h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm taking the first of three one-week holidays on Saturday. This one will be to our mobile home in Wexford. I intend to do very little for the next week, except to walk along the beach, to drink some beer and do a little bit of gardening. There's a good bookshop in Wexford where I might buy something to read, and I'll be cooking a lot of pasta. Maybe the weather will be good enough to barbecue.



I've finished all my sub-editing, and the Statue Trail should be ready in a few days, so I've no further commitments here. And in work, we got all our old computers turned off by last Friday (there was a $200,000 payment due tomorrow if we didn't get it done by then). So everything is set.



I wonder should I bring my telescope to Wexford? Or my electric guitar?

Enjoy the break Gnomon (and the )

Your electric telescope and a ukulele.

Congrats on turning off in time to avoid a $200,000 fine. No pressure, I'm sure! But I'd say there was a palpable relief among the staff who were involved once the switch clicked.

Enjoy your first holiday, and the others too.

Why can't you take both?

Whatever you decide, enjoy your holidays.

I'd say that El will probably bring the Ukulele, in which case I'll end up playing it.

If you take your telescope to Wexford it will probably rain the whole time

Have fun and some nice chillout time Gnomon

I didn't bring my telescope. It rained all the time. After two days, we gave up and came home.

Had a lovely day at home today: Mrs G had to go to work (she was going to come up on the train), but the girls and I went to the Natural History Museum (Dublin's "Dead Zoo"). It was closed for a couple of years, due to the collapse of a staircase, but opened again recently and I was interested to see what they'd done with it. Then we wandered around teh shops until Mrs G was finished work. We then went to see Toy Story 3 - highly recommended! and had dinner in Wagamama afterwards. Also highty recommended.

The weather is supposed to pick up on Thursday, and we'll go down to Wextord again.

And what have they done with it? Is it still as wonderfully musty as it ever was?

TRiG.

It's more or less the same as before. They built a wall just inside the entrance, which introduces new fire doors. They've also opened up the staircase at the far end, so it's easier to get around. The exhibits themselves haven't really changed at all. Most of them are the same as they were 100 years ago.

Unfortunately, the top two galeries are closed due to lack of emergency exits. These include the exhibition of ratites (extinct flightless birds such as the dodo - one of the very few dodo skeletons in the world), and the invertebrates such as the bird-eating spider.

There are plans to build a new extension to the side of the building which will provide lifts for wheelchair access, and emergency exits so that the 2nd and 3rd floors can be re-opened.

We went back to Wexford on Thursday. Intended to get an Indian takeaway - rang them when we were 30 minutes away but they weren't answering the phone, so had to abandon that plan. Got fish and chips instead.

Friday was absolutely glorious! Really enjoyed pottering around. Fixed two skylights on the mobile, and one hot tap. Also did a fair bit of gardening. Went into the town and had lunch in the best Italian restaurant in Ireland. Cooked burgers on the barbecue for dinner.

Saturday was foggy. Ended up spending most of the day indoors, but it cleared a little in the late afternoon, so we went to Rosslare and walked along the strand. Found a crab walking across the beach - he had a very long way to go to the sea, so I carried him down and watched him walking into the waves. Back to the mobile and watched Moulin Rouge on the laptop.

Sunday, shower disaster! Is was in the shower and it kept on refusing to supply any hot water - I think it was a combination of not quite enough gas and slow flow due to calcification in the pipes. I'll have to open that tap up next. After lunch, we packed up and returned home, as we'd work in the morning.

But that wasn't the end of the weekend, as Mrs G's clan came up to visit. We had Indian takeaway and Wexford strawberries.

Mrs G is off to the States tomorrow morning, but the girls and I are going to go back to Wexford at the weekend for another week. I hope the weather is better this time.

I don't know if I'm more jealous of the overall relaxedness of your holiday or the Indian food.

I'm off today for my second week's holidays. This one is also in Wexford, and let's hope the weather is better than the last one.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for nice weather for you.

Bonnes vacances

Good luck with your weatherit's not very nice (the forecast) and it's very overcast here

good luck with the weather!