In lieu of sleep...

I can hear a couple of birds braving the wind and the rain outside.

If I can hear the Dawn Chorus, however muted and sleepy it is, then it's probably past time that I was asleep. Thank God I'm not at work tomorrow!

I've run through just about every option I can think of as I can't sleep, bar getting up and doing the washing up. Or going to the 24 hour Tesco, I suppose. Firing up the laptop and blogging is a last desperate attempt to stay in or near bed and hope that I may drop off soon. My eyes feel like they've been wearing shoes that are too tight. Does that make any sense? Vair tired now...

Superb!

 

Swings and things

I'm meant to be working on my next two articles. To be frank, it's not happening tonight. I've started three separate drafts on three different topics and I'm not terrible happy with the way any of them are. I think I'll leave them for tonight and try again tomorrow. They don't have to be long pieces but I need to be happy with them, for a start.

It's been a funny day of wild swings in many things. It was a beautiful morning - driving in with my pretty Lady in the spring sunshine, marvelling at how quickly the daffodils had come on; rain this afternoon - if I hadn't got a lift home as well I'd have got very, very wet.

In between the two extremes of the Irish spring weather I got more than a little growly about a situation at work. Swing. This afternoon we had what are laughingly termed "system issues" at work. I picked on an effect this was having and spread the word. "Nice catch, Greg" was the Site Director's comment. Yay me!

My bed was soft and inviting when I got home about 5 o'clock. I didn't sleep heavily but dozed for about an hour, listening to the rain on the window and the roof again. Swing. It's now getting late and I'm wide awake. Typical.

Having had a full cooked lunch at work (nom), I wasn't particularly hungry this evening and just snacked a bit for dinner. Now, of course, I'm ravenous and am going to have to have a midnight snack.

I'm prepared to admit that I'm glad it's payday. I have a little money in savings but it's pleasantly squirrelled away and I don't really want to be raiding it. Living with monthly pay is an art form and I'm going to have to fine-tune my judgement on things, I think. It will only need to be fine-tuning as this month has gone fairly smoothly, finance-wise. Long may it last.

My year's lease of this house is up on july 1st and I've started having a look at what's out there to rent. I'm not even sure that I'll be moving on but there's no harm in looking. This is a nice little pad with the most wonderful bedroom but there is only the one bedroom. I rather think I'd like to be getting a house-sized house, just to cover any and all eventualities. Apart from anything else, I've suggested to lots of friends from the UK that they should holiday in Cork and it'd be nice to be able to offer them hopsitality rather than recommend a hotel! Who knows what use I might have for a couple of spare rooms one day?

Raining

I'm fairly easily distracted. Most often by shiny.

Tonight it wasn't shiny, it was the sound of rain on the window and the wind outside. Some people might not get this at all but I think that there's such music in the rain.

It was enough to stop me in the midst of writing and to lull me into a doze. So blame the rain for there not being more here tonight!

Sunny Sunday

It's been a few days since I've been here but I've been kinda busy and kinda battling a few odds. I had two more articles to finish before today. I lost one evening with the laptop playing up and then I lost a fair amount of writing time last night with my internet being down.

I got them done, though and submitted them on time. That's number 3 and number 4. That means 4 more to go and I already have an idea for 1 of them.

I'm laid here tonight listening to the wind howling outside and the rain pattering on the window. The walk to the bus in morning may be fun if this lot doesn't clear up. You wouldn't believe the difference from 12 hours ago. At eleven this morning (it's eleven at night as I type this sentence) I had walked into the city wearing sunglasses and smiling in the spring morning sunshine. I sat on a low wall drinking a cup of coffee waiting to meet my Lady and then went to the movies with her and her two youngest. Great fun. And then out for lunch afterwards. Lovely, lovely time.

I was reminiscing the other day. I can't remember what started it but a stream of memories came pouring out over the phone to my Polly. I have every intention of blogging them over the next few days. I'd have started tonight but I had such a magical day, I had to mention it. The sunshine, the clean smell of the river in the spring, the smiles, the laughter.

This was a good day.

Suppression

I had a post already written for tonight - it's actually saved as a draft as I sit here.

Circumstances changed, however and it's no longer relevant. So instead...tonight I went out to a Table Quiz in aid of charity. I found myself in the company of the loveliest, most delightful lady in the world and a young girl a long way from home. We were runners up. The people I met were very friendly and for the most part I had a fantastic time and laughed so hard I almost gagged a couple of times. If the answer to any question, the next time I go to a quiz, is "beaver" it may well kill me.

I say "for the most part" as I did find it difficult on a couple of occasions to stop myself from doing what's become the most natural thing in the world and reaching out across the table to take her hand. If I called her "darlin'" a couple of times I don't think anyone noticed. The quote is something like "Nothing can for long hide love where it exists" but tonight I managed to keep a lid on it. Just about.

Days

I've treated myself to a morning of doing very, very little. I work pretty hard when I'm "at work", especially if you factor in the hours I have to keep to catch the bus to work. So as I've got two days off today and tomorrow, I thought I'd chill for a while.

There's things that I need to get done - I could do with a few bits of shopping, I need to count up my change again and pay it into an account, I need to produce another two articles for publication before Sunday, I have housework that's waiting for me, the usual kind of thing.

I'm sat here with hair wet from the shower so I'm not going out for a while. Yes, it's quite a nice day for mid-March but it's a little chilly to be going out while wet of head.

So an early lunch, I think, while my hair dries and maybe put some washing on. A stroll to the bank and Tesco this afternoon and then start on the tidying up at whatever pace suits me. Sounds like a plan!

There was cake!

So since I was last here I'm a year older. I'm officially now in my mid-forties.

I had a lovely birthday, and the day after. It's also far too late at night for me to go into much detail about it now as I'm back to work in morning and have to be out of bed in less than 5 hours.

Laters...

Pretty Sky

...over the Business Park early in the morning.

Scary

I have a day off today. Yay! After this my next day off will be my 44th birthday.

I'm actually a little scared and it has nothing to do with the Eurosong Special I watched last night on RTE1. Can I write 8 articles of about 400 words each in 4 weeks? Do I have the invention to come up the articles and the organisational powers to meet the deadlines?

I think I probably do, yes.

My bad

I haven't posted here for a few days and feel bad about it. It's one of the things about blogging - it kind of gets a hold of you!

I have an excuse tonight, though. I made burritos for myself for dinner and may have gone a little overboard with the salsa. Consequently, I've been tipping cold drinks down my neck with abandon. And when I haven't been doing that I've been running to the bathroom to drain said fluids away.

Sigh. Some days are like that.