Seven Oh Oh

I'm sitting up in bed this morning having my slow start with computer and coffee. One of the problems with travelling is that you are expected to get up and dressed and go down for breakfast and that is so not me. MJL (sister Jane) is going down for breakfast but I'm never hungry first thing so I decided to indulge myself as a birthday treat. She promises to bring back a banana and a croissant to keep me going till lunch. Of course it is unreal that I could be as old as I am. I'm considering making a few resolutions. You know 'first day of the rest of your life nonsense' but I will probably continue in my slothful way at least until the party and the visits are over. We are in Killkenny and will go to Kilarney today. Up to Galway on Friday and home on Sunday. I grab my chances to eavesdrop on the locals because I love the accent. We had a wonderful bus driver, tour guide in Dublin who had us laughing outloud. He should be a standup comedian and I told him so. The weather has been excellent so far - no rain.

Ireland

Arrived safely last evening. Jane was already here so we had a few bevvies and a meal and lots of catching up and then off to bed. We went to the Guiness brewery today but passed up the free pint. We are out this evening to a singing thing then off to Kilkenny tomorrow.

Party

Plans are well underway for the big party on the 8th. First I will be going to Ireland for a week with my sister to have a look at our roots, etc.

Alison and Harry were here last weekend and it was super to have the little man in residence. He continues to be wonderful. He and I slept in the same room so that I could get up in the morning with him and give Mummie Ali a bit of a lie in. 5 AM!! This in spite of the fact that the bedroom was in blackout like WW2. Of course there is always the possibility that I woke him up with my snoring.

Kindle

I am very much enjoying reading on the Kindle. It was a good buy. I am reading The Memory of Love for the book club in July and the Kindle lets me make notes and highlights that I can refer back to (to which I can refer back)! It bothers me to put a preposition at the end of a sentence but it sounds so phony and ridiculous to switch the sentence around.

Early Birthday present

I succumbed to the power of the electronic written word and bought myself a Kindle. It arrived yesterday and today I will get to know it and download my first book. I've been going back and forth about this and had the chance to use Sian's a couple of weeks ago. It doesn't mean I won't carry on collecting the real thing because they are so inexpensive at Amazon. Okay, I know I should be patronizing my local bookshops but I'm a techno-girl hence it is easy to click a mouse and a man turns up at the door a few days later with the book. I am trying out a few books at the moment to choose one for my turn at the book club in August. Any suggestions?

We have had a nice lot of rain overnight. This is good for the parched garden but not good for the clothes I left on the line.

Hiatus

I have been sick with a bad cold, cough, sore chest, etc for a week and not felt like writing. Improved now. The snoopers have worked out very well. I can watch telly without sub titles and I found the book club more hearable last week. The big test will be at the next Headington Action meeting as I try to take the minutes. I had forgotten how loud birds can be.

The big party gets ever nearer and I don't seem to be in a panic yet. I have been writing and sending invitations this week. All I can say is that if everyone comes, it will be a large event. There will be a marquee, caterer, bouncy castle and lots of bevvies so what can possibly go wrong?? Of course I am hoping for nice weather but I can't count on it so I'm not worrying about it.