Spare ticket to the rugga

Cath and I are going to watch SA versus Wales at Cardiff this November. Woohoo.

But as it turns out, we have a spare ticket to the game - I bought three and Cath's sis Emma can no longer join us - made to work at her school that weekend. What a bummer - but her bad luck is your good luck cos I'm selling the ticket for cost price and not hiking up the fee.

It's a 50 pound ticket - I think for the main stand on about the 22m line, fairly close to the field.
Sitting. That should make it a pretty good ticket methinks.

The match is on the weekend of the 8 November - but you would know that if you were a real Bok supporter hnn?

Applicants can apply via this site I think - or just email Cath and I.

Oh no, not Emma AGAIN!

GUESS WHO'S COMING TO VISIT???

Surprise, bloody surprise. Emma came to visit us again. What's that you say? You're sick of that Heany girl coming over to us all the time. Well think how we must feel! In fact Emma pointed out to us that there have only been about 2 months this year where we haven't seen her - what with catching up over there, over here and in Hungary. I was all for showing her the door when she said that - but then she mentioned that this could be the LAST time we see her this year - she's heading back in December and we have no more leave left - then we felt a little sorry for her and let her stay... especially since it was....

CATH'S BDAY WEEKEND!!!

Emma said she was gonna be hungry when she arrived, so I took her out for lunch and cooked her roast lamb for supper. She had a craving for red meat - a craving I can well understand. I thought it was gonna be the meal of the weekend - and it was good, don't get me wrong - but it ended up getting just the bronze medal. More of that later. Cath took the Friday off to spend time with Emz so it was really brilliant for me too, cos otherwise I don't get to see her too much.

The weekend started with a little grooming, that is, the plucking of underarm hairs. Emma may look like she's screaming, but she was loving it really!

oddly enough, the girls spent a lot of the weekend in the kitchen, not that I was complaining. It meant they were close to the kettle and hence, making me a cup of tea.

But we did get out for a bit of exercise. In fact we went for two decent-length cycles - one to a nearby (sorry: FAR, FAR away - a LONG cycle) mall complex and one just to get a bit of exercise. I took some photies on the latter cycle (while I was cycling and nearly crashed into someone - old habits die hard)



The girls racing each other. Cath with her birthday helmet.

Aren't they sweet. This is at the local observatory at a place called Blackrock castle. I've always wanted a photo of it and a biking trip was the perfect opportunity.

There was also time on our cycle for a pit-stop to recharge the engine and a few AAAAH photos.

And a chance to feed the ducks and swans. No trip to this part of Cork is complete without feeding the ducks. There is something, I think, very therapeutic about feeding the ducks. Everyone should do it sometime. If Hitler had a nearby duck pond, WWII could have been avoided.

Then home and the best meal of the weekend. Home-made lasagne. MMMMM. Alan's favourite. Mom always used to cook our favourite dish when it came round to our birthdays and so Cath took a slightly different angle on it and cooked my favourite meal for HER birthday weekend.
We had lasagne...

... and then played a bit of Poker.



Normally the poker guru, I sucked big time. Please note the photo on the left and the girls' piles versus the photo on the right - my pile of chips.

Cath really enjoyed her temporary wealth! Note the bottles of booze. I decided I wanted to get the girls shloshelled and so we had shots on a regular basis.

Then it was time to hit the town... for a few (more) drinks and a bit of dancing. But first the girls had to doll themselves up. Thank God they don't take as long as Irish girls - only 1 layer of make-up for these 2!

My uber-babe adds the final touches. Not necessary honey - you're HOT already! And we were off. Half way through the night we decided on a mission to make the night interesting: Mission - Get your photo taken with someone random.

Emma led the way, followed by Cath. No fair - this type of thing is way easier for hot girls. I eventually found a garda (policeman) who posed with me. whew. Otherwise I'd still be there!

Alas, those photies are on Emma's camera because believe it or not, I ddin't take my camera out with me.

Sunday came with me getting up early to go and get some fresh croissants. We then had a picnic on the lounge floor while Cath opened her prezzies. Most of the items were clothes which we had bought two days before at the mall, but there were a few extra goodies we threw in.

Like this foot warmer on the right. A cushion with sock-holes attached that you slip your feet into. Your feet then sit inside the cusion. One week later though and I'm still getting icycles placed against me in bed.
Hmmm - USE YOUR PRESENT CATHERINE NICOLA VALKENBURG!

We also had a clear-out of Cath's clothes, make-up,etc and Emma decided it would be fun to put the make-up to good use before we threw it. Ta-dah...

And just to show my guy buddies how well I have her trained... here's Cath doing the dishes on her birthday! How's that huh?



Then in the eve, we went out for the bestest pizzas in the world ever! Who would have thought that roast potatoes on a pizza would be nice but mm mmm mmmm. Delish. A phonecall from mom on the way home and soon we were back at the mansion.

I had to check a thesis for a friend so the girls got in some vital prison break watching. Emz left the next afternoon and even though she didn't sweep our floors, we still love her and wish we'd be seeing her again soon.

Cath's birthday

Cath's bday has come and gone and we had a pretty good day I would have to say.

I got up and went and got us some fresh croissants and we had a little birthday picnic in our living room - Emma, cath and I. We had a shopping spree the day before where Emz and I bought Cath a ton of clothes. Well that ton, along with a few other bits n pieces kept her a happy girl for a while as she sat there unwrapping prezzies.

We went for a bit of a cycle during the day but the weather wasn't great so mostly we just chilled. In the eve we went out for the bestest pizzas ever and then we came home and the girls watched prison break episodes while I worked in the 'study'.

Thanks so much to those that sent texts and emails but thanks even more to those that called - you really made her day! And Tanya, your card was also really appreciated - getting mail is always cool - but I think there must have been a mistake cos the 10 pound note must have fallen out :)

And to Ralf and Christa (for those that don't know - the couple I met and stayed with when I went to the hockey World Cup in Germany a few years ago) - the fact that you remembered just shows what amazing people you are - you remembered and you haven't even met her!!!
Thanks so much for the message!

Emma has now left so I'll put up some photies of that trip soon.

Dave / Sinead, Linda/Liam

So Cath has been out and about...
I wasn't able to join her for this, alas, but it was quite a cool idea - somthing for the Cork Summer festival I think - cycling around the city and stopping at various places of importance to sing songs to do with the places / monuments they've stopped at. Cath is so cultured!

They were led around by this geezer singing here, but others would occasionally burst into song if they knew one to do with something... quite a bit of fun.




To get into the mood of music, etc, cath whipped out the recorder a few days later and I filmed a movie of her playing. I'm sorry though, Movies don't seem to like blogger - or my movies anyway - so you'll have to make do with this death stare when I surprised her with the flash - or was this look for not clapping - I can't remember.

Dave and Sinead came to visit us too - and we were lucky enough to meet little Fionn - the latest edition to their fam. He reminded me of someone but I couldn't remember who.




Before the guests came of course, we had to clean the house. Our place has no carpets and it just collects dust like you cannot believe. To add insult to injury, Emma didn't sweep when she last came to visit so it was even worse than normal. Dammit Emma, why do you think we invite you!

So this is Cath with a bit of dust from the bedroom side of the house.



And then we added that to the lounge dust and came up with this little dustball...
Now don't get me wrong, we sweep every two weeks or so... it's just that this is what gets under the beds, behind cupboards, etc... it's crazy!

Thought I'd get a pic of Cath cooking for me... it happens so rarely these days that it's worth getting photographic evidence...

And I don't think these slippers are going to crack the nod for getting in our suitcases when we come home so I thought I'd show you now what we wear around the house. I'm on the left.

We also had a trip to Linda and Liam for a meeting with Loughlin, and a few glasses of wine...

xxx

I've subbed

Okay, I just have to tell someone... last night I subbed the writing of the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon. Yep, that's me... the guy who corrects the United Nations leader.

Autograph requests can be sent to... well you know where to write to me.

I played tennis again!

I played tennis again - first time in about two years.

In face, the incident reminds me of a joke I read a long time ago about a guy who got a gym membership as a gift and wrote a diary of the experience. It only lasted a week. The story actually made me cry I laughed so much - I'll try and find it and post it up here - I think I saved it onto a disk somewhere.

Anyhoo, the tennis went pretty well. No photos, sorry. I mean, how sad would I be if I took a camera with me every time I did something? (I'll try to remember to take one next time).

I played with a guy from work and actually won. He was pretty good so it was amazing that I only had my serve broken once (although he did have tons of break points). My serve is usually my weakness - especially my second serve and it's pretty difficult to just get back into serving well (and volleying) after such a long break - the rest of it just kinda comes back.

So ja, a 6-3, 7-5 win - in my first match on an indoor carpet surface. The surface was weird too - ball didn't really bounce much and I was continually running forward. Then again, that could have been the kak balls too.

Hopefully we'll play again soon although as it cost 10 euros and it was at a gym where you have to be a member - and neither Ronan nor I are members - it probably won't be too often.

Which is probably just as well because the next morning I woke up and felt as if five men in ski masks had broken in during the night and taken turns to beat me with a lead pipe - all over my body. My ass hurt the most I think, but my stomach was feeling it too. WOOOO! Nothing like a good reminder from your body when you haven't done something in a while.

NTL Chorus

Our net is back - so we can skype again - but I post this not to tell you that but to clear the name of the company, UPC, that I smeared earlier.

After getting no joy from phoning them, I wrote a fairly snotty letter to the complaints dept moaning about the service (or lack thereof) that I had received and I got a call from someone who was finally, really helpful. We have received two months of free internet and two months at half price. Seeing as we probably only had problems for about 60 days, I'm pretty chuffed that it worked out.

Also, since then, we haven't had any problems. Well, I think we had a problem once but it was only for an evening and it was sorted out pretty quickly.

So it pays to complain folks - but in a nice way.

Cath has finished at last!

At long bloody last.

Cath finished her exams today (they weren't that great - thanks for asking) which means for the first time in a long time, I get my wife back.

Good news for me, better news for her.

For the first Saturday in ages, she won't have to either get up to walk to the local university for lectures, nor study for her exams.

She's also going to have her week nights free from lectures (two extra free nights per week) so NO MORE EXCUSES when it comes to cleaning our house, washing the dishes, ironing my clothes and getting general stuff done. Okay, I'm just kidding about the ironing, but it's her turn for like, the next eioght months to do all the other things.

Chauvanist? Hell no.

Of course she'll also have more time free to phone YOU, to watch TV, to email, etc - so that should mean that she's a bit happier around the place - at least till exam marks come back (I don't know when yet).

Here's praying the results are good when they come....

Miaow! Miaow! Bloody kittens

Just call us the kitten rescue team.

Cath was trying to study but kept hearing Miaow, miaow! from downstairs. Turns out mommy cat had a litter and moved them to a bush right under our window. So the 'miaow's' weren't cat sounds, but cute lil kitten ones. Mom was looking after them though, so we gave mom some milk and a bit of chicken. The cats (dad was around too occasionally) were completely wild though.




We went down to have a look and saw about five kittens - all tiny, like a day or three old.
That was that - we were just looking. But a few days later the loud miaowing started up again, and with Cath trying to study, it was just too distracting. She had to go have another look. This time we found one kitten, all by itself, mom no-where in sight. Abandoned, it was crying out for mom.

Imagine Cath - tough as nails "No, we must leave it to fend for itself. It is the way of the wild. Leave it I say!"

Not bloody likely. "Aah, look at the pwoor widdle twing. Can we keep it, huh Al, can we keep it? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez" is more like it...



For an idea of its size...

Well I haven't seen THAT smile on Cath's face in a long time so it was tough to put the little thing back under the bush, but by the evening mom still hadn't come back and so we temporarily adopted a kitten. We knew we couldn't keep it (especially since we were going on holiday in a week) but we didn't think it would get through the night without food, warmth and a little TLC so we took it up to our place and made it a little bed on a hot water bottle in a shoebox with a frog for company.

How cute is that? He snuggled up against the frog for company! At any rate, we did some research on the net about what to feed really young kittens, went out and made the mootie and fed the lil bugger three times. We only had a spoon and it was really tough cos he wanted a teat,

but we got some stuff in him at 11pm, at 6am and again at about 10am.

The next day, mom was back in our courtyard so we took him down, and put his box on the floor near her while she drank from a saucer of milk nearby. We knew that his only chance to make it would be if she took him back. She ignred him totally though so we took him out of his box and he immediately began to cry as he walked around in circles (his eyes hadn't opened yet).

Mom then walked past him, apparently ignoring him again, then turned and seemed to bite him on his bum, then his back, before picking him up by the nape of the net and running off to her new nest - wherever that may be.

HOORAY!

I am please to report that it is now about 2 months later and the lil bugger is now back with his mom, visiting our bush every now and again, doing fine. Thanks to... CATH AND AL...

PROTECTORS of the KITTIES!

PET HEROES

MIAOW!

Still alive and miaowing loudly.