Off in the caravan again

Friday saw us wending our way westwards again, this time to the delightful town of Aberaeron just south of Aberystwyth. The campsite here was smaller than the one we stayed at in Barmouth but had all the facilities we needed plus a pleasant coastal walk of about a mile into the town. Keith and I have been to Aberaeron before on our Sundays out. The last time I remember visiting was on a cold and rainy day, but this weekend  the weather did not disappoint, apart from a couple of showers and some wind at times.

The sea defences have been improved and it seems as if a lot of money has been spent around the town itself. Many of the Georgian houses are beautifully painted in delicate ice-cream colours and not so delicate colours too, but to equally pleasing effect.

Keith was able to zip around comfortably on his bike and Paddy loved being able to charge down the field at the speed of light on the couple of occasions that it was quiet enough to let him and walking up some of the side streets, we could almost have imagined ourselves in a French town.

Even the toilets were newly painted and sparkling! 

I even spotted a lovely little boat in the harbour which would suit me down to the ground...

or maybe not.

Engineers

Got this in my inbox this morning from TK. Enjoy.

Understanding Engineers - Take One
Two engineering students were walking across a university campus when one said, 'Where did you get such a great bike?'
The second engineer replied, 'Well, I was walking along yesterday, minding my own
business, when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike, threw it to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, 'Take what you want.'
The second engineer nodded approvingly and said, 'Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn't have fitted you anyway.'
Understanding Engineers - Take Two
To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty.
To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
Understanding Engineers - Take Three
A priest, a doctor, and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers. The engineer fumed, 'What's with those blokes? We must have been waiting for fifteen minutes!' The doctor chimed in, 'I don't know, but I've never seen such inept golf!' The priest said, 'Here comes the greens keeper. Let's have a word with him.'
He said, 'Hello, George! what's wrong with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?' The greens keeper replied, 'Oh, yes. That's a group of blind fire fighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime.'
The group fell silent for a moment. The priest said, 'That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight.' The doctor said, 'Good idea. I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist colleague and see if there's anything he can do for them.' The engineer said, 'Why can't they play at night?'
Understanding Engineers - Take Four
What is the difference between mechanical engineers and civil engineers?
Mechanical engineers build weapons and civil engineers build targets.
Understanding Engineers - Take Five
The graduate with a science degree asks, 'Why does it work?'
The graduate with an engineering degree asks, 'How does it work?'
The graduate with an accounting degree asks, 'How much will it cost?'
The graduate with an arts degree asks, 'Do you want fries with that?'
Understanding Engineers - Take Six
Three engineering students were gathered together discussing the possible designers
of the human body.
One said, 'It was a mechanical engineer. Just look at all the joints.'
Another said, 'No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous system has many thousands of electrical connections.'
The last one said, 'No, actually it had to have been a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?'
Understanding Engineers - Take Seven
Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.

Teeth!

Sunday was memorable for me biting into an apple and losing a chunk of filling from one of my molars. I have done this before and there is little of the tooth left but enough, I hope to hold another filling. I just can't bear the thought of having to actually lose any of my teeth. Since then, my tongue has become gradually more and more sore from the sharp bit of tooth which it catches on whenever I talk.
Luckily, I only had two clients today and none yesterday, of course, as it was a bank holiday but I did have a longish  lunch with a friend and that involved a fair amount of talking.
Tonight, the sore tongue means that I shall be talking as little as possible, which Keith might be quite pleased about (although he would know better than to admit it, of course!) and tomorrow, I am off to the dentist.
What joy!

Keys in another context

Something on television the other night turned our conversation to wife-swapping parties, the kind where everyone throws their car keys into a bowl and then takes pot luck.
 "I suppose you've been to lots of those parties?" I said (joking!)
He looked thoughtful.
"Yes, but the trouble was, I never managed to get a decent car."
So, how do we break it to him that that really isn't the point of the exercise?

A Mother's Story: In memory of Hugh

A Mother's Story: In memory of Hugh

Washing up - or not

Picture the scene: a bowl of washing up water still in the sink. You can tell it's washing up water by the bubbles floating on the top. On the draining board, four inches from the bowl, Keith has placed his dirty plate - not in the bowl, but  four inches away from it on the draining board.
WHY??? I ask.
He answers:
 "Well I wasn't sure it was washing up water, you might have been bleaching the sink" (Not sure how osmosis was supposed to occur between bowl and sink, but I let that pass.)
"Well, the water might have been there for you to wash your socks in."  (Wot???)
It is clearly a man-thing, so if any male reader can explain to me why men find it totally impossible to put dirty dishes in the right place, I would greatly appreciate it.
Mind you, at least he now leaves them on the right side of the kitchen  - progress of a kind.

Mobile Keith

One of the drawbacks of Keith having foot and leg problems is that he can't walk more than a few yards at a time so walks together are out. If we are on holiday, we get as close as possible to the local chateau or other attraction in the car and then I nip out and take myself of on a quick tour round it, while Keith waits in the car. However, before we took our caravan on its maiden tour at the weekend, he bought himself a folding bike.
(Here he is having a quick practice.)                                                                    

So, we packed our bags and set off on Friday for a very nice caravan park two miles outside Barmouth, in spite of the worrying weather forecast, which actually proved to be not nearly as bad as predicted. It is amazing how being only fifty odd miles away from home seems just as much of a break as being much further away and we had a lovely, peaceful weekend, not doing very much but enjoying not doing it - if you see what I mean. This caravan site was only a few minutes walk away from the sea and from the promenade, which goes all the way into Barmouth, which meant that Keith and I could walk Paddy together, me on Shank's

Pony and Keith on his bike. For the first time in four years, Keith is mobile!                                                 

He's not quite ready for backflips yet though!