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Midlife Roadtrip around the West of Ireland – The Verdict

What a surprise my midlife roadtrip turned out to be! I travelled alone and have never enjoyed a holiday so much. Despite some drizzly, grey days the west of Ireland proved full of surprises. The roads were surprisingly good – much better than I had anticipated – and sat nav meant I didn’t get lost or stressed while driving. I enjoyed the freedom of walking in ancient woodlands and across open pastures. I saw a museum or two and circumnavigated the mountains of Connemara. I visited gardens of many varieties – ancient, neglected, walled, celtic, modern and witnessed  tumultous rhodedendron cascading down Kerry mountain sides. I hugged some elderly oaks, took a ride in a jaunting cart and managed to get my “I’m on a boat” badge from @foursquare. Ivisited the grave of William Butler Yeats and the childhood haunts of Lady Gregory although it was still too early in the year for the Wild Swans at Coole. I sampled the hospitality of some really good hotels, taking advantage of the fact that recession here in Ireland means there are fantastic deals to be had – particularly worth of mention are Currarevagh House in Connemara and the Muckross Park Hotel in Killarney. I enjoyed a treatment here and there and plenty of thalassotherapy in a variety of spa pools. I visited the zoo at Fota, the Marian Shrine at Knock, the Lusitania memorial at Cobh, enjoyed a stroll through the grounds of Ashford Castle and admired the quaint and wonderful little village of Cong, County Mayo. The daily drives varied from an hour and a half to about three hours on the longest day. Will I do it again? Certainly, and soon. Would I do anything different? Bring a voice recorder because the sheer volume of sights and experiences was too much to record in a notebook or on the laptop at the end of each day. Where can you find out about deals? I used the bookassist.com website to book some of my hotels (discounts on most rooms).

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Five Commuting Mistakes To Avoid

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It’s been six months now since I forsook my car to become a full time rail commuter. I’m pleased to say it has paid some benefits on the weight front and also in toning up the legs, both of which are important considerations now that the onset of menopause is on the horizon.

You may recall, some weeks back I blogged about my search for the perfect Commuter Handbag. Well, I’m glad to say I now own three.  I’ve also mastered, partially at least, the art of applying makeup on the train. I can skedaddle down the hill to the train station in less than 10 minutes and I have acquired the perfect commuter rain coat which means I don’t need to struggle with umbrellas on my daily jaunts.

But it is not all good news. No, indeed.  I am learning the hard way that certain hazards are more difficult to overcome.

Forewarned is forearmed so, if you are sitting comfortably, here goes with my list of the top five commuting mistakes to avoid

  1. Eye contact with the wild, the drunk, and the obviously deranged – especially if they are seated close to you. This always leads to bother and fellow commuters will do nothing to assist should you find yourself in difficulty.
  2. Seats that slope towards the floor  – these can find you slipping onto the lap of a fellow passenger. Such intimacy is not always desirable or indeed welcome.
  3.  Tweeting without due regard to whether the passenger seated next to you can read your screen. This is especially important if you have multiple identities.
  4. Taking auto-announcements seriously. ‘Change here’ is not necessarily an invitation to release your inner transgender god(dess).
  5. Sleeping. But if you must, make you sure your sleepwear is modest.

And there you have it. I hope these tips may keep you from going off the rails. If I’ve missed anything, let me know!

3 comments   Commuting

Commuter Makeup

It’s been a while since I blogged about the commuter handbag and I’m pleased to say I’ve settled into a comfortable pattern of rushing for the train in the morning and slowly climbing the hill back home in the evening. What I haven’t managed quite so well is getting out of bed in time to apply the warpaint before heading into the corporate jungle so I’ve had to adapt to moisturising and making up on the train.

I’m lucky because I’m at the end of the line so I get a seat in the morning and, quite often, I don’t have anyone beside me. The moisturizer technique has been perfected. Pump of Origins White Tea Skin Guardian on the back of the hand and then gently applied to the face, followed by Decleor’s Hydra floral. Really the moisturiser is too light for me on these winter mornings but it smells so wonderful and the texture is so beautiful that I can’t bring myself to abandon it in favour of the more effective and equally pleasant to use Liz Earle Superskin Moisturiser.

Next comes the make up and that is the tricky bit. Please, please, please Bare Escentuals come up with an on the go applicator. So far the versions that I have tried have been hopeless – like the one in the little black purse. They’re just too messy. Preloaded retractor brushes also don’t work because I forget to preload them.  There’s got to be a better model. If it weren’t for the fact that the makeup is so good, I’d have given up by now.

Models Prefer for the mascara. Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat for the dark circles under the eyes. Bare Escentuals again for the lips – the buxom babes range.

That’s it. Good to go. 15 minutes all told. Sure who wouldn’t take the extra few minutes in bed in the morning?

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