Friday quickie

It's another beautiful morning here today: blue skies & sunshine, birds tweeting, blossoms blossoming, the works. Best of all though, it's Friday. Not just any Friday, though - it's the start of a Bank Holiday weekend here. That's right, Monday is a holiday and rumour has it the weather is planning to stay good for the whole weekend. Woo hoo! I think I can now safely say that winter is finally over for a while :-)

My li'l sister is coming to visit from London this evening for a few days. You know what that means, don't you? Too much wine, too much talking and too much shopping. Over-indulgence at it's finest.
Needless to say I won't be spending too much time on the computer this weekend.

So before I disappear into the real world for a few days, I thought I'd pop a quick post up here to keep you company in case you think I'm neglecting you. So here are today's announcements:

First I'd like to congratulate my Cousin, Del and his other half who brought a bouncing baby boy into the world this week. Can't wait to meet him, Cuz... and... Pictures! We want more pictures!
;-)

Second, if you have some time and a shortage of reading material, you may want to mosey on over to The Clarity of Night. Jason has been running a short fiction contest and the response has been fantastic. Entries closed yesterday. You can read mine here or on my terristories blog. All the entries were superb and it's interesting to see how the same picture inspires such a variety of stories.

And third, I'm outta here. Have a great weekend, wherever you are!

Just Because

I just had to share this photo with you 'cos I want to and 'cos I like it. One of these days I'm going to get soooo distracted taking photos in the morning when the sun is on our side of the building that I'm going to miss my train. I just know it. Oh well, a girl has to stop and smell the roses sometimes, eh? Yes, I know this is not a rose, but you get the idea :)

Did I ever mention that one of my 'things' in life is that I love to be surrounded by beauty? That sounds a bit silly - I'm sure everyone does - but I really mean it. I love pretty things. Scenery, clothes, flowers, furnishings, people. Does that sound terribly shallow? Well tough sh*t if it does. [Yes, I know - beautiful language is not necessarily my strong point...]

Being surrounded by beauty lifts my spirits.
So, just because I can, here's another one.

Unlocking Angel's mind

That's right people, it's time for the second interview in my list of interviewees... Angel, this is for you.

Angel is a single mom who lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. Although she's been blogging for almost a year now, I haven't, and I only discovered her blog a few months ago.
What I have learnt about Angel so far is that she's bright and artistic and has her hands full raising her 15-year old son Damien, who is as bright and artistic as she is. He also has ADD which makes single parenting just that much harder. They often clash, which results in heated arguments, but it is obvious from her posts that they love each other as much as any two people can.

Reading her "100 things about mois" post gives one enormous insight into what makes Angel the unique person she is: clever, loving... and a survivor.
Angel loves dragons and she loves cats. She has three tattoos.
She posts a Flash Fiction story pretty much every week - I discovered Purgatorian's weekly FFF challenge through Angel's blog.

Angel, you volunteered to be interviewed by me (silly girl - what were you thinking?!). So take a deep breath, loosen those fingers and prepare to type, because here are your questions:

Question 1:
You have never been married, and you don't intend to get married because of some bad experiences you had when Damien was little. You made this decision selflessly because you believed it would be better for your son. Nonetheless, you collect wedding magazines and express a wish to one day be a wedding planner. You have even started another blog, Angel's Weddings, devoted to to wedding tips and bits and pieces.
Do you still want to get married yourself one day? Do you hope to meet that special someone when Damien has gotten to an age when your own relationship will be less likely to affect him?

Question 2:
I'm not really sure how you feel about Damien's father. I get the feeling you resent him, but I also get the feeling you still harbour feelings towards him, although what those feelings are exactly is a little hazy. When you fell pregnant it was not just your decision not to get married - his parents played a big role in that. How did you really feel about it all at the time, and how do you feel about it now? Do you wish a different decision had been made?

Question 3:
Your family is very close. You've lived in more or less the same area your whole life, even went to the same school as your parents did. Have you done any travelling, and would you like to? If so, where would you like to go / what sort of trip would you like to take?

Question 4:
You love dragons and everything to do with them. Your Flash Fiction stories often feature dragons or mythical science-fiction creatures. Is what we read on you blog the only writing you do? Or have you written other stories or have a desire to do other writing, perhaps have something published?

Question 5:
Short and sweet and to the point: Why did you start blogging?

Well I hope you're not regretting your decision to be interviewed... seemed like a good idea at the time eh? mwahahahaha!
I (im)patiently await your responses...
;)

A house in the Sun... well, sort of.

The time has come for us to buy a house here. After nearly 5 years in Ireland we are finally in a place where we can - and we'd better do it soon because with house prices having risen on average by about €30,000 in the first quarter of this year, if we don't do it now the market is going to move out of our reach again.

So we've started looking, in earnest. We saw one during the week that we made a tentative offer on. Tomorrow we'll go check out what we think will be that one's opposition. Things work really differently over here though.

In SA, if you want to sell your house you put it on the market and then the buyers beat the price down until you settle on the final amount.
Here, people advertise their house for sale at a minimum price, and then the bidding begins and the price keeps going up until eventually the house goes to the highest bidder. This system definitely does not favour the buyer.
Trouble is, the population here is just exploding - people are moving here in droves and there are just not enough houses to keep up. The amount of construction going on is phenomenal, and still people are queuing in their cars overnight to secure the purchase of houses not even built yet.
It's all terribly frustrating for people like us, who just want to find a home to live in. You'd think it would be easier than this, but finding a house is like hunting for hen's teeth.

But apart from the frustration, I am getting so very excited. If all goes according to plan, then within the next few months we'll be living in our OWN place, with a garden, and I will be able to hang pictures wherever I please, and paint the walls whatever colour I choose, and, and... oh boy, it will be so nice to have our own space!