Watch the wall my darling, as the bloke in the bobble hat sails by....

As the weather hasn't been too great today, I thought I'd do my best to get out and about. I decided to go to Clevedon and have a walk along the seafront and the lovely pier (pictured left). Shortly after this picture was taken a lot more people came on the pier and it echoed to the sounds of the sea, children's laughter and angler's...er...angling. Wales is in the distance and it is between the sea and the sky as Basil Fawlty would have put it. Unfortunately I did not see any herds of wildebeest majestically roaming across the Savannah only because they are not native round 'ere.

The title of today's blog is a "clever" rewording of an old smuggler's poem. The poem goes "watch the wall my darling, as the gentleman go by". Roughly translated in "The Fast Show" style it means, "you didn't see me, right?". I took the below picture of a bloke in a bobble hat sailing past Clevedon pier (pictured below right). Although it is probably not fair to cast aspersions on a man's character he reminded me of a smuggler to look at. Not that I've seen many smugglers, as they weren't prevalent in Eynsham, Cardiff, Caerleon, Weston or Bristol really. He's probably a lovely bloke called....I don't know, Jeremy and he could be an excellent and upstanding Chartered Accountant with a wife and 2.4 children (grown up) for all I know. He seemed to be enjoying himself and I was slightly envious. Envious of his sailing time on the River Severn (Glan Hafren for Welsh readers) as opposed to his smuggling activities. I don't know where I'm going with this whole tangent so I think I must end this and return to normality. So the overall summary today was that I had a good time, a nice walk and a nice "pier".

The rest of this week will be a mixed bag of stuff with young adults tomorrow night, creative ministries Wednesday, life group Thursday and possibly a curry with my band Mr Big Stuff on Friday. I like to stay busy and I'm happiest when I'm out and about. I've had my drive for the day and I will just relax at home for the rest of today before my return to work tomorrow.

A great day at Destiny, abject City and a minor prang for Ethelred....

Today has been interesting to say the least. This morning was another great service at Destiny and Pastor Mike continued with the third part of "The Heart Of The Matter" series. The praise and worship also went up another level and with the Pastors on holiday next week yours truly will be leading worship with Iain next week.

The City's great form came to a shuddering halt with a dire 2-0 defeat away to Doncaster Rovers yesterday. Needless to say our team manager Dave Jones didn't mince his words in the post match interviews. Hopefully we can regain our form for the top of the table clash in a fortnight against Newcastle United at Cardiff City Stadium.

Due to an error in my spatial awareness I ended up driving into one of our gateposts at the bottom of our front drive at home. Ethelred is bruised but unbowed and I expect the black marks will come off with a bit of washing and waxing. My housemate Jan did a similar thing when she first moved in so I have joined an elite club! When I can afford to I will look to get the bumper replaced, but thankfully the damage wasn't more severe.

I am now editing the sound files for the church website and I am aiming to finish them today so that I am ahead of the game this week. For some strange reason I am also watching "Titanic". I don't know why really as it involves an implausible love story, an iceberg, a big ship, a big ship hitting an iceberg, an iceberg that sinks said ship and Leonardo Di Caprio dying from hypothermia (cue sobbing, wailing and gnashing of teeth from his fans....I'm not one...hence my overt sarcasm). Whilst I appreciate the Titanic disaster was truly dreadful and a huge waste of life, the film is truly dreadful and a huge waste of time. Ooh, I'm so harsh! Maybe I should rename myself Barry Norman......Near, far, wherever you are...I believe that the hot dogs go onnnnnn....(apologies to Celine Dion).

Comedy in a Kraftwerk styley.......

Well, what can I say? I haven't laughed so much in ages, certainly not to the point where it hurt! Bill Bailey was superb last night and Shawn and I had a great time. One of the notable highlights was one of the encores where Bill and fellow comedian Kevin Eldon did a medley of songs by The Wurzels and Wham in the style of the German electropop band Kraftwerk. They did something similar on the Part Troll DVD where they did the Hokey Cokey! I hope this show gets recorded and put on DVD because it was truly brilliant.

Due to the fact that I didn't get back until midnight I didn't complete the blog last night, but I did end up having a Facebook message chat with my housemate Sam who is loving her new life in Australia. I was really pleased to hear that she got there safely, but on the down side she is currently experiencing the rarity of wet weather in Australia. As Crowded House once sang, "Everywhere you go, you always take the weather with you".

I've paid my respects at Mrs FlyingVJenks grave this morning after visiting my favourite Italian barbers in Westbury-on-Trym. Radically, my haircut has moved out of the 1970's into the present day as my centre parting has now gone and this should now put an end to me being mistaken for a young Brian Blessed/Gimli the Dwarf. I am going to spend the rest of the day getting stuff ready for church and I will listen to the next exciting instalment of Championship football between Doncaster Rovers and Cardiff City. Hopefully the City can keep their exceptionally good start to the season going. A win would set us up nicely for the top of the table game in a fortnight at home to Newcastle United at CCS. Also a quick hello to my mum, who I can see is currently online! Hi mum, I'll speak to you later this evening. Byeeeee!

Time for a nice, cool Frappucino...

After a long and busy day at work I picked up my friend Woon-Bing in town and drove to lifegroup in Westbury-on-Trym only to find that it was at Aztec West Starbucks! Mental note to self...remember to read the lifegroup schedule and carefully watch DNews on Sunday's....Anyway we had a great night together and I enjoyed a Strawberries and Cream Frappucino (pictured, not actual size....obviously).

Cardiff City's unbeaten run continued last night with another win this time over Bristol Rovers. The City won 3-1 with goals courtesy of Michael Chopra, Peter Whittingham and young Josh Magennis. It was the first goal that Josh had scored since graduating to the first team from the academy system. Quality! Special mention must also go to City's new signing, midfielder Solomon Taiwo who has joined us today from Dagenham & Redbridge. Taiwo is a Bluebird, Taiwo is a Bluebird, a lalala....ok I'll stop now...

Well I must go as I need to sleep (only one more sleep to Bill Bailey!) and I have to leave early tomorrow to refuel my car. You probably didn't need or want to know that, but hey sometimes you need to mention the mundane stuff amidst the interesting activities. Did I mention I was going to see Bill Bailey tomorrow?........

Midweek with the drizzle...

Drizzle (or as the Cornish like to call it, mizzle) has been the order of the day today. However, I was snug inside a warm air conditioned office safe from the elements so I can't grumble really.

I am writing this blog now as Creative Ministries was cancelled and so unusually for a Wednesday evening I'm home. I am currently listening to Cardiff City's Carling Cup tie against Bristol Rovers on Radio Wales and City are 1-0 up courtesy of the in form Michael Chopra. New signing Kelvin Etuhu is playing well in a reasonably strong Cardiff City line up, which is only missing Joe Ledley, Jay Bothroyd and Mark Hudson who have all been rested tonight. Hopefully City will win tonight otherwise I'll get some stick in the morning from my friends who support Rovers!

Today's picture was taken at The Millenium Stadium on Saturday by yours truly during the U2 gig I went to. Amidst all the lights, you may recognise Adam Clayton and Bono on the big video screen! I have been to some amazing gigs over the last 3 years from stadium gigs such as U2 and Iron Maiden, to intimate club gigs with Wilko Johnson and Michael Schenker. Steeleye Span are also touring again in December and I will probably catch their show in Weston. I am also looking forward to seeing Magnum, Gun, Wolfsbane and The Quireboys at the O2 academy in Bristol. The O2 academy has been a great venue for me after seeing Airbourne, The Stone Gods, UFO, Saxon and The Wonderstuff there this year. In fact I liked the Stone Gods so much that I went to see their gig at the Fleece & Firkin in Bristol a few months later. Live music, you can't beat it! But before that, it's Bill Bailey!

I'll have a return ticket to Trevarno please......

As today has been reasonably normal, I thought I would comment on the excellent progress that the Helston Railway Preservation Society have made at their Trevarno headquarters. The below picture shows the construction of the new platform at Trevarno station, which is currently the northern terminus of this project. Thanks to a loyal band of volunteers and with track and platform materials kindly donated by Network Rail, part of a line destined to remain as a footnote in the Dr Beeching cuts of the 1960's is making an unlikely comeback 45 years after tracklifting finished.

I have also included a picture of the original enamel sign that used to be located at Gwinear Road, the long closed former junction station for the Helston branch. Whilst the elements have had a good attempt at ravaging its appearance, it is fantastic that this artifact from Cornish railway history has survived long after the station site itself was closed and flattened in the mid 1960's.

Railway preservation seems to be booming at the moment especially with the GWSR at Toddington now making significant progress towards extending northwards to Broadway. I am excited at having the chance to experience two lines that have survived redevelopment unlike many others that are now housing estates, roads or industrial estates. My passion for railways was ignited as a child when I used to wander past the long since demolished and derelict remains of Eynsham station in Oxfordshire as well as summer walks with my family along abandoned railway trackbeds near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. Unlike those particular lines which are closed forever, Helston and Toddington are at least returning their respective lands to the use that they were originally designed for. So as the blog title says, "I'll have a return ticket to Trevarno please".

I love to gloat it, gloat it!

Work was fun today, as I had the unusual pleasure of gloating over another Cardiff City win. I took my Bluebirds flag into work and enjoyed some lighthearted banter with my somewhat dejected Bristol City supporting friends. It's round two of our Bristol odyssey with Bristol Rovers at home on Wednesday in the Carling Cup. Most Rovers fans are hoping that we can keep the score down! Today's first picture is of fast becoming City legend Chris Burke, the tormentor of Bristol City!

I said goodbye yesterday to my housemate Sam, who is currently sat down in the airport waiting to board her flight to Australia. My other housemate Jan has been texting her good luck messages tonight and we both agree that Sam is going to have a great year ahead. It was somewhat surreal pulling up on the drive in my car tonight though as Sam's car has now gone! I was also pleased that I managed to do it without crashing into Jan's car, as indeed Jan was!

I am due to have a quieter one this week after the packed schedule of the last few days. The pace picks up again on Wednesday with Creative Ministries, followed by Life Group on Thursday and then Bill Bailey (pictured) at the Bristol Hippodrome on Friday night. I have two of his comedy DVD's "Part Troll" and "Tinselworm" which are fantastic and Shawn and I can't wait!

It's Sunday and time for an omnibus edition....again....

I am writing this at the end of a busy, manic and enjoyable few days. On Thursday night both life groups joined together to have a farewell party for my house mate Sam. She was given some funny gifts such as sticky sheets for catching Cockroachs and a Bug Zapper! The following night was fun as well with another party for Sam here at the house with a few of her close friends.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of a day out with my good friend Shawn in Cardiff, as we began our week of going to shows together. We couldn't have started with a better show than Irish rock giants U2 at The Millenium Stadium. I wasn't hugely into U2 when I was younger due to the fact that my sister rather enjoyed playing "The Joshua Tree" and "Unforgettable Fire" albums ( no offence sis, I have now seen the light!). I think I started to get interested in them when "Achtung Baby" came out and songs such as "The Fly", "One" and "Even Better Than The Real Thing" grabbed my attention. With a crowd in the region of 80,000 people there singing "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" in unison, well it would have taken a hard man not to be moved by such a moment. A 2.5 hour set (including my personal favourites "Vertigo", "Get On Your Boots", "Pride" and "City of Blinding Lights"), fantastic visual effects and an amazing stage set meant that this was also possibly the best gig I have ever been to. Due to my local knowledge of where we could park for free (e.g. near Ninian Park) it meant that Shawn and I only took 2 hours to get out of Cardiff and I was home at the time that Shawn was still stuck in Cardiff when he went to see them the last time. Now all it leaves for me to say is, bring on Bill Bailey at the Bristol Hippodrome on Friday night!

This morning we had another great service at Destiny, with Pastor Mike delivering part 2 of his message series "Heart Of The Matter". The praise and worship really took off as well and we are looking forward to some exciting times ahead in the church this year. We also prayed for my housemate Sam on what was her final Sunday for a year at Destiny, especially as she will be flying out to Australia tomorrow lunch time. I am now editing the message recording from this morning in readiness for uploading it to our church web site.

Final mention must go to Cardiff City for their comprehensive 3-0 demolition of the Wurzels....er I mean Bristol City. The goalscorer's today were a Jamie McCombe own goal, Michael Chopra (again) and Gavin Rae. Peter Whittingham, Chris Burke and Paul Quinn are all pictured congratulating Michael Chopra on his 7th goal in 4 games.

I am going to have soooooo much fun at work tomorrow at the expense of my friends who are Bristol City fans. I think it's time to take a Cardiff City flag to work! In a strange twist Cardiff City also play Bristol Rovers at CCS on Wednesday night in the Carling Cup before ending the week with an away trip to Doncaster Rovers. To make today's result all the more satisfying we are currently top of the league too! I could get used to this......

Oh, this Chopra's on fire!....

I am well and truly burning the midnight oil and then some! After a busy day at work, I packed in everything that I had planned to and most importantly the podcast and full message MP3's for the church website are now finished. I also fitted in signing my lodger's agreement, checking my tyre pressure, a cheese sandwich and listening to Cardiff City's 3-1 win away to Plymouth Argyle. Michael Chopra is a goal machine for the City at present and completed a hat trick for us tonight taking his personal tally for the season to 6 goals in 4 games. A repeat performance against Bristol City on Sunday would be fantastic!

I don't know if I will get time to blog tomorrow due to work and a Creative ministries rehearsal, but don't worry I can always do another omnibus edition on Thursday! Until then, I really really must go to bed as I don't want to oversleep and be late for work....again. Goodnight.......

Monday's with Israel...

Today's blog title is a take on the title of an excellent book by Mitch Alborn called "Tuesday's with Morrie". It is a phenomenal book full of humour and sadness, but I won't spoil the surprise and would heartily recommend that you read it for yourself. Why am I spending Monday with Israel, you cry? Well, I'm not actually with one of the USA's most well known worship leaders, but I am learning one of his songs "Say So" for Creative Ministries tonight and tomorrow. Tonight I will focus on nailing all of the guitar parts and tomorrow night I will try to commit the lyrics to memory (ha! ha!) and pick out my harmony part. I expect a recording session in Weston will be on the cards soon too for both guitar and vocals, which I'm sure will be great.

Before I crack on, as my boss regularly tells me to, I am enjoying listening to an excellent digital radio station here in the UK called Planet Rock. Unsurprisingly it plays rock music from all era's and tonight's delight's have included Bad Company, Thunder, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Nickelback and Cinderella (all 80's hair metal fans are probably in dreamland right now!) This station is the sole reason I asked for a digital radio and I tuned it in that Christmas to Planet Rock immediately!

Tomorrow night will be a busy one as I will have to edit this week's message after leaving the master disc in the CD player at church. I will also be rehearsing the above song, signing my lodger's agreement, speaking to my mum and hopefully catching some of the commentary of Plymouth Argyle v Cardiff City at Home Park tomorrow night. I've already had a good luck message from my mate Rich, who supports Exeter City! I would likewise send him a similar message if Exeter were facing Swansea City. Fan banter, priceless! (or as Plymouth Argyle fans would say, "fan banter, priceless innut"? Here's to a positive result for the City. Bluebirds! Davey Jones' Barmy Army! (...I'd better have a lie down now.....)

Another great day at Destiny....and some Cornish crime fighting...

We had a great morning at Destiny with another fantastic message entitled "The Heart of the Matter". The new updated version of this message included some amazing video footage and was one of the most inspiring that I have heard in some time. The praise and worship went really well and although I'm not sure it was intentional each song seemed to have a guitar solo! It reminded me of the funeral celebration for the late Mrs FlyingVJenks as I chose the songs on that day and I chose songs with prominent guitar parts so that I could give my best for her as a send off.

I've really got into watching the repeats of "Wycliffe" featuring Jack Shepherd in the lead role. I didn't watch it when it was on TV the first time in the 1990's, but probably due to a combination of great storylines and the Cornish coastline scenes I am now hooked. Also Helen Masters is rather pleasing on the eye as D.I. Lane! Mmmmm...Helen.....

I'm looking forward to work tomorrow, as although one of my colleagues Sorcha will be starting her holiday, Giles will be returning to work after two weeks of summer sun with his family in Charmouth. "Gilo" even took time to ring us whilst he was on holiday and sent me a text to congratulate Cardiff City after they stuffed Scunthorpe United the other weekend.

City drew 1-1 yesterday at Blackpool with Michael Chopra scoring again. More concerning is the growing injury list with Ross McCormack tweaking his hamstring and Paul Quinn and Stephen McPhail going off with other injuries. Loan signings will be on their way in then! Merthyr did get their win yesterday, 2-1 against Bashley and they have reduced their 10 point deduction to 7 points and remain bottom of the table with -7 points. The joys of a club in administration! Sometimes administration or CVA's can be the making of a club and a great example of this is Exeter City who dropped out of the Football League for 5 years, restructured their finances, have become prudently run and are now back in the Football League. They are a lovely family football club and one of my best friends is a "Grecian" supporter so I am now an adopted fan! So the team results I always look for each Saturday are Cardiff City, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport County, Witney United, Exeter City, Oxford United and Truro City. Most of these clubs I've either regularly watched or I have family connections with , but out of these 7 clubs Cardiff City will always be number 1.

On the ball with "the City" and my new local......

I must apologise to my original local, but I'm sorry Morrison's I'm just too partizan to Tesco. I decided to drive a couple of miles further out to Brislington and was pretty happy with my morning's work. Also without wishing to sound like a penny pincher, you don't have to pay £1 for a trolley unlike at Morrison's. So the final score is Tesco 2 Morrison's 0.

Saturday's (when I'm not at Cardiff City Stadium) are usually catch up days with laundry or general guitar based japes. I will rehearse the songs for tomorrow's Destiny service this afternoon and I will then log on to the official Cardiff City website so that I can listen to Cardiff City's match away to Blackpool this afternoon. Pictured left is club record signing Michael Chopra who permanently rejoined the club this summer. Hopefully Chops can add to the two goals he scored last weekend and do some more celebrating as indeed he is doing in this picture. Despite his high profile return I couldn't find any photos on the internet of him scoring at Cardiff City Stadium so this old one from the 2006/07 season at Ninian Park will have to do.

Special mention must also go to my second team Merthyr Tydfil. Despite all the odds being stacked against them and as well as currently being in administration they will kick off their new season at Penydarren Park this afternoon against Bashley. It was looking likely that this famous name in non league football would disappear at one point with the club looking certain to go bust as well as facing the threat of a council eviction from their ground. However, thanks to the efforts of the newly formed Supporter's Trust and the general public in Merthyr Tydfil, the club has survived. Here's to a welcome 3 points for a great club and a fantastic, hospitable and loyal bunch of fans. Cardiff City are rooting for you, boys!

Catch up TV...Diary of a Cardiff Exile omnibus edition....

Ok, so this whole daily blog thing isn't quite happening right now. However, in the style of a soap opera I can delight you with a resume of the last few days in to order to bring you up to speed with my hectic life!


Tuesday saw another great day at work and a 3-1 win for Cardiff City against Dagenham & Redbridge in the Carling Cup 1st round. The goals came from Gavin Rae, Jay Bothroyd (penalty) and Peter Whittingham, which resulted in City being drawn at home to Bristol Rovers in the next round. I've had some banter over the last few days with my mates who are Rovers fans and by a strange twist in the fixture lists Cardiff City also play Bristol City at CCS a few days before the Rovers tie in the league. Sadly I cannot make either game, but here's to another couple of victories for the real City and not for the Bristolian impostors!


On Wednesday night after a very demanding day at work I enjoyed driving to Weston to record some more backing vocals for the tracks that we use at church. I recorded 3rd and 5th harmony parts on 3 songs and we joked that I really was singing for my supper as I had dinner afterwards! In the next few weeks it will be time to lay down some guitar parts and hopefully my guitars will stay in tune this time!


Last night was BBQ time (pictured right) at the Pastor's house in Weston (two nights in a row, I might as well live there!). All of the guys from church came and we had a fun time of food and laughter. The conversation inevitably ended up featuring TV comedy shows, so a few of us had our fix of Blackadder quotes. My personal favourites are, "I love my daughter more than any pig and that says summat" and "You've introduced me to a new concept, Baldrick. Being pleased to see you". We are also pretty sure that we saw the International space station in the night sky too. Either that or the aliens are back....

It's time to get editing....

It is always great to replay the messages from Sunday, which I do as part of my church duties each week. I am about to retreat to my bedroom to start listening back to it and hopefully I will have also edited it by the end of this evening. I want to spend tomorrow evening listening to "Say So" by Israel Houghton, which is the next song that we are going to learn at Creative Ministries.

I had a good bit of "fan banter" with my Bristol City supporting friends at work today. They threw a 2-0 lead away at Preston on Saturday, whilst the real City (Cardiff City) were stuffing Scunthorpe 4-0. I'm also enjoying the moment as Cardiff City are top of the table after one game. It looks like the club may also be on the verge of securing new financial investment from Malaysia which will hopefully help to free us from the massive debts racked up by our former owner Sam Hammam. These are genuinely exciting times to be a Cardiff City fan and they are a far cry from the false dawns and disasters of the old 3rd division days. Walking past the derelict Ninian Park on Saturday after the game really brought home the massive leap forward that the club has made in the last six months alone as it settles in to the excellent Cardiff City Stadium. Can Cardiff City make it to the Premiership?...I believe it's only a matter of time before they make it there.

Easy like Sunday morning....

Church was great today and we worked really well as a set up team. We managed to identify and solve any potential issues quicker this week and the service ran smoothly. Pastor Mike preached a great message called "Complex - a designer brand" and it was about how we are made by God to His design. The praise and worship went really well too and my extra guitar practice sessions paid off.

Due to the heat and the craziness that was yesterday I lost about 4 hours this afternoon when I fell asleep on the sofa. I hadn't intended to sleep at all, because I know that I will now take a while to drift off tonight. However, that's what Ipod's are for and no doubt I will fall asleep to either pumping rock music or perhaps something more relaxing like Nick Drake. Nick Drake will probably win as I'm in the mood to listen to him after hearing "Introduction" from the Bryter Layter album on Griff Rhys Jones' programme about British rivers on BBC1 tonight. The Severn and Wye featured prominently including the world famous Severn Bore, a tidal flow that creates a wave like effect once a year.

Today's picture is of Lionel Ritchie, hence the blog title. If you don't know what I am referring to then this is the opening line of the chorus to "Easy" by The Commodores (Lionel's old band). It is likely that Mr Big Stuff will learn this song in the future and I think we could do a decent version of it.

A fantastic new stadium, 4-0 to the City, Ninian Park, hot air balloons and a "Tornado"...

Welcome to my new view! This is my vantage point from my seat in the Ninian Stand at the Cardiff City stadium. It is a really impressive stadium and is a much more modern facility for an upwardly mobile club such as ourselves. On the pitch after a nervy opening 10-15 minutes City settled down and won comfortably 4-0 against Scunthorpe with 2 goals for Michael Chopra, one for Jay Bothroyd and the final one from the penalty spot by Peter Whittingham. I really enjoyed myself although it was highly surreal walking past our former abandoned home Ninian Park on the way out of the stadium (pictured below). Any one who cast doubt over whether we could transfer the Ninian Park atmosphere to our new home would be eating humble pie too. Our biggest league crowd since 1976 of 22,264 made for a fantastic atmosphere and the Ninian Stand was every bit as vocal as the Bob Bank used to be. I can't wait for my next trip in September now!

As I travelled by train today I also had another pleasant surprise when I stepped off my train at Temple Meads. The first brand new steam locomotive to be built in 40 years, Tornado, was hauling a steam special and so I took the liberty of taking a picture of her (bottom left)

My final picture of the day is of the hot air balloons that are currently flying over Bristol as part of the annual Bristol balloon fiesta (they are the black specks in the centre of the photo). It was a spectacular sight as I drove home from central Bristol tonight and unlike last year's washout this year's festival has been blessed by dry and sunny weather.

We've also recently had the annual harbour festival in the docks with the replica of John Cabot's ship "The Matthew" and the static exhibit Isambard Kingdom Brunel's "SS Great Britain". Without wishing to sound like the catchphrase from a dreadful 1970's town planning advert, Bristol really is a city on the move.

Pinch me...is this really happening to my football club?

As I write I have all the excitement of a child at Christmas. Tomorrow will be my visit to Cardiff City's new home, Cardiff City Stadium and I am literally counting down the hours! City entertain Scunthorpe United tomorrow afternoon and it will be a strange sensation walking down Sloper Road and not turning left in order to enter Ninian Park. In the next few months Ninian Park will be demolished at the same speed as our new home went up, but it will be highly surreal nonetheless.

I am home alone, as Sam and Jan are out. I don't mean that in the Macaulay Culkin sense of the term of course, but we missed each other as I stayed on late at work. It is weird to think that Sam leaves for Australia two weeks on Monday and I am sure she will have a fantastic year. I'm going to go to bed now to listen to my Ipod and I will listen to some classic British rock music before I drift off. Tomorrow I will gush about the City's new home and hopefully a winning start to the season. What's that coming over the hill? It's Michael Chopra, It's Michael Chopraaaaa!!! C'mon City!

Daily blog?...Weekly, more like!

I am getting a bit lax on the blog front! After a busy three days at work, followed by consecutive evenings with young adults group, creative ministries and lifegroup my blogging skills have remained untouched. Without further ado I am back after a really fun bring and share evening at my friend's Barney & Sam's over in Blaise, Bristol. Today's picture was one of our conversation topics, namely Blackadder the Third, a classic British comedy series. The featured episode features Robbie Coltrane as Dr Samuel Johnson, the author of the English dictionary. I crease up watching this episode every time I see it and I can't think of alsatians, or the word sausage in the same way again!

On Tuesday evening at young adults we had great fun playing a completely nuts game on the Nintendo Wi called Raymond's Ravin' Rabbids. In the same way that Teletubbies, the Fimbles and In The Night Garden are possibly the results of illegal substances, this game had to be created by either people on drugs or mad people on day release from the mental institution. It is the most off the wall game I've played, but scarily one of the most addictive. I played one dancing game (I am a Jackson 5 dance floor legend!) and I drummed as a rabbit on "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel". See I am still a drummer at heart, even though I am a Flying V toting rock guitarist. Maybe one day I will live my drumming dream...but not under the guise of an electronic rabbit!

A minor cold and goodbye to Paul Parry.....

It's been a strange Monday. After having the beginnings of a cold that kept me awake at times overnight, I drove to work in a bit of daze but thankfully got to work safely. I had a coffee and a chat with an old friend who has recently experienced personal tragedies similar to my own. I was touched that he felt he could talk to me and I was greatly moved by his plight. It was a shame that we had to curtail our talk due to work, but I've offered to meet up again if he needs me.

Paul Parry, one of Cardiff City's longest serving players has now moved on to pastures new today with a move to our Championship rivals Preston North End. "Pazza" lost his form completely last season after a great 2007/8 season. Hopefully he can achieve great success this season (as long as he doesn't score against us in the tradition of all ex City players!). What this means for the club is that we can pursue one of the three new players that we have been trying to sign and hopefully they will be signed in time for Saturday's big opener against Scunthorpe United. Midfield is where we are at our weakest and hopefully this is where we can strengthen the squad.

Just popping off to the local...

It was a much quieter day for me, as I caught up with some more unpacking and domestic duties. Part of these duties included washing my clothes and visiting my local supermarket Morrisons, which is less than 5 minutes away.

I have now got visible floor space in my new room and my house mates are impressed! I did however annoy the lady across the road by parking across her driveway. After receiving a angry message under my front wiper blade I moved my car onto our driveway. Apparently she complains about most things!

Cardiff City lost for the first time this pre season 2-0 against Valencia at CCS this afternoon. City gave a spirited performance and Ross McCormack missed another penalty. City will hopefully bounce back next week against Scunthorpe United at Cardiff City Stadium next week.

Welcome to the jungle...

Whilst it has been an unusually varied week for me, I was pleased to end it with a trip to the Jungle Golf Cafe at the Cabot Circus shopping centre. It was time for the men of Destiny Church to get together and hang out as part of our bi-monthly Man2Man sessions. Essentially it has two 18 hole mini crazy golf courses and we went on the Secret Swamp course. It wasn't really secret as their were large signs telling us that it was the Secret Swamp course. It's a bit like the infamous road sign in Essex that pointed to a Secret Nuclear Bunker until it was removed 3 months later!

Tomorrow will be a quieter day at home and I will probably rehearse the songs for Sunday, listen to Cardiff City v Valencia and do a bit more unpacking. I will probably take a trip in Ethelred in order to do the weekly food shop as well. All very domesticated and civil, eh?