Recently I have found myself watching more and more television. Some of them are great shows and some are just guilty pleasures. I’m sharing them here in the hopes that I’m not alone and to see who else likes the same…and what I am missing out on

The Apprentice – a Monday evening must especially with the Live Blog on Culch.ie when possible, I love this show. Breff-ny, Breff-ny, Breff-ny. He started out as a gombeen but seems to have won some people over this week, myself included…:D

Location, Location, Location – I don’t know why I love this programme so much, it is probably an inherent nosiness of getting to see into so many lovely different houses, apartments, flats, conversions, cottages. Kirsty and Phil are both lovely of course too but I think it really is the amount of potential and inspiration for when I have the financial capability to move myself. Til then I can do it vicariously through the buyers on LLL.

Four Weddings – definitely in the ‘guilty pleasures’ box! In case you haven’t seen it, Four Weddings follows the same format as Come Dine With Me and is made by the same people. Four brides come together and attend each others weddings, scoring the food, venue, overall presentation, dress, etc. The winner and new husband receive a honeymoon of a lifetime, usually to somewhere in the Caribbean. As the viewer you get to look in on four different weddings, listen to what they all have to say about each other (yes, there can be a lot of bitching!) and just to marvel at the different things people think are ‘inspired’ for their wedding. Like the couple who took off from their reception in a sports car. To the local nightclub for more dancing!

House – well, I’m still ploughing my way through season five, I had given up on House a bit. But I have a new found love for him. Having seen the ads on tv for season six, I can’t wait to get through them all. His caustic, intelligent wit never cease to amaze and delight.

The Tudors – well ok, I only started to watch it after I was an extra on the show earlier in the summer so I am still firmly in Series One. It is looking very promising though and absolutely something I can see myself settling down to on a long winter evening for some candlelight, feasts, dances and lots of naked flesh-mostly Jonathan Rhys Meyers if we’re honest

Grey’s Anatomy – one of my absolute favourites at the moment is Grey’s Anatomy. I didn’t watched it from the very beginning but it was part way through series one. I love this programme. I went off it a bit when Izzy ‘killed’ her husband trying to get him a new heart and all that but got back into it in a big way afterwards and I have been a firm fan since. Season Six has been great so far and I tentatively wait to see every new episode with bated breath and tissues at the ready!

Anything I have missed? Anything there you think is absolute tripe?

You know how you can be instantly attracted to someone, to their smile, their eyes, their face, the whole package, before you ever talk to them? Sometimes after you’ve talked to them your whole view of them is altered and the attraction diminishes.

Sometimes you only become aware of an attraction after you’ve spoken to someone, something in the way they talk or hold themselves or express themselves to you.

Recently I was awake at an ungodly hour and I started to think about a guy I used to work with. He’s the only person I have ever had an almost gravitational pull towards. Not even attraction, something different, like we were drawn to be in each others company. He’d often visit me in my office for chats and giggles and we got on pretty well.

I hadn’t thought about him like that in ages. For quite a while after he left our company (very suddenly and under a large black cloud, I might add) he was the subject of hushed talks, whispers and then laughs, jokes and giggles. So I forgot about the other nice stuff, the lovely warmth of having someone drawn to be in your company. The funny thing is, I can’t even remember his last name but I still remember that feeling. I wonder what he’s up to now.

And if he’s still going out with that girl who refused to move in with him until he’d bought her a rock of a particular value for a particular finger…sigh.

Halloween parties are looming large on the horizon and I have no costumes. At this stage, something homemade and inventive would be much preferable to a shop bought yoke.

I’m really of the opinion that Halloween is supposed to be scary or at the very least inventive so all those ladies who take the opportunity to wear as little as possible or the most outrageously sexy thing they can get away with and call it a ‘costume’ are really missing the point of Halloween, in my opinion.

I have a few ideas or have heard ideas from people, but it’d be nice to get a few home made costume ideas together here.

• Schoolgirl - could it be any simpler? A grey skirt, a shirt and tie, knee socks and I’m done. Pretty dull and boring but it went down well the last time I wore it and it’s easy to do if all else fails.
• Surgeon – a friend works in a hospital and reckons she could easily get me a set of scrubs and shoe covers and a surgeons cap to wear. Lash on some make-up and jewellery and hey presto – I’m a glamorous doctor from Grey’s Anatomy. Or Private Practice. Or whatever
• Dracula/vampire - there is a Dracula costume in the house somewhere (though it’s not mine) and I wore it a similar one two Halloweens ago to two parties. That said, I did great scary make-up and felt I was doing the whole Halloween bit properly

• Shopping bag – bear with me here…I could make a dress out of a giant Lidl or Aldi shopping bag with the handles as straps (with a bit of adjustment). Even I might be too tall for this one though but it might be a good idea for kid. Or someone really, really short.
  

  Something like this but preferably with clothes underneath!

• Balloon Boy – they’re selling the costumes online already but I’m pretty sure I could get my hands on a cardboard box, a plastic carrier bag and a silver balloon?

• Bunch of Grapes – wear regular clothes. Get lots of green or purple balloons, blow up and pin to my clothes and go as a bunch of grapes. Once everyone has had their fun bursting my costume, I’ll have my regular outfit underneath

• Burlesque – I have a corset and satin skirt I could wear but then again I’m hoping to go to the Burlesque Ball at the end of the month so I don’t want to wear my Halloween costume to that!
• 80s style from an 80’s themed night earlier in the year, I have the illuminous pink ra-ra skirt, illuminous socks, leggings to go underneath the skirt, a black oversized t-shirt, illuminous jewellery, back comb my hair to all hell in a side pony and wear a cross over pink handbag. Ta da!

Mine’s a damn sight less attractive than that but more authentic looking

So – what are you dressing up as? Lots of cool ideas on this website Coolest Homemade Costumes.

I’ll leave you with my favourite fancy dress joke-an oldie but a goodie:

A man with a bald head and a wooden leg is invited to a fancy dress party. He doesn’t know what to wear to hide his head and his wooden leg, so he writes to a fancy dress company to explain his problem.

A few days later he receives a parcel with a note:

—
Dear Sir,

Please find enclosed a Pirate’s outfit. The spotted handkerchief will cover your bald head and with your wooden leg you will be just right as a Pirate.
—

The man is offended that the outfit emphasizes his disability, so he writes a letter of complaint. A week passes and he receives another parcel and note:

—
Dear Sir,

Sorry about the previous parcel. Please find enclosed a monk’s habit. The long robe will cover your wooden leg and with your bald head you will really look the part.
—

The man is really incandescent with rage now, because the company has gone from emphasizing his wooden leg to drawing attention to his bald head. So he writes a really strong letter of complaint. A few days later he gets a very small parcel from the company with the accompanying letter:

—
Dear Sir,

Please find enclosed a tin of Golden Syrup.

We suggest you pour the tin of Golden Syrup over your bald head, stick your wooden leg up your arse and go as a toffee apple.

So I paid a much overdue visit to The Granny last night with my sister. Well my sister was there long before me and I, having been to an event in town, was hmmming and hawing about going until my sister sent me a text saying

“she really wants to see you and she’s got photos out”

So I got my bags and baggage (of which there was lots) together and headed off. And indeed the photos were out in force. There were lots I had never ever seen before and others I hadn’t seen in a really long time.

She told us a story about Mary. We’d heard it before. Mary was a neighbour and friend of her mothers, our great grandmother. Mary liked little ornaments and things and apparently had a vast collection which she loved and when asked could tell you where any one of them had come from. Of course Mary passed away. The Great Granny was passing the house a few days later. To her horror there was a skip outside the house and what was in it? All of Mary’s beloved ornaments, ditched outside the house like rubbish, unwanted. This prompted The Great Granny to make the decision to give away her precious things to the people she wanted to have them before she was too old or sick (or dead) to do it herself. So she gave away things like furniture, her sewing machine, particular pots, a silver teapot and so on, family heirlooms some of them, to whoever she felt would appreciate them and deserved them most.

Now The Granny has a similar idea in her head. Despite the fact that The Great Granny only died about 9 years ago, if even that,  The Granny sees 80 looming on her horizon (next birthday) and is on some sort of mission to get her things in order. She has thrown out untold treasures, photos, clothes, crockery, silver cutlery and Lord knows what else. She doesn’t like giving things away to charity (unless it’s us ) so they all go in the bin.

Anyway, so that explains why she has been digging through old photos. Some of them were tiny little things no more than 2 or 3cm high…she has a tendency to cut them. We managed to find a small few photos of our Grandad where he hadn’t been cut out or coloured in which was nice. My sister pilfered those into an envelope she had with other photos for my dad, mostly of him as a young child.

Aside from the many photos she had of her two sons, there were lots of herself too. Some I had never seen before of her when she was as young as 18 and then a few from even before that. There’s a lot to be said for keeping photos in an airtight biscuit tin. There were photos there from the 40’s and even one from the 30’s and they were in perfect mint condition! Then we had a few letters, one she had written to an uncle of hers for Christmas 1938 wishing him a very happy Christmas. One from her younger sister telling about their brother ‘doing a line with Mary. She’s very nice. I think it will be a match’. She was right, they are still married now No it’s not ornament Mary!

Before we left we were promised that next time, she’d be getting the newspaper clippings out. I’m not sure how happy I am about reading a lifetime worth of obituaries but there might be a few gems in there too

Last time I was up North I took a few nice photos. Heading up again this weekend. I’m not sure I’ll get many chances to take photos but I’m sure it’ll be a lovely weekend

Whitehead, Co. Antrim

Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim

Islandmagee, Co. Antrim

Islandmagee, Co. Antrim.

Yes the last two photos were taken out the car window I should really wind the window down next time!

I wouldn’t mind the ‘from Australia’ bit…but it’ll be a long while before I hit my forties!

I walked the length and breadth of Dublin city yesterday. For two bloody hours I searched for somewhere that I could have a desk, a seat and a nearby socket to plug in my laptop. It didn’t even need to have wifi cos I had a dongle with me.

“Simple”, I thought, “I’ll get a few bits done once I settle down somewhere”.

A moment of genius led me to the Central Library, free desk space! Alas, the student population of Dublin had beaten me to it with their funky mini laptops, for the free wifi no doubt. Free desks, none with sockets.

Café in Easons O’Connell Street-no visible sockets and they were trying to shun people by fencing off parts of the seating areas – at 4.30pm.

I moved on. Insomnia on Jervis Street? It’s a pretty big coffee shop and it was 90% empty, woohoo! But no, the 10% were all sitting up against the walls and in the corners, hiding…and hogging all tables with any chance of having sockets.

Next.

The Church…a nice big pub, surely with plenty of empty tables and sockets to be had at 4.45 or so on a Wednesday evening…apparently not. Again, not very busy but everyone was hiding in the corner tables.

On I trudged to my old reliable spot, crossing the river to the IFI. Which was shut for renovations. I almost cried. And I think in my dazed and confused state I wandered back across the river…I think, I’m not even sure now.

An emergency tweet or two and I had two invitations to go join some people – back on the southside – so off I went for a much needed sit down, a cup of tea, and a chat with some nice people.

I can’t believe how difficult it is to find a usable, temporary workspace in Dublin. Perhaps I just don’t know where to look…I’m going hunting so next time, I know exactly where to go!

I took this photo on 25 September last. I wish I’d taken the time to get out my camera instead of using my phone camera but the view is still imprinted on my mind…the HD version, not this one

You’d never guess it was taken in the middle of St. Stephens Green in Dublin City Centre, would you?

I haven’t written anything personal here in a long time. But I can feel them. I feel the blog posts building up. When they are ready to be written they will be right at the front of my head, bursting to get out. When they are being composed they will swill and swirl around in the middle of my head, forming and breaking apart and forming again until they are right. When I am just getting to grips with what the subjects are, they will be at the distant back of my mind.

But for now they are lurking, out of reach, like slowly swirling clouds, untouchable, unthinkable behind my head.

They’ll arrive eventually.

Thanks for reading my post number 100

In the true sense of this blog WHOOPSADAISY I’ve missed my very own first blogiversary by five days. Yikes.

16 September 2008 I took the plunge, mostly because my arm had been twisted to join in The Blog Pound but I decided to take the plunge by myself as well and started to blog here on my own little patch of the interwebby universe.

Thanks so much to all of you who have commented and read what I’ve written, I really do appreciate every comment on my posts, every link and every blogroll mention.

You guys rock