The Big Freeze

We almost made it into the house for Christmas but again the weather turned against us. Not rain but frost! The final dashing of the outside of the house couldn't be done because of the cold weather - it would just fall off. Not only that but the water hose froze and the sand and grit had ice in it . Not good!



Anyway we did the best we could. We put up a Christmas tree (courtesy of our friends' forestry land) in the living room and Santa delivered his presents by coming down a real chimney! Christmas morning was spent in front of the fire, opening presents and sipping Nespresso Gingerbread coffee. Fortunately Christmas dinner was in Wexford with the rest of the family. Next year we definitely be in the house!!!!!



There was great excitement this year as Daithi was best man at his brother's wedding at the end of December. It was a brilliant wedding. The service was in Daithi's beautiful old school chapel, as Cian's wife is a teacher at the school. The boys were so well behaved and I couldn't believe how grown up Conor was and brave too. He went to all the tables during the wedding breakfast asking, "Excuse me. Do you have any more crackers [Christmas crackers]?" and taking everyone's photo. Liam lasted until 11.30pm at which time I took him up to the hotel room to bed. Daithi continued with his best man duties until 4am. Liam got up at 8.30am! Needless to say, the New Year Eve celebrations were mild in comparison! We had a great time and I hope the married couple did to. I envy them now in the Caribbean!!!!

I was adamant last winter that I would never spend another winter in the mobile home. Well.... we are still here. The winter of 2008-2009 was very cold but I have to say it was bearable once you got used to the cold. This winter it is a lot worse. The whole of the Northern Hemisphere is frozen by the sounds of it! Luckily we haven't had the snow that some parts of Ireland and the UK have experienced but it is icy and cold.

Our main problem is freezing pipes! We went to Wexford for Cian's wedding and came back to find a 5 inch icicle hanging from the dripping tap in the bathroom and a broken boiler cracked pipes. The temperature reached -4.5 deg C inside the mobile while we were away!!!!

I am so glad I married a DIYer - his welding skills were masterful and the boiler pipes were mended in no time. However the frozen water to the taps has been a continuous problem all week. Each night seems to have been colder than the last and it has taken about an hour each morning to fix the problem. Daithi spent most of the morning lagging all the pipes and covering them as best he can to hopefully solve the problem we shall see tomorrow.