My health is doing very nicely, thank you for asking. I do have RSI in my left wrist and thumb, and it is extremely painful, but then I just add it to the pains in my back, hips and knees, so it is just something else to remind me that I am alive. Dead people have no feelings or enjoyments. I have a very pleasant drive across the Second Severn Crossing to and from work each day, and I look forward to next spring when I will actually be able to see the views. Going to and from work in the dark is a bit tedious it must be said, but I go to work with Sarah Kennedy and come home with Steve Wright and Chris Evans as company so it is not too lonely. But the traffic! I think that in the 4 weeks that I have been making the journey, there has been an average of two accidents per week in the evening that have caused me delays. Most seem to occur between J28 and J26 of the M4 and belive me, that is a pretty twist bit of motorway, and what I don't really like is the fact that the inside lane keeps disappearing as the exit, leaving me on a bit of two lane motorway. The number of drivers that suddenly change lane at the last minute is probably a contributory factor to the accidents, as is the sheer number of vehicles that seem to use the M4 to get from one bit of Newport to another, rather than the A48 or other main non motorway routes.

The Dearly Loved is still a bit down after the very sudden closure of the company that she worked for and is still out of work. A great sadness is about her and there seems little I can do to add a bit of cheer. The way the company closed, the day before slaries were due to be paid, and their terrible slowness in sending the required forms off such as P45, forms to Insolvency Service etc, does nothing to help the mood. It was a despicable act by the man that owned the company with little care for the 100 or so people and their families that depended on him. I recall a Travel Company that went bust last year, the great difference for me is that at that time the guy that owned it ensured that his staff got paid, and then he went bust. End result is the same, no job, but at least those poor people had a bit of a cushion. I can think of no good redeaming things to say about Andy Stanton owner of the now defunct Amethyst Motors where the Dearly Loved (and her Trainee) were employed.

Today is the day that the Trainee goes for her graduation for passing her Sports Conditioning & Coaching Degree from UWE. We shall troop off to Gloucester cathedral and look proudly on as she is awarded her degree. Happy Days and well done to her, very well done.


On a tangent I was musing over the membership of the BNP, as you do, and looked to find that no one I know is on it, and that there are very very few people as member where I live. What does surprise me though, is the furore that has surrounded the leak of the list to the public domain. Living in what I proudly believe to be an open and caring society, I have no issue with anyone meing a member, that is his or her choice. But then to complain loudly when people find that you are a member seems distinctly odd. I only join organisations that I don't mind if people find out that I am or was a member. I guess I am just not political enough in my outlook, i personally do not care if someone has a different political viewpoint to me, after all, that is their loss, and I guess that it is only their lower intelligence or lack of knowledge that gives them their different viewpoint (sic).

Seriously, I really could care less what your religion is, your politics are, or your ethnicity. The world is too small for diferences to be divisive. So, the next POTUS is going to be black/mixed race. So What? As far as I could tell, for me, and I took only a casual interest, he seemed to be less 'agressive' than his opponent, and so that was a positive I thought. So the current F1 champ is ethnically similar. Again, so what? He damn near won last season and did actually do it this season, despite some dodgy marshalling decisions. He won because he deserved to through skill and for no other reason, and I applaud that.