Day 32 – April 1st

Not getting through my list at any great speed today. Have spent most of the morning chuckling at Claire and Ger on Newstalk and their April Fools antics. I've also been cursing ALDI. I finally squeezed the last out of my moisturiser yesterday so decided to swing by my local Deutsch Discounter on the way in this morning, assuming it would be open at 8am. Not so it seems. I was shocked. What self respecting German wouldn't open their shop till 9am? It truly beggars belief. So instead of starting my day testing out the merits of ALDI moisturiser, I scrounged a squirt off mum when I swung by to pick up Joe. If they stay open past 6 in the evening I'll get some on my way home.

I think I need coffee. In fact I know I do. Now is not the time to be training myself to drink it without milk either so something frothy it will be. €2.50

Weighed myself this morning in lieu of Weight Watchers lady. I don't want to talk about it. Clearly weekends of boozing and eating one's way around London do not do anything for one's attempts at a more slimline figure. The distinct lack of running over the past 5 days (clearly I was in no state to run for a day or two after I returned) can't have helped matters. We are not amused.

I may have broken the rules last night. If not I certainly bent them ever so slightly. Ciara had come home from Belfast with 2 briefcases full of top quality fancy ass kitchen knives. I think there are about 40 in the case. One knife alone could fetch about €70 on ebay and her friend is selling her the whole lot for €100. As I said, she came home with two cases and I doubt she's going to live with me forever so I made my decision and committed to buying the second set of knives in May when I can spend again. I absolutely couldn't pass it up. They are amazing knives. I'm sure if I had them I could even give Jamie Oliver a run for his money; they're just that good. My name is Cathy and I am a "Spaver" (for definition check out a previous entry). €100 committed.

Speaking of Jamie Oliver, I am adding his Ministry of Food book to the list of things I will buy when May dawns and my spending will only be restricted by the amount of credit Mr. Visa will allow me. It's €15 on Play.Com. I was flicking through it in Olivia and Conor's the other night and it's fab. Even though there are loads of meat dishes which I will never try out I was so impressed by his fish section that I simply can't live without it on my bookshelf. Never mind the fact that the shelves are about to crumble under the weight of my already vast collection of recipe books, many of which I have never opened except to look at the pictures (food porn). Ooh, I can't wait. Between that book and my knives I will be unstoppable.

Still haven't done anything on my list… I'm daydreaming about cooking fish and chopping veg with my new knives….

I finally got on to the L'Oreal academy about my two tone hair. The best I could manage was to get on a waiting list for a freebie colour and cut – on separate days. When I finally got around to checking my diary about 10 minutes after the phone conversation I discovered that I'm unavailable for both the colour and cut. I will now have to seek out alternative sources of cheap hairdressing. Otherwise I'm making an appointment with the lovely Amanda in Peter Gregory to sort me out before Niall and Emma's wedding.

I have been swanning around Trinity for the majority of the afternoon. Tickets for the ball went on sale today so there were queues of students a mile long standing in line awaiting a chance to purchase a much coveted pass into the social event of the year. As I wandered through the grounds I spent a few minutes thinking back to my own trinity days and trying to figure out under which tree it was that I spent a significant portion of one of my ball nights passed out. Ah – those really were the days! My primary reason for being in trinity was to meet Rosemary, my first official research participant and go through the rules of the game with her. We had a delightful, if not pricey lunch in the Science Gallery €17.70 – before I went on to meet Brian for some free Tea in his posh "staff only" area. Then on to Olivia for more catch ups (and sushi as I was still starving after my expensive lunch!) in the non posh Buttery Bar (which has also significantly changed since my days there a decade or so ago) before catching the number 10 bus back to Belfield.

Free Tea

€17.70 on Lunch for two

€4.75 on sushi

€3.60 on the bus

Total spent today - €28.55