My Dublin Life

So, I picked up a leaflet the other day for what looks like a phone exhibit: nineteenth century "Wanted" notices! It's on at the Glasneven museum, which I have to say I didn't even know existed until now.

My Saturday job taking care of the kids involves "taking them out of the house and broadening their minds" so I try to think of fun things to do. I guess kids would like that, right? I mean, who doesn't love a bandit. Think dashing men on horses with bandanas!

Anyways, the museum site is here. I might go and check it out. I love the monumental cemetery and the Botanic Garden, which are both up there, and Glasnevin is a great neighbourhood.

Here's today's little story from my meet'n'greet job at Dublin Tourism. The job's a very simple one, but I like it, because I get to meet all sorts of people and they are usually so psyched about being on holiday that they tell you their life story.

This guy was in a wheelchair and must've been in his 80s, at least. His two daughters had brought him to Ireland for the first time in his life. He said that his Dad had left Ireland many years ago, but that when he was a young man, he'd played hurley for the Dublin team. The kids had been taught how to hurl, but because they lived in an area without a big Irish population, and their Mom was Italian, the family tradition had died out. Then, about two years ago, this old guy had a dream and in the dream his Dad told him that he HAD to go to Ireland to see a hurley match before he died. So he pestered and pestered his daughters until they agreed to take him. It's a sort of pilgrimage. They'd picked up their tickets and were getting ready to go to something-or-other in Croke Park.

Isn't that an amazing story? I hope I have enough moxy when I am that age to just do something like that, because of a dream!

Other news: one of the waitresses in the restaurant where I work part-time is going back to Italy, and she's sold me her bike for a really cheap price. So this girl's got wheels! I've used the Dublin City rental bikes and they're great but it's also kind of cool to have my own transportation. It totally makes the city seem so much smaller.

Today I was doing my meet 'n' greet job at Dublin Tourism. Everyone was in a very good mood for some reason, although this was the first day that the sun hasn't shone for weeks. Anyway, there were loads of people from the south of Europe today -- Italy, Spain and Portugal. All the Italians were kitted out in rain gear although it wasn't raining, which seems to be something that they like to do.

Anyway, I met the cutest couple, in Dublin on their honeymoon. This is a lovely story. He was Spanish and she was Italian and they met when they were just fifteen at one of the English language schools in the city. They stayed in touch by email and met again when they were 20, sparks flew and now they are married and came back to Dublin for their honeymoon because it's where they first met!

It's enough to make you all misty-eyed. They said that they'd been to all their old haunts, and of course now that they're in their mid-twenties they can actually go to all the bars and clubs that wouldn't have let them in years ago. And get this: Because they are both from different countries, they are actually thinking of maybe coming here to Ireland to live, if they can find work!

I really warmed to these people so I tried to make some romantic suggestions for them, because it was their honeymoon after all. They're staying in a little hotel near the city centre, so I suggested the Bar with No Name and, when the sun comes back, a picnic on the grass in the parks, maybe the Iveagh Garden or Merrion Square. I actually gave them my mobile no. so maybe they'll be in touch.

I'd better finish this up 'cause I'm due in the restaurant for work and I don't want to be late since I turned the head chef down for a date!

I was in Temple Bar last night when I came on a big bunch of people milling about in Meeting House Square. Turned out they were all there because of a big new event, the Dublin Festival of Photography.

I like to think that my fingers is on the pulse of the city, but this one had completely slipped beneath my radar. And it looks like it's going to be quite a big deal. Here's the website. Because I hadn't known it was on, I only had time to pop really quickly into the photographic archive which had an odd exhibition of little photomontages with a political message that I didn't stay for long enough to decipher. I'll pop in again later.

The reason why I couldn't stay was that I was going to a show in the Project Theatre. It was a depressing little number about heroin addiction, loss, death, and grief but it was very good and I was glad I went. It was a shortish play, so straight afterwards I segued over to the IFI to see a film called "Please Give" which was, well, also a bit depressing, but very good.

I'm pleased to report that I resisted the urge to go for a drink afterwards, although admittedly this was mostly because I'd just forked out the dough to see two shows and couldn't really afford to!! It's just that I'm working so many evenings now I feel like going out and doing stuff on those evenings I have off and to tell the truth the temptation is always there to have a stiff drink or two when I finish in the restaurant, because it's really hard work and I feel a bit tense and need to unwind afterwards.

Anyway, I also found out last night that the IFI runs a "family festival" with really great films for kids. I mean, I would personally like to see a lot of this stuff. It's just a pity it's mostly on when I am working, and that I only have a babysitting job once a week; it looks like a lot of fun.

These summer evenings, the scent of barbecue is on the air, as anyone with as much as a balcony seems intent on eating out of doors. Fingers crossed for the weekend!!

I'm working this evening but, unusually these days, I wasn't today. I hadn't planned much but then a friend rang and said, "Let's take a vagary!" (this is what she actually said -- I'm assuming it's Hiberno-English of some sort, as I'd never heard the phrase before.



Anyway, as she has a new car (new-ish), she proposed that we take a half-day trip to Wicklow. I love Wicklow, and I love that it's so green and rural and so close to the city, but somehow I had managed to overlook this whole area of the Blessington Lakes. Wow, it certainly is beautiful around there. Completely different to the mountainous part of Wicklow, but just as pretty. We stopped off at a spot near Russborough House, which is a tucked-away stately home with a big art collection. I'm kind of sorry now that we didn't go in, because it's a really famous place with a massive collection of fine art, but it was just so sunny and lovely that we decided to go for a walk on the lakeshore instead. And we weren't disappointed; there were foxgloves, big, old trees, jumping fish, handsome local fishermen and, well, it was all nice. On days like today, I think "Heck, maybe I'll go live in the countryside," but when I think about it more carefully, and especially when it's rainy and cold, I realise that there's nothing to beat the buzz of the big city. But I've said it before, and I'll say it again: one of the great things about Dublin is the fact that it's so easy to escape from it into the green countryside for a couple of hours.

Workwise, I'm having a bit of an awkward situation. The head chef kind of asked me out. I muffed a response and it's all up in the air right now, and my housemate Bepe thinks that I think I can't go out with him because I live with him (Bepe) whereas I actually don't want to but also don't want to piss the guy off because he's above me in work and while he's always perfectly pleasant and I've no reason to think that he's pulling rank or anything it's all a bit... arrrghh... so I think I'll put it about that my Heart is Still Broken after my last Unhappy Relationship. This has the benefit of being at least partly true so I'm hoping it'll fly or I'll have to find another part-time job to keep me going with the other two!!!