14/10/2022
After watching the Liverpool Show at Ibrox, Thursday morning the kids were keen to hear all about it and were quick to claim the scalf as their own.
Super Mum did her best to tire the kiddies out, although you don’t need to encourage Lachlan to run any more than he currently does.
Turns out, the kids won, you cannot tire them out, so we returned home for some shenanigans.
In the afternoon, we started packing, we are all sharing a wee suitcase which put Eloise in a tricky position, she had to select a baby for this adventure.
The wild weather continues in the eastern states of Australia, “Communities across Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania are bracing for more wild weather after being lashed by heavy rainfall on Thursday”.
In Glasgow, there was excitement as “King Charles has reopened Glasgow’s Burrell Collection almost four decades after the Queen first opened it . The internationally renowned museum and gallery reopened to the public in March after a six-year £68.25m refurbishment”. An attraction on our list of things to see, it is actually where we regularly go to check in on the Coos. However, dominating the news on Thursday was that, “one of Scotland’s busiest stretches of road was plunged into chaos after a swan flew on to the carriageway… Traffic Scotland tweeted an image of the bird “swanning” about the road in front of a 4×4 car, unwilling to move”. It was just one of those days, “motorists spot escaped emu on the loose and running down Scots road”. You heard it here folks, an EMU! Whaaaaat, it must have escaped from the grandparents’ suitcases.
Far away from any emus, although how can you be sure these days, the grandparents had strayed off Lachlan’s tailored Italia tour and jumped on a train for a romantic getaway in Verona, home of Juliet’s Balcony before checking out Verona Arena.
Juliet’s house is a tower house from between late 13th and early 14th century. On a stone in the wall there is a bas-relief of a hat. Popular tradition considers it the coat of arms of the Cappelletti or Capuleti, Juliet’s family. In the English version of the story it became “Capulets”. At the beginning of the 20th century Juliet’s house was restored and opened to visitors.
The Verona Arena is a Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra in Verona, Italy built in 30 AD. It is still in use today and is internationally famous for the large-scale opera performances given there. It is one of the best preserved ancient structures of its kind. In ancient times, the arena’s capacity was nearly 30,000 people. The stage for concerts and opera performances decreases the available places to a maximum of 22,000. It will be used as the Closing ceremony venue for the 2026 Winter Olympics and two weeks later will be used for the Opening Ceremony for the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.
In the afternoon we were back on the plane heading towards Europe, but this time flying west, well south-west, for our first trip into Ireland. Ryanair is Irish based so we scooped up some super cheap £12 flights to Dublin, Ireland.
There must have been something in the Irish air, Eloise was extra cheery as we made our way out of Dublin Airport.
The kids dashed into our room looking for the grandparents, but they were not there. They were not happy and Eloise was straight to the phone to ring grandma.
To kill some time, we headed out to check out the Irish streets. The Primarks were called Penneys (although plot twist they started as Penneys), the Pizza Expresses were called Milanos. First observation, the Irish seemed just as confused as everyone else about whether they really operated out of the UK or Europe. This was even before bringing the north into the equation.
By this stage we were peckish and Lachlan had knocked himself out after a couple of pouches on the go. We started heading back when all of a sudden, the grandparents appeared! What were the odds? Crazy! Must be the luck of the Irish. Eloise was ecstatic, Lachlan continued snoring. There were plenty of Italian stories to catch up on.
“The luck of the Irish” is probably a saying you’ve heard time and time again, most likely either around St. Patrick’s Day, or to do with a sports team such as the Boston Celtics or the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. You probably thought the meaning has something to do with the extreme good fortune of the people of Ireland, but originally the “Irish phrase” had a different connotation. According to Edward T. O’Donnell, an Associate Professor of History at Holy Cross College and author of “1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish American History,” the term is not Irish in origin. “During the gold and silver rush years in the second half of the 19th century, a number of the most famous and successful miners were of Irish and Irish American birth…. Over time this association of the Irish with mining fortunes led to the expression ‘luck of the Irish.’
Today, there was the sad news that Scottish “actor Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid in the Harry Potter films, has died aged 72… In a statement, his agent Belinda Wright confirmed the actor died in hospital near Falkirk in Scotland”. In the UK “Tory MPs turn on Liz Truss after turbulent day”. Scottish First Minister was not holding back, “Nicola Sturgeon urges Tories to oust ‘lame duck’ PM Liz Truss”. Supposedly, “the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest one in 37 people in the UK has coronavirus, a rise from one in 50 the week before”. It has been a while since COVID-19 has been in the news. We thought the UK had forgotten about it.
[…] ‘n’ roll. Eloise headed straight for the grandparents’ room, Lachlan, who had slept through their arrival yesterday was hot on her heels, happy to greet them again. Once the grandchildren had kicked them into gear […]