Dynamic Rock

A new climbing wall has finally opened that serves the Swansea and Gower area. Reviews are favourable, it looks well designed, and hopefully we'll get an opportunity to check it out in the coming months.

Dynamic Rock.

Bouncing down

I have evidence here, that spring has arrived. This mini-video (best with sound) shows heavy, heavy rain bouncing off my fishing brolly, and yet I was quite warm. So we must have jumped from cold winter winds to April showers in just the last 7 days. I was happy too, because I had a nice net-full of at least 6 different species of fish :)

Kiddy's parties

That, ladies and gentlemen, is a chocolate fountain, pouring molten chocolate for the purpose of dipping. Jack just asked for a bowl and a spoon pleasethankyouverymuch.

Muddy puddles

Jack jumping in a huge muddy puddle on the weekend. Wellies are little help when Jack wants to splash.

Anatomy break

Our 1st year medical students haven't broken up for Easter yet, but they did have their last anatomy session today. This means that I get my Sunday evenings back for a few weeks!

Country Weekend

It was my birthday on the weekend, so we went back to Cheltenham to see family and friends for a "country weekend":

Shooting clays (soaking wet and freezing, but very good, noisy and destructive afternoon - Kim started to get her eye in on some of the later traps).

Angling (a very productive morning on aniseed flavoured hemp of all things, except for the bloody vicious black swan of Burley Lakes, that tormented me all morning stealing my bait from beneath my feet and worse).

Taking the dogs out (Wilbur loves sticks).

2nd Year GEP

The second year students of the Swansea Medicine GEP finished lectures today. Their first two years are almost over, and they will soon progress on to the more clinical part of their MB training, mostly away from Swansea and our medical school.

I really didn't get to see them much in their second year, because my direct teaching involvement of anatomy and embryology is tied into the first year. My contributions to their last year have been mostly of organisation: bringing in specialists to teach specific lectures, developing exam questions for the big summer paper, looking after coursework, etc. They have had no anatomy or embryology in this year, and actually quite little of the Development, Growth and Reproduction module, of which I am co-ordinator. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see them about to jump forwards.

I say "interesting" because there is a mix of emotions here, and because I'm guessing that a few of those students are likely to read this. I also say "interesting" because this is a term we use a lot when rock climbing, not so much to sand-bag someone about to climb a route, as much as to describe it (to someone in the know) as scary, exciting, something you wish you probably hadn't started when you are part-way up, but something you are hugely pleased that you did when you have reached the top. You rarely feel quite the same way about that "interesting" route as you did when you first climbed it.

I am sure that almost all of them will do very well this summer, and that all of them will realise their goals eventually. As someone involved in delivering and moderating the course I will be hugely relieved if their results all come in as good, and really hope that they all get what they want. I cannot underestimate the difficulties that they face, however, and their fates are in their hands. We do only as much as we can to help.

It will be odd not to see their faces around campus, and I can only hope that we will see them at their eventual graduation, and later in medical practice. I plan to be in Swansea for a very long time, and I expect at least some of them to return.

Frog update

I don't think this is going to work. The more we wash this new frog, the fluffier it gets and the colour is not fading either. Kim's new tactics are to wash it with some denim jeans and rub it down. I think we're probably just going to end up giving it to him and seeing what happens. I don't think he's going to be too impressed.

Pre-order Blu-Ray

Are you ready for hi-def DVD? You can now pre-order your Sony Blu-ray DVD player from Best Buy.

It looks like we're in for a format war. This is probably good for me, as I'm really not in any hurry to upgrade. I'll wait until the dust settles.

Little Drummer Boy

I got home last night after a crappy day at work to find Jack all set up with his drum kit. Ace! Click the icon above for the video.

Whitesprings Lakes

Pretty, eh? Still blanked though.

Its funny how fishing for big fish is almost religious. You get so few bites, so few fish, and often even less indication that there are any fish, that you have to develop faith in your baits, your rigs, and your tackle. You make minor or major changes often based on no new information, but because your confused little brain believes that this change will make all the difference. If that change does lead to a fish, you really have no idea whether the change caused the catch, or if the catch occurred in spite of the change.

I guess a lot of anglers pray too, but I've not got that far yet.

Frog Update

We received the new frog in the post this morning. He is in perfect condition, so we'll have to drag him around the garden several times and then give him some really hot machine washes. He is actually a little larger than Jack's original frog, but otherwise identical. Maybe he'll shrink a bit when washing?

I don't think he's going to accept this new frog as "froggy", but we'll see what happens. He spent all his time with the real one, so he knew him really well.

Spring?

We have a sunny day today, or at least we did this morning. It seems like a long time since I have seen the sun and blue sky, but it can't have been that long. Maybe a couple of weeks?

My eyes were itching when I started work, and I couldn't work out why. Then I remembered that it is late March, and my birthday is next week. Around this time of year I always have the first bout of hay-fever, thanks to the tree blossom. As it is the first sunny day for a while the trees have begun to pollenate. You may think this strange, but I see this as a good sign, that spring is coming and summer soon after. Disregarding a little hay-fever, I intend to spend as much time outdoors this spring as possible.

It will probably be raining again by the time I cycle home.

Ebay Frog

Look what I found (and won) on Ebay. It's exactly the same frog, but will need some work to alter his state - some hot washes and a bit of dirt and grease here and there maybe.

Shhhh, don't tell Jack.

Carping on

I took a half-day holiday today. Look what I did with it! :)

Shuttle

Inside this box is an Imperial Shuttle. The box has never been opened. Phil's trying to decide whether to open it, or leave it sealed (opening will significantly reduce it's collector's value). Temptation.

Email catchup

It is halfway through Tuesday, and I have finally caught up on my email. I only took 4 days off last week!

Froggy Update

Still no sign of lost froggy.

Kim spent most of yesterday tracing her route around Swansea on the day they lost froggy with a map and the yellow pages. She rang every possible shop and lost property office, asking about froggy. Everyone was incredibly kind and understanding, leaving the phone to hunt shelves and distant parts of their stores for a little, green, lost frog. No luck. No hints at where froggy might be.

Jack has been very sad, but he's only 3 so it's mostly when he's tired and he soon forgets. He still thinks froggy will turn up, but I have been scouring the internet for a replacement and not found anything quite the same. (Who knew there were so many frogs on the web?) I will continue to watch Ebay, hoping for a Tesco's beanie frog to appear. At the moment he has latched on to bunny rabbit, but this morning he also brought purrpurr down to breakfast so it feels as though he's cuddling his other soft toys as just close seconds to froggy.

Maybe it's time to start sticking up fly posters...

Windy Swansea Bay

Really windy today - so I was glad of the shelter in the Clyne Valley cycling home.

Lost Toys

A top article about your child losing their favourite toy - a position we now find ourselves in. Good advice herein (my favourite being along the lines of buying 3 or 4 backups when you realise your child has a favourite toy that they take with them everywhere).

More Floor

As requested, a photo of the other room's floor, which I finished on Friday. Again, I just need to do the edging. The hifi is going to get a high quality rack, and we'll need to buy some leather arm chairs to go in here one day. It's nice to have the flooring to one floor of the house almost finished, and also to have some music downstairs.

Have you seen this frog?

Jack has lost his frog. It is his favourite cuddly toy, and his constant companion, but he dropped him somewhere in Swansea town centre. So far, he's not as perturbed as I thought he would be - I don't think that he truly believes froggy is lost. Froggy has found his way home before now. I hope he sleeps tonight without his cuddly friend.

Rhossili Bay

Where the summer bass are plentiful...

Time Off

Kim's blubbing away to Home and Away, Jack's in bed, and I'm a bit bored. I'm very tempted to check my email, but I know that will take me back into work mode, so I'll stay clear. My gaming PC is dead and I'm bored of the internet for 5 minutes. What to do..... catch up with some podcasts, text some buddies, review some photos, maybe work on Jack's video. It's good to have time.

Entrance Floor

Finished except for the edging. Looks great!

Floored Me

My current DIY project: laying an oak floor in the entrance hall and the downstairs reception room. I've pretty much completed this room now (the entrance hall) except for some edging. It took most of the weekend, but was a very enjoyable job. I like a bit of woodwork and it looks stunning, so I should stick up a photo of the completed room soon. I'm supposed to be taking some time off next week, so no doubt most of that will be spent finishing the floor in the next room and getting on with lots of other jobs Kim has planned for me. It's nice to see these big changes happening to the house - it becomes individual, and more of a home.

Rhossili

Some snaps from this evening.

No Snow

The snow actually left sooner than predicted - most of it had gone by the end of Wednesday. There's still some around on westward facing slopes and hills, but not a lot. There are no signs of the threatened second dump on Friday either, and the mild weather is moving in this weekend. I'm hoping to go fishing next week if I take a few days off. My first fishing of 2006 if I'm lucky. (I don't really care too much if I don't actually catch anything either!)

Whitesprings Fisheries.

Welsh Snow

Snow in Wales is so fleeting - notoriously so in North Wales, where plans for a winter weekend become plans for a wet weekend when the wind changes direction. I feel like I should get out and do something in it, like take Jack sledging, build a snowman, walk in the Brecons or explore Gower. Instead I have commitments to indoorsy activities like long meetings and the like. By the time I'm free the snow will have gone. I guess cycling to work was pretty nice though. How can I get out of the city before Saturday?

St David's Day Snow

We had a bit of snow last night, which made cycling into work this morning tricky - it took an hour instead of 30 minutes. Snow clogs everything up, making it feel like you're on an exercise bike with the friction knob tightened up.

I didn't get any good photos, but the route was very picturesque. Snowy woods, snow dropping from trees, silence, blue sky, frozen ponds. All very pretty, but not the sort of things that make particularly interesting photos.

Snow

I'm not in a hurry to get out of bed & onto my bike this morning.