It's gearing up to be a beautiful day. Met Eireann forecast it to be the hottest day this year so far - 19 degrees. Finally, the sun that Dublin has been hogging all week is being shared with Cork. My Dublin-based 'friends', Liz, Deirdre and Jennifer had no sympathy with me when we 'WhatsApp-ed' on Wednesday as they bragged about sitting in their gardens for two hours in dazzling sunshine - I could see it through Deidre's kitchen window - while I huddled in bed in a hoodie with the lashing rain pounding on the window as my 'background'. All is forgiven. I'm awake since seven, I'm on my 3rd coffee and raring to go.
The garden is gagging for a cutting but Son (22) has asked me not to for the sake of the bees. It seems bees are particularly partial to dandelions and right now our lawn is choked with them. Maybe I could persuade him to shave a patch in the middle, just big enough for me sit in a chair with my hat, factor 50 and Ironman shades so I can listen to my book. I'm making very poor progress with it. I keep falling asleep but I've reached chapter 13 and Amy is making moves on her maths teacher. That might keep me awake. I have to avoid the sun but I don't have to go into hiding. If I only had a massive apple tree to sit under like my mother does. I'll have to make do with a towel.
The front page of the Irish Times this morning claims, 'New measures for reopening will see work places change beyond recognition.' YES! I look forward to reading that later. The other front page news explains the government's decision to cancel the exams for the Leaving Cert and allocate college places based on 'predicted results' which is, I think, awful. That puts a huge burden on the teachers and, what about those students who planned to cram at the last minute as I did for mine. I wouldn't have passed anything only for last minute cramming. The Times predicts legal actions from students who fail to get their desired college choices.
I'm all set to host the family quiz tomorrow night. I down loaded Zoom on my laptop and paid for it. I don't want to be cut off in the middle just as people are getting into the flow or use it as an excuse to bomb out. I've put a lot of thought into the questions and they better damn well hang in there. I tested it last night by setting up a meeting with my sister, Louise and it worked. Louise loves quizzes as much as I do.
"How many rounds have you?" she said.
"Twelve," I replied smugly.
"Ah, that's ok, I have four left over from last week if you run out."
"Run out?!? I have four rounds of 'Who Am I?"
"Let me guess, one of them is Roy Keane?"
"Ok, I'll scratch that one but within the rounds, I have 33 questions in the 'Film Quotes' section, 30 on 'Who said this?" and no offence, but neither Abraham Lincoln or Mark Twain are in there."
"None taken." She yawned sleepily. "See you Sunday so."
I omitted to tell her about the final round, 'Which is the odd one out?' I have 22 questions on this and to 'make it interesting', the last six relate to my family. It may end in tears. This was Son's (20) suggestion but I declined to use his contributions. The first of which is, 'Which one of the following is over 40 but not married yet?' He sniggered.
"Go away," I said, "if you're not going to take this seriously."
He was on a roll however and offered, "Or your holiday destinations; Baltimore, Kilkee, Allihies or Lanzarote?" "That's too obvious," I said, "Lanzarote is not in Ireland?" "No," he replied, "Lanzarote is not a shit hole.
"How would you know," I said, "you've never been there." "Yeah," he replied hot, with indignation, "but I've been to Magaluff, and Kilkee doesn't compare to Magaluff."
I went for a walk yesterday during my lunch break with Hilary. We met at the Centra on the Rochestown Road. She told me the fat arse mile was too busy and so we walked 'the line' instead. The line was clogged with cyclists. Why didn't they stick to the roads, there's less chance of running into someone? There was a security man at the beginning of the line no taller than me. What was he going to do? He smiled at us. Maybe he's there to raise awareness on social distancing although with all the cyclists we were forced to move aside and stand less than a metre apart to avoid them. I had completed an on-line change management course through work that morning with Reginald Friddle. He talked about the 'Wheel Of Life and within each section he asked us to mark the sections; Career, Health, Family etc, and rate them out of 10. Health for me rated two. All the ice-cream, crisps, cider and chocolate I've consumed these past eight weeks are lodged in my bum. The future looked bleak. But then Reginald continued, if you could increase your current rate by one, make that your goal for today, what would that look like? My mood instantly improved. So, when Hilary rang just before lunch and asked if I wanted to go for a walk, I jumped at the chance. She didn't see me at first. With my ankle-length green skirt, pink runners with a hint of black, dark hat and glasses, I felt like a pervert. We commented on the fabulous greenery; the sheer volume of growth in this past week alone is astonishing. We couldn't identify them but several bushes with white blossoms gave off such an exquisite scent that it caused to stop us in our tracks and inhale deeply. May has that effect on people. The difference a little bit of sun makes to Ireland is breathtaking. If it was like this all the time, I would never leave but then I remember, years ago, someone saying that if Ireland had decent weather all the time it would become like Spain i.e. dried out landscape with drunken tourists. Instead we are wet with drunken natives. I parked near the Cinnamon Cottage and had a hankering for a curly wurly cake but the queue was too long.
Our tap water turned strange yesterday. It comes out slightly dark and cloudy. Rather than queue for bottled water in the shops, I'm boiling it for my coffee. I asked Son (22) to check the Cork County Council's website. He duly checked his laptop and reported that, "The council are doing a taste experiment; today it's lemon flavoured and tomorrow they'll be trying blackcurrant." Hubbie googled it. Apparently the water 'has too much air in it'. If you leave it stand and it clears from the bottom up, that's evidence that the water is ok. I'll stick to boiled water for now.
Son (22) has just woken up. "It's the hottest day of the year," he announced, "let's see if we can fry an egg on the car. I vote we use yours."
Now for that garden. I soaked nettles in a jug last week. It should be putrid but extremely nutritious by now. Where to pour this potent broth? The possibilities are endless. Whole pages are given over in the Irish Times today about what veg seeds to plant and profiles on butterflies. I wonder are Lidl doing flat packed greenhouses again this year? There'll be bronzed bodies and babies made out of this day yet. Enjoy this rare beautiful day. I am certainly going to give it a fair crack.
The garden is gagging for a cutting but Son (22) has asked me not to for the sake of the bees. It seems bees are particularly partial to dandelions and right now our lawn is choked with them. Maybe I could persuade him to shave a patch in the middle, just big enough for me sit in a chair with my hat, factor 50 and Ironman shades so I can listen to my book. I'm making very poor progress with it. I keep falling asleep but I've reached chapter 13 and Amy is making moves on her maths teacher. That might keep me awake. I have to avoid the sun but I don't have to go into hiding. If I only had a massive apple tree to sit under like my mother does. I'll have to make do with a towel.
The front page of the Irish Times this morning claims, 'New measures for reopening will see work places change beyond recognition.' YES! I look forward to reading that later. The other front page news explains the government's decision to cancel the exams for the Leaving Cert and allocate college places based on 'predicted results' which is, I think, awful. That puts a huge burden on the teachers and, what about those students who planned to cram at the last minute as I did for mine. I wouldn't have passed anything only for last minute cramming. The Times predicts legal actions from students who fail to get their desired college choices.
I'm all set to host the family quiz tomorrow night. I down loaded Zoom on my laptop and paid for it. I don't want to be cut off in the middle just as people are getting into the flow or use it as an excuse to bomb out. I've put a lot of thought into the questions and they better damn well hang in there. I tested it last night by setting up a meeting with my sister, Louise and it worked. Louise loves quizzes as much as I do.
"How many rounds have you?" she said.
"Twelve," I replied smugly.
"Ah, that's ok, I have four left over from last week if you run out."
"Run out?!? I have four rounds of 'Who Am I?"
"Let me guess, one of them is Roy Keane?"
"Ok, I'll scratch that one but within the rounds, I have 33 questions in the 'Film Quotes' section, 30 on 'Who said this?" and no offence, but neither Abraham Lincoln or Mark Twain are in there."
"None taken." She yawned sleepily. "See you Sunday so."
I omitted to tell her about the final round, 'Which is the odd one out?' I have 22 questions on this and to 'make it interesting', the last six relate to my family. It may end in tears. This was Son's (20) suggestion but I declined to use his contributions. The first of which is, 'Which one of the following is over 40 but not married yet?' He sniggered.
"Go away," I said, "if you're not going to take this seriously."
He was on a roll however and offered, "Or your holiday destinations; Baltimore, Kilkee, Allihies or Lanzarote?" "That's too obvious," I said, "Lanzarote is not in Ireland?" "No," he replied, "Lanzarote is not a shit hole.
"How would you know," I said, "you've never been there." "Yeah," he replied hot, with indignation, "but I've been to Magaluff, and Kilkee doesn't compare to Magaluff."
I went for a walk yesterday during my lunch break with Hilary. We met at the Centra on the Rochestown Road. She told me the fat arse mile was too busy and so we walked 'the line' instead. The line was clogged with cyclists. Why didn't they stick to the roads, there's less chance of running into someone? There was a security man at the beginning of the line no taller than me. What was he going to do? He smiled at us. Maybe he's there to raise awareness on social distancing although with all the cyclists we were forced to move aside and stand less than a metre apart to avoid them. I had completed an on-line change management course through work that morning with Reginald Friddle. He talked about the 'Wheel Of Life and within each section he asked us to mark the sections; Career, Health, Family etc, and rate them out of 10. Health for me rated two. All the ice-cream, crisps, cider and chocolate I've consumed these past eight weeks are lodged in my bum. The future looked bleak. But then Reginald continued, if you could increase your current rate by one, make that your goal for today, what would that look like? My mood instantly improved. So, when Hilary rang just before lunch and asked if I wanted to go for a walk, I jumped at the chance. She didn't see me at first. With my ankle-length green skirt, pink runners with a hint of black, dark hat and glasses, I felt like a pervert. We commented on the fabulous greenery; the sheer volume of growth in this past week alone is astonishing. We couldn't identify them but several bushes with white blossoms gave off such an exquisite scent that it caused to stop us in our tracks and inhale deeply. May has that effect on people. The difference a little bit of sun makes to Ireland is breathtaking. If it was like this all the time, I would never leave but then I remember, years ago, someone saying that if Ireland had decent weather all the time it would become like Spain i.e. dried out landscape with drunken tourists. Instead we are wet with drunken natives. I parked near the Cinnamon Cottage and had a hankering for a curly wurly cake but the queue was too long.
Our tap water turned strange yesterday. It comes out slightly dark and cloudy. Rather than queue for bottled water in the shops, I'm boiling it for my coffee. I asked Son (22) to check the Cork County Council's website. He duly checked his laptop and reported that, "The council are doing a taste experiment; today it's lemon flavoured and tomorrow they'll be trying blackcurrant." Hubbie googled it. Apparently the water 'has too much air in it'. If you leave it stand and it clears from the bottom up, that's evidence that the water is ok. I'll stick to boiled water for now.
Son (22) has just woken up. "It's the hottest day of the year," he announced, "let's see if we can fry an egg on the car. I vote we use yours."
Now for that garden. I soaked nettles in a jug last week. It should be putrid but extremely nutritious by now. Where to pour this potent broth? The possibilities are endless. Whole pages are given over in the Irish Times today about what veg seeds to plant and profiles on butterflies. I wonder are Lidl doing flat packed greenhouses again this year? There'll be bronzed bodies and babies made out of this day yet. Enjoy this rare beautiful day. I am certainly going to give it a fair crack.
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