Let it snow...

As I've said before on many occasions, I love snow. In fact, I'd go further and say I like cold weather generally.

So, as you can imagine, I'm in my element with the current cold snap. I don't want to sound like a pensioner, but winters don't seem to be as cold as they should be - or as cold as they used to be.

So it's nice to have consistently freezing weather which, incidentally, is expected to last well into the new year (according to GMTV, anyway) to remind us that it's December. The frost is, my nan tells me, also very good for swedes.

I just hope we get a bit of snow now. With a couple of days off work coming up, a stroll in some freshly fallen snow really appeals.

The Trap (Bridge Inn, Chirk)

As locals go, you can't beat The Trap in Chirk. The beer's great, the company's first class and the landlady and landlord - Deb and Martin - are nice, friendly people. Oh, and you can't forget Emma - probably the best barmaid around (she'd kill me if I didn't mention her).

Anyway, here's Deb and Martin as you've probably never seen them. Martin's resemblance to Peter Kay is more striking than ever, but I'm a bit concerned about his fitness. I'm not sure he'd make a genuine superhero - best stick to pulling pints.

By the way, if anyone wonders why I'm blogging at 8.45 on Christmas Day, blame Melissa. I'm waiting for her to get ready. Unfortunately, it's not a particularly quick process.

Merry Christmas

In the spirit of the season, I'd like to wish all three followers of my blog a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Who said I was miserable?

Cold shoulder

I am suffering at the moment. Not in a particularly serious way, but suffering nonetheless. The culprit is another bout of cold/flu.

I hate being ill. And I'm not very good at it - just ask Melissa. When I'm ill - which thankfully isn't too often - I just want to sleep, which isn't great at the moment considering the festive season is about to get under way in earnest. And if I can't sleep, I'm even more irritable and irrational than usual. Like most men, I also feel sorry for myself which does nothing to lighten the mood.

So, having hardly slept last night, and having been irritable and irrational in work all day, I'm planning to head home in a minute and go straight to sleep in the hope that I'll be back to my usual sunny disposition when I wake up. Well, sunny-ish maybe.

Clarification

Melissa has asked (told would perhaps be a more accurate description) me to clarify my previous entry about bathroom cleaning.

She believes it makes it sound like we have a "disgusting, dirty" bathroom. We don't. Even when I clean it.

So here goes with the apology:

I have been asked to point out that the article entitled 'You try to help...' was in no way meant to imply that Mrs Wright's bathroom was anything other than spotless at all times. Any impression to the contrary was entirely unintentional.

Now can I come out of the spare room?

You try to help...

I like to think of myself as a modern kind of husband, willing to share the burden of running a house evenly with Melissa. I don't mind cooking tea if I'm home first, I don't mind doing the shopping if Melissa happens to be working on a Saturday, I don't mind cleaning and I will, if I'm pushed, even do the ironing.

Most people I speak to seem to think this is a good thing. However, for Melissa things aren't quite that straightforward. When I do the ironing, I never put things away 'in the right place'; when I do the cooking, it's never what she fancies; and if I do the shopping, I don't buy enough yogurts.

My one trump card has always been the cleaning. It's always been the one area I was beyond reproach... until Sunday.

In an effort to get all the rubbish jobs out of the way on Sunday morning, I grabbed the cleaner and proceeded to give the bathroom a good going over. Having completed this not-particularly-pleasant-for-a-Sunday task, I proceeded to inform Melissa, thinking she would be pleased.

How wrong I was. She immediately walked into the bathroom and began scrutinising the towel radiator. When I asked her what she was doing, she replied that she was checking to see if I'd cleaned properly.

So now not even my cleaning is up to scratch. Perhaps I should take the advice of a good friend of mine who, when asked how he got away without doing any housework, explained: "I did it once, very, very badly, and have not been asked since. Whenever I offer to help, I'm always told to stick to doing what I do best - sitting in front of the TV." Nice work if you can get it.

Christmas

I love Christmas. It's not particularly fashionable to say so, but I can't help it. Every year I get excited even though, at the age of 32, I should be past being excited at the prospect of opening presents.

However, there's one element of the festive season I could happily live without - the music. Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing inherently wrong with Christmas music (The Pogues' Fairytale of New York is, without doubt, one of the best songs ever recorded). It's just that listening to the same 20 or so songs over and over again, every day for a month, is enough to drive to anyone to distraction.

Unfortunately for me, Melissa doesn't feel the same way. She loves Christmas (like me) but also loves the music (unlike me). This means that, for the next few weeks, there will be a battle in the Wright household between my music (at the moment this consists largely of Belle and Sebastian's extensive back catalogue) and Melissa's Christmas CDs. Somehow, I doubt it will be an even contest.

Darkness

The winter is always a funny time of year for us editorial-types on the Leader. Why's it funny I hear you ask?

Well, we drive to work in the dark (newsdesk start at 6.45am) and we drive home in the dark. In fact, my office doesn't have any windows, so I can go for days at a time without natural light.

Now I'm not after sympathy here; I enjoy my job and, frankly, there are far worse ways to make a living.

However, it does mean that weekends are something of a shock to the system when we emerge, blinking, into daylight wondering where we are and what time it is.

It also makes you appreciate weekends all the more, particularly when we enjoy weather like we did this weekend - frosty and bright.

Without sounding too healthy, it's the sort of day that makes you want to jump out of bed and go for a walk. And call for a pint in the local, of course.

Socks

I'm sure the title of this post will have you intrigued... or bored. Like it or not, however, socks have been one of my primary concerns in recent weeks. Why? I hear you ask.

Well, three weeks ago, I returned home from work to find Melissa had cleared out the entire contents of my sock drawer and replaced them with two packs of new black socks. Now these weren't the sort of socks I like; for a start they were plain, which means they are: a) boring; and b) impossible to keep in pairs.

To compound matters, they were so long, they were more like tights than socks (and I'm not in to that kind of thing).

When I questioned Melissa about it, she replied that my beloved, and admittedly slightly tatty, socks were only good for the bin and that she had replaced them - talk about a swift solution. Anyway, I did manage to salvage a couple of pairs from the wash (they had escaped the cull), and I've now managed to buy some new, more suitable replacements.

But let this be a lesson - don't leave your sock drawer unguarded.

Apologies

It's been a long while since I updated the blog. My excuse? A week's holiday (decorating and generally catching up on work at home) and a busy work schedule are the main culprits.

Anyway, I'll update properly in the next day or so - honest.

Weird weather

I know it's incredibly British and incredibly boring to go on about the weather, but I was genuinely shocked to see snow in October.

As I've said before (several times probably), I love snow. I do, however, wish it would fall at the weekend when you can go for a walk and enjoy the winter landscape, rather than on a weekday when you have to drive to work. Still, snow is snow, and seeing it in October was a bonus.

Speaking of the seasons, my garden is now almost empty. I've dug up all my potatoes (there's plenty to keep us going through the winter months), while my tomatoes, courgettes and aubergines are now finished (the cold snap this week was the final nail in the coffin). My chili peppers have been fantastic this year, especially the dwarf ones, which are so hot, half of one is enough to make your eyes water.

My swedes are almost ready, and I have one or two cabbages that managed to survive the caterpillar onslaught but the main focus of my work over the next couple of weekends will be digging the garden over in preparation for next year - providing we don't have any more snow.

Gym etiquette

Going to the gym is a funny thing. Until a few years ago, I wouldn't have contemplated going near a gym but, after some gentle persuasion from my wife (and some encouraging comments such as 'don't worry, that happens to everybody when they get a certain age'), I took the plunge and have been going to a gym fairly regularly since.

If anyone else is being made to feel guilty about not being fit enough, the gym's not as bad you think. I was terrified of lots of super-fit, muscle bound types making me feel inadequate. However, most people are like me - they're simply trying to ease their guilty conscience about eating or drinking too much.

In fact, the worse thing about going to the gym is their insistence on providing full length mirrors in front of the running machines; believe me, the last thing I want to see after a 20 minute run is my own sweating, purple reflection.

Anyway, the point of this very rambling introduction is to bring up the subject of how to behave in the gym. As a relative novice, I'm still learning but I've already observed a few rules for beginners that should be obeyed at all times.

Firstly, you must always try to avoid using the machine next to somebody else - you really don't want to be too close to somebody while you're exercising, it's just not nice.

Also, wear suitable clothing. This is a very important consideration but can be overlooked. Shorts that are just too, well, short are unacceptable. Also, and without being too graphic, beware of emblems on T-shirts as they can prove very painful after a 20 minute run (I'm speaking from experience here).

Thirdly, keep looking straight ahead when using the machines. Occasionally, something will catch your eye on one of the TV screens (invariably showing 'pop' videos aimed at teenagers) and you will, at best, stumble and at worst fall off potentially leading to serious injury. Also, looking round the gym while exercising invariably leads to eye contact - not a good thing.

Finally, and most importantly, always remember to use deodorant before visiting the gym. Believe me, exercising is a traumatic enough experience without having to put up with personal hygiene issues as well.

So there we are, my beginners guide to the gym. I doubt that exercise will ever be fun (fun is spending time with Melissa (soppy but true) drinking, eating and playing Pro Evolution on the Xbox) but by observing these rules it might at least be bearable.

PES update

Having managed to spend a bit of time playing PES 2009 over the weekend, I'm impressed.

The Become a Legend mode is, potentially at least, brilliant and I even managed to get on the bench for my club Aston Villa (or West Midlands Village as it's known in PES) yesterday.

The game itself looks pretty good and the players bear a distinct resemblance to their real-life counterparts. It also plays very well and, leaving aside the Fifa vs PES debate for a moment, scoring a brilliant goal after putting together a flowing move is still hugely satisfying.

So is it as good as or better than Fifa? I don't know. All I know is that it's still a great game. My brother - who wants to be known as Baz or Barrald in any future references on this blog - has promised to visit in the near future with his copy of Fifa so we can compare the two games properly. For know though, PES is plenty good enough to keep me occupied.

Behaving like a geek

I don't consider myself a geek. I admit, I own a games console (recently upgraded from Playstation2 to Xbox360), and a PC which is used for internet and music, and very little else.

However, once a year, I behave like a complete geek - and all because of a football game. It's not something I'm proud of, but - try as I might - I can't do anything about.

The game concerned is Pro Evolution Soccer (or PES as its known to its followers). I've played every version of this game (were now on the 2009 edition) and its predecessor, International Superstar Soccer, since it was launched back in the days of the Playstation1.

I can, quite literally, lose hours playing this game, which still gives me a tremendous buzz when scoring or pulling off an unlikely victory.

This year has been problematic, though. PES' arch-rival, Fifa, has improved considerably over the years to the point where many gamers and critics are citing it as the best football game available.

I have never bought a Fifa game, preferring instead what I consider to be realism of PES. However, by all accounts, Fifa 09 is incredibly realistic - realistic enough to convert long-time PES fans, including my brother Barry.

He's been trying to convince me to buy Fifa this time round and, I admit, I was tempted. I've even searched the web for reviews comparing the two titles but, due to an embargo, there were hardly any reviews of PES 2009. All I could find were fan sites - and, quite frankly, they were scary. I thought I liked the game but I have nothing on these people; they obviously live and breathe the game.

Anyway, the upshot of my deliberations was that I found myself in Asda at 6.20am this morning, in the embarrassing position of having to ask one of the helpful assistants for a copy. I'm sure she gave me one of those 'sympathetic' looks most of us reserve for train spotters.
I haven't had chance to play the game yet. When I do, I'll let you know if it's any good.

Apologies... on behalf of my wife

I've been asked to issue a public apology to the gentleman who was nearly run down by my wife recently.

To put readers in the picture, we were leaving our drive with my wife behind the wheel when she started to pull out, only to realise - as I shouted 'stop' as loudly as possible - that a man was in front of our car.

The man had been jogging with his dog and was sprinting past our drive when the near-miss happened.

Of course, it now transpires that the whole incident was entirely my fault. The view out of our drive is obscured by a large hedge on the right hand side and Melissa had asked me to keep an eye out for cars.

As she started to edge forward, I said 'stop' - or words to that effect - but she ignored me. It turned out that stop wasn't descriptive enough. Apparently, I should have said 'stop, pedestrian' and she would have stopped. Instead, my warning was 'too vague' to be of any use.

So there we are. What started out as an apology on behalf of my wife has now turned into a personal apology. So, to the jogger whose exercise was nearly halted very abruptly, I'm very, very sorry and will try to be more descriptive with my warnings in future.

What happened to autumn?

It's been a while since my last post on here. In that time (just over a month), our wonderful British weather appears to have skipped autumn and gone straight in to winter.

Last week, I was in Pwllheli and the weather was fantastic. Admittedly it was a bit chilly in the evening and first thing in the morning but, during the day, it was glorious. At one point we (Melissa and I) were sat on the beach with a picnic and I was contemplating going for a swim - I kid you not.

Like most British people, I'm obsessed with the weather, and this week I've been keeping my fingers crossed because one of my best friends, Chris Bellingham (better known as Bubbs to friends and family) is finally doing the decent thing and getting married to his long-time partner Louise.

The wedding takes place on Friday and - unfortunately - the weather doesn't look like obliging. Indeed, some weather forecasters are even talking about snow over the Scottish mountains - as long as it doesn't venture as far south as Chirk, I'll be happy.

I've been sat-nagged

Sat-nagging. What's that, I hear you ask. Well, until last week, I didn't know what it was either but now I do. It's when the voice of a sat-nav system (in this case, bizarrely, the voice was that of John Cleese) nags you all the way to your destination.

Fortunately for me, I'm used to being nagged while I drive. Melissa has many qualities, but patience while I'm driving is not one of them. Our journeys together are punctuated by comments such as "Wow, we really did go round that corner" or, "What's the matter with you today? You're all over the road".

Anyway, back to the sat-nagging. A colleague kindly lent me his portable sat-nav to find my way to a building in the centre of Birmingham. It worked perfectly. However, being constantly reminded by Mr Cleese that I had to go straight on in 200 metres was a little distracting.

By the time I arrived home, I had the thing on mute. Even John Cleese isn't funny when you've heard him repeat the same joke about French people making us say metres instead of miles 500 times.

What's happened to summer?

Like most people, I'm thoroughly miserable about our weather we've been subjected to over the last couple of weeks.

It's cost me important cricket matches, prevented me from sitting outside my local and enjoying a pint and, worst of all, has stopped me spending time in my beloved veggie patch while the weeds multiply at a terrifying rate.

However, the wet weather has also thrown up one unexpected bonus - I'm not jealous of my colleagues taking holidays in July and August.

As with most businesses, there's always a rush to book holidays during the summer holidays with the place resembling the Mary Celeste at times as a result. Normally, this makes me grumpy because I tend to take my holidays at other times.

This year, though, the bad weather means I don't feel I'm missing out - sitting in an office all day when it's pouring down is much easier than sitting in an office all day when it's glorious sunshine outside.

I've got a week off at the end of September. Hopefully, the weather will be fantastic and all of my colleagues will hate me.

Talking rubbish

I like to think that I'm a fairly reasonable sort of person but, occasionally, things make me really angry.

And this week, bin collections have been making me angry.

Now I'm not going to claim for one minute that I'm the world's most conscientious when it comes to recycling. However, I am doing my best to recycle as much as possible and that includes garden waste.

We've got a fairly big lawn and our two garden waste bins get filled up quite quickly, particularly during the summer months. So you can imagine my delight when I realised that, due to a reorganisation of bin collections across the county, Wrexham Council decided there would be a four week delay in collecting garden waste.

As I write this, both of my green bins are full - and I still have two weeks to wait before they are emptied. My grass needs cutting, and I may have to resort to using the household waste bin.

I can understand that Wrexham Council wanted to reorganise bin collections to cut costs, but surely they could have come up with a better solution than this. Maybe the middle of winter, when nobody is cutting their lawns, would have been more sensible.

To add insult to injury, Chirk has just lost its very popular skip, which was previously available to residents on a Wednesday and Saturday. I know local councillors opposed the move but were told the skip had to go to save money.

Instead, any waste which we cannot fit in our bins will have to be disposed of at Plas Madoc - six or seven miles away - and all those car journeys can't be good for the environment.

Another podcast

I'm featuring in the latest Leader podcast, which is now live at http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/podcasts/PODCAST-Evening-Leader-podcast-010808.4350525.jp

Have a listen and let me know what you'd like to hear on it in future.

Summer arrives...

Summer has actually arrived, although for how long is anyone's guess. The weekend was glorious, and I managed to spend plenty of time outside (mainly, trimming the hedge for what seems like the twentieth time this year).

Warm weather also encourages drinking. There are few more pleasant experiences than sitting outside pub, beer in hand, watching the world go by. Somehow, the beer tastes nicer. In fact, it's one of the main reasons I like to go abroad on holiday; even though the beer served abroad is invariably lager, I still manage to drink and enjoy it. In Britain, I'd rather have a nice cup of tea than a pint of lager.

But when the fine weather arrives in this country, it's even better. On Thursday, I was able to sit outside my local, The Bridge Inn (or The Trap to those in the know), and enjoy a couple of pints of Timothy Taylor Landlord - a fine pint of ale - with my dad. We sat on the terrace outside the pub, enjoying spectacular views of the aqueduct and viaduct, drinking beer and eating pork scratchings. And what could be better than that?

Home grown produce

As regular readers may have noticed, I'm quite proud of my vegetable garden. This week, I've been particularly proud.

The reason? Well, the other night we enjoyed a chilli that featured my home grown chillis, tomatoes, courgettes and green peppers.

I can assure you that it tasted better because so many of the ingredients came from the bottom of my garden rather than the bottom of a supermarket trolley.

Another week, another podcast

Despite the fact that I'm obviously not cut out for a career as a radio presenter, the Evening Leader's digital editor, Christian 'The Dude' Dunn, has invited me back for another podcast.

If you'd like to find out what we've been up to at the Leader over the last week, click here:

http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/podcasts/PODCAST-The-Evening-Leader39s-podcast.4285693.jp

Footballers

As regular readers of this blog will know, I'm a Wrexham fan. And as anybody with any knowledge of football will know, things have been a little bit on the tough side for the Reds in recent years.

So, after relegation to the Blue Square Premier, it's nice to have some light relief. I am, therefore, grateful to Silvio Spann, who came up with this gem in Friday's Evening Leader:

Spann says he holds no grudge against manager Brian Little for the decision to transfer list him - one year into a three year contract.

"I do not really look at what man has to say, it’s more about what God has to say," said Spann.

"If man puts me on the transfer list that’s their problem but when God says it’s time to move then I move."'

If you would like to read the full article, click here http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/wrexhamfc/39I-want-to-be-Red.4257129.jp

My podcast debut

A few weeks ago the Evening Leader broadcast its first podcast, featuring our journalists talking about what's going on at the paper.

This week, I'm making my debut on the podcast and it's online now at http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/

We're having a few technical difficulties with the site at the moment, so please bear with us if it doesn't work immediately.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. We're planning a more light-hearted podcast next week - but any suggestions for improvements to the format would be welcome.

Thank goodness... I'm not as old as I thought

I've just had a conversation with my mum. She's discovered the internet and, after a fair bit of prompting it has to be said, she has found this blog.

Apart from complaining that my picture isn't as big as it should be (it's plenty big enough, thanks), our conversation centred around the 'about me' section and, in particular, my choice of music.

'I've never heard of any of those bands,' she said in one of those reproving voices that only mums can muster.

However, on this occasion, I took it as a big compliment. With my 32nd birthday on the not-to-distant horizon and the grey hairs colonising my hair (though goodness knows how long that will last), I was beginning to feel a bit over the hill.

I've spent years watching football and cricket matches, complaining that so-and-so should call it a day and retire with dignity now he's past 30; now I'm in the same boat.

So my conversation with mum made me feel better. If she still doesn't recognise any of the artists I'm listening to, maybe there's still hope. Now where did I put that Roxette CD?

Proof that I really am a gardener

I've one reader who refuses to believe that I am gardener. So, just to set the record straight, here's a picture of my garden taken last summer. I would include one from this year, but I keep forgetting to buy batteries for the digital camera.

The future of journalism

Although this is a pretty light-hearted blog most of the time, occasionally I do post items relevant to my professional life as a journalist.

Ryan Sholin, an American journalist, is a constant source of good advice about the future of journalism and this post is worth a look if you're at all interested in how online developments are revolutionising news delivery: http://ryansholin.com/2008/06/04/10-obvious-things-one-year-later/

Serious stuff over (for now).

Gardens

Just a quick update on my garden (whether you're interested or not).

Everything's looking pretty good at the moment, and the manure that nearly cost me serious injury - courtesy of an irate wife - seems to have worked its magic. I'm particularly proud of my beetroot and broad beans - they're looking very healthy and I'm expecting great things from them.

The greenhouse is also flourishing. I have tomato plants with plenty of early fruit, albeit not ready yet, and tonight I found three peppers on the chili plants I'm growing. Although I've been gardening for a couple of years, it still amazes me how quickly plants grow.

It's even got to the stage where I look forward to a bit of rain because 'it's good for the garden'. And how sad is that?

I want to be a guitar hero

I've discovered something entertaining and brilliant... a video game.

Now I'm not really into computer games. I own a Playstation 2 and I have been considering upgrading. However, I only play a couple of games - the Pro Evolution football series and any cricket games that look half decent.

However, my desire to upgrade became a good deal more pressing when I visited my brother at the weekend. He introduced me to the previously unknown world of Guitar Hero and now I'm hooked. I mean, fancy being able to play Poison. On a guitar. It's brilliant.

When I managed to perform the whole of Paranoid by Black Sabbath, I did a lap of honour around Barry's front room. I'm not sure what his neighbours made of my performance (it was approaching midnight) but as somebody who doesn't have a musical bone in his body, I felt like a rock god.

So I've decided it's time to upgrade to an Xbox 360 with Guitar Hero. Now I've just got to persuade Melissa.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Well, I couldn't resist. I haven't been to the cinema in ages but the new Indiana Jones movie was enough to drag off the sofa, back to the big screen.

Was it worth it? Well, yes. Ok, so perhaps The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull isn't quite as consistently exciting as Raiders of the Lost Ark, or as consistently funny as The Last Crusade, but it's still great fun.

Harrison Ford looks a lot older now, but there are plenty of references to this in the dialogue, and the set pieces are still spectacular. It's certainly as good as the Temple of Doom.

In fact, my main criticism of the film would be directed squarely at The Odeon, Wrexham. As I said, I haven't been to the cinema for ages - at least a couple of years, and probably since the final film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

But I was nevertheless shocked when, after the usual half hour of adverts and trailers, the screening was delayed so the cinema staff could sell ice cream. It was, to put it mildly, frustrating. I just hope they stop short of re-introducing intermissions.

North West Water Cricketers

For anybody interested in the escapades of my cricket team, North West Water, we've got a new blog to mark the start of the new season.

I'll try to keep it up to date with news, results, comment and maybe even a picture or two as the season progresses.

To visit, just click this link:

http://www.northwestwater.blogspot.com/

Isn't the web great?

Isn't the web wonderful? Using the internet is now second nature to many of us, and it's easy to take it for granted, but it really has revolutionised the access and delivery of information.

It's also made many previously taxing occupations easier. Shopping online, for instance, is a far more convenient, not to mention cheaper, way to shop.

It's also made it easier to keep in touch with people - and renew old acquaintances. I resisted the Facebook phenomenon for ages, then finally gave in, and now I am a convert. Melissa, who has very little interest in technology, is addicted to Facebook and seems to spend most mornings updating her profile, status, friends and so on.

If you'd have told me 10 years ago that's how I would be keeping in touch with people, I'd have reacted with horror. That really is a revolution.

Twittering

I've been promising a blog on how we used Twitter to cover the local elections last week.

However, Hold The Front Page kindly featured the Evening Leader and this article really sums up what we did pretty effectively.

http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/news/080506twitt.shtml

Just a quick one

There are a few blogs I need to write at the moment - using Twitter to help improve news coverage being one of them, and my thoughts on yesterday's excellent Digital Editors' Forum another.

Unfortunately, I haven't had time to collect my thoughts properly yet, but I just have to respond to criticism from certain reporters about my current choice of daytime drink - fruit tea.

Drinking this tea does not make me, as somebody suggested, 'a big girl'. Neither does it mean I'm a lentil-shaking hippy, as another claimed.

It just means that, now and again, I like a change from the standard tea with milk. End of argument.

Gardening - still rock 'n' roll?

I wrote an entry last year describing gardening as the new rock 'n' roll. After shifting a tonne of manure, I'm starting to wonder if that description is altogether accurate.

I mean, can you imagine Bono humping a steaming pile of muck around the place?

Anyway, I shouldn't complain - it was my idea to get some manure. I read somewhere on the web it was good for vegetable patches. Of course, Melissa wasn't quite as keen. She was even less keen when she returned early from visiting a friend to find a mountain of cow poo on the drive of our house.

When she calmed down, though, she did help me shift it, and my pile of muck is now sitting proudly at the bottom of my garden, waiting for me to do something with it.

All in all, it's not very rock 'n' roll.

Is it too early for optimism?

I've just been watching Wrexham manager Brian Little talking about signing a new two-year deal at the club here:
http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/wrexhamfc/VIDEO-INTERVIEW--Brian-Little.3975002.jp

I don't want to get carried away - and perhaps it's because we've had such a dismal season that I'm looking for positives - but he does sound really switched on. Maybe, just maybe, his appointment will be the start of something special at The Racecourse.

I certainly hope so, and it will be interesting to see what changes he makes to the playing staff over the summer. In the video, he hints at major changes. I suppose the proof of the pudding...

Weird weather

There's no doubt about it, the weather's a bit weird at the moment. I haven't got a clue if it's to do with man's impact on the environment or not, but we seem to go from one extreme to the other in the space of a day or so.

Take this week, for instance. Yesterday and today have been warm, sunny and generally very pleasant indeed. In fact, it's just the sort of weather that encourages you to wander down to the pub after work - especially now the clocks have gone forward.

But while I was mucnhing on my Weetabix this morning, GMTV's presenters were busy talking about wintry showers on their way over the weekend.

As I've said before, I'd love to see some snow - especially if it's over the weekend and I don't have to drive.

But while it's difficult to keep up with such extreme variations in the weather, at least it gives us all something to talk - or blog - about. And talking about the weather is what we British do best.

No wonder we drive everywhere

LAST weekend I did something unusual; I travelled by train.

Now as I caught the train early, the first part of the journey was very pleasant. I had a seat to myself and plenty of space to spread out and read the papers. 'I wonder why everybody complains about train journeys,' I thought.

Then we stopped at a station and approximately 1,000 people tried to cram onto the train. It wasn't pleasant. For the next hour, I was crushed up against a gentleman who obviously hadn't showered recently while my knees were crushed against the seat in front.

By the time I got off, I remembered why I don't travel by train more often; it's just not nice. If the government is serious about cutting car use, something has to be done.

Life's not easy being a Wrexham fan

Life certainly isn't easy as a Wrexham fan at the moment. We're languishing at the bottom of League 2, and today's defeat at Barnet means escaping relegation will be little short of a miracle.

I was reflecting earlier on how my relationship with Wrexham Football Club has changed in the last three years or so - since I started working on the Evening Leader.

Previously I'd been a fan, pure and simple. Now my relationship is more complex. I'm still a fan of course, but I also have to worry about how we cover it as a newspaper and online. Finding something positive to say on Monday won't be easy...

Welcome to my new blog

Welcome to the new home of my blog.

Blog, now there's a word to put you off. If it's any consolation, I don't think of this as a blog at all, rather a random selection of random thoughts.

This isn't my first blog - my previous efforts are available to view at http://www.blogstoday.co.uk/ViewBlog.aspx?BlogId=6tH0z82250Npn7vDn5&sitecode=WREX
but I thought it was time to shake things up a bit after constant badgering from my work colleague, digital editor Christian Dunn, who has been nagging me to give Blogger a try.

So here I am. While on the subject of Mr Dunn, this is the same person that once chatted to Bob Geldof - surely one of the most famous, distinctive faces in the world - and didn't recognise him. Some journalist.

Anyway, feel free to leave me a comment if you feel inclined - I might send a response.