Last week was fairly quiet - nothing too exciting to report but we had a nice weekend. On Saturday Andrew ran in the annual Love Run in the centre of Cardiff, in Bute Park. Pics attached of him at Sophia Gardens car park after returning. He did an excellent time - just under 49 minutes. The course was quite flat and this year it was a small field. The car park and park were heaving though as Wales were playing Scotland later that afternoon (and would go on to win) at the Millennium Stadium; consequently the car park and the riverside were a sea of rugby supporters, wearing the most glorious assortment of outfits. Most of the Scottish guys were wearing kilts - it is such a good look - it seems to suit guys of every shape and age. On top of the kilt there would be either a Scottish rugby jersey or variations on a theme including very smart jackets and most were paired with sporrans. Welsh fans were wearing a variety of beautiful red outfits with quite a few daffodil hats, lots of red jester hats, some dragons and quite a few Welsh flags draped round shoulders. I think it would be fair to say that a great many fans of both nations were rather the worse for wear but what was so lovely was the fabulous atmosphere - so good humoured and festive with everybody out to have a really good time and enjoy the match. Such a contrast to football matches, sadly.

Sunday was of course St. Valentine's Day which we spent quietly. We exchanged cards, and I bought Andrew a bottle of vintage port, while he bought me a bunch of beautiful flowers and my own website domain. I think that is a really thoughtful and rather romantic gift, and I've spent most of my time since thinking about possible developments for the site. More on this in the future, no doubt. At the moment, I'm considering some form of online shop.

Today we took the dogs over to Tredegar House for their usual walk. Near the house are the formal gardens (closed to dogs) and the open parkland (with ha-has) and carriage drives. Also within the park is an ornamental lake and a wooded area, with a large amount of rhododendrons and cherry laurels. Recently, the park management have been doing some pretty extensive work around the lake, pruning trees and repairing pathways so that part of the park has been closed, much to Andy's disappointment. We call the wooded area "Squirrel World" as not surprisingly there are a large number of squirrels and Andy loves going in there, trying to climb trees and generally have a very exciting time, with much squeaking, bouncing and leaping along the way.

Since the closure, he has taken to looking longingly at the path into the wood, and trying to pull us in there. When we've previously let him off near the wood he has also tried to make a bee line for it, so we are very careful to only let him off further over on the open parkland, where there are fewer temptations. Anyway, this morning, the park was very quiet so we let off Boola (who behaves very well), Booty who was sniffing molehills ecstatically and Andy. To start with, all was fine, as he and Boola had high speed chases over the grass - fantastic to watch, as they hit some terrific speeds. Then the chase got over to the entrance to the wood, and sure enough Andy decided to take the opportunity for a bit of exploration and squirrel hunting. It was actually very funny as he went deaf to all calls, looked back at Andrew with a very defiant expression and trotted off purposefully yet with a rather guilty slink. Andrew jogged in after him in case the local Yorkshire Terriers were having a convention and I followed more slowly with Boola, who was just very interested in finally getting to see inside the wood. After a few minutes, we met the escapee returning on the lead with an expression of mixed defiance and embarrassment. Apparently, as Andrew had been jogging after him, he'd been looking back at him with a distinctly naughty expression, would wait till Andrew nearly got to him, then continue to trot into the wood, still occasionally looking over his shoulder.

Since returning home, the criminal has been snoozing peacefully, having enjoyed his prison break and subsequent recapture. I've been ironing and continuing to listen to Husky Rescue - the glorious Finnish band. If you haven't tried them before imagine a dreamy electronic soundtrack with ethereal, slightly folky female vocals (they sing in English)- absolutely hypnotic and beautiful, and one of those bands who you can enjoy more and more with each subsequent listen.

Our other piece of exciting news is that we've managed to get tickets for WNO's Die Meistersingers later this year at the Millennium Stadium. We had tried to get them before but they had sold out (probably because Bryn Terfel will be singing) but we went on the list for returns. Very happily for us, the WMC called on Friday to let us know of some returns and we were very glad to take them. Apparently the performance is six hours long (good old Wagner, never one to rush)with a meal break in the middle.