Two Weddings and a Baby!

19 Weeks to go, 21 Weeks gone. For those of you who don’t already know, Jill & I will hopefully be the proud parents of a baby boy by October 1st. Our excitement cant be put into words but we have four and a half long months ahead of us, so we are nervously waiting for our lives to change forever more! Four will become five (or two will become three, depending on your love for and recognition of canine family!) this autumn by which time we will be back in Ireland with our family and friends. Jill is doing great; her morning sickness has been minimal and whilst I cant quite say she is taking pregnancy in her stride, she is definitely the proud yummy mummy to be!
The last four and a half months have seen a big change in our Cayman lifestyle. No alcohol or cigarettes for Jill, lots of early nights and quiet weekends and many anxious weeks between scans! The first 12 weeks were the hardest, emotionally and no doubt physically for Jill, but it was also so difficult trying to keep it a secret. To be honest, it was pretty obvious. Jill pulled out of playing GAA with a continuing mystery “urine infection” and we just stopped going out altogether. Our friends were polite and considerate, not pointing out the obvious until we officially told them, which helped, but it is impossible to keep such a secret in a small community like Cayman. Now its out, I can resume our lifestyle whilst Jill sips soft drinks and either stays at home or goes home early! All back to normal! ;(
I’m currently on a plane back from Ireland (seems I only make time for the blog when I’m stuck on a flight these days!) after spending 5 days at home with Jill for Dave & Karen’s wedding, which was last Friday.
We flew in Thursday (on separate flights of course!) and stayed in Graham & Ais’s on Thursday and Saturday night. My mum and dad, my older sister and her two kids, and Jill’s mum and brother all came up to Graham’s on Thursday night, which was fantastic. I haven’t seen any of them, apart from my mum, since the wedding last year. The boys have grown, especially Gavin who is now nearly as tall as his brother!
On Friday morning we hit the road for Brook Lodge in Wicklow, a beautiful setting for a wedding, where we got to meet up with all of our friends. The service was at 2pm; Dave and his brother PJ, Simon, Barry and Jay all looked the part in their tin of fruits and Karen’s bridesmaids Glenda and Sandra looked fantastic. The church was beautiful, surrounded by trees, over a wooden bridge down the end of a path leading from the hotel. Karen looked fabulous, of course, and the service was refreshing, led by a “Celtic priest” who gave them the blessing. There was a brilliant trio of Filipino guys playing back in the hotel, hammering away on their Spanish guitars and acoustic bass, playing classic cheesy hits with beaming smiles and gusto. They continued on through the early part of the meal, encouraging every table to sing a solo before finishing with the bride and groom. At our table was Niall & Alex, Hubb & Louise (who is also pregnant, due only 4 weeks after Jill!!), Gary & Daragh, Aisling and Noreen. We had great craic which continued on into the night with a band and DJ and Dave Ralph singing two tunes with the band (see the You Tube video of “All Night Long” here).



We left after breakfast the next morning, not feeling as sad knowing that we would see everyone in a short few months time.
I forgot to mention that it was my brother’s birthday the day we flew home. We weren’t quite up to celebrating that day considering the long flights (I in particular had come via Miami, Tampa and New York on four planes!) so we went out for dinner with him and his friends on Saturday night. That day though we packed in a day of “house” shopping for carpet, floors, paint and a couch for our house in Ballycullen which will be done up (modestly) when our current tenant moves out next month). Dinner was in Bang Café and we were joined by Gav Cooney, who I also haven’t seen since the wedding last year. We did our best to stay out late but were home by 2:30am, wrecked!
On Sunday we headed over to Nicola Kidd’s house where the girls had prepared brunch for Jill. Jill had me convinced that all the lads would be there, but alas it was all the girls and yours truly! Although I felt like a spanner, the food and company were too good to walk away from! I dropped by our old house to check it out, only to find a jungle of a back garden; another challenge for the summer!
After that we headed over to my parents for Sunday dinner and to spend some time with my nephews and family. After that, we said our goodbyes and hit the road for Athy so that we could spend a little time with Jill’s mum and brother. We chilled out on Sunday evening and Monday afternoon in the continuing sunshine and warm weather, with a little Monday morning trip for me to meet Vince in Kilkenny for a couple of hours.
By Monday evening our time was running so we hit the road, dropping in to Garry and Daragh to see their kids Jack and Megan. We spent the night at the airport hotel last night and were up at 4:30 this morning to catch our (separate) flights home. Jill is heading direct via London whereas I head to New York, Washington and Miami before finally boarding a plane (hopefully) later today, for Cayman.
The trip made us both feel much happier at moving home this summer. Lets hope that the weather holds!
Back to Cayman, and speaking of weddings, we had a big celebration the week after I got back from Vegas in March when Brian & Maggie tied the knot. Not to make too little a deal of such an occasion, it was a weekend event rather than just a wedding day! The guys had about 20 guests over from home so we started with a boat trip on Good Friday which ended with a BBQ on the beach by their house. Saturday involved a booze cruise on the Jolly Roger with another late night in Hammerheads, although we bailed early as Jill was exhausted and I wasn’t far behind her! Sunday we took it easy, but we were back out on Easter Monday, the day of the wedding, with all the lads playing 9 holes of golf before sending Brian home to get suited up for the main event! Despite fabulous weather all weekend, it all went South about an hour after golf, just before the planned beach ceremony was due to begin. The heavens opened and the rain just kept pouring down. We all met in the Ritz for drinks, awaiting a decision on the then delayed ceremony. Eventually the decision was made to abandon the beach and head straight to Grand Old House, the waterfront restaurant on South Sound that had been booked for the meal and reception. Although the rain didn’t let up, the move to Grand Old House turned out to be a great one, with Maggie arriving under a tunnel of umbrellas to be greeted by her proud husband to be, dressed in white, to make her forget all about the dark weather. As the priest confirmed their vows, the rain stopped and the sky broke in front of us on the horizon for a spectacular sunset surrounded by striking grey clouds. With the photos out of the way we partied into the night with yours truly as MC for the speeches (i.e. in charge of the sound rather than the witticisms) as the free drink flowed into a 2am finish before we had to rise for work the next day. A fantastic start to what will no doubt be a marriage made in heaven….
A quick aside and update, I’m now on a direct flight from La Guardia to Miami after landing in Newark many hours ago only to find out that my flight to Washington was going to be delayed by at least two hours. Considering I only had one hour in Washington and then one hour in Miami to change planes, a two to three hour delay had me pretty much screwed! Ably assisted by a brilliant Continental rep, I was re-booked on a direct flight to Miami from La Guardia and sent off in a cab to catch my flight. Despite requests to locate my hold luggage, I had to give up after 45 minutes in fear of missing the flight. God only knows when or if I will see my luggage again. All I know is that they were on their way to a baggage carousel when I had to give up hope, so hopefully they will make their way back on to a play eventually destined to Cayman, although I am not holding out too much hope. Meanwhile, I received a text from Jill to say that she missed her London connection to Grand Cayman so was also waiting for a flight to Miami and a much later connection back to Grand Cayman (about 6 hours after she was meant to arrive), so hopefully she will arrive safely a couple of hours after I land. The trip aint over yet! Neither of us have slept properly in the last week and last night was one of the worst, so I cant wait for this day to be over, and no doubt Jill and “bump” or even more tired!
Anyway, back to the story….. A few days after the wedding, Jill and her friend Meredith headed off to Miami on a mid-week shopping trip to buy Jill some maternity clothes on their Easter holidays from school. Time has proven that the shopping decisions may not have been the best! Ah well. Its only four more months or so!
Our next big event to look forward to was the arrival of my little sister Fiona and her partner Joe. Fiona had announced the trip only a few weeks earlier, much to our excitement as we had pretty much written off after having any more visitors before we moved home. They flew in on the first Monday in April from New York, where they both work and live, looking pale and in desperate need of some R&R! For our first night we lit a barbecue on the beach at sunset and lit torches around a wooden bench on the beach where we ate burgers, drunk some beers and caught up. We left the guys to their own devices on Tuesday, heading out for a bite to eat and a couple of beers that evening. I took the Wednesday off work (sorry Jill!) and drove the three of us over to Morritz, a hotel resort in East End where we sipped cocktails at the pool bar before heading on to Rum Point where we snorkeled, lazed about on hammocks and got some lunch. We headed home in time for sunset to cook the fresh tuna that we had purchased that morning from the guys on the beach near town who literally take the fish out of the boat and carve it into steaks for you on tables lapping by the water. Fiona and Jill wrapped the fish in spices and coconut oil and we wheeled our little barbecue back on the beach for another chilled out evening of beers, food and chat on the sand outside our house on Seven Mile.
Thursday was back to work for me but we decided to head out on Thursday evening to Aqua Beach for open mic, with Joe bringing his bongo drum with him. The place began to fill up after 10 and we coincidentally met up with a friend of ours, Martin O’Regan, who had left Cayman nearly 2 years ago, joined by his former work colleagues (aka many of our mates) from UBS, who he was visiting for the week on a work jolly! The band were joined by numerous solo singers, guitar players and couples, none as good as the showcase of the night, Joe on drums at just after midnight. Luckily, their were two other drummers with bongos and they were well up for it. They performed a 10 minute drumming spectacle which had the whole bar on their feet! Joe was buzzing coming off stage, and even Jill had stayed up late to see it! Jill sensibly headed home at 1am, and we, not so sensibly, headed to the nightclub with O’Regan, Gavin, Micheail and Cormac! We left just before closing at 2:30am, detouring to walk home along the beach.
Sure enough, Friday was a bit of a write off for me in work and we didn’t quite have the energy we had hoped for when we headed out for dinner that evening to Calypso Grill. After dinner we headed to the Ritz where myself and Jill really started to fade (more me than her!) but then Joe bumped into his first cousin who he hasn’t seen in 14 years, just like that! He was over in Cayman for the week for a friend’s wedding. Joe only really recognized him from recent family photos. We took our cue and left Fiona and Joe to it!
Saturday was a big day. We got up early for breakfast down in Icoa and the packed our beach bags for a boat trip, joining all our mates for our usual Catamaran charter out to stingray city and Kaibo. We swam with the sting rays, even Fiona, albeit it briefly, nearly got attached by a moody moray eel, and played volleyball and cricket out in Kaibo. We arrived back in for sunset and headed down the beach to Brian & Maggie’s for another big barbecue. Joe banged his drum, the security yard called the police, and through a combination of excess drinking and confusion after the cops arrived (by the way they told us to ignore the security guard and keep on partying, but most people missed that and thought they were being told to go home), myself, Jill, Kenzo, Caoire, Fiona and Joe headed back to ours shortly after 1am. Jill hit the hay but sure enough, we knew no better, and kept going til after 5am. The noise of the dogs barking, the music blasting and us laughing must have surely annoyed anyone living on the beach near us that night!
All plans for Sunday therefore went out the window so we got up and late and eventually wandered up to the Turtle Farm for a snorkel with the turtles and tropical fish, a goo at the aviary and a walk around before heading home for takeout and a video! Fiona and Joe’s last night was a quiet one but we were fairly confident that the had a great time, got plenty of much needed sleep and sun yet still managed to party Cayman style.
With that descended a quiet few weeks that allowed us to recharge the batteries and get ready for coming home. Jill’s last scan in April confirmed we were having a boy; we entered Toby into one of the sections of the annual Cayman dog show and we enjoyed a weekend of unusual international sport with the “Legends” tennis event at the Ritz Carlton which included a Jim Courier Vs John McEnroe match and the same weekend Cayman played host to the opening games of the Rugby World Cup 2011 Qualifiers with Cayman Vs Trinidad kicking off the Caribbean games (unfortunately Cayman were thrashed, but it was great to see decent rugby in the local stadium!). That same weekend kicked off Earth Week which saw myself and most of the rest of the staff who work at Baraud venturing out to the streets of Cayman at 7am on a Saturday morning to pick up litter! It was certainly a different way to spend a Saturday morning!
The following week I ran a 5k on South Sound in support of the closing of Earth Week, coming in 7th place with a time of 21 minutes. Not bad but still no better than my normal time. The run was on Sunday morning but I was still reeling from a heavy night out on the Friday night at the Wharf for Boogie Nights. The last time I had been there was a year previous when Noreen and Simon were over and after spending so many quiet weekends in, I just had an overwhelming urge to go out. Jill was feeling pretty ropey that night so she stayed in and watched TV whilst I went out with the gang to Hammerheads, Aqua Beach and Boogie Nights, falling in sometime after 3am. Saturday was a write off, but it was worth it! After the run on Sunday I had to play two GAA matches and ended up tearing a ligament in my right hand trying to charge down a kick out. Sure enough my right hand was strapped up and completely useless for the first week, not impressing my boss of course! Its still strapped up but getting there, although Jill is convinced that I made it all up to try and divert some of the sympathy from her! Women, dont they know that a sore hand is worse than any pregnancy could ever be? I just dont understand them sometimes!
Last weekend we chilled out, babysitting for our friends Kurt and Meredith on Saturday night and heading to the cinema on Sunday to see Iron Man (class film by the way).
So what else....poker has been good to me since Vegas with two big wins. A few Saturdays ago we all played in a 20 man tournament in some guys house over near Newlands, and I ended up third, losing out to Jimmy H and Steve from CML. The last Cayman Poker Tour night I played I ended up winning the first prize, effectively wiping out my Vegas losses! The run of luck will surely end on Thursday when we next play poker although I have become strangely addicted to Facebook Texas Hold 'Em since trying it out last week at the airport on the way home. As long as I never turn to Paddy Power.....
The GAA has been hit and miss; I finally scored my first goal a few weeks ago but the team's performance has been very hit and miss as we struggled to get players for each match. Only two more Sundays before the finals, so fingers crossed (although not literally in my case with my sore hand!).
This coming weekend is public holiday in Cayman so we will be looking forward to chilling out. Until then, I bid you farewell. Rafter

Mitch, in action...

Joe, live on the Bongos in Aqua Beach

Christmas, Miami, Mick & Tonia, Moving House, Stags, Vegas

Perspective. Priorities change quickly depending on your perspective. You’re $100 down and about to walk away but then you think, one more bet and you could be back level. You tell yourself that you’ll walk away when you’re level, so everything goes on the last hand, a 2 and a 5, unsuited. Trip twos later, you’re back level and you start thinking, I’ll walk away when I’m up $100. And so your perspective changes; sometimes for the worst when its 4 in the morning and you’re in Vegas, still playing poker after 10 hours drinking with the friends you haven’t seen in 8 months, but once in a while your entire perspective changes and two decades spent chasing a career goal that seemed to ignore the most important things in life fades into something much more satisfying. I’m not a believer in fate, but coincidence can result in surprising outcomes, starting with a phone call out of the blue to go work in the Cayman Islands and continuing with having well laid plans dashed at the last minute by someone else’s uncharacteristic greed. You can harbour grudges or you can get on with developing an alternative plan, or in my case, an alternative plan can gradually present itself to you over the course of 2 to 3 months, giving rise to a whole new perspective on life, relationships and your career, with so much to look forward to.
For now though, let me park that thought and tell you what we have been up to since I last wrote as 2007 came to a close.

I am on the final leg of my journey back from Vegas and I am, temporarily, a shadow of the man that left Cayman last Thursday. I flew in just after 9pm, arriving just behind the lads from home who had flown in from Dublin for Dave Ralph’s 4 day stag. I hadn’t seen any of the lads, bar Jay, since the wedding, so an opportunity for 12 of us to go on the tear for 4 days could not be missed!

We gambled and drunk in the madness and energy that is Vegas. A man died in the restroom beside us as we were drinking, but true to the spirit of the city, he was quickly removed and everything was back to normal within half an hour. I got the feeling that people died in restrooms there all the time! You can see Vegas for the glamour, wealth, good times and general grandness of everything, and you can see it for the messy, seedy, drunken dark shadow of humanity that it also is. These two sides exist side by side and its easy to fall from one to the other.

Thankfully, 12 lads from Ireland held their own and left with their lives! We went go-karting and quad biking in the desert, the latter being one of the highlights of the trip.

Motoring along in convoy up dirt tracks as we crossed over and around a mountain in the Nevada desert, tearing up the scorched earth was some serious craic! No injuries were reported, the closest we came to death being the seedy casino from “Dusk til Dawn” that we passed through on the way out that had proper needle disposal machines in the restrooms. Classy!
The first night started late with casualties dropping off throughout the night as jet lag and tiredness caught up. Friday night was spent in the MGM as we aimlessly wandered the casino floor, gambling, with no real plan. Saturday night we went out for dinner in an Italian restaurant in New York and then we split up with some lads hitting the strip whilst others hit Studio 54 night club, with more gambling until the wee hours. Sunday was spent shopping with Dave clearing out the outlet store, followed by food and drinks in Hawaiian Tropic at Planet Hollywood. I had to hit the hay early as I had to get up at 4 this morning to catch a flight, but the lads went on until after 4, with Dave winning over four grand! Not a bad end to the weekend. I am meant to be running the 5K Paddy’s Day Run at 5:30 this evening, an hour and a half after I land, but having not slept a wink last night I think I’ll be lucky to walk it with the dogs!
Getting back to where I last left off, December was a strange month. I spent the latter part of it on my own as Jill went home for Christmas, but the earlier part of it was busy as we recovered from Gail & Ross’s trip, missing them both sorely. Foxton, Kenzo, Jimmy Mac and myself did the Mezza brunch one Sunday after golf and ended up out until all hours. We drunk champagne at Luna Lounge by the pool at the Ritz and biggest news of all, Jim & Lisa got engaged! In work, we held a client event at (Ragazzi’s sister restaurant) in the Caribbean Club, which doubled as our staff Christmas party, and then on to Dec’s Christmas BBQ at his house. Jill’s work Christmas party was in Papagalloes and ended up being a great night out. I spent Christmas Eve at two parties, one in Olive’s and then on to Tim Fitz’s. Christmas morning I got up for a run on the beach, came home to make breakfast and then called home to chat with the family who were just finishing their Christmas dinner in my sister, Jennifer’s house. When Jen announced that she was pregnant again, I really missed home and would have done anything not to be in Cayman for a few hours.
The day brightened up when I went over to Kenzo and Caoire’s as they served up a huge Turkey and Ham dinner washed down with champagne, wine and beer. We then hit the road around 7 and dropped into Tim & Leonie, playing charades with their family who were over for Christmas, tucking into Leonie’s dad’s Bailey’s cocktails before falling into Fidels for the Christmas festivities. Sure enough, Stephen’s Day was a bit of a right off! Jill had been at Jean’s wedding the previous week and was happy as a pig in the proverbial to spend the next week chilling in her PJ’s at home with her mum and brother, leaving the house occasionally over Christmas for drinks and good craic with various relatives and family friends. Her chill out Christmas was much needed to help her get over the cold from hell!
December 30th, I flew into Miami to meet Mick and Tonia who had flown down from New York, where they had spent Christmas, and Jill who flew in later that night. Mick ended up getting hammered, which was great to see, as his wife tells us that he doesn’t get out that much these days! We spent a lovely few days in Miami, chilling, eating out, shopping, and catching up. For New Year’s Eve, we went down to South Beach and celebrated with champagne as the fireworks exploded above our heads. I left to return to work on New Years Day, picking the guys up the next day as Mick and Tonia would be spending the next 10 days with us. It was great to have them over; we ate out, we ate in, we chilled, we saw the sights, but above all else we got to know each other as couples, and look forward to hopefully spending time with them in Geneva some time soon.
The first big blowout night of January came midway through the month when an unplanned Friday night turned into one of the best and busiest nights had out in Aqua Beach. After two weeks of relative quiet, with the whole island seemingly off the drink after New Years, it was like a huge weight was lifted, and the island got back to normal, leaving sobriety behind!
We stayed on island for the long weekend, using the opportunity to move to our new house on Seven Mile Beach, which is in a perfect location just beside the Hyatt! The move took all day and left us wrecked, although we did manage Mezza Brunch for a gang of 16 the next day to celebrate Caoire’s birthday!
Our first weekend in the house coincided with the Stride, 10k run for charity which went along the West Bay road. It served as a nice warm up for the cross the island relay race the following week, which I also ran last year. The team consisted of myself, Gav, Linda, Tim & Laura Fitz, and one of Laura's friends who is a physio on the island. I ran the first leg again, which kicked off at East End at 6am. I managed to come in in 5th place at 27 minutes for my 4 mile leg. The team came in in 11th place, which was a fantastic achievement.
That weekend also saw the Cayman Islands Arts Festival culminating with a performance of La Boheme outdoors after sunset at Pedro's Castle, a renovated castle on the coast that used to be the seat of government in the islands 200 years ago. We met up with Tim, Leonie, Lisa and Jim for a picnic on the lawn as the sun went down, followed by an amateur performance of the opera.
February kicked off the new GAA season, with yours truly playing for the Wolfe Tones (the whites) under Tim's stewardship. We got off to a good start but the teams seem much tighter this year. Despite some lessons, I have a lot to learn!
For Valentines night we walked one minute up the beach to Hemingways at the Hyatt to have dinner, and then the next night, on Friday, we had dinner at the Ritz followed by a romantic movie (Sleepless in Seattle) shown on an outdoor cinema screen under the stars on the lawn at the back of the hotel. We snuck in some popcorn, chocolate and fizzy drinks and had a surprisingly lovely evening! Definitely something we couldnt do at home!
Saturday was Brian Herlihy's stag. We kicked off at the Triple Crown for a pint and lunch, then bailed into a taxi to bring 12 of us up to Morgan's Harbour where we were heading out for the day on a deep sea fishing trip. As we pulled out of the harbour, Micheail started to feel a little Moby Dick, as I slagged him, him being an islander after all (Aran). Sure enough, 10 mins later and my stomach started churning. Unlike the last time that we all went out fishing, this boat didnt turn its engines off. Deep Sea Fishing is not just about the location (i.e. leaving the lagoon) but is about "Trawling" up and down at high speed with about 10 lines cast. The smell of the fumes , the constant hum of the engine and the rough waves did not bode well for me, and within minutes I was getting sick off the side of the boat. For 3 more hours, the lads kept drinking while I lay down in various parts of the boat, watching the horizon. Jimmy H was in worst shape, although he held it down, and Micheail battled on, with beer in hand! I was glad to see the shore a few hours later!
After hopping off the boat, the now well oiled Brian decided to have a go at removing Conch from its shell, spotting some local conch fisherman emptying their boat. Lets just say I will think twice before ordering conch fritters again. Slugs!
We sat down for a drink in Morgans Harbour whilst waiting for the cab, and it was fairly evident that the lads were hammered. Some drinking games were entered into, and a litre of rum was polished off as a penalty for those too drunk to play along. It was 6pm!
Justin bailed early, whilst the rest of us bailed into the cab, driven by a highly strung young woman who wasnt happy about the level of drunkenness and the number of stops we asked her to make (the singing didnt help either!). We spilled out into Mango Tree by the airport, most obviously the only white people in the bar! Howard met up with us to find Paul Foxton wandering around the car park looking for a car that wasnt there, and Kenzo pretending to fight everyone. It was going to be one of those nights! All plans to end up in Tim's to polish off the 4 crates of beer we had left there were soon forgotten, and instead we headed to the Attic to play pool, and then on to the Triple Crown where we soon dispersed home for the night.
The following weekend kicked off with Jill's 29th birthday on the Friday night. We all went out for dinner in Ragazzi where Jill was able to show off her new diamond necklace (the sooner we get home and away from all these diamonds, the better!). We went on to Aqua Beach but it was a tame night as Maggie's hen was taking place the next day. The girls went off horse riding followed by drinks at Morgans Harbour and then out for cocktails and back to Maggies. Meanwhile, we started with the rugby, followed by golf, and then back to Tim's for poker. Turns out that the poker night ended up to be the better stag night, going til 5am with plenty drunk, and a lot more craic had! The first tournament was welcomingly interrupted by Murpa Durp, calling from the dark depths of North Dublin. Murph, its not the same without you buddy!
The last weekend of February, myself and Brian and Maggie did our Advanced Padi course, 2 full days diving. The first day we headed out to West Bay, where we took in two dives, one of a sunken wreck where we practiced our navigation skills, and then to a reef where we practiced our knowledge of fish and marine life and attempted to navigate with the compass. The next day was better again, diving down to 100 ft over the edge of the wall (a seemingly endless abyss of the coast of Grand Cayman) before making our way back up through tunnels to the reef. On our way back into town we radioed ahead to confirm that there were no cargo or cruise ships in town, a rare daytime occurrence, which allowed us to dive the wreck of the Balboa, a 375ft freighter that sunk in the bay of George Town during the 1932 hurricane as it tried, in vain, to shelter from the storm. Our two dive instructors informed us that they had never dove it during the day as it is nearly always off limits due to shipping traffic in the bay. We struck gold! The ship has been blown up twice over the years as they attempted to break it up and get it out of the way, so a lot of the boat is scattered but the main hull is still intact.
We finished up just after lunch and headed down to the GAA club to play two matches afterwards, winning one and losing the other.
The following weekend, the last before I headed to Vegas, proved to be a quiet one. The waves were crashing on the shore all weekend, washing sand almost down to our back door! It wasnt a weekend for lying out, but rather for walking the beach with the dogs and chilling in the house, reading the weekend papers (we get the Irish Times delivered to our door every Saturday now, which is class!) and enjoying doing a whole lot of nothing.
The weekend afterwards and I was off to Vegas. The rest, as they say, is history!

Quick, Interim Weather Update

I intend to update the blog for December and January this weekend, but in the meantime, check out the following two weather reports from today:

Dublin
31 January 2008- updated at 13:00
Today
Bitterly cold and very windy, with sunny spells and scattered wintry showers.
Tonight
Very cold and windy, with frost and ice. Clear spells and scattered showers of hail, sleet and snow.
Tomorrow
Bitterly cold with sunny spells and scattered showers of hail, sleet and snow.


George Town, Grand Cayman:
# Today: Partly cloudy. High 28C. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph.
# Tonight: Partly cloudy skies. Low near 24C. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph.
# Tomorrow: Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 29C. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.
# Tomorrow night: Partly cloudy skies. Low near 24C. Winds ENE at 15 to 25 mph.

Oh, how good it is to be in Cayman in January!

In the papers

For anyone who cares, check out this article from today's Cayman Net News (excuse the cheddar!):
Baraud Article in Net News

Mick and Tonia at Stingray City