Update

Thought we'd give a little update seen as though there isn't any planned trips between now and Uganda in October.

Steph has unfortunately been made redundant. The charity she works for has had it's funding withdrawn by the UK government. The withdrawal was originally going to take place over 10 months but that has been reduced to 4 months leaving the charity with too little time to find alternative funding. It's a great shame as it was a good project helping a lot of people. Steph can find a new job, but the people that were benefiting from the project won't have the help they were getting, again.

Andy is managing another football team for the new season as manager and coach, they are called Oswestry Boys FC, so we'll be keeping an eye on their progress. Managing this team will also give Andy the opportunity to do the FA level 2 coaching badge.

Spike has just had his birthday, he is 7 now. Chewy is well and still doesn't seem to be too affected by the arthritis in his front leg joints. They had great fun at the weekend as a couple of our friends came to stay and they have a young daughter who had great fun playing with Spike and Chewy.
These friends of ours are off to paradise because they are moving to Bermuda! Lucky things!

Steph is back to netball and the knee seems to be holding up well. Two more essays to go and that's another year finished at University for Steph. 2011 will be her final year.

We have had holiday invites for next year, so a bit spoiled for choice, but no plans as yet. We've been invited to Bermuda to stay with our friends and another friend has just moved back to Thailand and has invited us over as well. We'll have to see what 2011 brings!

We're looking forward to Uganda in October and Andy's birthday in November.
Speak soon!

Germany 4 v England 1

Not much to say really than the obvious which was that Germany just simply out classed England. Germany deserved the win and finished the game with a real chance for reaching the final. There was of course the controversial decision where Lampard's goal was disallowed. This went and brought out the ever long dispute over whether technology should be brought into the game. We think it should certainly be trialled instead of just ruling it out completely. We think all teams would welcome a trial.

We couldn't help but wonder along with the rest of the country that if Lampard's goal stood, then would it have been a different game? What we do know is that England need to step up, their whole performance was just not quite world class.

On and upwards to Brazil!

Slovenia 0 v England 1

We did it! Through to the last 16. Ok, there was only one goal, but it looks like the team are back to their old selves, so good news all round and we can only get better. We thought the whole team played really well and Milner was superb. We felt for Rooney though, he is so desperate to score and we hope he does in the next round. Not a lot to say apart from that we are so happy for the team.

Our next game is on Sunday 27th June and it's against Germany. We think England have a good chance. If England win against Germany then they could meet Argentina and Spain in the next rounds, a very tough way to win the World Cup, but you never know.

We'll be watching the next game with family and another BBQ, you've got to make the most of the good weather when you live in England!

England 0 v Algeria 0

Well what can we say? We don't look like a winning team. The players looked lethargic, there was no compassion. Whose the Wayne Rooney look-a-like because it certainly isn't the same Rooney we all know and love. Again, we can only choose two players we thought did their job, for us it was Ashley Cole and David James.

It was a very disappointing match, but fair play to Algeria. What did we think of Wayne Rooney's comment after the match? Well he was obviously angry, but you can't blame the fans for booing. Its costs the fans thousands to be in South Africa and they don't get the chance to let the players know their individual comments, so the only way to express their disappointment is to boo. The England team need to sort out whatever it is that is wrong and they haven't got a lot of time to do it in. We know they are better than their previous two performances.

Things could be worse though, we haven't lost any games and we could be in a complete revolt like the French team.

On a more lighter note, British comedian/ actor/ presenter, etc... James Cordon has launched a national campaign. All men to 'Back the Beard' for the England team. Andy has been growing his and has even made it through the itchy stage! What do you think?!

COME ON ENGLAND!

England 1 v USA 1

England played their first group game against the USA yesterday (12th June 2010).

We had a little get together at our house with a couple of our friends and Steph's dad. Andy lit the BBQ for a pre-match meal since the weather was lovely and pretty hot. To join in the spirit of the World Cup and England we put a few flags up, wore our shirts and the dogs wore their England bandanna's.

What can we say about the game? Well we if we're honest we have seen England play a lot better. The beginning was superb with Gerrard scoring a brilliant early goal, but this start was not to be carried through to the end. We can easily point out a few players who played their part brilliantly and we can also point out a few who did not. Of course Green made a huge blunder but you could also point out that the rest of the players didn't help correct that by not scoring any more goals. Rooney seemed to only come in the game in the last 20 minutes. Heskey was taken off but for us he could have got man of the match. Heskey was always busting a gut to win the ball and we felt he played very well.

The worst point of the game for us was the fact that we never got to see Gerrard's goal, the reason was down to a huge error by the tv channel, ITVHD. Someone cut the game and put an advert in and when it went back to the game, Gerrard had already scored! What a mistake to make.

The interview with Gerrard after the game shows he felt they can play better as well. We have every hope in the team and know they should qualify from their group. Fingers Crossed!

Well, to bring up the past, England drew their opening game at the World Cup in 1966 and went on to win the whole thing, so you never know!!

Time To Go Home

We woke up late on our last day, we had to vacate by 10am and we woke up at 9.15am, the alarm hadn't gone off! Good job we had done most of the packing the night before. We rushed round getting everything into the car. Once the car was loaded up we drove to the office to drop off the front door key. No one was there though, maybe we didn't have to rush in the end? There was another couple trying to give their key in as well, we all decided just to put them in the letter box.

We stopped off at Pendine beach to give the dogs a run before the long journey home. The beach was pretty quiet again. On our way back to the car we were stopped by a man, turns out he was from the local council keeping an eye on dog owners who do not pick up after their dogs. He thanked us for cleaning up after our dogs and gave us some free doggy bags.

About half way home we stopped off at a little cafe for some food, it was pleasant enough, pity there were no tables and chairs outside because it was lovely and warm. We had an easy journey home and still had the weekend at home before it was back to work.

What's Next?

We haven't got much planned for the next couple of months, but will probably do something. We've got Uganda in October, so we might take the dogs somewhere again before then. We've been busy sorting the garden out as we are having really lovely weather and it's good to make the most of it as it can go as quickly as it came in England! Of course we will be supporting England in the World Cup and have made sure we are free to watch the games.

Andy turns 30 in November, so we'll do something special then as well.

The Manor House

The house we were staying in was a fairly large manor house split into 3 accommodations. We had the largest of the three which we had managed to get on a cancellation, therefore the cost of our stay was greatly reduced. Our part of the house sleeps 8 people in four large double bedrooms, each bedroom had an en suite. The downstairs was made up of a large lounge and dining room and what once looked liked the bar was now a kitchen. We were at the back of the house, if it was still one large house. We had a little balcony off the dining room. There was no proper garden, just a paved area with trees. Underneath the house, the cellar had been converted into a swimming pool and sauna. The pool was an exercise pool.

Outside on the drive was the hot tub, which we used every day of our trip! Sharing our drive was a mobile home that belonged to the site manager and his wife. We didn't meet them straight away as they were stranded in Poland due to the ash cloud that had affected a lot of Europe's air space.

The house was high up on a hill and the drive up was pretty steep, which we realised just how steep when we took the dogs for their evening walk. We were glad we hadn't rented one of the cottages on the site as they were up another level and the drive was even steeper!

The house was decorated with these beautiful, huge chandeliers in the lounge and dining room. There were large leather sofa's and the odd piece of beautiful furniture. We couldn't quite understand the choice of art for the house though. Even though the art was interesting we couldn't help think that it didn't suit the house. Most of the rooms were dressed with these large paintings of half naked people, we figured maybe South American. There were no signatures on the paintings.

There was a more fitting picture, a photo of a family from the Victorian times, which Steph thought was a bit spooky as well because it reminded her of those photos that the Victorians took of the dead.

The house was creaky, but we did not encounter anything supernatural!

The house had freeview but the aerial wasn't very good, so you lost some channels. The freeview box was a bit dodgy as well and Andy ended up fixing it. We're not too bothered about tv when we're on holiday, but it is nice to have it in the evenings.

If you rent this house you need to bring your own towels and things for the kitchen like washing up liquid, sponges, salt, pepper etc... as it is bare. This is usual in some holiday homes, but our experience is the 'household' things are usually already catered for.

Would we rent this house again? Probably no and most definitely not at it's usual price. Although the house was interesting and it was a bit of a novelty staying in a manor house, we don't think it had the luxuries you would expect especially if you paid full price.

We've also got plenty of other places to visit.

We enjoyed our stay though and the dogs had fun.

We booked with Hoseasons, Seascape Cottages, Manor house 4 we stayed 3 nights and paid £140 including pet supplements.

Pembrey Country Park

We ventured further from Pendine and came across Pembrey Country Park. The park consists of woodlands and a beach with lots of activities such as a dry ski slope, adventure activities, etc... We of course were just there for the walking. To enter the park it costs £3 to park the car. We drove to the beach first.

The beach was huge, it is one of the longest beaches in Wales. There were very few people on the beach and it felt like we had the place to ourselves. The weather was warm. The sand was scattered with shells in lovely different colours. Sand dunes lined the beach and the water looked warm, but we knew it definitely was not!

After the beach we went back to the car and let the dogs have a drink, we then carried on for a stroll through the woodlands, we stuck to the edges.

A few people were sun bathing and having a picnic on the large open green areas. We walked quite far and the dogs were getting tired, so we headed back to the car. It would have been nice to have a picnic as well, but we didn't think to bring one.

Tenby

We travelled a bit further from Pendine in search of more southern beaches. We tapped 'nearest beach' into the Satnav and Tenby popped up. It wasn't far to Tenby, about 40 minutes.

Upon our arrival we ended up driving through the very narrow streets of the town and back out by the harbour. We could see the beach, but no suitable parking. We ended up parked outside of the town on a road, but not far from the beach.

Tenby looked so pretty, it was a lovely warm day, sunshine, blue sky, blue sea and golden sand. The houses over looking the harbour and the beach were all painted different colours. We felt we could have been somewhere tropical.

There were steep steps down to the beach, but nothing too difficult, Steph just had to make sure Spike didn't pull her too much, she still has to be aware of her knee and taking it easy with the foot.

The beach was practically empty, only a couple of other people with dogs. The dogs enjoyed jumping in and out of the water, too cold for us humans though!

Pendine Sands

We took a short break to South Wales for Steph's birthday and a mini dogs holiday. South Wales is a 3.5 hour journey from our house, so a few stops on the way for Spike and Chewy.

We arrived late afternoon and set out to get directions from the locals to the house as the Satnav only got us so far. The house that we had rented was high up on a hill, a note and a key in the door awaited our arrival. The proprietor was away, but told us to let ourselves in. I guess security is not an issue in the area!

We stayed in a large manor house with it's own exercise pool and hot tub. The house is split into three accommodations, we had the largest part which sleeps 8.

We spent a bit of time unpacking and exploring the house. The pool was housed in what used to be the cellar. We went and had a nosey, the pool was covered with a mat before we knew what had happened, Chewy came running in and straight onto the mat! It all happened in kind of slow motion with Chewy suddenly realising he was sinking! Chewy lept for the edge and Andy ended up dragging him out, a wet but ok dog!

The local beach wasn't far from the house, so we took the dogs for a run. Seems like we had picked a good time of year as there was a sign saying dogs weren't allowed from May to September.

There was another sign that said 'Risk of Explosion!' the beach at Pendine Sands is Ministry of Defence property and part of it is closed to the public. There was enough of the beach open to us and the dogs.

The tide was quite far out, but the dogs managed a swim anyway. There was also a canoe lesson going on just further down.