Way's World

Tuesday, 29 June 2004

I'm Back!

Arrived back from Ireland this afternoon - here's a brief rundown of what happened...

Tuesday 22nd June - The flight was late taking off from Bournemouth, so we didn't arrive in Dublin until 3.40pm. We were met by Julie (my sister-in-law), my niece Lucy, and my new nephew Adam! He's gorgeous! We headed home and settled down for the evening.

    

Wednesday 23rd June - Went to Dublin, bought some T-shirts for me & a skirt and T-shirt for Lucy's birthday. Got home & Julie was giving Adam a bath - he's really happy all the time!

Thursday 24th June - Went to Howth with Andrew this morning & walked over the clifftops. It was very breezy, but there were brilliant views out to the Irish Sea.

    

At about 5pm, Julie & I played in the garden with Lucy, blowing bubbles with the bubble blowing machine I'd bought her. That evening we had a takeaway for tea, then got ready to watch England play in the Euro 2004 quarter-finals.

UPDATE: England lost on penalties - typical!

Friday 25th June - Today, we went to Newbridge House, which used to be the home of the Archbishop of Dublin. We had a picnic for Lucy on the lawn in front of the house, and then wandered round the working farm that they have in the grounds - Lucy had a great time looking at the different farm animals!

Saturday 26th June - Andrew and I built Lucy's bike this afternoon - it's for her birthday really, but she's had a go on it. She's a little bit wary, but that's understandable having never ridden a bike before!

  

After seeing Lucy on her bike, Andrew & Julie then decided that they wanted bikes as well, so we all headed off to the local bike shop. Mum & I stayed in a neighbouring coffee shop with Lucy & Adam, but unfortunately Lucy dropped her glass of milk & it broke, soaking Adam & showering glass in his direction. I grabbed him & got him out of the way while the shop staff cleaned up.

Meanwhile Andrew & Julie had picked out the bikes they wanted, we just had to get them home. Andrew & Julie took mum & the kids, while I rode Andrew's bike back to the house! Fortunately there's a cycle path along the coast road, so I didn't have to contend with too much Dublin traffic!

Andrew & Julie then headed back to the shop for Julie's bike, and then went for a ride along the seafront. On their return, Julie said her gears were jumping, so Andrew volunteered me to ride her bike back to the shop to get it fixed! I'm knackered now!! 8-)

Sunday 27th June - There was a big fire on the docks across the bay where Andrew & Julie live. I took some photos, & then came back home to watch it on the news - apparently it broke out on a jetty and 3 bitumen storage tanks had caught fire.

Andrew & Julie went to see Sheryl Crow tonight, so mum & I babysat. I fed Adam, then winded him & walked with him until he went to sleep. Lucy went to bed at about 9'ish - mum read her a story, & we never heard a peep out of either of them from that point on. We have the touch!

Monday 28th June - Went to the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre today and bought some T-shirts, a short-sleeved shirt, & the new "Mike & The Mechanics" CD.

Tuesday 29th June - Time to go home, but not before we stopped off to watch Andrew & Lucy at the swimming pool. She's brilliant - she swim's really well, and she's quite happy about jumping in and getting splashed!

Tuesday, 22 June 2004

Dublin, Here I come...

I'm off to Dublin later on today, to visit my brother & sister-in-law, and Lucy & Adam, my niece & nephew. It'll be the first time that I've seen Adam, so I'm really looking forward to going - more posts and pictures on my return...

Thursday, 17 June 2004

Is that a PDA in your pocket...?

I bought myself a Palm IIIxe PDA from ebuyer.com which arrived today - I don't really need a PDA, but this was so cheap I'd have been daft not to buy it. Had a quick play, and it's bloody marvellous! I've imported all my mail contacts, now I've just got to work out how I can use it to send emails. It'll be handy next week as I'm off to Dublin - I'll be able to import details of my trip straight into my Blog on my return, rather than typing them out from memory.

Wednesday, 16 June 2004

Bandage Session...

I had a First Aid refresher course today, courtesy of St. John Ambulance. I qualified in March 2002, so there was no exam to take, just a couple of question and answer sessions and a dozen or so practicals to update us on new techniques and ensure that we could still remember the basics. Fortunately for my colleagues I could, so that's me sorted until March, when I have to decide if I want to requalify...

Monday, 14 June 2004

I'd like to dedicate this next post to...

I got to work today and was told off by one of my colleagues.

Had I done anything wrong in my work? No.

The problem was that at the top of this page, in small grey lettering, are the words, "a daily(ish) look at life..." and he pointed out that it had been at least a week since my last post. Apparently the "ish" part wasn't general enough, so I'd like to dedicate this post especially to...

Garry Bain

Sunday, 06 June 2004

D-Day

Today was the 60th anniversary of D-Day, the day when 156,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy and the liberation of France began. I've been glued to the TV all day, watching the various remembrance services and documentaries - you can find out more about D-Day on the BBC's website, here.

It's also worth taking a look at the Peoples War site (also from the BBC) where you can read about people's personal experiences of WW2 (and enter your own stories, should you have any).