Diary

Another Paint on the Walls (and other stories)

It took me a Monday off work (mmmm... nice) to put the last touches in painting my living room, which I started in November and never got round to finish till today. One can get lazy on the week-ends. So, exit that dirty pink paint, much loved in rented accomodations in Ireland. Introducing Magnolia on walls and Ruby Red, as they call it, on the fireplace with white door and radiators....
Before (May 2005):



And after (Feb 2007):

Of course, there's the other side of the living room as well, which is over twice as big as pictured it, so it took me a while, but I'm quite happy with what I've done, and happy it's over because it can be a messy business.
So there. At least I've done something productive on my day off, now I still have to sort out bank issues, tax returns, etc.. but I'll probably wait a bit on this, I'm wrecked.

I know it's been a while since I last posted so here's what I've been up to lately. Last week, Tom and I went to the Dail (Parliament) to listen to the debate on a Bill that would grant some kind of legal status for same-sex couples. It was really interesting to see how fast mentality is evolving in Ireland, although the Bill was not passed in the end. But it's a good start.

On Saturday, I was lucky enough (in an ironic kinda way) to watch three rugby matches in one afternoon. Of course, without the company of very good friends I would have found it dead boring, but I must admit that Ireland-England made my day! I'm thrilled that we kicked England's arse for the first ever match in Croke Park, that's a huge symbol and it probably avoided some kind of riot everybody was expecting under these historical circumstances. I'll have something to slag my English boss about tomorrow. I can't wait.

On Friday night, Tom found some Social Welfare payment cheques on the steets in Rathgar so he decided to return them to the mentionned address on Sunday morning. So we get to the address, and ring the bell. A little girl opens, and we ask to talk to the person whose name is on the cheque. She says her dad's not in, and calls her mother. So we explain to the lady we've found the cheques and she went mental with relief and gratitute. She said she'd been looking for them everywhere and hadn't told her husband yet that she'd lost them, and kept thanking us like we were God-sent. We could see from the house and the look of this child and mother that they could really do with those €260. But more importantly, from her reaction, we can only imagine that her husband would have been really mad at her and that she probably wouldn't have got away with it. We felt so happy Tom found this cheque and probably spared this lady from a very bad moment.
I feel so happy in my life when I see how some people live.....

Brought to you by Sandrine @ 4:20 pm