May & June seemed to have flown by and I've had to look in my diary to see what we've been up to. Basically I'd have to say "Not a lot". Early May we heard a drip drip drip whilst sitting in the living room, some detective work then took us into the dining room where we discovered a big bulge in the ceiling with water pouring out of it. All hands on deck ...unfortunately the shower pipe upstairs had broken and the water had followed it's gravitational pull through the upstairs floor and down through the ceiling. All fun stuff. So we've had to redecorate and re-tile the bathrom....and it's still ongoing.


Bayleaf The Gardener

Most of the weekends have been taken up with gardening and sorting the bathroom. We've had good weather which is a rarity in Merry Olde Blighty and we've made the most of it on the gardening side of things. We've grown a lot and besides selling off our excess stock we've now got Tomatoes & cucumbers growing. We've harvested the first batch of Blackcurrants and the bushes are still filled with many more waiting to ripen. Runner beans have been a problem this year, not sure what's happening but think it's flying bugs eating the leaves that are causing the problem. That said, they have now began to thrive. No such problem for the Broad Beans, these are powering away and bearing good crops already. Pak Choi has also gone mad along with Courgettes which we seem to have a glut of this year. So you get the picture, we've been busy and absorbed with the plants.

A Right Royal Day Out

Other news, the folks were invited to Buckingham Palace to the Garden Party and so of course this cheered them both up immensely. The weather was good and a great time was had by all. The folks popped in on their return and we celebrated the day with our usual alcoholic concoctions. Talking of Alcohol, we've been busy on that front as well and have been brewing a lot recently, we've bottled up Lager & Ales plus we've Barelled up a couple of brews as well. There's lots to do on the brew front and we'll soon be moving on to wine making as it'll soon be the season for picking the fruits. The plum tree in the folks garden has for the last few years provided us with a glut of fruit but hasnt done so well this year, we put it down to the storms and wind earlier this year. There's some fruit and we may be able to make a few bottles of Mid-Summer Madness but dont think it'll be the usual 60 bottles of past years. There's an abundance of flowers on the blackberry bushes which we've noticed whilst on our daily walk in the Welsh hills and so we're planning to go a crop picking and will be making a batch of Sparkling Blackberry Wine.....we'll use a mixture of Champagne & Bordeaux yeast which should dish out a good Punk Rock brew....that'll be in a few weeks time.

The Great Welsh Beer & Cider Festival (goes flat)..

Early June saw Grant & myself head to the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff for The Great Welsh Beer & Cider Festival....something which I've attended over the last few years, this was Grant's first visit. It turned out to be a bit of a let down, previously the festival was held in the Motorpoint Arena which was pretty big but had a good atmosphere.....for some reason they've decided to take it up a notch and so hence they've moved it to the Millenium Centre. Not a good move. Firstly, they only opened up the Wood Street entrance which is a 10 minute walk from the city centre. Dumb move. Then we went through security...it was like dealing with the TSA. They checked my bag...what was I going to bring in? Booze? Grant then got pulled up for an ID check. Fair enough except his Passport & Driving Licence werent good enough and details were taken by the Stazi. It wasnt a good start. Once inside we hooked up with our mates from Cefn Hengoed..(That's the name of a town..by the way)..or the CHM as we call them...as in The Cefn Hengoed Massive....although it's not so massive these days as everyone's getting older and married off so therefore their numbers are dwindling....so we're only left with the dedicated hard core! Basically this venue is too big, they opened the roof and so it's more like an outdoor event. Some Brewers I know who were showcasing their Ales, were also unhappy and one of them was told that any negative comments would result in expulsion from the premises. So there you go, the Nazi's have take over what once was a fun event. Getting home was a hassle, we left early enough but as usual the trains were messed up.....it took us an age to get home. It'll be interesting to see if the Millenium Stadium will be used next year......I'm tempted to say I wont be going if this is the case.....we'll see.

Forthcoming Events

Cousin Alf from New Zealand has arrived in Blighty and we're all hooking up in West Wales next week. Something we're all looking forward to, should be a blast and no doubt we'll have pictures to prove it. Alf says he's got a new way to hunt Razor Clams....which will include the use of snorkelling equipment. So we're going to be reliant on a couple of things. First, the weather, then if the sea is clear enough for diving and also if the sea is calm.......here in Blighty, these are big "ifs".