Today Jo and I are heading down to the South of Ireland for a little break. We are heading to the back end of nowhere, or more specifically Omey Island off the west coast of Ireland.
The place belongs to Nathan and Alannah's folks, who converted it entirely from being a bit run down to a lovely little cottage. They are clever like that (and lovely into the bargain).
It will be fun for a whole variety of reasons, the first of which being that it is a good 5 to 7 hours drive away down the 'interesting' back roads of Southern Ireland. For those of you who 'aint from around these parts' the roads down there are pretty basic. They have improved greatly over the past 10 years on the main routes, but these are not the main routes!
The second reason is that the island is only accessible when the tide is out. The picture above shows how you drive across the sand at low tide to reach the place. The height of the tide across this sand bank apparently varies from either the sea not coming in fully at all at some times of the year to its current seven feet at high tide.
Alannah's dad has kindly written out for us the estimated high tide times to save us from being washed away. Timing is of the essence then, we must arrive in a specific time window to cross safely. Any of you who know Joanne and I will be laughing at the thought of this already.
Also, I'm taking my guitar, laptop and mixing desk. I'm determined to get a bit of inspiration to record something while I'm down there in the beautiful, basic and rugged surroundings.
I nearly gave up playing the guitar recently because I figured that if I were to write a song about any topic I'd easily be able to list you 10 songs better written. I was feeling a bit unstable and was asking myself what can I really offer the musical world? Now that I'm feeling a little steadier I've remembered that it was God who has given me the gift of being able to play. If I were to stop it would be like saying I don't appreciate the gift. I'm determined now to use it more.
In other news I've been going to tech with Gav from work to study for 4 different Microsoft exams. My motivation for this was clear. I simply remembered trying to get a job in computing after being layed off from the Belfast Giants. Since then I have gained a qualification in E-media (bit of computing, bit of web design, bit of sound and video manipulation) but that is still not good enough. I worked for the Spar for almost 2 years trying to re-motivate myself back into a proper job. That will not happen again.
All in all, with still covering the Giants on the weekend (and more), work 5 days a week and study Tuesday and Wednesday 6.30 - 9pm, makes Matty a very dull boy.
I'm off to Ireland to relax before someone finds me scaling a clock tower with a sniper rifle!
Farewell,
M
The place belongs to Nathan and Alannah's folks, who converted it entirely from being a bit run down to a lovely little cottage. They are clever like that (and lovely into the bargain).
It will be fun for a whole variety of reasons, the first of which being that it is a good 5 to 7 hours drive away down the 'interesting' back roads of Southern Ireland. For those of you who 'aint from around these parts' the roads down there are pretty basic. They have improved greatly over the past 10 years on the main routes, but these are not the main routes!
The second reason is that the island is only accessible when the tide is out. The picture above shows how you drive across the sand at low tide to reach the place. The height of the tide across this sand bank apparently varies from either the sea not coming in fully at all at some times of the year to its current seven feet at high tide.
Alannah's dad has kindly written out for us the estimated high tide times to save us from being washed away. Timing is of the essence then, we must arrive in a specific time window to cross safely. Any of you who know Joanne and I will be laughing at the thought of this already.
Also, I'm taking my guitar, laptop and mixing desk. I'm determined to get a bit of inspiration to record something while I'm down there in the beautiful, basic and rugged surroundings.
I nearly gave up playing the guitar recently because I figured that if I were to write a song about any topic I'd easily be able to list you 10 songs better written. I was feeling a bit unstable and was asking myself what can I really offer the musical world? Now that I'm feeling a little steadier I've remembered that it was God who has given me the gift of being able to play. If I were to stop it would be like saying I don't appreciate the gift. I'm determined now to use it more.
In other news I've been going to tech with Gav from work to study for 4 different Microsoft exams. My motivation for this was clear. I simply remembered trying to get a job in computing after being layed off from the Belfast Giants. Since then I have gained a qualification in E-media (bit of computing, bit of web design, bit of sound and video manipulation) but that is still not good enough. I worked for the Spar for almost 2 years trying to re-motivate myself back into a proper job. That will not happen again.
All in all, with still covering the Giants on the weekend (and more), work 5 days a week and study Tuesday and Wednesday 6.30 - 9pm, makes Matty a very dull boy.
I'm off to Ireland to relax before someone finds me scaling a clock tower with a sniper rifle!
Farewell,
M
1 comment:
"Any of you who know Joanne and I will be laughing at the thought of this already"
;-) Bless yas.
Hope yous had a fantastic time =)
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