Glorious weekend

We laughed a lot, chatted a lot, ate out a lot and investigated the nightlife together.
Having a good friend over is priceless!
I am recharged and ready for the next battle (just still hoping the water will be back one day).

good news...

...our neighbour has running water. It can only be a matter of time now 'til we can enjoy a shower in our own 4 walls again.

In other news the weather has started to be mild and lovely (and a bit rainy). No sign of winter anymore.

trying to be patient :)

I have been waiting for this Friday. A very good friend will come to spend the weekend and I wanted things to be perfect.

It will be an interesting weekend; no sign of any water and it seems no masterplan in place yet. To add to the craig the electricity is now flaky as well (as in there was none all morning :)).

I don't want this to become the blog of the biggest whiner in Ireland so I wish everyone a happy early weekend as I have a FREE day and am really looking forward to the weekend.

waterless for a change - day 4

You guessed it, we are without water for a change. Funny how quickly one can adapt to the situation.

I had a warm shower at work this morning. It felt like heaven.

There is a nice article in one of the German papers about the arctic temperature crisis in Ireland. There is a lot of truth in this one :)

Otherwise it's back to wind rain, wind and more rain. Lovely! It's a great place to be in January.

You almost guessed it - Looking for water day 3

The situation is not getting much better. The beautiful winter wonderland has vanished and instead we have wind and storm. The floods haven't quite reached Dublin yet, but there are rumours that they are already roaming elsewhere in the country.

The water situation however has not improved. There is no water to be had and our county has now officially switched off supplies 'til 4 am (so far it was only running on so low pressure that it sadly never reached the flat), but there is more to life than taking a hot shower right? It's really fine. I think it's a good thing to be reminded again of how many commodities we take for granted every day.

Looking for water - Day 2

Still haven't found any. It does not look like the water crisis is over any time soon.

On the bright side; the news are predicting floods on the next 24 hours...

Looking for water

RTE news warned to preserve water. At a visit to Tesco I noticed that the shelf with drinking water was empty and I was secretly amused how easily people panic when they see warnings on the news.
Back home I tried to go for a shower, but there was no water coming from the mains. Not laughing quite so hard any more...

Snow, this time for real

Last night we walked through the most beautiful winter wonderland.
The world had gone quiet and was wrapped in beautiful white fluffy snow. There were almost no cars on the street and it was snowing really heavily. Instead of cars there were lots of children and even adults on the street making snow balls and chasing each other. Quite a nice atmosphere (though when will people figure out to wear hats and gloves when it snows).
I feel a bit responsible for the snow chaos. After a few years in Ireland I have started to miss seasons and maybe I have fantasized just a bit too much about a calm world wrapped in fluffy snow. If my theory is right than Ireland should see a real summer this year.
Let's wait and see what happens.

Sand for Grand Canal Bridge???

Back in Dublin I arrive in the midst of a snow chaos! Yes, the unbelievable has happened in Ireland...after making an appearance for the last time during the 80s, this Christmas it has...hold on...snowed in Ireland! Claims have been made that almost 8 inches of snow have been spotted.

So Monday morning I innocently started my slippery way to work and witnessed an inferno of stranded busses, sliding garbage trucks and generally scared people.

After 1 week of snow, ice and sleet I mastered the art of not falling when walking on ice again, but I have to say I am very surprised that very busy areas have not been cleared at all. Every morning when I reach the bridge at Grand Canal I see the most cautious of people falling flat on there back. It looks really painful and could easily be avoided with just a little sand.

Another thing struck me as well. What makes us jump up straight away declaring to everyone that we are fine when we fall, when it's clearly visible that the fall must have been rather painful?

Anyways; it does not look like the snow will stop next week. I think I will walk even faster and enjoy to see some white in the trees. It's almost winter in Ireland :)

Stormy Weather & Tea Roses

Nothing much to report. The weather has decided to be stormy, wet and unpleasant and is keeping everyone hostage inside.

So with the wind blowing through the drafty walls and the rain splashing against the windows, we are happy to spend a weekend watching tea roses unfold beautifully in our glass pot. Nothing nicer than a warm blanket and a hot cup of tea. I can even can almost feel the X-mas spirit knocking on the door. Yesterday we tried our luck at making German Vanillekipferl. Can you see the evolution in this image?