Festivities

Golly, it's been a while (and now Christmas is just around the corner). There have even been complaints about my poor posting form (which I suppose is in a way positive, as some people must actually read this blog).

A week and a half ago, we were in Dublin, as guests of old pals from Wellington. Despite odd "Accenture reunion" moments during the weekend, we had a splendid time. In marked contrast to Italy our pace was quite leisurely, making the long weekend a welcome break from workplace frenzy (to give you a clue, in one month I managed to accrue 5 days of "TOIL" as it is appropriately known here - Time Off In Lieu).

Dublin highlights would have to include the obligatory visit to the Guinness Storehouse - yes it was shamelessly commercial, but the design was fab (love the waterfall and the typography throughout), it was sufficiently interactive (you got to touch and smell everything), and the prize at the end is a perfect pint looking out over the Dublin skyline, surrounded, funnily enough, by a fair few Kathmandu-clad kiwis [the Kathmandu logo, or even just the recognisable Kathmandu classics, make kiwi spotting an easy sport in these parts].

Another highlight was the Saturday organic market in Temple Bar. One word. Yum. The shopping was good too - much more interesting fashion, quite a bit of antipodean stuff in boutiques. My favourite shop was Avoca, a kind of Kate-heaven! Dreamy knitwear, big chunky scarves, quirky gifty stuff, kitchen gadgets, food (glorious food)...I managed to visit twice in three days. Star purchase was these pretty pink Christmas lights that look like flowers (look, we even have presents under our "tree"!).

It was great to stay with locals. Liz and James went above and beyond the call of hosting duty, sending us a dossier of detailed instructions and maps in advance of our visit, plying us with the local brew (as Liz works for Diageo, I'm sure she gets discounts), cooking us dinner...much better than a hotel!

We arrived back in Edinburgh to sub-zero temperatures. It's climbed back up to something more tolerable, but is still a bit hillbilly (as a friend of mine likes to say - think rhyming). Add that to the extremely limited amount of daylight (only properly light at about 9am, and certainly dark well before hometime), and the prospect of hibernating for a month or three is an attractive one. BUT, Friday's my last day at work until the 5th Jan (and half of it will be occupied by Christmas lunch anyway), it's the shortest day on Monday, and then Christmas with the Dohertys, a trip to Brussels, Hogmanay and a visit from Olly & Antoinette over the next fortnight. And there's still Christmas shopping (waaaay more crazy here than in NZ) and travel planning to get me out of bed in the morning.