I despair...I really do

We asked the sullen one what she wanted for her christmas present on the way to work this morning....

She replied deadpan "A car.... a combined Christmas and Birthday present" she announced under her breath....

Andrea and I looked at each other briefly and both said in unison "A CAR??"

"Yes" replied the sullen one "it will motivate me to pass my driving test"

At this point Andrea said "You're being serious aren't you?"

"Yes" replied the sullen one "Why are you laughing at me"

I have to admit it was VERY hard not to laugh considering the cheapest decent car is about £500ish then on top of that insurance at well over £2000 possibly more considering she doesn't even have a provisional licence yet and can't until she's 17... then road tax of course.... Then of course you have driving lessons at £18 - £20 a pop...thereabouts....

Even if we were daft enough to get her a car for Christmas so that it could rust outside on the curb while she motivates herself until she passes her driving test.... she'd never be able to afford to run it, and we certainly wouldn't be putting petrol/diesel in it, or taxing it and definitely not insuring it....

We learnt our lesson with Xboxboy when we donated "Duran Duran" to him "whilst he learned to drive" it sat there for months the doors unopened, untouched by xboxboy... the only time it had human contact is when I went out to turn the engine over to keep the battery topped up... we sold it when we moved...and no, Xboxboy didn't get the money from it... if he had no interest in it previously then he had no interest in the cash it generated when sold.

It does make me wonder what school actually teaches them during school hours.... mind you apparently you can get a course in University about Lady Gaga.... So I have every reason to feel despair about this latest generation

Thar she blows....

The wind picked up a bit last night... well I say picked up it blew a gale more like so much so that our enclosed garden took a battering pushed a few chairs over and lifted our closed umbrella clean out of its holder and threw it down the alleyway and it's probably beyond economical repair now... ahhh well forces of nature etc...

Andrea has entered another race, I'm not sure which one they all seem to melt into each other these days, and I'm recovering from a short lived illness... although I think the medicine caused me more upset than the illness.... kill or cure probably !!!

We are starting to get the ridiculous Christmas present requests already ...mainly from FOMOboy who seems to have no idea of the value of money....and yes you've guessed it it's "another" games console he wants to add to his stockpile starting with his Xbox360(no longer working) his Nintendo Dsi (No longer working)...

In fact I think the only console he has that works is his old PS2... so he is jumping into Stewarts room at every opportunity to game on with his brothers Xbox360.... We've told him he isn't having an Xbox live subscription, we aren't letting him go down the same road Stewart did where his life revolves around it...we are determined to get some vitamin D into his sallow skin and break the habit before it starts....

If I had my way I'd chuck every games console we have in our house out into the bin and quite merrily watch them get crushed in the bin lorry... but then again I've never really seen the attraction of wasting hour upon hour of your life staring at pointless shoot-em-up games or any games come to think of it...whilst twitching my thumbs.... each to their own I guess....

The only other news is we ventured out to Manor Wildlife Park near Tenby and Freya encountered her first Wallaby (kangaroo to her) and various other exotics... overall there weren't that many animals in the place and the food in the cafe was extortionately priced ... but we would go back again..... I met Anna Ryder Richardson (the owner...ex changing rooms personality) ... she's much shorter than you'd imagine, but seems nice enough.... We'd go again but avoid the cafe.

Snowdonia Marathon 2010

Well Andrea completed the marathon in a very respectable 4 hours 28 minutes and I am immensely proud of her achievement and the dedication required to get a time like that on what has been called the toughest marathon in Europe !!

She is of course walking like somebody has taken a baseball bat to her legs.... but that will pass... she'll be out pounding the pavements and jumping into the bushes to avoid speeding cars in no time flat...

We stayed in a lovely cottage in Llanberis which had all mod cons and was considerably cheaper than the hotel we had booked... I'd tell you where it is but then I'd have to kill you..... so pointless ;¬)

I was supposed to be meeting up with my best mate Chris in Llanberis but he made a no show, with no reason... just didn't turn up... I supposed something more exciting turned up who knows... it did put a huge damper on the nights proceedings but things turned out ok in the end and a good time was had by all once enough wine and beer flowed in the right direction...

Highlights of the Marathon....

A) Being in awe of the fastest man at 2 hours 36 minutes

B) The cottage

C) The fabulous countryside

D) Pete's Eats

Lowlights of the Marathon....

A) The beer

B) The hailstones the size of marbles

C) The torrential rain (short lived)

D) Chris not bothering to turn up