Last weekend was good. I took Friday afternoon off and had a long, expensive lunch with D in Dublin, and then we wandered across the river to Croke Park to see U2. We had standing tickets, so we arrived early to avoid being at the back of a large crowd. This worked, and we ended up opposite center stage, with a clear view of everything.

The support (The Radiators* and Snow Patrol) were good and the rain failed to dampen anyone's sprits. When U2 took the stage -- in a very low key fashion -- I was grinding my teeth in a very E-like way. The excitement was getting to me obviously (no chemicals involved -- really. D did have his arthritis medication and some anti-inflammatorys, but I didn't partake).

I'm not a real fan of these guys, but they really can put on a show. Bono is such an unrepentant rock star and good at it, and the others back him up. There are some very good tunes too. The light show and stage design was clever and well executed and the only small blot on the evening was my camera failing to work.

Still, D had his phone.

*The Radiators (from Space) are as old as the hills. Phil Chevron has survived being in the Pogues and it was nice to see Cait O'Riordan on bass. Their biggest song, Faithful Departed, is a bit of a historical artifact though. Songs about the oppressiveness of the Catholic church in Ireland are about as contemporary as the famine.

On Saturday Sally and I went out and got completely smashed. We'd organised a taxi so we thought we'd better take advantage and we made the mistake of going to the pub after the restaurant and I made the mistake of carrying on drinking after we got home. I woke at eight on Sunday morning thinking I was going to die. I managed not to throw up and get back to sleep, but I was very tired for the rest of the day.

It's sort of summery here these days. The weather is trying and the kids are outside a lot. Anna is off to Irish college on Monday and there's talk of going to Connemara in a couple of weeks. Consequently work is not terribly attractive to me. I'm developing again, which is better than Powerpoint, but I'm not terribly engaged. I lost weight while on holiday -- not sitting at a desk and carrying your children around for two weeks will do that I guess -- but I can feel it creeping back on. The main thing is to keep optimistic, and I am. I am just totally in love with my kids at the moment and the smallest thing they do can make me all teary. I gave up the swimming, or at least I didn't go back after the holidays for the remaining two lessons. I couldn't see myself improving and they break for the summer.

Hey! Serendipity. 500 words and The West Wing is on.