I have just returned from a three week break in Ireland. It's all part of my bid to recover some of the tax paid during the year so going over there was not such a daft idea. Most of my time was spent with friends who live in County Wicklow near Dublin. This is also near to the vale of Avoca which is the setting for Ballykissangel. I had my photograph taken outside Fitzgerald's pub (as you do) but no sign of Asumpta or Orla !.
I did manage to get over to the west coast and even saw some good scenery inbetween the showers. The big problem is the state of the roads and I have to confess that driving around for about 7 hours each day did get tiring. I will never complain about UK roads again !. I did enjoy the Guinness in Ireland - it really does taste different and dosen't seem to give me a hangover.... I can also recommend the new bottled Guinness, it's very different to the original bottles and the more recent cans. Just make sure that the top is removed quickly else you will end up with a glass of flat black liquid.
Well it looks like I have returned to the start of some cold weather. Thankfully the house patching & insulating will make life easier but I have a feeling that I will be using a lot of coal over the next few months. We have about an inch of snow but thankfully in this part of the world things don't stop just because the roads are white.
