Home Thoughts Weekly

Goodness me, those posh chocolates are a dim and distant memory now. Hopefully, thanks to those generous folks at Appliances Online , some of you will shortly be wallowing in recipe books and chocolates galore. Just remember though that if you get a washing machine I’ll be a bit miffed as mine’s still on the blink. After a traumatic December I was hoping for a period of calm, but January’s been just as tumultuous... Ma , feisty old bird that she is, has coped amazingly with having one arm in a sling. Her delight when she managed to put a bra on for the first time was only marred by her dismay that she’d put it on inside out. At this stage, I’d have thought ‘What the heck’ and left it, but Ma went through the whole laborious process again! The hospital lost her follow-up appointment (you knew they’d do that, didn’t you?) but she’s now back in the system. All things considered she’s been a real star. My little sister was rushed into hospital last week with chest pains and treated...

Doh! There is nothing like bragging in cyberspace about how brave you are to be put to the test. When Tom announced that both the weather conditions and the tides were ideal for a run in the boat I went a bit deaf and pretended it wasn’t going to happen. To be fair to Tom he was quite prepared to go out in it by himself, but that’s a bit of a slippery slope. Pushed to the edge, you discover each other’s strengths and weaknesses and how you work as a team (or not, if you’re going to the Antarctic with James Cracknell) and we’ve always done very well together at sea. So there we were, the one bright, sunny morning this week, sitting in the car. I was speechless with fear, trying to control my quivering bottom lip (and my quivering bottom) whilst Tom gently explained the plan. I still couldn’t speak in the dinghy, and sheer terror meant I needed a wee as soon as we got aboard. It was after I’d had a swear at the loo, because it’s so difficult to flush, and Tom, sounding rather s...

Well, what didn’t the Llanelli half marathon throw at us? A severe weather warning, rain, freezing cold, hailstones and wind. By the six mile mark I was soaking wet and being pelted with hail and by the ten mile mark I felt as if I was running with someone else on my back. Then the sun came out and, for a moment, I thought it might be a fairly benign jog to the finish except that the wind picked up even more dramatically. A huge gust pushed me sideways off the track and sand, blowing up from the beach, scoured my face. By mile twelve I was finding it hard enough to stand up, let alone run. At this point a nasty little hill spikes the mix even further. I felt dizzy, disorientated and had visions of walking the rest of the course... and then I saw the finish! Now, in my mind I’m flying at this point, although video footage shows Mrs Clumpy-clumpison hobbling towards the line. Anyway, I managed to find something in the tank and clocked up a chip time of 2:17:05, a personal best, (...

Well, it’s not every woman who can say she got crabs from the man across the road for her anniversary. And straight out the sea at that! Mr Across-the-Road turned up at the weekend with a basket of freshly-caught crabs as a thank you for a couple of small favours we’d been happy to do. There was a worrying moment when Tom and I looked at the crabs in our sink and they looked up at us and waved little crabby claws and I thought we might have to keep them as pets before we overcame our unease and dispatched them with great respect. And, I have to say they were absolutely sublime with Tom’s homemade aïoli and some chilled white wine. On our anniversary, St David’s Day, Tom brought me a cup of tea in bed and a bunch of daffs for every year of our marriage – how lovely was that? Only four days to go now before the Llanelli half-marathon so I’m getting nervous. My training’s gone well but not without event. Honestly, you’d think that here on the west Wales coast I’d be able to run ...