Lost footballs redux

Back in 2021 I blogged about "Lost footballs". It appears footballs are still getting lost. Here are a few more. These are mainly from the streets round and about Grangetown.

Up a tree in Grange Gardens

We also spotted a lost football in Buckinghamshire when we were on holiday there.

And on the beach at Dinas Dinlle (another holiday pic!)

Keep Grangetown Tidy also collected a couple that had been abandoned in the streets in a recent litter-pick.

I rescued this last one from the trash pile because it still has some bounce in it and I can give it to my nephews to lose over their backyard fence!

April adventures - a look back at the month

April on The Knap!

April started out with our week in Buckinghamshire, which included a visit to Legoland on my birthday, a nostalgic trip to Bekonscot Model Village, meeting a tapir called Nev, and watching Shrewsbury Town battle to a 0-0 draw at Wycombe Wanderers. It was a full week and we took a lot of selfies!

We were then back home, and I was back at work, for a week. But soon we were setting off on another trip. Cathy had her annual appointment with the lipodystrophy specialists in Cambridge. Then we headed to Manchester to watch a comedy set by Nate Bargatze. 

Nate is an American comedian who we have watched on Netflix. I don't have any pictures because there were strict restrictions on using phones during the gig. We both enjoyed it - his sequence about the family WhatsApp chat veering into everyone going crazy was very funny indeed. He had two support comedians. One had some good jokes about how fishing is now a high school sport and that means there are high school fishing coaches. The other bombed badly, trying material about Megan Markle, which nobody laughed at, mainly because nobody really cares about the Royal Family. It was a shame because he started strongly with his horror at finding out about black pudding when he was served breakfast in his hotel. 

I had a few days off when I got back to Cardiff in the run up to Easter Weekend. I used the time to catch up with some lovely people like Sian, Connor (who was in town Easter weekend), and one of my godsons and his mum. 

At the end of the month I spent a very sunny Saturday in Barry joining the March for Independence, which I have already blogged about. It was a great way to round out the month. 

However, it hasn't all been adventures and annibyniaeth. I had some less than great medical news. After almost ten years in recovery from my type 2 diabetes, I had my annual health check and found my blood glucose levels are too high. It's no coincidence that my weight has gone up in the last couple of years as well. So, I'm making some changes to get back on the road to recovery. 

Blood test ouchie!

Football-wise I went to eight matches this month - well, technically, seven and a half because one of them I only managed to get there at half time. The first game was in High Wycombe, as I've already mentioned. The day we drove back to Cardiff we got back in time for me to get up to Treherbert to watch them host Cardiff Draconians. Paul was already at the game when I arrived, Matt came over as well, and then I saw Scott standing a dozen yards away. Cue a series of matchday selfies!

Paul and I also went to the Welsh Blood Service Southern Cup Final, which was switched from Briton Ferry to Cambrian United on the afternoon of the game due to a horrendous downpour. Lee Trundle was playing for one of the teams and opened the scoring with a cracking goal - he's the same age as me and I find it inspiring that he is still playing football, and winning trophies. It gives me hope!

I also saw Barry's final league game of the season, a rollicking thumping of Briton Ferry. I didn't go to Barry's post-season play-off game because it clashed with the Independence March, so I missed their heavy defeat in Caernarfon which was their actual last game of the season. 

And on a final note, it's been a decent month for Blood Bowl. I took some teams and some paints on holiday at the start of the month, played a game with my new wood elf team on my Mega Saturday, and have also built and painted another new team - the Norsemen complete with their 'beer boars', who are mega cute. 

I decided to paint them orange and I think the colour scheme works quite well. I haven't completely decided on a name, but I'm tempted to call them Ragna's Rockers, partly in tribute to my Viking grandma, Ragna. I'm sure she would be thrilled!

A week in Bucks

Following on from our trip to Cambridge for the Lipodystrophy UK patients day (as mentioned in my blog about World Lipodystrophy Day), Cathy and I headed for Buckinghamshire for a week's holiday. We stayed in an Air BnB (first time we've done that) in the pretty village of Frieth. 

We chose Buckinghamshire because Shrewsbury were playing Wycombe on my Birthday Eve and I wanted to go to the game. We also had plans in the area for my birthday - but that merits its own blog post!

I'll admit I didn't realise Bucks was quite so rural. Literally a few hundred yards off a motorway or outside one of the towns and we were on winding country lanes surrounded by farms. I was taken aback by the seemingly massive population of red kites. They seemed to be floating and swooping around almost everywhere we went. In Hambleden there were warning signs about them in the dining area outside the Old Post Office. And I thought seagulls were bad...

I didn't get attacked by a red kites, but I did get my feet pecked by some chickens.

We visited some very pretty towns, like Marlow and Henley. High Wycombe was a bit more utilitarian, although we found some decent shops there. Marlow and Henley are both on the Thames with picturesque bridges and lots of bookshops and galleries. 

Another sign that Bucks is clearly quite a wealthy place was the cars. On the edge of one small village there was a Lamborghini dealership and we saw one parked up on the street in Henley. In Marlow, we got back to our car after eating out to find a McLaren road car parked opposite us. 

We visited Turville, which was the setting for the Vicar of Dibley and has also featured in several episodes of Midsomer Murders. On the hill above the village is the windmill that was the location of the Potts's family home in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. 

The Birthday Eve football was very one-way. With Wycombe in contention for promotion and Shrewsbury looking doomed to relegation, there could be an entire division between the two teams next season. The game ended 0-0, with a heroic defensive performance from Shrewsbury. Apparently Wycombe had 32 shots on goal, while Shrewsbury only managed two. It must have been very frustrating for the Wycombe fans but it was great fun for us in the away end, cheering every clearance. 

On our final day of the holiday we ventured outside Bucks, to the only wildlife park in Berkshire, Beale Park. We decided to have an 'animal encounter' and met Nev, the gorgeous Brazilian tapir. He's a big softy who likes having tummy rubs. 

It turns out that Nev is actually a fellow Cymro, as he was born at Folly Farm in Wales! Tapirs have natural waterproofing, which meant we ended up with oily fingers after petting Nev.

There were plenty of other animals as well and we also got to ride on a little train. It was a great day out and a lovely way to end our week's holiday.