Day 2: Holyhead to Dublin

This morning I had cooked English/Welsh breakfast outside in the sun. (while everyone else was at work.) We made the most of the b&b having free Internet access so we booked our tickets to Alton online.
(The pressure was now on me not to crash the car before we got there). I felt slightly shitty for going without our 3rd regular member of the 'group', but not soo much that I was going to miss it. :) He'd understand!

As we loaded onto the ferry, I thought back to the last time I had taken a ferry. Over 15 years ago! sheesh...
I relit my dangerous love for slot machines and much to John's amusement I won £23, £7, £5, £1 and £4. Not bad for a ferry trip :)
OK, I put some of it back in the machine, obviously, but I was well chuffed as I had managed to pay for my Alton Towers ticket with my winnings.
This trip is soo fun!!

















We drive through Dublin onto Tallaght where's J's family home is. I finally met John's mum and saw a couple of baby pictures and the Ground Force garden. A real cup of tea later and we head over to the hotel so I can drop my bag off. In the room, once again I am reminded of how small my bathroom is. But then again, who at home, has a bathroom bigger than the Blue Banana?

We walk to the Square Mall, although it's really a pyramid. (I'm told the Irish called it that because they couldn't spell pyramid. An Irishman told me this.)
Inevitably we are drawn to the arcade. For some reason I only ever walk into one when I'm with John. Although dragging is not needed. I demoed the ITG machine and then watched fascinated as John amused himself by receiving electric shocks for fun. Aah, boys...













I was taken to the Porterhouse for drinks tonight, and despite wanting to raid the Belgian beers from behind the bar, I was determined to give the Irish stuff a go, and, I'm told this was the best place to go as they brew the stuff themselves.
I braced myself for a night out with 3 Dubliners. Would the Belgian survive?

First up was Brainblasta. The strongest ale of the night, It was decent but it has a nasty little bitter aftertaste. I think I might have liked this one better later in the evening. Next was a Stout, Oyster by name. (It is brewed with fresh oysters. weird) No fishy taste though, thank god, and it's actually really nice! Porterhouse Red was next. Another ale, with a supposed caramel taste. Not bad but to be honest was starting to get a bit happy.

It is at around about this time in the evening, that I noticed this in the women's bathroom. Is it just me or is that continuing to encourage women to be obsessed by how they look? On the other hand, it would be bloody useful during a humid night in a bar! - Not that I'd ever have the guts to use it in public.
I noticed the mirror was deliberately forgiving too! Shameful. ;)



After came the TSB and I'm sure I was drooling over Carl's Barbar by now. Carl is one of J's uni buddies. Decent bloke who borrowed my camera and took illicit photos with it!

Moving on to Temple bräu, my least favorite of the night. Luckily a very tasty ginger cocktail was placed in front of me, which was most welcome. I think I had most of J's too, or was it Emily's? (the real life irish dancer. I'm in awe at whoever can move their feet so fast!)

Closing time came and plan B was put into action. (Plan A being the best fish&chips in town)
Eddie Rocket's, a pseudo American diner. But better, as the signs on the wall take the piss out of the original ones (Totally forgot to take a photo). Massive amounts of finger food were ordered and despite multiple attempts, we never got the jukebox to play our requests (kind of like the DJ in the mp3).
I will be kind to all involved in that part of the evening and not post photos. :)

Stumbled into bed some time after half two...



P.S. I have no idea if anyone except maybe John will be interested by these posts, but this way i've got something to read back in a couple of years.

Day 1: Brussels to Holyhead

The point of this trip was to help John retrieve some of his stuff from his family home in Dublin and drive them back to Brussels. Being the one with the driving license, I was the designated driver.

Ever true to himself, John was late picking me up, though this time he actually had a damn good excuse.
All was forgiven when I finally sat down in the car and marveled at its technological wonder. Now I drive the "IKEA" car, a Peugeot 206, and when you move your seat, you are most likely going to end the maneuver with the lever coming off in your hand. But with the Espace, EVERYTHING is electric. Seat adjusting is a doddle using little electronic levers and I was amazed at seeing there was a memory button for seat positioning!
We also discover that the front loading cd player can hold 6 cds and play mp3s - If only we had known. Soo many other gadgets and crafty things that make driving an absolute pleasure.

The only let down was the electronic handbrake. It took me at least 5 times (hurting fingers each time) of pulling the outer bit out while simultaneously pushing the middle bit in (and swearing) before it became 'easy' to use but I missed the traditional handbrake that you can use for uphill starts. Maybe it's just me.



Worth noting is the GPS system that shows you the route but also the signs. Very nice feature.


We had planned to take the ferry across but as J had never taken the "Chunnel" we thought we'd give it a go. It's quicker, really easy, (though could become quite a headache if your car is higher than 1m80!) and the GPS systems get all confused.



35 mins later (snoozed in the car - good excuse to adjust the seats again and open the huge sunroof. :) ) we arrive in Dover and the moment I had been dreading arrives: Driving on the left, err right, no, left.

I got into it pretty well but we were mostly on motorways. The English lorry drivers are overtaking freaks! While still ever so courteous, I found English drivers to be more reckless than I had remembered (but then again I was driving back then.)
Anyway, we bypass East London, up past Newport Pagnell (*smile*) and up again over Birmingham via Rugby - kind of.

And then I saw it.
The sign somewhere up near Stoke-on-Trent. Alton Towers.

For those of you for who that means nothing, Alton Towers is a famous Theme park in Europe.

I swear light bulbs went up over our heads and for the next miles we wondered how easy it would be to rejig the plans and free up a day. Pretty easily it turns out, amazing how flexible you can be when it comes to the thing you've been wanting to do since being a kid.
Ok, enough rollercoaster talk, there'll be loads of that later.

Stopping in Chester for dinner was my first real challenge. I got completely frazzled by driving in a city at night. I finally selected the 6th parking lot J pointed out (His patience astounded me on that one) and we went off in search of food - and in my case HALF a pint to calm my nerves and growing pissyness.
Aah the wonders of nice people and cider. I am in England again.
No food was found unfortunately but my trusty TomTom took us to a cash machine! Well impressed.

Plans rearranged, I felt ok to drive all the way to Holyhead another 1h30hrs away.
Nice little b&b in Holyhead, but stomachs were growling. Ironically this tiny Welsh town allowed me to taste one of the best kebabs. Could have done without getting frozen solid by the sea wind. :)

I'm feeling good about this trip now. So far everything has been a laugh. And there's so much more to come.

And in other news...

... I'm going on a road-trip (my first real one) tomorrow. Driving to Ireland in a Renault Espace. Anyone who has seen me drive will know this will be a challenge. But I'm thirty, I've driven all kinds of cars and vans, and I'll be in the UK in a boat sized vehicle with Belgian number plates... So I think I'll be fine. (famous last words) - aah yes, and we have two up to date GPS systems to show us the way :)))) (and no, I won't take my eyes off the road).

... Actually glad to be getting out of the flat for a bit. The new "mystery" tenants have moved in upstairs. All I know so far is that there's two of them - one male, one female, they come in and out late at night and to be honest, aren't that bad...YET. Also the workmen are in again downstairs, which finally means I might get my bathroom fixed. Got broody this week and started wanting to finish the flat off.

... I've bought two more pillows in my never ending search for the perfect pillow. The research is tedious, but I will prevail!!!!
(Jury is still out on this particular pillow at time of writing.)

Breaking the cycle

I've not been very talkative this last month. Mostly due to the fact that I haven't really had much time to myself, but also because I've not had a lot to say and I haven't been in the best of moods.

But tonight is definitely worth a post.
As most of you will know I'm turning 30 next week and I been really trying to push those "I'm 30, what have I achieved and what have I got to show for it" thoughts out of my mind. So not feeling altogether great about things, tonight gave me the breath of fresh air I needed!

And it was the doing of my family and friends. A surprise birthday party!!!
I must admit, I was a little freaked out by not knowing what tonight was all about. Though I had been given a few things to go on (and once you know there's a surprise you can't help but pick up on any small slip up) I was completely put off the scent by my friends who all did a brilliant job of assuring me they were not in the loop. Hats off to the one's that slipped up big time and who managed to turn it around at the last minute!

So I turn up - slightly peeved as my legendary parking had let me down and I had been circling the area for a good twenty minutes before settling my two front wheels bang in the middle of a zebra crossing - and find not only most of my family but all my closest friends were there too. PERFECT.

I had a really good night. Though it went by in such a flash that I didn't even have time to savor it as much as I would have liked. I would have liked to have spent time talking to everyone and catching up. The good thing - and I've been thinking this a lot lately - is that I have amazing people around me. People often ask me why i don't move back to the UK. This is why.

So for all you reading this that were involved. Thank You.

Emma

In the midst of this totally crazy month of August, I got to spend loads of time with Emma. Her proud dad thought she deserved a post - and her totally biased aunt thought so too - so here it is.





At the beginning of August, my brother and my sister in law introduced us to the newest member of our family. Having them here was great.
Ok, there were the traditional family spats over who gets the last of the macaroni but I got the chance to reconnect with my brother, to get to know Amanda and to play with Emma.
(the macaroni is the ridiculously crispy kind, straight out from under the grill - always brings out the glutton in us!)

Her parents gave me the most amazing photo of her in a frame. It pictures her personality perfectly. And it's right here in front of me, next to my screen.... so I see her everyday.
Cameras were out in full japanese-style force during the whole of their visit, and yet - luckily for you- I have very few digital photos of Emma as she was in Belgium.)
I did shoot off a couple of rolls of back and white film on a day trip to the animal park hoping to score a really nice portrait so I can send them one back.

I nicknamed her Grumpybum, but once she became used to seeing me (and the hundreds of other people she met on her belgian initiation) she was brilliant fun.
I have many friends (all in their early 30's!) with young children, and the kids are all really special to me. I love spending time with them (as long as I get to go home afterwards) and seeing them change week by week is amazing.

But with Emma, it's different. "run and hide" was not my first response every time she started screaming. She even did her best to put me off with her nappies and her wet biscuit covered hands. The only day of her stay when I didn't see her was when they went down to Chiny for a break, while I went up to Holland to see one of my close friends get married.

I miss them now they are gone. As annoying as it is ineveitable, months fold into years with absent family members, but when there is a child involved, you're missing huge clumps of their life. I don't like that thought!

I must sort a trip out over there, to see where she lives.
(Once the house is finished and away from mosquito, flea and spider season.:) )

P.S.
(Congrats again to Rudi & Min who welcomed me into their wedding party and made certain i had a great time - despite me knowing only them. Rudi, you'll have the photos in your mailbox before you get back from your trip around Luxembourg... err sorry, Europe! :) ).