Dublin

Just back from a wet and windy week in Dublin. My wife and I wanted to get away from the house for a while now it's almost stripped bare, and leave it free for viewings.

Dublin is very easy and cheap to fly to from London at the moment, and for accommodation we rented a one-bedroom apartment in Christchurch Halls. The apartment was very comfortable, but lacked the Wi-Fi access we had booked it for, so slightly disappointing but overall good value.

During our trip the West of Ireland and the North-West of England suffered massive rainfall and flooding, with many businesses and houses flooded to a depth of several feet. Heartbreaking and mostly unpredicatable and unavoidable, though building at least 20-30 feet higher than the nearest river would seem a good idea. Dublin got a share of the rain but really nothing in comparison, and probably no more than Eugene would get this time of year normally, the difference being that we had to walk everywhere in it.

The Euro is unfortunately strong at the moment, and prices are already high for eating out, so we alternated with sandwiches or eating in to reduce the food bill. With limited luggage space we bought only a few souvenirs, mostly books in Irish for my wife to read, which are hard to obtain even in Dublin.


We now have just two weeks before the big day. Our Estate agent managed to get in eight or so viewings while we were away, but no offers on the house yet.

With the house almost bare, and due to be even barer in a couple of days as the last few things we can't carry with us go into storage, we've a few outings and a party lined up to keep us amused, and packing and re-packing of suitcases. After the storage unit is emptied on Monday, the contents being collected for shipping, we'll be sitting on the futon or bed reading books, watching TV and playing Nintendo DS for amusement in the evenings.