A busy weekend with Daniel. On Sunday, we all got up early to go down the Bay, as Andrew was running in the Bupa Great Wales Run 10K. He did a PB of 50:55 which was awesome, and said it was a good, flat, fast course. Run very well organised. Not helped by walking back from it towards the car, and in front of thousands of people, several of our workforce were arsing round by having a mock sword fight with their litter pickers. DOH. I despair.

Came back to the house, Liz had arrived, and had a nice lunch. Then Liz and Dan went and we had a quiet day. I watched the end of the Tour, which was enthralling to the very end with only a few seconds separating the top three.

today back to work. the usual assortment of bizarre Cllr emails, wacky corporate policies and cumbersome form requirements included. Ho hum. I attach some photos of A at his glorious sweaty best.

Tour first. Since my last post, Vino and Rasmussen have both gone and the team roster is much lighter. What a race. How much more scandal can it take? Bradley Wiggins gave the most impassioned press conference yesterday - his team (Cofidis)was out after one of their riders tested positive too. He was not a happy bunny at all. From the way he spoke, it was as though his aspirations and dreams had been shattered. I felt for him. The race will be decided today in the time trial and appears to be between Contador and Cadel Evans with Leipheimer in with a chance. It will be riveting.

Dan arrived on Wednesday night and it's been busy since then. Unfortunately, although he immediately got on with Booty (well, who wouldn't?) Andy has taken a dislike to him and we have to keep them apart as much as possible, which id difficult as Dan keeps wanting to play with him - aargh! I don't particularly want to return Dan to his mum minus an ear or an arm.

Thursday, we went into town for a spot of shopping. Managed to successfully stock up on new uniform for next term, trousers, shirts and socks. Boring but necessary. He also got some Chanel fragrance, (start classy, I say), Thorntons chocs, Lush products, and a new hoody in H & M, as well as some more bling. A successful trip, marred only by monsoon conditions. Returned home, walked dogs. Then went and saw new Harry Potter film. V enjoyable, well made but it is the weakest of the book series and therefore the plot wasn't doing a lot. Had an Indian which we picked up on the way home.

Yesterday, took the dogs out first thing up to the Forestry in Rhudry. A good walk with stunning views over the Severn estuary and across to Somerset. Picked some wild strawberries and saw some amazing dragonflies. Returned home for lunch, and then went gun shopping in Gabalfa and Grangetown for a telescopic sight and some particular pellets. Mission successfully accomplished, much to Dan's satisfaction. On the way home, stopped off at Pets at Home for some dog food (we seem to virtually live in that shop now!) and another squeaky toy. Also went through a car wash, much to my and Dan's satisfaction. For some strange reason, I love the triple coloured foam. Bizarre.

Had a cup of tea, then Andrew and Dan went out cycling while I got on with some housework. This turned out to be much more eventful than I was expecting, as Booty fell in the pond. Managed to get her out, but all of us were traumatised. Towelled her down as much as possible and cuddled her for ages. She eventually decided to recover on the sofa and had a little rest there. She appears to be unhurt, just very shaken. The reason was that the people who live at the back of our garden have a yappy dog visiting them, and our two decided to rush out to investigate and respond when they heard it barking. Often in their rush they jump over the corner of the pond rather than going round it, on this occasion, this was not such a short cut.

Anyway Dan and Andrew had a good bike ride. Andrew then made some risotto, and we watched Hellboy. All retired to bed tired but happy.

By some miracle it is dry today and Andrew and Dan have headed off down the Bay for a pre booked boat trip. I'm catching up with the blog, then doing some ironing. Dog walk later and possibly a Chinese tonight. Dan may also go swimming. Tomorrow morning is the Great Wales Run. I will add some photos.

A hectic week in work. Yesterday morning, started the week with a big disciplinary hearing involving two staff. These are always gruelling for all concerned. Quite rightly, a lot of concentration goes into making sure the process is followed correctly and having to absorb and analyse a lot of new information which is the evidence in the case. In this case, I was satisfied that the correct outcome was achieved.

Lots of emails to deal with, including one from a Cllr who was asking me to deal with lights in a subway, tree crowns and a myriad of other issues that are nothing to do with me. Sigh.

Today was busy again. Our monthly Investors in People meeting first thing. Back to the office shortly followed by a fire drill, as we've recently all been allocated new muster points. This was quite entertaining for the wrong reasons as everyone promptly went straight to the old muster point, and ignored the valiant efforts of the fire marshal to encourage the strays to their correct spot. It was also very nice to have a brief moment inthe sunshine, as today is actually dry. Andrew was working from home today and managed to dry two loads of washing on the line, something we haven't done in ages.

Spent most of the rest of the day preparing a presentation for tomorrow's Scrutiny meeting. Unfortunately all the servers were playing up so it took an incredibly long time, as various colleagues had kindly forwarded me an assortment of figures, photos, stats, etc that were all due to be incorporated. Eventually completed it just before going home, via a nice walk with dogs over at Park Tredelerch, which is just across the road from work. Ambled happily around the lake admiring all the ducks and plants. Dogs happy to chase rabbits. Returned home and enjoyed a sit out in the garden, again seemingly miraculous. Enjoyed a sausage casserole and a glass of red wine.

Daniel has just phoned. He is coming to stay tomorrow night and will be here until Sunday. He is looking forward to it, as are we. Have a few things planned, including a boat trip and some shopping for gun pellets. Now I am returning downstairs to watch the Tour. The final stages are exciting. Although Vino can't now win, I'm sorry as the guy has such courage. Otherwise, I'd like to see Contador take it from Rasmussen. Regrettably, there is more rain forecast for the weekend.

Yes, astonishingly it's raining again. More bloody rain. And dark early. And thunder. And humidity. With, surprise, more rain forecast for the weekend. Humph. When are we going to have a few nice days? Grrr. One of my colleagues has cancelled a planned camping trip this weekend to Three Cliffs with his family because of the weather forecast. We've been having flash Met office warnings all day in work today. Did I mention it is raining?

We also have a new Chief Officer. They will be starting at the end of October. The rumours say it is a woman from Gloucester/shire - that's the bush telegraph for you. As soon as I know anything definate I will post and of course get busy Googling. I've never had a female boss - that would be interesting.

Should be an interesting weekend. Harry Potter is published, so I'll be reading that along with watching some interesting bits of the tour. There's a time trial on Saturday. It's turning into a real suffer-fest - I keep watching Vinokourov with a kind of awe that a person can voluntarily go through so much. Wow. Team Barloworld are also having a fantastic race - they have more than justified their wild card.

Friday tomorrow. A meeting with our Portfolio holder first thing. Then putting the paperwork together for a new graffiti officer and preparing a presentation for Scrutiny next week, who are doing a task and finish session on flytipping.

Another busy weekend. Had my hair done on Friday. Saturday went down to see Hil in Swansea. Came home and watched some of the Tour, I am glued to it, especially now the mountain stages are beginning. Sunday was another foul wet day, and went over to Tredegar House in the afternoon for a talk on herbs. Many of the people attending had cancelled even though the talk was held in the orangery. More Tour.

Today back to work. Several nice comments on my hair. Spent the day working on spreadsheet for new office furniture, matching up with the plan of the premises. Also a lot of email, sorted some paperwork, and had yet another gloomy message from Finance about the dire state of the Department and the Council's finances. More thunder and rain. When will we ever get a summer?

The long awaited photos of the collars......

Hurrah, the Tour has started, in London. I was glued to it yesterday. London looked magnificent, and it was the first dry day for months. Therace is wide open this year, and I think it's going to be really exciting.

Also yesterday we picked up the new dog collars from the Post Office sorting office. They had arrived from Canada. We took them home and the dogs are now wearing them. I will post some photos later. I must say they are as sumptuous as they look on line, and we are very pleased with the accompanying leads - we chose two lengths and tested the longer one at the Park yesterday. It's great,as it gives the dogs considerably more "wander" room, while retaining control. As they lounge around the house now, they really do look like dog royalty... ahhh. I am now very tempted to re-order some seasonal ones for Christmas - I can see how this could become quite addictive. The other thing to note is that both hounds now are showing a real improvement in their coats, thanks to the daily cod liver oil capsule, and twice weekly sardine ration. The collars look stunning against their glossy blackness. The hound mitt has also been working its magic.

It has been another busy week in work. I posted not so long ago, that there had been a run of disciplinaries that I had chaired. Now we are going through a run of Appeals. So far, two have upheld my decision to dismiss, and in one case there is a reinstatement. The two dismissals have confirmed to the managers that persistent absenteeism will not be tolerated. In the past, it seems that there was little appetite to confront this behaviour as managers felt that it would be overturned at a higher level. Now things are changing.

Last week, the Chief Executive published his proposals for senior management. Parks move over to Tom Morgan's Directorate so it would seem that an integrated streetscene is still as far away as ever. Had my regular fortnightly meeting with the Portfolio holder on Friday morning. He is happy with the way things are going, and we are already beginning to discuss items for next year's budget bids. Also had a meeting with the OM for the city centre, to discuss the impact of the new shopping centre on our service.

This week will be busy - the members are undertaking a Scrutiny Committee Task and finish group on Flytipping, and on Tuesday we are taking them for a mini bus ride round some of the hotspots. On Monday we are reviewing the service area business plan and progress against targets.

I will try and post some photos later of the new collars, and possibly also of the sunflowers in the garden. We also have a water lily which is just about to open.

Yet another photo of adored dogs on the bed... (with adored husband).

Sunday morning and lots to write about. It's been a while since my last post. Andrew was away for most of the week, on an epic journey that took him from deepest Cornwall up to Scotland. I missed him. Wednesday night, Sarah arrived, fresh from finishing her GCSEs. She came up by train, her first unaccompanied train journey, and she managed it brilliantly. It only cost £4 for a single - I call that good value. We had a fairly quiet evening, I cooked some pasta with garlic bread, which Andy nicked a bit of. Bad dog.

Thursday, we took the dogs over to Tredegar House first thing. Later, Sarah had a hair cut at the local salon where she has gone before. She was very pleased with it, and also had some beautiful coloured extensions put in. They look great. A quiet afternoon spent crafting, and in the evening, we ordered a Chinese takeaway, and watched Casino Royale, using Sky Box office. That is such a handy feature, when you want to watch a film but you can't be arsed to go to the video shop.

Friday, we went into town, and indulged ourselves in some serious retail therapy. Sarah was disappointed as she was looking for a CD but not able to find it in Virgin. However, this was offset by a variety of new purchases. As the sales were on, able to make the money go further. In the past, Sarah has bought stuff at MKone, and again she was successful, with a selection of nice tops, but a strange dearth of trousers. As some of the tops were reduced to a princely £4, she was able to buy 5 so is now well stocked for the summer.

We completed our trip with a pilgrimage to the Mac shop. As is usually the case, the helpful assistant ended up doing a complete eye make up for Sarah to demonstrate the colours - in this case, beautiful swirly purples. She looked stunning, and picked up some very useful tips too. I watched closely as well, as it is always interesting to see an expert at work and learn from them. I ended up buying myself a beautiful eye crayon, and Sarah was very happy with her new goodies.

Friday night, the young master returned, hoorah!!! We watched the BB eviction, and had a nice curry. Sarah was glued to her MSN.

Yesterday, took Sarah back to the hairdressers to have her nails done. We took the dogs for a walk in the pouring rain, but were smugly able to do so as their new coats arrived on Friday afternoon, all the way from Maine. They fit beautifully, look very striking and having road tested them, we can now confirm they are brilliantly effective too. The dogs seemed delighted to wear them. Andy has black, so looks like a special forces hound now, all sleek and prowly and Booty has purple, so looks like a foxy minx. Given the astonishing weather we are having at the moment, I'm really glad we didn't wait until the autumn for them - this rain is never-ending. Yesterday afternoon, I met a friend for a coffee, and then we all went off down the Bay to catch Shrek 3. Not surprisingly, the cinema was full to the rafters of excited little crack monkeys, all sugared to the max, shrieking and howling. Wasn't particularly impressed by the film, but I'm a curmudgeonly old grump, so not the target audience. Sarah liked it though, which was the main thing. Came home and had some pasta, and watched the series finale of Doctor Who. Ooh, The face of Bo....!!!!! Wow. Good old Russell. Collapsed into bed as I do these days, and woken this morning by a cold needle nose at 6 demanding a cuddle, let out and breakfast. Andrew did the manful thing and I got up around 8, had a shower and am now writing this. Got the monthly greyhound walk this afternoon. Although it will be more like a swim in this weather.

My other news is that I sent off a picture of my sampler to the World of Cross stitch magazine as that's where the pattern came from. Bought the latest edition on Thursday, and to my surprise, there is my letter and photo - hoorah! Apparently I am now eligible for a prize so will see what turns up. How exciting!

And finally, news from Plymouth. New Asst Director is Jayne Donovan, who takes the new job which is a combo of Les and Steve. I am delighted as she is both a lovely person, and a very able manager. Three cheers for her.