Saturday Wales

[solipsistnation]

We woke up around 10 today-- this means Nikki slept for about 14 hours counting last night's pre-bed nap. That seems reasonable, considering she's, you know, pregnant. (Had I mentioned that? Let's see who's actually reading closely. 8)

We started off the, well, the afternoon with a walk around the Plas Farm trail, which the Bowens have kindly laid out with little signs and written up in the guidebook. I took lots of pictures which I will upload to Flickr later. (Probably when we get home since uploading from the tiny lappy is kind of annoying.) We saw lots of picturesque things, including some very fuzzy sheepies. (stinkygoat, this would be a delightful place for you to walk around, assuming your sheeps wouldn't get jealous. Wales does seem like a good holiday site for ungulate fans.)

It's a pretty long trail-- a good hour or two of walking through woods and over fields, including what turned out to be some really marshy spots thanks to melting snow. My shoes are drying next to the fire right now.

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and possibly sleety, so I walked down to the Tesco to pick up more supplies (while Nikki stayed at the cottage and acquired more wood for our evening's fire and probably tomorrow, too, if I don't go too crazy with it tonight). I have acquired Walker's Steak & Onion flavored crisps (AKA "potato chips"), which are "Suitable for Vegetarians." Delightful. They do have a meaty flavor, which is kind of disturbing. Good, though. There are also BBQ flavors and some others. It's kind of silly. They also have a few 375 or 250mL bottles of wine (mostly not GOOD wine, per se, but not BAD), which is nice since, you know, Nikki isn't drinking wine since she's, you know, pregnant. That's bonus amusing since we found out right before heading off for a country known for its alcoholic beverages... Hee.

Now, a toasty fire, crisps, a glass of wine (it's not good enough wine for fancy dinner, but it's definitely good enough for crisps), a tiny laptop, and when I'm done with this post, a book to read. (The book is the new Richard Morgan, "The Steel Remains," which is apparently him playing around with fantasy tropes and having loads of fun with it. The gay swordsman, the barbarian horse tribesman who ran off to civilization for a while and then returned home only to find that he really much preferred civilization, and a left-behind more-or-less-elf-type-woman who also happens to like the ladies, not to mention technology. Lots of running around being pissy and stuff, and so far a great read.

Comments

[dariusk.livejournal.com]

WHAAA PREGNANT????

Congratulations!!!!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

FYI, many "meat-flavour" crisps in the UK are not meaty and therefore suitable for vegetarians, but more premium brands are meaty these days, so RTFL (...label) in each case.
I'm reading closely.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

I have been reading labels-- I really like how specific they are here. Moreso than in California, even, which is nice (although for vegany types eggs usually aren't listed under the "Contains Milk, Soya, and Gluten" bit). Just saying "Suitable for Vegetarians" right out is really useful, anyway.

[xinie.livejournal.com]

I wish they were more, well, loud about having aspartame... though being sensible about vegetarians (rather than insisting that some chicken broth (or whatever) won't kill you, why are you whining about it) is a big plus about eating out in the UK!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

It used to be (a decade or two ago) that almost no crisps contained any meat, no matter how festooned the packaging was with pictures of MEAT MEAT MEAT, so vegetarians in the UK used not to read labels much. The recent arrival of premium crisps with a focus on ingredients changed that. But I suppose you never got used to being able to eat all crisps in the UK in a carefree fashion :)

[amymarr.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! And one glass a week is perfectly ok; some drs actually recommend it!

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

They're just tools of the conspiracy to make sure there aren't too many smart kids in the next generation!

[xinie.livejournal.com]

Wow, good luck Nikki!

[greyarea.livejournal.com]

Holy shit, that's awesome news! I did wonder a bit at the "I bought some wine for me" aside in a post you made the other day, but figured maybe Nikke just wasn't a drinker. Massive grats to the two (well, two and a half) of you!

Sounds like you're having a good time; in fact, sounds pretty much perfect.

[greyarea.livejournal.com]

Also, since when did you have one Jeff Minter commenting on your posts?! Sweet.

[sla.livejournal.com]

Congrats! Took long enough to announce since the comment in mike's journal ;)

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the gestation, you crazy kids.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to use as many ridiculous words for pregnancy as possible. I was recently reminded of "gravid," and "gestation" is always useful. "Great with child" won't be applicable for a while yet, but there are all kinds of euphemisms to go through...

[xinie.livejournal.com]

The British say, "Up the duff," which we loved. Personally, I used "compile" as much as possible.

[mandy-moon.livejournal.com]

"Gravid" wouldn't technically be correct, but I still think that's the best choice :)

[eccles.livejournal.com]

You sly ol' devil you!

[gunthersdncemix.livejournal.com]

It's nice to have the confirmation, but I'd been reading between the lines before that ;)

[amymarr.livejournal.com]

So that means you've now assumed the mantle of The Mighty Impregnator! Nicely done. :)

[crossbonesdj.livejournal.com]

as I just posted to Nikki...

WOW WOW WOW!

[chorus.livejournal.com]

I assume congratulations are in order, and that this is a good thing, yes? :)

Also, I like 'bun in the oven'.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

Congrats! THat didn't take too long. :)

[chandica.livejournal.com]

Brandts multiplying! Arrrggghhhh!!

But seriously, congratulations! :)

[meranthi.livejournal.com]

Congrats!!!

[booniesjen.livejournal.com]

I thought I picked up on that with the comment about morning sickness.
Congratulations!