The Ronans

What a glorious morning it was this morning. Temperature of about 10 Degrees, the best thing about it NO RAIN!

I took the oppertunity to take a picture of the back garden. Some of you may remember the mess that used to be my back garden.
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Have just returned from my little holiday in spain. The weather wasn’t as fantastic as I would have liked, but the local publican was very friendly!

Had a ball out there and but was actually looking forward to coming home. The ease at which sessions end at 7am over there was pretty cool but exhausting!Naturally, when I realised that I was going to miss the big storm that hit Irelands shores this week I went to the pub to celebrate:-) I laugh at everyone who wished it was going to rain in spain! It came back and bit them in the ass:-)

Just before we got our holidays my time at the school was extended to Christmas, at least its something! I won’t be destitute till next year now!

Dear Frances,

I thought that we could use this as our own personal communication link given the frequency with which we make additions to the site.

Michael will be quite jealous when he reads that you were in NYC at the time as he too has been following the games. I have been a little more cynical - reading the results in the paper. All is well here and I am glad that the weekend is near. The usual panic washing and all that before the departure nest week. I will be gone for 10 days or so. Would dearly like to visit NYC again but not on this trip it seems. There will be plenty of fun things to do all the same.

Fiona returns from her two year stint abroad on Sunday morning. There is much excitement. She and her fiance Tristan have been on a bit of a whirlwind tour of Europe and they have also spend the last few weeks in the US. So it is off to the airport on Sunday morning and then to the Rocks for pacakes. I am then off to a picnic adventure walk with a few friends from the city across the harbour bridge, to Manly where there is really good ice cream. The weather is due to be good so no brollys!

Two conferences next week (one full day and one half day) so will be busy and looking forward to the quasi rest that they bring. Nothing really wild or exciting to report but I will put photographs on the site of the recent festivities in Dublin as I was given my parchment to allow me to go on the roll of solicitors. I have some from here too.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Stephen

Hi all,

It is Thursday evening & I am passing some time before going out to dinner. It has been a hectic & tiring couple of weeks. We had a company night out on Friday 15th and I’ve pretty much been on the go since. The Red Sox turned their Yankees series into a marathon and since I am now a Red Sox fan I was obliged to stay up and watch the games. They were nailbiters!! The last game was Wednesday night last week and we flew out to NY for the Hen party on Thursday. So many people were taking about it so I figured it best to put my hat back in the bag and leave it there.

New York was so much fun. It was go go go from the minute we got there. We finally sat down in a starbucks & chilled out on Sunday evening about 5pm. I bought loads of clothes which was such a treat….. it was amazing to be able to try something on and have it fit properly.

We had fancy dinners out two nights in really nice restaurants Cafe Luxembourg & Maloney and Porcelli. Defy worth a visit if your ever in NY. We also went to a club called Avalon that was really good. Somewhere in the meatpacking district I believe. Between the eating, shopping and the “live entertainment” that we went to…the whole weekend was a blast. I am saving for the next trip already:-) We got back Monday night and straight into work Tuesday and the past two nights have been spent glued to the TV to watch the Red Sox make history. It took them 80 + years to win the title. Hilarious really since they are one of the best teams out there each year. We had a right ole session last night and I’m still feeling the worse for wear..

No others news here with me.
ttyl
Frances

Cousins,

The rain has stopped - we had a whole week of it last week. Part of the new governments election policy. Rain between the hours of 09.30 and 17.30 Monday thru Friday. As with most election promises this too has been a bit of a failure with a torrential downpour on Sunday (just as I was putting into the 10th and final hole). Luckily I had been wooed by the latest in golfing gimmickry and umbrella technology. I was more than happy to have forked out as the walk was (amazingly) a LOT further than it was on a normal sunny day.

Thankfully we are back to the warm days and it seems that summer is on its way. The Jacaranda trees are out and that is the call to arms for all students. If you have not started to study now you have a BIG job ahead of you. Michael and Helen seem to have things under control and apart from the impending exams have their respective European trips under consideration. Myself, well I am off on the 5th to Paris (fun), Amsterdam (teaching) and Brussels (seminar) then to London (more fun) before coming back to Australia on the 15th (work) - so it is not all holidays.

Looking forward to the holidays in December and the gig that is now scheduled for Clonmel on the 22nd. I do not remember the details of the restaurant but it is a new place that PAR has done the reconnoitre for.

Stephen