I came home from work, mid afternoon on Halloween, noticed that the local kids and parents had started to stockpile for a bonfire for later that night. We were watching tv, when we noticed through the curtains, which were closed, this bright light, so we opened the door, and saw the crowds gathered around this unreal massive bonfire, right at our doorstep, the heat from it was so hot even at our distance.
The following day, I got to finally meet up with my friend Majella from home and her son Lorcan. I was able to bring them in on my Annual Pass to Dublin Zoo which was so handy. It been years since I was able to spend some quality time with Majella. Lorcan has grown up so much since I've seen him last, which was when I held him as a baby. That Friday evening after work, Paddy and myself had our date night, where we went for a nice meal, before heading to the Bord Gais Energy theatre to see the Star Trek screening with the Rte Concert Orchestra conducting the soundtrack throughout the screening. Niamh at the same time had gone to see Judith Owen at The Avenue Venue Upstairs @ Avenue by Nick Munier, tickets which we had won in Hotpress. Niamh said that the singer wasn't bad just wasn't her cup of tea. The next day, she also got tickets to the event at the RDS called Metropolis, although it wasn't really our thing, we thought we would check it out for a while and see what it was like. The Trinity Orchestra doing a set honouring David Bowie was a highlight we both enjoyed and that alone was worth our effort making the trip out to it. We decided to round off the weekend and the start of our week off with a tasty brunch at Bakehouse in town. Early Tuesday morning, Niamh and myself got the bus home to Clare, to spend a few days with the family and to celebrate our Granny 94th birthday, who wasn't expecting us home, it was kinda nice to surprise her. We went our for lunch then drinks where we surprised her with the birthday cake which she had no idea at all about. It is always nice to get away from the big city and spend some quality time with the folks at home.
The week off flew by, before I knew it I was back at work that Sunday morning. After work I met Niamh in town for the Grafton Street Christmas lights. As we had time to spare we had food in 37 Dawson street somewhere we hadn't been in ages. Lucky we decided to make our way to Grafton street after we finished. As a crowd had started to form, and we were up near the front once they started letting people near the stage. Unlike reports of the massive crowds of people behind all the way down Grafton Street, we had no issues with the sound or safety where we were and had a good view. We had a good laugh with the people near to where we were and enjoyed it. We understood why they had to cut the event short and turn on the lights before they had planned to due to the health and safety concerns with the thousands of people there. Which is a pity as we had been there last year and remember what the whole event was like.
During my break at work the next day, I got a message from Vodafone letting me know that I had won a pair of tickets to the Ireland vs the All blacks rugby game for the 19th. I had to re read the message a few times to let it sink in, that I had won the tickets. Before we knew it, it was Friday and it was time for Sister Act the musical, tickets which we had bought months ago which kinda snuck up on us. We had the Circle Club experience thanks to the Bord Gais Rewards Club, an area cornered off, which we could enjoy before and after the show and got a complimentary programme too. Despite the cold, we got to meet and get our photo with Alexandra Burke which was nice of her, that alone made our night, as she was the main reason, we both wanted to see this show, as we were unlucky enough not to see her in the Bodyguard. I managed to get my hours in work changed for the next day for the game, and as soon as I was finished, I quickly changed and made my way out to Ballsbridge where I met Niamh. Once I found her, we made our way to the Aviva and founds our seats. We were amazed with the view we had, and were very happy with our seats. To be part of the atmosphere and crowd for this game was quite a different experience and couldn't still believe I finally got a see an Ireland rugby game, and it actually was against the world champions the All Blacks. Despite the end result, and the minus temperatures, we both agreed it was a surreal experience been at such a game and getting to see the All Blacks perform the Haka beforehand too. That for me is another tick, possibly even two, off my bucket list which I'm delighted with. To round off the weekend, Niamh and me went to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them, which we totally enjoyed so worth the wait.
As Niamh and myself happened to have same day off during the week, we decided to head to the Zoo to make use of our annual pass and it been ages since we went together. As it was a week day, the zoo was quiet enough we enjoyed it at our own pace. The first weekend of December was my weekend off and because of the rain, we all had quite a lazy weekend. During one of the few dry spells, we made the short stroll to Teelings Distillery for their Christmas Market.
On Thursday afternoon after work, I met Niamh in Smithfield in advance of the Christmas Lights Switch On event, to make sure we were up near the front, before the crowds arrived. Stanhope Street Girl Choir, who are from the locality, got the event underway just after 5.30pm by singing a few Christmas songs. Johnny Cronin who was on next, just couldn't break the tough crowd unlike Sinead White and her band who were on next, who got the crowd going and everyone seemed to enjoy her set even if it was all her own original songs. We had a visitor from the north pole come on stage next, the big jolly guy himself Santa, who with the deputy major began the countdown for the switch on of the Christmas tree in the Plaza. To finish off the event, the headliner Jerry Fish and his band came on, from the get go, he was full of energy and mad as a brush with all his movement and jumping. I have heard in the past that he is so unpredictable and true to form, suddenly he jumped off the stage and over the barrier and in the process smacked poor Niamh on the head with his mic stand which although was sore, she found the funny side of it, while we enjoyed the madness that was Jerry Fish before the cold walk home.
After a hectic crazy morning in work, I met Niamh and Paddy near Smithfield for the Coca Cola Christmas Truck, that was in the plaza for the day. As Paddy got assignments to do, himself and myself got a photo close to the truck, while Niamh still queued, before heading back home. Niamh and me waited in the end for just over an hour for our opportunity to have our photo taken with it. We heard after we collected our photo and was leaving on our way to town that the wait for the photo op was running at over 2.5 hours. We arrived onto O Connell St for the Switch on the Christmas Tree and the Geansaí Nollag event, just after it started which was perfect timing and still got a relatively good view of the stage. The Dublin Halleluia Gospel Choir started off the event with their Christmas set, followed by the cast of the Olympia Panto, Ceilli Trad band Craddóg and the headliner The Academic. Al Porter and Dustin the Turkey were MCs who were the glue that held the whole event together. Before the Lord Mayor switched on the Christmas Tree. Over 1,500 took part in the Christmas jumper event which broke the previous record for largest number of people gathered in one place wearing Christmas jumpers.
As I was working both Christmas Eve and St Stephen Day, I was spending Christmas in Dublin this year. Niamh volunteered to stay up with me, as we all were heading down to Clare for New Years. After I finished work early on Christmas Eve, I met Niamh in town where we finished our food shopping and that before getting bus home. We curled up on the couch, getting cosy for the night watching Christmas Movies with few drinks and of course chocolate. Christmas Morning, we both enjoyed our well deserved lie in and laziness before deciding to get up and start the prep for our festive meal which we planned to spread throughout the day as we were in no rush with the food. Only thing that was missing from the day, was my poor Paddy, the poor guy was spending the day working. At some stage during the day, he dressed up as Santa and gave out gifts to patients on his ward, which the staff had chipped in together for and he sent me a photo of later which gave me a laugh. All the prep for this festive meal was worth all the effort and little arguments as it was one of our bests ever. The day was made even better when Paddy finally came home from work and got to spend some time with him on Christmas Day. Between Christmas and New Years, only one of us who seemed to be off enjoying her self, was Niamh who went to her Friend Emma's Wedding in Dalkey followed by the reception in Dún Laoghaire, she told me the following morning that she thoroughly enjoyed her and she even brought me home some sweets which was nice. Niamh, Paddy and me all hopped on a late bus home to Clare on Dec 30th for the weekend for New Years, despite been a long bus journey home, it was pleasantly quiet and peaceful one. It was great to see our parents who collected us from the bus stop. As always was great to get home and spend some quality time together. We all enjoyed ourselves over the weekend but before we knew it, the few days home were over before we knew it and had to begin the journey back to Dublin. I had to get a connecting bus at the Red Cow to Dundrum and back to normality for me as I had to rush to work for a few hours which luckily flew as I was wrecked after all the travelling. To finish off the Festive season, Paddy and me meet his cousin Rob and his partner James at Guinness's Open Gate Brewery, the following Thursday where we sampled few different drinks while we had a good catch up.
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