Happy New Year

I really was quite rubbish this new year in so many ways - but particularly with my taking-of-pictures. I blame it mostly on being properly ill and in some small part on having the worst hangover of my entire life on New Years Day.

BUT we did have fun at Bryn Melyn. We rejoyced in the gas-fueled aga and had a lovely no-greenery Bill-meal along with a quite hefty session of early-onset power ballads. Bonnie Tyler made an appearance at just 8pm and was followed by 4 hours of baton twirling, backward crabs and singing into our knitting needle + goats cheese microphones. The boys went to bed at 10pm not being able to stand a moment longer of Elaine & Barbara duets. The girls collapsed into bed at 2 minutes past midnight after a threeway redition of auld langs eye and we all went off to the beach the next morning for a blustery walk on harlech beach.

It was Tark's first ever beach walk....

....and she loved it!!!

Dobbie and I are lying in a sand dune taking deep breaths at this moment (thanks for the company dobbie - nobody else gave a monkeys)

Tiny, Tarka and I had a marvellous walk the next day whilst Dobs chilled on the sofa with Bill and rachel. Despite my advice Tarka got "introduced to sheep". Funnily enough she don't recall well when off the lead infront of a herd of sheep. You could actually see her brain short-circuiting as her body started taking up sheep-dog poses that she didn't know how to control and then had a little go at herding them off into oblivion all by herself with nobody to offer assistance. I stood in the field sweating and shaking waiting for the farmers gun to go off and after what seemed like an eternity but was probably 2 minutes she suddenly came back for no particular reason at all.....and Tiny and I agreed not to fall out about it and had a discussion about the fact she needs to be slightly more sensible in the future..........

(Tarks - performed repeated dramatic drops into the grass tussocks on the way home due to unnacustomed sheep-herding exhaustion)

But back to the high points - Bills German accent, Rachels introduction to "the inner circle", the fact that Lisa Is A Majorette!!!! - could she Be anymore Fantsatic???, power ballads, The Downton Jig-off, Mat putting up pictures and telling us about his car drama, the Plumber "Francis", The Gardener "what a lovely spaniel" and me gettin' chatted up just 4 days onto 2013 by a fine specimen of a welshman.

Happy New Year X