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What day is it?
Sep. 2nd, 2008 10:44 amI was going to start with 'monday update'. Then I realised it isn't actually Monday (hurrah!). So. Just... update. Whatever. Anyway!
I had planned a nice quiet weekend of sleeping and perhaps some mild pottering around the house, after last week's gallivanting round Coventry. Then I got a text from Grik, a Very Good Friend, saying "Come to wicklow for a birthday party!", which seemed a much better idea. So what actually happened was this -
Friday - home from work. feed cats. Dash about house finding tent/sleeping bag/disco torch (also a hammer) etc. Drive down to the Mothers. Have tea, spend evening drinking wine, watching telly and playing CTF on the mud v. badly. Find Extreme Makeover:Home Edition on telly. Watch til 3am. oops.
Sat - up at 9 (ouch), to Do Stuff for the Mother, get shopping in. Go visit Sister, run (hobble) round garden after kids. Drive back to Belfast, go to Makro for BOOZE, back to house, feed cats, feed self, dash about packing, getting cds for journey etc.
4pm, finally ready. ish. Leave. Drive for 3.5 hours. Argue with sat nav thingy re. correct route to take. When almost there, phone for more precise directions as follows
"Am i there yet? "
"no"
"i'm up a hill, am I there yet?"
"no, nearly"
"how about now?"
"can you see me? If not, no"
And so on.
Eventually arrived. Hurrah! Into house, say "HI" to all, desperately trying to remember which of the lads there I'd met before and should know already. Get through this part without major embarrassment/faux pas. Drink champagne. Realise with flash of insight tents should go up BEFORE more champagne. Tent erection race ensues, I enlist help of experienced tent-erecter (well the instructions do say 'at this point, ask someone for help') and we WIN! Yay!
Then, finally, relax.
The Party itself began in a very civilised fashion, with about 12 of us for dinner around huge table, with a LOT of tomato soup, tasty barbequed stuff and Polite Conversation about What Everyone Is Doing These Days.
There was also much alcohol, so things may have gotten gradually less civilised. And ended with the Baked Potato Fight (those things HURT when they hit). The evening also included discovering how many games can you play with a pile of bottle caps, much rambling conversation and a lot of collapsing into giggles. Eventually we reckoned it was time for bed, and after about half an hour hunting for torches, realised it was 6am and thus daylight anyway, so everyone went to bed/tent.
Sunday ... arrived in pain, in a stuffy tent, at about 10am. Most of the morning was spent by people shuffling round in pjs and drinking tea. Then the Disastrous discovery that there was NO BREAD for breakfast. However V. saved the day by gallantly offering to make pancakes for all, and spent the morning cooking the biggest mountain of pancakes I have ever seen, while the rest of us somehow managed to clear the place up, employing the Hungover Cleaning method of clearing a very small area at a time, then sitting down for a bit to recover.
Due to some fluke of weather there was actually Sun in teh sky and No Rain, so we decided to have the pancakes outside. Which pleased the local wasps no end and an Epic Battle for command of the table ensued. The wasps won :/ Tho it did mean they stayed there while we collapsed in the sun elsewhere.
And thats how the day continued. Sitting in sun, drinking tea, falling asleep.
Gradually people left and I considered doing the same, before realising that I'd be lucky to make it to the main road before falling asleep, never mind the 180 miles home. So instead, stayed, had lovely relaxed evening of food, chatting, Bill Bailey dvd and bed by 11 o'clock. Bliss.
Monday. Arose Bright and Early at 7am, thinking of getting an early start to get home. Decided this was a Bad Plan when Grik pointed out I'd been stood in the middle of the kitchen staring blankly at the wall for 5 minutes without moving, or having any idea why I was there. Went back to bed. Moar sleep. Finally left about 1ish, for what looked like a lovely sunny day to drive back home. It was lovely in Wicklow. Also lovely in dublin. But, the further north, I went, the more Ominously Black the sky got.
Then, WEATHER. Driving downhill on a motorway that is more like a river, in rain so heavy you can hardly see, praying nobody brakes is less fun than you'd think. The rest of the journey home went RAAAAIN sun RAIIIN sun RAAAAIN. Got home and onto sofa just before the thunder hit. Which was nice.
Today, I am mostly sleepy.
I had planned a nice quiet weekend of sleeping and perhaps some mild pottering around the house, after last week's gallivanting round Coventry. Then I got a text from Grik, a Very Good Friend, saying "Come to wicklow for a birthday party!", which seemed a much better idea. So what actually happened was this -
Friday - home from work. feed cats. Dash about house finding tent/sleeping bag/disco torch (also a hammer) etc. Drive down to the Mothers. Have tea, spend evening drinking wine, watching telly and playing CTF on the mud v. badly. Find Extreme Makeover:Home Edition on telly. Watch til 3am. oops.
Sat - up at 9 (ouch), to Do Stuff for the Mother, get shopping in. Go visit Sister, run (hobble) round garden after kids. Drive back to Belfast, go to Makro for BOOZE, back to house, feed cats, feed self, dash about packing, getting cds for journey etc.
4pm, finally ready. ish. Leave. Drive for 3.5 hours. Argue with sat nav thingy re. correct route to take. When almost there, phone for more precise directions as follows
"Am i there yet? "
"no"
"i'm up a hill, am I there yet?"
"no, nearly"
"how about now?"
"can you see me? If not, no"
And so on.
Eventually arrived. Hurrah! Into house, say "HI" to all, desperately trying to remember which of the lads there I'd met before and should know already. Get through this part without major embarrassment/faux pas. Drink champagne. Realise with flash of insight tents should go up BEFORE more champagne. Tent erection race ensues, I enlist help of experienced tent-erecter (well the instructions do say 'at this point, ask someone for help') and we WIN! Yay!
Then, finally, relax.
The Party itself began in a very civilised fashion, with about 12 of us for dinner around huge table, with a LOT of tomato soup, tasty barbequed stuff and Polite Conversation about What Everyone Is Doing These Days.
There was also much alcohol, so things may have gotten gradually less civilised. And ended with the Baked Potato Fight (those things HURT when they hit). The evening also included discovering how many games can you play with a pile of bottle caps, much rambling conversation and a lot of collapsing into giggles. Eventually we reckoned it was time for bed, and after about half an hour hunting for torches, realised it was 6am and thus daylight anyway, so everyone went to bed/tent.
Sunday ... arrived in pain, in a stuffy tent, at about 10am. Most of the morning was spent by people shuffling round in pjs and drinking tea. Then the Disastrous discovery that there was NO BREAD for breakfast. However V. saved the day by gallantly offering to make pancakes for all, and spent the morning cooking the biggest mountain of pancakes I have ever seen, while the rest of us somehow managed to clear the place up, employing the Hungover Cleaning method of clearing a very small area at a time, then sitting down for a bit to recover.
Due to some fluke of weather there was actually Sun in teh sky and No Rain, so we decided to have the pancakes outside. Which pleased the local wasps no end and an Epic Battle for command of the table ensued. The wasps won :/ Tho it did mean they stayed there while we collapsed in the sun elsewhere.
And thats how the day continued. Sitting in sun, drinking tea, falling asleep.
Gradually people left and I considered doing the same, before realising that I'd be lucky to make it to the main road before falling asleep, never mind the 180 miles home. So instead, stayed, had lovely relaxed evening of food, chatting, Bill Bailey dvd and bed by 11 o'clock. Bliss.
Monday. Arose Bright and Early at 7am, thinking of getting an early start to get home. Decided this was a Bad Plan when Grik pointed out I'd been stood in the middle of the kitchen staring blankly at the wall for 5 minutes without moving, or having any idea why I was there. Went back to bed. Moar sleep. Finally left about 1ish, for what looked like a lovely sunny day to drive back home. It was lovely in Wicklow. Also lovely in dublin. But, the further north, I went, the more Ominously Black the sky got.
Then, WEATHER. Driving downhill on a motorway that is more like a river, in rain so heavy you can hardly see, praying nobody brakes is less fun than you'd think. The rest of the journey home went RAAAAIN sun RAIIIN sun RAAAAIN. Got home and onto sofa just before the thunder hit. Which was nice.
Today, I am mostly sleepy.
