February 26
TODAY is what being Welsh is all about. I'm sweating buckets, trembling, my heart's beating like it wants to escape and I've got enough adrenaline flowing through my system to power a couple of elephants. Wales just came back from a 15-6 halftime deficit to beat the frogs 24-18 in Paris in a game that made the England match seem like a day in the park. Jesus wept, over the past 80 minutes I've eaten all my fingernails, drank about 20 cups of tea and smoked what feels like 200 ciggies. I've woken the neighbours up by screaming at the PC at 8am and I couldn't give a toss. All we need now is for the English to beat the bogtrotters tomorrow and we're in line for the Grand Slam and the Triple Crown. I have to go and lie down for a bit.
February 24
THREE months after the car crash that wrote off my Cabrio, the insurance company has finally admitted liability and agreed to pay up. What did I do with the money, I hear you both ask? Well, for once in my life I decided to act responsibly. That's right, I went straight out and bought an MP3 player.
Now there are two basic choices when buying an MP3 player: to iPod or not to iPod. I'm basically against iPods for a very simple reason: they cost $399. Why do they cost $399? 'Cos they're made by Apple, and anything made by Apple automatically costs twice what it would if made by anyone else. Let's face it - only Apple users would willingly pay a dollar a song on iTunes when us PC users get to download songs for free on Kazaa (and I know Jules is reading this shaking his head and muttering "he's gone to the dark side").
So I ended up getting a 40gig Creative Zen Xtra for $220. The main difference between this and a 40gig iPod is a) it cost $180 less and b) it's not made by Apple. Of course, all the guys in the office have iPods so I feel like the kid at school who's turned up in Marks & Sparks daps when everyone else is wearing Hi-Techs, but then again I've got $180 spend on DVDs... er, I mean I've got $180 that I can put in the bank towards the cat's next vet appointment.
February 12
WALES beat Italy 38-8 in Rome today, but the most amazing thing was that the Italians didn't surrender at halftime. Many thanks to Blunty for forgetting the eight-hour time difference between Long Beach and Llantwit Fardre and ringing me at 6.30am to tell me the halftime score. Result!
Sticking to the rugby theme, I've just seen a TV advert for a credit card company featuring the England rugby team and - wait for it - Aretha Franklin. What? Anyway, in case any of you Americans don't know what the 02 on England's shirts means, it stands for "games won, games played".
february 7
SOME Turkish tosser has hacked my guestbook! Well done, dickbrain - I bet your mum's proud of you, unless she's back down the docks giving handjobs for crack.
February 5
WE'VE only gone and done it. We've only gone and done the unthinkable. We've only gone and beaten England in Cardiff in the opening match of the Six Nations. This may not mean much to the Americans who read this (and I know there's at least two of you) but to 3,500,000 Welsh people it's the best day in our nation's history since we beat England at Wembley back in 1999.
Thanks to the net I was able to listen to the BBC Wales radio broadcast today. Kick-off was 9.30am and I spent the next 80 minutes either holding my head in my hands or screaming at the PC. God knows what the neighbours must have thought.
I managed to record the radio commentary onto my computer and I've made some MP3s of the best bits. So if you're wondering what all the fuss is about or if you want to relive the magic (are you reading this, Blunty and Jules?) then click away...
Starting off it's the Welsh national anthem, Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of My Fathers), sung by Aled Jones, Bryn Terfel and Katherine Jenkins.
Shane Williams goes over for the opening try on nine minutes.
Gavin Henson says hello to England player Matthew Tait.
Gavin Henson kicks the winning penalty with five minutes to go.
The final whistle. The Millennium Stadium erupts and you could hear me screaming in Tonteg.
