Nee naw

My apartment is very close to the Cork Maternity hospital. Whenever I walk over to the nearby supermarket I pass by the entrance which is littered with expectant mums, pacing fathers-to-be and chain smoking relatives. Nothing exciting ever seems to happen outside the four walls of the hospital but on Saturday there was fabulous drama. I was waiting to cross at the main hospital intersection when three screaming police cars shot past me flanking a family car, with a crazed man at the wheel, and a woman in the passenger seat, obviously in tremendous pain, what with her contorted face. I didn't think the police EVER escorted expectant mothers to hospital but in this instance they did! The three cars police cars threw every caution to the wind, they zig zagged through lanes of traffic, they shunned the demands of a red light, they even blared their horns at little old ladies! I can only imagine how much fun the dad-to-be was having- what other time in his life would he have the opportunity to break every single rule in the driving manual with the encouragement of the police?! Once the civilian car reached the gates of the hospital, two of the police cars pulled back, allowing Dad Schumacher crease his way to the waiting medical staff in a haze of tyre smoke.

And that was about how exciting my weekend was. I am on 'lock down' in the financial sense, as Ian and I are planning a trip to Paris at the start of Autumn. I haven't been to Paris for almost a decade. An entire decade! So, no money wasting is permitted between now and then... NONE! I cannot wait to return to the Chateau de Versailles. It is a mind boggling standard of beauty, opulence, over indulgence and sheer wonder. My very first visit to Versailles was when I was, perhaps eleven or twelve and the memories have never left me. The colossal beauty and luxury of the chateau leaves most people with their jaws hanging on the ground... me included.



When I last visited I was unable to see the famous Opera as it was closed for renovations. Not this time, I thought.

What a foolish thought that was.

ONCE AGAIN, the Opera is being renovated and will be closed for 20 months!! Noooooo. I will have to do the same as I did last time- buy the postcard and tell everyone, regardless of the truth, that I was in fact there.

Ha!