Ex-lawyer

Say hello!!
Shicky
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2016 11:43 am

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by Shicky »

Hi Did,

what websites or communities do you recommend for getting started with house-sitting? Getting a number of positive reviews and then getting to look after mansions sounds a pretty good deal to me..

Thanks,

Nick

Did
Posts: 693
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:50 am

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by Did »

i'd try a few out. it would probably depend on where you are located.

Did
Posts: 693
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:50 am

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by Did »

Two updates. First, I am now getting beer out of a keg that rivals or exceeds local craft beer you would pay 5.50 euro for at a pub. Second, I've been appointed to the board of an animal welfare society. We tagged along to a swan release today. Pretty cool.

FBeyer
Posts: 1069
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 3:25 am

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by FBeyer »

That IS pretty cool!
Is there any reasonable way in which you could sell any of that beer or have you taken care of all money issues long ago? I seem to recall that you and/or your wife were quietly looking for some part time work to buff the finances.

Did
Posts: 693
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:50 am

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by Did »

Yeah I've got my eye out for some coin ! Maybe in time I could wrangle some cash out of the home brew. I would like to get thing set up nicely first. Am doing heaps of work in the yard with an aim to converting the piggery into a bar. Completely insane, especially in Ireland (it's outdoor) but it gets me moving. Will post a pic once it is done in a few months.

vexed87
Posts: 1521
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2015 8:02 am
Location: Yorkshire, UK

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by vexed87 »

@Did, great to read your mum is ok after all. Where/how have you sourced your Hops, Barley and Malt? I have started looking into making a wheat beer. I have loads of wheat thanks to my bread baking obsession, so that's the wheat/malt covered, just not sure about the hops. :)

Are you bottling your beer or using a keg for carbonation? Have you gone for local yeast/ingredients?

Did
Posts: 693
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:50 am

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by Did »

Hi I buy those things from an online home brew store. At the moment I buy them in a pre-packaged state as I'm still working on my processes. I will get more into recipe development and the like once I am consistently making good beer and serving it. I started with bottling but am now moving to kegging.

I hope in time to buy my malt in bulk from a local maltster (25 kg bag) and maybe my hops as well for certain beers.

I should note that depending on your skill level and personality you may need to drink a lot over a number of years to recoup your investment. It looks small but brewing something delicious can become a bit of an obsession.

I don't think I will end up with a local yeast as such. But I wouldn't mind trying some yeast harvesting and working out over time exactly how cheap I can make delicious beer. All that to come. There are so many factors in getting beer right it can take some time getting a replicable process down before you look to optimise.

Did
Posts: 693
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:50 am

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by Did »

Here is an update I sent my family and friends:

Fare thee well sweet Anna Liffey, I can no longer stay
And watch the new glass cages, that spring up along the quay

- Dublin in the Rare Ould Times

“Number 152, you’re up.” Our chaperone had done his job, and now it was our turn. I whispered an inside joke to Alicia as we stepped on the hardwood platform: “Tranquilo”—Take it easy. She laughed, and at just that moment, I thought to myself, “What on earth would I be doing right now, if I hadn’t left my job and the United States over a year ago?”

- Tim Ferriss in the 4 Hour Work Week, before winning a world record in Tango Twirling in Argentina

I had my own Tim Ferriss moment a few weeks ago in the Sullivan's Tap Room, Kilkenny, where I along with 20 Irishmen stared at a man smelling a glass of stout with his left nostril.

He drew in deeply before switching to his right.

A little soapy, said Ian, a former Guinness Brewer of 40 years experience.

You left it too long on the trub.

One of the Irish lowered his head in acknowledgement. Ian progressed to the next stout, and the next. He had 13 of them to judge in the Kilkenny Home Brew Club's inaugural stout competition - a serious business in the country that kept stout alive at a time when the global trend was towards mass produced lager.

Three glasses were pulled out closer to Ian. Nostrils flared one final time before a winner was announced.

Irish eyes widened.

The only foreigner in the club had taken the prize of best stout. Talk about selling ice to Eskimos.

As congratulations were offered I couldn't help but think: what on earth would i be doing right now if I hadn't left my job in Australia over four years ago?

Scheming probably. But then I wouldn't have had a keg of Kilkenny's best home brewed stout to share.

The year has gone quickly for us. We have by and large been pottering around the cottage, doing yard work, cleaning out the old piggery and working on the vege patch. DW found the place on a map from around 1916, so we know people have been sitting in front of our fireplace for at least 100 years. We often find bits and pieces in the soil as we dig, our prize being an old school cooking pot that would have been hung over the coals boiling home grown potatoes and cabbage back in the day.

It has been just over three years since we arrived, sun kissed and sober. This means I can throw in my application for Irish citizenship which, provided they consider me to be of good character, should be granted within the next year. In the meantime we are both looking out for a bit of short term work to keep things rolling over. Even the thought of it is a shock to the system, and I took it as a sign when the GPS issued its final instruction when we drove to Dublin for an interview with a big law firm:

Turn right onto Misery Hill.

No thanks! I had another interview in Cork a week later - a much more earthy and lively place. No word on that yet, and given my chequered work history and the general Irish distrust of all things foreign, no sure thing.

Something will come up though.

In the meantime, a year after she swore it would never happen DW is preparing for a starring part in the local variety show. This morning we woke to our first dusting of snow as winter sets in. Turf and coal keep us warm at night, and we have worked out how turn a bad batch of red wine good by transforming it into the mulled variety.

We did spend some time back in Australia this year: a total of three weeks in three years. It was a shock, and I can honestly say we saw Brisbane through foreign eyes for about 24 hours. We could barely breathe getting off the plane, and my relief at my sister turning the car's air conditioning on turned to horror when I realised it was the heating, and that all the children were wearing jumpers when they should have been in ice baths.

We spent hours just staring at the sky. So blue. So clear. And where did all those birds come from? Should they not be in a zoo.

People in cafes were so friendly we initially thought they were long lost friends.

A week later of course it was though we had never left, and didn't particularly fancy leaving again to be honest. Contrast is the stuff of life and we fell in love with Australia all over again. We could just rent our place out remotely. It'll be grand, sure.

But of course driving back into Kilkenny and our cottage was like really coming home. It was comforting and we were glad. There is no way we could leave.

They say an immigrant is torn between two worlds, never really fitting into either. I don't think that's true of us. We just have an embarrassment or riches to choose from and hope to make the most of it while we can.

Looking forward to all of your visits.

User avatar
jennypenny
Posts: 6851
Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:20 pm

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by jennypenny »

I can't believe it's been three years already. Are you really staying? Have you definitely decided?

I didn't know you were in Kilkenny. I have family there. They were probably the ones giving you a hard time at first. ;)

And congrats on the stout brewing!

Did
Posts: 693
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:50 am

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by Did »

Hi JP yes I probably kept it a secret at first. Family hey. Well don't mention me or they will probably track me down..... We are enjoying ourselves and no plans to run just yet.

Did
Posts: 693
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:50 am

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by Did »

It’s been four and a half years since I last updated this journal. I’m not sure what I said previously, but we were short of cash in our stone cottage in rural Ireland due to a failure to find remote work or develop passive income streams. I decided to seek work in Dublin, which was difficult, but I eventually got a job in a large IT services company. We ended up renting a place in Malahide, which is popular with the Irish due to it being near the sea. Despite this it was still fairly grim with barking dogs, constant car alarms, drunks and drug deals galore. We enjoyed wizzing back to our cottage for weekends and I worked hard at getting permission to work remotely, which I obtained after a year or so.

The wife also got a Dublin job and would go up for one or two nights a week to stay in a hotel.

Looking back it was a fun time.

Then Covid hit and the world was shutting down. We had to make a choice between lockdown in rural Ireland and in the sunshine of Australia close to family. It is hard to comprehend now but it was a scary time. Bodies were piling up in northern Italy, flights cancelled and the Australian Prime Minister said get home everyone.

So one Sunday morning, 5.5 years after moving to Ireland, becoming Irish and setting up our home and lives, I said to the wife we have to move. Three days later we were on the plane. Car still in the driveway. Food still in the fridge.

That was over two years ago and we have not returned.

We have re-established ourselves Down Under in the sunshine. We booted the tenants and moved in. It was shocking at first, seeing Australia through foreign eyes again. But we got remote jobs, now available because of Covid, bought a dog and set up a massive home brewery that can do 100L plus batches, and it became normal.

We are working, but it’s not pre Covid work. I think realising that true ERE or Tim Ferrris slight of hand is beyond us, we are now adopting a fuck you view of working, with a strict no dickhead policy. I think many EREs end up with the same mindset, but you do not need to be retired to be in a position of fuck you. On an hourly basis I’m getting paid more than I used to, as I have no commute, no billable targets and to be honest have a fairly cruisey day. And if they fired me I would welcome it as I don’t need the cash each paycheque to stay afloat.

I can set boundaries, not grovel to anyone and take as long as I want to do a task.

If they don’t like it they can go fuck themselves. But of course nobody says anything. I suspect it was always so but I just pushed myself too hard in the old days.

Two years in my modest Irish lilt is almost gone. We missed Ireland terribly at first, especially when drinking. But like my grandmother it’s still alive in my head, and who knows that the future will bring. We still own the cottage and things change very slowly in rural Ireland so anything is possible.

Having said that life in Australia is far easier. People don’t talk in riddles. The sun shines. There are jobs galore. And the beaches and nature are to die for. I take none of it for granted after 6 Irish winters and limited income. It really is paradise.

Do I hold any regrets? None at all. Life is for living and we had almighty craic for almost 7 years, quitting the towers of terror, clearing millions in debt, and travelling Australia in an RV before buying a fantasy cottage to live in rural Ireland and explore Europe. I look at my former coworkers with genuine pity by contrast.

I also became an Irish citizen, a long held and hard earned goal that literally brought tears to my eyes.

Next up is more accumulation and when the market settles some renovation to our Australian home to make it modern. I consider our remote work as lifestyle jobs rather than a career. I’m still learning my insane brewing setup and the wife has started paddle boarding. We grow herbs, vegetables and fruit.

Life’s pretty good. And when the dust settles we will travel again, when it makes sense. But keeping Oz as our base. Perhaps we will live overseas 4 or 6 months a year or work part time being homebodies with local hobbies and community. We don’t know just now.

But at least our options are open.

Western Red Cedar
Posts: 1205
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 2:15 pm

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by Western Red Cedar »

Lovely update! Thanks for coming back and sharing it. It sounds like you navigated the pandemic well. I'd enjoy hearing more details about the home-brew setup and what you are producing if you get a chance.

*ETA - I see I missed the hombrew discussion here: viewtopic.php?t=12439. Thanks for sharing!

theanimal
Posts: 2628
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: AK
Contact:

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by theanimal »

Welcome back! Glad to see you are doing well and continuing to live life on your own terms. It's very special that you are now able to really appreciate things like endless hot water, sunshine and time outside are true treasures that many take for granted. Also, a boon to mental health! Easy to be pleased when you can appreciate the wonders around you.

chenda
Posts: 3289
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:17 pm
Location: Nether Wallop

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by chenda »

Did wrote:
Sun Jul 10, 2022 10:18 pm
Having said that life in Australia is far easier. People don’t talk in riddles. The sun shines. There are jobs galore. And the beaches and nature are to die for. I take none of it for granted after 6 Irish winters and limited income. It really is paradise.
Climate is very much an issue of personal preference. Not everyone wants to live in 40 degree summers prone to bushfires and droughts, even those of us who grew up watching Neighbours. But congratulations on the citizenship.

Did
Posts: 693
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:50 am

Re: Ex-lawyer

Post by Did »

chenda wrote:
Mon Jul 11, 2022 1:52 pm
Climate is very much an issue of personal preference. Not everyone wants to live in 40 degree summers prone to bushfires and droughts, even those of us who grew up watching Neighbours. But congratulations on the citizenship.
Absolutely it’s a personal preference. And variety is the spice of life. Becoming Irish like in our time there we had a real fear of the heat when we returned. Air conditioning was high on the list of priorities. It turns out for us our fears were overblown. We have really enjoyed the weather. Far more than we did before Ireland. I guess we have perspective now, as we do with hot water, internet and rational conversations.

I just checked and where I am in Qld the average high for Jan is 28 Celsius. Of course it is humid for a couple of months but I have a brewery, pool, aircon, beach and airport for that. At least 9 months of the year the weather is perfect from our perspective - like the summer Ireland never had…..

No sign of bushfires or droughts just yet.

Post Reply