Busy times, happy times

Life at Gumph towers has been somewhat of a whirlwhind over the past few week.

In no particular order, Amanda ran the London Marathon, my little sis got married, Charlie went on rugby tour, played in the North Mids cup final and had a trial with the Welsh Exiles.

All rather splendid and emotional stuff. I'm turning into a proper softie.

Amanda was just fantastic running 4.23 on a very hot day. First and last apparently, we'll see. She's still stiff a few days on and still on a real high after a nervous and tense week leading up to it. When you've not done one before, the prospect is full of unknowns. We went up with Josh and her Mum, Charlie had rugby ( more of which later) and her sister, brother in law, their kids and her cousins all came along. We saw here at thirteen and twenty four miles, and although we all went batshit mental, she serenely breezed by, oblivious with ipod on full blast. It was a superb day, London looked great, the atmosphere was ace, and she was bloody marvellous.

No idea where the England floag came from, dubious stuff from my nephew

My sister's wedding was lovely, and I found it a rather emotional day (much the same as seeing Amanda do the marathon, no idea where this sentimentality has come from) It was in the middle of nowhere near Crickhowell, they'd actually married in a civil ceremony in Singapore, this was the big blessing, and what  a bash it was. The church was tiny, we were crammed in like sardines, there was no parking on the single track lane, so we were ferried up in a fleet on minibuses. They'd booked out the Gliffaes, on the banks of the Usk for the weekend, a wonderful part of the world.

It's just great to see her happy again . Adrian is a lovely, kind man, who adores her. The pics are a bit limited, as Josh was in charge of photography, he rather enjoys it, but he managed to lose the camera, so we have a few snatched shots on my phone. He had a high old time, boogieing way into the night. The same couldn't be said of his brother, due to this

Rugby tour.

Thank god it was in Cardiff, and made it fairly easy for him to be on tour and come to the wedding with a bit of running around. I was banned from going until Sunday, just as well really as it's a boozy affair for the dads. Charlie missed the fun stuff on the Saturday, but played in the games on Sunday at Cardiff Arms Park, pretty special. He was also there for the the usual Sunday afternoon shenanigins of tour court which is a good laugh..
He's had a busy few weeks. He stayed with friends when we went to London as it clashed with the North mids cup final. He was gutted not to come to London, and I was gutted to miss the final. Not just because of him, I'm one of the team coaches,and the collective effort by the boys to get there was superb. They lost to a very good side, but they and he have had a tremendous season. I took him to Llandovery college yesterday for a trial with the Welsh Exiles. It's the WRU trying to pick up Welsh qualified players who play for clubs outside of Wales. It was tough, and a high standard, but he performed well. We'll wait to see what comes of it.

We're all shattered after the last few weeks, the kids are on holiday for a couple of weeks, so they can have some down time. These two don't seem too rushed off their feet, the fuckwit spaniel and the ginger tosser, oblivious to all around them.