Saturday began with the fortnightly visit of the lovely Marina. Two hours and €25 later and the apartment looked like an enchanted cleaning fairy had appeared and waved her magic wand over the mess. How easy it is to picture the various woodland creatures that would come in and sing a happy helping song, birds twittering on her shoulder á la Mary Poppins in an effort to speed up and chirp up the sweeping and mopping process. Ah Disney, I blame you for the many strange but wondrous thoughts that flit through my head. Now if only Prince Charming were to appear on his White Steed and sweep me off my feet!
After Marina, the menagerie and the woodland creatures had left, I spent the remainder of the morning battling with myself over the steamy matter of the Art of Bikram Yoga. I had agreed to sign up for an introductory month for €49 with great aspirations of being beach ready by the time I landed in Spain for my few days of sunshine at the end of May. The girls started on Tuesday, but as I'd become carried away buying fancy groceries in M&S on Easter Monday I had to wait till the funds were replenished before being in a position (pardon the pun) to sign up for 40 degree Bend and Stretch.
Though the cash situation had again reached a semi-respectable level by Saturday morning, the battle within still raged. I was due to go out for Fiona's birthday that evening and was concerned that if I forked out for the yoga I'd be stuck come dinner time. I knew I could probably borrow a few quid off Mum and Dad if I really needed it but didn't feel comfortable doing that as I already owed them for the haircut on Tuesday. I also knew however, that if I didn't bite the bullet and sign up for yoga that day, that I never would. In the end I decided against the yoga and instead made an effort to resurrect my foundering running career. I opted for a 15 minute jog to Mum and Dad's where I picked up my bike and cycled it home. Not quite an hour and a half of yoga but exercise nonetheless. Felt fantastic after it too and spent not a penny.
Interestingly, the Yoga/No Yoga decision is probably the first purely economic one I've made since this experiment began. I felt I could justify the month of Bikram as "necessary" as I usually do yoga once a week anyway and had simply planned to replace my current class with hard core, super heated, super yoga for the month to stretch me a little more (again pardon the pun). It was also very reasonably priced. However, in truth I couldn't really afford it, not without seriously impacting on my impending night out. I also knew I had an expensive few weeks ahead so decided to be sensible to a point and opt for some fun with Fiona and the girls that evening instead.
Birthday celebrations were indeed a great laugh so a good decision was definitely made. Dinner was served in Green 19 (http://www.green19.ie) and was a STEAL. I am, without a shadow of a doubt organising the next class night out there. We could use a cheap one after the monumental expense of our last extravagance. The food was delicious and so reasonably priced. I had the yummiest Fish and Chips ever for €10 and couldn't but compare it to the vastly inferior Cod and Chipper Chips that Dad and I ordered last weekend from Marsellas around the corner which may even have cost more. Aside from the food, the wine and cocktails were also amazing and I even managed to leave without a hole in my pocket. About €30 once we'd polished off bottle after bottle of wine. Not too shabby.
On to the bleeding horse for more wine, a conga line or two and a bit of a dance. All in all a brilliant night. I have to admit I did feel a bit shitty when everybody started producing some really lovely presents for Fi, most of which I found myself experiencing pangs of longing for, as they were hoisted high and admired. I of course had arrived with my arms swinging, which did not please me. My excellent home- made birthday card idea unfortunately proved to be unworkable and I wasn't organised enough to make something á la Blue Peter. However I do plan to bake Fi a dirty great big cake when she's over for dinner on Saturday so hopefully she won't feel too hard done by. It is gradually becoming abundantly clear to me that I am turning into a feeder. As I'm blocked from buying presents for people, I find myself cooking for them more and more. If I kept this up much longer I'd end up with a load of fat friends.
Total spent today - €89ish (Marina, Dinner & Tip, More Wine and a Taxi Home).
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