… for the first time in a week. I’ve had a rotten stinking cold that may or may not have been exacerbated by hayfever. It was hard to tell - neither decongestant or anti-histamines seemed to be doing the trick to start with, although thankfully Sudafed is doing its stuff now. There have definitely been cold-elements, a sore throat and cough amongst them, but I do get hayfever this early in the year as I’m allergic to some tree pollen, and the willow in my garden is covered in highly-sexed catkins at the moment.

Anyway, I finally made it up to Belfast today after a few days of cowering at home, being way too full of snot to want to inflict it on other people. I’m still very snotty (and some sod had used up the box of tisses I’d left in work) but it’s under control at last. Especially since I got some very nice soft tissues at lunchtime - I actually went for a bit of a walk in the sunshine, and bought 2 second-hand books and some Mexican takeaway. Not that I could taste my lunch though apart from, weirdly, the cheese. Oh well.

It’s been a really quiet week anyway. I did very little on the weekend except watch the last matches of this year’s 6 Nations. I was disappointed that Wales didn’t manage to win their match, of course, but it was quite sweet to see Ireland get their first Grand Slam in 61 years. I can afford to be magnanimous as well, seeing as Wales have had 2 in the past 5 years…

I’ve mostly been watching an awful lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 4 or 5 episodes a day. I’m up to the start of Season 3 now, thanks to the box set of DVDs I splurged on last month (well, they were ridiculously cheap). Watching Buffy has taken the place of reading for me for a while, which feels a bit weird - but not that much, since watching it is almost the equivalent of reading a favourite novel. Character development, plot points, and wanting to experience what happens next even though I know what is going to happen…

Speaking of TV, of course, it was the last ever episode of Battlestar Galactica on Tuesday. I watched by myself since Colin was in work, and I’m glad I did since I unashamedly cried myself to a headache. I was about 90% satisfied with what happened, which isn’t a bad percentage. And that’s another box set I’ll need to buy…

… for the first time in bloody ages. I don’t think I was over there the last couple of times I’ve been back to Barry; no real reason to, now that none of my family live there.

I might not have bothered this time either, but a friend back in Northern Ireland is a Gavin and Stacey fan (and so am I for that matter) so I wanted to take some photos. Of course it was cold and grey, with snow on the English hills over the channel, so the Island wasn’t at its prettiest. But then I’m not sure it has a prettiest anyway.

And I’m allowed to criticise! I’m a third-generation Barry Islander after all… :)

Also today, I am mostly … recovered from reacting badly to mussels

… which although tasted pretty good when I ate them for lunch yesterday, made me queasy during the England v Italy game (although the game itself was dreadful enough to make me feel ill) and then throw up horribly at half-time in Ireland v France.

I was recovered enough by 7;30 though to wolf down some of the Indian takeaway that I’d been promising my parents. I’m just annoyed because I like mussels, and I don’t want to have to stop eating shellfish for fear of a bad reaction to them.

I could blame my dad, I suppose - he cooked them. But I won’t. (Though my mum probably does.)

A proper Sunday dinner today though courtesy of my mum, the kind I rarely bother to cook, with roast lamb… And she’s made me Welsh cakes to take home.