It’s a quiet Christmas Day here in Dublin. With nothing else going on today, I’m planning on doing a test drive this afternoon using the GoCar car sharing service I had signed up for recently. I take my time getting up in the morning, making breakfast, and taking a shower, so I push the pickup time back a couple of times. The car I’ve reserved is just on the other side of the Liffey, so about a 5...

It’s Christmas Eve! The parcel I was expecting yesterday arrives this morning at 10:00am. The forwarding service actually threw in some unexpected, complimentary gift wrapping. Since they were all items I had purchased for myself, this made it feel like Santa had brought them. The shipment also included 3 teddy bear style Christmas stockings that I bought on a whim; they were customisable...

Today the weather has turned rainy and gloomy. I don’t have any errands to run, other than a haircut in the afternoon. I’m expecting a package to arrive from the U.S. with some shoes and other purchases I made from online retailers and forwarded via my shipping service. I also sent an early Christmas present to my friend in O. in Strasbourg, France that I’m hoping will arrive today. I give her a...