Great excitement

To my horror, round at my friend's house last night, I stood on the weighing scales in the bathroom and found that I've gained weight. And just before Valentine's weekend, too!! I guess it's just easier to tuck in to fish and chips when it's winter and the weather is cold (see, I've gone native, thinking that this is cold!)

To cut myself some slack, I should point out that I had a huge and delicious meal yesterday at lunch, and so will assume that at least half the weight gain was down to that. Still: the healthy eating starts next week. I'm not gonna start a diet on Valentine's weekend. No siree.

So, yesterday, I met the lady from the Irish Countrywomen's Association. She was a lot younger than I'd expected, and very friendly. And that's not all: she also bought me lunch. She said she wasn't expecting to get out for Valentine's because she has two kids, so this would be her treat. Nice place, Roly's. If it was up to me, I'd maybe rethink the name, which sounds like a bit of a euphemism for "fat", but I've no complaints about the food, which was sort of "down home cooking gone fancy" style. She said she'd certainly be prepared to help me to meet people around the countryside if I do decide to go down the research route, which is good to know. I haven't even talked about it with any of the professors, though, so it's all still very what-if-ish for the moment. She also told me that she has a friend who's looking for someone to take care of her kids on Saturdays, as she has a new boutique in town somewhere, and I said I'd maybe be interested. I don't know a lot about kids, but I'd like to give it a try. Especially if I do stay on to do more research, I'll need an income source.

I'm very excited about tomorrow night. I've found the perfect present for my Boyfriend. It didn't cost a lot -- it's a more symbolic gift than anything: the collected works of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Everyone knows that Ireland is a land of writers and poets and, believe me, in Dublin you can't forget it, as every second pub claims to be the place where Brendan Behan used to hang out. But, in my opinion, the Irish don't make enough of a fuss about le Fanu. He PRACTICALLY INVENTED the ghost story in serious literature FFS! So where are the le Fanu postcards? Pub portraits? Come on, guys; he's one of our -- I mean your -- own!! I'm going to give it to him when we go out for wine and a snack at Fallon & Byrnes on Saturday evening- my treat. I've seen him very little the last few weeks because he's so busy with his thesis and I think it's going to be fabulous.

[Contented sigh]