Dublin Dreaptha

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 14:32:00 +0000

I'm having a me weekend, no big plans, just chilling out and organising myself for South Africa in a couple of days... and making sure the cold that floored me during the week is well and truely gone. I've got Mundy's To You I Bestow blasting in background giving me the illusion that it's still Summer here, and the smell of roasting chicken making me more peckish by the minute. I like it when I have lots of time to cook, I prefer to cook for other people more than myself but today I'm doing a roast just for me. I think I'll even make stuffing and gravy!

I got my hair cut yesterday so it's now even redder than before, so no more jokes about it matching Colm's, mine's definitely redder now! Jury's still out on how much I like it, but I think it could be a keeper.

I have the house all to myself this weekend which I'm loving. As much as I'd get bored living on my own, there's something nice about having it all to myself every now and then. Ciara called down for breakfast to fill me in on her Asian adventures, and generally make me thoroughly jealous. Then she got a call from her mum asking her if she'd been to mass yet and she had to leave ... all of sudden not so jealous at all. The vast majority of my friends that still actually go to mass on a Sunday, which is minimal at this point and I think indictive of the unreligious nature of our generation of Irish, only do so to keep their parents happy. I had to laugh at the story of one college friend who would drive down to her local church with her brother, stick her head in the door to see which priest was saying mass and then sit in the car listening to the radio for the next 45 minutes before going home again. My mum and dad are relatively religious but luckily for me accepted years ago that I don't do mass, and this year I've managed to pair down my Easter and Christmas exceptions to just Christmas.

Speaking of not being so well during the week, I've been having ongoing problems with my throat, getting sore throats and infections way too often and the like, so decided I'd better actually do something about it. We have a public health system, it's not great, but I'm determined to use it. So my doc sent off my referal letter in mid July, I finally get a letter on Friday from the hospital about my specialist appointment ... for December 22nd! Woeful! Luckily this isn't the most urgent thing in the world, I figure I'll need my tonsils taken out (ouch!!) and I'll probably have to wait another 6 months to get a date for that ... but it's not exactly comforting that if I ever needed anything more urgently done, I'd have to go private and pay for it (ouch ouch!!).

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 18:51:00 +0000

So my ideal European city is London, I could see that, it's an option ... but I could fit in almost anywhere, I like that! But where the hell is Sidney??

You Belong in London

You belong in London, but you belong in many cities... Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sidney. You fit in almost anywhere.
And London is diverse and international enough to satisfy many of your tastes. From curry to Shakespeare, London (almost) has it all!

What European City Do You Belong In?

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:18:00 +0000

In need of inspiration ... my bestest buddy is leaving our fair isle to study Scousery Arts for the next 3 years in Liverpool (really Occupational Therapy but I prefer her wafflings on the finer points of studying Scousery Arts ;-)). I need some innovative ways to steal her passport ... suggestions in the comments section please!! I guess getting our Dublin pad is going on the long arm ... but really I'm proud of you babe, it's not everyone that face up to 3 more years of college to do what they really want and I know you'll do fab but I'm gonna miss you heaps!!

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 19:08:00 +0000

My boy was home again for a long weekend, untold levels of fabulousness and days that flew by far too fast. Laughter in the lounge, though some dodgy comedians in the mix, not a patch on the International; family brunches and dinners; get togethers in Dave, Scott and Luke's place that turn into right sessions; beers and Zaytoon in the city. For once the airport good bye wasn't quite so thoroughly depressing, 2 1/2 weeks and we'll be tying up in Schipol airport for our flight to JoBurg... bring it on!

Could it be... a post from Karola?

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 19:43:00 +0000

What's goin on? So I'm back. No I haven't quite fallen off the face of the earth, or been galvanting across the globe to far flung internet free destinations, as appealing as that sounds, I've just been taking a blogging sabbatical for a couple of months and livin life as it comes at home in Dublin.

It's been just over a year now since I moved back to Ireland and I'm quietly content for the most part, the odd itchy feet twitch is satisfied with long weekends in Europe and my upcoming South African adventure, and all in all I'm enjoying living it up in Dublin. When you're a student, you're supposed to have all the free time in the world, bollox to that, you've got your lectures and assignments, deadlines and exams, weekends were always gone to either part times jobs or Aiesec conferences ... not that there wasn't time for plenty of partying and gigs, but I don't ever remember thinking on a Sunday, wouldn't it be nice to head out to the market in Dun Laoghaire for lunch, or lets head down to Kilkenny for the Comedy festival ... hell, I didn't know Dun Laoghaire had a market on Sundays! Dublin really is a different city when you have time to slow down a wee bit and enjoy all the stuff that's going on. I'll have to enjoy it while I can though ... I got my college acceptance letter last week and from late September I'll be back in the homestead of DIT two nights a week and I fear the impact of assignments on my precious weekends. Excited though, I've actually missed an academic environment, yes I am a nerd!

I promised I'd do a bit of a photo update on the past few months that I've been AWOL ...

Bergio was my first Bratislava buddy to come visit me in April and I was uber excited to show him and Andrea around Dublin, perhaps a bit too much ... 7 hours of walking later, time to top off the day with a 45 minute hike up Howth Head, really I didn't remember it being that far! The view is fab though, and in perfect Irish tradition The Summit Inn was there to greet us with much needed cold beers!

Bergio getting friendly with Oscar Wilde

April - Hit the road to Portlaoise for Andrea's birthday, thinly disguised as a party for her mum's 50th.

May, I went back to Bratislava for a couple of days. I had missed it there so much and had been dying to get back for ages. It was so good to be back ... though inevitably it wasn't the same. It's always the people that make a place and your own unique group of mates. I missed my trainee group and all the usual suspects, and it's weird to be out with the whole trainee posse, and it's not yours anymore, just a few still left there. I had an amazing weekend all the same, Maciek was back visiting aswell so had fantastic catch ups with him, Santi, Dil and Iza, wandering through the city, getting to use my bits and pieces of Slovak again, having lunch in "the 99 korun place" who's real name I can never remember, catching up with friends and work colleagues, having Zlatys on Michalska, and Mojitos in Havana, getting incredibly mosquito bitten at a BBQ in the forest (not so fun!) ... and Dil having a gig on was a perfect end to the weekend.

Me, Santi and Maciek

July - Back in Maastricht for a weekend of chillaxing in the sunshine with my boy

July - More Slovak visitors! gAndy and bAndy came to stay for a couple of days. Aine joined me in giving them the tour of Dublin and after being initiated into Drenga in the newly reestablished MC party flat, we hit the city with a few trainees and random hangers on, the way it should be!

July - Road Trip! What remains of the DIT posse gathered in Monaghan to give our John Boy the mother of all send offs before he hit the skies to NZ on a mission to charm the entire female population in 12 months, John we salute you sir!

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 17:30:00 +0000

I have to work on Good Friday... what's so good about that? And the pubs are shut... stupid law! Bergio will be here with Andrea, breaking out the Jameson and holding off for Saturday night will have to suffice.

Now to engage in the honoured tradition of joining the hoards in the Dublin pubs on "Holy" Thursday, the thoughts of a stolen Friday night give way to Thursday merriment. Eoin's home from the 'Dam, it's been what 2 weeks??, and Shaz T is down from Monaghan ... see ya's in Searson's!

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 20:49:00 +0000

5 days fly. I'm liking The Netherlands this year, Maastricht gets the thumbs up. Small, walkable, cyclable (is that a word?), cobbled, side streets, cute squares, nice bars, nicely European and very pretty. Lots of time with the boy, wandering around his city, getting caught out in crazy rain storms, having biertje's (I'm still a pint girl!) and sickeningly sweet stroopwafels, cooking Indian food and me having to lob in heaps of yogurt cos it was too spicy for me as per usual, being the only Irish in the Irish pub for the Leinster Heineken Cup match (we won btw, bring on the semi's!!), partying with the Maastricht trainees and catching up with Randy post Paddys weekend hangovers, taking a day trip to Dusseldorf...point to note, don't take day trips to Germany on Sundays, nearly everything's shut...at least Starbucks was there to offer lounging couches and a bizarre Vivienne Westwood exhibit provided entertainment. Too short but sweet.

Maastrict calling

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 21:55:00 +0000

... and here are the results of the Dutch jury. I'm checking out for the weekend folks, have a good one!

When is too much really too much?!

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 21:59:00 +0000

For the love of god has anyone seen the prices of tickets for this years electric picnic?! Just the one type of ticket, 3 days with camping, all for the wonderfully extortionate price of €175 ... so no saving for sleeping in your car, skippin the Friday warm up or buttering up to the lovely Ms. Scully to stay at her house outside Portlaoise, though at least those options still beat sleeping in a tent. I don't do tents. I proved quite apt at putting up a tent, but sleeping in one wasn't my bag. €175, yikes, I'm telling myself I'll have to think about this more... but the little voices in my head are already whispering you know you want to go, you know you still want to go. Is this what living in Ireland is doing to me? Becoming so used to everything being ridiculously overpriced that you just get used to it, accept that that's the way things are and get on with it?! Ggrrrr. But the line up is still luring me in ... Groove Armada, Basement Jaxx, The Frames and Damien Rice to name but a few. And the crafty little beggars are just going to announce more tempting little sideshows just as I resolve that it's extortion and I should give it a miss.

Nomadfest Irish Style

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 22:33:00 +0000

It's a few days still the madness ceased and I'm still recovering. At least I have my voice back and I wasn't alone with my inability to function in my office on Monday morning. This was easily the best Paddy's weekend I've ever had, 3 day total bender. How not to get hungover? Don't stop drinking for more than 4 hours at any time and you're on to a winner, and surround yourself with a very cool international eclectic bunch of drunk people. Paddys day was a haze of Irish dancing in the streets, shamrock face painting, roudy Brazilians in Orange hats, pub crawling and taking over a chunk of Break for the Border for the night. The posse kept on growin as Irish AIESEC alumni showed up in 2's and 3's with tag along friends (yeah John Boy, you know I mean you!) to join the 40 who'd flown in.

Ceili Mor

Raaaaaaaar!!

Dani, Iva and Dan

Simon & Eric

Michiganders are definitely crazy and it class craic having them in my house all weekend along with my Slovene and Macedonian friends and Candanian Randy who is about to become a nomad. I think the amount of Slivovica he was plied with over the weekend serves as a good induction ritual. Classic Irish fry up was had on Saturday morning, lined the Stomach for the 18 hour solid stint we started from noon pre rugby to 8am on Sunday morning. The rugby made th weekend perfect. Ireland beat England to win the Triple Crown with a classic try in the last two minutes, this game is going to be remembered for a very long time!

Me and Simon led the non sightseeing orientened posse to the watch the rugby all afternoon in the Down Under bar. France beat Wales and took the 6 Nations, but for us it was all about beating England and getting that Triple Crown, there was yelling, jumpin, singing and pints flowing ... all over the shop ... getting drenched in beer was totally worth it! The streets were nearly crazier after the rugby that on Paddys day. Onwards to another solid night out in the Turks Head, AIESEC Irelands haunt with birthdays, dancing and temple bar pub hopping.

Mighigan Nomads - Colleen, Arnaub & Vishen

Maria

Russell & Mazzy

Saki

Karola & Vishen

Call me!

Great chats, great people ... It was good, all so so good ... bring on the next nomadfest!!!

** A combo of my photos and a few of Arnaubs Photos can be seen here and Dominique's Photos are here

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 23:35:00 +0000

This is the work of Rasher, easily one of most talented comtemporary Irish artists around at the moment. I love his work, especially his series of paintings commissioned by Jameson.

If you're in LA this weekend, mopeing around with sore teeth feeling sorry for yourself, go check out his exhibition!

Countin Down

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 23:08:00 +0000

All's geared up for Patricks Weekend Nomadfest in Dublin. Shamrock streamers run across my kitchen and the MC's living room. The aptly green Absinthe awaits the morning rounds of starter shots. Jure, Iva, Dan and Declan are already here and the morning invasion of 36 more people is imminent!

The rough weekend plan is falling into place centreing around a 3 day pub crawl interspersed with dancing in the streets at the Ceili Mor, "cultural stuff" ie Guinness' or Jameson's, some good ol rugby rivalry, funfairs and parades, and plenty of revelry and shananigans Irish style!!

We'll try to keep you posted through the haze...

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY NOMADS!!!

Is that Dublin in 2006 or Belfast in 1980?!

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 22:55:00 +0000

I jetted over to the UK at an ungodly hour on Saturday morning to celebrate the 21st of this little lady on the right and the lovely Ina on the left. Much catching up and revelry ensued, champagne was drank and cheesy music was danced too and my head was hopping as I waited for my flight, I hate flying hungover, it magnifies the self inflicted pain!

So I missed all the commotion in Dublin on Saturday where the throw-a-brick-for-Ireland brigade took to the streets to "protest" at a Unionist march through the city centre.

Yet another bright day for social inclusion and tolerance in Ireland, this is exactly the kind of event that will have the Rev. Ian Paisley spouting from his pulpit about how there can never be a united Ireland. Some American media outlets were reporting this as the work of IRA supporters, but really this was more the disenfranchised, the working class, the celtic shirt wearing pub stool "republicans" who were out for a fight under the umbrella of being patriotic ... if it was the UK it could have just as easily been over a football match!

A fine assortment of local lowlife, they sucked their ciggies through cupped hands, looking very pleased with themselves.

That's the thing about these Neanderthals - they get a kick out of being hard men. At a pinch, they'll spout some simplistic propaganda about the legacy of Pearse, but what they really enjoy is a good fight. That, and drawing fearful glances from ordinary people as they swagger around looking tough.

You used to see them all the time, in the background, at Sinn Fein events, looking menacing as they strutted in the wake of their smart suited, media savvy officer corps.

They've been airbrushed out of the picture.

The Sinn Fein leadership instructed its members to stay away from Saturday's 'Love Ulster' Unionist march. And most of them did.

Any of their rank and file who attended the counter-demonstration organised by republican Sinn Fein did so without authorisation.

But the general view around the city on Saturday afternoon was that the 'The Shinners' had run amok. For most people, life is too short to distinguish between republican Sinn Fein and respectable Sinn Fein. In the city on Saturday, the tough guys you'll never see on election literature got a rare chance to display their particular brand of thuggery in public. They call themselves 'republicans' - no need for distinctions.

Apparently, this group of individuals - old enough to know better - were not considered a threat to the marchers who had been bussed down from the North for the event. A line of waist-high crush barriers encircled them at the monument, where they stood with RSF placards in their hands and disruption in their hearts.

Midday passed, and the number of protesters appeared confined to that one spot at the junction of O'Connell Street and Parnell Street.

Worryingly though, the unionist parade would have to pass by them at very close quarters, before being funnelled through a bottleneck where they could be offered little protection in the event of an attack.

Even before the march was scheduled to begin, observers were pointing out in disbelief that a tempting smorgasbord of flag stones, builders rubble and missiles was available in O'Connell Street if any trouble kicked off.

Intelligence

Not to worry. Everything would be fine. The safety of the city, its citizens and many visitors, was based on "garda intelligence".

Low-key was sufficient. Even after the place had been thrashed and innocent people terrorised, that phrase was still being trotted out at the highest levels.

It sounds like a contradiction in terms now.

The marchers from the North arrived by coach at Parnell Square, next to the Garden of Remembrance. Gardai closed off a stretch of road in front of the Hugh Lane Gallery, and the victims and relatives of people who suffered at the hands of republican violence disembarked.

The flute bands travelling with them mustered under a large poster depicting a huge pair of boxing gloves.

The atmosphere was calm while the visitors assembled. The flute players tooted little bits of tunes, warming up. The drummers did the same.

And then, with minutes to go to the official starting time, the menacing, repetitive beat of a Lambeg drum struck up.

We were in Dublin, at lunchtime on a Saturday. It was surreal.

Flags

The marchers - apart from the musicians, mainly women and elderly men, some on crutches - lined up. There were no Orange Order collarettes or bowler hats in evidence, but everyone wore an orange lily. There was a banner, and a collection of flags, including a Union Jack, an Orange Order flag and American, Ulster, Scottish and English flags.

The crowd, some curious and some miffed by the scene, stood back as instructed. There were no crowd control barriers in Parnell Square, nor were there any along the pavements of Cavendish Row, which leads to O'Connell Street.

Shouts and roars, increasing in intensity, drifted up from the crowd at the monument. Reports came back of golf balls and billiard balls being thrown at the gardai. Bomb scares were logged by radio stations. The noise below increased.

A man in a suit with a tricolour around his shoulders walked past the gardai and towards the gathering of unionists. Eventually, he was noticed and pushed backwards. "Wha? Wha? Why am I not allowed walk down a street in my country?"

The flute bands were playing 'It's a Long Way to Tipperary' as the parade prepared to move off. There were hurried consultations among the gardai as the commotion further down got louder.

Reporters ran to see what was going on. The protesters at the monument pushed over their barricade, and had been joined by a large band of reinforcements from neighbouring pubs. Suddenly, gardai in riot gear ran out from Parnell Street and the first of many clashes began.

Back at the assembly point, police were pushing people back onto the pavement.

"You should stop them. You should stop them. There'll be people killed!" cried a distraught woman, who run up to escape the escalating violence.

"We're well aware of that, ma'am," replied a garda, pushing her back.

Firecrackers exploded. Plumes of smoke rose up. Groups of men walked briskly towards Parnell Square. "F***ing music!" spat one of them, as he came closer to the unionists.

Youths, their faces covered with scarves, danced around the road with republican banners. Older men, in faded denims, with shaven heads and dark glasses, swaggered around. Garda cars and vans screeched up and down Cavendish Row at high speed. This stretch of roadway was the only buffer between the bulk of the protesters and the marchers.

The older republicans seemed to have ceded the riot to a growing band of young gurriers.

Four ambulances pulled up, followed by a fire engine. Shop and car alarms screeched above the sirens. A fire hydrant gushed at the Parnell monument. After another barrage of debris, the gardai charged again and pushed the crowd back towards the Gresham Hotel.

Saturday shoppers - mothers with buggies, elderly people, tourists - rushed for safety. But where to go? Meanwhile, the older republicans seemed to have ceded the riot to a growing band of young gurriers, whooping with delight as they taunted the gardai. Some of these older individuals were constantly on their mobile phones - some wearing earpieces, as if issuing instructions.

By God, but they looked happy.

The drumming continued back at the Square. It didn't help, rather, it fuelled emotions. A new front had to be contained by the garda line. At the Garden of Remembrance, a growing crowd screamed abuse at the collection of unionists, straining to get at them.

"There're not Irish people. They're not Irish people!" screamed a man in a leather jacket, purple-faced with rage.

At this stage, O'Connell Street was out of control. (Thousands of people were happily shopping away, oblivious, in Henry Street.) Fires burned along the centre of the street, the sound of crashing glass was punctuated by the sound of missiles hitting the ground.

Ambulance staff rushed to attend to fallen gardai and members of the public. Bloodied young rioters pranced around, displaying their wounds with pride.

Finally, the Northern visitors were put back on coaches and taken away. "Scum, Scum, Scum," chanted the lowlifes, who think irony is used to make bars you hit people over the head with.

The departure wasn't enough for the lowlife gurriers in the Celtic jerseys, who realised they could fight and rob and vandalise to their hearts content.

Some kept fighting on O'Connell Street, but the bulk of them moved southside, wreaking havoc in Nassau Street and its environs. It was truly frightening, as crowds of Saturday shoppers got caught up in the madness.

Deathly

"It was deathly!" one little git was bragging to his mates, strutting down the street having put in a car windscreen.

Three pimply faced little bantams, chanting "I-I-I-IRA" and dancing for joy. An older man - the sort you wouldn't like to meet in a dark alley - came along and shouted "I told yis to leave the cars alone. Go up to Leinster House."

And, as a caller correctly reported on radio yesterday, the lads bounced on down Nassau Street, delighted with themselves. And one said to the other "Where is The Leinster House?"

"Dame Street," came the reply. And so another three brave young men are politicised. If nothing else, they should be good for handing out leaflets.

- The Irish Independent

There's a good photo essay here from Indymedia and good coverage with lots of links from dossing times

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 18:45:00 +0000

I almost made it through a whole Winter without getting sick, almost. I think I'm going to have to overdose on echinacea next Winter, it has to be possible to make it through 3 or 4 months without a doctors trip. That's the thing about being in a large office, too many people in a confined space, it's hard not to catch something sooner or later. So I'm out of action with a chest infection, and a €100 doctor and antibiotics bill just to make me want to cry. I hate being sick, drained and lacking in motivation and energy to do more than lounge in bed, though at least I have plenty of time to read and I've a stack of books from Christmas that I'd been slow in getting around to reading. I polished off Freakonomics yesterday, highly recommended, and am now reading With Their Backs To The World, Portraits of Serbia. Pissed off at missing my Spanish class which I started 3 weeks ago in my efforts to be properly bilingual in the next 2 years, rather than just speaking bits of other languages. I used to be able to speak pretty good Irish. When I was 17 I could hold a good conversation in Irish, it amazing how quickly you can forget huge chunks of a language when you stop using it. The most oridinary of words, sometimes I can think of them in Slovak faster that I can think of it in Irish, funny that. There's no point in going back to learning Irish though, I'd never use it, at least I will use some Slovak when I'm back visiting ... but as for a language to aim to speak fluently, I've set my sights on Spanish, and if Paulie can learn pretty fluent Chinese in a year, it'll be shameful if I can't get a good handle on Spanish in 2 years!

Down in the 'Dam

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 20:16:00 +0000

It's been a while ... big news of the moment is I have a new job!! A job that I really wanted since before Christmas and was ecstatic to get. I'm now working in Organisational Training and Development for a large organisation, doing all the things I wanted to get into and I'm pretty excited about getting my teeth into a whole bunch of projects over the coming months. It's my third week, and I love it love it, so yeah, life's pretty good!

What better way to celebrate than a few days of drunken debauchery in the city of sin to visit these guys...

...along with Fi, John, Elaine and Jennie. I don't think I could even begin to describe the madness that was Amsterdam ... as they say as picture speaks a thousand words, so here's a few thousand words... watch out Dublin when the Amsterdam trainees invade in March!

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 20:46:00 +0000

NOMADFEST IN DUBLIN
MARCH 2006

Read HERE and HERE

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 22:23:00 +0000

Wasn't really much for the blogging over Christmas, so in short it was great. The usual big family gathering on Christmas Day, 9 for dinner and an 18 pound Turkey ... my sister was doing her 1st Christmas with her in-laws so her & Daithi came over in the evening. A few different friends were back for a few days or a week or too, so some catching up and some nights out, but mainly just major chill time and playing with my new Ipod which I do love perhaps just a hint too much ... but it's just so cool!

I just got back from a few days uber chill time in Sweden with Rich. The temperature was supposedly -1 degrees, but bollox to that, it felt like -10 with windchill. So pretty much too cold to do too much which was grand, we were happy to have mega catch ups over whiskey til the early morning and long lie ins. We hopped over to Copenhagen for a few hours on Friday, really pretty city though I'd say you need to see it in Summer with all it's outdoor cafes along the harbour to really appreciate it. The same with Skanor, Sweden's version of Newport I think, great beach but the icy wind made it a bit unbearable for more than a few minutes ... always a reason to go back anyway! I pulled an all nighter in Malmo with Rich and his mates on Saturday night before my 7.20am flight ... and this time I made it YEAH! I had a minor incident of missing a flight post end of conference all nighter in Sweden a few years back, didn't want to make it a running theme! ;-)

New Years Eve

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 20:30:00 +0000

I wasn't much in the mood for a mad New Years Eve this year, so the plan was just to chill down at Helen's with a few friends. Helen's sister Cat was in from London and Jerome, vous amie Francais, had arrived armed with Champagne ... though of course at the suggestion that perhaps we'd head into the 'Rock for an hour or 2 for midnight we all grabbed our coats pretty fast and had the best of both worlds, a small house gathering ... with a bit of dancing in a bar stuck in the middle ... and guitar playing and singing til the wee hours.

Kicking it off with Absinthe

The beautiful McGuinn sisters

Me & Aine

Helen & Jerome

Christmas Crawl

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 21:33:00 +0000

It's Friday December 23rd, 9pm, works out, Eoin & Colm have flown in, the whole crew gathers with the exception of our Oz resident Shaz T and an already mullered Marto who does eventually make a cameo (I really should have made a bet on him not lasting past 10!) and it's pub one of the Camden - Georges St crawl, with the ol homestead DIT sitting pretty right between the two.

Early days in Cassidy's

Mmmore Miller in Flannery's

Glowing Jennie

Shaz, Fi and Me

Erdinger in our favourite Cornerstone

Shall we get Champagne?

I think so!

Black Russians in the Capitol ... and I have no recollection of what that message said, Shaz??

Finally!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:04:00 +0000

Ryanair, being an Irish airline and all, are opening a heap of new routes direct out of Dublin.

Today Ryanairs CEO announced (dressed in a Santa outfit, complete with fake white beard, as you do!) that from April Ryanair plans to begin direct services between Dublin and Salzburg, Austria; La Rochelle, Marseille and Nantes in France; Hamburg and Stuttgart in Germany; Milan and Venice in Italy; Kaunas, Lithuania; Krakow, Poznan and Wroclaw in Poland; Porto, Portugal; Bratislava; Slovakia; Valencia, Spain; Goteborg and Malmo in Sweden!

It comes a wee bit late for my January Malmo trip which involves 2 flights each way going through London and therefore not quite as low fare as I'd like. But from April it's gonna be all good, I can go back to Bratislava direct CHEAP! Guys I'm there already!! And Friday til Sunday weekends in Europe are doable ... happy happy days!!

Pity it doesn't come quite soon enough on anyone planning on coming to Dublin for Paddys Day in March this year ... more on that to come!

Wishing You All A Very Merry Chrismukkah!!

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:49:00 +0000

Tis the season

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 21:13:00 +0000

Lovin the Christmas festiveness at the moment. Went out to Andrea's new gaff on Friday night for a cocktail Chrismukkah party. Myself and Helens flat warming present of tree was sparkling in the window and James was manning the bar and cocktails were flowing. Lost count after the 6th or so but there were Cosmo's and Pina Coladas, Baileys conconctions and something involving Jameson, there has to be something involving Jameson. Was great craic and we got our offical Chrismukkah shot round the tree ... coming soon! Took the hint to leave when James slinked off to bed and head was a bit touchy on Saturday so I mosied down to Sharons for more hungover company and lounging on her couch all day catching up after her exam hibernation. I checked out Elaine's new place on Sunday evening ... there will be no more slaggin me off as being the Southsoyder of the bunch. Elaine is the new D4 queen in her plush Donnybrook pad with security gates and landscaped gardens and plush plush leather suite. I was jealous, but at least she can take some of the abuse now!

Some of AI are in town at the moment. Went out for dinner and drinks with Shantanu and Frances last night, was really good craic and great to see Shanti again. Hopefully we'll get to catch up again when I'm over in Holland in January :-)

The exiles are returning! Eoin and Irene fly in tomorrow. Heading out for Mexican with Irene and the rest of my old school friends. Colm's flying in on Friday just in time to join the Camden Street Dirty Dozen Crawl ... it will be messy ... bring your passports, international travel may be involved ... bets on Martin lasting past 10pm are now being taken ... and will we get thrown out of more than 3 pubs? We should aim for the ones we've not been thrown out of before I think!

Ah Christmas, Christian holiday, or a mid-Winter pagan blow-out?!

Welcome to the D4

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 23:06:00 +0000

Myself and Renee caught a rugby match on Saturday evening, a bit of an intro to Southside Dublin culture down in the D4, collars up and all that ... in fairness the lads know how to dress, but do you think you could keep your fashion parades to and fro the beer stands out of my line of rugby vision?

The match was really good. Leinster pretty much trashed Bourgoin (53-7), pity they didn't make more of a match out of it, but there was still some quality tries that were a pleasure to watch.
Plus we had the bonus entertainment of the Heineken bottles ...

Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 21:54:00 +0000

In the Irish news ...

noreply@blogger.com (Karola) — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 13:19:00 +0000

Efforts to resolve the dispute at Irish Ferries are to continue over the weekend, following yesterday's "national day of protest" in which more than 100,000 people took part. The depth of public feeling about the matter was demonstrated by the high turnout at yesterday's protest marches in nine locations across the State.

The day of protest was called by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to demonstrate solidarity with the workers at Irish Ferries and to highlight wider concerns about exploitation of migrant workers and the displacement of jobs.

In Dublin, tens of thousands took part in the biggest trade union demonstration since the first of the tax marches in 1979. Estimates of the turnout varied widely, however, with the Garda press office putting it at "in excess of 40,000" and ICTU at between 80,000 and 100,000. The discrepancy can partly be explained by the fact that not all those who marched from Parnell Square stayed on for the concluding rally at Merrion Square. Union leaders pointed to the fact that many non-participants stood to applaud as the march went by as evidence of huge public support for the event.

SIPTU is in dispute with the company over its plan to lay off up to 543 unionised seafarers and replace them with agency workers from abroad on a wage of €3.60 an hour. The dispute intensified last month when management moved to implement the plan by placing security personnel, disguised as passengers, on board two of its ships. A stand-off with ships' officers ensued and sailings of all four of the company's ships remained suspended yesterday as a result.

ICTU (Irish Congress of Trade Unions) general secretary David Begg said the turnout at yesterday's marches provided an answer to those who claimed the trade union movement was finished.

The Irish Ferries dispute has been dominating the Irish news over the past 2 weeks or so. The Irish economy has been built on outsourcing and globalisation, and benefitted hugely from foreign companies relocating to Ireland and replacing their staff with Irish people at a cheaper cost. The IDA estimates that over 1050 overseas companies have chosen Ireland as their Eurpean base and are involved in a wide range of activities in sectors as diverse as e-Business, engineering, information & communications technologies, pharmaceuticals, medical technologies, financial and international services. So it can seem a touch hypocritical to say that now that we are a high cost economy we are going to prevent Irish jobs being outsourced to other cheaper countries, and it can be argued that the real issue is trade unions fighting to increase their membership, which has been continuously falling in recent years. The new industries that provide the mainstay of the economy are by and large not unionised, and more importantly, their workers do not want to be unionised. There isn't the same need for the "job for life"protection that unions promised as there was 20 years ago, and workers are more confident in their ability to find an alternative job for themselves should the need arise.

That said, I still have a big issue with what Irish Ferries are doing here. A national minimum wage was introduced in Ireland in April 2000. As of May 1st 2005, this stood at €7.65 an hour. What Irish Ferries are doing is pure exploitation. It is mainly Latvians and Lithuanians who they are hiring to replace Irish workers, and if they wanted to move the company to Latvia where earning €3.60 at a Latvian cost of living is a good wage, then fair enough, but this is a shipping company operating on the Irish sea with workers residing in Ireland. Registering their ships under a flag of convenience (Cyprus, if I'm not mistaken) to avoid having to adhere to Irish wage legislation is clearly unethical. Workers of whatever nationality resident in Ireland deserve the same wage protections as everyone else. At the current cost of living in Ireland, €7.65 an hour isn't heaps to start with, and €3.60 an hour is beyond a paltry sum to attempt to live off of. The fact that there was Eastern European workers willing to come here and work for that amount at the current cost of living in Ireland, just shows what little opportunity there is for them to do better at home, and Irish Ferries are taking advantage of that.