Steve's Blog

Is it really 10 months since my last post? Of course it is! The facts speak for themselves. Well a few things have changed since October not least of all that I have a new job. I reluctantly left the comfortable and very friendly surroundings of Auros and the picturesque setting of Clifton for a more challenging position at a company writing software for the travel industry.

This new company is based in Cwmbran on the right side of the bridge for me, a saving of £5.10 a day on my commute. Bizarrely with the exception of a lad from Abertillery, all of my immediate team are English! I am enjoying the project work and getting some satisfaction from seeing my work published live on the well known travel company website. I'm a little concerned that my team lead resigned a month after I started. Maybe I should change my deodorant? He is off to work in Bristol!

Carol has a new horse, a seven year old Welsh cob named Max (That's him above). Since she now has both Charlie and Max on DIY livery I see little of her before 7.30pm every evening and not a lot more at weekends.

The dogs are both settling in well to the new house as are we. We seem to have a never ending stream of visitors at weekends, both family and friends. We need to start putting our individual stamp on the place and we have made a small start with a new gate on the drive and painting the garage door white but I guess we will begin to feel that we have made it our own when the new kitchen has been fitted and we have decorated throughout.

Have had time to explore the surrounding countryside a little more in between the rain showers that have dogged the summer months. Last weekend we did our weekly grocery shop in Monmouth. Nice to be able to shop at Waitrose and Marks and Spencers food hall instead of Tesco in Chepstow (no Clubcard points though!). The journey to get there was through the stunning backdrop of the Wye valley via Tintern along the route of Offa's Dyke. I am not kidding it is absolutely beautiful! Made shopping for cabbage and Quorn almost enjoyable.

Can't believe that it is almost a year since I left BMS but it is. Can't say that I have missed it as much as I thought I might. Certainly they haven't missed me. I find that I am slowly losing touch with all those colleagues I knew for more than seven years. The one exception is Ro but even his emails are becoming increasingly few and far between. I guess that you only make a handful of true friendships over a lifetime and many of those are forged at an early age. I have to admit I don't even maintain contact with my best man! I have new friends at work but I know that ostensibly they are merely work colleagues and socialising beyond the confines of 9 to 5 is not even something that I would countenance. I keep in touch with a few choice RAF colleagues and we exchange Xmas cards and the odd phone call but, despite email and Instant Messenger, keeping in touch for me has not improved much beyond the pre-Internet times when a first class stamp was the main recourse for communication.

My parents have decamped for the summer and are spending weeks on end at their caravan in Saundersfoot so I see little of them lately however Carol's family are regulars, especially since Max arrived. Carol's sister and niece are frequent visitors at the weekend and they leave me to cook lunch while they disappear for hours over the farm.

I will try to post more regularly in future, even if I have nothing new to say. As I guess I am probably the only one to read these ramblings it doesn't really matter that much though, does it Steve?