26 year old English female living in Cork, Ireland. Work for a software and hardware manufacturer as a trainer. Live with my S.O. in the countryside.
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The day started at 6am for me as I woke up before my alarm that is usually only set during a week day. I was woken up by uncomfortable itching on my leg so I relented, got up and went to the bathroom. Our bedroom was quite dark. Walking into the ensuite, which was all white tile, the morning sun bounced around and I had to sit and squint on the toilet while my eyes adjusted. I went back to bed but didn’t want to fall asleep again; I always feel worse if I do. So I read reddit for a while as Jonathan curled up beside me. But soon enough I was asleep only to wake up at half nine to Jonathan watching Diablo 3 videos on the iPad.

Jonathan made us a cup of tea each while we made our excuses and he gave in first and got up at 10am. I lounged in bed as he pottered around and I had my own shower at 1030. I love Original Source Mint and Tea Tree shower gel. That stuff is nuclear when it comes to waking you up in the morning.

We were already running late as we planned to be on the road by 10am, so after my shower Jonathan packed the car up and I packed up the bag with clothes for an overnight stay on the farm. As we were getting out to the car just before 11 a plane flew overhead pulling a banner. We were annoyed that we couldn’t read it but it wouldn’t be too far to assume it was something to do with the EU legislation they want people to vote on. We had a short discussion about how I wasn’t going to drive to the farm – despite Jonathan saying I should. I get very badly travel sick (which is a recent development) and it makes sense for me to do the driving. Only I’m not too much of a fan of Jonathan’s Škoda Octavia. It seems to flop around the roads too much and I think the power steering is broken.

I checked the temperature; a balmy 13.5c, patchy cloud and strong cool breeze.

We head off, stopping outside Mallow on the Limerick road for breakfast. Four hashbrowns for me and some sausage rolls for Jonathan. I had an apple juice and a smoothie to drink. It’s an odd way to get to Templemore but the main Mitchelstown road is closed for resurfacing so we looped around Donaraile. Only to find the road on the diversion was closed too. This was where the travel sickness kicked in. I was ill for an hour of the drive. We got to the M8 and I fell asleep. Waking up refreshed at Horse and Jockey for the last bit through Thurles to Templemore. We arrived at the farm at 1pm. I was wrecked.

We said hello to Ruth and Alfie, the cat and Sally the West Highland Terrier and I had some fantastic chicken pie. It was shortly after that I went to bed. The headache had mutated a bit and every time I moved it throbbed. I woke up in fits and starts and Jonathan sat on the bed next to me reading reddit. He then left me alone for a bit so he could mow the lawns. Constantly worrying as he didn’t want to disturb me. A cup of tea arrives a while later with Jonathan in tow, we discuss some birthday presents for a few people and I get dressed again. By at least 6pm I am back downstairs. I am desperate for some fresh air and the company of some animals. We head off around the yard and the cat comes to find us and keeps us company.

We move some cattle for Alfie – or rather I plug a gap with the cat in my arms “If any come at you, throw the cat at them!” Jonathan offers. Cattle moved we go and put some licks in with Dougal the herd bull. We then detour past a neighbour’s field to say hello to a horse. We make a mental note to come back tomorrow with an apple or a carrot.

The evening started coming to a close with a toasted sandwich and some sausages. Washed down with a mug of tea and some cake, and I might have had a slice of apple pie too. We talked about water hardness kits (and then ordered one from Amazon), binoculars came up and how to fix the computer.

The evening finished with an expedition into the loft. Though I was quite drained to start with the task soon had my attention and we were rummaging through old books and notes. We were allowed to bring home some bits that we found and the remainder were squirrelled off in the bucket of the tractor and taken out behind the silage pit to be burned.

Bedtime arrived at twenty to ten with Jonathan hoovering up the last of the dust and bugs from the loft. He stayed with me as I fell asleep and went to his own room when I was off in the land of nod.

There ending my May 12th.

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The following morning was greeted forcefully at 8am and the plan was to wash the car but we helped out Alfie and Ruth on the farm for the first part of the day. And when I say “we helped” I mean Jonathan and Alfie dosed some cattle and I watched in slight terror as they let out cattle that hadn’t been out of the shed all winter. Much sproinging was had… We then washed the car with a little help.

The car was clean for the duration of the trip out of the yard. Then we drove down the lane and all the hard work was unravelled. We landed in Dublin after a short visit to Avoca shortly after 5pm. Allowing Claire and David to get ready for dinner with friends. Jonathan and I had the most amazing Thai takeaway for dinner. And the evening was spent watching Top Gear and going to bed early.

Dublin was glorious on Sunday morning. David had left before Jonathan and I got up; we headed into the city for brunch at Lemon Jelly before meandering home in time for dinner with two lovely gentlemen that let us borrow their parking space for our trip up. Again another early night as the lads had work in the morning. Claire, Jonathan and myself didn’t however and Monday was up for being a bit of an epic day.

Monday was the day for Rammstein! I was a little excited by it and a little bit unsure what to expect… Monday morning was spent at the apartment before popping into town with plans to meet Claire and a friend at Cornucopia for lunch at 2pm. I had a rather disappointing Leek and Chive soup (that was more water and chive than leek and soup. Sad face). It lacked a bit in the honest food category and excelled in the wacky-shit category. And I had to go off in search of some substantial meat products afterwards. Jonathan thought it was awesome and I’m sure when he’s back in Dublin sans moi he’ll be making a bee-line there.

Rammstein was amazing. No photos from me, no video, nothing. We were in seating and I only had the iPhone so the quality would have been shocking, and besides I was enjoying the gig far too much to even think about taking photos.

We were quite aways back from the stage and we could still feel the heat off the stage rigged flame throwers (I counted eight, four coming down and four going up). My ears rang from the music, fireworks and explosions. I will go out of my way to see them again without hesitation. They put on a show more than just play music. It was fantastic.

The following morning we were broken people. Claire was off to work fairly early but myself and Jonathan were aching, and croaking and I honestly felt hungover without the fun of being drunk the night before. A bacon buttie (or two) and we were back on the road heading for IKEA.

We bought a lot. The cavernous house is a little more a home now though. The office is on its way to being complete. Only rooms left are the craft room and the library. But we just didn’t have the space to take back the storage for those two rooms. TV and XBOX are up in the study now. It’s warmer up here and the chair is better and I have an awesome awesome cabinet for it now. It’s bright red. Oh yeah.

We got in last night just around 6pm and commenced the IKEA build then. Leaving us drained by at least 9pm. Today has been rather hellish to get through just due to my body and mind rejecting everything. So tired. Quite surprised I had the energy to go about pulling everything out of the office and reorganising everything. We’re now sat in our chairs up here. Catching up on the internet and I’m listening to a bit of Dubliners to wind down for the evening. I will sleep like a baby.

Wishing you all well on this rare day. See you in March.

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I don’t have one project, or one manuscript. I don’t have my baby to which I add to every day when inspiration takes me. I’m not on the fifth or sixth draft and it’s not 225,000 words in length. I do, however, have lots of stories; small ones of a few hundred words each. They are taken from situations I’m in, or places I’ve been to. The characters are people I have met or encountered and I craft a story around them.

It’s one of the very few ways I can get revenge without completely being a social outcast. The characters I make are huge exaggerations of people out there, in the real world.

The woman that wouldn’t tuck her chair in fully in the restaurant. The woman who was too good for paper bags and got impatient when the young bakery assistant couldn’t find her a box for her cakes. The mother who thought it was perfectly reasonable to let her child use a restaurant as a play area and creche for her snot faced brats. The chap on the bus who insisted on playing his music for all to hear. The rabid atheist that’s so hypocritical that they end up preaching atheism to you. The socially-retarded individual that tried so hard they had come full circle back to socially-retarded again. And so it goes on.

I might not be able to physically reprimand your child, or slap you in the face for being an idiot. But in the words of Chaucer I will take every character flaw you have, multiply them by ten and put you into a nice situation in my story. Hopefully one day all these snippets will come together in my world and I’ll be able to make a living off them. But so far I’m enjoying acting my literary revenge.

Besides all the best material comes from real life.

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