Visiting The Nearby Merthyr Mawr Sand Dunes,

Yes!! This is me! or should i say `was` me back in 2002, on a chilly October afternoon.I was smiling, you might not notice that but i was! in fact i was quite hysterical if i am honest , yes i know... i look like one of those deluded people that go " Tree-Hugging"  but i had very good reason as to why i was holding on close to that tree behind me! It was wet, all the fallen leaves had gotten soggy and slimey, and SLIPPERY! and on a rather strong incline into the rather over-active stream.. It was in fact a task that i thought would impress my new found partner, you know, trying to look big and show off, then make a total tits up FAIL!

What I HAD planned to do, was edge down the embankment and simply walk across the log that was resting over the stream type mini-rapids more like ..

But as usual When we set off from home to get to the sand dunes, when your in the premature  stages of a possible relationship, new possible partner ..blah blah, you have to make a good impression, in all ways, my hair was gel ridden to a state of solidified spikes, i had my denim shirt on, and my cool jeans i bought in france, and a pair of ermm how can i describe them.. well they were new-buck leather, burgundy in colour and had the coolest metal clasps to do up when wearing them,, yea they wer`nt exceptionally expensive but they were a "long time, trying to find the boots for me- Breakthrough of 2001, in Spain in a little shoe shop in the middle of no where almost.. well far from the hotels and english breakfast bars and karaoke pubs! I was in awe of these Boots, and felt it was a miracle to have found them. 

So yea, cool (sad) denim shirt, cool jeans, and even cooler Boots, and here i was slowly slipping downward my hands gripped that tree behind me so damn hard...( and the bark on the tree was just crumbling apart the hard i gripped) my legs kept sliding, until i was in a 45 degree angle almost ...i HAD to try save my Boots.. new-buck does not fair well with water especially with salt in it too.. My attempts to save my boots and my dignity went `TITS` UP`..

So it was now a senario which showed me IN the (mini-rapids) stream hobbling on some rocks just trying to save as much of my boot as i could, i was red faced from hysteria, and embarrassment, and now looking up at my partner `miming the words "Help me.. helpp" to which they started laughing so i did TRY to sound as if i was `laughing aswell` and got told promptly " If you think i am going to ruin my trousers and shoes just to get you out of that water you can forget it.. look at 

it this way: Damage Done - Make your own exit asap!, I will even encourage onward.. and start throwing stones in the water to see how much more damage i can do to those boots of yours!"

You know in life, sometimes and without realising it, something (Or someone!) has a subtle way of instigating a situation, like one of lifes tests, and lessons to learn, so to speak.. That was indeed one of those moments, i fall for it everytime,, if someone baits me...what do i do? I bite, hence i get caught and now things are beyond one`s control... When my new partner mentioned that the stream was flowing quite fast.. and said go walk over that BIG log going over it..and i can take a photo of you with all the autumn leaves and the water in front.. " 

"Oh ok " 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Apart from that, Taking my partner to Merthyr Mawr Sand Dunes, the largest set of Dunes in Europe! They even filmed some of the famous movie "Lawrence of Arabia" there.. yea i know cool huh?..pfft,, but they are actually pretty awesome and the wildlife is amazing, i did sorta get my own back when i suggest we climb the largest dune(hehe) and at that time i was physically quite fit, while ..oh fuck it, she`s an ex now anyway, basically she wasnt physically fit and was podgy and overweight, so for me the 60 foot climb taken in the right stride and breathing wasn`t so bad for me.. but aww she was actually going a purple-y blue colour in her cheeks, she couldnt breathe and she DEFINATELY had NOTHING to say, or laugh about either.. to be honest, if you had seen the state of her by the time she got to the top- 3 words you would probably say : Cardiac Arrest Patient.
It took her 15 minutes to get her breathe back and back then we were ``in-love`` mode and i did love her truly, and was genuinely concerned that i might be cause of a bad turn medically speaking as far as her physical state looked.. But it WAS worth it as the view was awesome, although a cold october day the sky was clear enough to see across the water over to Weston-Super Mare, and looking over the vastness of sand hills.. that went on forever, you can actually easily get lost if roaming around them late afternoon, because once the sun drops.. there is no way of knowing if your walking in the right direction, my best mate`s husband got lost and logically thought well i better find somewhere to sleep as im not going to find my way out..

This is me Again! But 2 months later in December 2002, i was staying in Essex,London with my Partner Trina, and her 2 Boys, I had kept my flat in Wales so we would come down and stay for a week now and then, mainly just the 2 of us to get a break from the boys, hmm lets just say although teenagers they were high maintance, as in having to entertain them 24/7 as neither of them had ANY FRIENDS to hang out with, so they never went out and were always at home ..oh fuck this! they were both hard work, it was a real strain on the relationship, both had no social skills one acted like a baby and the other had a more explosive violent side to him.. anyway blah blah 

BACK to this photo, i may look like an afghan out for a desert walk but the scarf was my favourite and i had a really bad ear infection in both ears, it took 9 months to clear up and i lost 4 stone in weight! woohoo! but YOU CAN SEE >> I AM TRYING TO SMILE!!

A over head view of how vast the dunes ran toward the coast ..the width was twice the size..