1112.18 PROPER CHRIMBO

I'm just getting over my hangover from last night's festive night out with my bestest bud, Mr C.

Christmas 2011 is almost ready. Morticia has been stressing about being ready and this has meant extra pressure to make sure everything gets done as swiftly as possible. Although we are almost done, except for food and I have to sort out a few bits myself.

I have 4 days of work between now and the big day, but I'm on lates so that makes it difficult. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, the plan is to go to Iceland, Morrisons and Tescos. Sounds like hell to me.

Why do we put ourselves through all this shit year in year out? It's stressful, unpleasant and in the end usually doesn't live up to expectations. I'd just do the basics, as long as you are with friends and family what else to you need? We are all searching for the perfect Christmas, but is there such a thing?

1111.19 MY BIG DAY OUT

I've previously said that I almost never spend much time alone. So when Morticia planned a day out with her Mum and the kids I jumped at the chance to to go out and about on my own. We are staying at my Mother-in-law's so my day out, unless I planned to jump on a train or bus, would be in the town of St Neots. The town centre is only 20 minutes walk, it was dry and a little misty which made for a lovely walk.

I'd been looking forward to the idea for weeks, it's not a big deal but the solitude was really therapeutic. I had lunch in the local cafe, a mooch around the charity shops and visited a few pubs and sampled a few ales. Reading my cycling magazine in the pub whilst drinking ale all on my own was absolute bliss.

I returned and followed my big day out with a visit to the chippy, mmmmmm.

For those interested in the ales;

Elgood's Black Dog (3.6% ABV) - A proper English mild, smooth and flavourful.

in the Coach House, St Neots.

Potbelly Brewery's Potbelly Best (3.8% ABV) - Easy drinking bitter.

in the Pig & Falcon, St Neots

Young's London Gold (4.8% ABV) - A light refreshing ale.

in the Cambridgeshire Hunter, Eynesbury.

1111.18 SINGLE FATHER

Sometimes it's advantageous to sent Morticia away to her Mum's for the week. Her ME can take it's toll on her so a short restbite break is in order. This week, following a visit from her Mum, she went down to the little town of St Neots for the week and left me home with the kids.

It probably sounds like I get quite a lot out of this, you know, suddenly being on my own, doing my own thing etc. this couldn't be further from the truth. The kids, even though they're older are still a handful. Add to that the fact that I still go into work (albeit for half days). Rest for me? Not a chance. It's been all go until 22:30 each night when I have myself a chance to catch up with my Sky+ recordings. Come bed time I find that I don't enjoy sleeping alone (I found this out many years ago).

Today, in fact tonight I drive down to be with her. We return home on Sunday.

1111.06 BONFIRES, WITCHES & CHRISTMAS TREES

I'm more than a little annoyed that my mobile blogging app, BlogPress, has not worked since I updated my iPhone to iOS5. I am using the native Blogger app to compose this for formatting later on a PC.

Anyway, this is not the purpose of my post today. It's the beginning of November and that means Guy Fawkes night, the traditional celebration of a failed Catholic terrorist plot from 1605. Whilst for us there was no bonfire (we rarely have one) we did set of some fireworks whilst down visiting my Mother in Law.

That's where the witches come in, well one in particular. The aforementioned Mother in Law who returned with us to stay for the week. It's been a difficult preparation getting the house together for the visit. I'm hoping Morticia will get a lot from the visit, at the end of the week she will be returning with her mother to St Neots for the following week. It will mean rest bite for us both, I think we both need it.

I noticed over the last few weeks Christmas trees have been appearing and television adverts have turned to seasonal subjects. I'm not a big fan of Christmas commercialism and I hate how early the 'silly' season starts. How long until Christmas starts in August?

1110.30 A DIFFICULT TIME

I've had a very difficult few weeks. I suffered with a nasty chest infection which knocked me off my feet for a while, I had to take a week off work (and anyone who knows me knows that it takes a lot to keep me from work). On top of that we had more difficulties with our teenager. Thankfully we managed to sort out most of the issues, the challenges remain of course, as they do for most parents of teenage girls.

There are changes afoot in our outlook too, Morticia is being a lot more open about her condition with a view to learning to live with it and come to terms with her life. She is now accepting that she is disabled and she has to live to her abilities and not push herself. I find myself accepting the fact that I am officially her primary carer and also the target for many of her frustrations. Juggling work, being a parent and a carer isn't easy, in fact it is sometimes frustrating and feels impossible. The last few weeks I've had all that on top of illness and teenage issues, thankfully I managed to get through. I feel drained at this moment but determined to make Morticia's life more comfortable.

http://www.actionforme.org.uk/family-and-friends/family/i-am-an-adult/i-am-the-husband-wife-or-partner

1109.14 MOBILE BLOGGING

Mobile blogging has always been my holy grail and never quite attainable. Emailed posts were always a make do and when I finally got an iPhone I thought it would finally be realised, that is until I found out that there wasn't an 'app for that'. At least not an official one. I purchased 'Blogpress' which worked but the formatting wasn't quite there.

Today I found out that Blogger have finally released an official app. This post is the first from there and so a test for format and function.
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UPDATE: I've found the official app a little disappointing. It lacks formatting and layout tools, you can only add pictures to the foot of a post. Blogpress is not perfect but it has the basic picture (but not text) formatting tools. Until Blogger update the app I'll be sticking with Blogpress. Maybe one day we'll get to that holy grail of blogging.

1108.30 BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND

As we sometimes do, the family decided to go south to visit Morticia's mother in St Neots. Even though I'd already returned to work I considered this part of my holiday. I booked a couple of extra leave days and we went down Thursday evening. We were late setting off because I had to take Morticia's dad and his dog to the vets.

On the Sunday Morticia's mother and her partner took our girls to a local air show. This gave Morticia and me some time together. This almost never happens, we decided to go into town - they were having a little festival or fayre.

There's a pub in St Neots called the Pig & Falcon, we've been past it a dozen times and I've always fancied popping in. Today we could, and did. It was a lovely little ale house which was full of character and looked like it had live bands on at weekends. Whilst there I sampled a couple of local ales;

• Potbelly Best
• Citra

We decided to stay an extra night so we could return and sample the atmosphere of this place on a night out. Sadly Morticia's ME kicked in and pit paid to our plans.

Whilst down there I love to rummage in the local charity shops. Managed to bag myself Stephen Fry's biography for £3.

The original plan was to come home on Bank Holiday Monday. In the end we left on the Tuesday.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

1108.25 ALES OF WALES

I always buy a few bottles of local ales on my holidays to remind me of my time there. This year's haul includes;

• Tomos Watkin Cwrw Braf
• Tomos Watkin Cwrw Haf
• Brains Rev James
• Brains Original Stout
• Felinfoel Double Dragon
• Rhymney Dark

Whilst in Wales I enjoyed;

• Brains Bitter
• Brains SA
• Brains Black
• Gold Wing

I've discovered that Morrisons are going to be selling Rev James, so that I can now get Brains SA, SA Gold and Brains Original Stout here in Yorkshire. I'm also intending to order some ales via mail order from Tomos Watkins with whom I've been conversing with on Twitter.

I'm Recording my real ale adventure on an iPhone app called 'Brewski Me'.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

1108.22 BACK TO REALITY

Work to live or live to work? Ask me that 20 years ago I'd probably have answered the latter. Nowadays I know the answer. Work is a tool for the good things in life, once you've paid all the bills.

I now have to go back to work. I don't want to go, I've enjoyed myself too much this holiday. I've lived the good life but I know that must end. Besides if I don't get back on my bike soon I'll need to buy a larger size trousers.

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1108.16 POSTCARD FROM CEI NEWYDD

As soon as I arrived in Cei Newydd (New Quay) I knew I'd arrived home. It's like my regular life is all fake and as soon as I get here I come alive.

The excitement builds as we pass through Aberaeon, the colourful row of houses that adorn the main road. We then turn off the A487, pass the caravan park where we used to stay years ago, then the Seahorse Inn where we turn right. Passed the Black Lion, we then get our first proper look at the bay and the famous stone pier (our first look is from the main A487 on our approach), the lines of boats, we pass the Natwest bank and then our beloved Penwig Hotel which will be our home for our stay here. Parking is 'round the back so we continue on past the shops, turn the corner passed the always closed Blue Bell pub, passed the Watch House, Mariner Restaurant, Chocolate shop, they're all still here as if time stands still when we leave until we return. The £1.20 (used to be a pound) shop and finally the Dolau Inn. We turn up the drive to the rear of the Penwig where the cottage is (our home). We've arrived.

Our week here was utter relaxation. I don't know another place on earth which makes me feel so at ease. If I could make it happen I'd leave Yorkshire forever and live here. Days on the beach, swimming in the sea, drinks in the local pubs, the atmosphere and air. Also, one of the benefits of staying in the heart of the place is that later in the evening most of the tourists from the nearby camps and the holiday park go back and you are left with the real heart of Cei Newydd. The people are friendly, welcoming and I am so jealous that they get to live in such a wonderful place.

Then there's the Penwig itself which is a great pub which serves great food and Brains beers (a favourite of mine). The pub would be nothing without it's staff and management. Mike, Chris and Sam have always made us feel so welcome, another reason we keep returning.

We took a boat trip as usual, but this year we opted to go with the SeaMor and we are so glad we did. It was so much more personal (smaller group than other trips) and a great experience. Brett and Luke were awesome.

Sunday lunch in the Wellington Inn has become a tradition which we enjoy, plus a couple of pints of Double Dragon.

This year we rediscovered the Black Lion, Dylan Thomas' favourite watering hole. This was mainly because it was halfway up the hill and a good stop off for Morticia with her condition. The beer was crap (no local/Welsh ales) and they'd stopped serving food. The pub was for sale so not at it's best. Maybe next year it'll be improved.

Of course the holiday ends too soon and we have to leave. It's almost heart breaking. This year to soften the blow we decided to visit Cillgerran Castle on our way home (well not quite on our way). My heart sank as we drove past the lion at the side of the road signifying that we were back in England.

Our return to Cei Newydd is planned and if everything goes to plan we may even be there more than once next year.

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