Me. Writing. Stuff.
Betty Draper, her off Mad Men. Well, she really annoys me.
she’s uptight, conservative and has no personality to speak of and her incessant smoking of fags and drinking of wine irks me.
The biggest thing that gets to me is the way she treats her daughter, Sally.
Watch this space, I predict hard times ahead as Sally will become a naughty teenager.
Go watch Mad Men, you know you wanna.
You may have read a lot about my house swapping fun on this blog but I got myelf published in the local paper, the Carlow Nationalist a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, I don’t have a PDF so I’ve published it here instead.
House Swap
We love traveling and had been thinking about the idea of house swap for years. My husband, Simon and I are both teachers and knew lots of other teachers who had swapped their home, car and pets for a summer holiday in an exotic location Looking back on the holiday, it was far too simple to organise and plan. It was perfect.
We registered online with the intervac website, paid €100 for the year, popped up some attractive photos of our house and we were off!
We were inundated with offers from all around Europe-Crete, Barcelona and Rotterdam. We went with the first offer-an Italian family wanted to swap their home in the small town of Tagliacozzo in the region of Abruzzo, Central Italy with our home in Carlow. Even better, they had a car and they’d feed our precious cat. It took us about 5 seconds to agree, we checked their credentials and background on Intervac.com and saw they had been at this swapping business for 8 years. We were complete newbies, they were putting their trust in us!
We booked our flights with a certain budget airline for €180 flying direct from Dublin-Rome. When we got off the flight, our Italians met us with the car and house keys. Simon had offered to drive, which was good as I wouldn’t have the nerve for it. The town of Tagliacozzo was our final destination. It’s about 80 km outside of Rome and the journey was challenging! We had never driven on that side of the road before and never experienced roads or drivers like those in Italy.
Once, we arrived, the stress levels disappeared though. The town of Tagliacozzo is just heavenly. Its authentically Italian, nestled in the hills with a relaxing square right in the centre of the town. We sent our days exploring the town and its quirky shops, cafe bars, restaurants and ice cream shops. The train system was excellent so there was no need to drive anywhere. We took day trips to Rome, Sulmona, Pescara and Tivoli.
We spent very little money as we had our breakfast in the house every morning out on the balcony. We have never felt so relaxed in our lives. The Italians are wonderfully warm people even if we didn’t have a clue what they were saying most of the time Food and drink were unbelievably reasonable-75c for espresso and main meals at €8.
We wondered about our Italians in Carlow town, what would they think of it? How was our house? Did our cat run away?
There was no need to worry, when we returned, the house was spotless, the cat was well fed and a beautiful window box of flowers was left for us.
We would both highly recommend house swapping, particularly if you have young children. We plan to do it again, very shortly, maybe a short break in Europe again. The handiness of having all the mods cons you need around you is an attractive plus The beauty of house swapping is that you get to visit somewhere you wouldn’t find in a guidebook. We started to feel like one of the natives and return refreshed to your home town, looking at Carlow in a whole new light.
Top tips
Make sure you register with a reputable site like intervac. You pay a yearly fee to use their service so get good value from it by putting photos, maps and interesting information about your home town.
Be positive but honest about your home town. Friends are amazed that an Italian family wanted to swap their house to come to Carlow but it’s easy to get used to your own home town and see it like a visitor. When we put together a must-see pack for Carlow for our family, it went on for 4 full pages!
Don’t be scared! It can seem daunting to leave your house with strangers but if you go on a normal holiday, its left completely empty and alone! If you do a house swap, your house will be minded, plants watered and pets stroked! Plus, you’re in their house so they are putting trust in you!
Intervac have a pack of “what to do” for newbie house swappers, read this carefully.
Last of all, go for it! It’s a leap of faith but the people that do house swapping tend to be like minded-open, easy going but trustworthy!
So, we made a promise to each other after we got married.
That on every wedding anniversary, we would stay somewhere really special and lovely and buy each other a present based on the theme of that wedding anniversary.
Year 1 was paper, which was okay. Year 2 was cotton, which was really tough to think up and this year was glass/leather, strangely enough.
Simon loves wine. But, not just any wine. He only likes good, good, good wine. Of the red variety. It doesn’t have to cost a lot, so he says but it often does! He knows his stuff when it comes to wine and can spot wine bluffers from miles away. He worked in an Off-licence when he was a student and was trained in well. i.e He was encouraged to take a bottle of wine home every week and drink it. For research purposes only. Simon became quite the posh student quaffing glasses of rich Chianti. Or something like that. I’ve probably got that wine wrong because I don’t know much about wine and will divert the wine choice to my husband in a very old-fashioned way every time.
So, when the theme of glass came up, I was highly imaginative and bought him some wine…in a glass bottle. Get it? The lovely guy in O’ Briens showed me some good Argentinian wine, which is his fave.
See, I do listen!
I had the choice of 3 wines so I picked the cutest one, it had a little star on the front of the label. It’s called Clos de los Siete and Simon raved about it.
You can see it here.
http://www.obrienswine.ie/Argentina/Clos-de-los-Siete/22426/
I was rather chuffed by my present, a pair of drop earrings with glass in the stone part.But, as always love getting a card most of all. Love reading all the special words written in it and keeping them in a box. I don’t hoard things ever but I have hoarded everything from Simon.
In my next blog, I’ll tell all about where we went for our anniversary. Can you wait till then?
Don’t get me wrong, our previous Tutors have been brilliant but I think we were all secretly happy that Fergus was back with us on the Opera for Carlow Project. Not only is brilliant but the project is a joint venture for him and Brian Irvine and both of them are obsessed with opera!
Fergus is a strict but fun coach. WE did lots of warming up games and the people who couldn’t concentrate found it hard at times. After an hour of these vocal games, we began to sing opera! Fergus has composed a little ditty in his spare time. It was broken into different parts for the Sopranos, altos, bass and tenors. I’m an alto and have quite a low voice, I got quite worried at times as when I attempted the high Soprano bits, I felt my voice strain. I didn’t give up though.
We were broken into small groups of 8, which I loved and each group had to start the song at a different part. I enjoy this, listening carefully for the correct time to come in, I think I have a good auditory ability but some people struggled and had to be helped and encouraged along in the group, which was nice.
WE were then broken up invidually and had to walk around the room and sing a random line of the song at the correct time to a person, acting it out. This is the bit i find hard, it’s quite hard to let yourself go and some people at the workshop have no problems doing this so I try to be encouraged by this!
I was wrecked after this but really excited, starting to get a feel for what it will sound like to be part of a group.
If you’d like to listen in to the journey so farm, click here for details
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUBSI2OeM78
Here’s a link to a piece that Fergus was conducting.
http://www.podcastingireland.ie/?p=365
I’m under pressure to write something for my blog, we had lunch with Terrence, one of my closest friends, last weekend and he commented on my lack of new posts. So, hopefully, he enjoys this one. I even have a photo of him looking all smart in his work outfit.
That’s him on the left with the even lovelier Simon on the right!
Italian food is rather good..if it is done well. Most towns in Ireland have an Italian restaurant. Most of them are not authentic. They’ve been adapted for Irish tastes, making sure to have chips, steak and lasagne on the menu.
We do not have a real Italian restaurant in Carlow Town, in my humble opinion. We did have a real-life Italian up until a few years ago. The owner was from Napoli and he cooked in the navy for years, he ended up in Carlow, which was excellent for us but he also ended up being a child abuser on the run, which was not so good.
That restaurant closed.
So, when I find a good, Italian place, I grab on to it with both hands!
Taste of Emelia on Liffey Street is one of these, it is simple, tasty and well priced. Emelia is one of the owners and she is a happy, little camper.
You can order simple bruschetta, mini pizzas and light bites. Wash it down with a good espresso or white wine and you will go away very relaxed.
I usually get the Braesola plate, rocket salad and Parmesan shavings with warm bread. Delish. They also sell loads of Italian meats, cheeses, wines, pasta, rice and desserts to take away.
So, if you want somewhere nice to have a coffee or eat authentic Italian good, check it out.
I signed up to do a writing course with a company called “Dingle Writing Courses” The courses are not actually in Dingle but who cares?!
They had a couple of courses running last weekend-poetry, children’s fiction and adult fiction. I opted for the Children’s workshop with Kevin Crossley-Holland, him of the famous and well loved children’s novels, the Arthur Trilogy and many more. He also happens to be quite obsessed and experienced in History, folklore and poetry. The course was set near the village of Ballyferriter, which is about 12 km from Dingle Town, or An Daingean as they like to think it’s called.
I was hoping it would invigorate me to write with…em…vigor and also be a bit of a break for me and my lovely, busy husband, Simon.
It did. We spent the weekend meeting like-minded people, writing obsessively and engaging in some interesting debate like:
“What is the difference between a children’s book and an adult book?”
“What are the main components of a children’s novel?”
and most importantly:
“Why is Twilight so damn popular?”
We were able to answer all the above but I think the answer to the 3rd question comes in 2 words: Robert Pattisson.
All meals were included in the price and Aine (she lives in Tig Aine, where the course was) cooked and baked like mad. Beautiful, old style roast dinners and butternut squash soup, meats and freshly baked bread and scones for lunch.
We cosied up in front of a turf fire to write and listen to Kevin giving us his wise words and looked out the window at the inspiring scenery and cuddled up hens on the window.
http://www.dinglewritingcourses.ie/
I’ve attached some photos of my experience.
What do you think? Does atmosphere enhance the writing process?
Last night, the Opera for Carlow group met in a big favourite of real Carlovians-The Seven Oaks Hotel.
The room was packed full of people I didn’t know or recognise from the last workshop, which I love!
Alan Leech was our tutor for this workshop, he was a big energy ball of professional and highly talented music! Speaking to others afterwards, we all thoroughly enjoyed the session and would love to have him back to Carlow. But, he is a busy tenor!
Alan Leech gave us an energetic workshop and covered things like posture, breathing, pronunciation and emphasis on words. He taught us a new song, which was a good idea. It always nice to go away with a product of some so to work in your own time.
There was a great mix of people from all ages and backgrounds and we are back with a different tutor next week to some more ensemble training.
I’m wondering when we meet the Aspiro choir or what part they will take in it. Also, I think a bit more about the auditioning and the main roles needs to be discussed. The people I was chatting with last night seem to be under the illusion that they will all get a shot at singing solo if they like. I’m sure it doesn’t work like this. I presume you have to be pretty good, experienced and trained to sing solo at an opera! At the minute, I’m happy to be part of something new that’s helping me build my non existent skills in music!
Oh, it’s all very exciting, honest! There is going to be an Opera in Carlow, for Carlow! We must be very important down here!
Visual, in association with the very artistic people in the Carlow authorities thought about this very idea 3 years ago. The Opera will be written by Brian Irvine and Peter Morgan Barnes, these 2 men happen to be extremely talented songwriters. Fergus Sheil will be conducting it all, Fergus has worked with loads of orchestras like the Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the RTE Concert Orchestra, just to name a few.
The project is going to take just under a year and last month, an advertisement went out, searching for local people to lend their voices for this massive event.
I thought it sounded amazing so I trekked along to Visual, expecting to be overwhelmed by experienced singers. There were few obviously experienced and trained singers but a lot of people who are just like me-have an okay voice that needs a lot of work!
The project is to made into a 7-part series for Lyric FM and the National Symphony Orchestra are going to be playing alongside the group. I’ve heard that Aspiro are involved too, which makes sense. I did think it was a huge gamble to take just relying on local people.I would say that Aspiro will make up the biggest part of the group as I cannot imagine that it works on the premise “If you want to be in it, you can!” Perhaps, we will see!
The “audition” consisted of a 2 hour workshop, which was energetic and fun. I have the opportunity to volunteer for a worthwhile, community event while gaining musical, singing and performance skills. At the end, we took part in a solo-type circle singing activity, which took the pressure away from nervous people.
The next workshop is tonight and I’m really looking forward to it. I think it’s really going to push me in a dramatic way that I’ve never experienced before.
I’ll keep you posted!
I’ve heard the Mad Hatter Cafe mentioned loads of times, on tv or in the paper and I always meant to visit and sample it. It’s ten minutes drive outside of Carlow in the very small town of Casteldermot. It is very much needed as there are no coffee shops in the town.
So, when I met the owner, Alice at a Pilates class and she was telling me about all the yummy home baked produce that she made, I had to schedule a visit!
Unfortunately, when I did visit, I was full, had a rather large breakfast in the Ritz Carlton, Powerscourt (get me, I know! Simon was at a conference there) and was still full by the time I met my friend for lunch.
Camilla went for the Caesar Salad, I just had coffee and a very good coffee it was. A big mug of it. Alice and her husband make everything on the premises-beautiful multi-grain bread, carrot cake cupcakes, granola bars and lots of chocolate produce!
I bought lots of treats for Simon but I will have to bring him there at some point. We need a good, non franchised, local run and owned cafe in Carlow with homemade produce with a smile. But, at least, I only have to go a few minutes down the road if I get a craving for some nice home made food!
If you’re passing through Castledermot, it’s worth a visit. Just off the main street, opposite Londis, plenty of free parking too.
Eventually, all this mess will be a fabulous area for Carlow (and anyone) people to saunter across.
At last, a reason to wreck the town.
