Only in Wales!

The English is clear enough to lorry drivers - but the Welsh reads "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated."

When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was what they needed.
Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated".
So that was what went up under the English version which barred lorries from a road near a supermarket.

Swansea council got lost in translation when it was looking to halt heavy goods vehicles using a road near an Asda store in the Morriston area.
All official road signs in Wales are bilingual, so the local authority e-mailed its in-house translation service for the Welsh version of: "No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only".
The reply duly came back and officials set the wheels in motion to create the large sign in both languages.
The notice went up and all seemed well - until Welsh speakers began pointing out the embarrassing error.
Welsh-language magazine Golwg was promptly sent photographs of the offending sign by a number of its readers.

The sign was lost in translation - and is now missing from the roadside

Other confusing signs
"We took it down as soon as we were made aware of it and a correct sign will be re-instated as soon as possible."
The blunder is not the only time Welsh has been translated incorrectly or put in the wrong place:
• Cyclists between Cardiff and Penarth in 2006 were left confused by a bilingual road sign telling them they had problems with an "inflamed bladder".
• In the same year, a sign for pedestrians in Cardiff reading 'Look Right' in English read 'Look Left' in Welsh.
• In 2006, a shared-faith school in Wrexham removed a sign which translated the Welsh for staff as "wooden stave".
• Football fans at a FA Cup tie between Oldham and Chasetown - two English teams - in 2005 were left scratching their heads after a Welsh-language hoarding was put up along the pitch. It should have gone to a match in Merthyr Tydfil.
• People living near an Aberdeenshire building site in 2006 were mystified when a sign apologising for the inconvenience was written in Welsh as well as English.

Possible new government strategies

Two funny things I've read today:

The House of Lords is a mad place. Men in frocks, men in tights, men in silly hats and wigs. Click here to visit the author Place Farm

I assume full responsibility for our actions, except the ones that are someone else's fault.
My intuition nearly makes up for my lack of wisdom and judgment.
I have the power to channel my imagination into ever-soaring levels of suspicion and paranoia.
Today I will gladly share my experience and advice, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so!"
A scapegoat is almost as good as a solution.
Blessed are the flexible, for they can tie themselves in knots.
Before I criticise a man, I walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot.
As I let go of my feelings of guilt, I am in touch with my inner sociopath.
I need not suffer in silence while I can still moan, whimper, and complain.
To err on the side of safety is to be human, to blame somebody else shows true management potential.
I will no longer waste my time reliving the past; I will spend it worrying about the future.
Thanks to Martin Ford from UK Business Connections for this one.

Grumpy

I've been tagged by Singlemummy to write a few things I get grumpy about.
Now I could go on for ever, I suspect so I'll reign in my moans a little and just write the required 7.

1.Shirl - my mother annoys me like no-one else.
Just for once I'd like a present on my Birthday...one that's been bought for the occasion, not won in a raffle or from a car boot sale, one I actually like and that's in date (if supposed to be edible.
I'd like her to phone when she says she will and bother with her Grandchildren who I don't think she knows very well anymore.
2. 'Wotcha!' - Shirl's boyfriend. He's racist, gets things stolen to order from his old workplace (like wheelbarrows, printer paper, bags of cement) and is generally a rude self-centred man.
3. And of course, I agree with Singlemummy: people who cant be bothered to man up and show who they are when being rude and bitchy. It's deplorable, if you don't like what you read, move on somewhere else. I don't like Eastenders so I don't watch it..simples!
4. I'm annoyed my last Blog post didn't show the headline:
"Deceased Father's Ukranian Ex-Wife forces sale" no wonder no-one found it funny!
5. No hot water when you want a nice long soak in the bath..grrr.
6. The Librarian at the Teenagers school - I don't like her book recommendations and I don't like the fact she hasn't spoken to my daughter since I complained about her asking my daughter to read a book with sexual abuse in it..vile, vile, vile.
7. Me...I sometimes say things without thinking first sometimes and cause offence to people. (grimace)
I eat too many biscuits.
I don't tidy my bedroom enough.
I don't Blog enough with some of my lovely friends.
I'm always very tired because I don't sleep well.

Grumpy nominations:
Potty Mummy (lots to grumble about in Moscow I'm sure)
Millenium Mum (she does a fantastic list)
Belgravia Wife
Mel Trevelyan
Sparx
Muddling ALong Mummy
London City Mum

Please visit their fab Blogs, so many very talented ladies!

Friends and Weddings

This weekend was lovely.
Our very lovely friends got married after 20 something years together, with their son and daughter as witnesses.
The Groom is God-Father to the youngest Frog.
There was nothing traditional about this wedding.

The phone rang:
Groom: Hiya Frog, um, it's getting close to the Wedding Day, um, apparently it takes 15 minutes to do it and we're doing it at 4.30, so I think we'll be home by 5.15. If you and the other Frogs want to come over at 5.30 with some sausages, H says he'll do a barbecue.

We arrived at 5.30.
Our girls had made the happy couple cards, a poem and some lovely cushions.
Darling Husband & I took a bottle of fizz, chocolate, a gorgeous fat pot I've just made and of course the sausages.

The Happy couple were just arriving home after buying some local cider from their neighbour and enlightened us to their movements since being married.

On the way home they stopped at a local Agricultural supplies store. They browsed a little and bought courgette plants plus another essential item.
Someone they knew spotted them and commented they were dressed very smartly.
Groom: Yes, well we've just got married.
Spotter: What are you doing in here then (splutter)?
Groom: Buying Dog food of course!
Spotter staggered away in shock.

We laughed about that many times during our evening sat outside their gorgeous cottage.
There were 6 adults and 5 offspring.
We had a lovely evening, in lovely company, and of course, great sausages.

The couple are the most wonderful people you could ever meet, kind, clever, funny, thoughtful, happy and contented...a truly beautiful family.
It's a pleasure to be their friends.

Please give me some feedback on these new designs for Shopping Bags with Slogans.
With Thanks
Caroline
Frog in the Field

My Pottery Hobby

I've been amazed at the great comments I've had about my return to pottery.
And you know, the class isn't full, so I've taken some step by step pics of a few pots being made in the hope I'll inspire someone else to come and join in the fantastic experience of making something useful and beautiful out of mud!
Just remember it's easy to lose your identity once you've had children, do something for yourself, have three hours of 'me-time' a week and do something you've always wanted to try. I feel inspired and refreshed every time I make the trip to Pottery, it's relaxing and fulfilling and sociable too.
Incidentally, the picture is not of me or a pot I've done. It's a pic of a lovely man called Keith Baugh who is an incredible artist, and I'm sure you'll agree the Amy Winehouse painting on this pot is really something.
Here's the process I went through to make a coil pot





I really enjoyed making this pot, it took on a life of it's own almost, while I made it. It took me about an hour and a half, I had to stiffen it now and again with a blow torch so it wouldn't collapse.
Next is a group of pics I took of a lovely lady who is extremely skilled at throwing.






Once the pot has completely dried out, it's fired in the kiln.
The next step is to glaze the pot and fire again, then it's finished.

To find out more about joining our group of Potters and beginners go to Clay Hill Potters and contact our Tutor, Joan Doherty, for more information.
The pottery is high above a fantastic loop in the river Severn, it's a wonderful location.
And finally here's a pot I hope to glaze tomorrow, you can work out it's size when you look at my Blackberry at it's base.