Bob Loblaw’s Law Blog

I’ve lost disc 2 of Season 3 of Arrested Development. Tara and Dan got us into it last year and we rushed out to buy the 3 seasons in one go. We basically inhaled them; American sitcoms – when they’re good – are a joy to watch in a boxset. And AD is so fast that you couldn’t really watch it on regular TV – perhaps a weakness on the producers’ parts. You need to be able to rewind, either through Sky+/TiVo or a DVD, to catch all the jokes. Or just watch it over and over. Anyway I got Martin in work into it but now, like a drug dealer who’s lost his contact book, I can’t hook him up with another fix. So he’s buying Season 3 in HMV. Still, Catherine is down in Cork now with Tara and Dan, so maybe she can borrow their Season 3, I’ll figure out how to copy a DVD and then we’ll have disc 2 again!

I’m also ill these days, it’s like a cold only it involves more sweating, slight nausea and a bit of intestinal turmoil. Nothing I can’t handle and luckily I still have my appetite. But I gave it to Catherine (and then gave her my cold) so now she’s all sniffly too. Went home at 4pm on Wednesday (lamest move ever; if I’m sick, I should leave at midday and not try to be a hero), took Thursday off and returned on Friday only to sneeze and generally be miserable. Right now I’m trying to sweat it out; when infected, your body turns up the heat to burn the bugs out. So I should try and help; or at least not cool down. Ergo, I’m now stuck to the bed.

I have a lot of leave this year; last July’s promotion plus my five year anniversary with the company means that I now have 25 days off per year. Or as I like to call it: 5 weeks, baby! So far I’ve been careful with them. I need to take the 3 working days between 28 December (which is a public holiday as the 26th is on a Saturday) and 1 January, which would mean I’d have from 24 December (we usually get a half day anyway) to 4 January off. I also took two days in March for my uncle Michael’s 50th in Mayo, one day in May to let a man in to fix our roof (he didn’t need to come inside but it felt weird not to be there) and two more days in June for my aunt Martina’s 50th in London. London was great, thanks; we had two nights in Paddington, saw St. Paul’s, the Tate Modern, the National Portrait Gallery and TGI Friday’s in Piccadilly Circus, which was amazing. Then out to Enfield, where two tents so big that they took up the entire back garden gave us the venue for two nights of sustained and heavy drinking, blissfully unaffected by the dodgy British weather. I also learned that roaming with 3 in England is pretty much free but they don’t seem to realise it, I learned that despite being the oldest and first-married of all my cousins (on that side), the second-oldest shall be the first Daddy with his burd of….actually I’m not even sure they’re going out. And British pubs can be ok so long as you ignore the fruit machines (which I still think are horrific, btw).

But that left 17 days to take this year, even after all of that. We have one big holiday (London was a holiday I suppose but we barely slept in) this year; Becky and Aidan’s wedding in Florida.

Quick bit of backstory: Aidan (from Dublin) and Becky (from Florida) were/are both ODers who met here, eventually got together, fell in love, visited each other regularly and decided to get married. Becky moved to Dublin last September and got a job where I work (we’re on the same floor and everything!) a mere 4 months later, they’re getting married in Florida and plan to eventually move there and eventually move back here. They’ve had plenty of challenges along the way but they’re almost on the home stretch so let’s hear it for Becky and Aidan!

*rapturous applause*

As I was saying, we’ll be there for six days, which kinda makes me nervous since we’ll have no other sunshine holiday this year and we’re leaving the morning after the wedding. Are we nuts? Mayhaps.

Anyway, we’re flying to Orlando on Tuesday 20 October and staying in the hotel where the wedding is. Again, smart move since it’s in the same city that Becky is from (her prom was there) and her parents’ house isn’t too far to drive. Did I mention we’re driving??

Obviously we have to; this is Florida and as we found out when we visited Becky there, buses are about as common in Florida as a packet of Hob Nobs (we saw one or two packets in a British shop in Disneyworld and one or two buses near the University of South Florida, so it’s a valid comparison). Everyone does the fly-drive thing in Florida; it’s the one thing I remember about Florida when hearing about it as a kid – car rental is a necessity. I also heard a lot about carjacking, but apparently that’s not so big anymore.

So what has your faithful correspondent, a gigantic car nerd who’s rented a Ford Fiesta in Portugal, another Fiesta (diesel this time) in Italy and a 7-seater Ford Galaxy MPV for six days in Italy going to rent? I’ve never driven on another continent before and I’ve never driven an automatic car before. So it has to be something special, right?

That’s right; another Ford! The original American sportscar, the Ford Mustang! I hasten to add that I wouldn’t dream of driving such a donkey cart in Europe; I have standards, dahling. The Mustang, for example, has something called a “live axle”. Essentially, there’s a big metal axle under the rear of the car and a wheel on each side. Much like a donkey cart, and not seen on a European car since World War II. But dammit, there’s something about America for me that makes me want to be part of it all for the time I’m there; to eat at Applebee’s, watch local news and turn right at a red light. I love the place – but only for a holiday. There’ll come a time when I’ll start to crave proper Irish tea, RTE News losing sound on a report and generally looking look some kids in Transition Year threw it together and right-hand-drive. But until that moment, I’ll love every drop of America. And that includes its primitive, underpowered but ultimately iconic muscle cars – so we’re renting a Mustang, baby!

Check them out: the 2009 one is on the left but the car is the right is my preference; the 2010 Mustang. Because of the American “model year” system, when a manufacturer brings a car out after July (sometimes earlier), it’s “next year’s model”. So the 2010 Mustang, for example, came out last month.

And what do you mean “they look exactly the same”! It’s not a money-making exercise; they couldn’t be more different!!!!!11

But our Stateside adventure won’t end in Florida. No, because on the 25th, we’re flying up to New York for a week. We looked at Chicago, toyed with Boston but in the end, we fucking love New York. London feels like an old place that’s constantly being restored and updated but New York is like the world of tomorrow, 10 years ago. It’s hard to describe but essentially New York is well-worn, often in need of a hose-down but always breathtaking and never dull. Just walking around is enough for me, walking into a deli and getting a sandwich that’s notlike the sandwiches I know. They have the ingredients colder, fresher and of higher quality. Then they give you plenty; a turkey sandwich with lashings of ham and t’maydoe and lettuce so crispy it’d take your eye out. They have this unashamed pride, this very real, uncynical view of the world that we lack in Europe. Of course, there’s downsides to that too but America, and particularly New York, is the Mecca of the secular Western world and everyone should see it at least once.

We’re also hoping to get Daily Show tickets; I’ve already written to them so hopefully we’ll get lucky. And Catherine may want a guided tour of the Rockefeller Center after overdosing on 30 Rock, which is shown criminally-late in Ireland (11pm on 3e). And then there’s the Comfort Diner on 214 East 45th St, home of the Lumberjack Breakfast. And the chance of meeting my old English teacher, Ann McElhinney. That’s if I want to; there’s a whole entry about her, which I’ll post tomorrow.

In other news, despite rampant deflation, I’m (probably) getting a pay rise. Yes, amazingly my company appear to be doing ok and have no excuse for not paying the 3.5% increase due to us under the National Pay Agreement last July. They also have no excuse for not paying the 2.5% due since January but we’ll probably let them away with that, given that with people losing their jobs left, right and centre these days and everyone else taking pay cuts, a rise is pretty much unheard-of. And the best thing? It’ll be backdated; meaning that all going well, I’ll get 3.5% of my annual salary in my July paypacket. Which will come in very handy for paying off New York etc. It’s weird; a good few of us feel guilty about this rise and I don’t think we would’ve gone on strike for it, as was suggested 2 months ago. But the company is still profitable and dammit, if we didn’t demand out share, it’d just go in bonuses to directors and managers. So feckem, we’re working hard and fighting this recession bitch – why not make a few bob from it?

And on that positive note, I’m off to have breakfast at 4.15pm. Stay tuned tomorrow for the “my old English teacher is on Fox News” rant.