waterford – more than crystal

So work have a warehouse call centre based in Waterford, Ireland and Nick and I came over to offer some training to one of the teams here. Sadly there is only one flight a day to Waterford from London Stanstead during the winter months so we opted to fly into Cork for a more convenient flight time. This meant flying easyjet – something I have never done before and was a bit concerned about. The more convenient flight time was 7am which meant getting to Gatwick for 5:30ish which is no mean feat on a Sunday Monring. Check-in was shambolic with no real system in place and people having no idea where they should be or when their flights left. Once checked in though it was actually not that bad. No seating means the plane fills up quite quickly and people tend to group together anyway.

Cork airport has open fires when you arrive. Making you feel like you have just entered someones living room – still I guess with so few flights a day there is little need to catch up with the 20th century.
Took a detour to Blarney Castle on what was possibly the windiest day of the year. Scary winds and heights combined to make the trip very memorable. Pictures to follow no doubt.

On to Waterford in the lovely upgraded car from Avis. A nice little Saab which confused me by not having keys and everytning being done by a fob that slots in by the gear stick. Nice drive down the N25 and then stopped at the office briefly and onto Waterford Crystal which is practically next door. It’s like the place that time forgot. Christmas decorations still up and lots of dust. The video was priceless from the 80’s. Plus everything very expensive. So nothing for my mum then!

We stayed in Tramore at the fabulous coast townhouse. Nothing prepared me for the welcome. The rooms are fabulous, cd players, comfy lazy boy chairs, huge beds, subtle lighting, great bathrooms, I wanted to move in. The food is as good if not better than the townhouse itself. Every little detail taken care of. plumping the cushions for you, carrying your drinks for you from the bar. you feel like you don’t need to raise a finger. The whole atmosphere is vibrant yet cosy with modern twists encompassed in an old world charm.

Ordering food off the menu is something I am used to but the reaction here was one of glee. Normally it’s met with disdain. My roasted vegetables were beautiful and make me want to become a restaurant critic purely so I could proselytise about coast.

I’m going to see if I can get a group of people from London to come on a trip.

note to self: manchester trip overdue

I’m thinking maybe May would be a good time to visit! Failing that I could just buy the calendar and not visit at all…
On an entirely different note.
Christmas presents are hard to find for some people so when I found the ant farm thing and liked it I figure I should just buy it and then see who I haven’t got a present for yet. I think my neice might not like it though!

Anti Spam

What a cool idea for identifying spam origins. [email protected].
I always use the site name or some other form of altered address. I noticed recetly for instance I was getting spam to one address I used only once over christmas last year. Unfortunately I discovered a friend had this address on their blog 🙁
I shall be using + in my site logins from now on though.
I recommend MailWasher [PC] or POPMonitor [Mac]

Emotional Blackmail

I normally don’t talk about my family much on here. Today I am going to make an exception. I’m going to quote an email I received from my mum today. Granted it was to both my brother and I – so we can share the guilt equally no doubt.
Whilst asking us to call my Gran who is ill in hospital
“Come on now boys for me if anything happens to her you would regret not doing this now, Christmas is a long way off and she may not be here then.”

increased awareness

Meg was just talking about this. I was thinking about it this time last week but couldn;t think how to express it – so I’ll just tell you about it and you can reword it in your own head.
I was reading Nick Hornby – How to Be Good which was a christmas gift and very very funny. I sat onthe tube with Spence and Glenn and the guy next to me was reading the same book – okay not a big deal really. He was on exactly the same page though and that did freak me out a bit.
Now get this, Yesterday on the train to work I am reading one of my birthday gifts, Paul Bailey – Three Queer Lives and the guy opposite was also reading it. This never happened when I was reading Patricia Cornwell!

pop quiz

andrew and I dropped down to the retro bar last night – I needed out of my flat – and joined in with the pop quiz. Poor Dave joined our team and I was traumatised to learn I failed to beat my personal best of 6. What with Dave answering all bar one question I have decided maybe I should rebrand the blog to ‘hope springs eternal’. So no ?11 and no left over christmas pressies for us. Still lavender bath salts was not a prize worth winning really 😉