Front view of Newgrange with white quartz facade Hi all,
Sorry for a long time since I have emailed (or blogged!) Mainly due to the combination of travelling with work again, assignments (MBA) and more visitors. Sailing finished the weekend Mum came over. Hopefully I will be able to get some photos of the last race around the Kish lighthouse for the blog. I haven’t done any Hash walks since Paddywack in Dublin in Aug - those pics are linked here. But may get to the Belfast hash on Wednesday night. Joe has been updating our blog that I still haven’t learnt how to blog yet (so Joe has updated it!)
Mum has been and gone as has Joe (Joe will be back soon though). So now I am sick and collapsed in a heap on the one weekend between visitors and assignments/exams (still crawling along with the MBA). I have been listening to various BBC radio shows and have heard a summary of Irish history from 1690-1790 and now understand why the Orange order was formed and how the really bad stuff against the Catholics started around 1750 and really got under way when they could send them off to Sydney. May have to learn to podcast from MMM in case I listen to far too much intellectual stuff on BBC.
Joe fixed: the radio (now on BBC), the TV (now on BBC), the car radio (Now on BBC), the dishwasher, washed the car, made all the lap tops in the apartment be able to pick up Wi-Fi wireless internet, put a mirror up in the bathroom and fixed the light bulb. I have the phone on at home and everything working now.
I have work in the north this week and then 2 weeks in the office and then a week in Texas, USA. Went to Poland a few weeks ago for my EU salmon project. So lovely and sunny and warm, blue sky like Australia, but a killer of a winter. I also have an animal welfare course for salmon farmers to design and then design a new seafood auditor course, and input all the data for the EU salmon project.
So the weekend Mum was in town I had to finish the last fish economics assignment (MBA) and do 2 work reports. Luckily the weather was terrible and Mum was sick of touring (across Russia and Italy), so she didn't do much and I typed drivel.
I went to Tipperay last week for work. The song "It’s a long way to ..." is actually a British Soldier song, as there was a big base there before 1922. I saw what is left of the barracks. I went out to dinner with Chris and Shay the night before going down and Shay was singing the song until he stopped and said "I shouldn't sing this as it’s a British soldiers song." And promptly stopped. The people I was with also told me that, and showed me the old barracks. The town is really small actually. We need to do a weekend around Tipperay as there are so many castles and ruins on the banks of rivers and on top of rocks around there. I would say that the castle at Cashel is more striking than Edinburgh.
Joe went to Belfast International airport to take plane photos in the laneways near the farms. But a car came up and parked right next to him, watched him until he left. Joe told Peter (my boss) this story - who lives right near there. And Peter laughed and said it was MI5. Apparently there is a RAAF base right there too and as my car has County Louth plates and is registered to the company in Dundalk, the Brits have cameras in every lane and would have been watching Joe especially with his camera and Dundalk car. Plane watching isn't big in Belfast!
Joe came over just hours before our actual anniversary day and we had a lovely leisurely breakfast and then Shay (Chris was still in Minsk) came up from Dublin and we went to Carlingford and did a token walk towards the top of the Tain trail mtn and then a side detour to a minor forest and back to the pub as it was pissing down and Joe didn’t have the gear and was soaked. So not like Straddie a year ago. We met a black and white sheep dog on the way up the Tain mtn. He was sitting in the road up to the “wee gate” where some kids were picking blackberries for jam. And he took us up to the wee gate and waited for us to let him in, and took us all across the trail and then down again and only vanished when it got really wet and we let him out of another gate onto a laneway where we assume he ran home. He was really scared of sheep. Wouldn’t walk near the sheep until Shay has shooed them away. Fascinating. He must wait at the road waiting for people walking up to take him thru. He also got some chocolate from Shay, which he really liked.
Today has been magnificent after pouring rain all night. You can really see all the different colours in the Cooley Mtns - red bracken and green grass patches, dark green forest and white houses against the pale blue sky and fluffy grey clouds. Joe has taken loads of great pics (coming soon!) Earlier this week I got a phone call from the people who run Newgrange (5000 yr old druid temple) saying that I had won a place in the lottery to see the sunrise during the winter solistice on the 22nd of Dec. Which is good because we fly to Germany on the morning of the 23rd of Dec for Christmas with Gerald and his family. As I can take another person, Joe is a winner as well! (Joe says - am I, REALLY?) He didn’t get to visit Newgrange this time as he came on audits with me and saw parts (most) of Nthn Ireland. We went to Cork City on the weekend (and ate and ate, it's a serious gourmet town) and he went on the bus to Dublin and took the bus tour and visited the Guiness brewery, etc.
Sorry for a long time since I have emailed (or blogged!) Mainly due to the combination of travelling with work again, assignments (MBA) and more visitors. Sailing finished the weekend Mum came over. Hopefully I will be able to get some photos of the last race around the Kish lighthouse for the blog. I haven’t done any Hash walks since Paddywack in Dublin in Aug - those pics are linked here. But may get to the Belfast hash on Wednesday night. Joe has been updating our blog that I still haven’t learnt how to blog yet (so Joe has updated it!)
Mum has been and gone as has Joe (Joe will be back soon though). So now I am sick and collapsed in a heap on the one weekend between visitors and assignments/exams (still crawling along with the MBA). I have been listening to various BBC radio shows and have heard a summary of Irish history from 1690-1790 and now understand why the Orange order was formed and how the really bad stuff against the Catholics started around 1750 and really got under way when they could send them off to Sydney. May have to learn to podcast from MMM in case I listen to far too much intellectual stuff on BBC.
Joe fixed: the radio (now on BBC), the TV (now on BBC), the car radio (Now on BBC), the dishwasher, washed the car, made all the lap tops in the apartment be able to pick up Wi-Fi wireless internet, put a mirror up in the bathroom and fixed the light bulb. I have the phone on at home and everything working now.
I have work in the north this week and then 2 weeks in the office and then a week in Texas, USA. Went to Poland a few weeks ago for my EU salmon project. So lovely and sunny and warm, blue sky like Australia, but a killer of a winter. I also have an animal welfare course for salmon farmers to design and then design a new seafood auditor course, and input all the data for the EU salmon project.
So the weekend Mum was in town I had to finish the last fish economics assignment (MBA) and do 2 work reports. Luckily the weather was terrible and Mum was sick of touring (across Russia and Italy), so she didn't do much and I typed drivel.
I went to Tipperay last week for work. The song "It’s a long way to ..." is actually a British Soldier song, as there was a big base there before 1922. I saw what is left of the barracks. I went out to dinner with Chris and Shay the night before going down and Shay was singing the song until he stopped and said "I shouldn't sing this as it’s a British soldiers song." And promptly stopped. The people I was with also told me that, and showed me the old barracks. The town is really small actually. We need to do a weekend around Tipperay as there are so many castles and ruins on the banks of rivers and on top of rocks around there. I would say that the castle at Cashel is more striking than Edinburgh.
Joe went to Belfast International airport to take plane photos in the laneways near the farms. But a car came up and parked right next to him, watched him until he left. Joe told Peter (my boss) this story - who lives right near there. And Peter laughed and said it was MI5. Apparently there is a RAAF base right there too and as my car has County Louth plates and is registered to the company in Dundalk, the Brits have cameras in every lane and would have been watching Joe especially with his camera and Dundalk car. Plane watching isn't big in Belfast!
Joe came over just hours before our actual anniversary day and we had a lovely leisurely breakfast and then Shay (Chris was still in Minsk) came up from Dublin and we went to Carlingford and did a token walk towards the top of the Tain trail mtn and then a side detour to a minor forest and back to the pub as it was pissing down and Joe didn’t have the gear and was soaked. So not like Straddie a year ago. We met a black and white sheep dog on the way up the Tain mtn. He was sitting in the road up to the “wee gate” where some kids were picking blackberries for jam. And he took us up to the wee gate and waited for us to let him in, and took us all across the trail and then down again and only vanished when it got really wet and we let him out of another gate onto a laneway where we assume he ran home. He was really scared of sheep. Wouldn’t walk near the sheep until Shay has shooed them away. Fascinating. He must wait at the road waiting for people walking up to take him thru. He also got some chocolate from Shay, which he really liked.
Today has been magnificent after pouring rain all night. You can really see all the different colours in the Cooley Mtns - red bracken and green grass patches, dark green forest and white houses against the pale blue sky and fluffy grey clouds. Joe has taken loads of great pics (coming soon!) Earlier this week I got a phone call from the people who run Newgrange (5000 yr old druid temple) saying that I had won a place in the lottery to see the sunrise during the winter solistice on the 22nd of Dec. Which is good because we fly to Germany on the morning of the 23rd of Dec for Christmas with Gerald and his family. As I can take another person, Joe is a winner as well! (Joe says - am I, REALLY?) He didn’t get to visit Newgrange this time as he came on audits with me and saw parts (most) of Nthn Ireland. We went to Cork City on the weekend (and ate and ate, it's a serious gourmet town) and he went on the bus to Dublin and took the bus tour and visited the Guiness brewery, etc.
Was hoping to get tickets for Lansdowne Road Wallaby match in Nov (19) but at 150 Euro on the terrace to stand in the rain, I was thinking that I would just go to the Aussie pub in Dub with Chris and Shay. And then a friend of a Tracy's found that the Aust Rugby Union website had special tickets for Aussies residents living in Ireland for a third of the list price. Must have passport details to buy and collect tickets. So we have been rounding up passport details to get Carol (Kiwi) and her Pommy friend in. So now we have a mob flying in. We have Tracy coming in from Baghdad, her ex flatmate (Darwin) coming in from Scotland and another bloke from England. The Wallabies are playing Ireland for the last match at Lansdowne Rd before they close it for a refurb. This will be the last game played there as the Gaelic Footy people won’t let any “British Games” be played at Crowe park (the other Dublin Stadium) because the British murdered a whole bunch of people at a Crowe Park Gaelic Game in 1919 or so, I don’t think much Rugby Union will be happening around here for a long while. And it will be a big Aussie fest.
For the Catholics: Dundalk even has Novenas!!! Mum had to explain to me what they were, so you ask your Mums. About 10,000 people (really - no exaggeration) turn up to pray to some obscure saint (Mum couldn’t even tell me about him) 10 times a day for 10 days. Has clogged the town up traffic wise. No car parks anywhere. They even have the Angelus on TV twice a day. And end of the night prayer on TV.
Am officially sick today. The sore throat has progressed to a chest cough. But it all explains why I've been so tired in the last few days and had achy pains which seem to have gone now. So have done very little today. Unfortunately I have three back to back audits this week in the north. I think I will go on the Belfast hash walk on Wednesday night at Lisburn if I am feeling okay by then.
Cheers, Clare.
For the Catholics: Dundalk even has Novenas!!! Mum had to explain to me what they were, so you ask your Mums. About 10,000 people (really - no exaggeration) turn up to pray to some obscure saint (Mum couldn’t even tell me about him) 10 times a day for 10 days. Has clogged the town up traffic wise. No car parks anywhere. They even have the Angelus on TV twice a day. And end of the night prayer on TV.
Am officially sick today. The sore throat has progressed to a chest cough. But it all explains why I've been so tired in the last few days and had achy pains which seem to have gone now. So have done very little today. Unfortunately I have three back to back audits this week in the north. I think I will go on the Belfast hash walk on Wednesday night at Lisburn if I am feeling okay by then.
Cheers, Clare.
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