The Big Word Project is the brainchild of two enterprising postgrad students in Belfast. You buy a word for a dollar a letter. There’s a lot of words in a dictionary, so they could get rich very quickly if this takes off. They were interviewed at Wired recently and it seems to be going well so far.

As usual, I’m raging that I didn’t think up this get rich quick scheme myself. It’s a gimmick but I love the idea and I dare you to resist buying a word! It’s impossible not to click on a couple of words just to see where you end up. Then you try out a few searches just to see if a word that means something special to you is still available. Then, you find one that is, and silly though it may be, it’s just so cheap to claim your very own word that you’re sold there and then. Genius.

A lot of web dev monkeys got in there before us, so the best I could get was "coders" but since our work site is tidy.ie we had to splurge $4 on "tidy" as well. It has great gift potential too: I couldn’t resist buying "foxy" for my sister, and my boyfriend suggested buying "couple" for us. Aw, who said romance was dead?

My fox-phobic sister tagged me 21 days ago to do the 6 random things meme. I can’t take another sleepless night of wondering what dreadful curse will befall me if I don’t do it, so here goes:

1. I’m a big fan of ice cream, even though I hate anything creamy. Hence, while normal people take a tub out of the freezer and let it melt a while before eating, I’m straight in there hacking away while my fingers get frostbite, and won’t touch it once it goes runny. My favourite flavour at the moment is Häagen Dazs Raspberry and Meringue. I know it’s limited edition, but I’m finding it nigh impossible to feed my habit around Dublin 6. No matter, for tonight I tried Murphy’s Raspberry Sorbet and discovered that’s the bit I really like. Half the calories and it’s available around the corner in Fothergills - this could get expensive.
2. I tend to use a lot of words. I meant this to be a short post with 6 one-liners and point 1 was practically an essay! I may have come close to breaking the record for the longest ever e-mail in the past, but I’m in recovery these days.
3. I don’t watch many TV shows religiously, but ER is one exception. Why, I don’t know, because it has really gone downhill since the glory days of Greene and Carter. Somehow, despite the episode each season when there is yet another boring hostage at gunpoint scenario, the pointless episodes where nothing happens, and the low, fast mumbling when you haven’t a clue who said what, I keep watching. I’ll miss it when it finally ends after the next series. Last night’s season finale on RTE ended on a typical cliff hanger where several cast members could have died when an ambulance exploded. Knowing ER, the next series will probably start with all of them in the middle of a trauma as if nothing ever happened!
4. I am absolutely rubbish at all sports. Getting the Wii Fit has confirmed that I have next to no balance and co-ordination, so that’s my excuse. If I could be good at any sport, I’d love to be a snooker player. While this year’s world championship final was a bit of a let down, you just can’t beat a bit (or even 35 frames) of snooker.
5. I can’t drive and I may never learn. Until the Wii Fit seriously improves my co-ordination, It’s probably a good idea for me to stay off the road!
6. I have all 465 standard DMC thread colours used for cross-stitch embroidery. That’s 11 km of thread altogether. I’m not sure I’ll ever get through it all. Maybe by the time I’m old and grey, still stitching in my pink rocking chair, cross stitch will finally be cool?

Given that I am probably the only blogger (that’s if monthly posting constitutes blogging!) on earth who has not done this meme already, I don’t think there’s any need to tag anybody else…

Back in the 80s, when my sister and I were little, we joined the Henri Hippo savers’ club in Ulster Bank. I spent all my pocket money on penny sweets back then, so I have no idea what happened the bank account, but we were both quite attached to our Henri Hippo money boxes. I had a blue one and my sister had a red one. Alas, some years later, a shelf fell down one day and our hippos were smashed to smithereens.

So, I was delighted to hear that Ulster Bank are bringing back Henri Hippo! Even more exciting is that the money boxes are supposed to look the same as they did in the 80s, although only blue ones are available. I was hoping that I could finally replace my moneybox by opening an account with them, but it seems you can only get one when you open a bank account for a child under 12. They won’t even sell me one (yes, I did write and ask!) - I suppose the idea of a bank not wanting more money is novel. I’m not sure what today’s high tech kids will make of him, but they may well be fighting with their parents over who gets the money box anyway! I guess I’ll just have to keep my eye out on Ebay for any mini entrepreneurs who want to cash in on Henri.

Reminiscing about Henri also brought back fond memories of my Trustee Rusty the fox money box from Trustee Savings Bank. I can’t find any evidence that he ever existed on Google, but surely I’m not the only one who remembers him? Since the bank merged to become permanent tsb many years ago, I doubt we will ever see poor old Trusty Rusty again, but I might start a campaign one of these days. He would be much less annoying than that guy from The Sopranos!

At least Cyril the Squirrel is still going strong for An Post. I don’t think that Cyril has ever been immortalised as a money box. Perhaps keeping a lower profile is the secret of his longevity? I see from his website that you can even contact him directly, so maybe I’ll write and ask him.

I wandered around Airfield farm and gardens yesterday. It’s very strange that you can get off the Luas at Balally in the midst of motorways and massive apartment blocks, and feel like you are in the middle of the country a short walk later! The 6 euro admission fee is a bit steep for what you get, but it is worth it every so often for the feeling of getting away from it all. After yesterday’s showers, it was fairly muddy and I was raging at missing an opportunity to finally wear the size 9 pink Hunter wellies I bought years ago in TK Maxx.

Our muddle through the mud was rewarded with getting close to the little lambs. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me, but hopefully the small white blobs in the camera phone pic above still look like lambs! There are better photos on the Airfield Trust website.