Does anyone have a rubber dinghy we can borrow?

Apparently, the west of Ireland has had 4 months worth of rain in the last 3 weeks – and it hasn’t stopped yet. As a result, the Shannon waterway is close to being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of water which is trying to make its way to the sea. Hindered by exceptionally high tides and strong westerly winds, the water has now backed up into areas which have not been flooded in living memory. We have escaped the worst of this but there are a lot of families across the county who have seen their homes inundated and are not expecting the waters to recede for a week or more. There are aerial photos of some of the flooding on the Clare FM website. Perhaps there are advantages to living in a city centre flat on the 6th floor!

Do I look like a fecking truck driver?

While the dress code here in Clare may be a little more relaxed than in EC2, one tries to maintain a certain standard. In pursuit of this goal, I visited my barber in Ennistymon today – not just any old barber but a transplanted Dub who has helped me to understand the vagaries of the Irish economy and political life over the last few months.
As I left Ed’s place, on my way to meet Linda, I was accosted by the driver of a late model Mercedes saloon – apparently the owner of a local hotel – who was upset by a parked truck which was blocking access to his driveway. In response to the question “are you the driver of that truck?” I regret that I could manage nothing better than the response above.

Spanish with Mrs O’Riordan

Only two more Spanish classes to go and I am beginning to wonder if the Costa Rican population will understand my irish-accented Spanish. There are only two of us in the class and Michelle from Newmarket on Fergus is really only interested in ordering more beer, finding out when the bars open and negotiating the price for her next tattoo. This has limited our conversation somewhat – although I have learned a few new English words! It was almost a relief to arrive today to find that she hadn’t been able to come to class because of the flooding. 1 ½ hours of one-to-one conversation with Mrs O’Riordan however was a bit of a challenge.

More farming!

Keith had asked if we could move Molly back to our land this morning to allow room for his new foal. Managed this before breakfast and then went down to see how things were on the farm. I spent the rest of the morning helping build new accommodation for the ducks, watching the vet deal with a cow with a prolapse and preparing a space for the new foal. During all of this we had more torrents of rain and gale force winds which added to the enjoyment. We also had to clear vermin which we uncovered when moving a stack of straw bales. Discovered that some of the mice we dispatched were actually baby rats when the mother rat appeared from under the last bale. Unfortunately she took us all by surprise and escaped into the yard.
Michael arrived with the new filly just before lunch and Linda came down to check her out in the afternoon. A very pretty dun Connemara pony with black mane and tail. No name yet but watch this space.
It was fun to visit the big city but it’s good to be home!

Weather

Have seen the reports of the floods in Cumbria, but I think things have been as bad in Cork, Ballinasloe and Ennis where hundreds of people have been evacuated and there are still many areas under water. We’ve seen gale force winds and torrents of rain at Moyhill but most of the water runs down the hill in front of the house and cause us no problem.

Journey home

According to the AA Routeplanner it is 162 miles from Dublin to Moyhill and should take 3 hours. The first part of the journey was very easy – away from the hotel by 10.00, found the motorway with no problem and by 11.45 we had covered 92 miles and reached the exit for Ballinasloe where the main road was closed due to flooding. Unfortunately it took 5 hours to cover the remaining 107 miles due to flooded roads and an extremely roundabout route – spoke to more Gardai today than in the last 8 months trying to find out about passable local roads. It’s all very well for the HGV’s and the landcruisers to plough through the water covering the road – a bit different with a ground clearance of 4 inches!
To cap it all, within 20 mins of getting home we had a powercut – due to heavy rains – which fortunately only lasted an hour. Must remember to replenish the stock of candles and pick up a primus stove!

Melody Gardot

Thursday night at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin for a concert by Melody Gardot – my birthday present from Linda. A great venue and even better performance but not sure I can cope with the Dubs!
Clearly city dwellers who are important and busy and have no time to wait for the end of a number before disrupting the other people in their row – and the entire audience – by their numerous trips to the toilets. One blonde executive bimbo, with her mother in tow, wouldn’t wait for the start of the programme – which was a little delayed – and left noisily and ostentatiously from the middle of a row ahead of us only to return 15 mins after the show had begun and then leave again less than half way through the set.
Melody Gardot was fabulous – if you have not heard her yet then check out either of her two albums – ‘My one and only thrill’ and Worrisome Heart’ - or catch the show when she comes your way.