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Published: December 29th 2008
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Ho Ho Ho - Merry Christmas one and all. We had a nice sunny day here for the big day and I did, indeed, cook a christmas dinner - granted there was no turkey but it was a fancy dinner nonetheless. We didn't drink at all on Christmas day cos we overdid it a wee bit on Christmas Eve in good old Molly Malone's. Anyway, we spent most of the morning drinking tea out on our veranda and then had our dinner with Josef and Mayu inside. Then we went for a walk and got the bus back up the hill (free on Crimbo day!). We were a little homesick but managed to struggle through with pressies, chocolate and din dins. It's more the build up that we miss - those late Brogans sessions and work outings but sure soon we'll be back in the thick of it! Also we're very much looking forward to babysitting my darling nieces and nephews when I get back now that I know they got Wiis for Christmas. Woo Hoo.
Paul actually did have a work party where he dominated on the Karaoke machine.... I heard all about it in great detail when he crawled
in at about 3am. Hilarious!
It was back to work for me on Stephen's Day for the start of the big sales - fun times as you can imagine. The sales are going on till 5th January so the shop looks a mess and it's non stop running about but at least when the calm comes it will be all the sweeter. Paulie had that day off but has made up for it since, working a whopping 13 hours yesterday and 10 today. For New Years Eve we are planning to go with Josef and Mayu to their friend's house for a BBQ so that should be good - again I'm working on New Years Day so I'll just have to force myself home at a not too ungodly hour. Here's something to make you wince about my place of work. On the wall between the locker room and the shop floor there is a sign that says 'Before you go on the shop floor...choose your attitude'. Disgruntled underpaid serf? No? Not what you were looking for?
I went out last night with a couple of girls from work and discovered a few new bars and clubs
to go to and I did end up in a gay bar called Jet with Jared, the makeup counter guy, from Farmers - fun times.
- that was a laugh but I did spend pretty much the whole next day recovering in bed reading one of Santas pressies - Gene Wilder's autobiography which I recommend to all especially actors.
Some things about Wellington:
1. People actually do say 'sweet as' and 'awesome bro' all the time
2. Money is always rounded up or down to the nearest 10 so no 2ps or 1ps or 5ps. Good for me and my phobia of coinage.
3. Everybody says 'Thanks Driver' which sounds like 'Thenks Dri-vah' when getting off the bus (just like old ladies in Cabra!)
4. A lot of the buildings look quite shabby but there are sparkling clean public toilets - toilet roll AND no syringes!
5. A homeless man called locally 'Blanket Man' sits on Courteney Place all day in nothing but a sheepskin thong (a sight to behold). On cold days he also has a blanket round his shoulders - hence the inventive nickname. Apparantley he believes himself to be the reincarnation of a
Sun God.
6. Everybody drinks energy drinks, a lot.
7. At first we thought there weren't that many pubs. We were wrong - they are all just a wee bit hidden.
8. There are many many many ad breaks on TV and they have that cheap UTV feel to them - most are about DIY warehouses and have punchy tag lines such as:
' Know How, Can do"
'You want it , we got it, let's talk'
I often imagine them being blared at me in a Northern Irish accent - they're that sort of quality. By the way - how have the shopping centre ads on UTV been? I miss them.
TV here sucks - all channels show are american or australian imports with the exception of maybe 3 programs (including the news) - oh, and Sky News Australia is even worse than the UK one. Yeah, really.
9. Insect insects everywhere.
10. Everyone here is really really friendly and the majority of folk are, or at least try to be, relaxed and easy going. There are LOADS of odd people here too though, so we fit right in.
Will be speaking to a
the hill that we live on
see if you spot our house lot of you in the New Year - despite global meltdown, 2008 has been a brilliant one for us, until the next blog, Slan Libh xxx
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Sinead Daly
non-member comment
Hi there, I hope that you're not slagging our accent and great tv missy! Happy christmas pet and all the best for the new year pet xx