Tag: sunshine

Sunshine and Scotland!

The Indecisive Eejit26 Comments

The turning up late thing is becoming a bit of a thing for me isn’t it, but I suppose the crucial point is I still make it…eventually.

This time round after much deliberation I have decided to blame the heat, I have no idea why, I just am, ask me something and I will tell you I was not able to do it because I was too hot. Couldn’t type a post…too hot. Couldn’t get my brain to work…too hot. Couldn’t think of anything to say….too hot. There was however one night with a cool breeze where I had the potential to be productive only it was 3am and there was thunder and lightening outside so I was too scared to use any electrical appliances, actually truth be told I was too scared to come out from under my duvet. Yeah, you guess right, I am not a fan.

Somewhere in the last couple of weeks I passed another birthday milestone but I’m too old to care about those any more, so lets move on. I also went on a day trip to Glasgow, that was something different right!? You’re impressed aren’t you, I can tell from the look on your gorgeous little face. I was quite impressed too I have to say, go me!

It’s been a long time since I was on a boat, it’s not changed all that much to be honest other than the fact they are a lot more passenger friendly than they used to be. After we had crossed the sea to the other land we caught a bus to take us onward. I sat with my earphones in listening to my music and enjoying the scenery as we went on our merry way, until we came upon some roadworks, where we got stuck for an hour reducing our time in Glasgow from 4 hours to just over 3. It’s amazing how quickly time can pass when there is so much to see and do, by the time we had a wander about, tried to find somewhere to eat and eventually succeeded in the shape of a Hard Rock Cafe, our time was pretty much up and we legged it back to catch the bus. Headphones in again, music on, only this time I took some pictures as the countryside was just gorgeous bathed in the evening sunshine.

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Not fantastic quality I know, but they were taken with an App on a  mobile phone through a window held by a tired hand on a shaky bus…so give me a break ffs!

It wasn’t the fanciest of day trips, but for me, it was something different. If I went again, I would love to do the open top bus tour, then perhaps I could really see the size of the city rather than just be a little overwhelmed by it. The problem with those kind of tours is, they are a long day, I was up from around 5am in the morning and wasn’t home till almost 11pm where I had to get the Mothership ready for bed. I think I am only now starting to recover. I really want to go again, but don’t think anyone else is to keen, ah well!

Other tiny updates:

Currently Listening to – Fleet Foxes – White Winter Hymnal.

Currently Watching – Orphan Black – amazing show totally addicted.

Currently contemplating – going to bed

 

Reasons to Smile

The Indecisive Eejit25 Comments

Let me make a short post!

It’s been a taxing week and I’m tired. That special kind of tired that makes your eyes sting and the world seem like it’s going to come crashing in around your head at any time. Note to self: go to fecking bed on time.

It’s hard sometimes to find reasons to smile even though my rational self knows that there are many.

I found one today though, well two actually. The first came in the shape of a most delightful gentleman I had to escort to a meeting. It’s been a while since my heart fluttered for anything other than a reaction to my anti histamines, but boy did it today. It felt like a moment, only a miniature time stopping one though, for it lasted no longer than two minutes, but it was enough to make me smile. I shall never see the object of my immediate affection again, but that’s ok as imagination is usually much better than reality.

Buoyed by a happy heart and the fact that it was home time I pressed play on my IPod for the walk to the train to be greeted by tunes from the the new Penguin Cafe  Orchestra CD my sister got me for my birthday and the smile just widened. I was in fear at one stage it might even split my face in two.

No doubt when I get home the shit will hit the fan as it usually does, but for the next 30 minutes I’m basking in the sunshine, the music and the beating of my happy heart!

Is Summer coming?

The Indecisive Eejit45 Comments

Everyone is all a dither, there have been strange sightings in the sky, some say it is sunshine, but others disbelieve due to the fact that it has not been seen on the Emerald Isle for some time. I’m warm and itchy and generally uncomfortable in my clothing, so I think for me, that signals it’s at least getting warmer. Don’t worry though, I have no intention of stripping off and running through the bluebells. Poor, poor bluebells.

Last night I put my phone on to charge, which would have been great if only I had remembered to turn on the plug…..doh!! I went to work and due to the fact that it was busy all day, I never even got to plug it in. Fast forward a few hours and I am sitting on the train at the start of my journey home, ready to have a few hands of Yahtzee and catch up on blog reading and bam, there’s only a slither of battery power left. When travelling by NIR, you always need to think ahead, at any time there could be a train failure, or leaves on the line, and without a mobile phone, how would I ever be able to inform the Fathership of my late arrival.

Weighing up all these options in my head, I decided it best not to use the phone and instead opted for the Ipod Touch. Whilst virtually redundant now for most things, it still plays music, and plays it rather well might I add.  I listen to tunes sometimes whilst working on my computer, rarely however when I am blogging as I find it distracts my thoughts, but today, between the music and the sunshine, the thoughts were coming thick and fast. Snippets of poems like the old days, adventures for May and perhaps even for Polly Carmichael who I have not written about in a while.

I had no paper.

I had a pen, but no paper.

I had no phone, the mere slither of battery power left rendering it almost useless to write a post with.

I had a redundant Ipod touch, great music, no WordPress.

Bollocks.

I came home and I’ve got nothing. All my great ideas disappeared like the sun!

Stolen glimpses

The Indecisive Eejit26 Comments

Yesterday while hanging out my second load of washing for the day, I realised that I am always rushing. I get one job finished and I move on to the next, on and on until all tasks are complete. I leave very little time to stand still and take stock in between. Sometimes I wonder how much I actually accomplish,  everything I need, or do I waste endless minutes flapping while portraying a businesslike exterior.

I stopped yesterday and stared at the sea from my back garden, listened to the gentle hum of bees and the call of birds as they search for a mate and occupy hedgerows in order to build a home and family. Tractors preparing fields for seed and the bleats of new born lambs as they explore unfamiliar surroundings on shaky legs.

In the April sunshine, to one side I could see an expanse of blue sea and to the other green fields, lucky indeed to be centred in the middle of such beauty, a fact I sometimes forget, because I am always rushing.

I wish I had a little more time to appreciate my surroundings, but such is life, the boring run of the mill tasks do not take care of themselves, sadly. So I will just have to continues to catch glimpses of the changing seasons while I hang out the washing or walk  to work. Stolen glimpses are better than none after all.

Happy Sunday eejits!

Feeling Sarcastic for Summer!

The Indecisive Eejit30 Comments

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It’s probably not the warmest day ever, but seriously, it feels like it is! I am melting and by 3 o’clock this afternoon there is a very strong possibility I will have been reduced to nothing more than a puddle on the floor! If there is one thing I don’t do very well, it’s sunshine!

I’m the person that comes to work everyday with a coat,  as with our weather and the fact that I travel by public transport, you have to be prepared for every eventuality. In the old days on the train the heating used to be on 24/7 in the summer, but not in the winter. There were no windows to open, so it was like crowding a hundred people into a cardboard box and setting them beside a radiator. Thankfully these days the new trains have air conditioning, meaning conditions are a little more comfortable.

Warm weather isn’t really conducive to working either. I am sure that my employers would be reluctant to pay me for lying in a heap on the floor, suffering from the effects of heat exhaustion. The new office motto would fast become ‘Keep er cool and Keep er lit!’.

The worst thing about warm weather, without a doubt, would have to be heat rash! For the months between June to September, and sometimes longer I am speckled on certain parts of my body with little red dots, usually from hand to elbow and ankle to knee. It makes me feel a little self conscious about wearing anything with a shorter leg, imagine if someone were to sit down, pull out a pen and start to join the dots, would certainly save me ever having to get a tattoo, although I doubt it would be as artistic.

Hay fever is another one, although I appear to be blessed with it all year round. I am luckier than some however, as I don’t yet seem to suffer from the streaming eyes and runny nose. For me it’s nausea, itching eyes and a feeling like someone syringed cotton wool into my ears during the night, effectively filling my head full of fuzz. I never had hay fever until I was in my 30’s. They say that your blood changes every 7years, some ailments go or change, and some new ones appear. I’m hoping that one of these days the hay fever leaves as quickly as it arrived.

Apart from all that, isn’t summer a glorious time of the year. The long days, birds singing, the smell of fresh cut grass in the air, sand between your toes and the smell of the sea as the nights turn cooler.

Schools will finish soon, and no doubt there will be rain, there usually is when the kids finish for summer break, so instead of complaining perhaps I should suck it up and continue to make hay while the sun shines, so to speak! Assuming I don’t actually melt before then.

For those of you who liver in warmer climes, how the hell do you stick it!

Sittin in the Sun!

May Dupp14 Comments

May Sunshine

The sun was shining today in the metropolis of Belfast as I made my way into the park at the front of the City Hall. The town is still awash with pink as the buzz that surrounded the Giro d’Italia settles down to make room for the North West 200 bike races this weekend. Men in leathers might just pip men in lycra to the post in the hot two wheeled riders category, well for me anyway.

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Bring Me Sunshine!

The Indecisive Eejit3 Comments

Isn’t a touch of sunshine lovely. It’s been such a bad winter it seemed like we would never see it again.

Normally I’m a rainy type of girl myself. I love the shorter days and being warm and snug inside while the rain and wind batters the windows. But today the sunshine has even brought out the best in me.

Due to my injury last July I missed most of the summer, it was spent fretting over leg related issues. It passed in the blink of an eye and before I knew it Winter was upon us. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t miss a whole summer of not having to mow the lawn, nope, no complaints there.

But sunshine definitely makes you feel more energised. It gives you a boost, not unlike a good kick up the hole to be honest. People break out their shorts and t shirts, eager to make the most of them on what could potentially be the only day of sunshine, you can just never tell.

I love the smell of fresh cut grass, laundered sheets blowing in the wind and bar be Que’s. I’m not sure I appreciated them before my lost summer.

That said give me a couple of weeks. Sunshine also brings the dreaded heat rash and the mild hay fever I didn’t have until my  middle 30’s. Yay for getting older.

It’s to rain again tomorrow so all I can say is, lets make the most of today.