31 Days of Music – Day 20

I must preface this by letting you know I am not a fan at all of Sonia, todays Scouse singer, but, she is known for her entry to the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1993 where she came 2nd with Better The Devil You Know. If you know of Lili Savage (Drag Act) then you may know that Sonia plays Bunty, Lili’s daughter. So for your delectation, I give you Sonia with her Eurovision hit and further down she is on the Lili Savage Show playing Bunty.

Ireland – An End

M came back on Friday night, me and the girls could not wait to collect him from the airport. His flight was due to land at 6:50pm and the wheels hit the tarmac at 6:30. Luckily I was not too far and was there when the disabled assistance brought him out to me. We were both very glad to see each other. The dogs went mental licking and doing their hug things as they were in the car waiting.

M’s sister again did not offer to take him to the airport even though she was in the same house and had a hire car and quickly vanished to the room she was staying in half an hour before he left. I would say hiding in her shame, but she has no shame, just hiding as she just did not give a shit about her disabled younger brother. If hell exists there is a definitely a place for her. His dad was his usual cold self and when M left, his father let him struggle with his bag and when a few feet down the path he just closed the door behind M only leaving the dog to look out and watch M leave. M’s brother who lives 5 minutes walk never bothered, nor did any of the nieces and nephews who all live within 5 minutes walk. Cold callous bastards the lot of them. I guess birds of a feather really do stick together.

Now, you may think, what has M done to receive this type of treatment. Easy to answer, he is a decent human being, and that seems to be a problem with them all. Over the 21 years I have watched them stab each other in the back, fall out with each other, have fist fights with each other and exude general hate to each other. All of this M had no part and kept away from their arguments as it was nothing to do with him. M is polite, kind beyond normality to be honest, and nice to everyone, but this seems to have put him at a disadvantage. His dad is a homophobe, we accepted that a long time, and “puts up” with us when we have visited. He has taken advantage of M over the years by getting him to do so much for him, from purchase of laptops, phones, and much more to sorting out paperwork, policies etc., basically everything he could not do or could not be arsed doing/learning M did it for him. As mentioned, M’s brother lives a few minutes walk away, but does nothing, and M was guilted to do things. When lockdown started M bought loads of essentials from toilet paper to hand sanitiser, he bought lots and sent it over to his dad, to which he barely got thanks. M never complained and just went with the flow, so in answer to the question, he did nothing wrong. His family are dicks. If M was a back stabbing hater then he would have fit with them all and nothing would ever have been a problem. His siblings had a problem with him when he was young as he was good at school and ended up at the Grammar School, passed all his exams, and never go into trouble, unlike his siblings who were out petrol bombing, rioting and sleeping with everyone with a pulse, not to mention they were always out drinking.

Now M’s mum has been laid to rest he has decided that there is no reason to go back. I have to agree with him, and in all honesty, I never want to see any of his family again. Even if they all apologised to him and admitted they were wrong to treat him like that, I still would not go as I could not believe them.

Although a visit to them is off, I had been chatting to the priest via email and he has asked whenever we are next over there to let him know as he would love for us to go to dinner with him, which we will be happy to do. However, the visit will not be to see M’s family, it would be to visit his Mums grave and to have a holiday on the west coast with the dogs.

With that all, this is the end of that era. Time to move on and enjoy life without interference and hate.

Trip To Ireland

The Ferry on the Mersey with Liverpool Anglican Cathedral in the background.

It’s fathers day, and we are aboard the good ship Mersey sailing to Ireland to see M’s parents. The dogs are with us and are in the onboard kennels. They are not too happy, to be honest, but it is better there than left in the car or left at the boarding kennels back home. I have had my breakfast finally along with a gallon of black coffee, so I am happy. M is in quite an excitable mood, but I think it is because he is going “home” and with that, it’s like watching a kid in a sweet/candy shop with everything for free.

We arrived at the port at 7:30am, and finally boarded at 9:30am. The ship is rolling from side to side so I guess we are off. We have a 4 birth cabin on the main deck which is good for M, no stairs to use, also the dog kennels are on this deck too, so we will be in and out for the next 8 hours checking up on them and walking them on the outer deck where they can go.

Unfortunately, Mazikeen seems to be suffering from disagreeing of one of the treats from last night, so I have had to clear up a few times after her on deck, but, it’s all part of having dogs.

I went a little mad and bought myself some new cologne in the duty-free shop. The lady there was spraying all kinds of fragrances for me to try, but most of them were too sweet smelling. I like dark and moody aromas to my aftershaves, finally, we found one called Spicebomb by Viktor & Rolf. It has notes of cinnamon which is a good start, £20 cheaper than in the shops, bargain.

We have about one and a half hours of sailing left until we dock and I think I have exceeded my calories for a week so far. Apart from a fried breakfast with toast, at lunch, I had fish and chips with mushy peas and tartar sauce and a pint of Pepsi, three black coffees between meals and one white tea after, and now I am sitting in our cabin with a large pot of Jelly Bean Factory beans. I have two bars of liquor chocolate, one Irish gin the other Irish coffee.

Needless to say, I am shattered and the humming of the ship is causing me to want to have another nap. Yes, another one. I had a power nap before and felt worse for it. I don’t know if it is the dryness of the air circulating the ship or I am coming down with a cold, but my throat feels raw, I hope it is the former or my friend Eileen has a lot to answer for LOL.

The Kennels and Excercise Area

I cannot complain about the journey. The restaurant food is all good, there is a bar if one wants alcohol, and a cafe for snacks and soft drinks is excellent. A little expensive though. But, we do have satellite internet, it is slow, almost like having dial-up again, but at least we have it. There is a free cinema too showing three different films. Also, we have our car with us, so that’s a bonus.

Out At Sea

M and I are currently on the ship travelling to Ireland. We left the house at 6:30am, boarded the ship at 9am and set sail at 10:30. We have walked all the decks, used the two restaurants for tea and snack and I am eagerly awaiting our lunch at 1pm.

We got a standard cabin, as I was unaware that you could have a luxury suite, so next time I may go for an upgrade.

So far the sailing is smooth, but we are expecting a storm front to hit about 1pm, which will last until we leave the ship at 7pm tonight.  A long day, especially if it gets choppy, but I admit it, I quite like being at sea. Now don’t get me wrong, I love to fly, it is my preferred method of travel, but there is so much room, we have our own bathroom, and are not strapped into a tube of recycled air like cattle in a cart.

After lunch, we may have to visit the cinema and have a nap.  Knackered as my insomnia took over at about 3am.  That is, I am blaming my alertness on insomnia, but it may be guilt on leaving the dogs at the kennels yesterday. I say guilt, but we are sitting here as I am writing this talking about our planned trip to Rome next year and what we will be doing, so maybe not so guilty.

Itchy feet, the world is calling…

Flying over the Alps heading to Rome & Vatican City

I have itchy feet. I feel the need to travel again.  I think it is the summer that is starting to get me in the mood, not that it takes much.  I was in Rome in November, then in Amsterdam in February, and am going to be in Ireland in September.  So between my last holiday and my next, I feel I need to go away again.  It’s not going to happen, I know that, so maybe get a weekend away if I can, but restlessness is really taking hold.

I booked this evening my trip to Ireland, and first booked flights, car hire etc., then after reading all the BS with the car hire and having to pay an extra £60 for insurance to cover the excess.  After reading the very small print, the hire company would take a deposit from my card of £1,000.00, and would not pay it back for some time till they were happy that the car was in perfect condition.  This did make we wonder why I paid for excess insurance in the first place, so, I read their terms and any part of the £1,000 to £3,000 excess that the hire company took they would pay back to me within 28 days. The chance of me being charged would be near zero, but I did not like the idea of this chance of being taken for a ride and losing money by something going wrong, or a small print that excludes something. You know that little voice in the back of your head that starts talking to you, telling you that this sounds wrong. I tried to ignore it, and it persisted and went on and on, eventually, the alarm bells rang in my head.

With this, I hit the cancellation buttons on the flights, car hire, and insurance.  Needless to say, I lost money, only £40, which I can live with, and booked the ferry.  It is a bloody long journey of 8 hours sailing time, but in the end, it worked out close to £150 cheaper, taking into account airport parking £60, flights £110, baggage £25, seat costs £8, car hire £160, excess insurance £60.  I get to use my own car, which is a big-ass SUV.  If I wanted to hire the same car as mine for the week I was there it would cost me in the region of £600, so that was never going to happen.

I only have to wait 95 days now (and counting).  I will miss my dogs like mad, but the kennels we use are great, the people are lovely, and my girls seem to enjoy being there, almost like home from home.

I will have to start looking at a weekend or two away, for now, although we do have house guests in August, so that shortens the time frame, but I am sure I will manage something.