All posts by Russ

Cardiff.

Events

Jesus, I wrote the blog entry and it bloody disappeared!

Here goes again…
At 9.30 am on Saturday I was picked up by Dan and Terry and whisked to Cardiff..
In the other cars were Adam, Voj, Chris and a whole lot of Chris’s mates, all part of the Farewell Chris Tour. 
After 12 years of working at the Hogarth, he’s finally going back to Oz. 
God knows how, but he managed, along the way, to pull and eventually marry ( in May ) the luscious Linda. 
She sees something in him invisible to the rest of us..;)
I’ve seen him naked and it’s not that either. 
I’ve cycled, drunk, and skied ( he’s boarded ) with Chris over the years, and he’s a cracking boy. 
He’s pretty good at cycling, but got his ass kicked by the older guy on snow.. 🙂
I’ll post his stag weekend Daffyd ‘ the only gay on a snowboard’ a bit later on!
Unfortunately Oz have beaten Wales on the last 8 occasions… Leaving Chris in a position of strength at these annual autumn internationals, and this year saw him grinning from ear to ear yet again. 
The Git. 
His and Linda’s wedding this year was a cracker, typically ending with male semi nudity… And full nudity by Adam. 
The Millenium Stadium is bloody brilliant for wheelchairs, and a lot better than Twickenham. They’ve got purpose built platforms, with TV screens too for the Wheelies, and really, really helpful stewards, who can’t do enough for you. 
We met at Ground Zero on Westgate St before the game, where the staff were brilliant. Nothing was too much trouble, shipping me up and down in the freight lift regularly, to the bog. 
In the ground, to my massive surprise and pleasure, I met up with ( because they came and found me ) my brother Stu, his boys Sam ( sporting well dodgy Swansea Uni haircut, tea cosy hat and GINGER beard? – surely the girls in Swansea don’t know LIKE that ?) and Ben, my cousin Delmie with his son Ross, and my Uncle Mike. They stayed and had a few beers with me at one of the Stadium bars til 8, after which we said goodbye, wheeled back to the car and headed for London again. 
Every previous visit for one of these autumn games has ended in a carnage of beers and teenage behaviour, always staying overnight in Cardiff. 
Maybe it was time I finally grew up?  This has kind of forced my hand ( for now at least ).
Dan slept most of the way back, hilariously, in a sleeping bag on the back seat. As he had a party to go to, I reckon it was a smart move, leaving Terry to do the driving, which he did like a pro. 
I didn’t realise you could drive at over a 100 all the way without getting pulled over, but it seems you can? Obviously driving someone  else’s car is the best licence saving strategy..
I’d like to thank everyone that made my day easy for me. 
I was pretty nervous about what seemed like an enormous day out ( certainly my most adventurous in 6 months ), but as it turned out I had nothing to fear. 
And I swear the girls in Cardiff are better looking than the ones in Twickenham. 
Russ
PS great to see Emily today, my lovely God daughter. 
PPS  I remeasured my lung capacity today, using my own device, the same one I’ve used for years. 
I got FOUR litres! That actually looks like what I FEEL I’ve got. 
I’m really pleased about that, not least because I’ll try adaptive skiing in 3 weeks time in Vermont USA and with less lung than that, I’d probably die!

From my school mate, Leigh.

Events

Russ

It was good to see you.

As we said yesterday it is a shame that it takes such dramatic events for human beings to show our inner strengths, and other qualities as friends or family members.

My take on meeting you was that we shared a couple of hours of remarkably good humour,under the circumstances, with you being a shining example of someone who is determined to make the most of your new compromised world. Somehow you managed to make it sound like you are revelling in the challenges ahead – its that kind of determination that will get you through.

I haven’t met Dani and the girls but they sound wonderful. 

As we said yesterday, no matter what happens in life, as long as we have those who we love and love us in return nearby, then we can’t go far wrong.

Enjoy the adaptive skiing and I’ll see you again soon.

Regards

Leigh 

What Charlie said..

Events

I played in that game where Kelvin was attacked by the dog! Bloody hilarious! We were in their 22 when we heard a scream from behind. Kelvin was lying on his back kicking his legs at the dog which was running round him in circles trying to get in for a nip! Meanwhile the owner was on the touchline shouting at the dog!
 
Nearly as funny as Dicky Rees at Aber – runnining the ball out from behind our dead ball area straight into the aluminium goalpost and knocking himself out!  Made a noise like banging a gong! On his 21st  birthday no less!

Charlie Perkins

And finally…

Events

And thanks to Roy for a sumptuous dinner, some exotic stew and mash number, plus cake..

And to the lovely Amber for lunch plus about half a ton of fruit. 
Leigh brought some beer, a small tinsel Xmas tree, and a Cadbury’s selection box….. You can take the boy out of Wales, but you can’t take Wales out of the boy….

Events

Leigh Jones played fly half for West Mon and Pontypool College when I played in the centre. 

It’s been a mere 30 years since I talked to him… Yet he took the time out to come and visit me. 
I’m so touched that he did. 
We talked about loads of our old mates, Leigh filling me in on what has happened to a lot of them, as well as laughing about our old teachers, some of whom were a bit odd, to be fair..
And a fair few of whom are now sadly dead. 
Obviously we talked about the girls at school too, admittedly me doing most of the talking. Yes, Leigh was more discreet than I was.
Not hard really!
What came across strongly though was that school was a bloody good laugh in South Wales in the 80’s. 
I wonder if it is now?