Yesterday was a productive day. Went to the hairdressers in the morning, after spending the early part of the day engaged in a vigourous bout of housework. Having the hounds means that regular hoovering and mopping is essential to keep the place looking clean and tidy. With Andy's paw still sporadically bleeding as well, it is important to remove that "crime scene" look on a regular basis. Also have been catching up with washing and ironing, always a never ending job.

Returned from the hairdresser with a trim and new colour - a deep reddy brown, looks good. As I was leaving the car to come round the house to the front door, my Lands End parcel arrived. I had ordered a little fleece jacket and a fleece sweatshirt, both in a deep browny purple colour - lovely. In the winter, I adore fleece, and would happily dress in nothing else. It's warm and light and snuggly and just mmmmmmmm - lovely.

Dogs mysteriously failed to pass any comment on my hair (tchah, eye-roll) but were otherwise very pleased to see me. Had a good chat to Hil in the afternoon, catching up with all the news.

Today Andrew comes home - hurray! I left the house early and went first to Inkspot and enjoyed a good browse and bought myself a few nice crafty bits. Then went over to Pets at Home for some holiday kibbles for the woofs, and thence to Tesco for a shortish shop to get some things to take away with us.

Returned home to the usual ecstatic welcome from the woofs, along with a mysteriously clean floor (I'd been intending to give it another go later this afternoon.) A note from Sue our dog walker explained. Over-vigourous squirrel chasing had resulted in more bleeding, leaving the house like Macbeth's castle, so Sue had done some hasty mopping up. At the moment I am beginning to feel like Lady Macbeth myself, as I do seem to be spending a lot of time wiping up blood spatter. I am once again very thankful that we opted for wooden floors downstairs and have tiles in the kitchen.

Just done another marathon ironing session, leaving me feeling that the beast is pretty well conquered. A good sensation. Next, some bathroom cleaning, then if time a little play with my new toys from Inkspot before doing some leisurely chopping and prepping for tonight's curry.
May also put a few clothes in a suitcase to help encourage that holiday vibe......

A happier post today I hope. Disappointing CSI last night, especially as last week was a real corker with full-on H doing his manly posing and quotable lines - "Burn, baby burn" being a fine example as he walked away from an exploding car that he was brave enough to drive away from people so as to minimise blast damage - ah, bless..... all the while of course, wearing his darkest shades, flexing his hands on his hips, and flashing that badge. It's like the world's most stylish panto and I love it.

Took the dogs over to Tredegar House this morning. Walking round the lake, I noticed the cygnets - they are now nearly as big as their parents, although still grey. It's been lovely watching them grow over the summer. After returning the woofs to the car, I then strolled over to the craft shop and successfully enrolled in an autumn quilting course. The lady in the shop was very helpful and showed two examples of the quilt we will be making (a sampler quilt). Each quilt was in a different colourway which changed the look of the finished item dramatically- so I now have to give some serious thought as to what colours to choose, which in turn will be dependant on where I put it and what I do with it.

Have just finished another mountain of ironing, and am about to do some card-making. Bliss. The hounds are fast asleep on the bed, looking very peaceful. Booty came in to me in the middle of the night - I was vaguely aware of her hopping up and when I woke this morning she was still curled peacefully at my side. Jake continues to hop along happily, still licking his paw regularly. He is thoroughly enjoying his walks and appears incredibly bouncy the rest of the time so I am not too worried about him. He is also enjoying the extra attention. Loads of cuddles and lots of soppy brown eyes looking cute.

A sad day. Kayla, another lady with cervical cancer has died. Kayla and her husband Stu fought the recurrence of this disease so bravely for the past two years. On many occasions I've laughed while tears ran down my cheeks, reading Stu's blogs, or Kayla's posts on Jo's Trust (charity to support women/partners with cervical cancer/pre-cancer). Kayla was treated at the Royal Marsden, and even they struggled at times as she went through the hell of all sorts of complications, infections and her condition went through a roller coaster of ups and downs. Yet all the time each obstacle overcome still seemed only to take her back to a slightly lower start point. I had been expecting the news for some time when Stu said that they could offer no more treatment, then the cancer spread to two new sites and then the only concern was to make her comfortable. In one sense I am so pleased - her fight is over, and all the pain too. In another, it breaks my heart, as Stu and Kayla were one of those couples whose love was so strong that it quite literally shone out of their communications, their behaviour and their love for their children. In the bizarre world of cancer, nothing could seem as romantic as Stu's loving description of his little pit viper snoring and dribbling with vomit in her hair, or as blackly funny as the descriptions of the stranger ways of the NHS. Stu is one of those husbands who love and care tenderly for their wives through the most horrendous times, and completely gives the lie to the nonsense some women spout about men. Andrew is another, and I can think of several more, some known IRL and some via Jo's.

Couples like Stu and Kayla are an inspiration - I frequently fail in my attempts to live as I should but draw strength and hope from people like these. Some people have the wonderful gift of acting as lights to point the way - quite literally wayfinders in Burton's case but there was another man who was passionate about doing the right thing. His motto was "Honour not Honours" and is entirely in accordance with how he lived. It would be right to say that I cared deeply about living the right way before I was ill (as befits a keen 7 Habits girl) but the illness really emphasised it. When I went back to work, I really couldn't see the point in a lot of the things I saw - I had chosen consciously that job, in the full knowledge that I could be living on borrowed time, and therefore when the end comes I don't want to look back at wasted time spent on petty nonsense. It was very helpful and refreshing having Phil as a boss, as he seemed also to understand this and gave short shrift to political posturing or morally questionable behaviour (never in short supply in the workplace). I never asked him if he had gone through any illness either himself or with someone close - it never felt right to ask such a personal question. One of the difficulties I have now is the seeming lack of clarity in the current management arrangements - the view of the 5th floor at County Hall has been disappointing in many ways, although an eye-opener.

A phenomenally long and busy week since I last posted. Whenever I go on leave, there is always a frantic attempt beforehand to clear out my email inbox and sort things out. Also had further meetings to do with budget bids and have presented them to the unions. They opposed the savings I had put forward, but did not make any suggestions for where the cash should come from. Met our new CO for the first time. Difficult to make much of an assessment, she was polite, seemed friendly, but obviously early days yet. She is hoping to start at the end of October.

Thursday was busy as Chris and I were interviewing for the CC Support officer. We had scheduled seven, two pulled out, and we have another three scheduled for September after all the holidays. Interviews went well and we were generally very pleased and impressed with the calibre of candidates. It will be a tough decision whoever we pick. We have recently adopted a new feature in interviews and used it in this one - we gave each candidate a written copy of the questions, so they could refer to it. This seems to go down well, and helps them to keep abreast of things.

Decided to leave work early as was going out later. A came and collected me as he had been working from home. Got home, parked car, and walked round the front of the house, hearing the usual tumult from the dogs, excited squeaking and bouncing against the door. A put his key in the lock and suddenly we heard a high pitched scream instead. Rushed inside to find that Andy had bounced up to the door, but got one of his front toenails caught in the big keyhole and then ripped it out completely, leaving the bleeding stump of the quick. The hall immediately resembled a murder scene from CSI - paws and nails always bleed so much. Eventually the bleeding slowed down, and we now have a new nickname - Jake the peg for him. We took him to the vet, who gave him the once over and an antiseptic spray, but there isn't really much more to do except wait for it to grow back.

After all that excitement, we went out with Alan, over to Caldicot Castle for an open air production of Twelfth Night, with a picnic. We loaded up the coolbox, with lots of nice things, including home made bread - especially delicious with about a third rye flour vs wheat. Really adds a lovely flavour, texture and aroma. Enjoyed the evening thoroughly - the production was enchanting, the setting beautiful and intimate, the company congenial. Amazingly the weather was perfect - one of those gorgeous summer evenings you imagine in the middle of winter. Cloudless blue sky full of swallows, evening shadows golden on the grass, perfect. I had been struggling all day with the beginnings of a sore throat, but simply enjoyed the anaesthetic effects of Pinot Grigio in the evening. Eventually drove home, dropped off Alan and collapsed into bed, officially on holiday - hurrah!

Found out Sarah's GCSE results on Friday morning - she has seven, including two A grades, one not surprisingly for Art, the other for Science. Fantastic, I am so pleased for her. Her next step is to go to college in Llanelli to do an Art course.

Less happily, by Friday morning the throat had developed further, and by today, I have officially lost my voice and have a hacking dry cough. We reluctantly cancelled our attendance at the Evans family do - frustrating on a number of levels, as we still pay the dog walker and will have to pay for the buffet and the room hire - £30 a head is not cheap. Andy is continuing to hop around with his poorly paw - he wants to do things but it is apparent that it is still very painful for him at times. We took them over to Tredegar House this morning, for a shortened walk, mainly on the grass so it would be softer for him. Rather ironically, we finally had our home visit yesterday from the Greyhound Rescue Wales people to see how the two dogs are settling in. I was able to make squeaking noises at Sandra - we see her at the monthly greyhound walks over at Cosmeston so she knows the dogs and us. Went through the questionnaire and it seems all is well. Sandra commented on how well the two dogs look, Andy's foot notwithstanding. I must admit their coats are looking fantastic. The hound mitt, along with the sardines and the cod liver oil has really done the business. Andy especially just gleams. There, I will stop here, as it is time for them to be fed.

The weekend was cold and wet. Yesterday we met up with Andrew's sister, husband and three boys, down at Pembrey Country Park, near Burry Port. We brought a picnic, after a stroll along the beach. I had imagined lots of sunshine, instead we froze, in a howling gale and spots of rain. A typical British summer! The beach at Cefn Sidan was beautiful, and not surprisingly, not too crowded. Miles of golden sand and the boys enjoyed picking up lots of lovely shells.

Busy day today in work. The advert has appeared for J's job, and I've been finalising the cover arrangements. Had a meeting at County Hall this morning to discuss budgets - MTFP bids, savings, capital, and this year's picture. Quite gloomy. Ho-hum. The usual Monday assortment of odd Cllr correspondence. Loads of Cominos to sign off, for some reason. Also our monthly IIP (Investors in People) review with our consultant. All in all, a busy day.

Much more to post.

First piece of news is that J, our Clean Streets Manager is leaving us! He is headhunted by his old boss and is going to be working with the company that makes Welsh Whisky - a bit of a change from street cleaning. He'll be leaving in mid september just after I return from my leave. I'll be very sorry to see him go, as he is incredibly good at his job and what took a bit longer to reveal is his evil sense of humour, aided by his ability to maintain an absolute poker face in all circumstances. This is a rare gift. I have just completed all the forms for progressing with the recruitment for his replacement. Some tweaks demanded by HR as apparently we can no longer use words like "enthusiastic" as this could be ageist...... ho, hum. Our new colleague in Waste Management, Robert, who's covering Tara's maternity leave, has kindly agreed to assist with shortlisting. He'll bring an interesting take on it, as he's got a broad range of experience, and no baggage with any parts of the Council.

Chris and I have completed the shortlisting for the CC Support Officer, ironically this would have made J's life a whole lot easier. We've shortlisted ten candidates, the majority graduates and some even with Masters. It's becoming noticeable that graduates are doing a lot more entry level jobs than they used to. A function of supply and demand, I guess?

Today we waved a temporary goodbye and had a presentation for one of our colleagues who is about to get married and go on honeymoon. Very exciting for all concerned, and Chris put it very well when she said that she hadn't been a Bridezilla at all.

Went this afternoon to a meeting with the Environment Agency. They've proposed a flytipping officer in an area on the border between us and a neighbouring authority, with funding contributions from all three. We are very keen on this idea as it offers a real possibility of improving an area with some serious issues. Had the luxury of finishing early as their offices are only about five minutes or less from the house. Came home and greeted by a storm of hound tail wagging, bouncing and general glee - very happy for all concerned.

Last week was one of those long, busy weeks that seem to go on for ever. Tiring and humid, with lots of activity in work, including a lengthy and odd disciplinary to hear, and the annual round of budget proposals and savings. I completed these today and sent them in, along with a frankly peculiar risk analysis for each spending bid, which I don't think will be much help to anyone. Total value of bids is over £2 million - I don't for a moment imagine we'll get all of it, but it's important to bid and each individual element would add something positive to the service.

Had the fortnightly meeting with our portfolio holder on Friday morning. It turned out he couldn't find the bike shed (he's a keen cyclist) and to my horror, his bike was nearly taken away and scrapped by an over enthusiastic member of staff who thought it had been abandoned. Saturday we went over to Somerset for the day to visit Andrew's parents. The dogs were very well behaved and loved the big garden where they could run around and sniff lots of interesting aromas. Took them for a nice walk around the village. Sunday was very hot and our monthly greyhound walk over at Cosmeston Lakes. Over 80 and we were out at the hottest part of the day. I am never doing that again - I was melting!

Work today was more work on the bids before they were finally submitted - it is very satisfying when you complete a big piece of work like that. Also had some discussions with HR about a possible re-deployment candidate for a post we have vacant at the moment. I am due to shortlist with a colleague, Christine on Thursday. She is off at the moment as her beautiful daughter Lauren is just off to California for a semester as part of her university drama course. Incredibly exciting but also we will all miss her too. Still, I'm sure the time will just fly by, and Chris will be going out there later in the year to visit and see the sights.

Will post some photos of dogs in Somerset.