En Garde!
It;s a blitz of an update this week! If I had a todo list for the past few weeks it would look both awesome and complete.
First thing crossed off was a holiday – Jonathan and I are off to Edinburgh in June for four nights as both a break and a celebration of being together one year. It’s a milestone for us, but a drop in the ocean for people like my parents. Looking forward to going back and flying over on another “chocks away!” plane like last time!
In relation to that point I also bought himself a present in celebration of “hey, we survived a year!”. Now I don’t buy him many gifts (not nearly half as many as he buys me) but when I do it’s always something that multiple people hate me for. He is now the proud owner of a single handed Marshall broadsword. Forged and tempered high-carbon steel blade (he’ll get a Damascus blade later on) which we have discovered will cut its way through most materials quite happily. It is a beautiful and very practical blade, especially compared to the sword he had perviously that not only broke at the shoulders of the tang but didn’t even have a fuller to allow for easy removal from a torso. Pssssht.
Next on the list was to get writing. But this has been on the todo list since the beginning of time. This has been resolved with a weekly deadline I have willingly acquired from Wildflower magazine! I have a weekly column there as well as other bits that I’ll be doing in addition to that in the future. As well as that my awesome friend of awesome is also writing reviews there too! A nice balance of opinion and advice which is always fun to read. Scarlet Speaks – check it out!
Lastly we went to the farm last weekend and we found some kittens! Kit-Kat had three little grey ones and they were about three weeks old at that point I think. I went to check on them as many times as I could. I was a very happy chappy, Kit-Kat wasn’t bothered by us at all and came and said hello while we petted the little ones.
Other than that the world is still turning, people are still doing the things they do and I’m getting massive Top Gear withdrawals after popping over to a car show at the weekend. I maintain that even with all the bells and whistles on Ferrari’s and Mercedes’ the Group B rally cars are still the best feats of engineering out there. And fucking insane to boot. I also got turned upside down in a 3ltr Audi A4. Funtimes had by all!
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I have been doing things!
You will be glad to hear that I have been creative and successful in this creativity. I finished a painting to the point I have managed to sign it! I started it well before Christmas and I am so pleased with how it turned out! However I have no idea where it’s going or what I’m doing with it now I have painted it. Alas, woe, etc.
Does mean I have started another painting! When I’ll finish this I don’t know but I’m still glowing from the success of finishing the first one. I never finish anything so this is a good thing for me.
I have had an absolutely fantastic weekend. It truly was the first weekend of the new season, spring has sprung and I can smell summer just around the corner. Napoleon has gone back home – Dad came and picked him up and I have made the decision to not buy a new car for a few months yet. Or until I moved further away from work when I actually need a car. But anyway, I digress.
Dad came over for a few days and while Friday was spent looking at the car and working out the next steps for it we had breakfast with Jacko at the Liberty Grill in Cork, before dropping him at the house and heading out around the coast for a little drive where we stopped in Crosshaven for lunch at Cronins Pub. The evening was topped up with a few bottles of Corona and good food at the Ambassador Hotel in Cork City. Jacko then picked me up on his way home.
We then met up for a late breakfast on the Saturday, after a little error in communications Dad actually turned up at the house before me and Jacko had got up! Many thanks to Bob and Sinead for fielding that one for me. We headed into town for lunch at The Continental and ate far too much. By this time it was getting close to departure for Dad so there was a quick clean of the car. The mirror was fitted and one last coffee before he was sent on his way.
The Sunday was nice and calm, with breakfast at The Coffee Pot before heading to Blackpool shopping center to pick up supplies. We ended up getting in the car and driving to the pet store and B&Q and bought some more fish, some plants and curtains. It was a disturbingly domestic day for all involved. But our bedroom does look freaking awesome now.
Getting into work on Monday and people were complimenting me on my fresh-of-face-ness, and generally all round looking well. Which could have been a combination of both having walked and bussed to work, and a brilliantly long, relaxing weekend.
Finally, on my road to becoming a better writer (not really a published one… few steps at a time here people) I’m reading a book that Scarlett Speaks bought me for Christmas. Though a little over the place the book does have some very good points and ideas for how to get yourself writing and I now follow the author’s blog for further tips and tricks! Go see over at Ariel Gore! Highlighters and sticky book marks are in full force on my copy at the moment and when I can afford it (and justify it) I would love to work on one of her workshops.
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The time has come…
Napoleon is going to be sold. It is a good thing because he is going to my Dad after The Van died last week. The Van hit his quarter of a million miles, then had a massive electrical failure and stopped working…! Napoleon will be going back to the UK in about a month after I can work out how getting him reregistered over there works and transferring ownership.
It does mean however, that I need a new car. So Autotrader has a few Aston Martins up for sale – but the interior in the model I’m interested in is awful. In all seriousness I’ll be downgrading. I’ll not have a car like Napoleon for a long time. Good bye heated leather seats. Good bye climate control. Good bye six speed manual. Good bye 1.9 ltr DCi. But also good buy host of problems on the car because it has all the bells and whistles!
I would like a Ford Focus. However my budget doesn’t stretch to that. However I could easily buy an Austin Mini… And I am not kidding I am super tempted to get one. The only thing that is stopping me is safety. I would be killed driving it anywhere other than the city. And in November, when the lease is up and we move out of the city I’ll need a car that can handle motorway driving for work every day. And a tiny little Austin Mini 1.3 petrol is going to struggle with that. But I really, really want a Mini…!
The other options in the mini hatchback category are the Suzuki Swift, the Ford Fiesta, Opel/Vauxhall Corsa and the Skoda Fabia. However I am then limited again with getting a 2008 or later model for tax reasons. But on the smaller petrol engines I can afford to go later. I need to purchase from a dealer for parts and labour warranty and I need to be able to pay in cash in one hit.
The main thing here is as much as I would love to buy a MG Midget or Austin Mini because I can afford to NOW – will it be affordable in the future when I need to drive longer to work, or longer out to the shops on windy roads in the middle of winter…?
Dads resolution to his issue was a car he could run into the ground and then sell in a year for a new car. One that was a good size and good for the motorway driving. My issue was selling my car for a smaller one. Part of that has been sorted, I just have to work out the buying of the new car!
I’m excited! I wonder what I’ll get at the end of the day? Not an MR-2 like my brother though…
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