Daily Grind Wonderings, wanderings and waffle

Finally managed to get back home, from the wedding in Glasgow:

Take 1 - left hotel, took taxi to Glasgow airport. £20. Forgot passport, that I’d put in hotel safe. Taxi back to hotel, pickup passport. £20.

Take 2 - take bus back to Glasgow airport. £4.20. Flight has been cancelled by BMIBaby, go through some alternatives but none get me home that day, so book onto a FlyBE flight at 7am next morning. £60. Book into airport hotel and have a meal and a beer. £70.

Take 3 - flight takes off thirty minutes late, but at last get home to Wales. Also got rid of Scottish money, with no problems, unlike some of the toss-pot retailers in England, who moan about getting Scottish money.

Anyway - the wedding was fantastic, didn’t take long for me to tear-up during the ceremony; neither during the groom’s speech, where I got a mention! Lots of beautiful people there, especially Jacquie who was stunning. For some reason - Just Another Day by Jon Secada was running through my mind - so I’ve got it off iTunes, just for old-time’s sake.

A series of thoughts, from train-travels.

Why do some people find it impossible to sit still for more than five minutes? Bloke on train next to me: scratched, moved his legs, moved his inhaler, adjusted jacket, sniffed and coughed for the whole Birmingham to Oxford train journey.

Why are accents in certain locations? Travelling from Wales up to Leeds - I encountered spoken Welsh, Hereford-country and Leeds/Manchester accents.

Why do we even think? Why do we exist?

I’m now very tired after a fun few days.

Snow in Leeds, drinking too much red wine last night and suffering on public transport today - were some highs and lows.

Also went to the cinema to watch El Orfanato (The Orphanage), a Spanish film. Anyway - really good film, bit like The Others.

Whilst I prepare a new theme for Wordpress 2.5.

The clock is coming along. Done most of the painting, next step is to fix the clock mechanism to one of the panels. Also need to find a good Letraset, to paint on the numbers.

Sadly, I won’t be able to take it to the wedding, as I can’t take it on the plane. Will have to think about that.

An intro:

My cousin had a baby boy (Oscar) three months ago (in Australia) - all went really well. About six weeks ago she developed mastitis and was given a strong dose of antibiotics, however these caused a severe liver failure for her. She turned yellow - if you’ve ever seen somebody in this jaundiced state - then you’ll know how freaky it is. She was put into hospital and slowly started to get better, with her bilirubin levels coming down. I thought all was looking much better.

However - found out that during a check-up her doctor discovered a breast-lump, which the doctor decided to take a sample for diagnosis. Taking the sample, however, caused my cousin to bleed (apparently it happens with liver damage) really badly. The doctor managed to stem the bleeding, but now my cousin is back in hospital as her bilirubin levels have shot back up to dangerous levels (400+).

I really hope she pulls through, as we’re all very very worried.

Getting even more $ to the £:

Wonder when the $ will hit the bottom.

Really interesting factual book about a journalist travelling to the Congo, following the original route of Stanley. I’m not sure that Africa appeals to me any more than it did, after reading it.

Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart

Finally a decent performance from England. If only they’d have played with the same level of interest against Wales and the (shocking) performance against Scotland - then it might be us at the top of the Six Nations table and not Wales.

I will be supporting Wales now. Come ON! Need them to win by more than three points, so that England come in second place.

I think Wilkinson has had his day, Cipriani is the new man on the block. Balshaw is not a full-back and Noon had a stonking game.

Post-edit - superb, well done Wales - one for Ray Gravelle! (also for the English defensive coach, and for the New Zealand manager).

Found this useful site - Kayak, it searches a whole range of sites and airline companies. It has some really useful tools, like the charts, to show you what dates might be cheaper than those you intend on going.