I haven’t met any person who saw the movie “Up” that didn’t like it. Nothing like a bit of fantasy to keep us all going. But did it occur to you that you could actually get a couple of balloons, tie them on to your chimney and sail off into the sunset? It might not be a great idea at the moment, especially in Ireland – because I’d say there are few places in the world where, if you landed –  the price of your property would have risen. So tie your house down if I were you.

Was it just me or did anyone else notice that The Irish Times have reintroduced “Take Five For 800,000 Euro” – Last Saturday Myles Doyle of Sherry FitzGerald was looking for 800,000k for a 5 bedroomed house outside Wicklow town, and there’s a dull picture showing a dullish house, so you get the picture. Then Emma Cullinane of The Irish Times finds four other properties at a similar price in the Caribbean, Italy, France and Portugal. These are all stunning, but it’s the one in the British Virgin Islands that catches the eye… There are stunning sea views, a swimming pool and the 4,500 sq ft house is being sold with furniture and a Hyundai Terracan for 796,014 Euro. Look at the bright side, just over three years ago it would have been a two bedroomed house in Cabra that would have made 800,000!

“National Geographic Channel have created a real-life version of the animated film Up — launching a house thousands of metres into the air using balloons. A team of scientists, engineers, and two world-class balloon pilots successfully launched a 16′ X 16′ house 18′ tall with 8′ coloured weather balloons from a private airfield east of Los Angeles, and set a new world record for the largest balloon cluster flight ever attempted”.

There’s a video of how they did here, but it’s a small bit boring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV6rNqin4P8