Dansk - Tøj man IKKE skal cykle i

Jeg tog min lange brune lige-op-og-ned nederdel på idag, og gad ikke skifte til regnbukser for at cykle på arbejde, som jeg plejer at gøre når jeg vil have nederdel på.

Det gik også udmærket, men da jeg skulle stå af cyklen, lød det ritsj-ratsj, og gå-slidsen bagpå er nu en del centimeter længere end det var meningen. Heldigvis slap jeg for at hæfte sømmen sammen igen med hæfteklammer, for den har stadig en anstændig længde. *pyha*

English - What Not To Wear.....On The Bike

I have a long brown, somewhat narrow skirt, with a walking slit up the back. This morning I decided to try cycling to work wearing it. Everything went okay, until I had to get off the bike. A very familiar ripping sound could be heard, as I swung my leg over the saddle, and the walking slit is now a good bit longer than originally intended by its maker.

Fortunately, decency is still observed, which means I did not have to take a stapler to it, when I got into the office.

English - A Pampering Tale

I am sitting here on a lovely sleepy Monday afternoon, feeling my bones melting and my eyes closing......zzzzzzzzzzzzz

This begs the question - Pia, why are you sleepy, hmmmm?

Well, that's quite a story and a great one at that, so here you go.
There were 4 of us going on a pampering weekend to Eindhoven in Holland. Treatments like facials, massages, etc. are extremely expensive in Ireland, but not so across the water. Hehe. Moreover, Ryanair have direct flights from Dublin to Eindhoven, so it was a very easy decision to make. Yes, please, count me in!!!

We arrived in Eindhoven on Friday evening and went for a lovely meal in a tapas bar. As we were tired, and also because we needed to get up relatively early to prepare for getting pampered, we went home around midnight. Our hotel was just lovely and centrally located. Breakfast buffet on Saturday morning was great too and soon we were ready to relax. The girls at the salon were very friendly and we felt very much at home. It's only a small place, but lovingly arranged, so you don't have that 'clinical' feeling you might get in other and bigger places. There were robes and slippers at our disposal, which was great.
Edel and I started off having a facial, while Yvonne and Aisling were enjoying themselves in the sauna and steamroom. Besides the four of us, there were only two other guests that day, a couple (of whom more later).

The facial was very good, even including the fit of the giggles (not surprising, that) I had, when we were being given a heating mask. This involved a towel over the face, with holes for nose, mouth and eyes. Over that was laid a kind of electrical blanket thingy. The whole set up made you look like Hannibal, or yer man from the Friday 13th movies. The facial also included head massage, which may sound like a weird thing to those who have never tried it - trust me, people, it is very relaxing.

After that, it was the others' turn to get their full body massage, and Edel and I were left to frolic in the sauna/steam room area. I'd never tried any of it before, and had been quite sceptical (not to say downright negative - 'no, I'm NOT going in the sauna'), but I was very pleasantly surprised, and I even loved taking the plunge afterwards in the big tub of cold water set out in this area.

The second time we went back to the sauna after having had a wee break in the sofa area, we saw some legs in the sauna, and decided to take the steam room instead, thinking to leave the sauna to the couple, as we were following custom and not wearing swimming costumes or indeed clothes of any kind. (This is where I should note that in Ireland, everyone wears swimming gear in the saunas and steam rooms. I'm not sure about Denmark, as I've never tried it there, but I would assume we go naked like in Holland). However, upon entering the tiny steam room after Edel I got a twofold shock. Firstly, I'd never been in a steam room and it was like walking into a wall of heat, making it hard for me to breathe. Second of all, the male half of the couple was sitting quietly at the end of the bench, which we think was only really meant for 2 people. But it is actually possible to fit 3 bums on it, we found. After a few minutes I had to get out (because of the steam, ye ken), and soon Edel and I were sitting outside (in our robes) chatting away, when yer man came out of the steam room, and went straight into the big tub of cold water. That's when we found out that he was English, because he started talking to us a little. We'd also received confirmation that he definitely wasn't Dutch, due to the fact that he was wearing trunks. Oh well. When we told the other girls, we got a great giggle out of this incident.

Anyway, when we were in the steam room the second time, we got the call that lunch was ready. Lots of different breads, cold meats and other spreads. Yum yum. Lovely stuff altogether.

After lunch Edel and I went for the full body massage for an hour, and as if we weren't malleable enough at this stage, we had a 20 minutes lavender body wrap afterwards. They smear this purple lavender stuff on your body, wrap you in plastic, and then in this big electrical sleeping bag, leaving you to simmer for 20 minutes like a very content sausage. I was just about to drop off, when the time was up for me. *sigh* Lastly we all had paraffin treatments on our hands, which makes them as soft as down, and finally we all had our make up done. All in all, seven glorious hours in a very friendly and homely atmosphere, attended by smiling lovely girls - it was magnificent.

Anyway, when it was over, it was raining really badly, so we got a cab back to the hotel and chilled out a while and decided where to go for dinner - Indonesian buffet, which was very very good. After that we went for a couple of drinks and ended up flipping a coin to decide whether to stay out or go home. We went home, which was fine. We were so incredibly relaxed, but not really tired that we could have stayed out, but I must say it was really nice to see my pillow again. Slept like a baby...zzzzzzzzzz

Got up Sunday morning and joined Yvonne for a lovely swim in the hotel pool. I'm not an avid swimmer, but I was so impressed with the workout I got from a 20 swim that I think I'm going to try to make a habit of this.

Argh! I'm gonna have to finish this post later, because I am getting sleepier and sleepier just writing about thi.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Dansk - Forkælelsesweekend i Eindhoven

Vi var 4 piger på forkælelsesweekend til Eindhoven i Holland, og hold da FERIE hvor var det godt! Yvonne er jo hollænder og havde arrangeret det hele. Alt sådan noget (ansigtsbehandlinger, massage, osv) er hammerdyrt i Irland (100 euro for 1 times kropsmassage, og så hældte massøsen endda kold massageolie direkte ned på min ryg - ikke særlig professionelt!!), men det er det ikke i Holland. Her fik vi syv timers ren luksusbehandling for 125 - se programmet nedenfor (vi var delt op i par, hvilket var fint, så havde man nogen at snakke og pjatte med imens man var under behandling. Det var faktisk kun lavendelpakningen, hvor man var alene). Og Ryanair flyver direkte til Eindhoven, så nemmere kunne det faktisk ikke være.

Nå, men for at begynde fra starten af, rejste vi af fredag eftermiddag. Vi havde booket et godt hotel til rimelige penge i midtbyen, og efter at vi havde fundet os til rette, gik vi ned i byen for at finde en restaurant. Yvonne stammer fra området og havde fra nogle venner fået et par anbefalinger på gode steder. Vi tog på tapas-bar og det var enormt lækkert. Tapas er spansk og går ud på af bestille en masse forskellige ting (mere eller mindre 'fingermad'), som man får i små portioner og som hele bordet deler. Rigtig hyggeligt! Vi tog hjem omkring midnat, da var vi godt brugte. Vi skulle jo også tidligt op så vi kunne komme i gang med at blive forkælet.

Lørdag morgen: Morgenmadsbuffeten på hotellet var rigtig god, mums mums. Vi havde bestilt taxa ud til salonen, hvilket var godt, da det stod ned i stænger. Vi ankom til salonen omkring halv 10, og de tre meget søde piger tog imod os og fortalte lidt om faciliteterne og hvad der skulle foregå. Dvs. pigerne fortalte på hollandsk og Yvonne oversatte.

Edel og jeg startede med ansigtsbehandlingen, som inkluderede en varme maske, hvor man lignde Hannibal the Cannibal (hvilket jeg jo syntes var enormt morsomt), fordi ens ansigt var dækket først af et håndklæde med
huller til øjne næse og mund og dernæst en slags elektrisk varmepude. Vi fik også hovedbundsmassage. *aaah*

Dernæst var det Aisling og Yvonnes tur til at få kropsmassage, og imens hyggede Edel og jeg os med at gå i sauna og dampbad (ved ikke hvad 'steam room' hedder på dansk). Disse rum kunne vi frit benytte hele dagen, hvis vi ville, så vi vadede frem og tilbage. Det var kun små rum, og der var kun os 4 (samt et engelsk/hollandsk par). Og vi har en sjov historie om dem! På et tidspunkt ville Edel og jeg i sauna, men der lå nogen ben, kunne vi se, så vi troede at parret lå derinde og ombestemte os. Det er ikke almindeligt i Holland at man har badetøj på i sauna (som det er i Irland, blufærdighedens absolutte højborg mht. sådanne ting), så vi gik rundt kun klædt i de kåber og sutter, som salonen stillede til rådighed. Så ville vi i stedet i dampbad og smed kåberne inden vi gik ind. Edel kom først og mig bagefter, og vi fik begge et dobbelt chok. For det første er sådan noget damp temmelig varmt og lidt svært at ånde i, og man skal liiige vænne sig til det. For det andet var vi ikke alene. Den mandlige halvdel af parret sad nok så pænt i den ene ende af bænken. Rummet er vist egentlig kun beregnet til 2, men man kan altså godt klemme 6 balder sammen på bænken, skal jeg hilse og sige. Pyha, det var rart at det ej var til at se noget for damp. Nå, men man kunne jo ikke sådan bare flygte ud af rummet, så Edel og jeg satte os bare til at pludre. Vi troede også stadig på det tidspunkt at fyren var hollænder, for vi havde hørt hans kæreste tale hollandsk. Nå, men lidt efter gik vi ud og tog kåber på igen - man kan kun tilbringe få minutter i så megen damp, inden man helt flyder væk. Fyren fulgte efter et par minutter senere og hoppede direkte i karret med koldt vand, og begyndte at snakke lidt til os. Det var sådan vi fandt ud af han var englænder, selvom det faktum at han havde badebukser på overbeviste os om at han ihvertfald ikke var hollænder.... Den historie fik vi alle sammen grint godt af senere på dagen.

Jeg havde aldrig prøvet hverken sauna eller dampbad før, men det var rigtig godt! Der var også, som før nævnt, et stort kar med koldt vand, som man kunne hoppe i bagefter, og det er faktisk også rigtig godt! De har altså fat i noget, dem der hopper fra saunaen lige ud i sneen. Det er friskt! Så Edel og jeg vadede frem og tilbage mellem de to ting - sauna, koldt gys, pause, dampbad, koldt gys, pause - og morede os med det, indtil en af pigerne kaldte på os, at frokosten var serveret. Mums! Dette var også inkluderet i prisen, og det var rigtig guf - mindede lidt om et almindeligt dansk frokostbord, bare med hollandske ting.

Efter frokost fik Edel og jeg kropsmassage i en time, og derefter fik vi en for en en lavendel-kropspakning, hvor man bliver smurt ind i noget lilla creme med små korn i, svøbt i plastik og derefter en stor elektrisk varmedyne, og så får man lov at ligge i 20 min og stege som en anden pølse. Skønt! Bagefter kan man så skylle cremen af. Virkelig lækkert! Tilsidst fik vi allesammen en paraffinbehandling på vores hænder, som de bliver enormt bløde af, og til
allersidst fik vi alle sammen lagt make up. Hmmmmm....jeg kan stadig blive helt blød og søvnig bare ved at skrive om den dag.

Nå, men da vi skulle af sted igen, stod det ned i lårfede stråler, så vi bestilte en taxa tilbage til hotellet, hvor vi dasede lidt og besluttede hvor vi skulle spise middag - det blev til lækker indonesisk buffet nede i byen. Bagefter gik vi på bar, og henad midnat slog vi plat og krone om vi skulle blive eller gå hjem. Vi var egentlig vågne nok, men stærkt afslappede. Hold da op, hvor sov jeg godt!

Søndag morgen stod Yvonne og jeg tidligt op og mødtes ved hotellets pool halv ti for at svømme lidt. Det nød jeg så meget, så jeg vil prøve om jeg ikke kan komme igang med at det lidt tiere. Bagefter vækkede vi sovetrynerne Aisling og Edel, spiste morgenmad og checkede ud. Vi skulle først flyve henad 7-tiden om aftenen. Aisling har en veninde i Holland som havde planlagt at tage toget til Eindhoven og mødes med os - ret perfekt! Vi spiste frokost sammen alle 5, og derefter daffede Edel, Yvonne og jeg i biffen for at lade pigerne få lidt tid for sig selv. Vi så 'The Da Vinci Code' som jeg synes er lige så dårlig som bogen. Nok om det!

Turen hjem gik planmæssigt, og nu sidder jeg så her og er søvnig sådan en halvkedelig mandag formiddag! Det er ihvertfald ikke sidste gang jeg tager med på sådan en tur, det er både sikkert og vist!!

English - Currently listening

Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes

Great album - this week I've had a selection of songs from it constantly playing in my head.

A friend put me onto her Scarlet's Walk album (which is fantastic), and another friend gave me his copy of Little Earthquakes a while back, but I'm only now listening to it, and finding another gem :)

English - Belated Bruuuuuce

This is a fairly delayed post, as its topic is the Bruce Springsteen concert in The Point Depot on 5 May. Fantastic stuff!

The live gig has the same energy as the record itself (We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions), and there is a definite party vibe going on. Bruce is in fine form, and they play 11 out of the 13 songs on the album, getting some great audience participation along the way, which I think is fairly impressive, given that the album was only released a short month before the gig!

I knew next to none of the few other pure Bruce songs they play, but that's because I'm a newbie, and that is being remedied, hehe. I knew the titles though from reading the website and looking af track listings and stuff. Really liked the version of Adam Raised A Cain that they played.

All in all, great concert! My conclusion is that Bruce will be one of those people I won't care too much about ticket prices for, same as U2. Because it's always worth every penny and more :)

Dansk - Forsinket Bruuuuuuuce

Ja, dette er en temmelig forsinket post, men altså, Yvonne og Chris og jeg var jo til Bruce Springsteen koncert i The Point Depot den 5. maj, hvor Bruce og Co. spillede en fænomenal koncert. Det nye album - We Shall Overcome:The Seeger Sessions - indeholder mest amerikanske folkesange, og der er masser af trompeter, violiner, harmonikaer osv. Ifølge Bruce himself blev der også indtaget en stor portion whiskey under indspilningen, hvilket man godt kan høre lidt en gang imellem - kun en god ting :)

De spillede 11 ud af 13 sange fra det nye album, og 8-9 andre sange - jeg kendte kun en eller to i forvejen, men for sevan, hvor er han bare GOD!

Dansk - Fire Årstider

Dagen startede lys og solrig, næsten ingen skyer, og dejlig varme. Men for en time siden blev det meget mørkt og lige nu buldrer tordenen løs og det står ned i stænger.

Vi var nok selv ude om det, fordi vi snakkede om tordenvejr i går. Om hvordan det meget sjældent bliver tordenvejr i Irland.

På vej på pubben for at få en fredagsøl til at løfte humøret lidt (er der noget mere deprimerende end sådan en gang torden og regn en fredag eftermiddag?)

God weekend til alle!

English - Four Seasons in a day

It started out as a lovely, sunny and quite warm day. It stayed that way until an hour ago. Now there's a massive thunderstorm breaking loose over our heads.

We probably jinxed it, because we were just talking about this yesterday - that there are never thunderstorms in Ireland. Oh well. It's Irish weather, what can you do.... Going to the pub now, getting a pint....everyone have a nice weekend

Dansk - Tandlægebesøg

Jeg fik lavet et par huller i januar, men har haft bøvl med en af fyldningerne lige siden. Var hos tandlægen i dag for at se hvad han kunne gøre.

Han sagde, at forbi hullet var så tæt på nerven, har denne svært ved at 'falde til ro' og derfor gør det ondt. Hvis ikke nerven ikke tager sig sammen og slapper lidt af nu, kan det være jeg skal have en rodbehandling, og det er jo ikke sjovt.

Nå men tandlægen sleb fyldningen lidt til igen, ligesom før påske hvor jeg kom til ham med samme problem, så nu må vi se hvad der sker. *suk*

English - Concrete Chronicle

As some of you might know, my bike got stolen in April. I depend on the bike for my independence in getting to work and stuff, so this was extremely annoying. I have nowhere to lock it to at my house, which is normally a criteria for bikes in Ireland - lock it to the world and you'll be fine. Otherwise...

Anyways, I now have a lovely new bike (thanks Yvonne!) that I really really love and will do my best to keep safe. So how do I go about that? Hmmmm....

Stephanie had a marvelous idea: fill a bucket with concrete, put a hook or something in it, and chain the bike to that. Brilliant!

So, without further ado, may I proudly present to you:

The Concrete Chronicle!

Part I - How Do You Make Concrete?
My sister is an engineer, but she has never made concrete, and was kinda jealous that she couldn't be here to help me do this (which is why I'm even writing all this stuff down). I looked up some stuff on the web, and tried to calculate how much I'd need and how heavy it would be and what kind of tools I'd need. It was kinda fun. Concrete is made by mixing cement with sand/gravel and water, and then leaving it to dry out and harden. Sounds easy, huh? It actually was!

Part II - Getting Materials
I had scouted out the local hardware store to see what they had to offer. I decided to buy two sacks of concrete mix - consisting of a lot of sand and a wee bag of cement wrapped separately within the big bag. I bought 1 x 25 kg and 1 x 5 kg, thinking that would fill up the pot, especially as I would also be adding water.

I also bought a big grey flower pot, a heavy duty chain that would be immersed in the concrete, and to which I'd chain the bike. The flower pot is supposed to be frostproof and shatterproof as well (that is, if I've interpreted the icons on the label correctly). To mix the concrete, I got the smallest and cheapest wee garden shovel thingy. Oh and lovely pink rubber gloves.

Getting the stuff home took 2 trips, the first one in a taxi. I was kinda reluctant to try carrying a 25 kg sack on my new gorgeous bike, and also, the flower pot would have been hard to transport that way too. Anyway, the second trip was much easier and done on the bike.

Part III - The Making of Concrete
I wanted the chain to be in the middle of the pot, but I couldn't figure out a way to hold it in place, while the concrete hardened that did not involve me actually holding the thing. So it ended up hanging over one side of the pot, but I think it'll be okay anyway. It's definitely stuck.

The mixing went fine - you have to mix sand and cement first, and then add water. I put a LOT of water in it, so it has taken nearly two weeks to dry out completely, but it sure made the mixing easier. Hehe.

The pot has been covered with plastic until now, as it sometimes rains in Ireland, and it sure didn't need more water to be added.

*The End*

Dansk - Beton-saga

Historien begynder med at Pias cykel blev stjålet i april - MEGA ØV! Heldigvis har jeg nu fået en 'ny' cykel af min gode veninde Yvonne. Hun har haft den til at stå i skuret siden hun flyttede til Irland fra Holland. Den er rigtig dejlig :) Den har en lås på baghjulet, og en U-lås til forhjulet, men det er ikke altid nok her - en cykel skal helst være låst fast til noget, og det kan man ikke hvor jeg bor.

Så hvordan kan man nu være sikker på den nye fine cykel ej bliver taget igen? Hmmmm.. Stephanie havde en god ide: Fyld beton i en spand og støb etellerandet fast, som man kan låse en cykel fast til.

Som sagt så gjort!

Derfor, her er Pias beretning om betonstøbningseventyret, som tog sin begyndelse d. 29. april, da jeg skulle købe materialer (se billedet:

2 poser betonblanding (1 x 25 kg plus 1 x 5 kg)
lang tyk kæde
haveskovl
stor blomsterpotte
handsker

Det gik der to ture med, en af dem i taxi (man gider jo ikke ødelægge sin nye cykel ved at smække en 25 kg sæk op på bagagebæreren, vel?) Selve potten ville også have været temmelig besværlig at transportere på cykel.

Der er det samme i de to poser, nemlig sand og cement (cementen i en pose for sig), i forholdet 4:1 (feks i 25 kilo-posen er der 5 kilo cement og 20 kilo sand). Sandet indeholdt nu også temmelig meget grus, men det kunne jeg jo læse mig til på nettet, at det er meget normalt.

Potten skulle være frostfri (eller hvad det nu hedder) samt brudsikker (hvis jeg kan tyde symbolerne på mærkatet ordentligt). Kæden er den jeg har støbt ned i betonen, med begge ender på bunden af potten. Den hænger nu ud over den ene side, fordi jeg ikke kunne finde på en måde at holde den lige op i midten, der ej indebar at jeg skulle holde ved den samtidig. Det går nu nok.

Ja, og så købte jeg den billigste bette haveskovl jeg kunne finde til at blande med (2,50 euro, hehe). Det gik nu meget fint, men nok også fordi jeg kom så meget vand i. Potten er jo ret høj, og det var lidt drøjt bare at blande sandet og cementen før der kom vand til.

Potten kan tage 27 liter, og jeg havde egentlig regnet med den ville blive temmelig fuld (jeg havde lavet nogle beregninger, med massefylde og kubikcm og jeg skal komme efter dig, men jeg må have misforstået etellerandet og gjort det forkert eller noget). Ihvert fald er potten kun ca. 2/3 fuld, så jeg tror jeg vil have fat i nogle store sten eller lign. til at fylde den lidt mere op med.

Billede nr. 2 - årsagen til beton-sagaen! Pias fine nye cykel!
Her ses også mine dejlige lyserøde gummihandsker som jeg brugte under støbningen. De ligger på baggagebæreren for ikke at blæse væk.

Potten står lige nu med plastik over som er sat fast med pakketape, fordi det jo regner lidt tit her. Men der er ikke meget vand tilbage, så det varer nok ikke længe inden jeg kan tage plastikken af og kæden i brug!

Jubii!!!

Slut på beton-saga :)