31 12 2010 (365/365)



HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of my fellow bloggers and blog readers as we prepare to welcome in 2011.

I must admit that I would not have chosen to spend the day waiting for my car to be repaired.......however I did and sadly will not have my dear Audi back until 4th January at the earliest.

Enough of this doom and gloom there are many challenges and opportunities to look forward to in 2011.

30 12 2010 (364/365)

2010 is running out and with it 12 months of blogging is coming to its conclusion.

Looking ahead 2011 is going to be a whole new challenge as I look forward to being a new resident in The Hague from mid January.

This will require a rethinking of my format enabling it to be advice and information for others new to The Nederlands.

Watch this space!

The image today shows that my cast was removed today......the wrist is still painful I think that further medical intervention may be required in 2011!

29 12 2010

The fog gives everything a spooky look and makes traveling more difficult. Even more so if the brake lights on your car fail as mine have.....this is made more difficult with all local garages closed for the holidays!

28 12 2010

As our temperatures rise we have entered a time of mist and fog.

It is forecast that much of the remainder of 2010....

27 12 2010 (361/365)

Today's image is of the Monmouthshire Hunt's Boxing Day meeting at The Angel Hotel in Abergavenny earlier.

We followed this with a 330 mile round trip to London to take Sian back after a short Christmas break and ahead of her departure for Val D'Isere on 7th January where she will be a ski nanny.

26 12 2010

Our icicles continue to grow as a thaw still appears distant. Today our big family get together saw four generations meeting up at my sister's house for an afternoon of present opening and eating!

25 12 2010 (359/365)

A very Merry Christmas to all.

We had nine for Christmas lunch today,  the humans were joined by Patch and Beauregard ( Beau to his friends) the two terriers belonging to Emily and Ant (Debbie's brother). The dogs got on really well once they had been for a good walk together on neutral territory.

24 12 2010

As Santa approaches the UK I would like to wish all blog writers and readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from deepest South Wales...... where it is currently -10C Brrrr!!!

Our next door neighbour's great icicle, we will measure it tomorrow!

23 12 2010

Merry Christmas from the Seven Dwarfs :-)

The Hague style

22 12 2010

We appear to have received our allotted snow for the Christmas period .....we will see!

21 12 2010

Meeting Santa is always an exciting occasion. He was at The House of Fraser in Cardiff today....clever Santa!

20 12 2010

Travel proves difficult in South Wales as The Big Freeze continues its icy grip......temperatures stayed at around -5c all day with the addition of around 15cm more snow. Thankfully I was not in work today as Cardiff and the M4 motorway ground to a halt on many occasions throughout the day.

19 12 2010

Believe it or not the temperature had risen to -7c this evening, it is expected to drop to -15 later tonight!

18 12 2010

Brrrrr! Icy.

17 12 2010

Winter returned as forecast today.This was the view outside our front door at 4pm this afternoon. I had returned home to work having been caught in a blizzard on the M4 motorway as I approached Cardiff Gate this morning.

16 12 2010

Icy conditions return to South Wales this evening!

15 12 2010

Mary (Abi) with Baby Jesus at Llanfoist Fawr Primary School this morning in the Reception Class Nativity story 'The Big Surprise '.

With winter colds and viruses running rampant amongst the pupils Mary headed straight to the doctor following the performance and was diagnosed with a chest infection, brave girl :-)

14 12 2010

Red sky at night.....shepherds delight!  Today's picture doesn't do full justice to the wonderful sunset today. The sunrise was equally good,  however as I was driving at the time I was unable to capture it!

Red sky in the morning may foretell of some bad weather heading our way towards the end of the week...

13 12 2010

How sweet,  our table chimes, out for Christmas.

12 12 2010 346/365

The local narrow-boats lie at anchor through the winter with the canal frozen over, temperatures have risen however much is still frozen. The days shorten and we see the sun dip behind the hills at around 2pm these winter days.

11 12 2010

Christmas arrives at last as our tree finally makes it out of the attic and into the lounge.

It does now seem like Christmas is on its way.

10 12 2010

Today's image is of the marvelous creation that I found when visiting my daughter and grandchildren this afternoon.  Is it a house or a castle who can tell,  does it matter?

Seeing their faces and hands streaked with green paint, showed how intensively they had been involved on their activity.

09 12 2010

The day began with below freezing temperatures again, more scraping and de-icing.

As the day progressed it actually warmed and by the time I left work at 6 I was greeted by a temperature of +3C....Wow positively tropical!

08 12 2010

Tonight it was our chance to kick start Christmas with a visit to the Abertillery Christmas Show. Laura was on drums bottom right while Deb was on stage bringing Christmas to life. I should also mention the AYDMS Juniors whose performance showed that the future of musical theatre is safe in this valley. 

07 12 2010

Frost on the roof of the car this morning ..... below freezing yet again.

06 12 2010

My colourful new addition!! A cast for 3 weeks, Happy Christmas.

05 12 2010

This delightful stained glass window would often be missed by visitors to the de Bijenkorf store in The Hague, as much of its 'art deco' past is hidden away for the curious to discover.

04 12 2010

An external view of my new apartment on Berberistraat, Segbroek, Den Haag........ it is the apartment with the colourful curtains.

View Larger Map

03 12 2010

One of Sinterklass'a helpers seen on the street in Den Haag on Friday 3rd December ahead of the Sinterklass parade on the weekend. Below a parade from Wednesday 1st December.....

I eventually left a snowy Schiphol for Cardiff following our aircraft requiring de-icing.......home at 9.30pm after the 55 minute flight over the snowbound UK.

02 12 2010

Day two in Den Haag and my decision has now been made on an apartment for 2011 it will be in Berberisstraat which appears to me to be a sound choice views below -

Following the choice I spent the day in and around the city checking out some of the local shopping and eating..... the eating house below caught my eye!

I did not eat here sadly!

I did have a very nice chilli chicken roll with a glass or two of Medoc followed up with an apple tart.

I included a tram ride this time around.

and found Chinatown Den Haag style....

......back home to Wales tomorrow evening weather permitting!

01 12 2010

Following a 6am flight from Cardiff Airport to Schiphol ( 1 hour in the air) I arrived in Den Haag at around 10.30am local time, ahead of my 1.30 pm appointment with Yvonne De Booij from Perfect Housing the IB's letting agent in The Nederlands.
I have to thank Yvonnne for her excellent advice during the afternoon I am now in a much better position to make the important decision regarding my base in Den Haag from January 2011. My choice is between Thorbeckelaan and Berberisstraat both of which have much to commend them.
I followed this busy afternoon up with a wander through The Passage stopping off at De Passant for something to eat.

Mmmm!

tasty....

Now back to the Mercure Hotel for an early night ahead of some decision making in the morning.

30 11 2010

We are about to enter the final 31 days of the 365 day blogathon as we do so I would like to congratulate all of my fellow bloggers for sticking with the discipline through all that the year has thrown at us. I reckon we are due a huge virtual celebration at the end of 2010.

My blog post today shows the ER at my local hospital which has unfortunately become a little too familiar over recent weeks. It would appear that we are nearing a conclusion to the result of my hockey fall. The Kristin scan that I had last week has at last shown a break in one of the carpal bones and a tear in the ligament at my wrist....I knew that there was a reason for the pain!

The doctor I saw this morning suggested a plaster cast immediately,  I refused as I am due to fly out from Cardiff to The Nederlands for my flat hunting visit tomorrow. .....I will be back in ER next Monday morning possibly for a cast!!!

Location : Maes Y Gwartha Rd, Llanelly, Monmouthshire NP7 0,
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29 11 2010

Ice station Cardiff at lunchtime today.....the temperature -3c!

Location : Maes Y Gwartha Rd, Llanelly, Monmouthshire NP7 0,
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28 11 2010

The reason for our cold snap is the change in the position of the jet steam, which is currently dipping down to the west of the UK dragging Arctic air down across the country..... a temperature of -18C was recorded about 50 mioes away from us last night and we are promised at least 7 more days of cold weather and snow.... brrrr!

Both of today's images are borrowed from the BBC News website.

27 11 2010

An interesting fuZion of Shiraz and Malbec ideal for a Saturday evening tipple, just the one glass of course!

Location : Maes Y Gwartha Rd, Llanelly, Monmouthshire NP7 0,
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26 11 2010

Wow! Winter seems to have arrived as the snow swept in to Cardiff this afternoon. This image was taken at 3.15pm.

Location : Maes Y Gwartha Rd, Llanelly, Monmouthshire NP7 0,
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25 11 2010

Age and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle seems to have finally caught up with me as my recent attempts to reduce my bad cholesterol have largely failed. My doctor has prescribed Simvastatin which must be taken nightly in order to control the nasty cholesterol.

I am aware of the side effects of these statins which does make me somewhat reticent to take the medication!!

Location : Church Rd, Llanelly, Monmouthshire NP7 0,
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24 11 2010

I have had to borrow the images for today's blog post as I was unable to take an picture of myself undergoing an MRI scan on my right wrist this evening. My hand was clamped into a device very similar to the one below

I also had to take up a very similar Usain Bolt like stance while flat on my face for the 15 uncomfortable minutes that the scan took. Unfortunately a nurse similar to the one below was not in attendance!!!

I look forward to viewing the results next week as the doctor's suspect a tear in the ligament on my right wrist which is causing my continued discomfort...... no hockey for the duration either which is harder to bear!

23 11 2010

The return home has been somewhat tempered by a return to my GP this morning for a second opinion on my injured wrist..... this lead to a return trip to Accident and Emergency at the local hospital for a repeat x-ray and doctor's opinion. The decision is to have an MRI scan on my wrist tomorrow at 7pm in order to check for soft tissue injury. More news to follow in coming days.