A good read.

Anyone heard of Erdem Gunduz?  Yes?  No?

Well he was the guy who started the silent protest in Turkey.  He's a performing artist and not politically active, but he inspired lots of people to join him at Taksim Square last month, while he stood quietly in what the papers called passive defiance.  Thanks to the social media, his image quickly spread and he was joined in other cities around Turkey.

Inspirational indeed!

His inspiration has spread all the way to Dublin, Ireland, as today a silent protest, Erdem style, has been organised to be held outside our Government buildings from 3.30pm until (in typical Irish style) the last bus leaves town!

Two young Irish ladies have organised this protest after hearing the 'Anglo Tapes'.  They are encouraging protesters to bring along a book to reflect what they are feeling about what's happening in the country at the moment, and to stand in silence outside the gates of Leinster House to send a silent message to that lot inside!

A good idea.  All you need to go with the good idea, is a good read!

They are discussing this on the radio at the moment and are asking the listeners what book would they bring to reflect what they are feeling at the moment.

A sample of the suggestions so far:

The Idiots guide to Banking
Banking for Dummies
One flew over the Cuckoos Nest
Dracula (In reference to the bloodsucking Bankers)
The God Delusion
The Merchant of Venice (In reference to the 'pound of flesh')

Lots of callers suggested bringing their Anglo Irish bank books that show a zero balance!  One caller suggested bringing the dictionary and hold it open on a page with a word that starts with 'W' and rhymes with bankers....

I'm not going to go into town and protest, but I thought I might join them remotely and in the spirit of the protest, sit quietly at home and read a book.

I'm not sure I have a copy of Banking for Dummies to hand, so, any suggestions as to what I might read??

Warren Who??

As a very small nation, we don't have many great sporting achievements or sports personalities to shout about.  Having a very small population leads to a very small pool of highly trained athletes and sports people.  But I'm sure if you took the time and did a search on the big WWW, you would find a list of our greatest athletes and achievements over the last century or two.  But when we do get a good one, we really get behind him/her.

In case you haven't got time (or couldn't be bothered!) to do this, I'll give you a quick run through of the one's I can remember from recent years...

...Like when Ronnie Delaney won that gold medal in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics...   OK, I don't actually remember this as it was before my time, (yes, even I am not that old!) but it was great achievement for Ireland.  I don't think we won another Olympic medal until a little boxer from Dublin, Michael Carruth, got the gold in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

...Then there was the time when Ray Houghton put the ball in the English net...

We really loved him for that!

Of course, there are lots of others that should get a mention, so here are a few more that you can look up when you are doing your search.  (Ah go on, you know you will!!)

John Tracey
Roy Keane
Eamon Coughlan
Sonia O'Sullivan
Sean Kelly
George Best
Ray Houghton (He put the ball in the English net)


I just took those few off the top of my head and of course there are lots more, but you get the picture.  And each time one of these greats won something, this whole Island would be on a high for days!

Did I mention the time that Ray Houghton put the ball in the English net?  Ahhh....What a day that was.

There are no Olympics or World Cup for us to follow this summer, so instead we have been following the Olympics of the Rugby World.  The Lions tour in Australia.  

And for this tour, we certainly had something to shout about. The nations favorite Rugby player, Brian O'Driscoll (BOD or GOD as he is sometimes referred to!!), has been on tour with The Lions.  (And while he hasn't put the ball in the English net , he has put the ball over the English line, several times!)  BOD is one of those good ones that I have been talking about.  So, the last match of the tournament is being played this Saturday down under, and with BOD ready to retire we were all looking forward to watching him bask in it all, for one last great and glorious time.  It will be, as the papers were saying, a fairy tale ending to his outstanding career.

Well, you can imagine our shock and disbelief when we woke up this morning and were greeted with some terrible news!!

BOD has been dropped from the team.

And to make matters worse, he isn't even on the bench!!!  WTF???

He, like the rest of us, will have to watch from the side...  Warren Gatland, the Welsh Rugby Team coach, and also the coach of the Lions team, has picked a mostly Welsh team for the last game.  And he isn't even Welsh!!  (And while I think of it, the team plays in a red strip, and so do the Welsh!!)

Needless to say, the reaction here on the Emerald Isle has been one of great annoyance!  Mind you, our closest neighbors, the Welsh (!!) are not so annoyed.  Like me, there are lots of other very disappointed and disgruntled Rugby fans with long faces wandering the streets in despair, with no high to look forward to on Saturday....  no basking in the glory... no fairy tale ending...

Ross O'Carroll-Kelly summed it up for me in a tweet today, with his usual flair, and I quote, "With the greatest of respect, Warren Gatland can FRO"!!

Anyway...

Did I tell you about the time that Ray Houghton but the ball in the English net...

Bread and water!

I'm on a sun bed,  with the ocean on one side of me and a swimming pool on the other...

I'm sitting on a raised sun deck and when I look down, I can see a guy snorkeling in the clear blue sea below me, his flippers making little splashes and the yellow tip of his snorkel peeping in and out of the water as he bends his head down further to catch a glimpse of some interesting sea life.  And when I look up I can see a yacht perched just off the headland that's jutting out into the water, there are people jumping off the back of the yacht into the water.   I can also see a speed boat ripping through the water, leaving its white wake behind it,  and another smaller boat top heavy with people in diving gear on their way out to sea... Seriously, one of these days I am going to learn to swim, then I will be out in the speed boat (or the yacht) instead of sitting on the shore being envious...

Hello from sunny Malta!

I'm not going to give you a history (or geography) lesson on Malta, you can look it up for yourself if you are interested.  But even this little Island, that has been invaded by just about every empire over the course of its history, was not quite ready for the invasion of the Irish last Friday.  We immediately set up base camp at the pool and it was full steam ahead with our occupation.  A battalion of women from Dublin are not a force to be reckoned with, which the pool attendant learned very quickly and seemed resigned to his fate.  And the poor waiter at breakfast on Saturday morning surrendered almost as quickly under the barrage of requests for tea bags!  Can we Irish not go anywhere without a cup of tea?

I don't drink tea.

I don't eat rabbit either, but it was on every menu I read, and seems to be the local delicacy.  So, Instead of the rabbit  I tried the other local delight, ftira, bread made the Maltese way!  A bit like focaccia, but nicer!   I might have to eat more of that...

Over the last few days, to get my bearings and to see some of this Island, I took the bus down the coast.  Past the salt flats, past the look out towers dotted around the island, passed the imposing forts, as far as Salima and Viletta, where I got off the bus.  On each trip my hair got a sunshine blow dry and by the time I got off the bus I looked  like I had stuck my finger into a socket and got an electric shock!  Oh well, I'm on holidays so who cares.  It was pretty windy on the upper deck of the open top bus, but a treat to be able to sit up there, in the sunshine.  

I did all the touristy stuff, had the history lesson, took the harbour cruise, had a look in some of the 365 beautifully ornate churches that are all over these group of islands, and also checked out those lookout towers and forts that are as much a part of this island as the churches.  Religion and armies, they always seem to be intertwined in history!

I also, on the recommendation of a friend back home, took a ferry to the smaller island north of Malta, Gozo.  He told me it was like going back in time.  Well, he wasn't wrong...

The ferry trip was lovely, not long, only about 30 minutes.  I stood up front to look out at Gozo as it approached.  That was Ok and lasted for about five minutes until I was asked by a group of Turkish students to take their photograph.  That was also OK, until they all handed me their cameras and phones, only about thirty of them.  I didn't learn any Turkish, but they learned some Irish swear words!  We were at Gozo before I knew it.

My friend was right.  Initially the ferry terminal on the island looked like any modern ferry terminal, but a few minutes out into the country side and I could see what he meant.  

I could have been, except for the sunshine, in the west of Ireland.  It was like driving through Connemara.  Mountainous, rocky and tilled fields on either side of the road, all sectioned off by little dry stone walls.  The only thing missing were the sheep.  In fact I didn't see any animals at all.  Obviously I didn't expect to see any rabbits, but lamb is another item on every menu, so there must be some of them around somewhere? Hiding from the invasion of the Irish no doubt.  

Anyway despite the lack of grazing animals, I enjoyed my trip round the island, through the very narrow streets of the little towns where the new buildings have been built in the same architectural style as the old ones to keep the character of Gozo intact, all the way down to Xlandi Bay, where we had lunch.  We sat in a restaurant so close to the waters edge that I had to shield my ftira bread and goats (don't know where they were hiding either) cheese from the spray every time a wave hit the little wall beside us.  But I'm not complaining, it was glorious to be able to sit outside, in the sunshine, eating.  And again the water I was looking into was so clear that you could see right to the bottom...

As usual, I will be sorry to be going home leaving the sunshine behind.  I'll have to learn how to make ftira so I can relive the experience at home.

As i said, I didn't learn any Turkish, but I did learn some Maltese (from a German)!

So reluctantly,  it's 'sahha' from Malta, for now...

RIP?

So, the 'Iron Lady' is gone...

Well, what can I say?  Her relationship and dealings with the Irish people while she was in office are well documented, and as I was taught not to speak ill of the dead, I have nothing to add to history...

But I was very pleased to see my brothers and sisters reaction.

They, like me, didn't 'speak' ill of the dead.  No, instead they posted some tunes on Facebook!!  So far we have had:

Elvis Costello:  Tramp the Dirt Down
The Beat: Whine and grine - Stand down Margaret
Madness: Blue Skinned Beast

What rebels they are!!  They made me smile...

I'd like to add my contribution, it reminds me of, and sums up, the Maggie era, and it might make my family smile (for a different reason!!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WhhSBgd3KI

Up Up and a-weigh!

Read this today...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/asia-pacific/airline-introduces-charges-based-on-people-s-weight-1.1346731

I like the bit that says that we are "bigger wider and taller than we were 50 years ago"... Well I certainly am!!

What next?

Will we have to stand beside one of those height restrict-er things that they have in all the fun parks that decides if you can go on the ride or not?

Or will they have a cage like thing that they will slot us into, like thy do with our bags, and if we don't fit then we don't fly?

So they are going to make you weigh in again at check in, to make sure you are the weight that you say on your ticket?  Hilarious!  That should make things run smoothly.  I wonder will it be like a weigh-in before a boxing match, where the boxers strip down to their boxers!!  Remember your mother always told you to wear clean underwear before you go anywhere, just in case... Well, if you are flying with Samoa airways then you will be glad that you listened to her!!

Diet starts Monday....

A sheep from a goat...

I'm on the edge!

The edge of the world!

Yesterday I got on my trusty steed, or in reality, into my little Ford Fiesta, and drove west.  And I keep going until I reached the edge.  I'm in Keem, Achill Island, "The West", Ireland!  I can't go any further, unless I get in a boat.

Yesterday on my drive here, I felt like I was the only one on the road, as after I left Longford behind there wasn't a car in sight.  Amazingly at one point I passed a Michael Jackson look-a-like scare crow, complete with hat and 'Michael' pose.    I had to do a double take, some very inspired farmers live in the Midlands.  He (the scare crow) was so realistic I nearly stopped to get an autograph.

I also saw the sun go down some where along the N5, which was quite nice.  I drove right into it...

Anyway, yesterday I felt like I was the only one on the road, but today I felt like I am the only one in the world! Keem is beautiful. I can't describe it in words so here is a picture of what is on one side of the road:

 And here is a picture of what is on the other side!

My pictures don't even do it justice.  If you really want to see what this beautiful place looks like then Google the artist Paul Henry and his pictures painted during his time spent on Achill will describe the amazing views much better than my words can.

I decided to park my car in the very well placed car park on the side of the cliff, and follow that little stream in the picture down to the beach.  It took me under a bridge that looked like it had Cathedral arches it was so high.  I had to walk in the water under it, then down the side of a boggy cliff, along the side of the beach and lastly right down to the shore, where the stream cut through the sand and made lovely patterns on the beach.  I felt like a mountain goat.

And speaking of mountain goats, I had to manoeuvre my way around what I thought at first were goats, but later found out that they are actually 'black faced horny mountain sheep'.  (Seriously, that's the name of their breeds, google them too!)  You would think that by now I would know a sheep from a goat, but it was the horns that confused me!!  Well, Not only were they on the side of the mountain, looking up from their chewing and peering at me strangely as I made my way down, but they were all over the road too.  You can see one of them in my picture.  They sit in the middle of the road, usually on a bad bend where you can't see them until you come round the sharp bend and they are right in front of you.  Its really freaky at night when you pass them and your lights shine on their eyes... And they don't move either!!  No, they were there first, why should they move for some day tripper down from Dublin...

I drove back along Atlantic Drive, once again avoiding the ill placed in the middle of the road sheep, to Keel, where I had lunch in a coffee shop surrounded by arts and crafts.   I could see another beach through the bay window where I was sitting and couldn't resist it.  It is such a beautiful day, sunshine and blue skies, a few clouds and wind, but I am at the sea, and on an Island, so that's to be expected.

And purely for my entertainment of course, surf school is in session on the beach. 

They're all mad of course.  I'm staying this side of the waves, although they are (the waves that is) trying to entice me in by lapping around my boots...But judging by the squeals of excitement and the jumping up and down, the surfers are enjoying being bashed by the Atlantic.  And I'm enjoying watching...

I came here to visit friends that I haven't seen for over fifteen years.  Somehow, I don't think it will be another fifteen before I come back!

I'm really enjoying sitting here on the beach, squinting out over the Atlantic trying to catch a glimpse of America, but I have to go, because I have a date.  A date with a TV, a bar stool, a glass of wine and some Rugby players.

Last night the Irish Ladies Rugby Team (!) beat the French, (well done ladies), so come on lads, for once on your life, try to beat the ladies at your own game!!

Headworm for today

I've been working at home now for four or five weeks.  And so far I love it.

As you can imagine there are loads of advantages, like not having to get up so early, not having to rush through the shower avoiding getting soap in my eyes, not having to rush through breakfast avoiding spilling it on my suit, not having to rush through the traffic avoiding the traffic cops, not having to rush through the building to get to my desk before the boss does!

There are other advantages, and of course, there are disadvantages too.  But we won't mention them today...

The thing I like the most is being able to listen to the radio while I work.  I like to listen to the chat shows.  I love the people that call in with madly random stories completely unrelated to what the host is talking about, I often wonder do they realise that they are telling millions of listeners and not just the host.  Anyway, besides the crazy listeners and their crazier stories, I also like to listen to the music.  

Here's one they have been playing over and over for the past few day and it's become my 'headworm'.  So I though I share it with you and it can play in your head and be your headworm also for the next few days.  You can think of me looking out my window, smiling and singing along (and working hard!) when this comes on the radio...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBumgq5yVrA

What a rush...

Meat the victims...

It's not often that we Irish are credited with a 'first' (and I say that as a very proud Irish person).  But we were the first country to 'out' the horse meat/DNA scandal.

Don't get me wrong, we love horses in Ireland, and we have a reputation for breeding quite a lot of champion race horses.  It's big business here.  So no offence to the horses, but, if it says beef on the tin then we want beef in the tin (or burgers, or Lasagna or whatever other products the equine DNA has been found in), that's a given. 

So what a stone we Irish have overturned.  I was going to say 'what a tin of worms we opened', but well... 

So, anyway, yesterday the boss of Iceland (the frozen food supermarket chain, not the country!) was forced to apologise for his offensive remarks when, in an interview, he discredited the results of the Irish Labs that tested his burgers.  When asked why his burgers passed British tests for equine DNA but failed the Irish ones, he replied:  "Well, that's the Irish isn't it"...  He later apologised and said he didn't mean to be disrespectful to the Irish people.

Cheek!!  Never mind the Irish people he was disrespectful to our Cows, and he should know what's in his own burgers.  

Well, in light of his remarks and with all this talk of horse meat, I wondered how the cows were feeling.  So I did a survey, and after speaking to several (Irish) cows, this one picture tell the true story of the feelings of the real victims in this scandal...

I apologise for their language, but as you can imagine, they are understandably annoyed!!  

I wonder how the horses feel as the cows have been getting all the credit for being the tasty meat in the burgers etc.  Somebody should ask them, 

I'm glad I'm vegetarian...

Happy Valentines Day!!

  Roses are red

but, sometimes white or pink.

Violets are blue,

much prettier, don't ya think.

But who cares about flowers

on a day like today,

a big box of chocolates,

much tastier, I'd say

Or maybe some champers,

now that would be cool!

All those lovely bubbles,

over a bottle you'd drool...

What about dinner? 

But, if only you could cook.

There's always a restaurant,

no problem, quick book!

Oh wait, maybe a song.

sung by a favorite.

You could download the track

and on your computer you'd save it.

Hmmm...perhaps a card

that's the 'norm' for today.

(...watching for the postman

you'd hope and you'd pray...)

Valentine wishes to you all,

and I hope that you got

one of the above,

or perhaps, the lot!!

So have you guessed yet

who's writing this rhyme??

No...it's not her!!!

It's your mystery Valentine  

Ticket to ride...

Well, I'm not one to say "I told you so", but...

This 'guy' got on a street car in New Orleans during Superbowl week.  Nothing unusual about that I hear you say. The street car was busy, of course it was, this was a busy week in New Orleans.  And besides busy trams, the streets were busy with buskers and entertainers trying to 'cash' in on the and excitement make a dollar or two.  So, as I was saying, this 'guy' started to sing a few tunes on the tram, and unsurprisingly, the other passengers just ignored him, as you do when you are fed up with buskers and you're on a busy tram.

Anyway, undeterred, he kept singing.  He sang a medley of Beatles numbers.

Slowly the other passengers in the tram, because he kept singing, began to listen, and to their surprise, they realised that they were actually being sung to by Mr Beatle himself, Sir Paul McCartney.

("See", I say jumping up and down with excitement,  "I told you"!!)

He was in town to perform at half time at the Superbowl.  He made the passengers day, apparently!

So there you go, I wasn't wrong.  (Can I say "I told you so" again?) You do need to listen to those buskers, because you just never know!

BIG SIGH...I've always wanted to go to New Orleans...

A philosophical question

Did you ever stop and listen to a busker or a group of buskers?  (That's not the philosophical question by the way!!)

Well because I have a poor struggling artist with loads of talent that never gets a break (he told me to write that) in the house, I always feel sorry for musicians playing in the street and do sometimes stop to listen to what they are playing.  You know the way it is, on a summers day, walking down Grafton Street, or Henry Street, or through Temple Bar, your poor ears are bombarded with different sounds, some rockabilly, some pop, some rock, some classical, some I can't classify!!  Some good, some bad, some pretty awful (they're easy to spot)!!  But occasionally you get a really good one, or a group that are really entertaining.  That's when I stop.  Never for long, unless they are playing something I know and really like.  I've never been lucky enough to be around tho' when some of the bigger artists give impromptu sessions on the street to the unsuspecting passers by.  But I live in hope...

I wonder if I had been in Washington when the Washington Post decided to do a social experiment with a busker, which kind of person I would have been.  Would I have been one that stopped and listened, or one that hurried by without a second glance...

The Washington Post put a man at a metro station in Washington DC on a busy cold January morning.  They estimated that about 1000 people passed through the station on their way to work.  They waited and watched.  The man played six pieces by Bach, on a violin, he played for about 45 minutes.  For the first few minutes he was ignored, then a man stopped to listen for a minute, but he checked his watch and hurried for his train.  This was repeated over and over.  Some people gave him money, but they then hurried on.  It was mostly children that wanted to stop and listen but they too were hurried on by their parents rushing for the train.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a while.  After 45 minutes he had made $32.   He stopped playing, nobody noticed, nobody applauded, there was just silence.

So the philosophical question is, if he made $32 in 45 minutes, how much would he make in a year playing at a metro station, and what color was his hat...

OK, that's not the question either...

The 'man' was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world.  He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million.  A couple of nights before he had played to a sold out audience in Boston where the tickets were on average $100 each.

There were lots of questions about this experiment,  i.e, do we notice beauty in a commonplace environment, do we appreciate it,  and do we recognize talent?  I'll leave those questions to the Washington Post to answer.

But, the real question is, If we took a minute and really stopped to look and listen, what would we really see and hear...?

Gosh, that's very philosophical for me!!  But I bet it's made you think.

So, in future when I'm walking down Grafton Street on a Summers day, with a gauntlet of buskers to run,  instead of putting my hands over my ears and rushing by with my head down, I will stop, and look, and listen...

Have you hear the one about...

When we were young (a long long time ago...) we used to tell 'Kerrymen' jokes.  I don't know how 'PC' this would be considered today, but we all have some group of people that we pick on and make the brunt of our jokes.

So in Ireland it was always the Kerrymen.  I''m not sure why the Kerrymen are always at the receiving end of the joke, but here are a few Kerryman jokes which might make you smile...

Have you heard about the Kerryman who saw a notice reading:  "Man wanted for Robbery and Murder"?
He went in and applied for the job...

Have you heard about the Kerryman whose library was burned down?
Both books were destroyed, and worse still, one hadn't even been coloured in...

Have you heard about the Kerryman who drove his new car over the cliff?
He wanted to test the air-brakes...

How would you get a Kerryman to climb on the roof of a pub?
Tell him the drinks are on the house!

How do you make a Kerryman laugh on a Monday morning?
Tell him a joke on Friday evening.

Well!!

Have you heard the one about the Kerryman who wants to give permits to rural drivers who want to have a drink and then drive home on their tractors?

Unfortunately it's not a joke.  

"A motion tabled by Danny Healy-Rae (Ind) at yesterday’s meeting of Kerry County Council called for special derogation from the alcohol limit for rural drivers, including those of small tractors."

Mr Danny Healy-Rae is a Kerryman. 

I couldn't believe it when I read it in the paper yesterday.  And I was even more astonished when the trainer interrupted the training session to read an article from a Belgian newspaper stating that the Irish had passed this as a law!  The joke was on me!!  Luckily I had read the article from the Irish Times, and I was able to point out to him that it was just a proposal and had not been passed as a law.  He conceded that his Belgian newspaper needed to get its facts straight in future.

Then this morning I was even more amazed to see Mr Healy-Rae himself in all his bearded glory, being interviewed this morning on BBC television, stating, in his Kerry accent, that the current drink-driving laws were causing members of his community to be isolated, and these people should be allowed to drink two or three pints and then drive their tractors home on quiet roads.  I don't know how the reporter interviewing him kept a straight face...

Needless to say the reaction from the general public has been one of ridicule and condemnation.  Lets hope this proposal goes in the bin where it belongs.

Oh I forgot to mention that while Mr Danny Healy-Rae is a sitting member of the Kerry County Council, he also owns a pub!  

Now that really is a joke....

And the winner is...

Sometimes it's nice being snowbound.

Normally I'd be rushing around on a Saturday trying to catch up on all the things I didn't get done (or ignored) during the week.  Not that I would have been doing much this Saturday because I'm in London, so I would have had a day of from domestic stuff anyway.  But today was a bit of a day off for everybody.

So we made cakes...

Jamie Oliver would be proud.  We made our own creation without a recipe!  I wasn't in charge.  No.  Today I had to take instruction from my eight year old niece.  I also had to listen to the music on her iPod while we sieved and mixed and creamed and levelled.  There is only so much Katy Perry 'music' one can listen to.  It was nice to hear singing along.  She did allow me to choose a track.  It was quite a challenge to try to guess what music an eight year old would have on her iPod.  Bingo, I got it right and chose Olly Murs.  That led to a rather well informed (on her side) and a clueless (on my side) discussion about the X Factor... Jeez... I never knew baking was such hard work!

She did redeem herself by playing and singing along to Dancing Queen by ABBA.  So all hope for music in the next generation of Brennan's is not entirely lost!

Apparently the afternoons baking has earned me the 'Aunt of the day' award.  Although I did feel, having had to listen to several tracks by the lovely Ms Perry, one particular one over and over, that should have been upgraded to 'Aunt of the Year'!!!

Here's what we created.  Snow cakes!!  They probably won't last as long as the snow...

Snow fun...

Well, training's going well.  I now know how much I don't know...

I'm glad it's Friday!  It's very tiring, learning.  I only seem to remember what I am currently working on, yesterday's session is a long forgotten memory.  I've even forgotten what it's like to learn.  Perhaps that's because the last time I was in a training room I was the trainer and not the trainee!  It's really annoying because I have all the knowledge in my head somewhere, but I only seem to be able to remember it at exactly the wrong time, that is, exactly one second after the trainer tells us...

It's very cold here also.  And as I think I have already told you, I came very unprepared.  It's snowing again today, quite heavily.  I really will have to go to the shops and buy a coat to go with my new hat.  Only trouble is, to get to the shops to get a coat to protect me from the snow, I have to brave the snow, wearing my very un-snow-proof jacket...

The training center is in a residential area and now, because its lunchtime, some children are playing on the road because they have been sent home early from school.  It's funny listening to them shouting and laughing in delight.  We are on ground level, and can watch them through the window.  If they spot us watching, they throw a snowball at us!!  Not fair, I want to throw one back, then run and hide behind a car, or a tree, or an adult....  Every time I look out I can see that the snow is piled higher and higher on the cars.  More ammunition for the children!!We finish at 4pm today, wonder what it will be like by then?

On the tube now, off to see my brother his and family for the weekend!  We are travelling overground at the moment and everything looks lovely covered in its fluffy white blanket.  Had to run the gauntlet to get to the tube station, past the children from earlier.  Although they seem to have morphed into unruly teenagers in a few hours.  Teenagers with a good eye for their target.  It's  not easy to run on a slippery path, ducking, and trying to hold on to my overnight bag and my dignity at the same time.  Those swear words I learned last week are proving very useful.  I didn't have time to fight back!!  Not fair again...

Nothing IT related worked very well today, I think the systems were a bit like my brain, information overloaded!!  So we finished early.  I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend being spoiled by my family, the London branch(s) of the Brennan clan.  I'll probably have to duck a few more snowballs there too.  Pesky teenagers.   

Although my eight year old niece is eagerly awaiting my arrival.  Not so that she can fling snowballs and abuse at me, no, she wants me to help her make cup cakes.  She might have to bribe me with a glass of something first.  Just medicinal, of course, to help me get over the trauma of a week in a training room with a Belgian trainer, whose English, (much better than my Belgian) made me laugh, a lot, to myself.  Also, he finished most of his sentences in typical Hercule (the only other Belgian I know) style, with 'voila' like he had just discovered something amazing.

I hope I'll be discovering something amazing when I get off this tube, like it has stopped snowing!  We're underground now and my view has gone from white to black.  Some contrast!  And we have also been delayed because of a signal failure further up the line.  So I'm just sitting here looking at the inside of a tunnel.  Now the lady who makes the announcements is telling us that we are going to move slowly and then come to a sudden stop, as part of a controlled exercise.  So we all have to sit down quickly and hold on tightly.   Jeez.. The excitement of it all.  I feel like I'm an extra in some bizarre runaway train disaster movie...

I wonder what topping my niece wants to put on her cup cakes... I hope it's not snow icing...

Sunshine and snow!

First day of training over...

Alberto collected me from the airport yesterday.   A very nice (as you will have guessed by his name) Italian man.  He was waiting for me with a sign with my name on it, then he carried my bag(s) to the car, and whisked me off to my hotel in an 'S' Class Mercedes (only what I'm used to, of course).  I felt like a celebrity!  One from the 'Z' list!

We got chatting about London and where we were both from,  he had the advantage cos he knew which city I had flown from.  Alberto had been to Dublin once, he stayed in Sandycove,  a lovely part of Dublin on the coast.  I told him he made a good choice as that that was one of the nicer spots of Dublin.  Then he told me all about the city he is from.  Turin.  He told me of sunshine, mountains sweeping down to the wide river, of the shopping boulevard akin to the Champs Elysees in Paris, of vineyards to visit...  I made a mental note to put it on my list of places to visit.  Meanwhile, while dreaming of sunshine and the streets of Turin, I looked out the window of the car at the dreary built up streets of north London.  Harrow, to be precise.  Big sigh!!  It looked so much nicer from the air.  And it's cold.

Anyway, the training...

Nobody told me it was going to snow!!  I had to walk to the training centre, in my suit and heels, in the snow.  With no hat!! My beautifully washed hair had a pile of snow on top of it by the time I got there.  And I couldn't feel my toes.  I usually don't mind the snow, but that's when I'm dressed for it.  Anyway, if nothing else, it improved the look of Harrow!  Everything always looks nicer when covered in snow flakes.  We had to brave it again at lunchtime, tradition dictates that all new trainees are brought out to lunch.  Jeez, I'd rather have been hungry and able to feel my toes...

So, the training...

Confession.  We didn't do any training.  We we're given a tour of the training centre/head office and were introduced to loads of people sitting at computer screens who's names I instantly forgot.  The highlight of the day was the talk from the finance department who spent an hour demonstrating how to fill in an expense form!  Now I know why I opted to work from home.  I'm glad I don't have to work here permanently and I am looking forward to getting back to my cosy office. 

I bought a hat on the way back to the hotel, so I'm ready for tomorrow's weather!  No one would notice if I wore my cosy woolly socks...would they...?

Ice ice baby!

After my week of technology filled mishaps, and I won't bore you with the story of my iron blowing up and my three (yes three) visits to the Electrical store before I got a working one (I hope that that's my last visit to an electrical store this year) I am finally on my way to London for my two weeks training.   

On my way but, not without delay.  (I'm good at this rhyming thing!).

We boarded on time, with all the usual drama of boarding passes, queuing, walking down the tunnel, more boarding passes, more queuing, finding your seat, finding a space for your bag, buckling in and sitting back and waiting for the roar of the engine and take off..  

Except we didn't take off.  No, we had to wait.  And wait.  And wait.  And wait, for the de-icer machine to come and clear the ice from the wings.  Ice on the wings, I didn't think it was that cold!?  Well, this could be interesting, I've never seen this before.  I wonder what  kind of high tech machine they have to do this job?

And wait, and wait...

Apologies from the captain and it arrives!  

I'm sitting a few rows up from the wings so I have to twist around in a most uncomfortable manner to see what's going on.  Me and the rest of the passengers.  I can't see anything, it's too dark now.  Suddenly there are three bright lights shinning in the window making me blink!  It's like the light you see in that film Close Encounters when the spaceship lands.  White, bright, and very strong.  Gosh this must be some machine.  Maybe the bright lights are going to shine on the wings and the ice will melt from their heat...

Shows how much I know.  The lights are on the front of a cherry picker and there is a man in a high vis jacket standing in the basket of the picker, with a high pressure hose, spraying something on the wings.  What is it? Salt? Sand? I have no idea, I will have to look it up.  Anyway, it took about two minutes to clear the ice.  I feel cheated, is this what we had to wait an hour for...jeez...

More apologies from the Captain...the roar of the engines...and we're off! 

Time for coffee and a read.  That reminds me of my recent train journey, which was much nicer than this one...

More apologies from the Captain, and we are finally making our decent into London.  I can see the city spread out underneath me like millions of yellow/orange coloured diamonds of various sizes scattered on a black cloth.  Random shapes twinkling.

Better turn this thing off before an irate cabin crew member reprimands me for using a prohibited electronic device.  I suppose I could go back to the old fashioned way and keep on writing with a pen and paper.  But then how would I post that on my blog?  Hmmm, I'd have to revert back to technology again...

It's all OK!

Day four in the Big Brother house...

Actually day four was, compared to the other three days, relatively quiet.  Technology was kind to me, the computer worked, the two screens worked, the Wi-Fi worked, the phone worked (although nobody called!), the printer worked.  The good luck Feng Shui Crystal, that I was given for a present for my new office and hung up yesterday, is obviously working. (I should have hung that up on Monday!!)

Everything's working, except me...

I still have some office furniture to acquire, but that can wait for another day.  At the moment I have no filing cabinet, but that's OK 'cos I have nothing to file.  I have no stationary cabinet, but that's OK 'cos I have no stationary.  My list of things to fit this office out with is getting longer.  My co-researcher is coming today to give me a run through of all the systems before I go to London for two weeks training.  Pre-training training!  (I have no chair for her to sit on, but that's OK...oh wait!)   She was here with me a couple of day ago and remarked on the lovely view of the mountains that I have from my 'office' window.  I see that view every day, and sometimes, as you know, walk the tracks in the forest up there in the mountains, but I never really looked at the view until she pointed it out.  It really is lovely, and at the moment the sun is shining on the neat green fields that I can see over the rooftops, and there are some sheep grazing and bales of hay stacked up in another field.  The top of one of the mountains is covered with a cloud which looks like a woolly blanket keeping it warm, I can just see the trees from the forest peeping out from underneath it.  I'm looking forward to working here.

I'm also looking forward to spending two weeks in London.  I know I'll be busy during the day, melting my brain with all the new systems, but I will have lots of evenings to fill.  I have lots of family to see too, so I won't miss home too much, it will be like home from home.

Time for coffee!

The last place I worked we took turns making the coffee, now it's always my turn!  But I suppose the up side of that is that I only have one cup to make, instead of two...

By the way, I figured out what the two screens are for.  Stereo YouTube!!

And in other news, I joined a dance class last night, but that's for another day...

The day of the printer...

On the first day of self-employment, my new job brought to me...

A desk, with no instruction book!

On the second day of self employment, my new job brought to me...

A computer which needed setting up!

On the third day of self employment, my new job brought to me...

A printer, which I have now forsook!!

Seriously?  What is it with me and technology?

You will be pleased to hear that I finally, with the help of the IT department, got the two screens working, but a thought struck me, does two screens mean that I'll have double the work?  Then the very helpful IT department told me they didn't send me a printer and I should go out and get one and install it.  No problem!  I've done that before, several times.  Easy.

Well...

Two printers, those handy swear words, lots of sticky tape, an instruction booklet, some more swear words, more Wi-Fi trouble (it's a wireless printer), more crawling under the desk, a confused dog, and four cups of coffee later, I still don't have a working printer.  I know I'm blond but really!!  I'm also barred from PC World.  Well not so much barred, but when I go through the door, suddenly the place becomes like a deserted town, nothing in sight, not one person in a black shirt with a friendly smile,nobody asking can they help me, no one behind the help desk (I did look over to see if they were hiding) nothing, only an eerie silence  and a strange breeze (from them all scarpering out the back door perhaps?) and tumble weed....

I've had enough.  I want to go back to regular employment, when I had somebody else to do everything for me...

I though about reviewing my Resume to include my new skills, but I don't think swearing would look good as an achievement...

Roll on day four, I'm ready for you!!!

Two screen or not to scream!

My first day at my new job....

Didn't have much of a commute!  Didn't have to put on a suite.  Hey, that rhymes!  Actually, I didn't have any work to do either, but that's kinda normal on a first day.  I did, however, have to create my own office space which involved assembling a desk and putting together a computer.  (I don't remember reading that in the job spec).  Oh well, at least I get to choose where I sit in the office.  I chose beside the window!!

Contrary to what I thought, assembling the desk was a quite a challenge.  It comprised of only four pieces - two sides, a top and a back.  But it was the most awkward piece of furniture I have ever put together.  Actually it is the only piece of furniture that I have ever put together.  I picked a tricky one to start with, so lucky my new career doesn't involve any more furniture construction.  I did have some help from a knight in shining armor (aka the delivery man) but it still took about two hours, several failed attempts, some tricky balancing, numerous phone calls, a wooden wedge (don't ask), some wood glue (borrowed from my Dad), three band-aids and several swear words (some I never heard before but did write down for future reference) to get it together.  I'm still not sure that it's together properly, but it's in position and there are no bits left over, so I'm hopeful...

My second day at my new job...

And then there was the computer.  Jeez!

Like most of my contemporaries, I'm well able to use a computer, but when it comes to setting it up I think I would rather face another desk!!  So, one processor, two (yes two) screens, three plugs, four set up discs, five hours and six trips to PC world (those swear words came in handy again!) for a Wi-Fi dongle (!) and several cables, plus a lot of crawling under and over the newly constructed desk, I finally have a working computer with an Internet connection.  Unfortunately, I have only one screen working, but the IT department have very kindly sent me several diagrams of cable configurations which I can try tomorrow.  I am trying not to scream with frustration.  BIG SIGH!

What on earth is day three going to bring...

On the plus side, my new office has a well stocked kitchen with very nice coffee.  But I must make a complaint to the management about the lack of chocolate biscuits...

What am I doing??  Oh didn't I tell you??  

I am now self employed, working from home, as a researcher within the Motor Industry!  No more commuting, no more wearing stuffy suits, I can work in my PJ's if I like, while looking at the world through my front window!

And next week I go to London for two weeks training with the parent company.  I'm really looking forward to that.  Two weeks in London!!  Nice. 

I'm also really looking forward to finding out what the two screens are for..

The sound of silence

I'm on my way home from my New Year celebrations in Cork with my family.  Thanks very much to them, I had a great time, eating too much, drinking Cava and dancing to Jooles Holland and his Big Band.  Now I'm on the train heading for Dublin.  And there's Wi-Fi!  Imagine, I'm connected to the world while I'm travelling along through the green fields of County Cork.

It's a lovely way to travel. Calming, relaxing...

Well it would be if it wasn't for my eight very lively 'seventy something' fellow passengers. I know they are near to, or in, their seventies because they have all been discussing how long they have been married.  One couple were discussing their wedding night, and how they spent it apart! The lady spent it in one room with her old aunts, and the man slept in another room with the men of the house! And they spent the next night on the train to Dublin, and were up all night apparently!! That remark caused an outburst of remarks from the rest of the group which kept the whole train amused. The 'youngest' of the gang have only been married for 48 years!  Jeez!! They have some catching up to do...

They are not going to Dublin, they are going to Galway, so I'll miss them when they get off at Limerick junction to change trains, as they are really quite entertaining!  Especially as one of them has been given an iPhone for Christmas by one of their children who is in Australia, because he thought it would be handy for 'Facetime' with his ageing parents!  It has been passed around the whole group and it's merits discussed in depth.  I wish I could have recorded that conversation. The 'owner' is still figuring out how to make a phone call. I'm dying to jump up and tell her that she could actually 'FaceTime' her son while on the train...or download an app that would show her how fast the train is going...but I just stay in my seat and look out at the lone cow chewing the cud who cares less about the Wi-Fi than my travelling buddies...

And speaking of iPhones, I have been without mine since last Sunday.  I have also been without my car (hence the train journey).  Long story (with an expensive ending) but lets just say, my car had an incident with a wall and it had to be repaired, and I left my phone in it when I left it in to the garage to be repaired!! Silly me.. I wasn't driving the car when it decided to alter it's shape using the wall as a mould.  We won't mention any names, but let's just say that Kevin will be short of cash for the next few weeks!!!

Anyway, I haven't missed either my car or my phone, but maybe that's because I have been away and not in my usual routine.  It will be interesting for the next couple of days without either when I am at home.  Of course as you may have guessed, I am not completely cut off from the big bad world, cos I still have my iPad to play with, but that is way less intrusive than a phone. 

Although I've enjoyed being phone less, I am now thinking how I am going to call somebody to pick me up from the station when the train arrives.  Gosh, will I actually have to go and look for a pay phone, and find change for it, and then actually have to remember a number and dial it!! Yikes!! Maybe I can get a lesson from the seventy year olds before they get off the train...

They are gone now, and the train is strangely quiet.  All I can hear now is the hum of the engine and the low hum of the other quieter passengers talking to each other or talking on their phones.  

So it's back to looking out at the green fields, the lonesome cows and the blue/grey skies.  

Time for coffee and a book!

Oh by the way, I have a new job! But I'll tell you about that another day...