Listless

Oh, packing, why do you make such a misery of my life? Why is it so hard to start collecting you, dreaded piles of paper and books? Why do you seem so cruel, wardrobe of clothing? Why must you seem to give birth and multiply all around me, knick knacks and receipts? Why must this entire process make me feel so listess and so very inclined to watching videos for sad songs on youtube?

Universe, I ask you these questions in the hope that maybe - just maybe - I'll get this packing DONE and be FREE. Pleasepleaseplease.

Karma

Recently the sun has made an appearance in Cork, and with it came a flood of happy pedestrians in skirts and shorts, eating ice cream and popsicles. Those first few days of warm weather are always like a drug, it seems.

Even before the really warm days arrived, we took advantage of the slight upward swing in temperature and went on a little weekend escapade. Jon's ex-coworker invited us to a party at his father's pub in Shanagolden, a small village in County Limerick. It was to be a proper Irish party, with a pig roast, some local musicians, and all the proceeds going to charity. How could we say no??

We rented a car and set off towards Connemara. See this beautiful map I made for you? Ah, how skilled I am, yes, yes.... Now what was I saying? Oh yes, Point A on the map (that may or may not have taken me over 30 minutes to create and paste in here, omigod) ahem, Point A is our departure point, the fair city of Cork. And originally we planned to spend our first night in Galway. It's supposed to be a fun place.


View Larger Map

You may notice, however, that the line crosses Galway and keeps going. Yes, a very astute observation. We sort of got on a whim... a whim to get into nature as opposed to staying in the city. So we cancelled our B&B reservation in Galway and made a last-minute reservation just outside a place called Clifden (Point B). We used our handy-dandy Lonely Planet guide, so we figured the place would be decent. We also knew that Clifden was in an area called Connemara that has a reputation for being very beautiful.

When we arrived at Mallmore B&B, here is what we found:


Uh, is this really our humble B&B...?


The sink in our room


Our room's wallpaper


More of our room


The hallway

AND the breakfast was good. So let's see, amazingly beautiful B&B bursting at the seams with character, plus good food... Yes, I recommend this place! Yes, yes, yes, I give it 5 stars, or 6, or whatever the maximum is of starrability. It's all starry, trust me.

So on to the rest of our trip. Here are some more of my favourite images:














Kylemore Abbey (Point C on the map)



And, of course, the grand finale - the party in Shanagolden:





Unfortunately the nice weather forgot to stay nice until we got home, so it started to rain while we were driving home on Monday morning. While the rain was coming down and things were turning muddy, Jon suddenly pulled over to the side of the road and informed me that we had a flat tire. I'd been napping (my favourite post-party on-the-road past-time) so I was oblivious, but apparently it was fairly severe. We very unhappily hauled ourselves out of the car and into the mud & rain, only to discover that we are both pathetically inept tire-changers. Soon enough we were reading the manual out loud to each other as the pages became soaked and destroyed. I finally tried to flag down some help. I swear, nothing will make you feel more rejected than when NOBODY STOPS TO HELP YOU and you are jumping around and waving your arms like a moron at the side of the road. Thankfully, a man (my hero!) eventually stopped and helped us with the entire process. He was so nice, I just hope all that karma stuff is true. He really deserves a big bunch of goodness for stopping to help us. Thank you, anonymous guy!!

Signs of Summer

Hey, you know what I love? I just adore loud construction outside my window really early in the morning. And then I love when the drilling, banging, and other unbelievably loud sounds and strange vibrations continue all day. For weeks and for months.

Ha, ha.
Kidding.
I don't love it.

Brrrr

Today is a very cold day in Ireland. Here in Cork this evening it is -1 degrees Celsius, and it has been windy and snowing all day. I know you Canadians are guffawing and saying "pshaw" at my lame complaints, but listen. I am Canadian. I am cold here today. Cold. Red-cheeked. Raw. Icy fingertips. Frozen Toes. Honest. I swear.

In other news, my Aussie friend could not find work here and has decided to return to Australia. This news has hit me hard since we've spend a lot of high-quality time together in the short time we've both lived in Cork. We really click, and I think she is delightful. She'll be sorely missed. (Yes, even with your Star Trek pin, M!)

Not To Complain or Anything, But...

I know, I know.
I have no right to complain.
My life is good, my day was alright, my health is ok, etc.

So anyway, here is today's whiny complainy voice in my head:

Got up early to join Jon at the bank on campus before he began his workday. Radio informed me that a ceasefire has not yet been brokered in Israel/Palestine. More deaths. At the bank, we needed to add my name to Jon's account. It was very very cold and windy, and I forgot my scarf. The bank said that it opened at 9:30am but nobody arrived until about 20 minutes later. Then the bank would not accept my ID because "the only thing they accept is a passport". I walked all the way back in the cold with the laptop in my backpack, ready to start my daily job search. Instead, every cafe that had claimed on the web to have wifi access had no such thing. Over and over, I asked. Over and over, the blank stares from waitstaff. After this went on for over an hour, I gave up and am now at an internet cafe paying to use internet time. Bleh. Oh, and did I mention that we ordered internet for our home, but it takes 3 weeks to get it?? La di da.

So I feel irritated, yes.
But I know these are not *real* problems, yes.
And I'm grateful for that, yes.