Going the Extra Mile

After a last minute swap at work, I was able to support +Niamh, my mother and Clodagh, who were doing the VHI Women Mini Marathon. Before the start of the 10km, we went via the Mansion House, so Niamh was able to collect her t-shirt for Laura Lynn and also gave me a final chance to have a sneaky look inside. Of course the girls had to have a picture taken outside of the Mansion House before the race. Niamh and Clodagh had entered as joggers, so set off about 15 before my mother did, so I waited until she started and decided to walk with her to keep her company. However at UCD I saw Niamh and called her as she was about to pass the 6 km point mark. In the process of chatting with Niamh, I lost my mother and tried to find her again and finishing the chat with Niamh. so somewhere between the 5km and 7 km I lost both of them. I tried running to catch up with Niamh, with the calls I had with her, I just seemed to be about 0.5 km behind. At least at the finishing line, we  were able to find each other just about. All of them finished faster than last year and should be very proud of completing the 10 km especially this year in that horrible wet and windy weather. Well done girls!

As the weather was so nice on my day off on the 9th of June, decided to make the of most of it having a summer themed gin based cocktail over lunch at Yamamori, before going shooping to get some last few bits before Niamh's birthday. Somewhere between the Brother Hubbard, Panti and Oscars, I managed to lose my shopping, which would only happen me. As we were both off the next day, we decided to celebrate Niamh's Birthday a day early and go to the zoo and experience the brand new Sea Lion Cove.

Despite a slight queue at the entrance, once we were inside the zoo, it was off a flying start as the weather cleared up and the sun came out. We got to enjoy all the new habitats and baby animals dotted around the zoo. Between the sun, playfulness of the animals especially the penguins, sea lions and rough housing of the monkeys, Niamh seemed to be having a chilled out birthday day out. As the weather was so nice, we strolled back into town and stopped in Oscars Smithfield for a drinks and meal which was scrumptious especially the Maltster cheesecake which topped the day perfectly. When we got home, I gave Niamh her birthday card and her present, A necklace, bracelet and watch set.

I met Niamh after work on her birthday, for an early evening birthday meal at a place she wanted to try for ages, FX Buckley, where I was able to surprise her with a birthday desert which was nice to see the surprise on her face. For Saturday Niamh had won free finger food and private booth in Whelans which made a pleasant change.

After a busy weekend in work, was nice to chill and actually enjoy Bloomsday for once. We spent a lot of it, at Meeting House Square for songs, performances and reading from Ulysses which was hosted by Panti Bliss. Later in the week I was finally able to hear my friend Graham J Norton sing live at the Sugar Club. I was just blown away by his voice, his whole gig was captivating from start to finish, especially his debut single Life on Mars, his duet with Mary Coughlan Under Clery's Clock and an original I Miss You Most on Sundays. Graham is someone to watch.

 

 Our Parents arrived up on Friday the 19th for my father's birthday, luckily enough Niamh was able to meet them off the bus, as I was working late. I of course met them all for a quick after work drink before the walk home. I managed to have the apartment kitted out with banners, balloons and have a birthday cake waiting, which I was able to have lit before my dad got into the apartment. He was surprised and delighted as he wasn't expecting it. The following morning, as we waited for Niamh to finish work, my folks and myself decided to do the +Teeling Whiskey Distillery Tour. My parents did the Small Batch tasting one and I did the Trinity small batch on. Our guide Maire, was very informative, funny and helpful. After our whiskey tour, we checked out the nearby food markets before heading to Christchurch for the Dublin Garden Festival, which had some impressive food carts and other various stalls. We meet Niamh for lunch near Temple Bar, although the musician was very good, the food on the whole was below par and over priced, so shocker really for the location. We made use of the sun by walking down Quays towards Sir John Rogerson's Quay which was hosting the Mexican Navy vessel, ARM Cuautémoc for the weekend with free entry. We ended up doing a pub crawl on the way back home, finishing it with a takeaway pizza and of course a night cap. The following morning being Father's Day, we gave our dad, his card and presents to celebrate, before eating and relaxin prior to our parents getting the return coach back to Ennis. We all agreed was such a lovely weekend, especially getting the opportunity for all of us to hang out together.

Lanza30th

Friday the 6th of February, after work while waiting on our mother to arrive, +Niamh surprised me with an early birthday dinner at Jimmy Chungs on the quays, which was a great way to begin my holidays and 30th celebrations. After collecting our mother from Heuston station, we had a few drinks before I was yet again surprised with an early birthday Pizza. About lunch time the next day, we all decided it was time to head out and get a bite to eat. Our mother, kept asking where was this restaurant, HerbStreet, as the walk seemed to take for ever. However once the food came out, she did admit it was worth the walk and wait as we were all completely stuffed afterwards.

 As we continued to enjoy the rest of the day and evening, as the clock struck midnight I wondered why, the lights in the living room all suddenly went out, to discover my mother and Niamh singing Happy Birthday with a cake, candles and all. Then my father face timed us about the same time, which was perfect timing and was so funny. It ended up been quite a late night, which would have had us rushing in the morning if we hadn't already packed. After saying our goodbyes to Niamh, my mother and myself, got the Airlink from Heuston to the Airport. After a slight mishap over my mother's ticket and her phone, that I got sorted at the +Aer Lingus check in desk, we joined the queue at security. As per usual, my mother would get stuck with the wagon at security, lucky I had my wits about me and all got sorted. Once in duty free, my mother finally managed to relax a bit. After purchasing a few duty free items for the holiday, we got the obligatory drink and relaxed waiting for our gate. Once aboard the plane, despite some turbulence, it was a smooth enough flight to Lanzarote.

Once arriving into Lanzarote, we made our way through baggage claim, out of the airport and got a taxi to our accommodation, the La Morana Apartments near Murphys bar. Which would be become our local bar for the majority of our stay in Puerto del Carmen. After unpacking and getting settled. it was time for some nourishment. The place we tried, the Blue Marlin was a total disaster from the off. Luckily enough after this disaster, everything else that night was such fun. We ended up leaving Murphy's Bar about 2 am that night after listening to Sean Boland and the famous Jimmy Barry Murphy, the white nigger from Cork, which I had heard some much about, singing his famous Langer song. It was a perfect ending to my birthday and was looking forward to the rest of the holiday.

The next morning, while discussing plans for the week, my mother wasn't feeling well, so we began the trek to the pharmacy in new town and got some tablets which did wonders for us both. When I suddenly remembered who had the apartment key, we rushed back and to our great relief, the key was exactly where I left it in the reception area. Which gave us the excuse to have a few drinks by the pool and catch some sun. Thats evening I booked a tour for the following morning, the short South Tour around the National Park of Timanfaya. After this we strolled towards the old town and ended up having a meal at The Crafty Cow on the recommendation of a co-worker, which we both agreed was just perfect and showed how bad the previous night's meal was. As we were eating, a female singer started to perform and she had such an amazing voice on her. We went exploring, and had a glimpse into the Blarney Stone and Blarney Grill where we saw the Dublin City Ramblers and Bianca Sutton and at the end of the night we yet again, ended up in Murphy's Bar.

The following morning we got the bus at 9.15 am for our tour with the first stop being in the heart of the National Park, home to the island's 300 craters and volcanoes. One of the demonstration was a volcano geyser in action. Continuing around the park, we almost got stuck behind a bus which was having some difficulties, luckily it wasn't for long, before we finished our journey in the park and made our way to the Camel Park at the base of the Fire Mountains. I decided this time to go on a camel ride, after turning down the option to years previously. It was a 20 mins ride, all was uneventful until I was getting off the male camel, and he hit his head against mine, wasn't sure to laugh or to be scared.

From the Camel Park, we had brunch on route to La Geria, the island's wine district, where we stopped for wine tasting however the wine tasted more like vinegar than wine. We returned back into Puerto del Carmen around 2 pm just as the sun was coming out, which was perfect timing for some sunbathing and swimming in the pool. A particular highlight food wise so far was the Mexican, Cantina Don Rafael where everything was superb from the cocktails to the fried breaded goats cheese.

As Wednesday was the best day weather wise, it was spent sunbathing drinking sangria and pizza by the pool, which was pleasant after all the walking and touring the previous day. Despite having a horrible cold dinner, we all had a blast in Murphy's Bar, with Linda Grey performing and us making some new friends, was a great end to the day.

The following morning, although we attempted to enjoy the sun, the sun wasn't with us, it was perfect walking weather. We began our walk towards Matagorda with a stroll along the Playa Grande. On our walk back towards our apartments, we stopped off at a cocktail bar called the Golden Corner and the Long Island cocktail and chocolate which were perfection. As we were on a roll, we decided to do a mini pub crawl on our route back. As my mother wanted to go for a 'quick' nap before heading out later, which of course ended with her staying asleep. I decided to go off exploring more of old and new town and see what The Island bar was but to my surprise, the bar is closed on Thursdays. On top of the walk to Matagorda earlier in the day, I walked another 5.5km exploring both old town to the harbour and towards the other end of the new town of the strip.  

With both of us well rested, and wanting to do the famous the Puerto del Carmen to Puerto Calero walk, 6.5 km from the apartments, so we set off early enough as to make most of the day. I was pleasantly surprised how scenic, peaceful and relaxing such a walk was and especially in the morning sun. After arriving into Puerto Calero harbour, we were looking about before getting the water bus to back Puerto del Carmen, although the journey was a tad windy, it was something different. We managed to make it back to the apartments about lunch time, so before we got ourselves comfy sunbathing, we got a pizza and sangria by the pool which was starting to turn into a habit.  

I got to enjoy the pool one last time, before getting ready for our night ahead, we had a few drinks and nibbles from the nearby Chinese. Luckily we had, as the Italian we ended having our meal at was horrible, possibly the worst meal of our trip. Once we arrived at Fitzers Irish Bar, things started straight away to pick up with the start of The Glamour Girls Comedy Drag show, which from the onset had the whole audience in stitches till the end, I've not laughed that much in so long. After the show got to chat and have my photos taken with the drag queens. We made some new friends, who we ended up meeting up with later that night.

It was time to head to the next bar, on our pub crawl, Island bar our next stop, where Rory Gallagher formerly of The Revs is the co-owner and resident musician. Our final bar was Mulligans which was quite full with Bill Hughes performing who had the whole bar singing and dancing. It was here we met up with our new friends from Fitzers bar, and we were the last to leave at 4.30 am, which was our latest night out.  

Even with the lack of sleep, we were all up, packed and fed before the check out time at 11am, which gave us the opportunity to catch last few rays of sun before our trip to the airport. We were able to relax in duty free purchasing some duty free alcohol. Despite some confusion with last minute change of gate and delay in taking off, which managed to arrive into Dublin still on time at 11pm. We were able to get the last Airline bus home and were welcomed home by Niamh who had a hot water bottle in my bed waiting for me as she knew I was up at 7.30am for work.

 Despite the lack of sleep, I had one hell of a week away, no better way to celebrate my 30th.

 

OH! Ho! Ho! that Christmasy Feeling

You would expect things to go back to normal once I put our mother on the coach home, however I went off shopping to sort a few last bits for the Christmas tree and soak in the christmasy atmosphere on O'Connell Street for the turning on of it's Christmas Tree and whilst getting a free packet of Tayto, I got my photo taken with Mr Tayto, sure be rude not to. On the route home, hopped into the Church of Adam and Eve, the National Shrine to St. Anthony, to check it out.
                   
The craziness continued on, with Bernadette, Helen and Myself going for a night at the dogs in Harold's Cross  on the Tuesday for a mini work night out, which I had free entry into, thanks to my bus ticket from my last journey up from home. After a few mins of checking things out, we all got settled in and started placing a few bets on and getting the drinks in. We all had such a laugh and fun and there was a slight Christmas atmosphere about the place, due to the Christmas Parties around. I surprisingly managed to finish out ahead with my bets which was a pleasant surprise and capped off a great night out. Later in the week, on the Friday night was the Hospitality Staff Christmas night out, although Nicole and myself were working late in work, we both got changed and met everyone else out in town later. By the time, we met them most people were on a good buzz and for some reason ended up in a club in Portobello called Rain. Didn't take us too long to get into the spirit and fun of the night. It was such a random and interesting night, the way most work nights out are. The following day was spend recovering watching crap on TV under a duvet, only way a hangover day should be spent. To finish off my weekend off decided to go shopping and treat myself to a mini Christmas pressie.

 To start off the week right, +Niamh managed to get us 2 tickets for Fleetwood Mac, I booked our train tickets home for Christmas and we received our first Christmas Cards of the season. By time Friday came, we were excited to go see Gloria, a GLB choir who were performing at +StPatricksCathedral Dublin for their Christmas Concert, which was turning into an annual tradition. The concert itself was sold out with over 1300 people in attendance. A particular highlight was the all male version of Santa Baby and like every year, Gloria gave an amazing festive filled performance.

After literally a day from hell in work on Saturday, luckily I had Niamh's home made cake with ice cream to make things better while watching Strictly, which made me happy out. To top off the week, Niamh and myself decided to attempt the 12 pubs of Christmas after I finished work on that Sunday. The fun all began, in the Brazen Head, which is Ireland's oldest pub and worked our way through various pubs which all started to mesh together.

Things started to get a tad foggy after around pub 10/11 but all and all, it was quite a fun night experiencing such different pubs, some which I had never been in before. Surprisingly enough I felt right as rain the next morning which was a shock to both Niamh and myself.

Lucky enough I had no hangover as I had to work that evening, which was a tad annoying as I had won tickets for +Dumb To thanks to +cluborange and +Universal Pictures Ireland in the +Savoy Cinema, lucky enough Niamh went instead, was happy that the tickets weren't wasted despite slaving away in work, so she could enjoy herself.

Luckily enough that Niamh noticed that she had a missed call from the electrician during her shift at work, I quickly rang him back, and he was nice enough to call around straight away and finally sort out our issue with the boiler, although he didn't get finished until midnight and we both were up at 5.30 am for work. It was worth the lack of sleep as in the morning, I had the best shower in weeks which was like heaven. Although I was working so early, at least I was finished and home before work became crazy altogether which was nice. I ended up having a nap on the couch under my new fleece batman dressing gown and then when I woke up, I was all set and ready for my Chinese takeaway and heading into town to meet Niamh at the +TheGeorgeBar Dublin for Bingo and the Christmas show which was great craic as ever. Although Niamh went home towards the end of the show, I decided to stay out as I met up with mates of mine and somehow ended up in 4 Dame Lane until 3 am, despite getting up at 7 am for work, will I ever learn, seems unlikely. Niamh and myself were chilling when our dad rang, if we could get him a few bits from town, although we were finished ourselves, off out into town we went shopping, which ended up being fun, as always the way ended getting more than we planned and had a lovely meal out too, before finally getting home about 10.30.

At least we both had a slight lie in, the following morning we organised everything for our journey home for Christmas. When we arrived at Heuston Station to board the train, we got a plenty surprise to discover that we were travelling home 1st Class. People only on the list were even allowed to enter the 1st class carriage and was been guarded by the conductor. The journey home was so comfortable with the extra leg and we had fun and laugh with other passengers around us which was nice. After arriving into Ennis, we were collected by our dad, and then we dropped into our mother at work, to wish her a Happy Birthday, which made her day. Later that night, after a home cooked meal and surprising her with a cake, we headed out to a Christmas Party night at An Shibeen in Doora, where I actually won a prize for best Christmas Jumper. We all had such a brilliant night and our mother said best birthday in years.

 When we were leaving the next afternoon for our Granny's, a neighbour's big dog started climbing onto the car, which definitely showed to me that I was back in the countryside. For my first Christmas mass in over 4 years, we went to a wee country church which was packed to the rafters for the Children mass which had an amazing singer, band, kids choir and Fr. Ted Crilly type priest, wasn't sure if it was like a concert or a religious event, which was hilarious to witness. As it tradition, later that night ended up back at the local pub, the Bogdale House near our Granny's. It was almost 3 am before we got home to bed, I would say that was a rare thing, but my last Christmas home 4 years ago, was about the same time then too. Before bed as is tradition, we swapped our Christmas presents, everyone seemed happy with their presents which is always good. Christmas morning was all go from the onset, with the calls and visitors wishing our Granny a Merry Christmas and preparations for the dinner underway.

After only a slight lie in, before the calls and visitors began to arrive at my granny's. The merriment and drink which started so early, should have told me how the day was to pan out. We finally made our way down to my Uncle's for Christmas dinner which was a joint effort between my mother and aunt. With all the food and the heat, the food coma had settled in and didn't want to go. I nearly swear I've never eaten and drank so much on Christmas day. We finally got back to my granny's about 9.30 that night, after a visitor arrived down and played some music. People started to drift off to bed gradually, as per usual I was last to bed. It was definitely one of the best Christmas in years, fun and craic was had by all.

Melbourne Part Deux

For my birthday, Niamh surprised me by bringing me out for lunch at my favourite veg chippy, Lord of the Fries which was delicious. As we all in the house we having few drinks, the girls got me by surprise with a homemade chocolate birthday cake with special candles and all, was quite sweet of them and it was delicious. Also was given passion pop, sparkling wine. We had an interesting night.

The next morning, Niamh and myself got ready to head to St Kilda festival along the beach front, was quite busy but it had a good family atmosphere and was good laugh. There was bands playing everywhere, free stuff been given away, amongst other activities.

During the week, we decided to see some more of the sights, beginning with a guided tour of the parliament of Victoria which included the library, the vestibule, Queen's hall, legislative assembly chamber which had 3 massive Waterford crystal chandeliers and council chamber. The Parliament House took 74 years to babe constructed, starting in 1856 and been completed in 1939. After this tour, we strolled down the street to the old treasury building and got to see a glimpse of melbourne and Victorian transport and political history and see some of the vaults used during the gold rush in the 19th century. Once we finished here, we hopped on to the tram to the Melbourne aquarium. Our entry into this aquarium was covered by our iventure card. Some of the highlights in the aquarium were the penguins, variety of sea horses, sharks, starfish, swordfish, stingray, turtles amongst other exotic fish and jellyfish.
After our journey through this aquatic environment, we hopped on the city tram and transferred then to a different tram and jumped off at domain interchange. Once here, we walked along the park observing the various monuments along the way, including a police memorial, order of Malta, a variety of world war memorials until we arrived to the shrine of remembrance. We strolled around shrines gardens and ever lighting flame.

With both of us working, we try enjoy our days off lol.