That was a mistake!

Keeping my glasses on to clean the hob and sink was a huge mistake. Two hours later . . .

I am not a good housewife in the keeping it all clean sense. I cook, I wash clothes, I clean toilets, but that's about my limit. I work on the principle that I've been cooking for the family for over forty years and no-one's died yet.

It still comes as a shock though when I see how deeply ingrained the grease is.

Ah well, done now. Except the oven. The oven is a no-go area. It's way past the stage of being easily cleanable but there again, it gets very hot in there. Not many germs can survive that.

* * * * * 

Remember, remember the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot! And it's wet and grey. The big city firework display planned for this evening was cancelled a few days ago because the weather forecast was so bad. Fireworks were to be set off from a barge in the sea and they decided it would be too dangerous. I think there are another couple of organised displays still going ahead but I'm not going anywhere if it's raining.

I know many people object to fireworks because it upsets their pets. I understand that and I've noticed a lot of shops now sell silent fireworks - but I can't help it: I do love a good firework show with the 'oohs' and 'aahs'. That's just me; the grandchildren are fairly blasé about it all.

As a child I used to collect any money I was given in the weeks preceding bonfire night and use it to buy a firework now and again from our local newsagent. My mum would buy a box of Standard fireworks and she'd set them off in our garden while I watched from the safety of the front room. Occasionally we'd have a bonfire as well. But I'm still scared to hold sparklers.

Apart from the flares set off as the teams come out onto the pitch there aren't likely to be many fireworks in the Millennium Stadium this afternoon, at least not from Wales. We're playing the New Zealand All Blacks whom we've not beaten for sixty-eight years. So last time I was only one year old. 

But hope springs eternal. And with it the knowledge that it is highly likely that our hopes will be quashed again. True the All Blacks have had a mixed season but there's something about the stadium that lifts not only the Welsh team but also the opposition. Everyone loves playing there for the atmosphere.

So we shall see. But I'll leave you with a traditional Welsh folk song sung by a Welsh male voice choir. In 1972 small town team Llanelli famously beat the All Blacks. Ever since then the chorus from this traditional song about a little saucepan has been linked in most people's minds with that victory. Imagine the words changed to:

Who beat the All Blacks?
Who beat the All Blacks?
Who beat the All Blacks?
Good old Sosban Fach!

And while browsing I came across this rendition of Bread of Heaven, which gives me goosebumps. So a special extra for you.