I was awoken this morning at around 7 by Booty, insistently barking and demanding urgently to be let out. I stumbled downstairs with her, still half-asleep and let her out into an amazing sight - the garden covered in a thick, silver white frost, the first of the year. A bit later, we took the dogs over to Tredegar, also frosty and beautiful. The sky was an amazing clear blue, with loads of vivid red leaves on the trees - really spectacular. Andy and Booty were breaking the ice on puddles. As we walked round the lake, we saw the usual quota of ducks and swans. Just as we reached the end of the circuit in front of the house facade, we saw a flash of vivid turquoise. Stopping dead, we could see a kingfisher in the branches by the boathouse - wonderful. Unfortunately, at that moment, Andy spotted a squirrel, and so began his high pitched squeak of excitement. Not surprisingly, much too loud for the kingfisher, but we got a grandstand view of it flying across the lake like a jewelled torpedo.

Rest of the day spent in various activities to do with the move and visit tomorrow from favourite aunty for the craft show at the CIA over the weekend. I've now reached the pre-move stage of muttering to myself and wandering in circles checking on where I have put things, looking for things, then putting them down again etc... Not long to go now though.

This evening, marinaded some free range chicken thighs and drumsticks for tomorrow evening. A Nigella recipe - with the chicken in a mix of vegetable oil, buttermilk, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper and a dash of maple syrup. It smells divine, and the buttermilk should make it incredibly moist. All I have to do tomorrow is roast it for around half an hour. Serving it with a home-made pecan coleslaw and probably a variation of potato boulangere, with a syrup roly-poly pudding to follow.

Andrew looked at me this evening and told me gently but firmly that I needed to relax and have a bath. As usual, he was absolutely spot on and I had a good soak in some Molton Brown Heavenly Gingerlily with enough bubbles to make the bathroom look like Ibiza. After 11 years of marriage (anniversary very soon!!) he is brilliant at spotting when I am working myself into a tangle of worry and even better at unwinding me.

Well, what a nice weekend. On Saturday, we were visited by Andrew's parents, Rita and Roger, and A's aunt, Heather (Roger's sister). She had flown down from Scotland (where she and her husband live) to Bristol and been met, thence all three came over for a leisurely day. It was great to see her and good to hear about her hounds too. We made a nice vegan lunch - started with pumpkin and apple soup, accompanied by festive chestnut rolls. Then golden vegetable casserole with sage dumplings, followed by melon with a stem ginger dressing. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. I was particularly pleased with the dumplings, as they fluffed up very well. Caught up on all the news and saw a variety of photos of Rhona (her grand-daughter, daughter of Andrew's cousin) and many of her dogs. Some photos attached. We were also able to present Roger with his birthday present, and Andrew received his from his parents (some detailed OS maps of the area we are moving to, plus a bottle of white port).

Today, managed a walk with the dogs between showers. This afternoon, visited the new Hobbycraft store that has opened near the new stadium. Slightly chaotic in that the entire store seemed to be over-run by unaccompanied small children. Anyway, I was able to buy a couple of nice things as we received a flyer for the store yesterday with a £3 voucher, so I decided to use it. Came home, and crafted Christmas cards for the GRW shop, then downstairs for a roast chicken and a dose of CSI Miami. Lovely. Young master now reclining in the bath.

A fairly quiet day, still harumphing to myself over the nonsense with the food waste. Interestingly, today is our bin day. Nobody from the Council has officially told us that our collection time has moved by 12 hours and today, not a single one of our neighbours had their green bins out. This is a "nice" area and should be a shoo-in for participation - if we can't get it right here, it doesn't look good.

We spent most of the day waiting in for a non-appearing BT person or courier who was supposed to be delivering a black box to us for our broadband at the new house. First, we were told morning delivery. By noon, no sign so another call. It'll be there by 2 - yeah, right....

Meanwhile the dogs are squeaking with frustration and I am too, as a number of things by default are done after we walk the dogs. BT still have some way to go to really polish their customer service. Anyway by 2, we gave up, went out and had a good walk over at Tredegar. Amazing coloured berries and still a few late campions in flower. Not too many squirrels though, much to Andy's disgust.

Tomorrow is a busy day, as on Saturday we're hosting a visit from Andrew's parents and aunt, who's flown down from Scotland for a short trip. Interestingly, she also has greyhounds but has galgos, the Spanish ones. They are sadly treated even more appallingly than a lot of British dogs, so a number of rescue and rehoming groups are active across Northern Europe. Anyway, her husband will be staying at home to manage the pack, and she is coming for a trip, via Bristol airport, so it made sense for her to come to us first. As she's a vegan, it's always interesting and enjoyable to cater for her. I've decided on the first two courses -doing a pumpkin and apple soup, with festive chestnut rolls, followed by golden vegetable casserole. For dessert, I'm dithering over a coconut icecream made purely with coconut milk/cream or a fruit compote. Watch this space. I love menu planning, especially at this time of year, when there are so many nice things around. The challenge when you are entertaining a vegan is to provide something that dedicated carnivores will also enjoy. Generally, I try to avoid what I call "pretend" veggie food - tofu or quorn that is pretending to be meat, or vegetable margarine that is pretending to be butter. I loathe soya milk to drink although it works quite well in recipes especially if there are other flavours to mask it. I have in the past made a successful chocolate pudding with soya milk that was delicious as the cocoa and melted chocolate provided good flavouring. Anyway, catering issues aside, it'll be great to see her and catch up with all the news.

Some good news to start. I phoned the kennel today to check on the progress of our stray friend. Happily, he has been reunited with his owner. The lady in the kennel wasn't able to tell me much more, as it is the local authority who hold all the info, but it's great to hear a happy ending.

We travelled this afternoon to the bungalow we are going to be renting shortly, as we wanted to do lots of prosaic things like work out where our fridge will live (we have one of those big American style ones), count the sockets, sort out what furniture will fit where, you know the sort of thing. A very successful trip. I had planned on taking my camera and indeed did so, but when I pulled it out to take some pics, realised that I'd left the battery at home in the charger - doh! The garden is nice too - amazingly, there was a huge clump of wild strawberries, still with berries on, so I ate one (!) and we were welcomed by a very friendly little robin who didn't seem to mind either us or the dogs. Once we move in, we will of course be erecting a cornucopia of peanuts, seeds and fat balls for our visiting birds. There probably isn't much we can do about the dining room carpet, except not wince too much every time we see it. The dogs had a very good sniff of everything - it will be interesting to see how they adjust to the move.

Got home to read the Echo, which led on the front page with a story about food waste collections in Cardiff, and how the waste is being transported 150 miles to be composted. To add insult to injury the hapless spokesman had tried to defend this as good environmental practice, as it was portrayed as a means of filling potentially empty lorries. At this point in the story, I could feel my brain straining. Using this logic, I would never take the train or the bus anywhere, since I'm helping to fill seats in my car......... hmmmmmm. It's very rare for me to agree wholeheartedly with Friends of the Earth but on this occasion, their scorn is fully justified. Of course, this is the same Council (the same Directorate, which is even worse) that is trying to promote green transport - way to go, guys! And of course it coincides with the Cylch Conference in Cardiff (community recycling sector in Wales) - what a great way to showcase our capital city as a model of sustainability. More worrying about this story are two facts - firstly, the council should have been on the ball when the contract was let - I can't believe nobody could have predicted there would be an outcry when this mad story broke. Care should have been taken to pre-empt a firestorm with a sustained briefing for Councillors and local media to explain the reasons, likely duration and costs saved. And somebody who really understands environmental issues should have been involved with drafting the press release. The fact that this seems to have broken in this way indicates very poor leadership within the council and of course will now adversely affect participation.

Secondly, the Council is quoted in the story as saying that it could only reach its 2010 recycling targets if it introduced the food waste collection early, before its own IVC is built and comes on line in either 2009 or 2010. This is actually most concerning, since it implies that a city with four Civic Amenity Sites (some brand new or refurbished) and universal kerbside cannot hit its 40% target. Someone wants a good slap. Powys has achieved its impressively high recycling rate by doing well at CA sites - on a cost per tonne basis, this is the easiest and fastest way of gaining percentage points on recycling rates. Cardiff now has full kerbside for dry recyclables - why can't we reach these targets? Either the expensive white elephant MRF isn't performing up to scratch and giving the diversion it should or we are not getting the participation rates we should be. And I'll bet hard cash, that participation rates are not being monitored. If our own experience is any guide, getting replacement green bags for recycling is a tortuous affair. Generally you have to call three or four times before they are delivered. To do that you have to be keen. We are, but how many householders are? Cardinal rule of successful kerbside is to make the service reliable and easy to use for the householder. Instead, the Council is wasting its time on feelgood vanity projects like real nappies and segregated bins for recycling street litter. Interestingly, when this was first mooted seriously, I enquired about the tonnage already generated by the award winning Thanks Banks in the city centre, and mysteriously none could be found. Hmmmm. Anyway, rant over for now, but it is frustrating to see millions of pounds of public money being used in a way that could be charitably described as sloppy.

The weekend turned out to be slightly more adventurous than we had expected. To Swansea on Saturday, to see our favourite great aunt. We went out for lunch, to the West Cross Inn which has a dining room with a wonderful view over the bay and the Mumbles. Enjoyed catching up with all the news, then back to drop her off before returning home to take care of the woofs.

Leaving Swansea, we drove out on Fabian Way, a busy duel carriageway that leads to the M4. Just after passing St. Thomas, we saw a loose, collarless dog on the other side of the carriageway, wandering, looking confused and lost. We turned round as quickly as we could, and by then the dog had actually wandered into the carriageway. Miraculously, nobody hit it, so we were able to pull into Bevans Row, and then attempted to catch it. Andrew was able to and then carried it back to the car where it would at least be safe. Fortunately, we always carry a water bowl and water for our two, so we gave it a drink. It was painfully thin, in fact emaciated, with sore paws, muddy, and with a strange lurching gait, suggesting problems with hips/back legs.

At this stage, a man approached us, who said that he thought he recognised the dog as belonging to his neighbour in Danygraig Road, Port Tennant - so we agreed to at least try to return him. Oddly,when we got there, nobody knew anything at all about the dog, even after talking to neighbours on both sides. By this stage, we decided to return to Cardiff, to at least help our two, so our new friend travelled peacefully in the boot.

Cardiff Dogs home refused to take him in when I phoned them, and we were prepared to have him for the weekend if we weren't able to find emergency accommodation. Gently placed him in our dining room, with bed, water and very small quantity of food, then looked up Swansea arrangements. Fortunately Swansea Council were far more helpful, and have an emergency dog reception point at Pipehouse Wharf depot, where I used to work over 20 years ago. Andrew, bless him, then drove our visitor back to Swansea, while I stayed with our two, who were confused and intrigued by new canine smells from dining room. I then did a thorough room clean and washed all the blankets and towels he'd been using. The woof has now been taken to the Council's contract boarding kennels and when I phoned today to check on his progress, he was at the vet being assessed.

I cannot even begin to describe the rage I feel when thinking about abandoning a dog in such miserable circumstances. As a charity, GRW often helps responsible owners who for all sorts of genuine reasons (some absolutely heartbreaking) are no longer able to care for their dogs. There are a wide range of other charities and welfare organisations who can help too. The dog clearly was quite old, poorly and starving, and literally inches away from being roadkill. Over the years, having been involved in a variety of animal welfare issues, I still can't help being surprised by the casual cruelty that is so common, and I really do struggle at times to remember that human beings are not all unmitigated bastards, who leave a trail of suffering and trash in their wake wherever they go. Although we've been given a pretty amazing planet, there seems to be no bit of it we can't decorate with a decaying pile of fly-tipping, McDonalds wrappers and graffiti tags. As I age, I am more and more convinced of the Catholic approach that man is definately fallen, and needs all the help he/we can get.

Photos attached show much loved great aunty and a couple of pictures of our unexpected guest.

A busy couple of days. I don't usually post my craft stuff on this blog, as that's what my other one is for, but thought I would include a photo of the latest sampler, which is just back from the framer. We're taking it to Swansea on the weekend to present to a much loved great aunt as a present for her 90th birthday.

Also include the muffins I made yesterday for the young master's colleagues. They turned out very well, although I have made more cream cheese frosting than I need, so now have some spare in the fridge. Photo attached of me in domestic goddess mode. You can just my greyhound sous-chef's nose in the bottom of the pic.

On Thursday night, we went to Swansea for a greyhound meeting to talk about the new website for the charity - Andrew has been doing some work on this. We've now agreed on the layout and the look and feel of the site, and the key headings/timescales, which is a lot of progress.

Took the young master to the train station this morning for the 6.55 a.m. train, and it was still dark at that time. It was just getting light as I took the woofs round Hamadryad afterwards and nice to see the dawn coming up over the St. David's Hotel. It is noticeably much colder now in the mornings - definately can feel winter on its way. Coming home, the bird feeders are awash with sparrows and blue tits - they are getting through the fat balls at great speed. Have done battle with the ironing - helped to tame the mountain a bit, I think.

The main news is that I've been to the optician for a routine eye test and am getting some reading glasses. She said that I am at the stage where it's not yet imperative I wear them, but is recommended. I will be wearing them, as I had begun to notice difficulty when stitching, and I don't want anything to prevent that. To me this is one of those milestones - so yes, I am now officially middle-aged. What else? I was thinking about it, and here's my list - I'd welcome comments.

• You prefer a wine merchant to a happy hour.
• You prefer Sunday morning to Saturday night.
• You hate Radio 1.
• You find yourself voluntarily listening to Radio 2 (I can't stand Steve Wright though).
• You go to bed at the time when you used to go out.
• You think it's a good idea to wear a vest.
• Hair colour is about covering grey as much as the choice of shade.
• You realise you remember fashion references from the first time round - aargh!
• The 80s bands you liked as a teenager are now doing nostalgia tours....
• You drive an estate car (although of course it's a badge of honour for middle aged men to go through a sports car phase, usually followed by a torrid affair with a blonde phase)
• When the Lancome lady gives you a trial pot, it's for the anti-ageing cream, not the one for young skins..... sigh.....
• Students look ridiculously young - are they really old enough to leave home?
• You become invisible to younger men.
• You are intensely irritated by speech littered with "like" every third word, excessive use of "Know what I mean?" and you hate mumbling. The soothingly articulate sounds of Radio 4 announcers are as honey to your ears.
• Speaking of honey, you worry about bees. And butterflies. And birds. And biodiversity in general.

A good weekend. On Saturday night we went out for a meal to Le Gallois, to celebrate Andrew's forthcoming birthday and his new job. As usual, a lovely time. Gorgeous food, great wine, good service and glorious people watching. On one side of us we had two fat bitchy old queens who were having a whale of a time and enjoying the waiters (must agree, good quality eye candy) and on the other a middle aged man of around 50 surrounded by three adoring skinny blondes. I am 99.5% sure the man was a well known Welsh media presenter but cannot be certain - that would certainly explain the skinny blondes who were obviously competing for the honour of sharing his duvet. Almost choked on my food a couple of times as they went in for wildly competitive flirting including feeding him by fork, photographs of them nestled on his shoulder, all pouring his wine every time he took a sip etc etc - highly amusing.

Walks with the woofs have been full of squirrel adventures - masses of them around. Andy tries to climb trees via his vertical take off leaps - Booty just does a generalised twisty leap of exuberance. Her eye continues to make excellent progress. Although the slogan has it "Chicks Love Scars" I've told her that she's now channelling the Pirate Queen look.

We popped into town this afternoon. The young master purchased a suit from Aquascutum and I bought him a book for his birthday ( a new Peter F Hamilton) which he will have to pretend to be surprised at when he opens it on the big day. Coincidentally, he's in Birmingham at a meeting with his colleagues, so tomorrow I am making a tray of Maple Pecan muffins with cream cheese frosting to take with him to celebrate. Fortunately, there will be enough for the cook to reserve some for herself and the attendant hounds too. What's your favourite flavour? Let me know.

Also treated myself today to a new lip gloss - masses of wonderful sparkles, fantastic. On a beauty related sidetrack, I wore my new Chanel nail varnish on Saturday night. It's one of the new season colours called Kaleidoscope. It's a glorious pewter/gold/metallic that picks up colours around it, so I am constantly checking it out against what I'm wearing. Wonderful. Has just started to chip now, so will probably remove tomorrow morning.

Another week that seems to be flying by. We were concerned about Booty's eye, as even with the lampshade on her head, she was trying and succeeding in scratching the eye area. It was also looking a little weepy, although there was no visible sign of infection. Anyway, to the vet this morning for a check-up, and he concluded that her scratching had in fact led to a small lesion on the surface of the eye which now needs some eye drops and another visit next Monday to assess progress. Lampshade must also continue to be worn. Apart from that she is doing very well. Her appetite is fully restored and she is full of beans when we go out, this morning on the river Rhymney and across the rugby club.

More frustratingly, none of the rental properties we viewed on the weekend are available. We have placed "Wanted" ads in some local papers, which has led to a few phone calls, some quite bizarre. One man demanded to know if Andrew spoke Welsh - anyone who's met him will know that's like asking me to speak Serbo-Croat. Another lady called very late last night after Andrew was in bed and suggested a property some sixty miles from where Andrew will be working, on the basis she liked dogs too. Hmmm. Anyway, we viewed another bungalow yesterday afternoon which although decorated in the most hideous style is eminently suitable, so I think we'll be taking it. All you can hear is the sound of the nearby river. I won't say too much though as we thought we'd sorted something out on the weekend - when the paperwork is complete I'll say more.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who's been sending their best wishes to Booty and has expressed their concern.

Booty has been doing very well today. She had a peaceful night and an enjoyable walk this morning, enlivened by a standoff with a miniature Schnauzer with an attitude problem. Admittedly it was wearing a hideous dog Tshirt ( a hanging offence in my book) but really, that's no excuse. What kind of deranged lunatic thinks it's OK to dress up a dog in a baby style romper suit? The women walking it were also majorly overdressed - a big no-no for dog walking. We're talking fancy handbags, fancy gilets and high heeled boots!! Madness. The correct dress code for dog walking is of course minimal or no make-up, a woolly hat for most of the year, sensible boots/wellies, a shapeless waterproof coat or fleece and the only bag that you should take must be one to contain poo bags, dog water etc... certainly not some jaunty little patent number. Generally, you should be endeavouring to channel a combo of Valerie Singleton via Countryfile rather than SJP or similar fashionista.

During the day she has been trying to scratch at her eye, so we called the vet and Andrew collected the dreaded lampshade. She is not at all happy about it - she either gives us the most evil looks or what's worse, the "How could you?" look with the full-on big brown eyes that are designed to melt an iceberg. She isn't able to master stairs with it on, so we've brought her upstairs for the night now, and she's on the bed with Andrew. She's been eating well, drinking too, so I'm confident she'll continue to recover swiftly.