#house movers ireland

[moversandmakersiesposts]

Moving furniture and other objects from one place to another is the responsibility of movers, who must also ensure that they are not lost, destroyed, or damaged in the process. They disassemble bubble- or stretch-wrap objects and pack them in boxes. They seal bags, using straps and cardboard sheets for heavier items, and then put the pieces back together.

[steelbluehome]

"Stan does a remarkably subtle job of capturing Trump’s mannerism and facial tics . . . while keeping the character appropriately life-sized"

ScreenDaily

‘The Apprentice’: Cannes Review (click for article)

BY TIM GRIERSON, SENIOR US CRITIC 20 MAY 2024

Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong impress in Ali Abbasi’s otherwise lacklustre Donald Trump origin story

Dir: Ali Abbasi. Canada/Denmark/Ireland. 2024. 120mins

What turned Donald Trump into such a polarising figure? The question drives The Apprentice, which charts the rise of the real estate mogul in the 1970s and ‘80s, searching for the seeds of his callousness and megalomania without much success. One cannot fault Sebastian Stan, who plays the insecure entrepreneur during a pivotal period, or Jeremy Strong as Trump’s ruthless lawyer and mentor Roy Cohn. But, despite its welcome restraint, director Ali Abbasi’s English-language debut never has a decisive take on the man whose greed and ambition eventually took him all the way to the White House.

Abbasi’s fourth feature is his third in a row to screen in Cannes. (Border won the top prize in Un Certain Regard in 2018, while 2022’s Holy Spider earned Zar Amir Ebrahimi Best Actress.) Returning to Competition, Abbasi has delivered a suitably sour drama that is certainly timely — Trump will be mounting a campaign to regain the presidency this autumn — and the star power of Stan and Strong (supported by Oscar-nominee Maria Bakalova) will draw curiosity. But what is less clear is how much appetite there will be for a film devoted to a controversial man who will dominate headlines (especially in the US) over the next several months; the film has sold to several territories, with StudioCanal taking the UK/Ireland, but a US deal is yet to be done.

When we first meet Donald Trump (Stan) in the mid-1970s, he is an aspiring mover-and-shaker in New York’s real estate world and is introduced to feared, amoral attorney Roy Cohn (Strong). The blunt ballbreaker takes the admiring Trump under his wing, teaching him the secrets to being a winner. (In short: relentlessly attack your adversaries, always claim victory and never confess to anything.) With Cohn’s guidance, Trump quickly grows his business empire while claiming alluring socialite Ivana Zelnickova (Bakalova) as his bride.

Written by journalist Gabriel Sherman, The Apprentice gets its title from the NBC reality series that restored Trump’s lustre in the 21st century although, in the case of this film, Trump is the one learning the ropes. Initially, Trump and Cohn’s rapport — that of eager disciple and malevolent teacher — sparks what is, in essence, Trump’s supervillain origin story. Cinematographer Kasper Tuxen films in faded, gritty tones, capturing a seedy New York during an era of economic downturn which eventually led to the ‘80s boom.

Abbasi resists humanising his main character, although he and Stan avoid glib caricature. Stan does a remarkably subtle job of capturing Trump’s mannerism and facial tics — the pursed lips, the jerky hand gestures, the cocked head meant to convey toughness — while keeping the character appropriately life-sized. There are nods to how Trump’s unloving father Fred (played with muted chiliness by Martin Donovan) belittled him into becoming a lethal businessman, but The Apprentice argues that it was Cohn’s unapologetically unscrupulous behaviour that inspired Trump to lie, scam and bully his way to success. Not that the picture has any illusions that Trump was an innocent soul corrupted by external forces; he always had a killer instinct.

But despite the film’s appealing textures — production designer Aleksandra Marinkovich and costume designer Laura Montgomery do sharp period work — Abbasi struggles to find a compelling arc in Trump’s ascension. There is some grim fascination to watching an irredeemable egomaniac knock down every obstacle blocking his path. But Trump’s heedless quest never lends itself to deeper revelations about the mogul, nor does it suggest how he symbolises the dark side of so-called American exceptionalism. By striving for realism, The Apprentice ends up dramatically flat, the recitation of Trump’s most infamous incidents — including Ivana Trump’s charge her husband raped her (an accusation she later disavowed) — playing out perfunctorily.

As the ferocious Cohn, Strong is menacingly stripped-down, but once Cohn develops AIDS in the ‘80s he recedes from the narrative, robbing the film of one-half of its most dynamic power couple. (Sadly, Bakalova’s scrappy Ivana is quickly sidelined.) The Apprentice proposes that Cohn, who many considered equally as monstrous, eventually realised to his horror what he had wrought by unleashing his pupil on the world. But that tepid assertion is hard to buy — just a strained attempt at a dramatic crescendo in a film that presents us with The Donald, but fails to put its stamp on him.

Production companies: Scythia Films, Profile Pictures, Tailored Films

International sales: Rocket Science, jls@rocket-science.net

Producers: Daniel Bekerman, Jacob Jarek, Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde, Louis Tisne, Ali Abbasi

Screenplay: Gabriel Sherman

Cinematography: Kasper Tuxen

Production design: Aleksandra Marinkovich

Editing: Olivia Neergaard-Holm & Olivier Bugge Coutte

Music: David Holmes & Brian Irvine, Martin Dirkov

Main cast: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Martin Donovan, Maria Bakalova

[georgeshutcheson]

Stamp Duty For Buy to Let Property

New Post has been published on https://www.fastaccountant.co.uk/stamp-duty-for-buy-to-let-property/

Stamp Duty For Buy to Let Property

The government introduced new stamp duty rules in 2015 as part of their efforts to tackle the housing crisis and ensure that home ownership was not being pushed out of reach for thousands of first time buyers. As part of the new rules, a higher rate of stamp duty for buy to let property came into play.

When buying a property to rent in the UK, it’s important to consider all of the relevant costs so as to ensure that you have enough money to complete the purchase. One of these is stamp duty on buy to let property, which can add significant extra costs to a property purchase.

What is stamp duty?

The tax on the purchase of a property is called stamp duty land tax (SDLT). It is a progressive tax, meaning that you’ll pay more if you buy more expensive properties.

There are separate rates for residential and non-residential properties, with the higher rate being applied if you own more than one property or you are an incorporated body. The thresholds for each are different, so make sure you check out the table further down this post for more details.

What is a buy-to-let property?

A buy-to-let property is a home that is bought specifically to let out. It is a popular way to earn an extra income, although there are a number of pitfalls that can make it difficult or impossible to make a profit from your investment.

There are also a range of costs and tax implications that landlords need to take into account when they invest in properties. These include stamp duty for buy to let property, maintenance and insurance, letting agent fees and mortgage interest.

It’s also worth remembering that if you sell your buy-to-let property, you may need to pay capital gains tax (CGT). The CGT rate on second properties is 18% if you are a basic rate tax payer, but it rises to 28% for higher or additional rate taxpayers.

If you’re thinking of buying a property for rental purposes, it’s important to get the right advice before you start. This will help you understand the benefits and risks of letting, how to find the right property and what landlord responsibilities you need to consider.

How is stamp duty for buy to let property calculated?

If you buy a property or land in England and Northern Ireland for more than £250,000, you will have to pay stamp duty land tax. However the rate of stamp duty for buy to let is different from that on normal residential property purchase. The rate of tax is progressive, meaning that the rate used In calculating stamp duty land tax on a purchase depends on the price paid for the property.

Where an individual buys a second property, there is a surcharge of 3% on top of the normal rate. Since most buy to let properties are carried out by people who already own one or more properties, they will be subject to the 3% surcharge.

Below are the normal rates of stamp duty on residential properties bought after 23 September 2022. This rate is set to remain the same until 2025.

[table id=2 /]

Are you a first-time buyer?

First time buyers don’t have to pay stamp duty if they buy a home under £425,000 and they claim a discount.

However, you will to have to pay the standard stamp duty if you are a first-time buyer investing in buy to let. If you’re purchasing a buy-to-let property, you won’t be able to take advantage of first-time buyer property tax exemptions and you’ll be charged the ‘home mover rate’ instead.

Non residents

Non residents investing in UK properties are liable to a 2% surcharge on the price of the UK property they buy. If they already have one UK property before investing in another UK property, the 2% surcharge will be on top of the 3% second property surcharge. Consequently you have to add 5% surcharge on the normal rate of stamp duty for buy to let property if you are a none resident who already posses a residential property in the UK.

Stamp duty for buy to let property on Limited companies

A growing number of buy-to-let property investors are purchasing their properties through limited company structures. The practice has grown in recent years thanks largely to changes in the way tax relief is given to private individuals compared to companies.

The limited company structure allows owners to claim back mortgage interest relief as a business expense. Unfortunately individual can not claim mortgage interest relief on their rented property income in the same way.

Can I claim back stamp duty for a buy-to-let?

Yes you can claim back any extra stamp duty you’ve paid on a property if you sell your main residence within three years of buying it. This is on the assumption that the buy to let property becomes your only property after you’ve sold your main residence.

[mamunborsha]

Man With a Van Dublin: Professional and Affordable Moving Solutions

Are you looking for an easy, cost-effective way to move your belongings from one place to another? Look no further than Van Removal – Man With A Van Dublin. Our company offers convenient transportation services throughout Greater Dublin Area (GDA) at an unbeatable rate. And with over 20 years of experience in successful relocations, our team of professional movers always strives for excellence in customer service.

What Is a “Man With A Van”?

The phrase “man with a van” refers to the practice of hiring someone who owns and operates a van to help you transport bulky items from one place to another. It is perfect for those who need some extra assistance moving furniture or other heavy items that can’t be transported by car or bus. Professional movers also provide peace of mind knowing that all your belongings are handled with care and expertly loaded into the van so nothing gets damaged during transit.

Benefits Of Choosing Van Removal

Whether you're just relocating down the street or across the country, there are several advantages that come with hiring our man with van services such as * Faster completion times – instead of packing up all your boxes yourself or making multiple trips between destinations, our team will get it done quickly; * Stress-free – manual laboring such as carrying heavy furniture up flights of stairs is unnecessary; * Professionalism – experienced teams know how properly package fragile items so they won't get damaged during transit;    * Affordability – depending on the size of your move and distance traveled, we offer competitive rates that make moving easier on your wallet.

At Van Removal - Man With A Van Dublin, we understand that every relocation is unique and different, which is why we offer tailored solutions according to individual needs and budget requirements. We strive to make moving quicker, smoother, and stress-free than ever before!

Our Services

Our team at Van Removal offers a range of services including full house removals and end-of-tenancy cleaning at competitive prices. We don’t just load/unload trucks - but also handle all aspects associated with domestic/commercial relocations such as packing/unpacking boxes, securing items for transportation, etc. Here are some other features that set us apart from the competition:  * Fully insured service - guaranteeing maximum protection against any possible damages; * Open seven days a week - book weekend slots or same day/next day delivery based on availability;    * Affordable prices - catering to both budget-conscious customers and those after luxury removal services; * Items tracked via tracking device - giving customers peace of mind knowing exactly where their valuables are located;  * Free estimates – helping customers keep track of expenses without surprise charges at the end of the job, etc.

FAQs About Our Services

Q: Can I reserve time slots?    A: Yes! Let us know when you would like us to arrive and we'll do our best to accommodate your schedule accordingly - so contact us today for more information about availability!  Q: How far in advance should I book?    A: As soon as possible! To guarantee fast turnaround times it's recommended you book at least 3 days in advance but if something urgent arises then please don't hesitate to give us a call!    Q: Do I need special insurance coverage? A: No - all vehicles used by our company are fully insured meaning you don't have to worry about any additional fees come billing time!

Van Removal's Man With A Van Dublin service provides reliable transportation solutions throughout Ireland at unbeatable prices perfect for any budget. So if you're looking for professional movers who know how to take care of business quickly while delivering guaranteed results - look no further than Van Removal! Contact us today for more information on how we can make your next move effortless and hassle-free!

[quickremoval]

Relocating made seamless with our professional house moving company. Trust us for stress-free transitions and expert handling of your belongings. Get a quote today! Discover seamless house moving solutions with our expert moving company.

[egarotss]

A Transatlantic Crossing With the Queen Mary 2 - Part 1

Driving up to the Port of Southampton's Mayflower Terminal and getting first look at the white-and-dark hulled Queen Mary 2, the biggest, longest, tallest, heaviest, and most costly boat at any point assembled, evoked impressive energy and wonderment. Docked to port at a 50-degree, 54.25' north scope and 001-degree, 25.70' west longitude and confronting a 116.4-degree compass heading, the 17-decked leviathan, with a 1,132-foot length and 148-foot width, included a gross load of 151,400 tons and overshadowed the structures with its overhang lined façade, obscuring it with its 236.2-foot stature. Its draft expanded 33.10 feet underneath the water line. The drifting city, complete with its staterooms, eateries, shopping arcades, libraries, theaters, and planetariums, would connect, in six days, the European and North American landmasses, the comparable in hours to the term of the ethereal intersection by 747-400, itself then the world's biggest business aircraft. However, the maritime intersection would yield mutual respect, refinement, restoration, enthusiastic fix, and return to the more slow, yet more rich period of steam transport travel-an excursion, I would before long discover, would prompt a quest for the oceanic history of the past which had made the innovation of the present.

Not at all like the multiplication of present day voyage ships with their nearly lower speeds and more prominent volume, square-calculation bodies, the Queen Mary 2 had been planned as a cutting edge replacement to the 35-year-old Queen Elizabeth 2 and, in that capacity, would have to bring to the table that very all year, traveler conveying abilities, predominately in the harsh North Atlantic, with a plan which forfeited income creating volume and lower development expenses of the customary journey transport for the necessary wellbeing, speed, and solidness of the sea liner. Resultantly, it highlighted a similar angular body setup normal for the long queue of its Cunard archetypes, built of thicker steel which conveyed a 40-percent more prominent expense than those of regular journey ships. Planned by Stephen Payne, whose motivations for the bow had come from the Queen Elizabeth 2 and the brake divider from the Normandie, it was the principal fourfold screw North Atlantic sea liner since the France of 1962. Payne himself, a maritime designer brought up in London, had been associated with the Carnival Holiday, Carnival Fantasy, and Rotterdam VI activities. The last mentioned, joining a changed Staten dam frame, had highlighted a less "square shaped" body shape than the customary journey transport, however had still been extensively eliminated a full liner plan.

Planned for the essential Southampton-New York course, it consolidated dimensional limitations directed by the United States port, including a pipe tallness which cleared the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge by just ten feet and a general length which surpassed the 1,100-foot dock of the Port of New York by 34 feet.

Built by Alstom Chanters de l'Atlantique in St. Nazaire, France, which had additionally assembled the Normandie, and assigned structure G32 by the shipyard, it had been the main Cunard liner at any point built outside of the United Kingdom and, as Concorde, the world's quickest and up until recently just supersonic aircraft, turned into the subsequent British-French cooperative transportation project expected for overseas assistance, in spite of the fact that through boundlessly unique, if not inverse, modes.

Its inside offered unrivaled space and solace. Of the 17 decks, the initial four were intended for hardware, stockpiling, and the 1,254-in number group; 13 were for the 2,620 travelers; and eight contained overhang staterooms. Eminent components incorporated a Grand Lobby, the Royal Court Theater, the Illuminations Theater and Planetarium, the Connections Internet Center, the Queen's Ballroom, a Winter Garden, nine significant cafés, 11 bars and parlors, a 8,000-volume library and book shop, an Oxford University address program, exhibitions by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, five pools, sports settings, a Canyon Ranch Spa, a structure of shops, and a discotheque. These arrangements would comprise my "home" for the following six days.

Emblematically reflected by its more modest QE2 archetype berthed an extensive separation from its bow at the Queen Elizabeth 2 Terminal, the Queen Mary 2 addressed a two-overlay net weight increment over its prior age partner and, without a doubt, followed its ancestry back to a long way of Cunard vessels which had crossed a 165-year time frame. I by one way or another detected that the unavoidable intersection would not exclusively be an excursion of distance, however a return on schedule.

Tenderly vibrating at its spine, the behemoth along the side isolated itself underneath from its billet beneath the metallic cloudy at 1810, nearby time.

Not at all like the traditional motor propeller shaft innovation of more established age sends, the Queen Mary 2 was fueled rather by four rearward, frame underside-mounted Rolls Royce Mermaid electric-engine cases, each weighing 260 tons and containing four fixed-pitch, 9,900-pound, hardened steel sharp edges, and all things considered delivering 115,328 torque. The forward, detachable pair was fixed and given forward and toward the back impetus, while the rearward, inboard pair included 360-degree azimuth capacity and gave both drive and controlling, hindering the requirement for the rudder. The trend setting innovation framework diminished both intricacy and weight and expanded inner body volume by wiping out the customary motor design's related gear.

Three Rolls Royce variable-pitch, cross over propeller bow engines, altogether creating 15,000 strength, given port and starboard bow House Moving Services From Ireland To UK ability at velocities of up to five bunches. At eight bunches, when their adequacy had been surpassed, they were covered by 90-degree pivoting, liquid powerful entryways.

Driven by double water-sprout shooting towing boats, the behemoth ocean liner started its blundering development down the bowl. Keeping a 11.5-tie forward speed in the Solvent, it initiated its starboard abandon 140 degrees at Cal shots Reach at 1907, ready for the comparable move at Brambles.

Packed into dim, the sun projected its shining orange streaks outward through the slender, unhampered strip on the western skyline. Expecting a 220-degree heading through the Thorn Channel, the Queen Mary 2 started its starboard go to adjust the Isle of Wight.

The main supper on board the exquisite, oceanic designing victory had been served in the 1,351-seat, three-story-high, double level Britannia Restaurant which had included a terrific, clearing flight of stairs, section upholds, and a vaulted, illuminated, stained discriminatory constraint and was suggestive of and motivated by the fantastic lounge area salons of the twentieth century French liners, for example, the Ile-de-France, the L'Atlantique, and the Normandie. The actual supper, served on Wedgwood bone china and in Waterford precious stone, had included white zinfandel wine; cream of blended mushroom soup with parmesan bread garnishes; dry rolls and margarine; oak leaf and Boston salad with shaved carrots and sherry vinaigrette dressing; rack of pork with wild mushroom ragout, truffle pureed potatoes, morel sauce, and sauerkraut; warm apple strudel with cognac sauce; and espresso.

The slim line of orange lights illustrating the coast followed itself behind the harsh. Keeping a 27-tie speed and a 250-degree heading, the stone consistent, 151,000-ton designing mass utilized the dark channel and started its extraordinary circle course, from Bishop's Rock in the Scilly Isles. Ahead lay the limitless Atlantic-and the way manufactured by all of Cunard's past transoceanic liners. Tomorrow, I would start following the recorded one.

Day Two:

First light welcomed the extended liner as a passage of indistinct, damp dim. Encased between the bleak cloud arch above and the naval force ocean record beneath, which spat intermittent white covers, the dark and-red piped vessel infiltrated the dampness immersed morning, the downpour discharging sky and the twirling, eddying ocean converging into consistent, wind-stormy, transport besieged douse.

Any undesired development, notwithstanding, was rapidly, and undetectably, hosed by the two sets of 15.63-square-meter Brown Bros/Rolls Royce balance stabilizers which were constrained by gyroscopic vertical reference instruments and stretched out the extent that 15 feet from the frame to check transport roll.

Diving into 348-meter-profound waters 98 nautical miles off of Ireland around early afternoon, the Queen Mary 2 had navigated 418 miles since its takeoff from Southampton yesterday.

Current climate involved discontinuous, light downpour with a clockwise development toward the west, anticipated to drop to drive 4. The current power 5, new breeze out of the south, combined with a 11.2-degree Celsius air temperature, conveyed a 994-millibar pressure. The ocean, with a moderate 4 state, kept a 10-degree Celsius temperature.

Evening tea, held in the Queen's Room, had been a British custom and a wonderful irregularity among lunch and supper served on each Cunard crossing, the last close to home one of which had been the 2002 eastward excursion on the Queen Elizabeth 2. The Queen's Room itself, the biggest assembly hall adrift, highlighted a curved roof, twin gem crystal fixtures, a velvet blue and gold drape over the symphony stage, a 1,225-square-foot dance floor, a live harpist, and little, round tables seating up to 562. The present show included egg, ham and cheddar, cucumber, tomato, hamburger, and fish finger-sandwiches, scones with thickened cream and jam, and strawberry cream tarts.

Evening tea adrift could follow its ancestry back about 165 years. Einstein's hypothesis of relativity by one way or another appeared to apply. Suspended between mainland, landmass, and populace, the boat appeared to be gotten inside a void, a captured twist in which history appeared to be caught and in which the vessel reconnected with its past, as it by and by replayed it, a partition from the present ashore and a way to deal with its past on the ocean. For more information visit our website http://ireland-direct.com/

[tfihs86]

8 Reasons Why You Should Hire Professional House Movers

In the event that you need to move with no pressure, we propose that you enlist the administrations of a decent expert mover. In spite of the fact that you can move your stuff yourself too, there are a few reasons you shouldn't do that. How about we investigate a portion of the reasons.

Dependability

In spite of the fact that you can ship your stuff to your new House Movers From Ireland To Uk with the assistance of your loved ones, it's anything but a decent choice taking everything into account. Fundamentally, genius movers go through thorough preparing before they are given an endorsement to do the work. In this way, they realize how to do the work utilizing the best technique.

Genuine feelings of serenity

Now and again, it tends to be very overpowering to get ready for your move interestingly. Since an expert realizes how to guard your stuff during the move, you can experience harmony of psyche that your stuff will be in acceptable hands. In view of this present, it's feasible for you to zero in on different activities that you are dealing with.

Quick Service

Proficient movers offer a quick encounter. They will give you a fixed time and date of the work culmination. Solid movers guarantee quick and dependable assistance without costing a decent arrangement of cash.

By searching for the best trucking organization, you can help the moving cycle. Thus, they can help you save a great deal of time and cash.

Productivity And Accountability

Productivity and responsibility are the two principle advantages of employing a decent mover. On the off chance that you move your possessions yourself, you can't have the confirmation that your things will be moved to your new house securely.

This will add to your feelings of anxiety during the migration interaction. Then again, experts can move your massive stuff in a productive way. Thus, you will not need to stress over anything.

No Heavy Lifting

On the off chance that you have never lifted heavyweights, lifting hefty furnishings and other stuff may cause back torment. Yet, in the event that you enlist a specialist co-op, you will not need to do any hard work as their representatives will accept care of the position in the interest of you for an assistance charge.

Proficient Inventory Process

It very well may be trying to sort out the stock of your stuff without an aide. This is the place where the help of an expert mover comes. These movers will guarantee that the entirety of your things will be moved securely. You will not need to invest a great deal of energy following every one of the things and boxes.

Bother Free

In the event that you ask a relative for help, you ought to be prepared to face the challenges. It's difficult to load your stuff with the assistance of a companion. Then again, proficient movers have long periods of involvement in this sort of work. In this way, they can undoubtedly do the pressing to make the interaction bother free for you.

Experience

With regards to moving, the experience is foremost. Experienced movers can help you settle your issues and offer an assistance that you will consistently appreciate.

In this way, these are some significant advantages of recruiting the administrations of expert house movers. For more details please visit http://ireland-direct.com/

[moversandmakersiesposts]

Get ready for the big move with our heavy-duty cardboard boxes! 📦

Get ready for the big move with our heavy-duty cardboard boxes! 📦

When it comes to moving house, you need to make sure your belongings are packed securely and safely. That's why we've got the perfect solution – our Cardboard Boxes For Moving will keep all your items safe during the transition. 💪

[dimitrescus-bitch]

Dating Becky Lynch

It sounded like the beginning of a bad joke, but you met Becky in a bar

Quite a few wrestlers would come get drinks there after shows or tapings, but you’d never seen Becky there before 

You had seen her on TV before a couple of times, but that was it 

She sat down at the bar, ordered her drink, and it was the joke that she told you that made you look at the number written on her receipt 

It was a douchebag move, which you let her know on the first date, but you were so glad that she felt cocky that night 

Becky took you out to the movies for your first date 

She’d kept her hands to herself and you realized how awkward she was on the walk back 

“I’ll see you again right Becky?” “You wanna see me again?” “Absolutely, I like being around you, you’re fun.” “We sat in silence in a dark theater for two hours.” “Just answer me when I call you tomorrow.” 

You and Becky went out for lunch after that a couple of times and then she finally kissed you 

As the two of you got more serious, Becky spent more time in your bar waiting for you to close up 

“Can I get you something for last call?” “I think I’ll have you.” 

Becky loved making you laugh and so she was constantly cracking jokes 

You liked how Becky would blush when you kissed a part of her face that wasn’t her lips 

Becky introduced you to Charlotte, Sasha, and Bayley one night by inviting all of you to dinner at her place 

She had ordered in that night and you showed all of them how to make a few really simple drinks 

For your one year anniversary, Becky took you to Ireland and showed you all her favorite spots 

Three months later, you take her back to your hometown so she can meet your family 

On your last night there, you take her to one of your favorite secret spots and propose to her 

That weekend when you get back to Florida, she hires movers to help officially move you in with her. 

You already had quite a bit over at her place, but with your place empty, you could put it up for sale

The day that your house officially sells, she takes you to the city hall and you guys get a marriage certificate

All your friends in the area are waiting in the parking lot to celebrate with the two of you 

It wasn’t a big fancy wedding, but you thought it was fitting for the nature of your relationship

[egarotss]

Benefits of Using Online Storage and Moving Services

Capacity and moving administrations fundamentally allude to the office where a storeroom supplier gives advantageous moving administrations to the clients. For a brief time frame of the period, these administrations give convenience and capacity administrations to every one of your assets which is absolutely protected and however long you require the administrations. Obliging every one of your assets in an absolutely free from any and all harm self stockpiling working however long you wish. There are various benefits of employing the administrations of an expert such a specialist co-op. Taking the administrations of a moving stockpiling organization while you are Long Distance Moving Companies In UK will ensure that every one of your merchandise and furniture will be in a decent condition when they will arrive at their objective. These administrations are delivered by the specialists, who keep your possessions free from any danger until the time you require them briefly time So you ought wouldn't fret paying some additional measure of cash defending your stuff skillfully and safely.

For individuals who need to move their home and transport in another state or area, employing the administrations of an expert and effective carport entryway fix administration is a significant need.

Beneath referenced are some of ideas why recruiting the administrations of a moving stockpiling specialist co-op is fundamental:

• Hiring these administrations can be moderate and modest

On the off chance that you do the whole stockpiling and moving thing without help from anyone else, it very well may be demonstrated very expensive. In this way, it is very prudent and valuable that you enlist the administrations of an able, experienced and proficient capacity and moving assistance giving organization. Extra advantages are the straightforwardness and solace of getting your moving holder chosen up from your site and moved straightforwardly to your home. In addition, there will not be any stresses over the conveying of assets as you will be ensured that every one of your assets will be conveyed safely and with no harm. But, here and there you might need to pay more than you expected yet you will be happy with the outcome due to their quality administrations.

• Moving capacity Containers are sans hassle

Moving products furniture starting with one state then onto the next is anything but a basic errand to do. In the event that you are considering doing it without help from anyone else, it will take a decent measure of time, exertion and cash. Along these lines, it is in every case better that you employ the administrations of experts who are knowledgeable in offering moving and capacity administrations. They will give you excellent capacity administration for your having a place as it will save your time and energy. Your products will be moved straightly to your ordained area.

• Hiring these administrations are adaptable

A decent stockpiling organization is an awesome arrangement in case you are searching for an ideal and got area, where you can keep your effects in the capacity. It is an awesome arrangement, in case you are searching for a spot to store your products. You can store them as far as might be feasible and besides, it is not difficult to get, and ship at whatever point it's an ideal opportunity to move. The organization will ensure that the merchandise are stuffed effectively. Along these lines, employ the administrations of an organization that offers great quality pressing, transportation and storeroom and profit its advantages. For more information visit our website https://ireland-direct.co.uk/

[toonpunk-game]

Fluff Updates: Part 2

Next up: a bunch of stuff about Saskatoon, the default setting’s central location; and the country surrounding it, the United Canadian and American States.

Saskatoon

Let’s make this clear: while the UCAS still acknowledges Ottowa as its capitol, Saskatoon is nothing less than the very center of the world today.  There is no other city that unites so many different pillars of finance, industry, science, and politics; and for the last 200 years, it has been to the world as New York was to the 1900s.  In Saskatoon, you can find the Morbux Company’s interplanetary center of operations; the United Planetary Council; the world’s largest Inkman asylum; the Babblebones Museum of History and Science; the only publicly-available space elevator; and a thriving, storied, culture.

Like many great cities, Saskatoon rose to prominence because of its location.  For reasons which are not yet fully understood, the Saskatoon general area has the highest elemental ink concentration in the entire world—roughly 1 part per 120, which skirts the safe limit for human beings.  This not only makes it extremely livable for inkmen of all kinds; but also makes the production and operation of ink-assisted technology significantly easier than any other place—today, a full 40% of publicly-distributed augments are manufactured within the Saskatoon city limits, by over 15 different companies; and many other corporations rely on the natural ink levels to create engines, batteries, computers, and much more.

Due to strict zoning laws enacted during the I-day reconstruction, the Saskatoon municipal area has kept a comparatively low population density—with only 15 million residents, it is one of the few major metropolitan areas that has not reached 5000-persons-per-kilometer.  Even with that said, it remains a popular travel destination, and accommodates nearly 3 million tourists a day.

Despite its global importance, Saskatoon is very much a city with two sides; and it is hounded by a shockingly high crime rate and a historically dark reputation.  The high ink level means that, during I-day and Bloody March, numerous highly destructive ink-beings manifested there: dragons, archdemons, killer clowns, and more.  In many ways, it was the epicenter of the bloodshed; and by the time it was over, much of the city and surrounding areas had been completely leveled.  

During the arduous decade-long reconstruction effort, most of the survivors were confined to refugee camps.  There, many dispossessed Saskatoonians adopted drug use, and violent crime—habits which were not necessarily relinquished upon their return to ordered society.  While those original perpetrators are by now long deceased, they did successfully lay the groundwork of several criminal spheres, which persist even today: illegal augmentation, opioids, arms dealing, and mafia protection rackets are disappointingly common within the city, despite over a century of prosperity.  

According to the UCAS census bureau’s 2302 report, between 5% and 7% of Saskatoon residents have been arrested during their life—the highest arrest rate in the country. However, many of these arrests are made by private security companies, and do not result in a later conviction: of the nearly 1 million arrests made annually, only 120 thousand of these are carried out by the Saskatoon PD—while the majority of PMC arrests are made for unsubstantiated claims of assault, vandalism, or trespassing. This statistic is often used as a case against the legal power of PMCs, by critics who maintain that they are knowingly abusing their power as a form of intimidation.  However, those who support their power of arrest often dismiss the Saskatoon arrest rate as a statistical outlier with no broadly applicable significance.

 UCAS

The most powerful nation on the North American continent is the United Canadian/American States—more commonly shortened to UCAS.  Formed after the oust of Chairman Moirus III, and the collapse of the USA, the UCAS is commonly described as the only true megacapitalist country on the planet Earth—something which has made it a favorite of the Morbux Corporation, and frequently pushed it into opposition with more heavily regulated nations around the world.  With over 5 billion residents, the UCAS accounts for almost 20% of the global population; and it was the second nation to be interglobally recognized as a Superduperpower, shortly after the DPRC.

Of the UCAS’ approximately 20 million kilometer area, only 8 million is incorporated metropolitan zones—meaning that despite its large population, the UCAS actually has one of the highest percentages of rural territory in the Western world.  Most of this is given over to factory farming of corn, potatoes, and crickets, all of which are staples of modern-day convenience food; and which, taken together, make up almost 15% of Canadian exports.  The majority of industrialized territory accommodates numerous different manufacturing industries, the most profitable of which is consumer augmentation—thanks in large part to the unparalleled manufacturing capability of the Saskatoon general area.

According to the 2302 Population Census, there are roughly 4.4 billion UCAS citizens, and 1.6 billion of these live on or beneath the poverty line; despite this, UCAS citizens hold an estimated 48% of the planet Earth’s GDP—due mostly to the large number of mega-gloms headquartered there: a reported 2003 trillionaires live in the UCAS, while several thousand more are certified billionaires.  Fully 60% of Canadian citizens, across all wealth bands, are inkmen of some description; the third-highest amount in the world, behind North Ireland and New Songhai.  

FORMATION OF THE UCAS  

      Nutocracy

Prior to the Canadian/American unification, both countries observed independent systems of governance—the former as a federal monarchy, and the latter as an informal plutocracy. During the second half of the 20th century, and the earliest parts of the 21st, America was the dominant superpower on the planet Earth; but during the 2020s its fortune began to steadily decline. Underneath the Thomas Thunder administration, sweeping budget cuts and comically far-reaching corruption scandals left many American federal agencies derelict in their duties; so a number of government services—most prominently roadwork, education, emergency rescue, disaster relief, and environmental protection—were co-opted by private organizations. Many of these were initially started as PR moves by larger companies but grew into separate organizations over time. For example, the famous pornography website BootyBank.com began planting forests for use as carbon sinks—a movement which later coalesced into the thriving BotanyBank charity.

Over the next few years, growing disillusionment with the ailing political corpus lead to the rise of the “Neo-populist” movement: an offshoot of free-market libertarianism catalyzed by the New Rockefellers’ respective cults of personality. The mainstream media of the time labeled the NP movement a “threat to the American way of life” and derisively referred to them as the “cult of the billionaire”; but a dogged and understated media campaign successfully won them the hearts and minds of numerous people across Cob Country, the Rust Belt, and the Western Seaboard.

The growth of the Neopop movement was concerning to many people. The cornerstone of their rhetoric was the Smithian idea of incentivizing the rich to aid the poor, which they argued could be accomplished by selectively dissolving and privatizing government services: that is to say that in the absence of government, it would become the best interest of American corporations to fill the vacuum with a private service. Many critics on the political left argued that this would pave the way for a corrupt plutocratic government; and in one particularly memorable press address, Republican Senator Mathieu Willaby referred to the Neopops as “a series of fascists nesting in the hollowed-out corpse of the Republican party”; but this alarmism generally failed to resonate with the American public in the face of the Neopops’ calm and understated campaigning.

 Instead of the fiery political rhetoric of the mainstream, Neopop candidates—usually running on the Republican platform and funded by the New Rockefellers—would perform a series of public services in an underprivileged area, and use this in its entirety as their campaign rally. Despite some initial trepidation, the house Republicans elected to toe the Neopop line for the sake of maintaining a unified conservative majority on capitol hill. During the 2026 mid-term elections, Neopop party members secured bipartisan nominations and successfully won seats in 187 congressional districts—becoming the de facto largest voting bloc in congress, despite not actually being recognized as a political party in itself.

The Neopop Dream

In 2032, the Neopop party won their biggest success when President Walter Sturm was elected to his second term of office on his “corporate castles” platform: a sweeping series of deregulations which promised to remove power from the government while empowering American business owners to make more significant contributions to the legislative process. Despite enormous pushback from the political left, the American congress ratified several laws and a constitutional amendment.

The most important of these was the 28th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which signed into law the ability of civilian groups or people to unilaterally appoint a congressional representative in exchange for an annual payment to the federal reserve. This more or less allowed the extremely wealthy to buy voting power, and was heralded by American Neopop conservatives as a revolution of democracy: proponents argued that this was a way for the movers and shakers of American society to directly raise the quality of life and economy without being bogged down by obstinance and inefficiency in the legislative body.

Also of great significance was House Bill 6274, which instituted a federal-level plan to gradually defund state-operated police departments over the following 10 years while replacing them with for-profit [b]Rights Protection Agencies[/b]. These RPAs would function identically to municipal police departments, with the major difference being that they would only take a small portion of their funding from the city: the majority of their funding would come from individual citizens, who would be allowed to opt into preferential treatment in exchange for larger monthly payments. During the months leading up to its ratification, critics of HB6274 attempted to frame it as the gateway to systemic oppression by the wealthy; but these were successfully deflected by the Neopops’ insistence that it was merely the difference between “total protection by the police” and “deluxe total protection”.

These concerns were, of course, almost [i]immediately[/i] vindicated by the Cordon of Alabama three months after HB6274’s ratification. Sadly, by that point the damage was done; and over the next 4 years the cordons of Michigan, Missouri, and Arizona solidified America’s new paradigm as a land of haves-and-have-nots. Most of these cordons targeted minority groups in rural and subrural areas—which provoked further outrage from the citizenry. Since the 2020s, it had been the fashion among affluent African and Latino Americans to seek Canadian residence; and in 2036, this trend spiraled into the first American Refugee Crisis. By 2040, nearly 46 million Black or Hispanic Americans were refugees, with 27 million receiving asylum in Canada or Germany. By I-day, 52 million people had been displaced by the effects of HB6274 and the worst was yet to come.

The Second Immigration Crisis

When I-day finally came, it was enough to break the USA right in half. An estimated 3.1 billion people abruptly materialized, and America was worse-equipped to handle them than most: despite having vast swathes of inhabitable land, most of it was on the relatively arid great plains. The humid areas best suited to accommodate the inkish population were congregated around the gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi river, and the great lakes—all of which had been ravaged by a combination of 6274’s aftereffects and seasonal flooding. The country was, simply put, not ready for that number of people: the government briefly deployed the national guard, and then the army, to try and quell the chaos—but the sheer number of people meant that establishing conventional refugee camps was impossible. Throughout March and April it became clear that there was no protocol or organization in place which could even remotely address the ongoing issues.

On March 24, 2042, President Timothy Malthus issued the executive order for the military to indiscriminately employ lethal force against inkish refugees and burn any life-bearing paper. Violence erupted up and down the Mississippi, and bonfires dotted the country. Progress came at a glacial rate: it was nothing less than an act of genocide, but it was being committed against a people that could seldom ever die. America seemed poised on the edge of a long and brutal war with no clear end, of a sort that had not since been seen since the Mexican drug war of prior decades. Inkmen were executed on sight without trial or trepidation, treated as no more than pests.

Then, an unexpected source promised some measure of salvation. On March 29, the Canadian government declared its borders unconditionally open to American inkmen and life-bearing paper. This was not in itself particularly surprising, and was a continuation of the country’s refugee-friendly politics: during the first American immigration crisis, Canada had installed numerous far-reaching refugee housing measures to accommodate some 3.5 million American refugees; and when I-day came, their extant temp-housing corpus was prepared for 4 million people. This was not nearly vast enough to accommodate the influx of American inkmen; but it did not have to be.

During experimentation conducted on several survivors of the Saskatoon blitz, the Canadian government had accurately ascertained the physiological needs of inkish beings.  Knowing that they technically required nothing but ink and space, both of which Canada had in abundance, the house of commons made a calculated gamble and opened the border. Meanwhile, PM Katie Sheffield declared a public order emergency with a very simple provision: inkish persons would be allowed to deposit their homepages at public refugee camps, where they would be held by the government; but past that, they would be required to wait in the wilderness until such a time as the government could organize them into formal labor groups. While unpleasant, these conditions were favorable to being shot on sight; and most able-bodied American inkmen fled to Canada.

Canada in the Ascendency

Over the next 16 months, the Canadian government successfully organized 12,400 migrant building projects across the uninhabited sectors of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Nunavut. These projects relied on local resources and highly specialized construction which leveraged the inkmen’s limited physical needs: their homes did not need bathrooms or kitchens, which meant space could be devoted entirely to living and utility. At the time, this was heralded as an unrivaled display of bureaucratic aptitude; but in 2032 declassified government documents revealed this to be the work of a clandestine “crisis council” formed from some of Western Animation’s finest minds. This council, which had been kept secret to avoid public concern, included such disparate luminaries as Croesus Catsby, Princess Ember, Quincey Quark, and Vernon Vernacular.

The ultimate goal of admitting the inkish refugee population was to eventually dissolve their temporary settlements and integrate them into broader Canadian society. The government, under advisement by the crisis council, was not merely counting on inkish persons to equal the economic power of meatish refugees, but to exceed it: in an internal memo to PM Sheffield, Catsby outlined his expectation that [i]“the inkish population will be an unprecedented economic force: we can be trained out of our reliance on sleep and food, and can survive all but the most dangerous climes. We will produce and consume more in this service economy than any living creature. A naturalized inkish populace will be worth ten times its weight in gold.”[/i]

This turned out to be something of an understatement. Over the next 20 years, Canada became the world’s greatest economic superpower—eclipsing America after 3 years, Germany after 6 years, and China after 9 years.  Opening the job market to inkmen allowed numerous highly-specialized highly-trained people to enter the workforce almost instantly, while the ballooning population and expanding cityscapes meant supply could barely keep up with demand. Secondly, the country’s high ambient ink reserves allowed local manufacturers to mass produce precious materials at an unmatched rate with virtually no carbon footprint or additional infrastructure necessary.

The American Experiment’s Ignominious Ending

In the South, things were boiling over. It is possible that, had the second crisis not occurred, America would have enjoyed relative success for some time; but in 2045, the post I-day tension reached its promised conclusion. On February 2, the Inkish States of America launched a coordinated bombing attack on the cities of Atlanta, Chicago, and New York—at long last bringing the United States into its long-anticipated Second Civil War. The ISA, based out of the depopulated rural regions, launched a violent guerilla campaign against urban America. This campaign was aided by millions of meatmen sympathetic to the Inkish cause, especially on the western seaboard. On February 4th, President Benjamin Huxley declared a state of martial law; but a combination of numerous factors meant that the military deployment was largely ineffective. By November of that year, casualties had risen to over 800 US Soldiers and 1200 ISA fighters—while the New Rockefellers had uniformly rebased to Canada.

In January 2046, several key players in the American military industrial complex—including Kingston Aeronautics and the now-defunct Mammoth Motors, both of which had expatriated to Canada—announced a shift in allegiance to the ISA. Historical records show that these decisions were jointly meditated upon, and featured input from many of the New Rockefellers. With the country’s de facto financiers officially pulling out, the American government quickly fell to ruin. On October 16 2046, the Rockefeller-backed ISA laid siege to Washington DC; and on October 31, President Huxley signed the USA’s unconditional surrender before General A. Z. Blowhard.

On November 3rd, ISA members and hopeful statesmen met for a new constitutional convention. Under the official rules of the convention, each of the 50 united states would be assigned a pair of representatives to vote on their behalf. Any humans over the age of 35 and any inkmen over the mental age of 35 would be allowed to submit a bid for a representative position; and over the next 3 days all convention attendees would be allowed to vote on their choice for representative. In theory this would put everyone on an even keel; but in practice people congregated around recognized leaders in politics and industry. Among the elected representatives were several New Rockefellers—namely Bradley Crichton of Megalodon Shipping; Sharlto Butts of Athena Engineering; Susan Surma of Numerik Technology; and Waldo Hammerstein of the Bjurgenstadt holdings firm.

The constitutional convention was dominated by fiery egalitarian rhetoric, with a particular focus on three things: establishing the rights of sapient inkpersons as fully protected citizens; re-instating police forces as government-funded entities; and the reorganization of the American armed forces. Amid the ongoing debates, a new political movement arose: unionism, which advocated for the ISA’s voluntary integration with the Canadian government. Arguing that Canada’s natural ink reserves and ink-friendly policies were ideal for both Meatman-dominated industry and inkish settlers seeking new livelihoods, the unionists (backed by the Rockefellers and many members of the ISA leadership) gained significant traction among the representatives. On November 30th, the constitutional convention voted 61/39 to enter into talks with the Canadian Parliament.

On December 29, 2046, the Canadian parliament and the new constitutional convention jointly ratified a ten-year plan to gradually integrate the two nations into a unified federation. Under the ten-year plan, the Canadian/American border would be effectively dissolved.  

In the years since, conspiracy theorists have long argued over whether the unionist party, or perhaps even the entire ISA, was actually a Canadian proxy; but there is no truly compelling evidence to support this theory. It is today commonly accepted as fact that the Rockefeller’s involvement with the ISA was a political gambit designed to ensure their protected status after the collapse of the incumbent government—a collapse which their actions in the previous decades had admittedly helped cause.

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I feel I should explain a post from this morning.

So our church is in Fitchburg, a densely-populated post-industrial city with a low median income, a lot of empty storefronts, and a state college. However, a significant portion of our congregation (I've heard estimates as high as 40%) lives in Ashby, a low-density town that borders Fitchburg and is largely agricultural with a median income about 40k/year higher than the city. The people in Ashby tend to have deep roots here, and everyone knows everybody and might actually be your cousin.

We live in Ashby.

Now, when we moved here, we knew very little of this. It was just one of the closest towns to our church that qualified for a USDA mortgage which is a pretty sweet gig if you can get it. But our pastor saw an opportunity. Because while he doesn't mind people coming to church from the next town over, he recognizes that there is a significant culture difference between the people who come from one town versus the other, and that Ashby itself is pretty lacking in churches (there are two, if you count the Unitarian Universalist one, and we aren't entirely sure what gets preached at the other). So he was already thinking that maybe some of the Ashby people could get together as a core team and do a church plant here. And suddenly one of his most gung-ho church planter members was living in it.

Now, when he first suggested it, it was half joking, and I responded in kind. But the idea never really left my mind. I was opposed to it, which may be a surprise to some, but it was because I knew we were working toward going to Ireland and I didn't really want to invest too deeply in Ashby and then fly off. Of course, we bought a house and plan to keep it for whenever we're in the States, so my usual aversion to putting down roots makes no sense, but old habits are hard to break.

But I knew, intellectually, that we should be doing something in Ashby since that's where we live. We can't ignore our own town with the excuse that we're doing ministry in the next town over, I know that, and I know that's part of why a church plant had even been mentioned. I just wasn't really on board with it. Then I found out that there already was a church plant here, and I felt I was off the hook for caring about my community because maybe I can just help that team out on the side and boom, just like that, I'm investing in my town and doing church planting work without needing to get my hands dirty or really care about how it pans out. Which is very antithetical to my usual mindset, you see, but I'm used to caring about places like Fitchburg, I grew up in a place like Fitchburg, that's natural and easy for me and we're in transition and I'm frustrated about school and the delays on things and do these rich white people really have problems, anyway? Can I just this one time do what I'm comfortable with however I want to do it?

So I made contact with the church plant. I attended a service. I traded contact info with the pastor. And then I watched them get a building! They've been in the grind ten years and finally have their own building! That's awesome!

Their building isn't in Ashby. They're leaving. That's less awesome.

And then we found out we may have a chance to start prefield preparations to go to Ireland right away instead of waiting til my stepson turns 18 in late 2022 and we were all excited and we pursued that and we put all our focus on getting that going and getting to work quickly and leaving Ashby behind to go do the real work we were called to and...and then we weren't approved. We have to wait, three years to begin and then probably at least two more years to raise support and take classes and all that.

And I'm back to looking around at Ashby.

And this idea that we need to be working while we're here, because we're always on mission, right? And God placed us in Ashby, right? keeps coming up again. And I don't really know if I want it to be real.

So I go to this conference called Small Town Summits. It's a pretty great thing, my pastor invited me partly because he knows the guys who run it and is excited to go and bring me along. I'm looking forward to it, if only to be out doing something different. I sign up for a breakout session called Church Planting in Small Places because I mean I love church planting and I love thinking about it and planning it and doing it and sure I'm not trying to do it right now but I will be again and this might be useful and interesting.

I run into people I know there. Somehow the idea of planting in Ashby comes up first thing in the morning. "I'm willing to pray about it," I say. "I mean, I guess we're looking at at least five years here now and God can do a fair bit in that time but if He really wants us to do this He needs to tell us."

They start talking about why we should care about the small, slow, unstrategic places. Why our focus on only planting in big exciting cities is leaving millions of people unserved. I start to remember working with Vita Nova Greenfield and having an eye toward Millers Falls, a tiny little village off to the other side of Montague. I remember telling people I wanted to see something happen there and the only way I could get them to even listen was by convincing them it could reach beyond Millers and being frustrated because there are people in Millers Falls who need to hear the gospel, isn't that enough? Is it not enough to reach out to people, if you don't have plans to launch a global movement from it? Are these souls less worthy of work because they don't have influence on the movers and shakers of the world?

What happened to the guy who thought the souls in Millers were just as valuable as the souls in Greenfield?

A lot can happen in five years, you know.

And I'm meeting people and talking about this and it's weighing more and more on me. And I take some info cards on Acts 29's rural church planting initiative. And my pastor asks what breakout session I'm doing and I say church planting and he's like, really? and I tell him "I have one angle, man." Do I? Is that how I'm behaving now?

The breakout session leader is talking about how the primary focus cannot be on the church plant, but on the place. We are called to a place, to a people, and church planting is just one option of what we do there. And I feel like I'm being run over by a train.

And the idea of church planting in Ashby is still coming up and I'm wondering if there isn't something to it. And now this session is talking about the things that hinder our joy in service and we're put into groups with strangers and told to talk about what's stealing our joy (but not to find solutions, that will be later) and I realize it's being stuck in one place because I'm not doing quite what I want to do and change is being slow and we're getting no closer to Ireland and now there's this idea to do something else that may or may not be worth exploring and might even delay Ireland more and I'm mad, okay? I'm tired and I'm frustrated and I just want to fix this but I don't know how.

So one guys reads Philippians 4:11-13 to me. And we're all praying about the things we've said. There's this voice in my mind going "there's a lesson here. I'm learning something through this. I'm learning to rely less on my own wits in outsmarting situations, and I need to learn to be where I am instead of always letting my mind be four steps ahead." I need to let myself invest. I need to care about Ashby.

So I'm repenting. And I'm thinking and praying. On the way home we talk about it. At home I tell Carol, and for the first time since 2017, I'm excited again at the prospect that a church plant might be in our near future. I don't know what this means. I know that we need to start putting down roots and building relationships and investing here, where we are. I don't know if that will mean a church plant forms. I know that if it does, then securing someone to lead that after us will be part of the requirements to believe God has opened the door to Ireland. I know we can't live waiting for something when there are people right here who need the gospel.

And now I kinda want to plant a church in Ashby. But more importantly, I want to do whatever it is God has us do while we're here.

[softlyblues]

The music wraps around the trees, hanging off the branches, playing with the dangling leaves and teasing the sky. It pours down to meet me, hanging off my fingertips, dancing along my shoulders, and the cold heat of it makes me shiver, makes me yelp in fear and discomfort. Something is running to find me, and I am out of breath - I can no longer outrun it.

I don’t know what it is. All I know is that I need to escape it, them, him, her, or I won’t leave the woods alive. 

***

The first impression I get of Ireland is the first impression most people get of Ireland. It is raining and it is cold, and the sun is hidden behind thick grey clouds, and the wet is seeping into my boots and through the strip of fabric between my hood and my neck. My knuckles are blue around the handle of my suitcase, and my thumbs have turned white without circulation. 

“This is the house,” says the man driving the car we’re in, the window-wipers scraping tunefully across the windscreen every half-second to combat the downpour.

He is called Joshua Raleigh, and he’s who I’ve been in contact with over the last year to finalise the purchase of the aforementioned house. Today is the first time I’ve met him, and I’m surprised - my head had conjured a greasy estate agent, red-cheeked and wet-haired, hair dye and cheap suits, and Raleigh is none of those things. He’s young and sandy blonde and he’s wearing an unbranded red polo neck with bleached blue jeans, muddy at the cuffs. A wedding ring on his finger, and a hole in his left ear where a piercing must normally sit. 

Part of our agreement had been that he pick me up at Dublin Airport and drive me the rest of the way to the house, and I’d been dreading small talk with the real estate agent of my nightmares, but the drive has been quite pleasant - weather chat, talk about families, about Ireland, about how much Raleigh enjoys working around the little village I’m moving to. About his wife, his newborn baby. 

“Where?” I ask. All I see outside are trees, turning golden. Toast in the mornings.

Trees, and rain. 

“Through there - the drive is pretty long, but you’ll see it in two seconds,” Raleigh leans forward over the steering wheel and smiles, top teeth sticking out over his bottom lip. “There!”

I copy his pose, peering around the trunk of a peeling tree, curiosity itching out at me. I’ve only seen the house in pictures, and Raleigh’s been more than accommodating with a digital camera and the services of gmail, but seeing it in person is different. The house, the whole reason I’ve uprooted and left without much of a word to anyone. 

He says house, but in truth it’s more of a cottage. Nestled in the woods near the village of Kilnaloe, it stands a little rough and ready, surrounded by hedge plants gone wild, birch trees far taller than the house itself, ivy wrapping around the doorframe like a green embrace. It’s grey stone, and would look a bit forbidding if not for the shiny yellow door, the cheerful square windows, the red bricks squaring off the corners. The leaded roof; the squat chimney. It peers from between the trees like a curious animal, not particularly frightened of us, like it knows it’s stronger than us.

“Is it what you thought?” Raleigh has pulled up on the leafy patch by the door, a place I can imagine parking. He’s smiling across the car at me. 

“Absolutely,” I breathe, my hands fisted in the material of my shirt so as not to do something really stupid, like flail and whack Raleigh in the face. “It looks just like the pictures!”

He laughs softly. “I can give you your key now, if you’d like. You can ring me if you want a lift into town proper - I know you didn’t get that much notice, and if you want to sort something out at the car dealership -”

“I’ll ring you,” I promise. I’ve google-mapped it, and the walk from the cottage into Kilnaloe is just less than an hour, doable if I fancy killing time. Raleigh has already done so much for me, from the pickup at the airport to the endless emails and negotiating on my behalf, and I fancy the idea of a walk through the place I intend to stay in, and finally make home. 

“So you want the keys now?”

“If you don’t mind.”

Raleigh gets out of the car and slams the door, and I follow suit, my brown boots crunching the brown leaves into the brown mud, different shades convalescing into one. “Miss Delilah Hale,” he says, jokingly sincere, “It is my utmost pleasure that I, Joshua Raleigh, should present to you the keys of your new estate. My deepest wish is for you to enjoy it as the occupants of the mists of time did before you-”

I hold my hand out, palm up, smiling. “Thanks for the speech.”

When he drops the keys into my hand, already keyringed with a little Raleigh & Simpson Estates fob, I shake them to hear the jingle. “Call me Lilah,” I add, as I’ve already had to remind him once at the airport. “Please.”

“Lilah, then,” he says. “Do you want me to show you around? Check everything is in order? The movers came a bit earlier than we thought, but we got the boxes in all right and there’s no damp in the house.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” I assure him, and although he seems eager to help me I can’t help but notice the way he shifts from foot to foot. It’s been a three hour drive from Dublin, and he must have been up ridiculously early to make the drive on time and collect me. “I can show myself around just fine if you want to go home-”

“But ring me-”

“And I’ll ring you if I need anything,” I finish. “Thank you.”

“You have my number?”

“I have your number,” I wave my phone at him. Joshua Raleigh New House is how he’s saved in my contacts, although there isn’t anyone else I could confuse him with, what with the embarrassingly short length of the list of numbers. “Can I grab my-?”

“Oh, yeah!”

He lifts out my travelling case from his boot, setting it gently in the frosted mud, the airport stickers already peeling and fraying from the curled handle. “Grand?”

“I’ll ring you,” I say again, and he laughs sheepishly, rubbing the back of his short-shorn hair. In the three hours we’ve spoken in person, he’s come across as friendly to the extreme, careful and wary, and pleased to have finally met me. 

The sound of his car is quick to fade through the woods when he’s finally reassured enough to leave, the trees swallowing the noise whole with their rustling, smoothing it over like disturbed dirt after a funeral. Back to silence. Not quite - back to the noise of the woods, and the trees, growing and whispering and settling in their own pace, taking no notice of me or my case or the cottage or the keys, a world so removed they couldn’t care less. It’s peaceful. 

It’s exactly what I asked for. 

Inside the cottage is just like the pictures I made Raleigh take for me, countless angles and times of day and positions of furniture and so on, from the first time I saw the cottage on his website until just a few weeks before my plane landed in Dublin. Part of the charm was - is - that it comes furnished, and I don’t have to mess around with visits to Ikea and DFS and Argos and the Salvation Army looking for discarded chairs and ugly tables and stupid novelty light fixtures to turn something bare into a home, something I know I don’t have the energy for. 

So. The cottage. Inside the door I kick off my boots, setting them under the little hall table, a place where a landline phone sits off its hook, a little sticky notepad rests dust-covered and half-used, and a mirror hangs over, framed in silver wiring and hardly spotting at all. It’s too dusty to properly see through, though, and I wipe my finger on the surface: Lilah, I write, like a child breathing on a bus window to draw pictures on a cold morning. Through the lettering I see only glimpses of myself; the orange scarf I’m wearing, the red cold of the tip of my nose, the wisps of reddish-brown escaping from the ponytail I tied my hair in this morning.

I move further in. 

Raleigh is right, my moving boxes have arrived before me; they’re strewn halfway up the carpeted stairs, all across the hall, and spill into the two doors on the bottom floor as well. I never thought I had that many things until I had to pack them all away, silly useless collections that come from having been alive for a decade or three, things I couldn’t get rid of. Books and toys and clothes and clutter. 

I pop my head into the dark kitchen, cast my eyes over the oak table, the few chairs scattered around the flagstone floor, the oil cooker nestled in the hearth, ash turned to rock there from years of abandonment. Familiar to me from Raleigh - 

As is the other room on the ground floor, a large wooden-floored living room with seventies sofas spread out in front of the empty fireplace, paintings of muddy cows hanging on the wall, embroidered home samplers framed in their messy hoops, hung on withering strings. Now I’m excited to explore, and now I know I’m properly alone - 

Up the stairs. They creak comfortingly under my socks. Bedroom, bathroom, tiny study, a little storage space for the clutter. Spiders move away from my invasion, my rude disturbance into their home, and I do my best not to knock them from their spaces. There’s a bed, a heavy queen nestled in the crook of the far wall, where the roof slopes most severely, and I’ll need to get sheets and a proper duvet before I can sleep there tonight. Chest of drawers, wardrobe, mirror, carpeted floor, another fireplace with the grate hooked high against the empty space. A bookshelf mostly empty. 

The study is much the same, a sturdy oak desk under a window that gives me a view of the trees outside. Branches tap at the glass, seeking entry. A bookshelf, a few paintings, dark wooden floorboards. It’s pretty and airy all the same, the wallpaper yellow with a pattern of faded pink roses, delightfully seventies. 

Although none of it is really new to me, what with Raleigh’s pictures, it’s enough to make me smile happily, spread my hands over the windowsill burdened with bluebottle corpses. At last I’m here - here to stay. 

__________

so that’s the intro! i’m doing something completely new to me, which is original fiction in first person with a female main character... so i have to keep on brand in the big things. ireland, celtic gods, the woods, you know the drill. i had a lot of fun writing delilah and though she’s a little stiff in these first few parts, she comes into her own! joshua raleigh is also a cool dude. i hope you enjoyed this little excerpt! 

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