A mad shower!

Day three in the big brother house...

So far I'm loving The Netherlands.  Despite the face that I haven't yet seen seen a windmill or a tulip. Or am I just stereotyping? When people come to Ireland to visit do they really look for Leprechauns or Shamrock?

The people are lovely too.  Very friendly and accommodating.  They even laugh at Dads terrible jokes.  But I am slightly curious about their showering habits.  This sign is hanging over the bath in our hotel room:

It says: We kindly request you to take your shower in the bath.  Eh...?

You know when somebody tells you not to do something...

Tulips...

Tulips...

...from Amsterdam.

Day two of the Brennan road trip.

I forgot to bring the b*****t deflectors!  So my ears are hurting now from Grandads terrible jokes.  I won't tell you any of them, I wouldn't inflict the same pain on you.

We're on the road back to Amsterdam, having spent the night in Maastricht.  Our visit to Maastricht was to bring my parents to see the well oiled machine that is Andre Rieu.  And what a machine it is! He is the 'One Direction' of classical music.  We enjoyed, as the man himself would say, a 'fantastic' evening.  As I am sure any of you who are familiar with what he does knows, he tours the world with this show, so you get exactly as it says on the tin.  It's like the Disney fairy tale for adults.  Mam and Dad really enjoyed the show, as did I and Deirdre and Vincent, despite a drop of rain towards the end, when we all donned the plastic ponchos kindly provided by Andre.  Dad was so delighted with the whole experience that he wrote a poem in Andre's honour:

When Andre Rieu was a young boy

He couldn't play a note.

So, he bought a fiddle with a hole in the middle,

To keep his show afloat!

I can't add to that!   But I can add that Dad mentioned that myself and Deirdre brought the average age of the audience down considerably.  So that makes up for his terrible poetry.  Unless of course, that was another of his terrible jokes...

And can I just say, Maastricht is Andre's home town and he is playing live shows in the Vrijthof Square in the town for two weeks.  That's 14 nights in a row.  No licensing issues here.  The square is surrounded by residential properties.  Nobody objected!  Quite the opposite in fact they open their windows and sit on the sills watching and listening, enjoying the fireworks that close the show.  And this event takes place every year.  People of Drumcondra, are you reading this?  We Irish have a lot to learn.   (And I wrote that paragraph without mentioning Garth Brooks once!  Oh wait...)

So we are on route now to Amsterdam for a few days.  Making a stop off in Hoorn, to visit some extended family on the Fahey (deirdre's husband) side.  I was in Hoorn once before in a former life.  I don't remember much about it but I do have an old photo of myself on a bike to prove that I was there.  I might try to recreate that image today.  I wonder do they still have the same bike?

There's a game of Scrabble going on in the back of the car as I'm writing.  Somebody has invoked a three kilometre rule.  You have to play your turn before three kilometres have been driven.  Jeez! There's always some new rule that has to be adhered to.  I better stop writing and take my turn, or I'll be banished from the game, not that I have much of winning...

The Stewart on the flight on the way over told me to make sure I kept my parents away from the 'cake' shops in Amsterdam.   Hmmm..  You know when somebody tells you not to do something...

Hello Kitty!

I'm off on my travels again.

And it's not just me that's travelling this time.  We are a bunch of Brennan's travelling and for the next few days Holland, or as I should really call it (after the in depth geography lesson I received from my Dutch colleague) The Netherlands, will be treated to an influx of us!

Hmmm...I wonder what the collective noun for a bunch of Brennan's is?  I suppose for now until I come up with something better I'll loosely use the term 'family'.

Kitty's also coming with us.  I like Kitty!

She's very generous and always willing to go along with whatever we want to do.  If you want coffee and cake, she's right there with you.  Lunch?  Dinner?  Taxi?  You name it (eh... within reason) and she always manages to sort everybody out.  On previous trips, she has been more than generous.  She has even been known to visit the bar, and co-incidentally she has the same taste in fizzy wine as I do.  What luck!  Her only downside is that she requires supervision.  Usually Deirdre (the big sister) supervises Kitty, they get on very well together and can adapt quickly when the situation requires it.

But, as usual, when there is a family of Brennan's together, there is always a power struggle.  And I fear on this trip that the struggle will be for supervision of Kitty!

I have no interest in supervising her.  But I think Deirdre's qualifications for being in charge might be brought into question by my Mother, who claims to have much more experience dealing with Kitty over the years.

I'm happy not to get involved, and just sit back and be looked after for this trip.  Of course, if my Mother wins the power struggle, and I find that Kitty is coming back from the bar with red wine, then I will have to step in...

I know an old woman, who swallowed a spider...

They're gone!

I evicted them.  Well not so much evicted, but, with the help of my vacuum cleaner, dismantled their homes.  So now because they literally have no homes to go to, they are gone somewhere else.

My house is now a spider free zone.

While I was busy with the vacuum cleaner, it got me thinking that I should do some research and see if I could come up with a reason as to why I don't like spiders or am 'afraid' of them.  Any excuse to get out of housework!

It's hard to do research on this topic, as every article has one, or several, pictures of the creatures included in it.  And none of them are pretty!  Anyway, I persevered and managed to get through a few articles by quickly scrolling past the photos.  (Shudder)

Firstly, I discovered, that I have inherited it, my fear/dislike, from one of my parents.  So thanks Mam, it must have been you.  It can't have been Dad, because I remember when we were small children he used to pick them up and pretend to eat them so we wouldn't be afraid.  (Well at least I think he pretended!).  And speaking of children, apparently, according to one study, some children are more afraid of spiders than they are of being kidnapped!  Jeez, what were their parents telling them?  And in more worrying research, one Professor concluded that females are 'genetically predisposed' to fearing potentially dangerous animals, and are four times more likely to have a phobia for spiders than males.  (Oh wait, I just re-read that last sentence.  It should say that females are more likely to have a phobia for spiders than males are.  I didn't mean that females have a phobia for males.  Or did I....) So basically, I had no chance from the start.

Secondly, he (the Professor) suggested that we deal with our fears by trying to sympathize with the spiders getting to know them and understanding them better.  Hmm....  Does that mean the next time I see a spider in my house that I have to take out a bottle of wine and sit down and have a chat with it?

He also discussed the fact that we need to train the next generation not to be afraid of spiders.  Well too late for the next generation in this house!  The 6'2" (male) that I produced has inherited my dislike/fear of the creepy crawlies, and is right there behind me when I am wielding the vacuum cleaner behind the curtains or underneath the kitchen cupboards.

Lastly, the Professor concurred that the best way to appreciate spiders, is to eat them!

Here concludes my research.  I gave up after that!  Although I think Rusty (and my Dad!) must have read his research, as he is quite happy to sample the delights of my dusty corners.

But, I don't have to worry about spiders being in my house anymore, they are gone.

Now, if I could just find a way to get rid of the big fat slugs that are taking over my garden?  Stir fry anyone...?

After the deluge.

It's a lovely day today.  Funny that, after such a rainy one last night.

Well, the industrial strength anti-frizz hair wax didn't do exactly as it says on the tin.  Because my hair looks like Side Show Bob's today.  Side Show Bob having a bad hair day to be exact.

And my 'wet' gear didn't do what its job description entails, because I got soaked through.  Time to make it redundant and search for new wet gear, or maybe that should be dry gear, that actually does what it is supposed to do.

On the other hand, or should that be foot, my new wellingtons did exactly as they promised, because I had lovely dry feet.  In fact, my feet were the only things dry.  I won't go into details, but everything else, yes, everything else was soaked!!

But, who cares?  We had a great time, Kings of Leon and Kodaline didn't disappoint.  And I don't even mind the pile of wet clothes that I have here today.

But, if I catch the person who walked all round my house last night leaving a trail of muddy boots behind them...

These boots were made for...

It's raining!

(So what, I hear you say, it is Ireland!)

Why did it have to rain today?  I wasn't able to have my breakfast outside this morning, which is one of the perks of working at home in the summertime.  I love having my coffee outside and being serenaded by the birds while I drink it.

Sometimes they do more than serenade me, but I won't give out about that at the moment, because I am giving out about the rain.

I know I shouldn't complain about the rain,  because it's good for everything and we need it etc. etc....  But do we really need it today?

I'm also not going to complain about the nonsense going on here at the moment re the Garth Brooks concerts.  Or maybe I will complain about that.  I'm fed up listening to it/reading about it/discussing it.  I've nothing against Garth, I even went to see him when he was here the last time.  I'm not unsympathetic to the people who bought tickets and are wondering what is going on.  I know they are disappointed.  But please, no more.  Please?!  When the nation went mad a couple of months ago as the concerts were announced, my work colleague, who is Dutch, called me and asked me could I explain to him why the whole country had been whipped into a frenzy because some concert tickets were gone on sale.  He thought we (the Irish) were mad.  I had no explanation for him then.  I'm hoping he doesn't call today....

Anyway, speaking of concerts.  That's why I'm giving out about the rain.

I'm going to see Kings of Leon and Kodaline tonight.  Outdoors!!

I've been looking forward to it since February, when I bought the tickets, without any frenzy!  And we have had the most glorious weather here for the last three weeks, beautiful sunshine, nice warm temperatures and lovely calm balmy evenings.  Great, I thought, we will have a fantastic evening for the concert.  But oh no, not today, because it's raining.

So instead of the standard festival uniform of flowers in our hair, huge sunglasses, shorts, floaty tops with fringes on them and flat strappy sandals on our feet, we will be in galoshes, sou'wester's, rain mac's, fleeces and Wellington boots.  Not to mention the industrial strength was for my hair so that it doesn't go frizzy.  Not very fetching.  Unless...

Unless you have new Wellington boots to wear!!

And, I am now the proud owner of a very stylish pair of the aforementioned articles.

I can't wait to wear them!!

Now, all I need is a field, muddied by rain, loud music and plastic glass of beer to go with them...

And along came a ...

They're here!

Yes, I know, be careful what you wish for.  But, I don't remember actually wishing for them.  I do remember saying something along the lines that perhaps they would be the answer to the problem I was having.  But making a wish, I don't think so?

And if they did come to help me out, then, apart from the fact that they are about three weeks too late, they are not doing a very good job.  Hiding in a corner never gets the job done.

And what is it about my house that they are so attracted to?

And several families seem to have arrived all at once!

And why did they have to be the ugly ones that arrived?  At least if they are going to lurk about in corners, or behind curtains, or under kitchen presses, or hang around in showers, then they should look good while they are at it. Although, and some of you may disagree with this, I don't think that any of them are particularly nice to look at.  I never did like that tiny body and spindly leg look.  Then again, I don't like the fat bodied thick legged variety either.  Or the ones that walk sideways. I have yet to see a pretty one.

And just when you think you have a chance of catching one, they make their escape on their spindly legs and you look like an eejit pulling furniture out from where it's been happily sitting to try to see where they have run to.

And then I can't go to bed because I don't know where they have gone, or where they are going to appear next, or what they'll get up to when I'm not looking.  So I have to drag the vacuum cleaner out and start a war.

And they leave such a mess behind them.  The 'traps' that they set never catch the intended victims, no, instead I always end up walking into them.  Which is very annoying.  And then the Hoover has to come out again!

And their appearance makes me look like a very bad housekeeper!

The only one around here who is ever glad to see them is Rusty.  You know how much he loves a good chase, and they are always up for a game.  Sometimes he does a better job than me and actually catches one.  But then he eats them (ugh). Pity he didn't eat the flies (ugh again) when they were around, then I might not have even mentioned these spindly legged lodgers that I now have living in the dusty corners of my house.  So, now that my fly problem is no longer the problem it used to be, I don't need a solution.  I have tried to explain this to them, and asked them to leave.

But still they're here!  Lurking.

Spiders...