
There is a slight snag on my part but only slight. I ADORE the heat and would happily live in a seriously hot place - I'm always freezing! But I have typically Irish skin - as in blue tinged and I go from anaemic to burnt-to-a-frazzle in five seconds. So I have to lather on my factor duffle coat i.e. factor 50 as well as sitting in the shade. I still get mildly pink and never end up with a tan. My skin just doesn't do that. Instead I put on fake tan at night and wake up pretending to myself that I got the lovely golden glow from the sun!
We went to the beach yesterday and sat on towels waiting for the usual experience which normally involves goose-pimples, blustery squalls of sand in the face and a whole lot of pretending to be warm. It didn't happen! There was no breeze and I was actually not cold. Believe me this is astonishing for me. I'm the one who lights the fire when other people go around in shorts, or flicks the central heating on for a quick sneaky blast when nobody's looking. All hail the God of sunshine!
I went to see Rod Stewart with my friend Karen the other week and we had a brilliant night! I've always liked his music, but I can't say I was ever a die-hard fan. I saw him interviewed on Alan Carr, Chatty Man and that was it, decision made. We bought the tickets on line - could've been totally dodgy but it turned out brilliantly. We'd fab seats, he sang all the best songs and was totally amazing. His voice is exactly the same as his CD's. Unlike some of the concerts I've been to where you have to guess what song is being murdered badly, this was pitch perfect and a great show. The only thing that left us both mildly bewildered was the lack of encore. Am I just old and clueless or do singers not come back on stage even for one song any more?
I've been in and out to TV3 doing Midday which I love. A couple of weeks ago I got to meet Mary Byrne, who found fame on X-Factor a couple of years ago. She's such a lovely lady. So easy to chat to and great fun! I'm always delighted to meet people and it's extra fantastic to meet someone with such a wonderful story.
My writing continues... I'm on a roll at the moment. I've finished book number 8 and it's gone off to be read by my lovely editors Ciara and Sherise. It's always scary waiting to know if they like it and want to run with it. I've had a bit of feed-back and so far I've gotten the thumbs up! Phew!
Meanwhile, instead of twiddling my thumbs I've started on book 9. Sure why not eh? I'm thoroughly enjoying it and I'm hoping this will be a good juicy story. I'll keep you posted.
Our son Sacha went off to Irish college or Gaeltacht as we say in Irish. This meant he was gone for two weeks. That mightn't sound like much but it was the longest he's ever been away from us since he was born. For those of you who aren't familiar with Gaeltacht, it's a residential summer camp where the kids all speak Gaelic all the time. He loved it - thank God! We've had earring-gate chez nous for the past year. Sacha wanted his ear pierced, hubby said no. It's gone on for an entire year. Who's in the middle of it all? Me. So we made an executive decision that seeing as hubby has HIS ear pierced (along with several tattoos) it was a definite case of the pot calling the kettle black. So Sacha has his left ear pierced!
He decided he wasn't stopping there and had some squiggles shaved into his hair too. I think he looks very cool, hubby is not commenting and is insisting he's to grow it out pronto. My view on it is this - if having his ear pierced and zig-zags in his hair is the worst thing he ever does - we'll be doing well. Isn't it better to have a thirteen year old who takes a bit of interest in himself? Loads of teenaged boys refuse to wash. I reckon this is the better option! If he turns into a glue-sniffing maniac as a direct result of the earring and shaved head, I'll let you all know.
I'm off to the circus tonight with our au pair and three of our daughter's friends. The last time we were at a circus our then three year old Kim was beside herself when she saw the clowns. One was about seven foot tall while the other was a dwarf or I think the PC term now is little person. The full story is in my book 'Talk to the Headscarf.' Suffice it to say I'm glad Kim is now older and won't ask very awkward questions, very loudly.
I hope you're all experiencing a little bit of heat. I know some readers in Oz have told me it's seriously cold in some places. I'm not apologizing for being warm right now however. Don't you know we'll be enduring lashings of rain and cold weather soon, so for now, I'm off outside lathered in factor 50 to smile like a fool.
Bye for now,
Emma xx