I have not had much time to pen anything interesting this month. Most of my time is spent keeping one step ahead of the weather. The new road was nearly finished at the beginning of the month but had to be abandoned when the flood gates opened. We estimate that around 400 tons of gravel have been laid to provide the new surface. The gravel came out of the hill behind the house and I now have room for about 25 Landrovers !.
Several luxury items have been added to the house. A fan heater in the bathroom stops me shivering and even keeps the floor dry. The shower went "on line" today (11th) so perhaps people will start talking to me again.... Cheers for now
December 17
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 in between 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.
