Look what the wind blew in!

I am sitting on the couch looking at the tip that is my lounge. If I needed a reminder that it is 'my week' with the kids a quick peek into my living area is all the verification I need. Like the seasons can be identified so can my weeks. When the girls are here it is like a messy breezy autumn day and books, shoes, bags and clothes look suspiciously like they have been blown in by a mighty wind. I think that must be the case, surely two girls cannot create such havoc? And then I see that more has been added, a scarf, gloves, hat, coat, handbag and the daily Metro...was that really me? Then the tales of the day get told, dinner gets eaten and I kinda forget about the state of things.
So yes, I have a week of chaos and this is followed by zen like peace and tranquility and a tidy house. I think it is the best of both worlds, just as the peace and quiet gets to much the bags, shoes and laughter return.
All this talk of wind, it must be because it was SO very blustery today. I walked out of the apartment to a wall of rain and wind which immediately picked a fight with my polka dot pink umbrella, turning her inside out and destroying a couple of joints. Somehow I manage to flip it back to normal but the poor thing is destroyed. I will continue to attempt to keep my head dry under its flailing skeleton for a while, after all it cost me £20! In all fairness though, the wind was so strong this morning that it actually even snatched my beanie off my head in some sort of cheeky game and I was sent running down the street after it..grr. I have to say I would prefer the wind WITHOUT the rain!
But I cannot complain because there is something very energising being blown about in such mad conditions. The weird thing is that it is not that cold, I was out at 22h00 collecting the kids from a school play they were watching and it was 14 degrees!
Tomorrow night I am playing in a hockey match, I really really hope the weather has settled by then!

Musings

A few lessons I learned this past
week...

Don't lose the lid for the milk bottle in a confined space. Yep, the recycling bins are inconveniently placed in the car park basement. This is very handy for regular motor vehicle users, but as a staunch supporter of the local bus corridor my car does not get to stretch its wheels very often. On a Wednesday however it has a little outing to the hockey club which also means a visit to the recycling bins. Now as the bins are near the exit and I am always in a rush I put all the recycling in my car and empty out on my way to the exit. Tonight the lid popped off the empty milk bottle in my car, the bottle that has been empty and in the warm apartment since Monday. LOVELY.

I can play hockey for 2 and a half hours on a cold, damp windy night. I went down to hockey to practice with the Vets at 19h30 and we ended up playing a match against the thirds. After that I was rearing to go home but Mandy and I decided to stay for the thirds and fourths practice so hockey continued until 22h00. Considering I only got home from work at 19h00 I was pretty pleased with myself.

Focus Ireland is a fabulous charity. Last week a whole bunch of us from work volunteered to paint a house and clean up a garden for the charity. It was a fabulous experience and was made very memorable when our 6 foot something MD managed to put his knee through the €1800 glass top hob while painting the kitchen. The thought running through everyone's mind? Thank goodness it wasn't me. Anyhow, the charity does great work in Ireland and I think what they do benefits all of us so thanks muchly.

To swine flu or not to swine flu..

I have swine flu. I am eating like an oink. I am not sure what it is but what I see must go into my mouth, croissants, pastries, ice lollies, cashew nuts, pizza, bananas...i could go on but I think you understand my predicament. It did not help much when Kirstin taught me the fine art of drinking tea through a twix, yes astonishingly it does work, unfortunately you need a LOT of twix to get through a cup of tea! Of course with all the input I then have to ensure a certain amount of output and so I found myself walking home in blizzard like conditions in the dark, to ensure that the Twix does not find its way to my ass, especially because the pastries already have.

Now Jess did have the H1N1 virus - and that would have been rather handy to contract. With H1N1 you CANT eat, I reckon they call it s-w-i-n-e flu to reduce the street cred's of the marvelous side effect of the virus. If everyone knew that you could lose up to 3 kg's (ask Jess) not many people would be buying anti bacterial wipes now would they? Of course I kept a safe distance from Jess, using my polo neck jersey as a barrier - she was not impressed but in all fairness I had not discovered the merits of swine flu at that stage. In all seriousness though, I did NOT actually want o get sick, shame Jess really was not well but I must point out that considering how contagious it it meant to be, none of us got sick.