Post-Easter Blues...

I skipped off home to Co. Tipp on wednesday night, having taken leave on Thursday. It was great to be home again - it's been a long, long time. 2 days of doing relatively nothing left me nice and relaxed.

Then on Saturday, Helena, Derbhile and I had a nice lunch in Niamh's (a café), and then we zipped around the shops. There's a new, huge shop called Neu Look (or something) and they had some fantastic stuff. I bought...even though I should be saving. I eventually popped in to visit my grandparents around 6pm and both were in great spirits. I then walked home, even though twilight had set in. The weather was amazing and there was a real sense of the earth warming up and coming alive! Met the 3 girls at 9.30pm in The Paddock and we pretty quickly decided to take ourselves to Dubrovnik, Croatia for our summer holidays. Finally, a decision I hope everyone is pleased with. Next up is trying to get suitable dates! After The Paddock, we went to O'Keeffes and we ended up in the dance-floor section. Music was pretty good, but we left early'ish...Derv and Aud seemed tired.

On Sunday, my parents dragged me off to Ardmore, Co. Waterford, and then onto Youghal, Co. Cork for 2 beach walks. I took about 89 photos. Both walks were amazing. The spray from the sea was so gorgeous in Youghal...and the view from the cliff-tops in Ardmore were fantastic. I got some nice shots of the round tower too. I must remember to bring in my cable and transfer the photos soon.

Monday - it took 4 hours to get from my parents' house to my house in Dublin...2 bus journeys, 30 minutes of standing around and finally I was home and unpacking. But...a very restless night - my internal clock is completely out of whack!

A Tuesday in March...

I've been a busy little bee since Paddy's Day.

I spent the 17th out in Balbriggan, avoiding all St Patrick Day festivities! It was a stunning day, although a bit on the cold side, and after lunch up at the new house, we brought the dog off for a long walk on the beach, Blackrock Strand. We had to get the 6.08pm train back into town and bringing the dog on the train was fun. It started with another dog following us all the way to the train and he even attempted to get on with us. Much shooing later, we got the doors closed and eventually we left him in Balbriggan. Then Bobby decided to make friends with the very cute Spanish guy sitting adjacent to us, because we weren't giving her enough attention. Mental note: must get myself a gorgeous chocolate coloured labrador...great way to make friends!

Back to work on friday but it was quiet enough. The day flew fairly quickly and Breffni and I grabbed dinner in Zaytoons Persian Cuisine restaurant before going to see The House of Flying Daggers ( this was my second time). Still stunning...still intense...

Saturday the 19th saw me crawling out of bed early to go into town to meet Dee in Hodges Figgis. After much book buying, and a very long lunch, we caught the Luas out to Dundrum Town Centre. Dee was impressed, and thankfully there were less people there as it was getting late. But we went to Frongos Cafe and it took them 15 mins to get a coffee and 2 Pepsis together. I grabbed seats while Dee did the honours, and I could see her getting vexed up at the counter, waiting for service. It really is appalling and I'm hoping it's just teething problems! We then dashed into town, successfully avoided the SkyFest fireworks display (too crowded, highly over-rated!), and ended up going to see the movie Hitch, which wasn't half bad!

Sunday was spent relaxing, food shopping and house cleaning. And then last night I finally went to see Constantine, with Isabel. My thoughts : dark yet funny... very good sfx... solid performances all round, even from Neo..erm..I mean...Keanu...good score...murky... although I was expecting Alannis Morrissette to pop up as god any second... Gabriel character annoyed me...her voice was too weak... the bathtub scene dialogue was hilarious...my only beef was there wasn't enough mythology... especially about the alchemical symbol of the Red King

And today...well, I may be going to see The Machinist tonight, but I have to wait and hear from Isabel. At least I get to update my blog. And I must scarper soon to see if I can get the ost to The House of Flying Daggers. Hmm.

St Patrick's Day...erm...Eve

I'm a bit behind with the ol' blog. Yeah, I knew this would happen. Let's see...last saturday saw me walking Breffni and her dog (both needed the exercise...) in St Anne's Park in Raheny. It's the second largest park in Dublin and it formally belonged to the Guinness family (of brewing fame).



The old mansion got torn down in 1968 but the elevated platform where it once stood is now the end point of the large sweeping driveway. The park itself is gorgeous and I took loads of pictures.


It was good to get out and walk, considering all three of us had stuffed ourselves with lunch beforehand. Light was pretty good...some sun....soft tones...but it got very cold.


There was a definite need for gloves.

After we dropped the dog home, we caught the bus into town and went to see The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. It's actually very funny and highly entertaining. Some very solid performances with Cate Blanchett almost unrecogniseable, especially with that accent. Bill Murray, as always, was fantastic.

On sunday, after a much needed sleep-in, I dragged myself into town to go see The House of Flying Daggers. It's such a gorgeous movie...more linear than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, sumptuous, with fantastic costumes, set-pieces and wonderful cinematography. I highly recommend it.

Monday and Tuesday were spent feeling really tired but today the sky is blue, the sun is shining, it's much milder and there's a holiday feeling in the air. Might have something to do with the fact that tomorrow, no one has work! My plan is to get the Dart into town, grab an Arrow train out to Balbriggan with Breffni and bring the dog for another really long walk. I hope the weather holds out. It'll be good to avoid town, coz it will be a nightmare, and I've no intention of fighting the locals for a spot to view the parade.

Flying Daggers...

I've been sick these past few days, that and feeling general fatigued.

The House of Flying Daggers has finally come to the cinema in Ireland on general release. And, Constantine is opening tomorrow. I also just got my ticket to go see Slipknot in concert in June. A day full of excitement!!!

Really, really, really tired.

Rambling on...

Last night I had a vicious sore throat and a fever and even today I'm not sure I should have come to work. There's a battle raging in my body, mainly around my throat, and I'm pretty sure I'm losing! I spent today feeling slightly 'out-of-it'...although I have to say, I was highly productive all day. Maybe I should get sick more often...no no no...I didn't just say that!

The weekend...

After work on saturday I went down to see the new shopping centre in Dundrum. On the Luas, I was sitting near 3 girls from somewhere in Dublin, obviously not the South-side! When we got to Ranelagh, which is pretty much right beside the city centre, they exclaimed "God, we're in the middle of bleedin' nowhere"! I had a stiffle a laugh...here they were on their way out to Balally, which is pretty much out in the countryside, and they thought Ranelagh was in the middle of nowhere!!! Anyways, the shopping centre is big...capable of holding thousands of people, which is not good. I spent ages trying to find an atm machine that worked, and I eventually decided against even trying to join a queue to get food. Shoppers' paradise indeed.

I hopped back on the Luas and cut through St Stephen's Green on the way to my bus. The sun was setting and the air was very crisp - a beautiful day.

Then on sunday I caught up on much needed sleep and my new house-mate, Carrie-Ann, brought me up to Deerpark, which is near our house. The park itself isn't especially beautiful...but you can see a lot of Dublin from here, and more importantly, you can see the sea. I love the sea.

Working on a Saturday...

..not my favourite thing to do, although it is only for 4 hours. The buses were annoying this morning, and I eventually hopped on an 84. Big mistake - it turns right at the Donnybrook Depot junction and does not go along the QBC. Damn! Had to hop off and run across the road to get the 46A. Work itself was fine, quiet, it went quickly enough as I was chatting to Lara most of the time. Then I posted on MAL and now I'm getting ready to jump ship and go visit the new shopping centre in Dundrum. So long, suckers!

Thank Crunchie it's Friday...

...only, I have to work tomorrow so the working week is not over for me yet. So much to do...lots of time in which to do it in...yeah...

In other news, Dundrum Town Centre opened up yesterday and I'm planning on going out there to see all the things I can't afford to buy. For those who don't know, it's a huge shopping centre, the biggest one in Ireland (until they build another one), and is apparently über exciting. I want to bring my camera out there with me coz the architecture is supposed to be amazing.

Mental note to self: I must change the address on all my bank and phone accounts or I won't get a paper copy of all my bills. I set up the redirect service for the moment, but all the accounts still need to be changed. This means writing 4 letters to various departments in the bank, and to personnel, and to the head of my dept, and to the phone company, and UGC, and IFI... there are probably countless others that I'll have to write to... bugger.

No snow today so far!

The past few days have seen Dublin experience some of the strangest and diverse of weather patterns. Temperatures dropped to minus numbers celsius, we had snow, ice, thunder and lightning, sleet, rain and sun...often any combination in one day. It's always a novelty and a delight to get snow that stays on the ground long enough to be crafted into a snowman and it has happened about 3 times in the past week and a half. Still, the milder weather is more welcome, as it heralds the arrival and advancement of Spring, with longer days, higher pollen counts, more insects and the possibility of being dry roasted in the sun, and subsequently washed out with freak rain showers. Oh and then there's a myriad of infections and illnesses that pop up this time of year. Yeah...I love Spring. The great thing about it, though, is the fact that this March we have our national holiday of St Patrick's Day, AND Easter, totally 3 week days with no work. Now, that is something to be very happy about!!!

And so it begins...

I started keeping diaries every time my family and I went away on holidays, just so I'd remember where I had been and what I had done. After a while, I started to continue writing entries, long after we returned home. Over the years, I've completed quite a few diaries, although of late, I'm only sketching details in my filofax, too tired or lazy to write a proper entry. I've never really gone the Dear Diary route...it's mainly just a record of what happened and where I've been. Hopefully this will be a better forum for venting my spleen and keeping track of where the days are flying to.