Categories
Personal

Back In The Saddle

OK, I’m back! I’ve not been ill in a very long time and that flu really knocked me out; every time I thought I was getting over it it would hit me again and I was back to the Night Nurse.

It’s times like the past fortnight that highlight the downside of freelance…if you don’t work you don’t get paid. So I dragged my diseased self to my computer monitor everyday because there was no way I was going to take two weeks of unpaid time off if I wasn’t going to be spending it on a beach somewhere balmy with a large fruity cocktail in my hand. On the whole, freelance is a positive experience: I’m a pretty easygoing boss. I’m not picky about punctuality, if I decide to start work at 11am instead of 10 then that’s just peachy. If I hit a wall at 1pm and feel like having an extended lunch break then I take myself off to the beach or go play with my daughter and nobody gives me any dirty looks. If I get through a lot of animation and finish up at 3pm then I pack up and go downstairs and nobody gives me “the talk” about being a teamplayer and staying late with everyone else for the sake of team solidarity.

On the other hand, communicating with workmates via MSN can be kind of lonely compared to long chats over the desks, especially when they all sign off to go to the pub on Thursday evening with a long weekend ahead of them.

Am I the only one working today?

Categories
Photography

A Plague On My House

buds04

I’ve been laid low with the flu for the past week, hence my lack of posting; it didn’t fit in with my busy schedule of sitting wrapped up in front of the telly watching “The Incredibles” for the 332nd time. It’s a testament to just how good the Pixar films are that they stand up to the repeated viewing that toddlers demand. “Thomas the Tank Engine” on the other hand…not so much.

I have been feeling increasing Blog Anxiety though through not having posted anything new on here in a week, so here are some photos taken of the trees finally getting with the programme and producing some buds. Now if the weather would just follow suit we’d be laughing.

Categories
Ireland

Internet-Phobia

buggy

By far one of the best investments we have made in child equipment has been the Phil & Ted’s 3-wheel pram. It’s a popular model among the toddler-owning fraternity and I see more and more of them when I’m out and about. Always there’s a shared smile and a nod of the head that says “Hello fellow trendy parent, aren’t we glad we’re not bugaboo owners.” It also gets a fair amount of attention from people wanting to know where I got it and do I like it, so I wasn’t surprised when I was approached in Dundrum Shopping Centre on Sunday afternoon.

She was wearing a full-length fur coat and looked far too manicured to be a parent but nevertheless she swooped over to me:

“Oooh, we’ve been looking for a pram like that! Do you like it?”

“Yes, it’s great, we love it.”

“Wherever did you find it? We’ve looked everywhere.”

“I got it off the inter….”

I hadn’t even got the word out when the smile died on her lips, she rolled her eyes, clicked her tongue and turned her back on me. Ever eager to have complete strangers approve of me I called after her,

“I’ve seen them in Roches Stores in Blackrock as well.”

She was no longer interested though and gave me an unconvincing smile over her shoulder before sweeping away. Had she given me the chance I would have asked her why she reacted that way to my mention of the internet. She didn’t strike me as the type to not have a credit card…perhaps she doesn’t have access since so many people in Ireland still don’t even have dial-up.

I couldn’t help wondering if it was something more like fear; to the average Irish person who doesn’t spend as much time online as we bloggers and blog-readers, I can imagine the internet would seem a scary place. The media likes to publish stories about the dark side of online life, the sensational accounts of pornography, child groomers and identity fraud. I suppose those are the ones that sell newspapers and boost ratings.

If she would have stayed around I could have told her I had been able to read reviews and compare prices at my leisure, all from the comfort of my home. In the end the pram cost me over €100 less online than any shop I checked with here in Ireland. Even when I rang those Irish shops hoping to give them my business and told them I would definitely buy from them if they would match the price they refused with no negotiation. Not even an offer of a discount. So, instead I bought from Kiddicare in the UK who delivered to my door within two days, no fuss. I believe we have in the internet a wonderful weapon against so-called “Rip-Off Ireland” and it’s not being used to its full potential, either by retailers or by customers.

Why are we as a nation so slow to embrace it?

Categories
Photography

Powerscourt Waterfall

Powerscourt Waterfall

We braved the weekend weather and headed down to Powerscourt Waterfall on Saturday. I wanted to try out my new lens and Matt’s mother was visiting from England so we thought we’d show her a bit of the Irish countryside and Eve enjoyed the “Pash, Pash, Pash” (insert hands-splashing-water image).

We weren’t there long before the heavens opened so I only got a few shots in. On the whole I was happy with my lens, although the colours and sharpness are never going to be a match for the results I get with my wide-angle, 17-40L lens.

Matt makes fun of me for taking close-up photographs of trees but I like how this one turned out.

bark

Categories
Blogging Photography

Going Outside

Spring Sunshine

We’ve all been going a little stir crazy at Casa Wilson the last few weeks. The seemingly endless rain and a tight deadline have meant that we’re all living in eachother’s back pockets and not getting enough sunlight…hence the look of confusion on Eve’s face in the above photo. “What is this strange place…this “outside” you speak of.”

Oh, and a sidenote: why, oh why is my blog being spam-bombed? What am I doing differently of late that has caused me to blip onto these people’s radar? Everytime I log on I have on average 30 new comments from…well I won’t say specific phrases because then I might start showing up on search engines for some of those things and get even more of it. WordPress is doing an excellent job of catching it all so far. I just can’t understand the mentality of someone who will spend what must be hour on mind-numbing hour trawling through comments on old blog posts pasting this drivel. Is this the dream job you always hoped to have? Did you sit on your mother’s lap and tell her your fondest dream was to become an internet pest?

Miracle of miracles the sun has come out, the birds are singing…I’m going for a walk in the real world for awhile.