Northern Ireland

As I'm sure you're aware Northern Ireland like much of the rest of the UK got smacked by a big snow storm over the holidays.
Besides stranding me in Paris for three days and separating me from my luggage ( still no sign of it), the cold and subsequent thaw deprived some 8,000 homes of running water over Christmas.
Happily my sisters place wasn't affected.
The temperature thawed sufficiently to take a road trip to the coast and I visited the Giants Causeway.

About 2 miles from Giant's Causeway is my favorite spot in Ulster.

Sadly icy conditions meant the place was closed.

Pictures turned out OK though.

That's it for today.

I'm back in AA ( sans luggage) and am looking forward to hitting the sack.

I was in Venice over New Years and took a lot of pics, which I'll post over the next couple of days.

I have some happy news as well but will leave it for another day.

Love to all

T

Quick dash to Irealnd

Here's the reason for my 24 hour trip to Northern Ireland.
My parents don't get to see Jess very often, so when the opportunity arises we make the most of it. Its lovely to see them together and they're thick as thieves when we all link up. My parents rent a cottage close to where my sister lives and we had great fun having a treasure hunt, feeding the horses, spotting rabbits, and generally larking around. My niece and my daughter giggled into the night and made at least one phone call on my cell to an unsuspecting recipient!
The weather was, to say the least changeable.
Rain, sun, wind ,rain and sun again.
If you don't like the weather, wait around for 20 minutes and it'll change.
As the pics show, they don't call it the Emerald Isle for nothing.
We celebrated my sister's 40th and dad's 70th....110 years between them.
That makes me feel a bit better about my approaching 44th.
Where has time gone?
Use it while it's here is my advice to all of you.

Recently someone told me that my kid and I had a relationship that wouldn't last, or that it was some sort of abstract, manipulated ploy, unreal and used when the occasion lent itself.

To that I say, a resolute middle finger!

That's it for now.

I seem to be getting the hang of the camera and hope to carve out some time in Prague over the next couple of days to take some snaps.

Love to all

T

P.S.
Here's a pic of Banksy's most recent effort.

Read about it here

This weekend

OK .
So in the past 6 days, I've gone from here............

To here..........................

I started Saturday in unorthodox fashion: I had a back spasm on the A 1 (m).

When I pulled over to be sick I was thinking that I was doomed to never celebrate a birthday with my kid.

As I was sitting sideways on the seat. shoes in the gravel rubbing a bit of crap off my chin , watching the cop car pulling up behind me on the hard shoulder, I thought:

"Yep this weekend is buggered."

It was 7:15am on a Saturday morning and I was puking at the side of a highway sitting in a company pool car.

If you were a policeman pissed off at working a weekend graveyard what would you think?

After standing on one leg touching my left index finger to the tip of my nose and counting backwards from 100 by 3's , all the while explaining the purpose of my trip...... I was on my way. (Cop also divorced with a kid)

Things were looking improbably up.

My back still hurt like a bitch (and does as I type).

I had a great weekend and with the help of my long suffering sister, gave my daughter another birthday in as many weeks.

Hope you like the pics:

Sad?

Say it ain't so! OK then.

All is well it seems

My sister and her husband have a giant hot tub which was a big hit with my daughter. It soothed the back as well.
OK

Go about your business.Enjoy Venezuela Fi!

What does the next week hold in store?

God only knows!

Love to all

T