My Dublin Life

As everyone knows, Halloween is fast approaching and in Dublin the excitement is mounting! I feel a bit silly confessing this but Bepe and I actually bought and carved a pumpkin last night and now it is adorning the outside window of our apartment. So if you're on Bachelor's Walk and you up to see a particularly scary pumpkin grimacing down at you, that's ours. I designed it! I'm disproportionately proud, but I'd like to think that my masters in Gothic literature is finally paying some dividends :-)

Purists will tell you that the real traditional lantern in Ireland is not made from a pumpkin but from a turnip. But as I've had a lot of experience chopping up turnips (they're widely eaten where I come from) I wouldn't relish the thought of trying to hack one of those hard things into a viable lantern.

Our boss at work has had a cool idea and has organised for us all to go on Dublin's Ghost Bus (in three shifts, of course, or the restaurant wouldn't open). It's going to be fantastic and very Halloweeny because they take you to all the scariest, most atmospheric places in the city. They have keys to all the historic cemetaries! I can't wait.

Halloween isn't even upon us and already my Mom is worrying at me about Xmas. I don't know how I'm going to tell her that there's no way I'll be able to get home. I can't leave work and I don't really feeling like going, anyway. Somehow it seems that I'm ready to have my first proper Christmas as an adult...

I've loved the IFI since I arrived in Dublin, although lately I haven't been getting there as often as I'd like. It's not just an arty cinema, it's also a film archive. Every month they are doing free showings of old films from the archive at lunch time.

What a great idea! Of course, this is one of those things I think I'll get and then don't, because life and work get in the way. But I'm definitely going to go tomorrow. In fact, I'm going to try to work it into my weekly schedule somehow because it just seems like such a great idea. And of couse it's free, which makes it even better. So, hooray for the IFI. This month it's an American film about Ireland, made in 1961. I'm hoping there will be lots of street scenes as I'd like to see what Dublin looked like in 1961. I actually asked my greengrocer (born in 1955) what Dublin was like when he was a kid and he said, "Smellier, because in those days most people only had a bath once a week".

Anyway, I'm glad that people have showers nowadays!

And while I'm on the subject of showers, I noticed some long, red hairs in MY shower this morning. Now, as I'm blonde and my flatmate Bepe's got black hair, I think there must be a new girl on the scene. And he has such horrible taste in girlfriends, too!! I was out at the Cobblestone bar last night after work and didn't get in until late so I didn't see anyone. But the thought is annoying as this flat's just too small to have three people in it on a regular basis. The Cobblestone is great, by the way. It's a real "old man" pub, as in a genuine sort of place with great music. When you go in, you feel as though you're not just stepping into a pub, but into the countryside. I was surprised to see that they have such a nifty website, as a matter of fact. Anyway, highly recommended!

I want to dress up for Hallow'een this year. I'd been resisting the notion for quite a while but what the hey. Hallow'een only comes once a year, and while I'm sure the festival has changed a lot over the years, it started here in Ireland, right?

So I've been pounding the streets of Dublin in the search for the perfect costume. The thing is, most of what's on offer are sexy little numbers of one kind or another, and I'd really rather go with a ghoulish look, in the spirit of the whole thing. Someone told me that a good way to make fake blood was by mixing corn syrup and food dye, so I might give that a go.

Anyway, most of the nightclubs about town will be having events for Hallow'een for the grown-ups but there's also a lot on for families and I'm seriously tempted by the fireworks display in Marlay Park or perhaps Airfield. Town is full of excited foreign students getting ready for their first Hallow'een in Ireland and it all reminds me of myself last year!!

I've been getting into the spirit of things. The restaurant where I work will be serving pumpkin ravioli this week and they only use the best bits of the pumpkin, so I've been taking home odds and ends with a view to making a gigantic pot of pumpkin soup this evening, 'cause I'm having a few friends over for a meal. I've never made it, but soup is my speciality, after all. I was thinking I'd maybe go up to Moore Street and pick up some fresh vegetables for a salad too. We'll probably be consuming way too many calories in liquid form this weekend, so it makes sense to eat healthy tonight, right?

The weather is so amazing right now. It's coldish (it's the end of October, after all) but it's bright and sunny, and the city looks just beautiful. In the parks and on the leafier streets all the trees are in their fall colours, and people are wearing knitwear and winter coats, which I think suit the Irish better than summer wear. All in all, this is my favourite time of year in Dublin!

After a long, lovely period of mild weather, it's turned cold. Not nasty cold, because it's actually a very sunny day, but definitely time to root out the winter boots, gloves and coats and absolutely time to break into a hot port and brandy! The old-style bars about town have lit their fires, and there's a real feeling of winter in the air, even though it's not quite Hallow'een.

Anyways, somehow this colder weather makes me feel more like doing and thinking about serious things, so I've decided to splash out on a couple of tickets to see an Ibsen show at the Abbey theatre. I've never seen anything by Ibsen before although it's one of those names you hear a lot of, and although I spent 5 years studying literature. So it's definitely time to go.

On the homefront, I've been practising my traditional Irish fall recipes. Calcannon (spelling?) is a wonderful thing. Somehow you combine potatoes, dark cabbage and a few other ingredients and you get something wonderful. I'm not that fond of cabbage as a rule but I can make a big exception in this case. My local greengrocer told me that, at Hallow'een, the traditional thing is to hide money in the food for the children to find!

My friends at Dublin Tourism have just given me a "Visit Dublin" app that someone over there has developed for the iPhone. As I'm the proud owner of an iPhone as of a couple of weeks ago, I've been having some fun trying it out. It's not really for me anymore as I've been here for quite a while now, but I think it would be cool if you were visiting and didn't want to carry a guidebook around. For the spatially challenged who get lost easily (hi Mom) it's good because it gives directions.

Anyways, if you are planning to visit Dublin you can check it out here.

Though I haven't been babysitting much lately, I've picked up some work watching the kids I used to take care of every Saturday over their mid-term break, which starts next week. I've totted up the hours and that means that next week I'll be working at least sixty hours. But it's all in a good cause: Christmas.

Anyway, the good news is that there's actually a lot on over Hallow'een and because their Mom likes me to take them out and about as much as possible, we'll probably be doing that. I hope it won't be too cold because I'm thinking that our best option is probably a Hidden Dublin walk.  Or not. I just checked and it's adults only. But I do want to do it anyway!!! 

When you work in a restaurant, weekends don't feel quite the same. In fact, you tend to take your weekends piecemeal, whenever they give you a day off. Still, I like the weekend vibe on the streets of Dublin and it's fun to just get out and stroll up and down a bit.

This Saturday, I didn't start working till late so I went and had jolof rice, fish and other goodies at the African diner in Moore Street Mall. With all-you-can-eat for 6.99 I went to town and was actually physically unable to eat for the rest of the day. Which is probably just as well. Next time, I want to try one of the Polish diners down there. It's a great little place, with a fun atmosphere and a shoe shop featuring some of the oddest shoes I've ever seen in my life. Not sure that I'd want to wear them, but it's kind of entertaining thinking about it.

I had a nice surprise today. A lady from the Kildare Village outlet got in touch to offer me free tickets down there, to the National Stud and for lunch at the restaurant. All I have to do is somehow find a day when I'm not working!

I have been to the National Stud before, and it's certainly very interesting. I've never been to Kildare Village, I guess because I'm not the biggest shopper in the world. This does mean, however, that any review I give is going to be totally unbiased!! Anything, this will be a bit of a treat.

I've been examining their fancy website and apparently the deal is that there are lots of boutiques that sell designer clothes and you can spend the whole day there, and even eat at a restaurant (which this lucky girl will be doing for free!) All in the name of research, you understand!

This weekend I'll mostly be working and luxuriating in having my own space at the apartment, now that Vicki's gone back home, but I've also been invited by my friend Saoirse's Mom to a concert in the National Concert Hall. Classical music is usually not so much my thing but this does look great and the pianist is absolutely gorgeous. Last time I went to the Concert Hall, I was surprised to see the performers having drinks in the bar along with everyone else afterwards. Hopefully this will also be the case on Sunday ;-)

I'm loving the fall vibe. There's been a bit of wind the last couple of days and there are crunchy leaves all over lots of the streets. I know it's extra work for the city sweepers and all, but there's just something super-satisifying about stomping through the piles of leaves and kicking them aside.

Speaking of which, it's time for me to get to work, so I'd better start pounding the pavement on my way!