Before and after

Thursday evening was rather crap and depressing in the weather department


...and some happy-making strategies were required, which in this case, involved making hummus. I eat far too much of the stuff, and thought I might as well make my own, as I can get the seasonings exactly as I like them.

The experiment went pretty well.


The downside? I thought that one can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) in the blender looked far to stingy, so added a second. I didn't factor in how much this would expand by once I'd added the oil and tahini. A litre of hummus, you say?

Still, nothing like starting the weekend with a full belly, is there? Especially as the weather improved beyond all hope on Friday.


What a difference a day makes, eh? It really reminds me of the before and after shots on those cheesy makeover shows.

In the same before and after vein, allow me to offer some advise:

If you ever find yourself in Ireland, and travelling on our pretty mediocre(but improving) rail service, you might find yourself faced with one of these beasts



These are still seen far too frequently for my liking. Some of them have been around for 40-odd years, and they smell it, for the most part. I had the misfortune of travelling from Cork to Dublin on one a few years back. It was the coldest January we'd had in years, and there was no heating on the train. We ended up huddled together under stacks of coats, trying to keep warm, as our waterbottles froze before our eyes.
The summer edition also comes with a distinct lack of air con or opening windows, which can make that Friday evening train journey very hot and fragrant - in a bad way.

Want the good news? These old jalopies are being phased out, and not a moment too soon. The new trains on the network are amazingly fancy creations from Taiwan and Korea, and are the shizzle.



Hardly seems fair that this is my train for the twenty minute journey home, while people going to Galway get stuck on the orange monstrosity for 3+ hours....


Naturally, the weather didn't hold for the weekend, but it's Ireland so we should be used to it. Somewhat. Flooding has hit various bits of the country, and I even resorted to pulling my wellies out of storage when I visited my parents at the weekend. They proved most useful, if a bit naff.