Holidays are coming, holidays are coming...

I'm taking a well-earned break from a busy busy weekend.

After a PC Medic pick-up in the morning and a quick trip to the post office to buy stamps and - finally - post our Christmas cards (I hope the cards don't get too wet, or the watercolour will run!), I got my parents' present in town yesterday afternoon, despite the storm. It was the most miserable day to be in town, cold, wet, windy, and yet, town was as busy as usual.

I quickly retreated to Café en Seine, with an Irish Times and a hot chocolate, and was joined by Lisa around 2, for a nice chat, and another hot chocolate.

I called around to Susanne after that, and we chatted for a couple of hours, and I sampled some of the Jewish Bakery's lovely croissants, and a couple of very Christmasey gingerbread and chocolate biscuits sent over by her mum. Yummy!

This morning, after a bit of work on a customer's website, I had to go to PC World to buy ink for a customer's printer (Bizmart was closed yesterday - it was a bit of a bummer). Since I was in Carrickmines, I had a quick look in 53 Degrees North, where I purchased a nice pair of good, light, waterproof walking shoes for myself. And then, I went to Smyth Toy Shop, which wasn't as hectic as I thought it would be. I didn't really find anything there, though, as none of the girls are into Barbies any more. I asked about the Nintendo DS - they were sold out, but were hoping to get some more on Monday or Tuesday. The helpful shop assistant cautioned my optimism by saying that last week, they had received a shipment of 400 (FOUR HUNDRED!) of these, which were sold out in 3 hours - people were queuing for them! (Sorry, Brendan, I love you dearly, but I won't be queueing for 3 hours!)

So, this afternoon, as the weather was still dry (a glorious day compared to yesterday, despite the cold), I hopped on the Luas, and went into town, where my next target was The Toy Store, where I found all the toys I needed for the nieces and nephews and godchildren who are still young enough to enjoy toys! That shop is an Aladdin's cave if you're looking for slightly unusual toys or craft kits. I still have to shop for the older girls, who are at the stage where they are more interested in clothes than toys, and for our oldest godson, who is 15 (money is probably all he wants!). Supplemented by Véronique's parcel from Japan, which contains tons of goodies, I'll have plenty to keep everybody happy!

I have a bit of catching up to do on my paperwork this evening, so I won't get a chance to draw or paint (I messed about with some ink drawings earlier today, but not very successfully - I need to think it through before I set paint to paper - I'm going through a bit of an artistic dry patch at the moment - we've just been so busy, I haven't really got into my next project)

And tomorrow will be hectic too, as Brendan's ferry back from Cherbourg has been delayed because of the storms - so I'll be holding the fort all by myself tomorrow! By the way, we heard this mad expression on the telly last week - we were watching a fly-on-the-wall RTE program about 3 girls' debs, the shopping, the date, etc. etc. - one of the girls (the posh one from Dublin 4, who was going to spend €2,000 on her outfit!) said "I'll be on my tobler". I had never heard that expression before (I'm not cool, obviously!). Our guess is that it means "I'll be on my own", as in "toblerone". Isn't language mad? I love it!