trip so at legal speed, and I have to say I was very impressed. The car was quiet and smooth (bearing in mind it's a diesel which is a bit clunky until it warms up) and it was very comfortable, with more than enough oomph when it was needed (to avoid the inevitable idiots on the road - mostly a combination of men in hats, blondes and VW Polo/Volvo drivers - have you noticed?).
The Mondy is a whole step up from my previous trusty 1.6 Scenic in terms of power, comfort, and bells and whistles. I loved the Scenic, but was always aware of the noise levels when I was "cruising" at 70mph or thereabouts, whereas in the Mondeo thrumming along in 6th (yes 6th) gear at 70, you hardly feel like you're moving.
It was also great to see the mpg creeping up on a longish motorway journey - in my first week, having done about 350 miles, just about par, I'd averaged 21 mph and about 44.5 mpg. By the end of today that was up to an average mpg of over 48 - would have been much higher if I'd reset the counter just for today's trip. Working it out, at current mpg's I'd be able to squeeze well over 600 miles out of the 15.4 gallon tank.
Oh, and that front heated screen - what a boon - no more ice scraping for me!
Well pleased.

How many?

I've had a few people comment on posts (only a few!), and sometimes I think my sagely thoughts/views are disappearing unread into the ether. Frankly I don't care whether they're read or not, as it's actually quite therapeutic just waffling even if no-one's listening.

OK, actually I do care, and to that end I've signed up to Google Analytics, one of Google's many and increasing services (did you know they plan to take over the world by the way? That's for another post though).

So now I'll actually find out if anyone's reading this drivel. Hmm....

Life's a beach: Blackpool 0 - 1 City

Yahoo!
Another 3 points for the Bluebirds as they win at Blackpool for the first time in years (39 to be precise). Big Stevie Thompson was the scorer, and we managed another clean sheet, although the brief report on the BBC suggests it wasn't all plain sailing with Blackpool hitting the bar late in the second half. Still, that should lift us to the heady heights of 15th. Not spectacular, but given how we were playing (and not winning) just over a week ago, I'd have bitten your hand off for 15th spot.
Just over halfway to 50 points and safety now - let's not get too carried away by thoughts of play off spots just yet.
C'mon you Bloooobirds!

And, just as good, Liverpool beat Marseille 4-0 away from home to secure a spot in the knockout stages of the Champions League. A good night.

Kit's Well

Those of you that might have read this blog from it's early days will know that after our Mum died late in 2002, rather than erecting a bench or similar in her memory, we donated money to a project in Nepal that enables, amongst other things, wells to be dug in remote villages, allowing fresh water thereby dramatically improving sanitation and consequently health of the villagers.
My previous post on this explained more about this, but now we also have the GPS co-ordinates available and a photo - albeit at the moment a photo of a photo, and one taken on a mobile phone at that, so it's not the best picture.
The GPS coordinates are:
North: 27.33.825, East: 084.10.171 (I think)!
The well is in a village called Loukhari in Nepal, and if I can find it on Google Earth I'll let you know.

City 4 - Colchester 1: Turned the corner?

We couldn't go to the match yesterday, as we were visiting my sister. With our recent form, to be honest we weren't too bothered at missing this one, especially as it was absolutely heaving down and blowing a gale to boot. I received City's team sheets by text, and was encouraged to see McNuaghton in for Capaldi and Whittingham for Rae - presumably allowing Ledley to come into the centre of midfield - a more balanced team in my view. Checked my mobile at half time, and lo and behold City were 0-1 down, conceding a goal in the 45th minute despite what the stats suggested was a dominant performance in the first period. Looked like Jonesy might be on his way.
But then, a second half turn around that we could only have dreamt about as City stormed to a 4-1 victory with goals from Steve Thompson, Peter Whittingham, Jimmy Floyd and an o.g. from one of their lot.
Maybe it's us. Maybe we should stay away more often.
One game does not a season make, but it's a long time since we've won a game that emphatically - at least on paper. I wasn't there of course so can't be certain that it was emphatic, but early reports suggest so.
So, we're up to the heady heights of 17th in the table with a big 6 pointer coming up on Tuesday away to Blackpool who are one below us, but on goal difference only. Blackpool is always a tough place to go, and City traditionally haven't done well there, but let's hope yesterday's match gives them the confidence to go and play the way we know they can.

Skittles: DPAB march on

Our good form in Division 2 of the Penarth & District Skittles League continued last night as we put the Dinas Powys Legion side to the sword. In typically rumbustuos style, with Stockings leading the singing (or rather shouting), we ran out winners by 16 pins on a tough alley. Top scorer was Nightmare with 27 with Gilo on 26, whilst others including some of the big guns didn't overly trouble the scorers.
Champagne moment of the evening, Stockings' little canter in the near altogether aside, was Stabber leading the three cheers for the opposition and calling them the "Swanderers" instead of the DP Legion. For those of you that don't know, the Swanderers are the OTHER team from the pub we played last night, and his good intentions were met with a stony silence by the opposition (who are actually all great lads!)
As I'm sending this report by email from a train somewhere in Gloucestershire at 7.15 in the morning, there are no pics to accompany or links. Once I'm back from my trip to London though, I'll update our website (www.DPAB.co.uk) with a full report.

Christmas? We've only just had Easter!

I don't know where this year's gone. It's flown by. Doesn't seem that long since we were takingthe decorations down, and now it's nearly time to put them up again!
Are you one of those that just can't wait? The first "residential" Christmas lights I saw were on 26th November in a house not far from ours. Then on 1st December lights and trees started to spring up in houses all over the place. Now don't get me wrong, I like Christmas - I can even remember what it's all about - and despite what the marketeers would have us believe it's not about eating and drinking to excess and spending more than we can afford - but I baulk at putting up the decorations too early. However, neither am I one of those leave it to the last moment fellows, buying a knock down spindly tree on Christmas Eve (my kids would kill me!).
So, the exterior lights will probably be going up this weekend, and the tree the following weekend. But climate change has a lot to answer for. I was out in a t-shirt earlier on. Much as we know the season f goodwill is upon us (almost) it just doesn't feel like it. We need a good dose of cold, frosts, and dare I say it snow before it's really going to feel like Chrimbo. And no, my lights aren't like the picture....

Got a new motor!

Got my new car. Well, my "nearly new" car. As previously posted, I'm not into buying brand new motors.
This lovely shiny vehicle, is a late '06 model Ford Mondeo "Edge" 2.0 TDCi, in a very nice blue colour and I'm very pleased with it It's a step up from my previous, trusty Renault Scenic, giving me more comfort, power and a much better mpg return being a diesel.
I don't know if it's just the 4-5 years that's elapsed since I bought the Renault, or just that this version of the Mondeo is well equipped, but it has some great touches which I love. These include:

• rain sensing wipers - yes, you switch them on to intermittent wipe and the car works out how much water is going on to the screen and adjusts the wipe speed accordingly - clever or what? No, I don't know how it works either.
  
• auto headlights - set to auto, the lights come on automatically when the ambient light drops below a certain level. Handly for those who can't tell if it's dark - but then they shouldn't be behind the wheel anyway
  
• heated front windscreen - Ford have been doing this for years granted, and I think most of their models and ranges now come with this as standard. I don't know why other manufacturers don't do this (maybe they do?)

Early days yet obviously, but I'm looking forward to driving this car. I've always liked Fords - had a few before, and it's nice to be back.

Rubbish! City 0 - 2 Charlton

Timmy Mallet, erstwhile children's entertainer of some time ago, and this season's panto star at Porthcawl(?) was the half time entertainment at tonight's match. Need I say more? I shouldn't, the mood I'm in, but I will.
City were rubbish. No, utter rubbish. Not even that good.
I fear relegation.
If Dave Jones is still in a job by the weekend, I'll be surprised.
Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish.

This is the age - of the train. Not

I'm off to the Smoke on Thursday for an overnighter, on a course. The course should be ok. Good chance to meet up with some colleagues, maybe learn a bit and who knows, even get an hour or two of shopping in on Oxford Street?
The problem is though, I'm going (as usual) by train. I hate trains. They're normally, late, overcrowded, and are definitely overpriced. A standard class ticket from Cardiff comes to about £150. I'm going to be traveling back on Friday evening, some time between 5pm and 6pm which must be just about the worst time to travel from London. If I'm lucky I'll get a seat. If I'm not, chances are it's a stand from Paddington until at least Swindon or Bristol. That's what your £150 gets you. And they're putting the prices up!

A Tigerish Point: Hull 2 - 2 City

After their charter flight to Hull was diverted to Manchester and an emergency landing, City finally came away from the KC stadium with what seems to be a well earned point. Hull have been in good form lately, and were 1 up in 3 minutes, but Steve "The Tomahawk" Thompson equalised after 6 minutes. Kasper Schmeicel saved a penalty before Hull went ahead again just before the break. I was accepting defeat, when I got a late, late text which I thought was going to tell m that Hull had won, but which in fact said Roger Johnson had equalised for City in injury time. We don't get many late goals, so this one was very welcome indeed. I haven't seen a report, but seeing as how recent matches have gone, I'm guessing Jones threw Johnson on as an extra striker. I still reckon that he's one of the most consistent and committed players in the team. I'm certainly glad he was there today. The result still leaves us in 20th spot, but a win at home on Tuesday against Charlton could lift us to 15th, and we have a game in hand on most teams above us - that's the Blackpool game this month, and the seasiders are on place below us, so that'll be a big one..