Streets of mauve

Tonight after a very wet hockey match I drove home on streets slick with rain, reflecting the most beautiful colours from the sky, the air looked pink, the streets were mauve and the sky was awash with oranges, pinks and purples. The clouds had a golden lining and the sun was making one final defiant attempt to make its presence known after a very soggy day. I was absolutely soaking wet after playing for over an hour in rain, so much rain that I had a little river running down my nose and I have never been happier! My friend also told me to keep 07 August next year free, yep it looks like the date has been set...07-08-09...pretty darn cool, my very first Irish wedding!!!
Oh yes...and as I was walking out of Trinity with Jess at 18h00, we bumped into a friend of mine Kelly, my my but Dublin is a small place!
I was in the shower tonight trying to think how to describe how happy I am...the best I came up with is that I almost feel like I am going to burst out of my own skin kinda happy...I know it sounds bizarre...
Oh...and I even scored a goal ;)

Birthdays and stuff....

I have not even told you about my birthday…ages ago really, but anyhooo. I worked which was better than sitting at home I guess, and we did not go out for dinner because I had a hockey meeting,and as it was a week night and the girls had school I decided to save it for the weekend. I got a fantastic surprise when Lizette called from SA to wish me, we worked together at http://www.oldparks.co.za/ and became good friends so it was great to here from her.
So back to the hockey meeting...I went and drank lots of wine with the hockey ladies (good thing about birthdays - hubby dropped me off AND picked me up) and Wendy even baked me a DIVINE cake, with rhubarb in the middle of it, made with half flour and half ground almonds it was so very very yum and I was enormously touched by her efforts. I even got to blow out my candles!!!
I only got my present on the Monday after my birthday and we went out to lunch on the Sunday as a birthday treat, perhaps it is a good thing as I got to enjoy my birthday over a few days. The lunch was pretty cool, we went to the Gastro Pub and they do a school boy lunch on a Sunday, roast chicken and vegetables for 4 people, the whole chicken gets put down at your table and carving knife and fork are supplied for your slicing/hacking pleasure. We had roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, butternut, peas, gravy AND stuffing all served in different dishes, the kind that granny always has on the table. It was well worth the €30 and I am sure we could have filled at least another 2 tummies with the left over’s.
Okay, I am getting to the present….my husband in all his wisdom (and lots of hints, nudges and flat out telling) got me a Garmin for my birthday, and not just any old talk out loud maps, but the PINK one, beautiful metallic pale pink. I have the freedom of the city now and I zip around without a care in the world. I have driven into Dublin, gone to City West, managed to take Kirstin to drama practice at a new destination all without getting the least bit worried about taking the wrong road. Of course taking the wrong road still happens, I mean what is turn left in 150 metres between friends, it really is so much further than I ever imagine but this is no problem for my clever friend, she just recalculates, sends me around some block or other and puts me back on track. Of course with all the road works it can be a tad frustrating when you get to a non-existent traffic circle expecting to take the third exit and find yourself faced with a highway off ramp. This is not a mere around the block correction but at least I know she will get me back on track somehow.
My girls also bought me some more Australian Women’s weekly cook books to add to my collection, I have a lot of replacement requirements after foolishly selling at least half of the evidence of my nasty little habit. They wisely chose healthy food option ones after carefully going through them to make sure that I would not be able to put a plate of something they considered foul and distasteful in front of them at dinnertime.

Driving Miss Daisy style

Good Friday my foot. It started out horribly and got worse. Waking up at 04h00 to get my hubby to the airport was only the beginning. Of course I did not mind that tooooo much as he had done me the courtesy of a lift to the airport in the early hours in February, so how could I refuse? Leaving home late was my first gripe. Not very late, but late enough for me to get caught speeding on the M50. Driving at 80 km per hour on the M50 at 04h40 should be allowed, compared to everyone else I was SLOW, but the camera flashed and winked and my heart sunk – 4 flipping penalty points *&^%. I was in a 60 km zone, due to road works – but where I got my picture taken….NO cones and no signs of road works…just the fading tail lights of a speeding truck up in the distance. Oh well. At least I can say that was the worst part of my day! Malcolm did have his usual panic attack which involved him climbing into the back of the car while I was driving to search for his passport which he was all of a sudden very sure was at home. I was not very impressed, we were about 10 minutes from the airport and he had muttered something about his passport before we even set a tyre on to the M50, why could he not have checked then? The panic was for nothing, well actually for Malcolm it is a pre-requisite so ignore that comment, and I dropped him off at the departures area with all baggage, ticket and passport accounted for.
Now for the trip home, the M50 is the LONG way round, but as I was a virgin airport driver I decided to play it safe and go back the same way. I do know that I went around one traffic circle a couple of times but after that it was plain sailing all the way home. I even got to drive my car at 120 km for a stretch – yes legally and it felt so strange going so ‘fast’. Amazing how quickly I have got used to toodling along at 50 km, I felt reckless doing 120km, a speed I regularly exceeded back in S.A – if you are not doing at least 130 km on the highways you are TOAST. 60 km limit in the suburbs –equates to 80km on your speedometer and beware those who do not obey, hooting, flashing, tailgating or rude hand signals are almost par for the course.
After my experience on the M50 at 04h30 in the morning I see that a lot of the Irish have very similar speedometers to the South Africans, luckily without the aggression. As a ‘newby’ I am generally behaving myself and now with 4 penalty points coming my way I will certainly continue with my toodling.