Glenview Museum

Went to Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim for the bank holiday weekend. Needed to get out of the city. We had no accommodation booked but drove around, and saw a sign for Glenview B&B. Next to the house, was a notice for "Museum". This morning when we were fixing up with the landlady, she asked us if we wished to see the museum. Yes, we said, we'll pay a quick visit.
Well, it was fantastic! A beautiful vintage car was the first thing we saw when walking into the large, jam-packed shed. And all manner of other objects of interest. The man of the house was willing to give us a tour, and seemed to have stories of interest to share about each and every item on display. Unfortunately, we were limited for time and hadn't expected to discover such a treasure trove so we had to be rude and stay only for a few minutes, making promises to return.
He played music for us on a gramaphone, and showed off a tiny iron for pressing lace collars, a magnificent wall-hanging collapsible clothes-horse, a door with a bullet hole from the black 'n' tans; among others.
As I wrote in the visitor's book "I'll be back".

www.glenview-house.com/glenview-museum.html

Spaces and ground surfaces

The bluish colour of the above picture is awful, sorry about that. My phone was on funny settings when I took it. It's the plaza in front of AIB bank headquarters in Ballsbridge. They've done a beautiful job. I think it's a really nice space now.
There's something that just clicks when the correct ground surface is chosen. Another example is Collins' Barracks. I'm sure people don't even pay attention to the pale salmon finish there - it's the perfect surface. Subtle, unnoticeable and succeeding in placing the emphasis on the buildings surrounding the space.

I'd like to introduce you to my laundry basket

I am always trying to improve things. Or get the best way for doing things. And when I find something that works well, I feel I should spread the word!

This is my laundry basket.
I love it. It works so well.

It's got three hanging linen 'bags' which can be removed, so it's very easy to sort clothes (I do whites, blacks and coloureds!).
Relations have told me "ah, sure, it's not that much hassle to separate your darks from your whites before doing a wash..." but why should you have to?!
The only thing I might change about it is have a fourth hanger; for delicates... You see what I said is true - I'm always trying to improve things ;O)

Train Travel Plugged in

I travelled by train recently from Dublin to Mullingar and was delighted to by able to use my laptop on board. Or if I needed to I could charge my phone or mp3 player. I actually had some work to do before arriving and the battery on my laptop was running low so this little socket next to my seat alleviated some stress for me.
I don't know what impact this has on the fuel used by the train or how it works but it was handy!
Actually, on a related point, I have often spotted the lighting on the DART and wonder, at midday, if it is really necessary to have it on.

Green post boxes

I've been a fan of these postboxes for a while now.
If you see beyond the green - Irish National Colour, don't forget! - and look at the writing on the box above, you'll see a crown sitting above the letters ER.
There are also postboxes with VR and others with GR.
The British Monarchs they refer to are:
George V 1910–1936 (26 years reign)
Edward VII 1901–1910 (9 years reign)
Victoria 1837–1901 (64 years reign)
I've never spotted one with WR but if it existed it would be even older and would refer to:
William IV 1830–1837

The story goes that when the Irish republic was formed, we couldn't afford new postboxes and the good cast iron ones that were in place were perfectly functional - so we simply sent people around with buckets of green paints and thereby nationalised our postboxes!

Radiohead graphics hijacked

While browsing online for train timetables. I spotted this poster and couldn't help posting it here!
I *love* the way they've used radiohead's graphics on the poster!!!

Organised v Messy

Walking past a bookshop yesterday I spotted this book in the window:

"A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder-How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and on-the-fly Planning Make the World a Better Place"

It's a question I've been grappling with for a while! I'm an extremely organised person. Recently, I've been organised to a point of annoyance! All the pens in my house were (a bit of an extreme example for the sake of highlighting the point) in a jar on the hall table. If I found a pen floating around, I'd bring it to the hall and place it in the jar. But what happens when I'm on the phone and need to scribble a message; a quick glance around the room searching for the stray pen that has inevitably been left around will not result in finding a pen - I need to traipse out to the hallway. And while I am guaranteed to find a pen, the trek can be annoying. I have solved this problem by placing pen containers in most rooms in the house!!! The pens are still tidied away and easy to find and more readily accessible.

Also, when being tidy, one is more unlikely to come across things/ to happen upon stuff.

At any rate, I'd be curious to know what these author (Abrahamson & Freedman) purport the advantages of a mess are.