So, I am going through paint charts looking for colours to paint my new boudoir, and it's dawning on me that while I go around thinking I have painted an entire room before (because I did), said decorating took place in 1989. Which means my mad paint skillz are a little bit rusty. For example, I can't remember whether I should paint the walls or the woodwork first. And god knows where the fitted wardrobes, which take up an entire wall and which P's sister misguidely painted a rather hideous shade of dark red to match one of the walls, fit into this equation. Sigh. I have a feeling I'll have to paint those dark walls about ten million times to cover up the depressing shade, which is more suited to a dank Victorian dining room.

In other news, while going for a remarkably pleasant walk in the park this afternoon, I saw a heron hunting for fish in the stream which runs through the park. You see herons all the time in Irish rivers, but this one was only about two feet away from me, and I stayed and watched it catching minnows for a while. Then it turned and started strutting up the stream, and I went round and followed it until it saw me and flew off. I'd never seen a heron flying before, and it was very strange, not least because its legs are, like, a foot long. Anyway, it was pretty cool. Although it's about time I saw another fox there.

In other animal news, Ju Ju has met Bubbles (the new next door kitten) face to face. Let's just say it wasn't the beginning of a beautiful friendship - Bubbles seemed nonplussed, but Ju Ju hissed wildly at her tiny new rival. Oh well.