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

Attempting to maintain flow of reasonably regular posts, since have failed abysmally at emailing anyone on the list I made before xmas (except mum, cos she phones and abuses me if i don't...) Actually, I lie, she expresses concern for my wellbeing and curiosity as to my whereabouts. Better get that right, since I think she's the only person who reads at this!

Anyway, back to the point...

I had a few Xmases - Sonja did a Slovakian dinner on Christmas Eve, cos that's when they celebrate, starting with pieces of different fruits, walnuts thrown into the 4 corners of the room, and wafers with honey and slices of raw garlic... And vodka of course! Later that evening we went to visit Greg's mum, and knocked off a bottle of tequila as well...

On Christmas Day I joined in a Galway tradition of swimming in the bay at Salthill - bloody freezing about describes it! Swimming is an infinitely more sensible tradition at home... Then we went out to Greg's sister Niamh's house for a turkey and ham dinner, then sat around watching DVDs (Family Guy - hilarious, Narnia - loved it, Batman Begins - mmm Christian Bale good movie too).

Boxing Day (known as St Stephen's Day here) I cooked roast lamb - my 1st ever roast, and no-one died as a result! Later on we went for a drink with Greg and some of his friends, but I came home early so I could work 10.5 hours the next day!

So I worked wednesday and thursday, on friday Mario returned from Dublin and came to stay, saturday i slept and generally frittered the day away. On sunday we planned to go out to the island for New Years, but the weather was vile (very, very windy) so the boats weren't running. So Sonja, Mario and I bought a load of food, and some wine, and cooked a big dinner, then headed into town for a drink. Alas most of the clubs were closing quite early, so we didn't get in anywhere. A remarkably sobre evening!

Since then, I had New Year's Day off, then have been back at work since Tuesday. I'm just doing a half day tomorrow, and then I have my first 'Mystery Shopper' assignment on Saturday night, at a club in Galway. Should be interesting... Beyond that, it looks like my job at the loan company will last until the end of March, so I'll be in Galway til then. I'm pretty happy, altho I suspect simple inertia has influenced the decision. Still, Galway is nice, and I have a good place to live and a friend. And I found a kickboxing club nearby and went to a class last night, so I am hurting all over! But I need to do something strenuous, and I think just swimming won't be enough, plus I really enjoy smacking the crap out of things!

Wishing you Peace, Hope, Joy and all that

Happy 2007!