Welcome!

Do you remember what my second bedroom looked like? Apart from the desk area which was all done, the rest was just a jumble of mess and boxes. But over the past few days I got to it. Since everything comes from a well known Swedish furniture store, everything has to be put together yourself, but I did and the result is okay. 

It is not completely finished though. I still need my stay-over book, which is in one of the many boxes still in the garage. But before the first guests (probably my parents) arrive, that will be found as well. 

On another note, a couple of real big pluses about living here: 

• It's close to work. Like five minutes!
• It's quiet during both day and night. 
• It's dark at night. No street lights at all.
• And the best one? I can watch television from the toilet! 

Anyway, if you want to come and stay the night: there is a bed waiting and ready. And don't worry, before any guests arrive, I will make sure the bed is cat hair free!

Miss Oswin is on the move again

Miaow

Would you believe it? SHE made me move again! That is the fourth time I have moved to live with HER. And she says it probably isn't going to be the last time either! Another move?? Horror!

I mean I get why she wanted me to move to the little cottage in the Norwegian countryside. I was after all the MBC in the WWU and I needed a really lovely place to move to. And I also get why we had to move out of there again. When the landlady said I had ruined the water supply, I knew she must have been sniffing glue and it was better to move to another place.

Our next place wasn't as nicely located, but it was a good place nonetheless. And our landlord was really nice as well, looking after me when Mara went on holiday and such. Plus there was plenty of room outside for me to explore. But then SHE decided to move again!

This time the move wasn't as nice. Big loud noisy things, even worse then the regular torture visitor (ie car to the vet) and there were three of them! I moved in with her sister Gera who is really nice, even if she only fed me once! (we had decided early on to only let me feed Miss O)

Looking out over the street at Gera's

The house was nice, there were windows I could look out of and a window sill upstairs so I could even get outside. But of course, that was not good enough. I was moved again. I mean, don't get me wrong, the place is quite nice, although there is a lot of mess. And Mara has promised me that soon I will be allowed to go outside again. Meet the neighbour cats, roam about in the wooded area and check out all the birdies. It had better be good.

The ONLY window I can look out of!

And about any other moves: keep them! I am fed up with them!!

We're in!

Along the bank of the River Liffey in Dublin
Waiting for the Michael Bublé concert to finish on Saturday

After five long days, today I had a day off again. Fortunately, because I really really really needed it. Not just to get my breath back (hasn't happened yet), but to finally move in! So, when I woke this morning at a ridiculously early time (09.45, I had only gotten to bed at 04.15), I fed Miss O, packed my large suitcase, grabbed food from the fridge and headed to my new place. 

Brom is in place as well!

There I proceeded to make my bed, look around me, do not much and then decided to head to the shops. I got a thingy that helps me get online with my own proper computer and a cable to watch television. The first works, albeit slowly, the second one does not. Ah well, it will be an early night for me tonight anyway. 

My new desk and lovely and comfy new desk chair
In the guest room

I got food and other 'stuff' and then I drove back to my sister's. I packed the small suitcase, grabbed the computer and the last thing I did was pack up a certain feline. She was not happy and she let me know that the whole way coming over! She is however relaxing again right now and getting used to her new place. Which honestly is a shambles at the moment. 

My bedroom is most advanced. There are still some bits and bobs that need to be removed from there, but most has been put in its place, hung up, laid down, put away. The bathroom is the same really. It contains two toilets, one for each of us and everything else has been tidied away. 

This is too messy even for me!!

The kitchen/living room is only partly tidied. Only half of all my stuff has made it upstairs: there is not enough room! I will tidy away the foodstuff tonight and/or tomorrow, then there are ornaments to place, dvd-player to be set up again, tv to be made working, table to arrive (have to collect it from my sister's). 

Miss O didn't want to look up: she had to smell the old chair!

Mind you, several of my large photos are hanging throughout the place, so that is mainly done. But there is other stuff to be gotten up, because it still looks quite clinical to me. 

Can you see the bed? It's in all those boxes!!!

The second bedroom is only half done as well. Well, quarter done really. Two bookcases need to be put together and then there are the bed and the side tables to do. When it is finished it will have a light Scandi-feel to it, helped by the three photos I took in Norway. There might be even more photos floating about somewhere, but I will have to find those first.

The head at Marlay Park near Dublin
Waiting for the (open air) Queen concert to finish.
I didn't see them, but I did hear them: great fun!!

Update

Well, even though it's the summer holidays here in Northern Ireland, it is still as busy as ever. As I mentioned last time, I am in the middle of moving into my new place, but I have been so busy, it's hard to find the time to do anything other than sleep. At my sister's place! Anyway, I hope to be in next week. 

Now you may know that I suffer from headaches and I blamed anything from cheese and chocolate to sitting behind the steering wheel of a bus. Physio did a bit to alleviate, but in my view not nearly enough to really make a difference. And then I moved to NI and even though I have had a couple of headaches in the early weeks, since then: nothing. Well, almost. I had a slight headache the other day, but it wasn't anywhere close to the degree of bothersome as it was before. I don't know whether it's sitting at the other end of the bus or whether it has to do with the bed my sister has me sleep in. 

My sister's guest bed is hard and I was sort of dreading it. But two mattresses on top of each other and I am quite okay. And now the headaches have nearly disappeared as well, so I figured it might have something to do with the bed being a lot harder than my own. So, I got myself some new mattresses as well, a lot harder than before. Fingers crossed it works as well as my sister's bed!

Other than that: not much news! I may be able to write a post, however, I am still so busy that reading them is nearly impossible. So, please forgive me. I will get to you as soon as I have a bit more than half an hour to my name!

Birthday weekend

It was my birthday on Saturday, but this year it was not spent in a leisurely manner. Instead me and my sister went over to my new place early to get things done. We sorted through all the furniture bits to gather everything belonging to one piece of furniture, we lugged some of them up the stairs to the apartment and we put the new chest of drawers together. 

I was supposed to be off the whole weekend (my first really), but alas, another driver had a death in the family and I was asked to step in. Since I had dropped the group off, I at least I knew where to go, but it was a shame as now the Sunday was completely gone. 

I did get Monday off though, which meant that I really got cracking with the bedroom. All my clothes and linens are now unpacked and sorted. Good feeling. Today I have another day off: more furniture will be delivered today and I will get my kitchen stuff sorted as well. Plus hopefully put some other pieces of furniture together. 

So, that was my weekend. Next week my sister is going on holiday for a week and by the time she gets back, I will be living somewhere else. It will be very strange, but there will be some good things as well: closer to work; all my own things again; Miss Oswin (after a couple of weeks) can finally go outside again. 

Of course now I have hardly got any money left at all. I had a fair buffer fortunately, but I will need to start saving again if I want anything else like gold plated chair legs and platinum tooth brushes. I don't want either, but you know...

Oh, and finally, some of the zoo photos! Photos of the new place will follow soon. I hope...

Right ho!

Has it been that long already? Really?? Well, there is only one excuse: work! And lots of it. And I mean lots!! Early mornings (like 2.15am starts) and late nights have been the norm lately. 

I am still living at my sister's, but the plan is that I will be moving this weekend. Mixed feelings about that though. I like living with my sister and she doesn't mind having me either, but I would like to live a bit closer to work. Five instead of thirty minutes does sound great especially when working early or late. 

This week I did have some lovely visits. One to a country house where I didn't take any photos! And then one to Belfast Zoo, where I did. 

Anyway, it's off to work again, today and tomorrow and then this weekend it will be the big moving weekend. After which we will settle into our new home, because of course Miss O will be coming along as well. 

PS: photos to come another time: they were taking way too long!!!

Photo on Sunday 2018-15

Ulster Orchestra

String

Telling a bit more

Going down into the caves

Well, as you know I have been busy lately. Mainly due to the fact that once they got me on that coach, they didn't want to stop and I have been driving the larger coaches now for a few weeks. I have been doing the Glasgow Express quite often, to the degree where I get recognised when entering the truckers lounge! In fact, this week I will be doing that journey four times! 

But, it hasn't been all work. My sister and I had a lovely day out a few weeks ago, where we visited some caves. We had hoped to use a little boat to get into the caves, but the water was too high due to heavy rain the night before, so we had to walk. It was still very beautiful.

A natural path made through the rocks by water

After that we drove up to Belleek Pottery. I love small vases and I wanted to see whether there was any to add to my collection. Unfortunately they were all too big to my taste, but my sister did come away with one. Then we had a lovely scenic route home. 

I also found out that where Norway 'works', Northern Ireland doesn't. Norway has a system that works very easy. You have your own personal number and that can be used to do most things. Open a bank account? Done. Taxes? Done. Sell your car? Done. And I don't mean having to wait for three working days for it to be done, it's done in an instant.

Just a service ladder, it didn't lead anywhere

I had opened a bank account here in NI, but I also wanted a savings account. I used the same bank, which should mean my information was on file (it was, sort of), yet I had to give the exact same information as I had to before! Plus a whole lot more. How much was I to put into my savings account? Where would the money come from? The what???

Well, I struggled through those 45 minutes and we were finally done. Although I did NOT have my account number yet, that would take a couple of days. I now have to manually add my savings account to my online banking! They blame it on new rules and such, not sure I agree, since Norway has to adhere to the same rules. Anyway. It's done now, I have the number and I can now start saving for a rainy day. 

Atlantis. Well, it was the reflection of the stalagtites in the the still water

On Tuesday I will be visiting my new place and then hopefully after that I will be able to move in. It would be so good not having to drive half an hour to my sister after a long shift. Instead, it is just a five minute ride and I can jump straight into bed. Bliss....

Just so you know!

No, I haven't fallen off the grid. I have not crashed a coach/bus. I have not disappeared into thin air. 

I just have been extremely busy at work. And as a result of that: tired. I make long hours nearly every day and when I am off, I just hang about doing nothing really. 

I am still living at my sister's, although the apartment is nearly ready and I hope to be moving in next week. I might have to ask a few days off though, just to get everything sorted. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed again. 

Other than that: I will try and give you a better update tomorrow or Sunday. I hope...

On repeat

After last Tuesday's successful trip to Glasgow, I got another chance yesterday. This time with a coach that was a bit smaller. Not necessarily less wide, but definitely shorter. And this time I also managed to be on time everywhere. Not that that was hard to do: it was so early in the day, most people were still asleep I think. My own alarm clock had gone off at 3.45 am!!

Anyway, I made my way to Glasgow and I felt I did okay. I arrived at the bus station and once the passengers had gotten off, the new lot came on. Including the same colleague who had traveled back with me on Tuesday. He showed me another way to get out of Glasgow and another way to get into Belfast as well. Always handy. 

After we had gotten back to base, he told me he felt I was more secure this time around. I will still need a lot of practice, but I am doing fine so far and getting more comfortable for every trip I do. I just know I will need to remember to take a book or (when it's possible again) some knitting for that ferry ride. Two and a half hours one way is quite long to just stare at the sea. 

Today it's back to the mini bus and a completely different trip. I have gotten the details and have looked through them. It doesn't sound too difficult. Famous last words of course, but so far, I have managed everything they have thrown at me and I do have a sat nav with me as well (gps system). I will pick up passengers at two different places before driving them to a large venue in Belfast. 

I will then be waiting until they come back from whoever/whatever they will watch and drive them back home. I hope to be back home and ready for bed at around 2 in the morning! Tomorrow I will have another job (not sure what it is yet) and then on Sunday my sister and I made plans. Hopefully the weather will be okay then, since they are forecasting worse weather from today onward.