My Dublin Life

Well, I had a great time at the IFI last night but as I predicated, I was pretty much terrified the whole way through and couldn't sleep last night so today I'm tired and although it's not like me, thinking of spending Friday evening in. We are all into health 'n' fitness round our way at the moemnt, as Bepe's going to be in the Marathom next week and has embarked on a diet that seems to consist mostly of egg whites. He's looking very lean and trim, I must say. If he wasn't my flatmate, and if he didn't have a girlfriend...no, not going there ;-)

The good news is that while I thought I couldn't afford to go to any of the gigs in the electronic arts festival there are actually a couple that are pretty cheap so after all I'm going to go. For the sake of two drinks less over the weekend, I think I can manage 5 or 8 Euros. There's an interesting looking one in Filmbase.

Know what? I'm totally dying for a kebab. It must be all the healthy stuff I see Bepe stuffing into himself. Wanna come? More soon...

So, there are two pretty cool looking festivals on right now. The Dublin Electronic Arts Festival and the Horrorthon Film Festival.

While they both look great, I can't afford to go to that much right now, so I'm opting for horror as, with my interest in Gothic literature, there's clearly a connection. Right? Well, that's my excuse anyhow.

Tho I've gotta say that for a Gothic kinda gal, I'm easily scared and will most likely be watching most of tonight's performance from behind my fingers. And then someone will have to walk me home, because I'll be convinced that in every shadow there's a monster!

Tonight I'm going to see Trick or Treat, which is a cultural outing, because it's a very intelligent sort of a film. Ahem. So in the spirit of all things artistic, I'll be in the Mezz for a hot whiskey or two to get me in the mood before the screening.

Speaking of terror, while I'm actually quite a fan of traditional music (being a Newfoundlander, I grew up with a lot of Celtic sounds), I've always found accordions slightly creepy. Look at this picture. Doesn't it look a bit like an EVIL MUTANT PIANO that might come to life and play sinister music as you sleep?

Or have I just read a bit too much Edgar Allan Poe?

Today has been one of those crazy days in Ireland. This morning, it was so dark, it looked as though there was going to be a storm. Very dramatic. I was walking along College Green on my way to college when a big wet leaf hit me in the face. Then, around lunch time, the sky did something fantastic and was dark and sunny at the same time so the buildings were lit up but the sky behind they was dark grey. At the time of writing, it's quite a nice Fall afternoon, sunny and windy together. I'm planning to study late in college tonight, because I took some time out this afternoon to go for a walk in Merrion Square. I like it there, because there's trees and bushes all the way around the edge so although you're in the middle of the city, you can kinda pretend you're in a forest. Today it was all very damp and mysterious and some snails had crawled on top of the statue of Oscar Wilde and I really wished I'd brought a camera.

Trivia of the day; When I got back to college and told someone where I'd been I was told that the Oscar Wilde Statue is known by Dubliners as "The Quare on the Square." But affectionately, of course. Well, you live and learn. And it is a cool statue. I didn't even know stone came in those crazy colours.



Perhaps it's a bit nerdish of me, but I still haven't gotten bored of the excitement of knowing that I can go eat my sandwich in the same park or drink my Guinness in the same pub as some of the best writers in the English language.

So...I'm off home and I'm planning not to turn the computer on again today. Emboldened by the (relative) success of my Chinese stir-fry, I'm gonna give Colcannon (sp?) a trial run prior to cooking it up for our Hallow'een party.

Bepe and I have decided to have a Hallow'een Party! We'll see how many people we can squeeze into our teeny apartment. Sadly, this also means that his girlfriend will be there in a sexy little number but hopefully there'll be so many people there that I won't have to talk to her too much. I've even persuaded him to make a Barm Brack. I went to one of my favourite cafes, because I know they do cooking courses there and I thought maybe I could do one to learn how to make it. Well, they ARE doing a special Hallow'een course and it looks great, but no barm brack. However, the nice lady said to come back the next day and she would give me a photocopy of the one her mom makes.And she did! So, ahem, BEPE will be making it. So we're all gonna get dressed up and have all the games and I might make some mulled wine because I think my culinary skills are probably up to it.

Can't wait!




Fall is here with a vengeance now, and Trinity College is full of fallen leaves. I guess it's a melancholy time of year but I kinda like it. I met my buddy (sniff; he should be so much more) with his kid again and we had a happy half hour kicking the leaves about. Plus, in the summer the days are long, long, long and this summer I kept feeling a bit guilty about going to bars when it was still daylight outside. Now that the evenings are darker -- well, there's no such guilt and I have also disovered the quiet joy of a hot whiskey in one of those pubs where the old boyos go. Hot whiskey is a Dublin classic and a real treat on a chilly evening. Plus, it takes a while to drink so if you're on a budget you can nurse one of those babies for a good hour or so.

OKAY... I'm off home. Despite his reservations, Bepe has agreed that I'll cook dinner for us both this evening. He had a sportsy weekend with his remote-control plane (Saturday in Phoenix Park) and playing ball with some of his buddies from restaurant. And now, despite being all fit-n-healthy he's got a cold. So I'm cooking. But I don't know what yet. Gotta pick something up on the way home -- might make a detour into one of the Chinese supermarkets around Henry Street. I'm sure that even I can manage to knock together a decent stir fry...or can I?

Fireworks are illegal in Ireland, apparently. But that sure as heck doesn't stop them using them. They seem to be on sale all over the place and if you go into residential areas, you can hear them already.

So I guess Hallow'een is a really big deal here. I'll be saving my pennies till the end of the month so that I can go out and have some fun without having to worry about money too much.

Following my brief but succesful venture forth on a bicycle last week, I've done it again.



As you can see, the bikes are quite chunky, but they are none the worse for that. I see some chicks going around town with bikes they've personalised with artificial flowers and stuff. I wonder if people are going to do that sort of thing with these? Wouldn't that be fun?

Anyway, because of the financial situation, this weekend I'm having some friends over tomorrow night. We're going to watch a DVD and eat. Thankfully, Bepe is cooking. He is bringing along some buddies who, I think, are coming less for the free food and more in the hope of meeting some Irish women (the friends are Irish gals from my department). Lamentably, Bepe's girlfriend will be there too. You can't have everything.

I have already done some of the grocery shopping for the weekend on what is one of my favourite streets in the city, Moore Street. While you would hardly call it elegant, I love it, from the old ladies touting illegal fireworks from battered prams, to the fruit and vegetable stands, to the Chinese Lotto outfits to the mall where you can get all sorts of exotic ingredients. It feels so big-city-real but also very Irish. And you can have the best conversations with the people who work there.

"Dese Africans," one woman said (I am trying to write in Dublinese). "They are great cooks. "There was a fella here with a bunch of quare stuff and I asked him how you'd cook a yoke like that and didn't he come back the next day and he'd only brought me a Tupperware dish with the meat and the sauce in it and I brought it home and fecked it in the Microwave and it was only delicious."

If I'm feeling motivated enough and don't have a hangover, on Sunday I'm going to go here: The Huge Lane. Classical music is not necessarily my usual thing, but I've been told its free and, as I said, money is a bit of an issue for me right now!

I had sort of got my hopes up after the whole is-it-or-isn't-it a date thing at the restaurant with Beautiful PhD guy. I mean, we were getting along great, he's really funny and great and gorgeous and totally like, Oh, Johnny Depp 15 years ago.

And then today I ran into him and he was with a kid. I'm not so good at guessing kids' ages but I'm thinking maybe three or four. Still in a stroller, anyway.

I was like: "Oooh... babysitting for the day?"
And he said: "No, she's mine."
"Yours?"
"Yeah, me and her mum split up a year ago and we have joint custody."
"That's gotta be tough."
"Well it is and it isn't. Love her to pieces."

And then he said: "But obviously I'm not planning to get into any relationships until she's old enough to understand."

Total downer. Was it directed at me? Was it a pointed remark?

He followed it up by saying that he'd had fun the other night at the restaurant and we should meet up again. So I guess we are buddies now.

Question: Is that better than nothing, or worse than nothing? It was bad enough when I had that crush on George the Hunky Librarian at the National Library

I am depressed. I had planned to borrow a bike and go for healthy cycles and things between studying this week but now all I want to do is eat. Also, after blowing a wad of cash on dinner out with this Adonis, I have almost no money this week. That means if I'm gonna have any treats it'll have to be fish n chips. Admittedly, I love Fish n Chips (tho I still love the ones in Ches's in St Johns the best.)

So I'm going home to spend a quiet evening in with Bepe, who is having similar financial woes as tipping is wayyyyy down.

Fortunately, Hallow'een is coming up so hopefully there'll be some free entertainments. After all, Ireland is where it was invented, right? So those crazy Celts're bound to come up with something. The Dublin Tourism people sent me a couple of tickets to a ghost bus tour so I will have to look into it and see if it's interesting.

Plus. Does anyone know how to make Barn Brack (sp?) Apparently, it's a tradition Hallow'een cake, and I think it would be kind of cool to make my own.

So...woke on Sunday to find the skies gray and rain pouring down outside the apartment. I had planned to organise something healthy and life-affirming, but instead I just rolled over in bed for some more shut-eye. It looked as though the weather had settled in for the day.

When I woke again, about two hours later, the skies were blue and the sun was shining down innocently, as if it had been there the whole time. I love the way the Irish weather keeps you guessing!

At that point I was running late so I rang Saoirse and arranged to meet her for a walk up Killiney Hill. She was all "Groan...I've got a hangover..." but I reminded her of the couple of extra pounds she keeps saying she wants to shift so we arranged to meet at the park out there and then Just Do It.

Well, I have to say the view was amazing. I don't think I saw all the way to Wales, but with a slight squint and by looking directly into the sun, I could convince myself that maybe... Glorious. S had had the foresight to bring some sandwiches so we just sat at the top of the hill and luxuriated in the amazing view.

I like living in the city centre, but I can see the attraction of Killiney! Fortunately, it's not far on the DART.

Later on, when I was getting off at my station and ready to head back to the apartment, something marvellous happened. I was walking up along the back of Trinity when I bumped into the gorgeous PhD student guy.

"Hope you're not working on a Sunday," I said. (Is the library even open on Sundays--have to confess, I don't know).

"Heh, no," he goes. "I was just going for dinner. Eh. Want to come?"

Well, I made a show of checking my mobile phone and pretending that the friend who I was otherwise supposed to be hanging out with had just texted me to say that she couldn't make it after all, and then we went to this cool Thai place that I totally couldn't afford (thanks goodness for Lidl coz that's where I'll be eating for the next 2 weeks.

The meal went well though, I think. It didn't feel like a "date" as neither of us was dressed up or anything (in my case quite the reverse as I was all sports-casual ((read "a mess")) following the walk. Also, I dropped some hot noodles into my cleavage and had to deal with that in a less than dignified way. But we parted with a friendly kiss on the cheek and vague promises to "do it again sometime." Plus, we exchanged numbers.

So ya never know.

Back at the ranch, Bepe came back from having been to the match at Croke Park. What match is that? The Ireland vs Italy World Cup Qualifier, you dope! Although it was a draw and Italy qualified he was kinda moody as he felt they should've won. I guess maybe he's feeling homesick...? Anyway,between my expensive dinner and his expensive ticket, we'll both be spending a lot of time around the apartment for the next little while, that's for sure.