Staying in a hotel in your own city

A fairly strange thing to do; but then, we got this voucher for a free Sunday-night stay at either the Cork or the Dublin Gresham-Metropole hotel. And well, as I couldn't be bothered to travel all the way up to Dublin, we enjoyed a free 4-course dinner and a free overnight stay at the Metropole Hotel!

Thank God it's weekend!

Another 45 minutes and I'm outta here; off to the gym and then we're having dinner at Sophie's! Should be good fun alright; no big plans for the weekend, keeping the head down I'd say... we've got a wedding coming up on Friday, so better keep it quiet before the storm.

Have a good one!

Sunset Season!

It's bitterly cold, but there's no cloud to be seen! Hence, the sunsets on display while cycling home are amazing!

87.9km !

As it was about time that I got back into the driving, I took control of the wheel and drove Lauragh to Killarney and Killarney back to Ballymakeera! A whopping 87.9km according to the AA Roadwatch! Not bad at all! My mistakes are still the same; revving the engine on first gear and not having a stirdy enough grip on the steering wheel while changing gear, but it's coming! Slowly but surely I notice the progress, so no lessons for now; just get in the car and drive whenever possible!

Home Owners First Anniversary!

Well, it's Valentine's Day of course, so that's a celebration!

However, a year ago we received the key for our little place in Passage West!

I can't believe time has flown that fast! We only removed the green curtains in the living room last weekend and put up some creamy, privacy-allowing, curtains.

Nothing strange, sore throat is gone, stuffed head nearly gone, just feeling a bit tired... too bad.. going to bed early again tonight I'd say!

The stuff you find in your drawers!

Don't know if it will work, but we're just gonna give it a try!

Sore throat!

After two weeks of madness and flying around the place, we decided to spend some quiet time in Youghal. We had a beautiful meal in the Red Store restaurant (plenty of wine!), and a lovely sleep in the Roseville B&B.

Unfortuantely though I woke up with a stuffed head and a sore throat yesterday morning. It's still there, so yeah, a bit of a head cold alright. I used the exercise bike last night trying to sweat it out, and did the same again cycling to work this morning. Hopefully it'll go soon.. it's annoying! I'm never sick!

Oh yeah, I want to leave this one; We were visiting a friend yesterday afternoon and she was babysitting... we ask the 3 year-old what he wants to be when he is grown up. A pilot, a fireman, the little fella responds: 'A Bank of Ireland worker' ... wow, get this guy a union membership straight away!

Leaving for Athens again!

This time for real.... arriving 2AM tonight; leaving again Friday morning 9AM.

Plenty of flying - plenty of snoozing along the way...

Isn't life just surprising!

Monday 07.05 - Alarm
Monday 08.05 - Train to Little Island
Monday 14.00 - Taxi to airport
Monday 16.00 - Flight to Heathrow
Monday 17.30 - Checks in for connecting flight to Athens
Monday 18.45 - Finds out that meeting has been cancelled
Monday 19.00 - Buys a ticket back to Cork
Monday 23.15 - Touchdown in Cork
Monday 23.45 - Back at home

A bit drunk alright

Well, after coming back from Moscow and Amsterdam, I had to go straight on to Killarney for a stag! After crawling through the bushes with laserguns earlier during the day, we had quite a few bevvies that night. Did I make it home by myself? Surely I did! Did I have a sore head to following day? Surely I did! Was it worth it? Yeahhh... it was a great night!

Touring Moscow with Minus 23! That's bloody cold!!

Moscow's metro system is from the Stalin days



Iceman art



Gate at the MoD



Lenin himself



Kremlin wall



Some statue



Red Square



The Kremlin!



St.Basil's Cathedral



KGB Headquarters!!



Nice architecture



VIP Visitors to the hotel.... pffffff.... like the PM of The Netherlands is a VIP? Unless you mistake him of course for Harry Potter!



Sunset on the flight to Amsterdam - just before I fell asleep

Spontaneous events! Amazing and bizarre!

This is amazing!

As I was finished in Moscow, I changed my flights and decided to travel back via Amsterdam; So I arranged to meet Enid at the airport for a quick pint before travelling onwards to my parents to spend the night. While at the airport my friend Norbert rings, not knowing that I was actually in Holland; He was actually very close to the airport as well, so he just pulled off the A4 highway and called over for a quick chat! Then when Norbert dropped me the train station I meet a former classmate from uni who I hadn't seen since graduation!

So yeah, this stopover in Holland has been fairly bizarre, but really enjoyable!

Good to be back in Cork again; off to Athens on Monday!