Valencia airport

Here l am blogging from Valencia airport! lt will pass the time even if it doesn't work. Flying Ryanair is a challenge, especially for those who struggle to travel light. Whilst waiting to check-in we watched those all around us as they desperately tried to avoid excess baggage payments.

The woman behind us in the queue started putting on layers of clothes from her case until she was wearing jeans under a sundress and two cardigans on top. She put a denim jacket on on top of all that, and then handed another coat to her travelling companion to wear for her.

While this ls all happening behind us, another woman appears from somewhere further back in the queue, wheels her case into the middle of the gathered throng, proceeds to open it (upside-down for good measure) and, in full view of the assembled masses, removes her bra and knickers from the case, stuffing them into her pockets!

As a Ryanair virgin, can anyone please confirm for me, is this normal Ryanair practice, or is level of entertainment the sole preserve of Irish travellers?

(PS surprise surprise, as you can see in the pic, our flight is now delayed, which is why this piece is so explicit. If its further delayed, I might even get to blog on the whole 'circuit training with Ryanair' experience!)

The £7.00 facelift

I've just had an eyebrow wax, it's amazing the difference it makes to your face!

Of course, I hadn't had my eyebrows done since the start of the summer, before I went into hospital, so it was more like a deforestation process than a beauty treatment for me today!

If I had to turn out against the Pumas on Sunday ...

... I'd say I was injured too.

The Irish, it seems, have been beating each other up at training today:

Munster hooker Flannery injured his shoulder when he was grounded by Simon Best, who just happens to be brother of Ulster hooker Rory ;-) Scrum-half Boss needed stitches to a cut above the eye after another clash and BO'D took a bang on the knee.

O'Gara and Dempsey are also injured, apparently their injurues happened during the match against the French and one can only assume (or hope) it's their pride thats hurt. The good news is, Geordan Murphy might just get a run out, the bad news is, so might Paddy Wallace.

The Irish will have to score four tries and beat Argentina by more than seven points in their final match to reach the quarter-finals. In the words of Tyrone Howe: it's not impossible, but it's highly improbable.

O'Sullivan names his team for the Paris showdown with Argentina at lunchtime tomorrow. Place your bets. I'm off to book Humph an easyjet flight to Charles de Gaulle.

Il est fini

C'est le crunch!

I am very upset about my own prediction for tonights outcome. In the Facebook Fantasy World Cup League, I have predicted France to beat Ireland by 7.

The thing is, there are 6691 people in the league, and I am currently in 79th position, so sadly I'm not totally crap at the prediction thing.

Well, if we're lucky, getting beaten by 7 might be the height of it :-(

Friday night at Ravers ... nothing beats it

Friday night is Ulster's first match in the Magners League this season. They are playing the Ospreys at home, followed by the France V Ireland match on a big screen at the grounds. So where will I be?

At home supervising the watching of the world TV premier of 'High School Musical 2', eating copious amounts of pizza and icecream.

Ah well, at least I'll have a comfy front row seat to see Eddie O'Sullivan commit rugby suicide!

Valencia

I am going to Valencia next week for a few days. It was booked as a surprise and I will be staying in a hotel with a Spa! I might never come home!! Only the children aren't going, so I might have to return at some point.

I was investigating the website for the hotel, which is in a little fishing village type place called Denia. Unfortunately, the website is only in Spanish. I don't have a word of Spanish The pictures look nice though. I think I have been able to establish some pretty interesting hotel features by trial and error.

Like the servicio de lavanderia: some kind of lavander smelling waiter perhaps? The restaurants don't sound too promising; tres tipos de restaurantes, but I think I will certainly have to try this Spa treatment: Envolvimiento de Chocolate. That sounds like my kind of health treatment!

To continue a conversation on another blog ...

I was having this wee chat with Cosmo about Irish rugby and I see today in the BBC Sports news that some of what I said has actually come to pass:

'Andrew Trimble returns in place of Denis Hickie on the left wing. '

(fortunately)

'There is still no place for the physicality of Neil Best'

(unfortunately)

Even though neither Stringer nor Boss have played blinders so far, I'm very wary of the decision to play Reddan at scrum half in what is now a crunch game against the French.

And I just can't understand why O'Sullivan has removed Geordan Murphy from the bench when, as one player who actually does kick a good touch apart from anything else, he should have been on the field from the start. Personality issues me-thinks.

Madness!

Irish Eyes aren't Smiling Anymore

It could be worse. We could be English.

How very, very exciting!

I was browsing the SiteMeter statistics for my little blog today and I notice that the people in NASA (yes, the real National Aeronautics and Space Association in the USA) have been reading my blog!!

This means one of two things:

(i) They have read my posting on the demise of Pluto (the planet, not the Blogger) and have decided to honour me for my teachings on the subject

or

(ii) They are recruiting for the 'First Irish Woman in Space' programme, and are checking out all the local space cadets.

Thumb Sucking Support Group

When I was expecting our eldest, companies were falling over backwards to give us little goodie bags with lots of samples and freebies in them. We gladly availed of these, but - having made a conscious decision not to use them - we carefully removed and disposed of any dummies contained therein. I remember throwing away the last two dummies the morning I was taken into hospital, the theory being if we didn't have one, we wouldn't be tempted to use one.

There were days I rued that decision! But in the long run, it worked out just as we had hoped. So, when youngest was expected, we went through exactly the same routine (although, for some reason, they're not so keen to give away the freebies to baby No.2!)

And then we had the scan that showed we were expecting a thumb sucker.

When you have a thumb sucker, you start to realise the advantages of a dummy. I mean, you can throw away a dummy, but you can't legally amputate a thumb.

Fast forward several years, nearly eight to be precise. We are (all) trying really hard to stop thumb sucking before a 7th birthday. Really hard. And to be fair, the thumb is mainly sought out when just going over to sleep at night, so some battles have been won. But until such times as we can get to sleep without our thumb, the war is nowhere near over.

So, the past few nights, evil mummy has painted 'the thumb' with Stop n Grow. I probably could be reported to Social Services for less!

However - it is working

Irish Eyes are Smiling!

What a fantastic start to the 2007 World Cup for the Irish!

Given the fact that the French gifted the first win in Pool D (and of the tournament) to the Pumas, the way is now open for Ireland to capitalise and win the group.

This would mean NOT meeting New Zealand in the quarter-final round as second highest qualifier from group D, but runner up team from Group C - pick any from Scotland, Italy, Romania or Portugal. Realistically, it'll be old rivals Scotland or MAYBE Italy.

Bring it on:-)

Today is the day :-)

I knew it was going to be a bad day ...

.... when I was woken up to be taken to see the mentally ill fish who was swimming around his tank - upside down. Actually, it was quite an amazing thing to watch. I've never seen a fish swimming upside down before.

I had to utilise my best counselling skills with my son in an attempt to soften the blow for the inevitable. Dolly, who had been watching proceedings, immediately disappeared and reappeared with a shopping list. She's my kind of girl - when the going gets tough, shop!

'We'll only have an hour' she says ' between you picking me up and collecting Michael from school.' Unsure exactly where this is going, I merely say 'Oh'. 'Here is the list' she continues, handing me a sheet of A4 on which she has written party hats, blowers and ballonns (or balloons to you and me) She looks at my confused expression in the exasperated way that only a six year old can look at her deranged mother and explained 'they're for Splish's funeral party!'

I hope, when it comes my turn, she's the one arranging the wake!

After a couple of false alarms before we had even left for school, I promised to keep an eye on Splish all day.

It was with some horror that, when I peeped in just before lunch to see if he was giving me the one-eyed stare, I discovered he was still alive, but had been sucked up the 'in' pipe for the air filter! Or at least half-sucked up. I could see this was a fish with attitude; he wasn't going to make my life easy and go quietly.

So I did what any irrational woman does in these situation and phoned my mum. When she arrived, we discussed the situation for 10 minutes and had a cup of tea before we hit upon the idea of turning off the air filter (which incidently, worked a treat!)

Unfortunately, by the time we arrived home from school this afternoon, Splish had died. Son was upset because he had lost his pet, daughter was more upset because we hadn't stopped off to get the ballonns.

After a suitable time had passed, I broached the topic of funeral arrangements. My initial suggestion of flushing Splish down the toilet was met with two looks of absolute horror! 'Mummy,' says Dolly 'how would you like it if we flushed you down the toilet when you die?' Good point, you could never afford the DynoRod bills apart from anything else, but I did have to ask what they did intend to do with me.

'We're going to plant you in the garden of course!' Cancel that previous thought.

Internment later this evening, invitations have been issued. I have been asked to be the flusher at the ceremony (seems mum always knows best after all) Donations in lieu of ballonns to 'The New Fish Fund'.

Injured Wilkinson

If I were a betting woman, the only outcome I'd have placed a bet on for the Rugby World Cup was that Jonny Wilkinson would get injured. If I'd stuck a tenner on, I'd be quids in tonight.

But poor Wilko - he must be the unluckiest guy in world rugby (apart from a certain drop goal incident of course!) The English must be crying in their beers!

3 days, 0 hours, 21 mins, 32 secs to go

Oh Dear

I think we have bought a fish with a mental health problem. One of Mini Me's new pet fish spends its days hiding behind the air pump, lying vertically in the tank with its mouth out of the water.

You might expect me to be sympathetic, but I'm not. A goldfish has an attention span of about a second. How in the name of all things prozac can it become stressed??

Facebook

Yes, I have succumbed!

Summary justice?

Agree or disagree? I think you've got to ask yourself what would you want if a similar scumbag turned up at a playpark beside your home and started peddling his evil wares to the kids in your street; justice or injustice?

On this occasion, 'justice' has been served, and by Belfast standards, this guy got off lightly. Read story here