Never Say Dai

It's been a while since my last blog entry. I've had a lot to blog about but little time to do so. We've been using the library and the Commercial Club in town for our internet use so that can be restrictive, but now we're on t'internet at home so I've got no excuse.

We've had a hectic time of late. Saying goodbye to the folks was sad, but not half as sad as I'd expected. I'd envisaged wanting to get on the plane with them when they left for home, but I didn't feel like that at all, which surprised me. I was sad to see them go, of course, but glad I was staying put.

We've had another house guest since I last blogged, my little mate Dan Barker from Halkyn, North Wales. Dan's a real blast and a great bloke to have around. He helped to ease the pain of my parents departure.

I got to know young Dan many moons ago on his brother Paul's stag nights/weekends (he had two, the cheeky monkey.) Although we haven't seen an awful lot of each other since, our friendship was forged on those two momentous tours and flourished further during the wedding and christenings that have followed.

Dan's currently on the Australian leg of his world tour. On and off he's been travelling for ten years, returning home for periods just to save up enough money to travel again. He arrived here in Albury Wodonga via Perth, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. We picked him up from the pub near the train station and after an hour getting freshened up at home we headed off to Albury city centre for a night on the grog.

Dan's bird mad, and we couldn't have picked a better night for him to be in town as there were three hen nights going on. During the evening Dan chanced his arm with all three groups, but to no avail. He tried and tried all night, but as chucking out time approached it appeared as if he would come up empty handed for a change. While mere mortals would have consoled themselves by cuddling up to a pizza or a kebab, the Pride of Halkyn just lowers his standards and ups his game.

As we stood about to board the courtesey bus home Dan's prospects looked bleak, but as he climbed onto the bus he immediately identified a target, got 'missile lock' and homed in, plonking himself down on the seat next to his unsuspecting victim. We moved further down the bus and watched the little master at work. After a brief bit of small talk the little fella cut to the chase and threw the lips on her in a big way, not coming up for air for a good five minutes. He then preceeded to give her some more flannel before initiating another lengthy bout of tonsil tennis.

The journey home lasted longer than usual because of the number of drop-offs we made and gave Dan the opportunity to transfer about two litres of saliva into his new birds gob. They looked like newly-weds as he gazed into her eyes, fed her his best lines and licked her chops in front of the whole bus. When we arrived at our stop I'd assumed we'd be having an extra house guest that evening, but Dan, like the true gentleman he isn't, simply pecked on her soaking wet cheek, thanked her for her company on the journey and staggered off the bus. We were amazed, but that's Dan for you.

The remainder of his all-too-brief stay was a good laugh and we're hoping he'll swing back this way before he departs for New Zealand. I think the bird from the bus would like to see him again as well.

I was also proud to witness another example of extreme Welsh persistance this weekend as the Welsh rugby team came from behind to give the English a beating at Twickers. It doesn't happen that often these days and was great to watch.

Da iawn hogiau! Twll du bob Sais!