Artwork on wall of pub in Swansea – http://t.co/UlH1xmSe
Jan 30 2012
Artwork on wall of pub in Swan…
Dec 30 2011
At LC2 with Anna, Grandad, Nic…
At LC2 with Anna, Grandad, Nick, Roz & Jack. They seemed to enjoy the multi-storey jungle gym. On to fairground in rain http://t.co/jEEOsQFK
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Oct 09 2011
Anna at LC2 (Swansea leisure c…
Anna at LC2 (Swansea leisure centre). Having played in the ball pit & sensory area, refueling via chocolate cake reqd! http://t.co/Wb14MOGU
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Oct 12 2010
Aiming For Quadlingual?
As regular readers/subscribers will know, this blog recently (finally) caught up with Anna’s photos and videos from our time back in Britain earlier this year. I think after another three or four posts, I’ll have cleared the backlog of all pictures taken during that time, not just Anna-based ones. From there, I can post the photos of Anna we have taken since April this year.
Anyway, just a quick explanation of why I’m holding a letter in this one… Despite Anna only just being over a year old at the time, the local authorities in Swansea had asked us to consider whether we wanted Anna to be educated in a Welsh-language or English-language school! To be honest, the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind at that point, though with her now starting playgroup/nursery a few times a week over here, I suppose our minds are slowly beginning to consider such topics.
Decisions - Welsh Or English Language School?
Sep 16 2010
Double Trouble
The 16th of March saw us leaving Evesham, but we managed to catch up with Irina on the way back to Swansea. (IrinaG to be more specific. My Irina met IrinaG in Cheltenham, I think at her office. The spooky thing is that IrinaG also comes from Kazakhstan. The fact two ladies called Irina randomly meet in an office is probably reasonably rare, but then to add Kazakhstan as a common factor must make it reasonably rare!)
We met up at a pub that I’ve forgotten the name of (either Irina, can you help out here?), and Anna behaved herself very well whilst we munched through a delicious lunch. Cheltenham’s big race week was starting that day, and I’m glad we lived in Cheltenham for so long, as we managed to use a few country lanes to avoid the traffic that was beginning to pour into the area!
IrinaG And Anna Pub Lunch
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Jun 09 2010
Swansea Beach
On the same day (22nd of February) as Anna having a little drink, we headed down to Swansea beach again. It was good for Anna (and us (Ira, Seb and me)) to grab some fresh sea air, and Gwen seemed to enjoy the opportunity to be allowed off the leash and have a run around. Other dog owners often come to the beach with the same idea in mind (dogs are only restricted to being on a leash in Summer months, when more tourists visit), which means that Gwen can socialize freely. This often means run towards another dog, then running away as soon as they show some interest.
Anyway, other than Anna taking some temporary interest in an old soup can in the sand, there isn’t a lot going on in these videos, but it is interesting for us to see how Anna’s walking has changed these last few months, if nothing else…
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May 28 2010
Shoplifters To Terrorists
Another vague tie in to Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 again (a game I’ve been playing recently), as I came across a piece on high tech surveillance techniques that could be in use on battlefields within just a few years.
The fact that this concerns me less than behaviour-analysing CCTV systems that were touted in the last couple of years for domestic use is probably a purely selfish instinct. I’m not likely to ever find myself in a potential war zone, whereas the thought of being flagged for a higher level of scrutiny whilst wandering around a UK high street or shopping centre creeps me out a little. The end results should dictate a reversal of concern levels though – after all, if a security guard/policeman takes an interest in my shopping in Cheltenham or Swansea, I’m never going to encounter a predator missile suddenly being aimed at me. If the software or operators make a mistake in Afghanistan/Pakistan though, the error could lead to loss of life, not just an inconvenience.
The MW2 reference was that the article originally caught my attention as one of the photos reminded me of a level I’m trying to complete right now. Hopefully DanD will be able to come over again soon, as playing with two controllers isn’t particularly easy.
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May 28 2010
List Too Long For A Tweet
Unless you are @janeslee, or have a particular interest in which books I’ve read in the last three or so weeks, you can probably safely ignore this post. If you are janeslee, do I know you in real life?
I just noticed that you were in Wales, and despite my current location being Astana, Kazakhstan, we are based in Swansea when we are back in Britain.
Anyway, as you may guessed, my answer to your query of “what you reading that’s keeping you intrigued?” wouldn’t fit within 140 characters, so I’m writing this here and will reply to your tweet with a bit.ly link to this post.
John Birmingham – Final Impact
Jasper Fforde – Something Rotten
David Gerrold – The Man Who Folded Himself
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – Destination: Amaltheia
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – The Final Circle of Paradise
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – Prisoners of Power
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – Roadside Picnic
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – The Time Wanderers
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – Poor Cruel Folk
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – Monday Begins On Saturday
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – The Gigantic Fluctuation
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – Spontaneous Reflex
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – Probationers
Harry Turtledove – The Man With The Iron Heart
I haven’t found a very well stocked English book shop here in Kazakhstan suddenly, these were all read on my MP4 player than can read plain TXT files. (Obviously I own all these books in paper form back in the UK, and wouldn’t dream of downloading e-books otherwise… /end-arse-covering)
Feb 22 2010
Back on Swansea beach. With Se…
Back on Swansea beach. With Seb, Anna & Irina + Gwen. Both phones now fixed. Google Latitude position updated.
http://twitpic.com/14qhm4
Feb 21 2010
365 Days Ago…
I wanted to post some videos of Anna and a few more pictures tonight, but either YouTube’s upload service is slow tonight, or Pipex’s performance isn’t top notch once again when it comes to expected vs. delivered speeds. Anyway, it is just a few moments past midnight here, meaning that in just over five hours (I think the time that appears on these posts may be set to Kazakhstan still), Anna will be exactly one year old! I’ll try to write more on this later, and eventually get the photos up, but for now, I just wanted to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY Anna! It barely seems plausible that this time last year I was about to head home whilst Irina waited for Anna to be ready to make an entrance, and that after a few hours, the fastest ever Clydach>Swansea hospital journey I had ever made was achieved!
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