Ohh,,,,,The Weather Out Side Is Frightful

View of Sydney Harbor Bridge for the 1st time!

It has been some time since I last wrote a message and quite a lot is going on at the moment which is partially why it has taken so long, the other part mostly laziness.

So big news on this side of things is that Niamh and I have bought a house, well, are in the process of.  We have finally after many years of renting managed to get our act together to save up and find a house we both really like.  Without boring anyone to much about the Irish housing market, prices have dropped considerably from the peak of 2007 down approximately 35-40 %.  Although no one knows when it will stop dropping we have decided to purchase after 2 years of falling prices. So even though prices may continue to fall we have found the house we want and don't plan on moving any time soon, which means that we should be safe from any negative equity issues.  We had a chance to go back and visit the house again since our offer was accepted and we are very happy with the decision we have made.  Anyone wanting to see some info about it can select this link Our House.

The strange thing is that the process of bidding and winning the house was done while I was over in Australia for Brooks wedding.  I do have to thank my lovely wife for taking care of everything while I was away.  The wedding was really great and I had such an amazing time catching up with everyone in Auss.

Bit of Nando's

Everything kicked off with Brooks buck weekend extravaganza.  Friday night, was a night in and then Saturday was October feast in the city proceeded by a night out in town.  Friday boys night in consisted of playing pool, cards and a kick ass sound system all within the confines of "Man Land".  Yes, you read that correctly, this was a carefully constructed area of Brooks' house that had been prepped for such event and let me just say,,, it delivered.  I proceeded to live in man land in the week leading up to the wedding and shared this room with some other mates who were in town for the celebrations/wedding.

After a weekend of catching up with the boys in Auss, I must say I was feeling a little under the weather.  It is safe to say that I don't have the stamina that I used to in my early years.  After the buck was finished I was picked up on Sunday night by my old buddy Grantus to crash at his for a few days.  In preparation his lovely wife Donna had cooked us dinner and invited a friend over.  I was in no state to be sociable and couldn't even eat so had to spend most of my time apologizing.  (Not good)

The wedding was on Sat and it ended up being a sunny but windy day.  Everything ran smoothly and I really enjoyed to opportunity to take part and stand beside Mr Brooksy on his big day.  The most responsibility I had on the day was to tie the ribbon onto the cars, other than that it was pretty much smile pretty and take it all in which I did gladly.

Grant and I

After the wedding activities were all said and done I headed towards Sydney for the second week along with Grant.  Fortunately for me Grant grew up in Sydney and was able to show me around the main highlights and around his old neighborhood which I heard so much about.  We stayed at his sisters place which was along the north beaches of Sydney and it had an amazing balcony with great views of the sea.  Leanne was a great host and one of my highlights was ski surfing (like kayaking) in the ocean and seeing some whales up close while out there, very cool.

Rupert and Eden

I also took the opportunity to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen in a very long time.  I caught Holly (London buddy) and her man Charlie in the airport in Sydney as she was heading back to Cairns. Short but sweet catch up and it was great to finally meet Charlie.  Then I moved onto Rupert and Sara and there two very cute and well behaved kids.  I managed to crash over one night with the fam and then we spent one morning together and headed to the infamous Bondi beach where they live.  Got loads of good vibes from that loving family!  Lastly I caught up with Prue who I hadn't seen in years.  We used to flat share back in London days and have managed to keep in touch after many years.  It was great to see her in a happy place with her new family as well even though I didn't get to meet them (next time hopefully).

So big trip over and done with, now focus is on house and getting things like beds and sofa sorted so that we are not sleeping on the floor.  I have also had a bit of a change at work and as of January I will be working for the parent company of Fronter, which is Pearson.  Great opportunity for me and I am really looking forward to this new role. Plus I get to be a Director, I am officially the Director of Europe K-12, Pearson Platforms.  Let's see if I can live up to such a title.

So many exciting changes ahead at the moment and the weather is changing which means Christmas is just around the corner.  Until next time...........

Here there and everywhere.

The summer is nearly over and it has been busy with lots of travel and even some visits.  I guess it started back in early July when Niamh and I went over to Paris for a weekend to celebrate our 1st anniversary.  This was the first time we have been there together and thought it would be the perfect getaway.  Niamh landed this great apartment near the Eiffel Tower which was  a good base camp.  As this was a relaxing weekend we didn't want to kill ourselves by trying to fit to much in so we did a few museums and jumped on a bus tour to get the lazy view of this amazing city.

A highlight was my surprise tickets to a modern ballet called Kaguyahime at the Opéra Bastille on the Saturday night.  It had an Asian influence with the movement similar to my martial art Sanjuro so I really enjoyed it.  Niamh, just thought it was the best from the venue to the performance it was all spectacular.  After the meal we went to a nice restaurant that had been recommended to us by friends.  I ordered the house specialty the steak tartare not exactly knowing what it was.  When it came out as a ball shaped lump of raw meat I was less than impressed.  I did my best to get past the mental hurt of eating raw meat and ate nearly half and although it didn't taste too bad I didn't enjoy it.  I guess it is going to be one of those "funny" stories which you do not enjoy at the time.

On the Sunday night of returning from Paris I received news that my grandfather had passed away.  Straight away I started planning my trip back and managed to be back home by Wednesday night.  Although he was 90 and had lived a great life it was still difficult and I was grateful that I could be there with the rest of the family.  I was even honored enough to read the eulogy for my grandfather at the funeral.  I feel this to be a great privilege and hope I gave him a respectable farewell.  My work was very good to me and with the few day of compassionate leave I was able to work a few days  in Canada and got a chance to visit with some friends and family while being back for the better part of a week.

On July 29th Gord Dowhan my old mate from Canada came over for a visit.  He was in between jobs and had mentioned for some time that he wanted to travel over for another visit.  The first few days were all about the golf.  I managed to make some purchases on E-bay before Gord arrived as I have never owned a decent set of clubs.  So we managed to get out 3 times in three days and test out my new clubs as it was a long weekend.  Gord put up some decent scores in the rounds and I was trying to get a feel for my clubs usually bettering my score on the back 9 holes.  It was a good opportunity to catch up with Gord while on the course as we rarely get a chance to catch up.  During the rest of the week I sent Gord out on his own to explore what Dublin has to offer while I worked.  For the second weekend we then headed over to Belgium.

This was the highlight of the tour for Gord as we were able meet some of his distant relatives and also visit the Hoegaarden brewery which he had been longing over for a some time.  The brewery was first and we traveled to the town of Hoegaarden via train and taxi (not exactly a major tourist attraction for Belgium).  The tour was short but better than what I expected.  We then proceeded to the courtyard where they had a cafe/bar set up where Gord and I sat for the afternoon.  At one point the waitress asked "Are you going to drink all of the beers" to which Gord replied with an excited "Yes".  Gord then proceeded to purchase anything with Hoegaarden on it and we headed back to Belgium to taste some more Belgium beers.

The next day we went to visit Gord's relatives who live near Brugge.  They picked us up at the station and basically acted as our tour guide for the day. They also took us out for lunch and back to where the live.  Both Gord and I were amazed to find out that his ancestors had played a big role in this smaller community and there was even a life sized statue of his Great Great grand father.  We both enjoyed Belgium spending most of the time tasting the local beers at the many pubs and eating cheese, salami and dijon mustard with celery salt as a seasoning, YUM!

That takes me up to the end of August.

Lots of visits

Well this past weekend we had a busy household with Niamh's brother Brendan coming down for the weekend as well as my former roommate Nadia in town.  Nadia was actually in Ireland to attend an anniversary down in Wexford that her brother's in-laws where celebrating.  It was great to have her over even if it was for a brief catch up and the weather was shocking bad.  We did everything we could to show her how nice Dublin is and the amazing coast line, however the rain put a damper on things and Ireland lived up to its stereotype.

In-between the Friday and Sunday catch up with Nads, I jumped in the car with Niamh, and the rest of the family.  We headed over to Boyle where Niamh's grandma is from to visit her and a few others relatives.  We met Martha (Mom) for lunch and then head off to visit Alo and Cathleen who are great ante and uncle to the family.  The are always great to have a chat with as they make me laugh.  The also make me tipsy as it is custom to pull out the Irish whiskey and the measures are not exactly measured if you know what I mean.

From there we headed on to see Bebe (Nimah's grandma).  She is 91 and still keeping strong and up until last year still lived on her own.  Everyone including Bebe seems much happier now that see is in a care home getting the support she needs.

I am just about to head off to play some touch rugby, I joined a team to play with over the summer and it has been great for bit of exercise and socially as well.  Through the team I have also managed to join a basket ball league which starts tomorrow.  So I will be busy Wed and Thurs for the next few months, hopefully the weather holds out as it has been pretty decent on Wed's so far to play outside.

Anyways off to play...

Let's get this started!

Have been thinking about starting a blog for some time now as I have been living away from my Friends and Family in Canada for some time now as well as the many people who I got to know from all around the world from living in London for 8 years. So I thought a blog might be a good way keep those who might be interested (if anyone at all) updated on what is going on and what it is like here in Ireland.

Another weekend has passed and I find myself to be in a good place in general. Not because it was an enjoyable weekend but more my day to day being of where I am at the moment. Summer is on its way and there is a lot to look forward to in the coming week, month and year.

Back to this past weekend, where Niamh and I spent a bit of time looking around at a few open houses. Luckly two of the houses we have been keeping a watchful eye on were free to have a look around. It was interesting to get a view inside as information on the web never gives a feel for the area and the space inside. Needless to say we loved one of the places but found out it had already nearly sold as the financing fell through last minute. We would be very lucky if this place we love will still be around in coming months when we have our finances sorted and we are in a position to buy.

Besides the house hunting I also went to a soccer/football friendly between Ireland and Algeria. Algeria was preparing to head to South Africa for the world cup which Ireland did not get into. This was my first time going to an International match in Ireland and they won 3-0. It reminded me of when I went to Wembley with my Bro to watch England vs the USA. Ireland are just about to move into their new statium and this was played on a rugby pitch with a much smaller attendance compare with the Wembley match.