Ennis, Ireland

Folks,

For those of you that don't know where I am, I'm in the lovely town of Ennis, County Clare in the west of Ireland. The pic of the week (not that the mails are still weekly) shows the coastal town of Lahinch on a lovely sunny day. So what have I been doing. What am I planning to do?

Christmas
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It all seems very long ago, but I had a lovely Christmas here with my family. My mother had just returned from Africa shortly after I came back from Central America, and we had Christmas in my sister Sharon's, with her husband Niall. It was a lovely relaxed Christmas. It was almost a complete family, apart from my sister Clara who's in Korea.

Trips to Dublin
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I've been on a few trips to Dublin. It's fantastic having the opportunity to meet up with people when I've been away so long. But it's strange going to Dublin when I don't have my own place there. My house in Rathmines is let, so I have to rely on the kindness of family and friends for accommodation. It's also very busy when I'm there. I'm out every night and it's really expensive when you're out every night in Dublin.

Ennis
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As I said, Ennis is a lovely town, although apart from family I know nobody here. But it's nice and relaxed, and I'm getting plenty of time to work on writing, going through all my stuff I've got stored here (and throwing out half of it), and just catching up with family. The weather is incredibly wet. I know Costa Rica has a lot of rain, but never all day, and never for many days at a time. Still, it's the west of Ireland, and you expect it. I haven't found it too difficult adjusting to the climate. I had many years to get used to it before my Central American years, and you get back into the swing of it very fast. I miss being able to throw on a t-shirt and being set for the day. Now it's trying to get out between showers and donning sweater and jacket and hat to go out. I've had some friends come down to visit, and that's been great, and a much more satisfactory way of catching up than when I'm in Dublin.

Writing
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I've found it slow progress on the writing front. I've set up a blog www.startwritenow.com to track progress, but it's all very early days, and it's a difficult career to get started in. I've read a lot of information on the whole area of freelance writing, and most people talk about how it was slow to start, so I'm prepared to give it time.

Plans
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I'm going to stay here probably until the end of next month. Then I'll go to Korea, where my sister Clara is living. My plan is to stay for a few months, and then move to somewhere else in Asia. But I'm not going to tie that down, just in case I really like Korea and decide to stay.
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So that's a quick update for now. You can email me any time at the usual address. I may do updates on the website (irishduo.blogspot.com), but I won't be sending them by email. I'll give people to opt in to my emails again when I start my next travels.

In the meantime,

Slán,

Éamon

Today's headline in The Irish Times: EU report warns of conflict with Russia over energy issue