clean

I had to check, didn't I? I just couldn't leave it. Ma Simes reports 'Good clean offshore waves today and should continue tommorrow. Dropping off on Sunday but more to come next week.' The photo looks about 2ft, they're calling 3ft and I am NOT HAPPY.

John Peel

I can't say I listened to John Peel religiously, but anytime I did I came away furiously chanting the name of a song under my breath so I wouldn't forget it and could then go out and look for it. Rest in peace.

Here's my horoscope for the day:
'If you're not currently involved, keep in mind that the sky's the limit -- and someone wonderful is out there looking for you, too. Resume your search where kindred spirits gather.'
Fuck off and go surfing then is it?

Negotiations are underway for the UK release of my poetry book which is so cool, but odd cos I haven't even seen a copy myself yet!!

Reading: Surfacing, Margaret Atwood
Listening: Amy Winehouse
Surf is: Don't wanna know

missed it

Very drunken weekend. Good time except the hassle from the ex which meant I had to have a mate save me (luv him) and was then home sooo late didn't get up in time for the surf which apparently was really good, FUCK. After the shots game the girls got me in on I dunno if I could have paddled a stroke anyway. But really really pissed off with myself for not getting in that session. I still want to show the boys (the good surfers like Si) that I'm much better. They want me to enter some comp in Nov, that'll be a laugh. Anyway I did have an ok surf on the Friday and another shitty one Saturday.

Nice to see everyone out for landlady's birthday, and it was good fun. Pub full to bursting with all the usual suspects, realised me and one other girl were the only single ones there. As she is 17 and rather stunning I don't think it bothers her but it DOES ME!

Innit strange, attraction. Always the ones you can't have, and then there's the ones you could have but it would be a really, really bad idea. Also the ones that tick all the boxes, but you just don't fancy them. Or at least, I don't think I do. Half the time I'm not sure what the box labels say anyway. Sometimes, there seems to be only one box, and it's label says 'male'.

Phone call from the olds in the Canary Islands. 'Oooh, you should have come, it's the place to be.' You don't say.

Very depressed today, in pain and miss the sea after, ooo, twelve hours. Can I last 6 months??

dilemma

The wind is howling and all the cams look blown out. But I'm dying for a surf and want to be there the minute there's anything worth going in for. Hmm. Go now, today, straight away, or wait until the swell picks up at the buoy? Nothing to stop me going, I can work wherever I am. Doesn't look like the period is going to rise much today, it's 6 now. None of the cams are near where I want to be and none show sheltered beaches. I think it's time to go home! Catch a few waves and freeze my ass off in a six-year-old wetsuit.

odyssey

My link to the Billabong Odyssey site in my review of the film was to the US site, so I've been asked to change it to the UK one.

Finished the Bethany Hamilton book. What an amazingly positive person, and I didn't realise she's only 14. It's a very easy read (as in fast, it's not easy content wise!!) and her own voice comes through clearly. I think it's aimed that way on purpose, as she's made it her mission to inspire and help other children. She and her family are also very religious, and that comes through very strongly in the book. I kind of lost my way with God a while ago, and now I'm just not sure where I stand. Anyway, it's a great story, and makes you feel pretty humble. She is winning surfing contests with only one arm - such great spirit. Check out Bethany's website

Spotted

Possible camper van sighting! There's one near Aber and I'm going to see it at the weekend. It looks pretty perfect. Planning, planning now. Winter in this freezing, boring country earning money, then summer exploring Europe's surfable coastline and working in Portugal. Having something to look forward to makes it better that I am stuck in England miles from my friends and the sea, and broke.

Also, Apple sent an email. My ordered iBook is to be upgraded to the newly-launched upgraded model, free of charge. I do love Apple. Except now I don't get it until at least the 26th, and there is no way the FileMake 7 will run on my current machine. Damn thing won't even run the svelte Safari at a decent speed. But 512 RAM is worth waiting for, and a SuperDrive - oh, I'm drooling.

This weekend should be good. Drink, surf, drink, surf. Not as much drink as surf though. Every time the blue wkd, Reef, Sambuca or anything ridiculous comes out, I end up in strange, strange situations. Ych a fi. The 'three strikes and you're out' rule is beginning to take in a few too many people who's company I actually enjoy, as long as they stay out of my personal space.

Bugs

Just finished reading Bustin' Down The Door by Rabbit. Well worth a read for any surfer. I loved all the surfing history of the Gold Coast, and it really made me want to go to Hawaii to watch a North Shore season. Emphasis on watch!! He's a hell of a character and lots of it made me laugh. I think he sailed pretty close to the wind on some of it, and glossed over some of the antics in other parts. The accounts of the heroin epidemic in Cooly were heartbreaking, just as in MP (the Michael Petersen book, heavily recommended). God he's done a lot for the sport as well. And there are so many other characters who have just faded out of the public eye who should be just as recognised.

It's Pob's copy, and a ton of pages have fallen out since I took it to Portugal and all. Hope he doesn't mind - but then, a ton of stuff I've lent him before has never found its way back at all, so all's fair!

Lord but I want to surf. Swam a mile in 35 mins this morning, going the last ten like a maniac. It's water, but not the water I want. First sign of a swell and I'm bloody well out of here, back home to Wales. The charts show activity, but I'm not sure it's the right kind. Time will tell.

Next book: Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton, the Hawaiian girl who had her arm taken off by a shark and has returned to competitive surfing.

Even did a bit of writing today so popeth yn iawn - all's well.

where's the bloody surf then?

Not sure if this is going to work.

Finally got started on a new blog, but it all seems suspiciously easy. I wanted to use Blosxom but am too tight-arsed to pay for an upgrade to my hosting package. So blogger to the rescue. Trying to publish it via surfergrl.co.uk, we shall see if that works.

Although I already keep a diary (and have done since I was about six), it's not exactly publishable. People would be half bored to death, and half horrified by what lurks beneath my serene public front. So this is for ramblings about surfing, writing, Mac and iPods, literature, Welsh stuff (still trying to learn Welsh), music and whatever comes my way.

I tend to write a lot. Not feeling especially lucid this evening though.

bolycs

just testing...

Got a new blog and nothing to write...

Mother just asked me if I'd like to get a VDD. A double dose of VD, is that, ma? Strange woman.