Friday 8/8/08: Ryanair, wedding dvd & Jo!

Even for me yesterday was a great day. The issue with my friends wedding dvd was happily resolved, thanks to a great man in newbridge (he does'nt have a company, and its very much a home enterprise, so contact me if you want his details). Imagine damaging the master copy of such an irreplaceable and precious day as a wedding day! This has been a seriously sized ball and chain around my neck, since my friends told me in spain two weeks ago, that the company that made the dvd originally has now gone bust, leaving me with the master (and unfortunately scratched) dvd. I had a vhs tape of the day, which I had taped over two chunks of, and the dvd copy, which they had given me in malaga last year, with the reception part skipping and scratched, despite all the cleans that it professionally got.

Anyway, long story short, he married the two versions together into a seamless and professional dvd (minus a few minutes of drunken reception dancing, which I can live with), that I'm sure they will be thrilled with.The dvd cover and menu are personalised, and look great. I won't be as careless with a dvd again, and certainly will never accept the master copy of anything! Just too much unneccessary hassle and headache should anything go wrong.

Last night was the book launch of my good friend Jo Wardhaugh Doyle's book "Labyrinth through the elephant grass" in kilcullen town hall. I was lucky enough to be a witness to this story, when it was still in unbound manuscript form, and to see it now all professionally produced, and edited, is very gratifying.

Jo has certainly lived a colourful and rich life (so far) that can be of great benefit to others. From her twenty years as a nun across africa, to an independant thinking reiki practitioner,counsellor, farmer etc, she puts people like me to shame, people that could honestly write their autobiographies on the back of a postage stamp!

It takes guts to reveal your sides, vulnerable and strong, to anonymous readers, I think it has paid off for jo. As they say, the best way to overcome your fear is to face it. I quite like the idea of writing your life story, in your own words, and from your perspective. One of the things I did'nt like after joe's death, was the attempt to eulogize or sanctify him, often by people who could have come happily under the umbrella of "strangers".

I just remembered to email vincenzo in italy, to let him know that I would'nt be going to pisa in september, to which I got a curt reply telling me that he had already read it through this blog. The power of the net!

Have booked my flight to manchester with aer lingus, but that still leaves me €213 in credit with ryanair. Surprise, surprise, while they sell return tickets to manchester through their site for €76, they want over €313 from me to reschedule my flights. Someone advised me today to draw a line under this episode, and move on. Even though I am loathe to add to mr o'leary's already bloated coffers, maybe this is the universe telling me to get out now, before I really get burned.