ONE FOOT OUT THE DOOR...

Sorry about the silence of late. As you might have guessed, we've been caught up in frenzied shopping, packing, shopping, packing and more shopping... It feels like Christmas (the part that I don't like) all over again, except that no one's buying us anything! I suppose we're as ready as we can be.... Short of the fact that I'm still trying to fit everything into the suitcase and we've got to leave for the airport in a couple of hours... Grr... Where's my mum when I need her most?? She's amazing... She can get stuff that came out of two suitcases into one, and proceed to fit more stuff in... Its a mystery how she does it - and gets away with it checking in!! Speaking of checking in, we're also keeping fingers/toes/eyes crossed that we haven't busted weight allowances for the internal UK/Ireland flights... It is something ridiculous like 15kg or something (which is about the weight of the winter wear alone...). So if you hear a story about some crazy Indian woman at Dublin airport desperately giving away packets of curry powder to lighten her load, you'll know why... Needless to say, we're both getting really excited at the prospect of sitting in a REAL Irish bar drinking REAL Guinness in 24 hours... Pete's got Dublin all planned out as well... on the agenda: a catch up session with at least half of the Camembert Quartet (http://www.camembertquartet.com/) (ps: Congratulations Paddy and Jen!!), visiting the u2 hotel, sipping on several Bushmills by a fireplace before hitting Cork for family, fishing (yes, even in this weather) and buckets of fun .... I can't wait. According to the fine people at the Irish weather service, things are actually looking up... Briefly: "Thursday, Dublin: Dry and cooler today with sunny spells. A southerly wind strengthening to 15-30 kph later in the day. High 8C (46F). From midnight to 6 a.m., very windy with rain returning." Not sure what to even make of that... In Cork, things don't look as "good". Cork Forecast Thursday: SHOWERS 6 to 10 °C Friday: SHOWERS 5 to 7 °C Saturday: INTERMITTENT CLOUDS 4 to 7 °C Sunday: INTERMITTENT CLOUDS 5 to 8 °C Monday : INTERMITTENT CLOUDS 3 to 7 °C Sheesh.. and that's not even taking into consideration the wind chill factor... In any case, I've gotta get back to packing but we'll try and blog while we're away and put up some pictures, but if we don't, forgive us, we'd probably have had too much of the good stuff.... Slainte, Art

FUAR FLIUCH

We are thick into the frantic shopping frenzy for stuff, and Art has developed a newfound obsession with all things wool. She has gone ballistic buying all the winerwinter wear that catches her eye (or anyone else's), and has developed a newfound appreciation of the difference between jackets meant for 0 to 10 Degrees (Celsius) - good 10 to 15 Degrees (Celsius) - won't work in Ireland 15 Degrees and above (Celsius) - she wishes She has also realised it is impossible to look glamorous while layering, even if Sex and the City tries to imply otherwise, and that she looks like a dork in a Beanie. But that has not stopped her from making HUGE wool acquisitions. In less time that it takes to blink, TeamWilliams (thanks to half of it) have become owners of: Woolly scarves Woolly jumpers Woolly socks; and A Woolly brown beanie.... all thanks to Art's woolly head... And she's not done yet. Her argument - ""They may come in useful again!! Er... sometime..."" The weather has been somewhat inspiring for irrationally thick purchases. For the record, it has been the SIXTH day running of non-stop rain, rain and more rain. There seems to be an endless supply of water in the sky aimed directly at our heads and our washing. It has been fuar fluich (wet n cold) and pashminas, woolly sweaters and windbreakers have come out of the hiding all over the island... It begs the question: This is the Tropics???? Case in point: Art had dinner today with some bright spark who was wearing: A three-quarter length fleece coat over her dress; and Knee high boots. AND... Despite what tropical logic might tell you, she looked more sensibly dressed than anyone else in the restaurant, who were all feeling a lot colder, and probably thinking to themselves (while sniffing their damp T-shirts and staring at their half-drowned Moccasins: Why didn't I think of that? Yes. It is that bad. So much so, that Art thinks that we will see returns on our "investment" in the Immediate Term. In fact, she's wearing her brand new fleece pullover to work tomorrow. Slainte.

FINALLY... SANTA'S SNAPSHOTS

The mystery of the missing elf. The elf unveiled. (On left): Mummy knows EXACTLY what knocked Ciara out... Another glass of champers please! Don't know what Santa was thinking with that wrapping paper. Pete's going all out to convince Santa he's been nice this year, even if it means having to hold his hand. The trio of munchkins; Aidan proving why Irishmen are irresistable; Ciara - at 3 - already practising how to pout for the camera.

SORRY GUYS, THE RUNWAY IS DUCKED UP.

Simply had to share this little snippet out of my conversation with my mum-in-law yesterday... She was telling us about her flight from Birmingham to Cork, where she had just spent Christmas. On getting to Cork, the plane kept circling... For something like an hour. Of course, eventually, the pilot gets on to explain why... It turns out that there were DUCKS on the runway.... No. Really. Real ducks. On the runway. How's that for a ducked up situation? Lets hope the little creatures stay off the landing path of our plane. Or is that too much of a Quack-y thing to ask for? Art

BLINK. AND ITS A NOT SO NEW YEAR.

I can hardly believe that we are already almost halfway into January. How time flies. So much for my resolution to be better at staying in touch in the 06. Ah well. We ushered in the New Year pretty quietly... On New Year's Eve, we popped over the Gnat's (http://www.gnatweds.blogspot.com) for a couple of glasses of mulled wine (which they actually had for the first time - I think - at ours over xmas!!). The original plan after that was to head into town, drown in champagne and watch the fireworks with a couple of friends... Of course, what really happen was after Gnats, we went home, cooked up a meal (Must try: Jamie Oliver's recipe for baked cod with cherry tomatoes, basil and mozzarella, from his Happy Days with the Naked Chef. Really simple, done in 20 min and gorgeous - someone's put the recipe here: http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blsea159.htm) - and the variations of cod and veges are limitless) and then watched the countdown and caught the massive firework display on TV. And the rest is, well, history. Was pretty grateful because it was nice, really, and I really really didn't wanna be near the mayhem that was Orchard Road (here's a taste: http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,100067,00.html?). I have vowed that each year from now, I will plot and scheme to try and make Pete feel like staying home on the eve of the New Year... Maybe I'll cook again... Muahahaha. Pete kicked off the year the next day making his famous butter chicken (which I think is better than most Indian restaurants), and then we hit Mum's for the big family dinner. The kids made individual place settings for everyone and there was lots of wine. Very civilised. That was also the end to the fun because the minute we got back to work the mayhem began. It's also been a really, really wet start to the New Year - its been pouring almost all day, everyday. In fact, the downpour that began early yesterday morning has yet to stop. Its like there's an endless supply of rain up there. It's gorgeous weather for sleeping really, but hardly something you want to deal with when - like I had to yesterday - you have to work. Wish some of it would float on down to Australia, which, with its bushfires, probably would appreciate it more. I guess you could call it training, though - apparently, things have been rather, well, moist in Ireland too, with loads of rain and the temperature hovering from 5 to 9 degrees Celsius (panic). Of course the big difference is that even when it rains here, the water isn't freezing, and we don't have to deal with gail-force winds... And I ask myself again why we aren't simply going in the summer. Too late to turn back now. All our bags are packed and we're ready to go. Well, almost. Flights and hotels booked anyway.... So.... Slainte Art