Ellie's Adventures in Wonderland

Today, me and Mike headed off to the Elan Valley to see the dams. Based just outside the town of Rhayader in Powys, the Elan Valley contains six dams which are used to hoard vast quantities of H2O for Welsh Water . They stockpile this water and sell it back to us common folk to use in our taps, even though they themselves pay nothing for it. Not for profit my arse. Having visited the dams many times before, this trip was to one of the dams I had never seen before - indeed I didn't even know of its existence until recently. On route, we stopped off at some interesting looking rocks which formed part of a stream. We were greeted by a sign warning us of death, but we promptly ignored this and merrily skipped off onto the rocks. Some might call this utter stupidity. We called it bravery. Mike got a little upset when his pretty trainers got splashed by some bog water. However, the bog water was no threat to me in my flip flops (which are ideal rock climbing footwear).  Before continuin...

At the age of 41, I have finally found happiness. That’s not to say I haven’t been happy before in my life, it’s just that now I am genuinely happy with pretty much most of my life. 12-months ago things weren’t so good. I was in a toxic relationship and in a job I didn’t like. Coupled with that, it was at the start of the first Covid lockdown. I knew things were really bad when I would lie in the bath until it went cold, sobbing and wishing I wasn’t here anymore. I didn’t wish I was dead, I just didn’t want to exist. I wanted everything to stop. The one thing I really wanted to get away from was myself. But wherever I went, I was there. Alcohol only made things worse. Sure, I’d get a temporary high and think ‘fuck it’, but it didn’t take long for the low to kick in, and I’d feel like shit again, only the booze would make it feel 10 times worse. And there were the times I would just start crying for no reason. I would cry so hard I couldn’t catch my breath and thought I was choking....

 Today's little adventure took me and Max to the little known hamlet of Westhide . Twas here that we spent our childhood years, getting up to mischief (Max mainly) and doing things that kids today have never heard of - such as making dams or walking.  It was a gloriously sunny day, albeit slightly on the chilly side. We began our adventure at the farm, where we set off across the fields in search of what according to Max was something truly exciting - I don't think anyone will be remotely surprised when I say that it wasn't. But before we get to the boring part, I'd like to share this amusing video with you of Max in a hamster wheel. Why? I hear you ask - because this idiot will do just about any stupid thing you ask him to without question. So, back to the spectacularly underwhelming surprise. We first happened across a small man-made lake, dug to water strawberries in a neighbouring strawberry plantation. Now, anyone who knows me well will know that water is one of my...

  After a long hiatus due to Covid restrictions, Brother Dearest was able to join me once again for an adventure. It wasn't all bad though, our good friend Emma flew in from Northampton and joined us as well.  This week's exploration took us to the Gloucestershire village of Frampton on Severn , where we followed the Sharpness Canal to Slimbridge. The first stop on our journey was Over Farm for a takeaway coffee as Emma was getting bad tempered and irritable. After purchasing our refreshments, Emma and myself were accosted in the car park by a chap asking us if we knew where a caravan site was in the area. After giving him some vague directions to a caravan site me and Max had possibly made up, I tired of the conversation and wondered back to the motor with Max. Emma, however, decided to hang around and ask the man the purpose of his visit. His supposed story was that he had just flown into the country that very morning to check on his gal pal, who had left her husband and be...